A Selfless Sacrifice

by Paul Cude

  Briefly delighted, he immediately righted a wrong and inverted back, zigzagging around two giant boulders unexpectedly jutting out from beyond one of the darkened walls. Exhaling sharply, a pinprick of light up ahead suddenly swam into view. Swapping back to his normal vision and with nothing else chasing him, elegantly he glided towards the onrushing exit, looking forward to the sun once again baking his huge scaled body. Making the most of his momentum, the king twisted slightly to line himself up with the odd shaped hole at the end of the outcrop, and then, like a phoenix flying out of the flames, shot out of the darkness and into the crystal clear, cloudless blue sky. Stretching out every sinew in his wings as he effortlessly looped the loop, the warm rush of air caressing every single scale on the outside of his prehistoric body, it wasn’t long before his friend joined him in the air above the end of the rocky overhang.

  “Yet another stunning plan,” ventured the king sarcastically.

  “Ahhh... what are you moaning about? It worked didn’t it?”

  “Hmmm... I suppose.”

  “And just what else was I going to do at such short notice? You probably need to take better care and not get caught up in those kind of situations,” declared For’son, hot on his friend’s tail, tumbling and rolling, jinking this way and that, both of them trying to outfly the other in, of course, the most friendly way possible.

  “You always have an answer for everything, don’t you?” observed the dragon monarch, tiny flecks of sizzling orange flame flicking out of his huge, scaled nostrils.

  “What can I say?” replied his friend. “It’s a gift, and one I utilise to its utmost.”

  Abruptly the light of the day faded, leaving them both shrouded in darkness and shadow, which was odd because dusk was a long way off and there hadn’t been one single cloud in the sky. As one, they turned to face where they knew the sun was, both hovering in the air.

  Horrific blackness filled the sky, blocking out most of what remained of the sunlight, sending a terrifying chill up both friends’ spines as they tried in vain to make out exactly what had happened.

  “Uhh... Majesty, I think it might be time to leave,” whispered For’son, not normally nearly so cautious.

  “I just want to see what...”

  “Uhh... Majesty, we really have to go.”

  “I just want to know what...”

  “Dragons sire, and a lot of them.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous For’son, there’s no way in hell that it could be...”

  “You see?”

  “Oh...”

  Simultaneously the king and his friend wheeled around and using the full force of their mighty wings, started hightailing it off in the opposite direction to the dark force of monstrous winged beasts that had, through sheer numbers, blocked out the light from the sun.

  “Make for the swamp,” shouted For’son across the barrage of noise from the wind whipping their faces.

  “Another one of your excellent plans?” enquired the king sceptically.

  “Something like that.”

  Not daring to look back over their shoulders, both friends flew for all they were worth. After five or six minutes the terrain beneath them started to visibly change, the jagged grey rocks with the occasional pine sticking out faded away, replaced by lush wet grass and thick brown waterways, all noticeably flat, with absolutely no cover or defensive hidey holes anywhere.

  Tired and now thirsty, the king was the first one of them to pause and look back, albeit only momentarily, hovering casually above the fetid swamp.

  “There must be hundreds of them, For’son. What the hell are we going to do?”

  “Follow me sire, and have a little faith,” his friend suggested with a smile and a wink.

  That was when the king knew they had a fighting chance.

  Kicking the king playfully in the thigh with one of his huge feet, his talons retracted, the lava magic long since having disappeared, For’son arched his neck, pinwheeled around and pumping his powerful wings ferociously, once again headed away at speed from the oncoming pack of death dealing monsters all journeying in their direction. Smiling at the audacity of his friend, the king, buoyed by the thought of whatever was up For’son’s magical sleeve, turned and followed in his wake, exerting a great deal of energy in an effort to catch him up.

  ‘Ohhh,”’ he thought, ‘this is going to be good.’

  Barely a wing width apart, five hundred or so dragons in all shapes, colours and sizes, led by their ruthless, heartless and callous leader, Prtzillines, swept through the air high above the ground, the sun blazing down on their backs, heating their scales and the desire within them to follow the orders that had been laid out in front of them by their despotic leader. Kill those outsiders that would try and interfere in their sadistic way of life. Leave no stone unturned in doing exactly that, no matter what it meant and no matter how far they had to travel. Send a message to the rest of the world, that under no circumstances were they to be trifled with. And so with murder on their mind, they closed in on their prey, their timeworn instincts to kill and maim in order to protect their own, bubbling to the surface, each ready to do what it took to take down these interfering usurpers.

  The muscles in their tails and wings aching like a weightlifter’s back, darting out briefly in front of his friend For’son unexpectedly pulled up, and then dropped to the marshy ground, landing with a splash amongst the various shades of long, wet, green grass and in doing so turned back to face the raging horde rampaging through the air after them. Tiny effervescing bubbles wriggled their way to the surface as far as the eye could see giving off a fetid aroma of... what? An underground natural phenomenon specific only to that area or the waft of dead animals being brutally digested by something prehistoric? Had they thought about it, their enemy might just have recognised the singularity, but of course they didn’t.

  Following his lead, the king dropped down beside him, the cold muddy water splattering half way up his thighs as he did so.

  “Perhaps now would be a good time to fill me in?” asked the monarch, fully expecting the details to be forthcoming.

  Boy was he disappointed.

  “When they get here, speak to their leader, Prtzillines. Make it clear that you’ll accept their surrender and that the citizens and the land as a whole will benefit greatly by living under your banner.”

  “And...”

  “And that’s it,” he replied.

  “You do realise that they’re going to kill us, in the most despicable way possible,” added the king.

  “Ahhh, well you never really know. Perhaps your regal reasoning will leave them dumbfounded, confused but also impressed.”

  The look on the king’s face was absolutely priceless at his friend’s clowning about in the circumstances they now found themselves.

  “I bet you wish you hadn’t cancelled my order for reinforcements right about now,” admonished For’son, half jokingly.

  The king did... big time!

  “As always, you were right, but a fat lot of good that’s going to do us now, unless of course you can magic them out of thin air from an entire continent away.”

  “I wish that were the case, but not so I’m afraid.”

  “Oh good.”

  “Anyhow, here they come. Good luck!” wished his friend, taking one step back behind the king.

  ‘What in hell have I got myself caught up in this time?’ he wondered, puffing out his dark red belly as far as it would go in the hope that it would make him look somehow majestic and unappetising.

  Almost immediately they were upon them, at first the whole force circling through the air above, making sure there was nowhere for the two of them to go, and then following the example of their prey they landed, all five hundred of them, in a gigantic circle, leaving a large open space of about twenty wingspans between them and their quarry.

  Swallowing nervously, facing the despicable and murderous leader that he’d only recently met diplomatically in an effort to once and f
or all reunite his entire land for the good of the world as a whole, the king attempted to do as his friend had asked, once again trusting For’son to deliver. Not once had he ever previously let him down. There is however, always a first time for everything.

  “Well... if it isn’t, now... how did you so shamelessly put it on your visit? Ahh... that’s it, the king of the free world. If it isn’t the king of the free world, lost, alone and interfering in what is most definitely our part of it.”

  Swallowing nervously, able to look out, because of his specially shaped eyes, at a great deal of them, probably more than three hundred, all eyeing him up for some spectacular death no doubt, the monarch of most of the new world, something he’d spent decades trying to reunite, remembered his friend’s words and ploughed on despite the tangible danger that was everywhere around him and the all encompassing fear that surged through his veins. Moments like this were what it was all about.

  “Prtzillines, it’s so good to see you again. Out hunting with your friends? I’d rather hoped you’d taken on board what I said about the bipeds.”

  “Oh... we’re out hunting, and while I totally disagree about your stance on the bipeds, you don’t have to worry about that today, they’re not the prey we’re looking for.”

  A huge round of chortling echoed throughout the concentric circle of desperate, deadly beings surrounding the king and For’son at this, all kowtowing to their leader’s supposed charm and wit, each knowing what the repercussions would be if they didn’t join in.

  “I see,” mused the monarch, much to the amusement of those all around.

  “Seeking to covertly infiltrate our lands in order to persuade my subjects to go behind my back and support you seems to have backfired. I bet you wish now that you hadn’t gone against my will, and that you’d just left us alone. Those under me know no rule of law except mine. Whether you like it or not is neither here nor there. I’ve been doing this for an awfully long time, and will continue to do so until the day I die, something that will be centuries from now. But enough talking. I’m sick and tired of everything that’s gone on here today, and although it gives me no pleasure at all,” he said, a sickly grin forming across the scales of his prehistoric face, “it’s time to show you how trespassers are treated away from your precious domain.”

  With the time for the most one-sided fight in history arriving with something of a whimper, the dragon domain king tried to stick to the plot.

  “I’ll graciously accept your surrender, you should know,” he piped up to a chorus of laughter and cheers from the surrounding malevolent monsters.

  “Is that so?” replied Prtzillines, starting to lose his temper.

  “It is,” answered For’son’s best friend. “And I’ll also guarantee a kinder, grander life, less under threat for all of the beings you claim to command. We’ll build dwellings underground and on the surface. They’ll be able to travel freely wherever they want, join and interact with different communities, exchanging ideas and magic with likeminded individuals. Roles in local government, and even the dragon council itself would all be possibilities. Tell me that’s not an upgrade on what they’ve already got? Sustainable resources for food, shelter from the harsh cold of the winter, with enough goodwill to go around. And all you have to do is step down and live the rest of your life in comfort and relative obscurity. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

  This time there was no laughter, no cheering... nothing except a cold harsh silence, only pierced by the occasional bubble bursting on the surface of the water they all stood in.

  “And,” added the king, “if you can’t do it for yourself, do it for all those surrounding you and their families. Think of their struggle and wellbeing and just how much this might improve THEIR lives.”

  ‘Ohhh,’ thought For’son from ever so slightly behind his friend. ‘I like that, I really do. I wonder if he’ll take the bait?’

  Stretching out his dark green powerful wings in the blink of an eye and turning ever so slightly, knocking those around him into the water at his feet, most landing with an ungainly splash, the deranged and fearless leader of this land huffed out a few breaths of extraordinary bright and hot fire from his humungous jaw in an effort to intimidate his troops close by, as he conjured up the words he needed to put these invaders in their place.

  “You think that uniting all of those other lands under one banner gives you the right to come storming back in here after not getting the answer that you wanted just a short while ago. Let me tell you now... it doesn’t! These male and female dragons are mine to command and always will be. I don’t care about your brave new life, or how much better off they’ll be. I only care about running my land as I see fit, and nobody, and I mean, nobody, interferes in that. With that in mind, I’m about to show you the result of meddling and just what happens to any being that disobeys me.”

  ‘Bluster, yes,’ thought the king, ‘but something he could probably follow through on. Come on For’son, I think we’ve played games for long enough. Show your hand, and let’s be done with all of this.’

  About to give the command for one all out attack, for his troops to rip into the two stray dragons out some way in front of them, Prtzillines was very rudely interrupted.

  “Tell me, have you always been so ignorant and arrogant?” asked For’son, stepping up next to his comrade, much more full of confidence than he had any right to be.

  Murderous anger writhing in the deathly dark pupils of his giant, beastly eyes, the vile and disgraceful leader of this land didn’t miss a beat with his reply.

  “I’d have thought your last words would have been something more memorable and wise,” he growled, instigating more howling and laughter, the dragons around him this time beating their wings in fury and anticipation of what was to come.

  To their utter surprise, For’son stood there, heavily outnumbered and just... puffed out his bright, crystal blue chest in a gesture of defiance.

  Beside him, the king gulped.

  “Get ready,” mouthed Prtzillines, silently.

  And then, it happened, utterly without warning.

  The occasional bubbles across the swamp, well, their part of it anyway, increased by a thousand fold, gurgling and effervescing, belching and squelching. On their own not so much a cause for alarm, but in tandem with five thousand dragons rising up out of the watery gloom and into the ferocious sunlight, in a concentric circle not only between their king and the dark enemy force but all around the outer circumference of those that would do their monarch harm. An impressive sight to be sure, with the odds now changing significantly in favour of For’son and his friend.

  As mighty prehistoric beasts shook off the water, mud and filth they’d been hiding in, the enemy force trapped between their two rings of fighters looked on in absolute fear, something they’d previously only experienced at the hands of their leader, the one who now stood out gazing across through a small gap in the enemy lines that allowed a view of For’son and the king, looking perplexed at how events had unfolded over the last few seconds. From the expression emblazoned onto his monstrous, dinosaur-like face, things could go either way.

  “Y... y... y... you cheated!” he exclaimed. “Y... y... y... you lied and deceived!”

  “Not at all,” responded the king, relieved at part of his army turning up without his knowledge, thankful that his friend had, not for the first time, disobeyed a direct order and gone with what he thought best.

  “We’d always hoped to do this the easy way, to convince you to step down and live the rest of your life in relative luxury, affording the dragons under you a fresh start and a new way of life without fear and threats, without the abuse and suffering that has become your trademark. However, you’ve chosen not to follow this course of action, endangering your subjects, but also the rest of the planet. And I’m afraid I just can’t allow that to happen. And so I’ll say this now, in front of every being here. At this exact moment, YOU HAVE A CHOICE! You can follow your monstrous lea
der’s order which will no doubt be to charge and attempt to take at least ME out, or you can surrender to us of your own free will, return to your families and grasp the chance of a new, free life with both hands. I’m not going to lie to you... it won’t be easy, at least not to start with, but what we’re doing across the planet will build a platform for every dragon to thrive, and a better life in the future for all our offspring. The choice is of course... YOURS! But a better offer and a better chance will not come again in your lifetime, which, given your leader’s next order, could well be measured in only a matter of seconds.”

  And there he finished, furtively eyeing his adversary and those all around him, waiting to see how the next few moments would play out, pretty sure he already knew.

  Stuck in his ways, used to his orders being obeyed at any cost, a cold hearted killer that kept those under him perpetually in fear through dark deeds and violence, nothing too sadistic for his tastes, a brief glimpse of reality suddenly shone through Prtzillines’s mind on noticing all those around him try to subtly distance themselves. There and then, he knew it was over and that his fifty year rule had come to an end, not at all how he’d imagined it. Frustrated, angry, full of what he perceived as righteous vengeance at being dethroned by this smug and conceited intruder that assumed he knew what was best for not only his land, but the world at large, being held in captivity like a chained up animal was never really going to be an option for him. And so, in one final act in which he thought he could reap some kind of revenge on not only these new assailants, but his turncoat subjects that were even now separating themselves from him, he scoured his mind for the darkest magic he knew and prepared to go out all guns blazing.