Cautiously, he peered out from his hidey hole. From where he was, there was nothing to see but a chilly white landscape. Knowing that the hole in his suit compromised his ability to blend in seamlessly, and with a nagging sense of urgency tugging away at him, carefully he trotted off, all the time hugging the icy wall of the cavern, in the hope that he would be at least partially concealed.
Out of nowhere, the mantra had gone off, waking him from the only kind of slumber available in a place like this, interrupted and infrequent. Just like 'he who must be obeyed' had said it would go off. Everything was set. Everything was ready. THEY were in for a big surprise.
From the corner of one eye, Yoyo could just see two of the camouflaged figures conversing with one another. It was hard to make them out, but if he watched the snow very carefully, he could just spot their outlines by the way the flakes, some nearly the size of tennis balls, impacted on their suits. From his reckoning, it looked as though Tina and Hillier were the two chatting, but both had now stopped, and were on their way over to him.
Taking a step back from the massive borehole in front of him, Yoyo made space for two of the most inventive young dragons of the lot, as they fought against the wind to reach him. Opening the mask of his suit just a little, he shouted as loud as he could to be heard against the roaring force of the snow storm.
"What's going on?" he enquired.
Tina pulled back her mask ever so slightly.
"I think we have a problem," she stated, with the kind of urgency Yoyo had never seen in her.
"What is it?" asked their mentor and friend, concerned.
Hillier reluctantly pulled back his mask.
"A few minutes ago, the heat tracing mantra detected something down there. It wasn't much, and it didn't last long, but there was certainly something there."
"Thoughts?" asked Yoyo.
"Best guess," added Tina, "is that of a mantra being set off. It's a pretty good bet whoever's down there, knows that we're here."
'Damn!' screamed Yoyo inside his own head. 'What the hell are we going to do now?'
Before he had a chance to even ask the two youngsters, Hillier piped up.
"If this is as important as you've led us to believe, I really think we have to get down there, and fast," he yelled over the shrieking wind.
'It has to be something else... doesn't it?' Yoyo told himself. But even inside his head it sounded lame. Whoever or whatever was down there had been expecting visitors. That changed everything. They had, for better or worse, to go and join Flash, and hope that they were still in time. Yoyo could never remember being this afraid.
Back pressed flat against the chilling wall, Flash peeked through a small gap in the ice, to see what lay around the next corner. The sight that greeted him turned his stomach. Stretched out on the cold ice, a ragged, flimsy looking dragon body in its natural form lay for all to see, the extent of the injuries inflicted on it all too evident. Both wing membranes were gone, scales were missing, bones jutted out at impossible angles and sickly, thick patches of green blood littered its legs, arms and back. This, Flash knew, was a dragon that had been tortured in the most unimaginable way possible. Even a dragon's worst nightmare wouldn't have got close to what had gone on here. A cold rage boiled up inside him at the thought of what the now deceased dragon had gone through. Anger pumped through his veins, ran through his blood, seeped into every living part of him. Beings would pay for this. Maybe not now, but he vowed there and then to hunt down whoever had done this and play a major part in their own nightmares. Just as he was about to move on, satisfied that nothing untoward awaited him around the corner, he caught sight of the chains binding the dragon to the icy wall in the background. Tank's whispered message came back to him, there and then. He thought about trying out the mantra on the chains in front of him, but had no idea just how draining it would be. If it took too much out of him, he might not be able to free the naga king, and of course Fredric, Peter's grandfather; he hadn't forgotten about him. But to have some laminium with him to boost his powers, was indeed a temptation. In the end, he decided against it, knowing that he would have chains from either of the prisoners he'd come to liberate.
Skulking around the corner, he could just make out the faint buzz of the flickering light, interspersed with the sound of gurgling water.
'Oh my God,' he thought. 'I'm here, I'm actually here.'
Using the giant dragon's corpse for cover, he scrabbled along the ice to its tail, where he stopped, all the time making sure to keep his damaged, exposed arm flush against it. Popping his head up briefly, he took in the scene before him. There, right in front of him, stood both the naga king and Fredric, Peter's grandfather and creator of the 'Crimson Guards'. He felt almost giddy with excitement knowing that in only a few moments' time, they would all leave this place forever. With pride swelling in his chest at what he'd accomplished, he stood and boldly started to walk towards the two prisoners.
He'd told them they were under no obligation to do this. Just as he'd thought, they weren't having any of his warnings. As they'd all said, they wouldn't have come this far if they hadn't meant to follow it through. He'd tried to explain just what they might be facing, and exactly how dangerous that might be. But typically, they didn't seem to care. He didn't know what more he could do. He didn't want to send them in after Flash; he cared for them a great deal. The sensible part of him knew though, that they might be the difference between winning and losing, here today. And that in turn might have consequences of epic proportions. So without further ado, Yoyo explained exactly what they were going to do once they reached the bottom of the icy shaft.
A few steps in, he suddenly wondered how he should reveal himself. He'd thought only moments ago that he should just stroll up to the naga king, remove his mask and introduce himself. Now, that seemed a very risky thing to do, given that he had no idea just how the naga monarch would react. So he'd changed things on the hoof, deciding to reveal himself to Fredric first, with a view to speeding up their escape and making things run a bit smoother. Padding along the ice as quietly as he could, he made his way over to the old dragon, who was currently doing one handed push ups on the icy cold cavern floor.
Abruptly Fredric stopped, the bulging, taut muscles in his right arm easily supporting his weight, as he looked over his shoulder for something he knew to be there, but could not actually see. Flash was amazed. He could have sworn he hadn't made any noise at all, even though it was clear that Fredric knew he was here. Without further delay, he brought up his arm, and peeled off his mask. The look on Fredric's face was an absolute picture.
"Hi," was all Flash could think to say. Looking back, that was probably the lamest introduction in the history of introductions.
Fredric jumped to his feet. His bonds rattled as he did so.
"Hi yourself," he said, smiling. "You're the youngster we had the pleasure of meeting, albeit rather briefly, if I'm not mistaken?"
"I am," replied Flash.
By now, the normally docile looking naga king had taken a keen interest in what was going on, and had slithered as close as his chains would allow.
"I've come to free you," said Flash. "There's little time to lose. The dragon kingdom and the world above it are in dire need of you both."
"I hope you have a way to release us from these chains," uttered Fredric, a sense of hope etched across his face.
Flash was just about to tell him about Tank's mantra, when he caught the tiniest movement in his peripheral vision. Clearly Fredric had too. They both turned, to find the evil, villainous looking jailer, seemingly having appeared from nowhere, standing not twenty metres away. Flash turned, already in fighting stance, waiting to destroy anything standing in his way. And this one being didn't look nearly tough enough to give him any trouble. Just as he thought this, dark shapes from almost every corner of the cavern slithered into view, some sliding out from beneath the ice, others dropping down from the ceiling, half a dozen or so slipping around the rock face Flash had previously navigated, looking like Olympic speed skaters, so fast was their cornering.