Back in the control room, the king, not taking his eyes off the scene of carnage and mayhem before them all, asked what they were all thinking.
"Where are the closest reinforcements Axus?"
"Not close enough I'm afraid, Majesty. The prisoners would easily be able to get back to the Falkland Islands and escape in plenty of time before we could gather even a meagre force together," he replied, shaking his head gloomily.
With his attention, like everyone else’s, firmly focused on Axus, George caught a glimpse of something odd out the corner of his left eye. Totally the opposite of all the other onlookers, who were unanimously shocked and horrified by the surprising turn of events, leaning against one of the elongated desks off to one side, Osvaldo just looked... SMUG!
Abruptly the projection on the left wall cut out totally. The dragon operator on that wall dropped to the floor, howling in pain, hands wrapped around the shiny metal helmet with wires in it that sat firmly fixed on his head, trying with all his might to remove it, without any luck, which might have had something to do with the smoke and acrid smell that it was giving off. From out of nowhere, two medics arrived and started treating the stricken dragon, but not before he'd let out a blood-curdling scream and lost consciousness. Every being there could see what had happened from the images on the back wall. There, through a crowd of wrangling dragons all fighting for their lives, smack bang in the middle of the cavern's entrance was a pale dragon with bright flecks up its back and tail. One of the dragons that had been specifically selected to telepathically send back the black and white images, its long slender neck was now being crushed by the giant vice-like jaws of... Troydenn. Both dragons hovered in mid-air as the chaos ensued all around them, long after the life had left the innocent pale projectionist. Drawing a short, sharp gasp of horror from every being in the control room, Troydenn's gigantic jaws finally clasped together, totally severing the poor dragon's neck, letting the two pieces of the decapitated body tumble uncontrollably towards the bottom of the cavern. The dragon sending images back who was furthest away from the action, focused in on the crazed figure of Troydenn. Flapping his massive matt black wings furiously, head shaking violently from side to side, his angled face turned in the exact same direction from which he was being pictured, almost as if he knew that the king and councillors were watching, something that just couldn't be possible. Could it? More than a hint of insanity clouding his eyes, the charismatic leader's face broke into the biggest, scariest grin in the world. In that moment, in everyone's minds, things changed forever.
The atmosphere in the monitoring room at that very moment could be cut with a knife. Enveloped in stony silence, everyone there looked towards the king for an answer. Suddenly he stood, and in a move so quick nobody could have seen it coming, he smashed a vacant stool halfway across the room with his left forearm.
"ENOUGH!" bellowed the king. "Blow the explosive charges... NOW!"
Shaking somewhat, Axus turned towards the king.
"But Majesty, what about the guards? They'll be trapped along with all the prisoners."
With a look of absolute fury on his face, the king roared,
"DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT? TRAPPED AND LOST FOREVER. DO YOU THINK THAT'S WHAT I WANT FOR THEM? THINK HOW MANY HUMANS AND DRAGONS ALIKE WILL BE KILLED IF TROYDENN AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE ALLOWED TO LEAVE THAT PLACE. THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BE THROWN INTO PERIL, AND I WON'T ALLOW THAT. I COMMAND YOU TO BLOW ALL OF THE CHARGES AT ONCE. NOWWWW!!!!"
Despite the fact that all the blood had totally drained from his face, ever the professional, Axus turned and walked over to the table with the giant map on it. Pulling open a drawer, he withdrew a small box and flipped open the lid. Closing his eyes, and with a small shake of the head, he depressed the red button inside, knowing that there really was no other choice.
Bright explosions blossomed simultaneously across all three of the remaining projections. Dragons from both sides were pulverised by superheated exploding rock and ice. The detonation encompassed everything in sight, causing two of the remaining images to cease almost instantly, signalling the deaths of two more of the projectionist dragons. Back in the dragon domain, the control room darkened considerably with only the back wall now showing anything at all from the outlandish events in Antarctica.
George felt helpless as the incident on the other side of the planet spiralled out of control. Despite his feelings, and so desperately wanting to, he couldn't look away from the images that started to turn his green blood cold.
Turning away from the cavern entrance, the lone surviving projectionist was now heading at breakneck speed along the trench, back towards the Falkland Islands. Swerving erratically to avoid enormous stalactites and stalagmites, the dragon appeared to be flying as fast as was dragonly possible in the comparative darkness, clearly aware of the fate of those behind him. While still flying ahead in the trench, briefly he glanced over his shoulder, projecting the image back to the others. Fleeing dragons being dashed by rock and ice, all following hot on his tail, as well as a cascading barrage of explosions bursting up from the trench floor, shone onto the taut canvass as everyone looked on, speechless. Incredibly, the fleeing projectionist seemed to have found a little more speed from somewhere, offering up just a smidgen of hope to those in the darkness. Silently they willed him on, willed him to live.
Soaring incredibly fast now, it seemed the only possible outcome was for the dragon they all now had so much invested in, to outrun the wave of death behind him and cheat his certain demise. Until, that is, an explosion detonated about ten metres in front of him. The last thing those in the room saw before the wall went dark, was a torrent of rock, ice and fire closing in on all sides of the brave dragon. Plunged fully into darkness, the control room was as silent as a crypt in the dead of night.
"Lights," commanded Axus.
Immediately they came on. Glancing around, George had never seen members of his own race look so sombre. The shock and horror at what they'd witnessed here today would stay with them forever.
"REPORT!" commanded the king.
Axus studied the information on the map table before turning around and addressing the monarch.
"All the charges detonated successfully Majesty. Anyone still alive will remain encased in that icy hell hole for the rest of their lives."
Emotional turmoil threatened to drop George to his knees. The trial of Troydenn himself was bad enough but this... this was beyond belief. Guilt, sadness, remorse, relief... was it even possible to feel all of these things at once, he asked himself. On reflection, he knew his emotions would always overwhelm him when he thought of the events that surrounded the last week or so of his life. But today the greatest threat his race had ever faced had been thwarted for good, finally. And that in itself must be the most important thing. At least that's what he continued to tell himself.
* * *
"And so students, for those of you who didn't already know it, that is the true story of George and the Dragon. Nothing like, you may note, the dismal and dreary tales you will hear on the surface from the misinformed humans, if and when you finally make it up there. That will be all for today. Don't forget this week's homework. Lessons will resume in the morning. Do not be late!" said the tor.