A Selfless Sacrifice

by Paul Cude

  Three minutes, that’s how long it took them to reach the cavern at the end of the little used path, and although deeply unhappy at being trapped, there was at least a bright side for the librarian dragon, something he commented on immediately.

  “Wow!”

  “Oh yeah... I forgot to mention how it might appear to an outsider.”

  “It’s amazing,” gushed Orac, absolutely entranced by not only the colours and depths of the crystals in the cave, but by their sheer number and size. By his count alone, and he was a wizard when it came to maths, there must easily have been over a million, maybe even two, growing out of every surface, even on occasion sprouting up from the ground.

  “What should we do?” Keesha asked, only now willing to admit to herself that she’d made the wrong call, and by the looks of things, doomed them both.

  It was exactly at that point that the repository guardian dropped to his knees, clutching his head with both hands, scrabbling about on the sandy floor, evidently in a serious amount of pain.

  “Orac, Orac, what is it, what’s happening?”

  If he could have focused, he would have done so, but the sheer volume of noise, words and different memories had him not only bamboozled but in absolute agony. All he’d done was open up the most minute gap in the defensive shield around his mind in an effort to see if could get a message out to his friend, the king’s protector. Nothing should have been able to get through, he was sure of that, but on doing so, out of nowhere, there was all of this. You’d think he could just plug the hole, extend his barrier out so that no gap appeared, both of which he did, but it didn’t seem to matter now. Dozens of voices, all seeming rather benign and robotic, almost as if they didn’t have minds of their own, bombarded his intellect, the combination of them all overwhelming, all consuming, terrifying him to his very core. Hunched over on the floor, digging around in the sand, about to give up, his thoughts suddenly turned to For’son, the dragon he now regarded as his friend, and as they did so, two things happened.

  One, instantly his confidence grew, whether from the admiration for his pal, or just knowing that he’d do more, somehow prevail against all odds, and that allowed him to start to separate all the different noises and individuals he could feel within his psyche.

  And two, unbelievably given the distance separating them, he could actually feel the dragon himself, having just taken flight, at the entrance to the valley if he wasn’t mistaken, and he was sure that he wasn’t, on some last death dealing run, determined to take down the ra-hoon once and for all. It was amazing, astounding and totally impossible. That is until he picked his huge prehistoric head up off the floor and noticed for the first time that the crystals around him seemed to be glowing.

  ‘What the...?’ he thought, astounded at what was going on, until a soft voice interrupted the flow of his thoughts.

  “Orac... are you okay? What’s happening?”

  Composing himself, his confidence returned in no small part due to For’son, he stood up and as he did so, the crystals higher up on the walls surrounding them started to light up.

  “Uh... what’s going on?” asked Keesha again, concerned for her friend.

  “I... I... I’m not sure. Suddenly I was overwhelmed by... not so much voices, but thoughts invading the space in my head. I think it might be the dragons under the control of the ra-hoon.”

  “The ones chasing us?”

  “Yes.”

  “What does that mean? Have they somehow developed the same powers as their masters?”

  “No... I don’t think it’s that. I do however believe that whatever’s happening is somehow related to these crystals,” the librarian added, running one of his hands along the gemstones on one wall.

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because they didn’t attack me, and I could sense For’son some way off in the distance.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “I think he is, but I believe he’s about to do something reckless, and could well need our help.”

  “That’s impossible, trapped inside here as we are.”

  “Yes,” replied Orac, his brain working overtime as to exactly what he’d stumbled on to. “When you were here all those decades ago, did anything... weird happen?”

  “Define weird.”

  “I don’t know... anything at all unusual, out of the ordinary.”

  “I don’t think so. No, hang on, wait. On the odd occasion when we were playing hide and seek throughout all the chambers, I was able to... almost sense where my friends were hiding, and I was always right when that happened, almost as if I could feel where their minds were, despite however closed down or faraway they were.”

  “Excellent!”

  “I think I know what these crystals do.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “At a guess, and it’s only that, I believe the crystals somehow boost or enhance our telepathic powers, extending the range by quite some distance.”

  “Is that even a thing?”

  “It is now.”

  “Can we get a message to For’son to make him stop what he has in mind?”

  “I’ve tried, and although I can sense his presence, I can’t break down the barriers he has around his intellect to defend against the ra-hoon.”

  “Oh,” sighed Keesha. “What do we do now?”

  Right at that moment, a loud crashing echoed down the subterranean corridor towards their position. Clearly their pursuers had fought their way past the debris and were heading towards their position.

  “I have an idea,” announced Orac, “but I’m not sure if it’ll work.”

  “Whatever it is, we’d better do it quickly.”

  “If my hypothesis is correct, then the crystals in this cave should amplify our telepathic abilities tenfold. If we both stand in different parts of it, we can attempt to use the gemstones.”

  “To do what?”

  “I can try and appeal to the good in them in the hope that something in their original personalities remembers. And you can flood them with all of your memories, whether childhood or recent. Get them to recall. If that happens, maybe they can break through whatever the ra-hoon are using to coerce them.”

  “Understood,” replied the young female.

  “I’ll stay at the front,” suggested Orac, trying to be both brave and chivalrous. “You take up a position at the back.”

  “When do we start?”

  “Straight away... the crystals should allow us to bombard their minds easily over this distance.”

  Sprinting to the back of the cavern, running her tiny hands across the top of the intriguing, beautiful purple, white, blue, green, red and yellow crystals surrounding her, Keesha nodded to the librarian, signalling that she was ready.

  Scared beyond belief, his legs wobbling like a jelly riding a bike down a cobbled hill, Orac closed his eyes, swallowed nervously, attempted to find his focus, and reached out using all of his supernatural power in an effort to find those that would do them harm.

  Standing out like a vegan at a BBQ, the dragon presences were easy to pinpoint, although they did feel a little strange. Normally you would expect their essences to be a bright beacon of light, shining through their surroundings, but although these were obviously dragons heading towards them, they appeared subdued, dull and dampened down, clearly the control the unicorn lookalikes had over them rearing its ugly head. No matter.

  Barely breathing, which is not a problem for any dragon, the dedicated librarian sought out the individual entities that he could feel and with the crystals all around him lit up like a Christmas tree, he bombarded them with as much goodwill as he could, using feelings and words that depicted friendship, family, community, teamwork, spirit and everything else righteous he could think of. It was a long shot, but since they were trapped with nowhere else to go it was the only thing available. He was also quite optimistic that it would work, given the amazing powers of the gemstones surrounding them.

  Keesha, aware of t
he trouble heading their way and more than a little afraid, tucked all of that to one side and extended her mind out in the direction of the passageway and the oncoming horde, albeit one by one, of dragons that she knew. Given the substantial difference between their fundamental natures normally and now, how they were under the influence of the unicorn lookalikes, it was difficult, but if she concentrated as much as she could, briefly she could just determine the individuals beneath the blanket of restraint and repression. And so she focused on them to start with, sharing memories of happier times, get-togethers, community events and activities, as well as more personal, one on one encounters. With the crystals bolstering her abilities, it was easier to share all of this with the multitude of beings heading their way simultaneously, showering them all with the love and care that she felt for each of them and their previous way of life. Whether or not it was having an effect was anyone’s guess.

  Further back in the underground tunnels, the ra-hoon’s minions, all in single file, stomped ever forward, having cleared the debris that had blocked their way for so long, like the zombified soldiers that they were, one goal driving them forward: to find their attackers and kill them. Somewhere in the back of what remained of their intellect was the notion that this was a dead end and that they were trapped, sparking off a tiny sliver of delight inside their robot-like minds. About half a kilometre away now, they all knew as one collective that there was no escaping for their prey.

  Dragging what looked very much like a hurricane in his wake, For’son, fearsome warrior and king’s protector, sped down the valley, the vicious swirling mass behind him picking up everything, rocks, stones, plants, animals and insects, all the time his mind walled off as he closed in on the ra-hoon’s last known position, determined to rain down hell on the unicorn lookalikes and end their dominance.

  What he didn’t know though, was that the devious and cunning contingent still left alive, knew that he was coming. Not because they could break down his defences and feel his mind, for once not being able to penetrate the supernatural spell that kept his mental faculties safe. No, they could feel the walled off magic of the mantra itself and were able to track it from quite some distance. And so with that in mind Stuffi, their leader, ordered the other two to take up positions either side of him on the valley floor and face the dragon who’d torn their grouping apart and killed their kin. There would be a reckoning for what had gone on previously, and that particular dragon would pay the price for his insolence.

  Knowing that things might get hairy fast, the beating heart of the warrior inside the king’s friend readied itself for action, reflexes on alert, battle hardened experience primed to be of use, offensive mantras only a fraction of a second from being applied. For all intents and purposes, For’son was as prepared as he could be to take down one hell of an almighty foe, one that he didn’t understand and that magic couldn’t supposedly harm. For him, it would be an adventure into the unknown. Whether he’d savour the taste of victory, only time would tell.

  Spread out across the valley, with Stuffi in the middle, the two injured ra-hoon either side of him, still desperately trying to heal their wounds with borrowed dragon magic that they couldn’t quite make work as effectively as the winged prehistoric beasts themselves, not only could they get an impression of their prey now through their magically enhanced senses, they could also hear the tempestuous twister destroying anything in its path that accompanied the dragon on his onrushing assault. Fear was something that none of them had ever experienced before, but one of their kind, now hobbling intently because of a broken leg damaged in the attack and a fractured jaw, stood on the left side of the valley, very much rethinking her life choices. Here and now, the whole debacle of taking over the dragon villages, which had seemed like a cunning and potentially life changing plot at the time, now appeared to be coming back to bite them on the ass, big time. There were much easier prey and food sources out there she knew, something that if she could go back, would make her hesitate to be involved in the course of action that they’d taken. And so continuing with the below par healing, pain and fear coursing through her, one particular piece of magic that she’d picked up from a species of serpent that they’d coerced many, many years ago, sprang to the front of her intellect, presenting her with an opportunity, should she wish, to escape at a moment’s notice. In her mind, she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  Back in the subterranean tunnel and cave system that Orac and Keesha found themselves trapped in, the two friends and brave dragons were only moments away from their enemies, the friends and kin of the golden female, from the surrounding villages, almost on top of them.

  Exhaling, Orac turned to his companion on this fantastical adventure and urged her on, telling her that they both needed to double their efforts. Taking her friend’s words on board, she did just that, recalling everything that was special to her from the villages she’d grown up in, not now concentrating on any one individual, but sending all of the images, words and sounds out in the direction of all the mind controlled dragons that were heading their way.

  Briefly, about halfway down the dark stony passage, the all white eyes of a squat green and brown female dragon changed for but a split second, the irises returning, her mind rid of the shadowy mist that kept her from thinking and her personality at bay. But that’s as good as it got, with the ra-hoon’s will soon overriding any other compunctions, snuffing out the bright light and the faintest of hope.

  It had worked, just for a second... he could feel it, off in the distance. One of them had come back. Delight rippled through him at the thought that they were on the right track and that it could actually be done. All they needed now was to pull it off on all of them at the same time, which given the leaders were now only seconds away from being upon them, would be quite something. No pressure then!

  “It’s working,” he shouted turning back towards Keesha. “But we need more. Give it everything you have. It’s now all or nothing!”

  Magic coursing through their primeval bodies in one last blazing telepathic, not so much attack or assault, as display of the previous lives they’d had, the librarian and the exquisite gold dragon gave everything over to the task in front of them, knowing that if they failed they were as good as dead, also aware that they held the last chance for the villagers, some of whom were her family. With only a few seconds to play out, the playful entity known as Fate watched on from afar with a glint in her eye, hoping at the very least to be entertained. She wouldn’t be disappointed.

  Extravagantly barrel rolling now, rotating axially at speed in front of the gigantic beast of the stormy hurricane that he towed in his wake, he could just about see all three of the monstrous fiends spread out in front of him on the valley floor, each looking stoic and defiant, almost as if they didn’t have a care in the world, something he found hard to believe.

  ‘It’s an act,’ he thought, knowing that there was little they could do to either stop him or what lay behind him, from hitting them like a ton of bricks. They would, he knew, die a perilous and painful death. And then, about four hundred metres out... it happened! Belched from each of their mouths, a constant stream of mesmerising yellow, orange, red and blue fireballs closed in on his position.

  ‘That’s... impossible,’ was the only thought he could conjure up as he not only spun, but rocketed forwards at about half the speed of sound, the whistling wind and debris behind him by now, casting a huge shadow where the sun should have been. Immediately his quick and experienced battle hardened brain kicked in, trying to provide him with a solution. Unfortunately, it had never seen anything like this, wondering how on earth each of them could produce an array of fireballs in a row like that, because dragons certainly couldn’t. But there was no time to waste thinking. All that mattered now was how to avoid the fiery death crisscrossing his path in all but a moment or two. His life very much depended on how he dealt with this, he knew.

  Disappointingly, they’d reached the point of no return and hadn’t
succeeded in bringing the dragons that were all but upon them out of their trance-like states.

  Rushing in with only murderous intent on their minds, one, two, three, four, five... half a dozen dragons, accompanied by blood curdling screams, propelled themselves forward, some sprinting, others giving a little flap of their wings, only able to bound at speed as opposed to actually flying because of the confined space, all converging on Orac’s position as he was the closest to them. Aware of what was going on, the courageous and dedicated librarian stood as still as a statue, eyes closed, still using his telepathy to inundate his attackers with thoughts of peace and goodwill, knowing now that this was, for him at least, the end. Twenty metres away, Keesha did the same, flooding the newcomers with all her warm and caring thoughts, putting every last ounce of passion and willpower behind her magic, desperately hoping it would be enough. But would it?

  With events spiralling out of control at jet fighter speed, For’son’s adaptable, intelligent and crafty mind could only come up with one solution. It was far from ideal: avoiding action. That, he knew, meant any number of risks, for him at least. Dropping right down to the surface of the valley, feeling the sand tickle his underbelly, he swished his huge blue shaded tail and wheeled off to one side, hoping for two things. One... that he could successfully avoid the worst of the windswept hell that was coming in at high speed behind him, and two... that the crazy, all out tornado-like mass filled with sand, stone, rubble, trees and animals would carry on and assault the creatures it was meant to take down. As the fireballs intended to take him down zipped over his head, gobbled up by the ferocity behind him, his wishes disappeared and reality caught up with him.