The Amazing Adventure

by Adam Clark

Magnus Flamestrike looked out across the northern wastes of Bravarion. He was a ranger for the Barbarian homeland defence. He was posted out in the far north and had been in the tundra like wastes with his three man crew for two moons now. Right now everyone else was getting their camp ready underneath a collection of snow laden firs five minutes’ walk away. Magnus was making the most of the sunlight while it was still there to guide him.

  He was standing at the top of the cliff they had camped near, looking out into the endless white wastes. He could make out no discernible objects, just ambiguous shapes and shades of white for as far as his keen vision could see. His scarf flapped violently across his grizzled face while he had a drag of the cigarette he was smoking. How long was he going to be out here dammit, nothing happened up here. They should have sent a rookie, he thought, he could do so much more with his talents. To top it off his brown military overcoat was barely keeping out the chill. He just wished something would happen, or they'd get the call to swap with the next crew, but he knew that wouldn't happen for at least another month.

  He scanned the horizon with he had his last drag, he was certain there was nothing out there but routine made him check one last time, and this time he paused. Far out in the distance he saw a very faint flash and a slight tremble in the bright red sunset lit clouds. From this disturbance he saw a small black streak drive directly down into the wastes and into a valley far in the distance. From this valley a thin plume of smoke could be seen from where Magnus was standing.

  Now something was happening, this was what he was there for, but what was that? It looked rather ominous. He had the sinking feeling that this wouldn't just be a routine search. There was no way they'd survive crossing the wastes tonight, definitely not over that distance. Turning around he strode back through the trees. The camp was set back five or so minutes and that gave him time to mull over what he'd seen, he decided it'd be best to send back a message to the field commander, if they left early tomorrow they'd be able to get to whatever the hell that was and get back to camp before nightfall. They might even be able to hitch a lift back to civilisation with the research teams.

  He strode back into camp as the last few rays of light penetrating the forest faded. The rest of the crew looked up at him.

  “Sir, camp's fully set up and Ginger's cooking up some tasty grub” Leopold snapped a quick salute. The four small tents had been set up on the snowy floor in the clearing, with Ginger and Alexander sitting around the fire. Ginger was tending to a steaming pot while Alexander sat cleaning his rifle.

  “Good work Leopold. I've got news, come with me.” He walked into the middle of the camp and stood by the fire.

  “Aright captain? anything new happening out in the wastes?” Alexander said sarcastically with a bit of a smirk, he knew that nothing ever happened in the wastes.

  “Funny you should say so, because there is something happening out there” Ginger stopped tending her pot and looked up from her cooking, while Alexander withheld a look of surprise. “Something crashed down about 7 clicks from here two valleys over. First light tomorrow we go and check it out. Be ready for trouble, because whatever it is, it’s set off my gut instinct.”

  “Ha, that might just be Ginger's cooking” Ginger threw Alexander a sharp glance. Magnus allowed himself a smile at the group’s banter, before asserting his position and making some orders.

  “Leopold, get on the radio to the commander, tell him we'll be investigating an unknown and to send a research team up here. We'll give him a report tomorrow before nightfall.” Leopold went over and started fiddling with the radio pack they'd carried with them. “Alex, check all our munitions and set out the lightweight blasters. We'll be on recon tomorrow. Ginge, when's grub up? I'm famished.”

 

  ***

  They woke up before the sunrise, packed away the camp-site into their bags and set off out of the snowy forest. They climbed down the cliff face that Magnus had stood atop the night before as the sun rose. They were one of the best ranger teams in that side of the galaxy, and they were down the cliff face within an hour.

  “Magnus, those aren't normal clouds” Alexander said at the base of the cliff, pointing across the white waste to where the object had crashed. High above the valley black clouds were swirling around slowly, contrasting heavily against the completely white sky.

  “Yeah, this is getting weirder by the minute,” Magnus commented, unclipping his rope. “Leopold, was there any response from base?”

  “No sir, I've been trying since last night and still nothing” Leopold shrugged back to him.

  “I know you guys don't approve, but my women's intuition is telling me that something bad is going down” Ginger added. Alexander came over and patted her on the shoulder.

  “When bad shit goes down, we're there to clean it up, don't forget!” he said cockily.

  “Alright, the suns about to fully come up, we need to get on and up onto the ridge of the next valley as soon as possible. Alexander move out” Magnus dropped to the back of the single file column behind Ginger while Leopold took point.

  They travelled slowly through the knee-deep snow and the biting wind, all the way over the first ridge and down through the first valley. The dark clouds had become more massive and ominous as they neared the slope up to the ridge separating the two valleys.

  When they had neared the copse of trees at the top of this ridge Leopold stopped.

  “Sir, the snow here's melting.”

  “What do you mean, that's imposs-” he looked at the floor and sure enough the snow was beginning to glisten, looking around he could see small shoots of green grass poking up through the snow. And even clear patch underneath the sparse trees higher up. “What the hell is going on!”

  The crew covered the last few meters of ground and threw themselves down on the ridge top, from here they had a clear view into the valley below. Alexander already had the video-noculars out. What they saw sent shivers down all four spines.

  The valley below was deep, and about 2 miles across. The edges still held onto the snow that hadn't left this land since time began, but the middle of the valley was a different story. Dead in the middle of the valley, sticking up out of a large impact crater was a black tower. Deep inside the tower burning furnaces could be seen, and the clanking of heavy machinery could be heard echoing across the valley. Sitting atop the tower, nearly inside the black clouds, was a massive black dragon. It's wings were folded up behind its giant body, they looked like they could easily be as long as a bus each.

  “Alex, you got enough recorded?” Magnus was rather agitated

  “Aye sir.”

  “Let's get off this ridge then.” They turned and retreated down the slope, stopping about halfway down. They were all speechless, after a while Magnus spoke.

  “Any news on the radio Leo?”

  “No, still no signal sir. I have a feeling that, whatever that thing back there is, it must be jamming all the signals.”

  “Damn, what do we do now? We need to get back and warn everyone, and if that radio doesn’t work we're going to have to do it on foot.”

  “Or not” Ginger had a hidden smile, “I happen to know there's an outpost 20 clicks from here. They have a dragon keep there, we can get a flight back to base and get the other regiments to arm the defences before anything really bad happens.”

  “Good one Ginge, it'll take us a while to cover that much ground, we'll get there deep after nightfall. Grab some food and some rest, we move out in 10 minutes.”

  chairman bro