Disclaimer: All characters belong to Lewis Carroll, Tim Burton and the Disney Corporation.

Sometimes when life threatening things happens everything stands still and the mind works overtime, this is very useful. In this case however, it did not and everything seemed to happen at the same time much too fast. Certainly for Jonathan it did anyway.

The pupil of the dragon's eye narrowed like a snake's to focus on the little humans near the end of its nose who had woken it. Ethan writhed in panic tumbling out of Jonathan's grip and falling to the floor still shrieking like a banshee. In no time at all he jumped up and was sprinting up a side of the chasm like a spidermonkey rather impressively soon vanishing over the top and out of eyesight. Meanwhile Jonathan and Stayne drew their swords, the Queen raised her stick-staff as the dragon began to clumsily get to its feet.

Dragons couldn't be indestructible, Jonathan thought desperately, he'd heard of many historical knights who had made their name by slaying the beasts (although they were usually equipped with lances, spears, catapults and various large weaponry aids) but Jonathan had not undergone any form of teaching on killing dragons. Why would they teach it? They were hundreds of years extinct. Or so he'd thought.

"Get round it!" Stayne shouted looking at the Queen who nodded and sprinted in the direction they had been heading.

He expected Stayne to head after her but instead he came back to Jonathan and put his hands on his shoulders. "You have to listen to me."

"You have a plan?" Good because the creature had already got to its front legs and would soon be on all fours.

"You get Mirana out of the Outlands, go as straight south as you can from here as fast as you can. I don't care if you take that cousin of yours with you but get Mirana out!" he practically shouted.

"What about you?" Jonathan said as the two of them scrambled to the side as boulders tumbled in their direction sending dust everywhere.

"It has wings," Stayne hissed imploringly. "If we all run the same way it will follow us and Mirana will be killed. I'm going to run back the other way. It should give you time enough to get hidden and out of its line of sight. Here take this." He held out the vorpal and handed it to Jonathan.

Jonathan took the silver sword stunned.

"Go," Stayne said indicating after Mirana.

Jonathan stared. "You really do..."

"GO!" he yelled.

Reeling from the realisation that all the time Stayne really had loved the Queen Jonathan gripped the sword and ran after his regent leaving Stayne.

As the creature reached its feet Jonathan narrowly missed being stood on by a back foot looking for a studier location sending a mountain of dirt over him. Jonathan soon caught sight of the Queen up ahead sprinted to catch up to her glancing back at the dragon who seemed to be working to the plan and making after Stayne in the other direction.

The Queen looked back too then skidded to a halt looking around. "Where's Stayne?"

"He's distracting the dragon. Giving us time to escape." He caught up to her.

Her eyes widened at his words. "It'll kill him!"

He couldn't argue with that. "He will be greatly honoured for it." He grabbed her wrist and made to pull her after him. He could break her orders in a situation as dire as this.

Mirana tried to wrench her hand free but he held firm. She dragged her feet on the ground refusing to go onwards. "I don't want him honoured I want him rescued."

"This is the only way."

"Not my way. I'm not leaving him." She furiously tried to pull out of his grip digging her nails into his skin as she made to go back. "Let go of me!"

"Sorry, your majesty." He swept down and grabbed the Queen under her knees slinging her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She screamed in pure fury.

"Put me down! I will not leave him behind. There is no way I'm leaving him behind. I order you to put me DOWN!" She hit with her fists, kicked him furiously, quite successfully elbowed him in side of his head and tried to bite him shouting all the while, letting loose some very un-queenly language.

But he pressed forwards not lloing back. "This is the only way."

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Stayne had outrun a lot of things. Things people really shouldn't be able to outrun but he wouldn't be able to outrun this. So eight stones later to the monsters scaly head when he ensured its focus was on him and not Mirana he began to run backwards leading it back the way they came. He aimed for the narrower paths where it would have trouble snapping at him, the further he could get it the better.

He never reached them though. It lumbered after him causing a small earthquake underfoot making Stayne completely lose his footing before he was even close to reaching the edge. He spat out a mouthful of dirt and scrambled to his feet again as he heard it approaching.

Within three steps it was upon him. He looked back to see its jaws opening ready to lunge down on that long neck and snap him up one bite. Was this how Alice had felt on the battlefield against a monster? No, she was a warrior, had a magic sword and a prophecy saying she would win, he'd given his sword to the lieutenant and was a simply a distraction, so he was going to die either way.

He began to zigzag in desperation vaulting over boulders. He dived in a small cave like structure in the chasm wall that only went back about twenty feet as he dodged the dragons head coming down at him vertically once again causing it to hit its nose on the dry earth. It reared up and gave a roar of either indignation or pain. Probably just indignation.

Stayne was about to try and run out and under its feet to get past it when the creature stuck the front of its head in the mouth of the cave. Stayne scrambled back avoiding those freakishly large teeth as they snapped angrily inside trying to reach him its snake-like tongue slithering in and out.

He pressed himself against the wall at the back of the cave as the dragon twisted its head from side to side trying to squeeze it in so it could reach him. Its golden eyes glared at him angrily.

Stayne wondered if the best tactic would just be to stay in the cave, hope it got its head stuck and couldn't pursue the others. The answer as to how long he'd last in the cave was quickly answered by the dragon's next move. It opened his jaws almost wider than two grown men standing on top of one another, as wide as the cave would allow. From the back of its throat beyond its teeth past his tongue Stayne saw a red and golden glow building at the back of its throat.

Fire.

He was trapped in a small dead end cave about to be flooded with a real live dragon's fire. He was toast.