by Darren Lewis
“And we could ask for our ball back!” She laughed again but then she looked up at Malachite who was staring at her with a confused look on his long face. She started to breathe deeply and regained control. “What, Malachite? What's the matter?” She asked him seriously, looking around for any potential threat.
The dragon shook his head.
“I don't get it. What ball?”
“Never mind.” Ellie sighed. “Let's just get in there, shall we?”
Malachite nodded and pushed his great bulk against the two thousand year old golden gates as Ellie dried her eyes.
*
Though the palace had been built and decorated with lavish attention to detail it was the raised platform that drew Ellie's and Malachite's immediate attention. A long, wide and steep stone staircase led to a large, black sarcophagus. Both mounted the stairs quietly and carefully as the light from the braziers lit by Malachite struggled to penetrate this far into the tomb. As Ellie reached the head of the perfectly chiselled steps she could now see enough detail by the wavering light to make out carvings or paintings decorating the emperor's last resting place. They were exquisite and by the trick of the light seemed to move and flow around the base of the large stone tomb. Ellie and Malachite paused for a moment and looked back towards the fake city. From here the emperor would've been able to survey his land in the afterlife. Safe in his underground palace with his warriors protecting him against invaders to the east. Ellie opened her shoulder bag and retrieved the second talisman. It.was simply carved and Ellie supposed that was the intention all along, to make it seem unimportant. An artefact from a distant past but nothing of importance.
Ellie placed a hand on Malachite's leg and gave it a squeeze. She then started her search around the tomb for the positioning of the talisman. It was an easy find. Affixed on top of the sarcophagus was a mask or effigy of the emperor's face. Below this on what would've been his chest lay a gold talisman, almost identical to the one Ellie held but for a few critical carvings Anqi Sheng had not made. She reached out and easily lifted the fake talisman from its resting place and laid it down by her feet. Ellie hesitated. Nobody, not the orb or her older self knew what would occur after she had placed the talisman where the emperor had commanded it was to be laid. A stabbing pain from her eye made her groan slightly and jolted her back to her task. The sooner they were done here the better. The tension was making her headache worse.
“Are you ready, Malachite?” She asked the nervous looking dragon and he nodded. Ellie raised the real talisman with a shaking hand and placed it into the empty chest piece. As soon as it was in place Ellie quickly retreated to where Malachite waited at the head of the stairs.
A minute passed. Then another. The tomb was silent but for the echoing rush of the silvery rivers.
“Well.” Malachite whispered. “That was easy enough.”
Ellie nodded, and then the lid of the sarcophagus exploded.
*
Ellie flung her arms up to protect her face from the flying debris. She instinctively stepped backwards and her heart skipped several beats as her foot went into air and she felt herself falling. Her mind raced showing her the short possible future this action would lead to. A long and probably fatal bounce down the stone stairs. She screamed and Malachite roared, though not at Ellie's predicament.
Time seemed to slow for her and she saw a fully armoured figure emerge from the broken tomb. It carried a still lethal looking sword. The Emperor! Ellie thought wildly. He jumped down and raised his sword, almost in victory. Victory, Ellie thought, over death at last. The armoured man took a moment to examine the world he'd been reborn into and he took a step back. His gaze fixated on the green dragon and the sword was lowered to point directly at the dragon. It seemed after all these years the emperor remembered Malachite.
“You're too late, Zheng! Your army is ours now!”
The emperor made no sound as Malachite taunted him but Ellie saw his grip tightening around the sword's hilt. Malachite charged forward and swung a mighty paw at the risen man. The emperor tried to parry the blow but Malachite's claw caught the sword first and ripped it from the emperor's hands and Ellie realised with astonishment, the emperor's hands themselves. If she hadn't been in mortal danger Ellie would've found the scene hilarious, here was a resurrected emperor, fully clad in armour, facing off against a dragon and even though his face couldn't be seen the emperor's reaction to his missing sword and hands was almost comical as he looked back and forth to where his hands should've been. Malachite tilted his head as the dust from the destroyed hands settled, he then shrugged and swept a large paw once again at the now weapon-less emperor. Malachite's blow impacted on most of the armour causing a tremendous clatter as the figure of the man was destroyed in one move. The armour blew apart and Ellie saw bones, some still hung with rotted clothes, fly out only to smash to dust on the floors and wall.
Malachite cocked his head and he roared once again.
“Oh! That was easy! A good lesson to remember, Ellie. Don't wait two thousand years to be resurrected! Ellie?”
Malachite turned quickly and he lumbered over to the head of the stairs, his expression one of complete disbelief.
“How are you doing that?” He asked as he cocked his head from one side to the other, his short battle with the emperor forgotten. Ellie opened her mouth to ask the dragon what he was talking about when she remembered her stumble backwards and the thought of bouncing, painfully, down the stairs. Ellie looked at her feet and then behind her. Somehow, and Ellie had no idea how, her fall had been arrested and she now lay horizontal, her head and most of her body hanging over the edge of the steps with her toes pointing upwards.
“You're lying down! In mid-air!” Malachite yelled.
“Yes.” Ellie squeaked. “Um, help me?”
Malachite reached down and scooped Ellie up and placed her amid the detritus of the destroyed sarcophagus and emperor. Her knees gave way and Ellie slumped to the dusty floor her mind alternating between racing and running through treacle.
“Well.” Malachite said softly. “I don't know how you did that but we need to go.”
Ellie nodded numbly and slowly pushed herself up. As she did so there came two startling cracks from above that made Ellie and Malachite jump. Dust filtered down from above and a long grinding noise seemed to come at them from all angles.
“Did you put that thing in the right way?” Malachite shouted.
“What?” Ellie asked dumbfounded.
A large grating sound caused them both to look towards the stone stairs. A split had appeared neatly down the middle and the stairs themselves were starting to crumble into the long, dark crack that was growing quickly.
“I guess Zheng left some surprises for us.” Malachite said loudly over the noise of the toe curling grinding of rock. When no answer came he looked back at Ellie. Her eyes were glazed over and she made small faces every few seconds as if holding a silent conversation. “Ellie!” As Malachite shouted sounds like enormous gun shots came from the constructed night sky overhead followed by a huge groaning. Malachite raised onto his haunches and launched a stream of fire at the ceiling. Dragon eyes adjusted quickly to the new light and Malachite saw parts of the ceiling were moving. Whatever material the builders had used two millennia ago was now purposely being destroyed. Malachite shook his head in anger. “This is why I didn't like you!” He screamed at the now dark again ceiling and with a back leg he kicked and demolished the remains of the first emperor's tomb.
Large boulders began to rain from the collapsing dome of the tomb and Ellie stared at her hands. Are these mine, she wondered. They look like mine but I'm not sure if I've seen them before. Malachite appeared in her line of vision and she smiled at him, maybe he could tell her if they were indeed her hands. She watched as the green dragon shouted at her but no words registered at all. Why is Malachite doing that? Silly dragon.
“Ellie…” Malachite rolled his yellow eyes. “Bloody hell.” He cursed and snatch
ed Ellie up. Despite the falling rock he was going to have to open a dragon thread in this part of the tomb and depend on luck. A scream arose from behind the green dragon and Malachite whipped his massive head towards the source. The spectre of the first emperor glowed faintly amid the rubble of the tomb. A hand pointed towards the dragon, then clenching into a fist it punched hard into the air. The canopy of rock above the tomb itself gave way with a painful crack of sound and Malachite scrambled backwards, launching his large frame away as the rock of the tomb above fell to the command of its long dead.
Rox and Storm
Rox paced a short distance within the White Room, the room where she and her mother waited for the Institute to bring her family. The large glass tubes the rabbits would be housed in gave Rox chills every time she looked at them but she couldn't help herself.
“Are you okay, Rox?” Storm asked.
Rox turned to face her mother she had only met a short while ago. Storm and the orb had explained what happened when Rox and her father Cast believed she was dead, killed by a fox. Storm was rescued by Malachite. Apparently Ellie, the older Ellie that is, kept a watch on the rabbits for many years. Rox had told Eleanor the story of when her mother died and Eleanor decided to intervene, with Malachite's assistance, thinking it may be better to save her life. Storm however could never go home, as her daughter was destined to lead the warren, but at least Storm was alive and fortune, though bad, had brought them together once again years later.
Rox nodded and sat down. She was tired, but her nerves were preventing any rest. Flare was hopefully now safe at Eleanor's house, though she worried as a mother did about her young at all times. But Plume and Fern were missing. Rox hadn't seen her partner or magic keeper since the attack on the warren.
“Just tired.” She said a few moments later. Storm nodded and her heart ached to see her daughter in pain. “Do you know how I look so young?” Storm said abruptly in an attempt to distract Rox. Rox frowned and studied her mother. In all honesty Rox had not noticed but now she looked closer she realised that Storm looked exactly the same as on the day she disappeared.
“How did you manage that? Magic?” Rox asked.
“No, not magic!” Storm replied, lifting a paw and delicately stroking one of her ears. “Well, maybe human magic, but not human magic.” As Storm explained she managed to look as confused as her daughter.
“What?” Rox asked plaintively.
Storm chuckled and pointed at one of the glass tubes that caused Rox such distress.
“Eleanor popped me in one of these. It was a bit scary. The blue water the humans use is supposed to render the captive unconscious but with her time at the Institute she formulated her own to keep the person, or animal, in a lucid dream state.”
Rox looked from her mother to one of the glass tubes nearby and back again.
“Umm. I'm not too sure I understood any of that.” Rox admitted. Storm smiled and walked to her daughter. “It doesn't matter, Rox. What I'm trying to say is even if we're not successful today our family will be safe. Captive but safe.”
Rox looked back towards a glass tube but this time the chills did not arrive.
“I understand, mother. But you have to understand this about me. I'm their leader. It will be today. I am not leaving this place without my family. Every single one of them.”
Storm raised a paw and turned her daughter's gaze back to her. She took a deep breath as she witnessed in Rox's eyes the leader she had become.
“Today then.” Storm whispered with a proud smile.
Cassandra
Cassandra gently cradled her bandaged hand against her chest as she sat on her bed. Dana, one of Sloan's guards was standing in the open door patiently waiting for Cassandra to pack a few of her things before leaving. Cassandra, however, knew the truth. Her contract wasn't being terminated, she would not be escorted off the premises and be free of the Institute. Her fate lay in one of the holding facilities Baiulus operated. A nondescript building that housed hundreds if not thousands of people with magical abilities. She was scared but since her two contacts with the strange intelligence, one in the village and again in this very building, she felt calmer. As she pulled open a drawer with her working hand and stared blankly at the clothes messily stuffed away Cassandra thought she knew why. For years she'd considered herself a traitor. Though she was forced, she still used her special abilities against those the Institute wanted to hold captive, those like herself. Her cycles of depression and weight gain were her responses against that horrid feeling and now it was over, now she was free of that burden. Cassandra closed her eyes and took a deep breath and released it slowly. Her body felt lighter and some of the darkness vanished from her mind. Maybe if given the chance she could banish all the demons she carried with her.
Dana coughed from the door and Cassandra turned to her slowly.
“I'm done here.” She said while snapping the drawer shut firmly on the mess, she would let the Institute deal with the detritus of her former life here. “Let's get on with this.”
Fern
Fern breathed a sigh of relief as he saw street lights marking the edge of the village. His progress had been long and terrifying mainly due to Fern's over-active imagination. He saw a fox behind every tree and bush and though he'd left the road a long time ago he could still hear the pass of cars and he imagined every one belonged to the people who had attacked his home. His encounter with Plume hadn't really helped his confidence. Fern either didn't know how to speak to Rox's partner so kept quiet or he babbled inanely which resulted with him normally upsetting the older rabbit. But he was here now. Fern moved closer to the road and saw blue flashing lights in the distance. If he followed this road he would find Ellie's house and getting around humans in the dark was easy enough. I hope, Fern thought. Fern started his run down the road, holding Seren tightly. He hoped he would not have to use any magic this time as he had when he was nearly captured. The results were incredibly exciting and had allowed him to get away but at the same time they terrified Fern because of the power he'd managed to unleash. In his training with Cast and then in the time that followed after the older rabbit's passing, Fern had never wielded such forces from Seren.
Further down the road, Fern now saw the long line of cars with blue flashing lights and a few larger vehicles that people in green were standing outside of. There didn't seem to be a great deal of urgency to their actions. Fern kept to the bushes and occasionally diverted into a garden to avoid being seen. He passed the people and their cars and made it to Ellie's home without incident. Fern peaked around the corner of a bush towards the house. There were two large black cars parked next to the house and Fern recognised them as the same type of vehicles he'd encountered in the woods. All the lights in the house were on and the cars created long, dark shadows across the garden. Fern bounded forward and crouched down in one of the shadows. He could now see inside a large window and saw men and women standing around waiting. One man was talking on a small black box and the others were all looking at him. It reminded Fern of when Rox was conferring with Plume and the other rabbits were waiting for her to speak. Fern crept to the house and an open window allowed him to hear what was being said.
“Yes empty, as in no one here.” There was a short pause. “Copy that. Tell Mr. Sloan we'll evaluate and report back.”
The man nodded and issued orders to the other people and a few left the room. Fern moved slowly to the side of the house and saw them exit and head for the rear garden. Fern crept to the open door and sneaked a quick look inside, there was no one near the door. He dashed passed and then slowed to creep into the garden. The people who had left the house were standing near a large black gate at the rear of the garden. One reached out and opened the gate. Fern ran to a bush nearby and became still instantly.
“Sir. Target building is dark. No movement seen from this distance.”
Fern heard a strange crackling sound followed by a voice.
“Okay. Soft infiltration ordered.”<
br />
“Roger. Moving in.” The people passed through the gate and towards the dark house. Fern wondered what was so special about the house next door to Ellie's. He shrugged and for now knew he must concentrate on searching Ellie's house undetected and try and find out what was going on here.
The Tomb
Malachite roared in agony as a jagged boulder from the ceiling dropped and caught his shoulder. The impact brought him to the ground in a few seconds and he knew there was something seriously wrong. The landing sent a lance of fire through his body and he stumbled, remembering at the last second he was carrying Ellie.
“Ellie?” He groaned in pain.
“Malachite? What? What happened?”
Ellie crawled out from underneath Malachite's body and she looked about. The last five or ten minutes were gone. There was just a blank space in her head when she tried to remember.
“You nearly fell down the stairs.” Malachite explained while trying to crane his neck to see what injury he'd sustained. “But you somehow hung there without falling and now the whole place is collapsing.” Malachite finished his sentence with a large hiss and a growl of frustration. Ellie tried once again to recall what had happened but to no avail. She shrugged and immediately turned her worries to the green dragon. She rushed around his large body, ducking her head at the sound of grinding and cracking from all around. Malachite bent forward to allow Ellie to see and she gasped in shock. The boulder had ripped down to the bone of Malachite's shoulder, severing vital muscles and tendons the dragon used to fly. Fortunately the blood loss wasn't as severe as she thought it would be.
“I'm sorry, Malachite. We won't be flying out of here.” She said while gripping his leg. The green dragon nodded, his eyes swirling as he thought. Up ahead the immense golden gates that led back to the constructed dark fields and grasslands started to tear of their mighty hinges as the ground beneath them and the supporting walls dropped quickly. Earth began to rain down quickly on Ellie and Malachite and Ellie immediately had trouble seeing anything. As the green dragon began to move over Ellie to protect her a rock glanced off the side of Ellie's head sending her crashing into the dark earth. Malachite immediately dragged her out of the earth and placed her under his body. More boulders fell around Malachite and he screamed as two hit his lower back sending his legs into the dirt. He tried to move them but the rocks had either broken his legs or his spine, making them useless. Despite the pain Malachite levered his upper body as best he could as a protective net above Ellie who'd been knocked unconscious. Blood trickled slowly down the side of her head and into the soil, but she was still breathing.