Chapter 29
Thanks to her dragon escort, Abigail made it to the tunnel entrance with little further trouble. Word had already gotten around about Blue's return and the fire breathing flying lizards he had brought with him, and so more and more people used the simple tactic of just running away whenever they set eyes upon one of the creatures.
Approaching the outside with caution, Abigail looked about the compound and studied what she saw. The buildings to her left appeared to be mostly devoid of life but there were a few people hurrying around the open area between her and the gated wall. They appeared to be transporting rocks from the remaining piles near the tunnel, to the base of the wall where ropes and pullies were employed to take them to the top.
"So... planning to hurl a few deadly missiles at my rescuers are you?" Abigail smirked "What do you think Knucklehead; shall we give our friends a timely warning?"
"Rowwl" the dragon replied, not really knowing what he was agreeing to.
Moving silently between the outer buildings, Abigail made her way to the far side of the compound, well away from the tunnel entrance. From there it was only fifty meters or so to the left side of the wall and another fifteen meters to the open gate. All she needed to get her safely through to her destination though, was a little distraction of the kind only an angry dragon can provide. The only question was, how could she get the dragons to provide her with the diversion she desired? Opportunity smiled upon the young lady when she noticed one of the rock transporters was an old friend who needed to be brought down a peg or two. And so she stepped out from the building she hid behind and did something most unladylike.
"HEY ERIC... PHFFFBT!" she declared with both her tongue and her middle finger extended.
"Wha... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?"
Almost blinded by fury, Eric dropped the rock he was carrying and hurried over to take the young girl back to where she belonged. But the seemingly simple task wasn't as easy to accomplish as he had hoped.
"Come on, you're going back to your room" Eric declared as he grabbed Abigail by the wrist.
By now, the two dragons had their routine down perfect; and so, just as the man in the tunnel had before him, Eric too came to regret seizing the young girl in such a rough manor. A surprise Knucklehead on the top of his skull followed by a quick Rollo to the chest, gave Eric reason to question where fate had taken him, and which life choices he had quite clearly gotten wrong in the past.
This time though, Abigail did not wait for the dragons but instead made a quick sprint to the inside wall. Eric's high pitch screams drew the attention of everyone in the compound as well as the defenders lined up on the ramparts. Seeing all was safe, Abigail continued her run along the inner wall, out through the gate, and back down the outside wall to the vertical rock face on the eastern edge. After a quick check to be certain she had not been seen yet, the excited girl hurried off along the edge of the open area leading to the south road. In a few hundred meters, the rock face gave way to a steep brush covered hill where she could conceal herself as she made her way past the angry defenders, still shouting and throwing rocks at the slowly reversing Bull Ant. The curved shield of young pine logs, may have given the vehicle an entirely new look, but Abigail new her former home when she saw it.
She crawled on her hands and knees, being more concerned about remaining concealed rather than covering ground quickly. Abigail succeeded in this direction and the only pairs of eyes to see her were the ones belonging to Rollo and Knucklehead. When Eric's friends had run to his aid, the dragons had taken to the air and flown back and forth, swooping just out of reach of thrown rocks and swung clubs. One of the armed wall guards tried to train his pistol on Knucklehead but Rollo's keen eye saw the offensive weapon in plenty of time, and it was shot out of the man's hand with a well placed fireball. As it arched through the air, the dragon decided to put it out of commission permanently, hitting the gun a second time with a short stream of blue flame, melting its extremities and fusing many moving parts. Two of the chambered bullets then exploded, turning the weapon into nothing but scrap metal.
Having left the compound, the two dragons flew high up to see Abigail now crawling through undergrowth, making her way south. Swooping down below the treetops, Knucklehead came to rest on a small rise of moss and creepers while Rollo, unable to go back to his bed inside the girl's jacket, simply alighted between the young girl's shoulders before laying down.
"Oh hello... you're back. Good work boys" Abigail commended them.
"Yeah they're wonderful creatures aren't they?" the rise of moss noted.
Abigail heart skipped a beat but due to the complete lack of a reaction from either dragon, she quickly deduced they both already knew someone was there.
"Whoa... you startled me" Abigail declared truthfully.
"Yeah, sorry" the rise laughed "Don't worry, I'm on your side; my name is Marion Green and the reason you can't see me is because I'm wearing a ghillie suit."
"A... what?" Abigail gasped.
"A ghillie suit" Marion repeated "It's what we snipers wear to avoid being detected."
"Sniper?" Abigail sneered.
"Yeah but don't worry, I'm not planning on killing anyone today. Maybe tomorrow... we'll see how I feel" she joked.
"Are you here to..."
"Rescue you? Yes... and based on the pictures I've seen, you must be Abigail Dias; pleased to meet you."
"Yeah good to meet you too" Abigail replied "So um... where do we go now?"
"We don't honey" Marion replied "Best you sit tight here with me; mucha mierda está a punto de golpear al fan."
"Huh?"
"It's Spanish for lay low and watch the fun."
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A little further to the south and high on the hill, Captain Branson and his team of nine continued to make their way up slowly past the retreating Bull Ant and its loud angry pursuers. Reed and Emerson both carried chainsaws while Doom and Haley kept their dragons calm and close at hand until Professor Adisa's plan could be put into effect. As soon as the group were well behind the defenders of Gran's compound, they moved back down towards the road taking position near a tall but long dead tree. Pointing to a larger living pine nearby, Reed sent Emerson, Doom and Haley to this second location while he stayed put with the rest of the team.
Nobody now stood between Reed and the wall but instead of making a rush for the gate, the One and All's captain instead started his chainsaw. Upon hearing the small two-stroke start up, Emerson did likewise and began to slice a wedge out of the downhill side of the tall pine tree. Further down the road at the nose of the Bull Ant, the townsfolk did not notice what was happening behind them for quite some time. Every one of them shouted and roared so loudly at the machine they sought to drive off, they'd managed to almost completely drown out the noise of the chainsaws.
"WAIT... WAIT... EVERYONE BE QUIET!" one of them finally ordered.
But he was far too late for as silence eventually fell over the crowd, the only thing to be heard was the sound of falling trees a hundred meters behind them. The biggest of the two trees completely covered the road and over both shoulders. The second one fell behind it and was soon set alight by Azrail and Ginger Nut, who then flew down the sides of the road, sending fireballs down at the feet of anyone who tried move into the forest.
"I think you should send your dragons to help honey" Marion suggested.
"Err... how?" Abigail was still very new to being a Dragon Trainer.
"Like this" Marion replied "Knucklehead, protect Azrail; and Rollo, go protect Ginger Nut."
Having heard their names and the attached orders, both dragons flew off to join the fray.
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Deep inside the labyrinth of tunnels, Calla was still on her knees with her head resting on Blue's shoulder. The months and months of pent up emotion, pain and frustration had finally come to a head for the young girl, but once she had been able to let it all out, she was now trying desperately to regain her courage.
"I... I'm sorry" she tried to use her strong voice "I shouldn't have let my emotions get the better of me."
"Humph; as if you had anything to be sorry about" Blue declared "You had no idea we were coming today, you didn't even know if we were coming this week, this month or even this year. So how could I have expected you to be ready to go? It's clear to me that you and Abby have been through things I could not know about or understand. But you have to know I'm on your side and it's not only me. When Captain Branson, Doom, your brother, the Professor and all the others heard about where you were, and what you'd done to get me out, they were all determined to come and rescue you."
"Mom and Dad would have been going crazy too" Calla realised.
"Yeah I'm not the only one who can't live without you. But speaking of you parents, unfortunately they're back in Sumatra with Sage, and so is my mother. Now we've got you and Abby, it's time for us to work out what we're gonna do about it."
"Yeah... you're right" Calla sniffed as she raised herself back to her feet.
"No, you're wrong!"
Calla and Blue spun around to see the source of the far too familiar voice. Standing with Gran were two of her guards, each one carrying a sawn off shotgun. Firefly and Daisy stared to move towards the intruders but Blue quickly called them back; he knew too well his dragons had no chance against these weapons at such close range.
"Oh... hello Phyllis" Calla sighed "and here was I hoping you'd be hiding under your bed like the coward you are."
"Shut up girl; not that it matters but I've been on top of the situation ever since the start of this pitiful attack. You'll be happy to know that I ordered your would be rescuers to be driven off and not harmed, if at all possible" Gran noted smugly.
"Oh?" Calla smirked "I assume that means you lost your appetite for maiming people after..."
Blue instantly noticed Calla's reluctance to complete her thought on the subject, and he began to have strong suspicions she may have been referring to herself as the maimed person. It all made sense, but why would Calla not want Blue to know if Gran were to blame for her injury?
"You can't win you know" Blue tried to reason "If I fail with the people I have, then I'll just come back later with greater numbers. But next time there will be no warning, no ultimatum, and no chance to avoid bloodshed. We leave intact with Calla and Abby, or all bets are off; our next visit will include more dragons and maybe even some bigger ones."
"Oh please" You may have been able to fool a few gullible people in a dark tunnel, but don't expect me to fall for this dragon nonsense. So you've trained a few lizards; well done but big deal."
"You know... at first I had some trouble believing these little fellows really were dragons as well. But I was soon proven wrong."
It may have been quite dark in the tunnel, but even in the low light Blue could clearly see Gran turn white as a ghost when she heard the new arrivals voice. One of the guards spun around and trained his shotgun on the tall, elderly man who had approached silently from behind.
"...no... it can't be..." Gran gasped.
"Oh but it can... and it is; long time no see Professor Lindstrom."
"Adisa... how did you get in here?"
"Under a flag of truce my dear" Linton gave a nod as he smiled sweetly "We've managed to capture most of your um... what would you call them... army?"
"I call them my friends" Gran sneered back.
"Oh... as you say... to continue, we managed to capture them, a young man named... um... Stanley agreed with me it would be best if you and I could talk for a moment."
"No... how could you capture... I was told you were small in number... and were retreating" Gran insisted.
"Ah yes; a tactic I am rather proud of, if I do say so myself" Professor Adisa smirked "It involved some burning trees and using several small dragons to heard your people, just as a sheepdog would."
"You're a fool Adisa" Gran hissed "You may have gotten the upper hand here but Sage is gonna eat you alive."
"Mister Sage and his little army are all on the other side of the world with only one single thought in mind; getting off this planet. I know I can't be complacent about him, but I do have to take care of one task at a time. And at the moment, I am more concerned with the welfare of Maynard and Ursula Linwood, who would be most pleased if I were to return their beautiful daughter to them."
"If they want to be with her, tell them they are invited to live here with us. I would never turn away family members" Gran argued.
"Unfortunately that is not possible but I do have a counter offer to make... if you and I could talk alone?"
After agreeing to hear what Professor Adisa had to say, Gran took him aside so they could speak confidentially.
"What's this counter offer all about Blue?" Calla asked as she slipped her hand into his.
"I don't know" Blue's voice had clear signs of concern "It isn't something we discussed before and I must admit, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Oh... you get those too huh?"
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Hello everyone and welcome Guest from Florida :)
Hope you weren't disappointed that the chainsaws weren't used for something more horror movie-ish.
You all may have seen the news stories about the horrid fires we've been having here so I just wanted to reassure you all that although I can smell the smoke and see it over the city, I am not in any danger as I don't live too close to where they are happening (about 10-15 kilometres away).
Don't overdo the sweets Vin and I'll be back with more story soon.
From Marty with Love(The Bond film that never was.)