Tank nodded his approval. Dymo had done an excellent job in getting them here, he knew. Of all the dragons to have on his side, an ex-sewer worker had seemed like something of a mismatch, but he'd proved his usefulness ten times over in what he'd done. Tank was grateful for his counsel, but now it was time to listen to the fighters on the team, the ex-King's Guards, all of whom were now standing with him below the gigantic dragonhole.
"What do you think?" asked Tank of the group.
"From what we know, it does seem like a good place to get topside. And if things take a turn for the worse, we should be able to retreat back down here and lose ourselves in the sewer system."
'What a delightful prospect,' thought Tank.
"Should we all go up above?" he asked.
"I don't see why not," piped up another of the former guards. "If the plan is to gain access to the council building, then there doesn't seem much point in either splitting up or only taking a small contingent with us. I'd guess it's all or nothing."
Tank's thoughts exactly.
So with seemingly little choice, the young rugby playing dragon ordered them to take a look and do their best to make sure they weren't walking straight into an ambush. Tentatively, two of them lifted up the dragonhole cover, while two more assessed the situation. It seemed to take forever, with Tank's nerves becoming more and more frayed. Eventually they gave the all clear and without a sound, two of them darted out into the scorched ruins of the capital to see if there was any way forward.
With a brief lull in proceedings, nearly all the beings there broke out either food or water, or both. Janice and Hook shared some freshly baked bread that they'd been given back at the nursery ring, along with a strawberry flavoured bottle of water. Given their surroundings, they did well to keep everything down. All the time Janice kept hold of Fu-ts'ang, aware of the mysterious weapon not only in her hand, but in her head as well. Odd didn't begin to cover it.
Tank waited in silence, not having moved from his position below the heavy, circular, metal cover, his thoughts for his friends churning over and over as he gazed up at the two guards resting at the top of both ladders, just below the surface. It didn't take long, less than ten minutes in fact. Four delicate taps in a row on the surface of the dragonhole was the signal. Cautiously the two guards lifted up the cover... a little at first, wary of being caught out. It turned out to be fine, with the two ex-King's Guards dropping through the small gap provided, splashing down right next to Tank, splattering dragon poo up both his legs. Currently, that was the least of his worries.
"It's clear," said one.
"As far as we can tell," added the other. "And we've been as far as the square. There are half a dozen guards milling around the entrance to the council building, but they look disinterested and disorganised. Clearly they're not expecting an attack. I don't think we're going to have any trouble in disposing of them."
Tank nodded, pleased that things seemed to be going their way. He did find it a little strange though, given all the evidence of death and destruction they'd seen so far across the capital. Somewhere there must have been a massive force, and he'd assumed it would have been here. Of course, most of it could well be inside... the council building was, after all, huge. But to leave it virtually unguarded, vulnerable to a counterattack from behind, sounded like a childish mistake. And given the kind of planning and organisation that had so clearly gone into this devastating surprise attack in the first place, the more he thought about it, the more he didn't like the smell of things. And he wasn't just talking about down here, in the sewer.
"We should attack now... while we have the chance," announced one of the guards, forcing him out of his reverie.
"I... I... I don't know," stuttered Tank, trying desperately to weigh up everything in his mind. Defending the king was their number one priority, but the lives of everyone here mattered... to him at least.
"It does seem like now is our chance," added the other one. "Maybe they're waiting for reinforcements to arrive. If that happens, then we're pretty much done for. It certainly didn't smell like a trap to me. More like overconfidence on their part, something I say we crush with all our might."
Backed into a corner, that's how he felt. Of course he trusted the two that he'd sent up there. Why wouldn't he? He was as sure as he could be that they didn't want to throw away their lives. But nothing about this felt right. From Richie leaving, to avoiding all the marauding patrols of psychopaths, skulking down here in the sewers, and now this. It didn't feel right at all. But he could come up with no other options. And so with the clock ticking down, he very reluctantly agreed that they should all move forward with a view to gaining access to the council building.
With the dragonhole cover slipped fully out of place, dragons and humans alike skirted through the gap, concealing themselves in the shadows of the alleyway and the deserted doorways at the back of the row of shops. Two minutes... that's all it took for all of them to make their way out of the sewer and up above ground. With the dragonhole cover replaced, it was agreed that one of their kind, a librarian named Kymoto, would stay behind and keep an eye on their exit, in case they needed to use it in a hurry. As the shy librarian disappeared up onto a first floor balcony, the guards at the front of the group silently sloped off in the direction of the square, each and every member of the small band alert now, with no telling where the danger might come from; the same could be said of Janice and Hook, both far too aware of the danger, their mouths on occasion hanging open wide, not just at what they were part of, but at the scale and sheer size of the buildings around them. It was almost as if they were in the financial district of London up above, with huge skyscrapers towering over them. They'd thought they'd gotten used to the underground landscape, having taken in first Salisbridge and then of course the area surrounding the Nursery Ring at Hampton Court. But this was something else altogether.
Slowly... that's how it progressed, and of course silently. Minutes... that's how far away the square and the council building were. Moving like this took them at least four times as long. But soon enough, they were there, peering out from beneath the shadows of an all encompassing alleyway opposite, skulking, observing and single minded in their attempt to avoid any and all deceptions.
Along with the contingent of ex-King's Guards, Tank was at the front now, determined to be the one to give the order, if that's what it came down to. Part of him thought they just wanted to circumvent him and ignore the authority that had been so unjustly thrust upon him. And although he didn't like it, or hadn't wanted it, now that he found himself in this position, he thought it only fair that it was his call, and his alone, as to whether or not they went ahead with things. And so he bided his time and listened to those around him laying out their ideas on exactly how they should deal with the rearguard and gain access to where they needed to go.
So it was that ten minutes later they were all ready to go. Five of the ex-King's Guards had skirted around the council building until they'd reached the nearest side to the entrance. They were within only a few seconds of the unruly, disorganised rabble that guarded the way in. Once the signal was given, Tank's group, comprising of a mixture of dragons and humans, would charge across the square, effectively creating a distraction, while at the same time the ex-King's Guards would ambush them from behind, stopping them from calling for help from inside the building. Focused on his breathing, Tank waited for the telepathic nudge that he knew was due any time now. Sure enough, what felt like a little tickle on the left hand side of his brain came only a few seconds later, and so pumping his fist in the air, a rather crafty lightning mantra at the forefront of his mind, he yelled, "CHARGE!" at the top of his voice and sprinted out of the darkness and into the square, heading for the council building's entrance at top speed. Sure enough, that got their enemies' attention, with all those visible rushing across the square to meet Tank, and his comrades who were right on his coattails. As Janice hefted Fu-ts'ang while at full sprint, Hook tried to keep up, the base of his heavy water pack slapping furiously against his lower back as he ran. Brilliant bolts of bright blue electricity arced violently from Tank's fingertips as the ex-King's Guards cut off their opponents' escape route back into the council building. Catching the first sloppy dragon directly in the throat, the sizzling electricity pierced his dark yellow scales in several places, causing him to scream in agony as he lost his footing and slipped to the cobbled floor. And then... it was chaos. Not the kind of chaos that had taken place in the market place in Salisbridge. No! This was just the swift killing of half a dozen guards, all over in mere moments really. They never stood a chance. And that was how it was supposed to go.