"Let me guess," ventured Flash. "An ice salamander?"
Tank nodded his head.
"And not just any ice salamander. I've seen them before, and yes, they can be a little bit tricky to handle. But this thing is like the queen of all ice salamanders. She's huge, and you've seen the things she's been firing at us. Gee Tee's trapped in the back of the workshop, where he fled as soon as we realised what happened. I've been out here trying to keep her occupied in the hope that the old dragon will find a way to reverse what he's done. This all started about three hours ago, and we've been doing this ever since, with no luck whatsoever."
"Three hours!" exclaimed Peter incredulously.
Flash's forehead creased deep in concentration, as he considered the sticky circumstances that they all found themselves in.
"Why not simply banish it back to where it came from?" he asked, puzzled.
"That was my thought originally," huffed Tank, looking absolutely shattered. "The problem is that the ice salamander seems to be guarding the scroll with the mantra on it, and is currently curled up atop it, making it all but impossible to banish it. I've spent nearly two hours trying to draw it away from the front desk, in the hope that Gee Tee might sneak out, get the scroll, and... waheyyy... banish it. But it's not happening. It will not leave that scroll. It's almost as if it knows what it is and where it's come from."
"That, Tank," said Peter, "is simply not possible."
Tank sighed deeply, wishing that his tired body could go home and curl up in bed.
"It's not quite as impossible as you seem to think Peter," interrupted Flash, eyes closed, leaning his head back against the dust encrusted book shelves. "In ages past, mantras that summoned creatures with a better understanding of exactly what they were, were almost commonplace. I'm talking of course about a time many, many thousands of years ago, but it did happen. What I struggle to understand is how a mantra could have lasted so long, and ended up here. Still... at this moment it's a moot point. We need to banish the ice salamander back to where it came from. If it does have any sort of understanding of what it is, the longer we wait, the harder all this is going to be."
"Uhhh, there's something else as well," whispered Tank nervously. "The shields on the building are weaker than they've ever been. Gee Tee's known this for some time, but hasn't got round to having them reenergised."
"Exactly how weak are the shields?" demanded Flash, quietly. "Weak enough for that thing to make a break for it?""
Rather sheepishly, Tank nodded his head.
"And you haven't called the King's Guard?"
Tank shook his head.
"If the King's Guard come, they'll shut the whole place down for good. This will be the end of it all. They'll do it, and Rosebloom will make sure that it stays shut," added Tank, trying desperately to hold back tears. "I know they should have been called, and I realise the danger if that thing gets out... but I just couldn't do it. If they closed this place down, it would finish him off. I thought I could distract it and together we could undo everything... oh I can't believe this is happening. What a day!"
Flash slapped Tank playfully on the shoulder.
"Well... now that the cavalry has arrived, there's nothing to worry about is there? I'll create a distraction worthy of note, and you two can get the mantra back to Gee Tee. How does that sound?"
Tank's inane smile reappeared immediately.
"That sounds great. But are you sure you can do it?"
"Do dragons pee in the air?" (And if you'd ever been hit by flying dragon pee, boy you'd know it. Not just hospitalisation, but decontamination as well.) "I'm not called Flash for nothing you know. One very important thing to remember though guys."
"What's that?" mumbled Peter.
"We must avoid those ice bolts at all costs. If one of those hits a dragon, no matter what their form, I think it would be safe to say that the only thing you'd be seeing after that is a great big lake of lava."
Peter and Tank both understood his meaning. It brought home to Tank just how much danger he'd been in over the last few hours. Numerous times he'd felt the cold chill of an ice bolt skimming within inches of a limb or two. Momentarily, his large, powerful legs wobbled a little at the thought of what could have happened.
"Now," whispered Flash, finally seeing what he needed on a belt strapped around Tank's waist. "I need that mantra scalpel Tank, please, and Peter, I need your mobile phone."
Tank drew out the sharp blade that was used to repair and reconfigure broken mantras. The tip had a brilliant green glow to it. Peter handed over his mobile phone. Flash took the touch screen phone and held it up in the air so that a tiny part of it poked around the end of the bookcase. Glancing into the reflection on the screen, Flash gauged exactly where the deadly ice salamander was. After a few moments, he pulled the phone back and crouched down with his friends.
"Okay, get as near as you can on the southern side, nearest to the workshop. I'll approach from the north and attempt to lead her out into the depths of the shop that way. When you get the mantra... don't hang about. I'm guessing she's going to be rather mad at me, and I'm not going to have very long. Good luck!"
With that, Flash turned and headed back up the aisle, in the direction of the front door. Meanwhile, Peter had the startled expression of a bunny caught in the headlights of an onrushing car.
"Come on Pete," whispered Tank, slapping his friend on the back. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Ducking down, Tank and Peter shuffled silently along the exposed cross section of the aisle on all fours. Reaching the welcome cover of the bookcases on the other side, both stood up, relieved that no ice bolts had been fired in their direction. Before Tank could go any further, Peter put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Do you think he's going to be alright?"
"He'll be fine," replied Tank quietly. "Besides, he's got more experience at this stuff than we'll ever have."
"I know," mouthed Peter. "But he's not done anything like this, since... you know... since he got stuck in human form."
"He'll be fine Pete. If we work as a team, this will all be over shortly. That's the key to it all... combining our strengths and working together. You should know that better than most."
Momentarily Peter's mind flashed back to the hockey, and as it did so, a dreamy smile crept across his face. The mere thought of working as a team sent goose bumps up his arms, at the same time filling him with confidence. Normal service resumed, the two friends made their way past the bookcases, aiming to get as close as possible to the front counter without being spotted by the ice salamander queen.
Meanwhile, Flash had been crawling commando style along the grubby stone floor, with only Peter's phone and Tank's mantra blade for company, knowing he was uncomfortably close to the ice salamander queen's position, the humming coming from only a few feet away, the smell of her icy cold breath being expelled every few seconds assaulting his nose. Lying on his side, snuggled up to one of the small, half yard bookcases, he very patiently and very quietly sat up. Slowly, he raised Peter's phone above the parapet, eyes glued firmly to the reflection on the screen. Nearly frozen with fear at the sight that greeted him, whipping the phone back down, his hands and fingers started shaking with fright as he realised the ice salamander queen was considerably bigger than he'd first thought. Not only that, but she looked... tough, strong... scary even. Unable to remember a time when he'd felt so afraid, even his recent adventures in Antarctica hadn't elicited the same terror that he was experiencing right at this very moment. Quietly, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself, knowing that, despite the fear, the butterflies zipping around in his stomach, the shakiness of his legs, he was going to do what was necessary, because... because he wasn't going to let his friends down. Peter, Tank... Gee Tee. Yes, even the old shopkeeper, he regarded as his friend. Now that he thought about it, he realised that he'd never really had any friends. Ohhh, he'd thought he had... in the Crimson Guards, but looking back on it now, he realised they were only really colleagues, most only associating themselves with him because of his talent and reputation, and because he was well thought of by the dragons in charge.