Bentwhistle the Dragon Box

by Paul Cude

  Back towards the entrance to the underground enclosure, the relative silence was pierced by the ripping and twisting of metal, a small hole at first, made much larger in only a short space of time. Without warning a massive claw began to peel back the alloy of what only a few moments ago was the wall of one of the cells, and then another, and then another, until the gap was large enough for one of the creatures to clamber through. Which it did. A scorpion's body, nearly the size of a car, its venomous tail darting this way and that, clearly looking for a suitable target. Although unusual in itself, that wasn't the weirdest thing. Exactly where the head should have been, mid-way between two thick, meaty claws was instead the torso, head and arms of a human. Long, mangy, matted dark hair ran halfway down the back of the first male to make it out, anxious to see the outside of the prison he'd only just discovered had held him and his friends. It wasn't long before there were scorpion men as far as the eye could see, well if you had night vision, which indeed they all did. Their clacking pincers added to the ever building noise.

  Elsewhere in the basement, creatures from only the darkest of nightmares roamed. Eagles with two heads soared above the cells, occasionally dive bombing other species. Pixiu... winged lions darted through the air, from one walkway to another. Asena... blue maned wolves, skulked in packs throughout the darkness, on the hunt, but on the hunt for what? Conaima... giant were-jaguars padded softly this way and that, most on the lookout for their next meal, the rest guarding their newly born young. The evil trumpeting and stamping of a giant elephant beast off in one corner caught the attention of more than one group of animals. All had the same reaction. Whatever that was, it was to be avoided at all costs. All of that combined with the shape-shifting venomous snakes, myrmecoleon, a sort of ant/lion hybrid, hundreds of fire breathing gnats, a group of scaled apes, all having four arms, a pack of vampiric lizards that were spitting lightning, and something called an asag, if the name on the cell was anything to go by, a giant hideous rock demon. More and more species were coming to the fore. How long would it be before they escaped the basement good and proper?

  It started out of nowhere. Using one of their ancient hunting techniques, one single nifoloa had used its razor sharp tooth to secret itself beneath one of the alleyways, the rest of the swarm sitting on a wall just around the corner.

  All aware that something was wrong, but not knowing exactly what, the group of nagas were more hesitant now. They slithered to a halt at a four way intersection, each facing in a different direction, all looking out for trouble.

  Tapping into all his magic, he'd tried to contact his missing comrade telepathically, ironic given that he'd rejected his last communication. But there was nothing. No contact... just a fuzzy kind of background static. He ordered the others to try, but they had no luck either. Something was wrong, and despite not having had any communication with the different species that were contained here, only moments before he'd come to the conclusion it was time to get out, even if it meant facing the wraith of Manson. His thick, forked, snake-like tongue hissed from his mouth as he opened it to tell the others of his decision. Excruciating pain blazed into existence deep within his tail, forcing him to temporarily lose his balance.

  "Whoa... are you okay?" asked one of the others.

  "I... I... I..." was all that the leader could get out.

  Surrounding their stricken colleague, the others hoped to gain some insight into what had happened. But before they could, a fierce buzzing came out of nowhere, igniting their threat sense and alerting them to a much more imminent danger.

  As one, the nagas slithered in closer to their wounded leader, instantly erecting magical barriers in front of themselves. Using their heightened magical senses, they focused in on the eerie buzzing heading their way. Similar in form to wasps, but with one long pointed tooth, seeming almost way too big for their bodies, especially in flight, the swarm circled around the trapped nagas, one of their number occasionally attacking the shield, a sharp electrical discharge and singed wings the cost of doing so.

  Much closer to the entrance, the one which the group of nagas had spent many hours trying to open, the separated naga slithered silently through the darkness, encouraged at the thought of being so close to getting out, determined to barricade the door from the other side once he'd done so. Poking his head around a corner, he was rewarded with the outline of the outer door to the basement in the distance, backlit from the light outside. Making a madcap dash for it, he abruptly drew up as a darkened, four legged shadow stepped into his path. About four feet tall, and looking more than a little sorry for itself, the rays of light from beyond the door did just enough to illuminate the creature in all its splendour. Wary at first, that is until it became apparent to the naga exactly what creature, still shrouded by shadows, he was dealing with.

  'A unicorn,' he thought to himself.

  "Hello little fella," he whispered through the darkness, all the time snaking slowly towards its shady profile.

  Stamping its feet gruffly, the foal let loose a little grunt, causing the naga to smile at the thought of having some good news for the maniac Manson. Unicorns were rare, rarer than rare. The fact that the dragons had some incarcerated down here boded well. Their magical powers were legendary, with numerous potions and possibilities available from their extracts. Sliding to a halt, the naga reached out with one hand to stroke the unicorn's mane. Nervously the unicorn shied away, understandably really, turning around a little to face the very pleased with himself naga. It was then that the pale beams of light, seeping through the door out of the basement revealed the real silhouette of the beast. Not one horn on top of its head, but two, something that changed the very nature of the being a hundredfold. Immediately, the naga slinked backwards, desperate to get away, but the ra-hoon, as that's what it was, was having none of it. Incisors bared, it stalked after the naga, the terrifying tapping of its hooves on the cold metal floor signalling impending doom. Petrified and desperate, the naga shimmied one way and then darted the other, hoping against hope that the beast was dumb enough to fall for a very over the top dummy, and that he could get out and close the door behind him. Not a hope. The ra-hoon whirled with the grace and speed of a stallion, clamping its fierce teeth around the naga's scaly tail, about two metres from the end.

  "Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!" screamed the naga in agony, trying to wriggle free.

  With a snarl and a cunning look that gave away not only its intelligence, but something of its devilish nature, the ra-hoon crunched down, severing the naga's tail from its squirming body. Shaking the tail free, tossing it ten metres in the air as it did so, the unicorn lookalike bore down on its prey. With no way to balance now, the naga toppled over, trying to access all its magic for what little it would be worth.

  'Everyone knows that ra-hoon are immune to any kind of magic, don't they? What the hell are they doing here, in the council building?' were the last thoughts the naga ever had, before a group of much smaller ra-hoon trotted out of the shadows and began feasting for all they were worth.

  Their leader strewn on the floor in the middle of them, the party of nagas were holding their own against the deadly nifoloa. The individual that had attacked their leader had been suitably blasted into smithereens by a crackling bolt of green lightning, preventing any more damage being taken from inside the magical shield that they all now shared. Currently the conscious nagas were having a telepathic discussion about just how they were going to get their leader back to the entrance. They'd pretty much just decided that they'd need to take out all the attacking nifoloa, something they thought was pretty much doable, when trouble started appearing on all sides.

  The junction, or more like crossroads, that they were situated in the middle of, had just become a magnet for half a dozen species, hungry, desperate, down on their luck, and angry about having had the world they knew and loved torn away from them. Stumbling upon two enemies (the nagas looking like a prolific source of food) brawling pushed all the right buttons on their interna
l fight or flight decision making process. Flight was never really an option.

  Half a dozen snarling wolves bounded towards the struggle, their fluffy blue manes ruffling as they took one last flying leap, the sound of their jaws snapping at the nifoloa echoing off into the darkness. Looking out from behind their magical shields, the nagas were unable to believe what they were seeing.

  One of the wolves that had hung back was just about to join the rest of its pack, when four thick, meaty, brown scaled hands whipped it up off the ground, causing it to howl like a banshee briefly, before trying to strike out at its attacker with its claws and needle sharp teeth, to little or no effect. The grinning, prehistoric looking primate rolled its eyes, before snarling right into the face of the helpless beast. Its massive scaled muscles rippled as it tore each of the wolf's legs off, one by one, only to discard them and move in closer to where the real action was.

  The sound from the fight was off the scale now. Buzzing, howling, snapping, clacking, the sound of breaking bones and agonising screams were like a beacon in the dark. The creatures contained here weren't timid and shy, but the worst of the worst the mythical world had to offer. That's why they were there. Most of them liked nothing more than a good fight and had no concept of losing. To them, this was why they lived. For the nagas at the centre of it all, things were just going from bad to worse, despite the fact that they were safely holed up behind their magical barriers.

  As one of the wolves swallowed a nifoloa whole, and was about to look for the next one, a giant pincer ripped a swathe of its stomach open to reveal blood and internal organs. It slumped to the floor, barely able to pant, let alone call for help, as the scorpion men moved forward together, their pincers weaving in front of them, all the time nipping at the buzzing enemies in the air surrounding them.

  In the recesses of one of the paths, just back from the main event, the scaled apes had been set upon by the frighteningly vicious winged lions known as the pixiu. At first the apes had thought nothing of the flying monstrosities, that is until in one fell swoop, one of the beasts had torn off half an arm at the elbow, biting clean through the primate's protective scales. This had sent the group into a wild frenzy, causing them to exact revenge. One of the pixiu had been downed by two apes working together, one throwing the other high up into the air when one of the creatures had dared to try and attack again. The sheer weight of the ape had brought the creature down and, while not defenceless on the ground, far from it, there were now three apes, rolling around beating the living daylights out of it.

  Amidst the chaos of battle proper, two-headed eagles joined in the fun, constantly bombing the nagas' shield as they tried to pick off a nifoloa or two. One or two had been successful, while most had just been harmlessly turned away by the magic.

  Inside the shield, things had just gotten worse, if that were possible.

  "He's stopped breathing," said one, from down by the leader's side.

  "I don't care about him," shouted one of the others. "You need to get back up here and help us reinforce these shields."

  "Alright," he replied, giving his former leader one last look, before joining the remainder of the nagas.

  "What if we gradually moved off in the direction of the exit, while still maintaining the shields? The beasts seem to be content fighting each other. Plus they might consider our former comrade's body as food, creating a distraction, and buying us some valuable time to form an orderly retreat."

  As a group they considered this, despite all thinking it was deeply disrespectful to the naga that had led them for a few weeks now. But nobody could come up with anything better, so they decided to go with that. A few inches at a time the group, with their shields still up, steadily retreated back in the direction from which they'd arrived.

  A scaled ape ran at full pelt towards his friend, well, brother actually, who held his hands out low in front of him, ready to use every ounce of strength he had to toss his sibling high in the air, ready to bring down another pixiu. So far the apes had managed to topple three of the nightmarish beasts, but at some cost. All but these two were missing arms, with one lying prone on the ground from a nasty head wound. The fast moving ape, getting his timing just right as one of the flying lions circled above, came sprinting up to his sibling, lifting his right leg up, straight into his brother's hands. With all the might he had, his brother lobbed him high up over his head, speeding towards his target.

  BOOOOMMMMM!!!

  A rocky fist the size of small car swung out of nowhere, punching the ape even further up into the air, accompanied by the sound of bones shattering. The ape died on impact. Its brothers and the flying pixiu scattered for all they were worth as the fist's body appeared from out of the darkness, revealing a giant, hideous rock demon. Walking like a constipated robot, each tiny step shook the walls and the floor of the basement, creatures of every kind scattering before it. Moss and lichen draped from its armpits and the top of its legs made it look like a swimmer having just exited an ocean full of seaweed. Mostly different shades of grey, occasional worn away rock revealed a subtle white undertone. Beneath its eye sockets, malevolent purple light shone out. From somewhere deep within, it roared.

  Intrigued as to why the creatures were all scattering in different directions, the nagas watched in horror as the rock demon stomped ferociously out of the black, heading towards them. Panic and a sense of self preservation took over. Each naga made the same decision at almost the exact same instant. That decision went something like this: "Sod this! I'm off!" Each retracted their shields around just themselves and slithered off on any course other than the one from which the rock demon was coming, completely ignoring however many other enemies were in their way.

  Amongst those still remaining where the nagas had made their stand, a strange sense of unity had arisen. Waves of creatures banded together and were hurling themselves at the rock demon, who in turn tried desperately to either stamp on them, or crush them with his mighty fists. For the most part he was too slow, but one or two of the wolves had caught glancing blows, sending them skittering back into the dark. The nifoloa had fared better, but hadn't so much as dented his thick, rock skin with their deadly teeth.

  Of the nagas who had fled, only one was managing to stay ahead of the game. Two had been taken down by the group of four armed scaled apes, although not many of their complement still had the correct number of limbs. Using all of their magic and knowhow, the nagas gave everything in the struggle against the apes. The turning point in the whole encounter was the fact that the apes' scales, much to the nagas' surprise, offered an amazing amount of resistance to their magic. Brilliant green lightning bolts fizzled and sizzled, scorched, singed and burnt, but did little other than that. With little in the way of offence, the only real option for the two was to turn tail and flee, which they did, only to be tripped up in the darkness by the remainder of the apes' party. After that, it was all over, as the frenzied creatures pummelled and mashed their bodies into a disgusting slush, from which they could be seen slurping many hours later.

  Another had slithered for all he was worth, but had become momentarily confused on leaving the running battle with the rock demon, and instead of heading towards the exit, had in fact travelled deeper into the basement. By the time he realised his mistake, for him, unfortunately, it was way too late. Being constantly harangued by two pairs of double headed eagles, his concentration was elsewhere when it should have been on his immediate environment. He never saw the punch that pierced his protective shield, catching him side on in the middle of his head, forcing him to roll off into the shadows and come up fighting. Conjuring up a raging ball of fire that illuminated his ambusher, a battered and bruised scorpion man, missing one of his pincers, he tossed the deadly magic towards its target, trying hard to ignore the ringing in his ears. Within feet of the scorpion man, the fireball exploded, causing him to rear up in surprise, all the time crying out in agony. With his target damaged and on fire, the naga assumed he'd done enough to ear
n a brief respite. Not so. Flames pouring from every part of him, the scorpion man gave one defiant charge just as one of the two headed eagles swooped out of the shadows and took an almighty chunk out the naga's tail. It was the tiniest of distractions, but it was enough. In what turned out to be the throes of death, the scorpion man, with one last Herculean effort, sidled around and brought down the huge stinger on the end of his tail, burying it straight into the bemused naga's chest. Both creatures collapsed where they were, both roaring with pain, both unable to move, the poison working in mere moments on the naga, while the scorpion man took much longer to die, in more pain than any being had a right to suffer.

  That just left one. And he was snaking towards the exit at quite a rate, determined to raise the alarm. That is until a gentle hissing up ahead caught his attention. Wary beyond belief, he put as much of his magic into the shield around him as he could, and slowed to a halt. Peeking out from behind one of the gloomy corners, he could just make out a tangle of snakes slithering around in the middle of the path to the exit. Panting rapidly from having pushed himself so hard, for fear of death, from behind him the sound of many creatures racing to keep up sent a wave of fear rushing through him, as he considered all the options available. He had to get past, he just had to. But what to do? A flying leap was all that came to mind. It wasn't impossible, but it would need to be in excess of four metres from the look of things. That was pushing it he knew, however, he was out of options. So without any fuss or last thoughts, he shot off round the corner, knowing that speed was the key. Slithering from side to side on the cold stone floor, the reassuring heat he could feel from the friction gave him hope. He approached as close as he dared, the snakes seemingly oblivious to his presence, and then using the muscles in his tail, he kicked off, judging it to perfection, but for one thing. These weren't just any snakes. These were shape shifting snakes, and the moment he left the ground, two of their number dissolved completely, appearing a fraction of a second later as two hulking great snow beasts, eight feet tall, covered in thick, white matted fur all over and a set of teeth that would have put a great white shark to shame. Abruptly, the naga slammed into the first one's chest, bouncing off and landing smack bang in the middle of the band of snakes. Immediately he was peppered with bites, the serpents slithering over him, fighting for position. The poison here wasn't as quick to take his life, it just paralysed him. So there he lay for over an hour as not only the snakes tore tiny fragments off him, but the other creatures he'd been battling against earlier joined the feast, while at the same time fighting off the snakes. Through a gap in the wriggling and sliding serpents that covered his head, he could just make out the exit, the one they'd spent so much time trying to break into. If only he could go back, go back and change things. As his life force ebbed away, he watched all the different creatures, tentatively at first, make their way through the door and out into the council building proper. By the time he died, it was a positive free for all stampede of exotic and magical creatures.