Chapter 6
"So let me get this straight," Clara began. She and The Doctor were in their room in Verity's inn, and The Doctor was explaining the basic plan of another expedition whilst Clara paced around the room, just as The Doctor had done on that first night. "So, I'm going to stand in the doorway of the TARDIS and try and catch the attention of these really dangerous dragons and try and lure them inside while you stand, safely, next to the console, ready to fly off?" she asked.
"Well, that's the basic idea, yep," The Doctor nodded.
"That's totally insane!" Clara exclaimed.
The Doctor paused for a while before saying,
"You'll wear a groove in that floor, walking around in circles like that."
"I'll go along with your plan," Clara snapped, "But if I get killed in the process then it's your fault,"
The Doctor nodded, solemnly.
The day finally came.
Clara was never going to forgive The Doctor for doing this,
(Standing in the TARDIS' doorway, luring in dragons, was not her idea of a 'great plan') but she did it anyway: painstakingly trekking through the wilderness to find the TARDIS.
They eventually found it in the middle of a nest of sleeping dragons…
They crept past the dozing reptiles, opened the door to the TARDIS and got in.
They turned and shut the doors. Clara brushed herself down and waited the moment that would seal the end of life as she knew it. (Ok, so maybe she's over-reacting…)
It seemed ages whilst The Doctor got ready to fly the TARDIS to the dragons' home world. Oh well, they were saving the villagers of Mud, and that was the main thing.
"Now, Clara," The Doctor started "There's that purple dragon that was in the cave, he hates us, if you could catch his attention that would be great. If he sees you then he'll alert the others and they'll all come flying!"
"Have I ever mentioned I HATE you?" Clara asked.
The Doctor took no notice of her comment.
"Just do it," he said.
Clara sighed and whistled to get the reptile's attention. The purple dragon looked at her. He was sure that he had seen her somewhere before… Ah, that was it: she was the one who escaped his cave… now he wanted revenge. He bellowed at the top of his voice and flew to the TARDIS.
"Doctor, turn the engine on!" Clara shouted. The Doctor obeyed and soon they had a full-on dragon upheaval following them.
"So what now?" asked Clara, strangely calm.
"Now, the dragons follow us back to their home-planet," The Doctor explained.
And that's what they did: everything went better than Clara had expected…
So Clara just stood in the doorway and picked at the bandage on her arm again. The dragons were still following them as they flew out of the Milky Way.
"These dragons must really hate me if they're following us through here," Clara said, fascinated.
In a few minutes, they reached the home planet of the dragons: Dragoromus.
Clara drew in a sharp breath: the planet was… beautiful.
They landed on the planet and the dragons stopped chasing them, they looked around and some gave a cackle of glee as they saw that they were home.
The dragons flew off to their different places but one stayed behind, it was the purple one from the cave up the mountain. He came directly up to Clara with a glint in his eye. Clara, who had grown quite familiar with this particular reptile, held her breath. Was she going to be killed? The dragon pinned her down to the corner of the TARDIS and… licked her face..?
The dragon's breath smelt of deceased people and it's saliva was as gummy as wallpaper paste, but Clara felt like it wasn't a 'I'll just taste this person' kind of lick, it was more of a 'thank you' kind of wet kiss.
As the dragon took his mouth away, Clara gazed into his eyes, they were soft and apologising.
"Don't worry,' Clara said to him, grimacing, wiping goo off her cheek "I forgive you, I guess…"
The dragon looked at her and laid his head on her shoulder. Clara didn't know what to really do next so she just gave the dragon a strange… dragon-y hug.
Many thoughts were flying through Clara's mind at that moment but the main thing that she was thinking was 'What on earth am I doing this for?' so she let go slowly and brushed herself down. "I guess you just wanted to go home, eh?" she sighed.
All the time, The Doctor was watching this with eyebrows raised; he wasn't really a 'dragon-y hug' sort-of person.
"Come on," he sighed "Let's go."
Clara headed back to the TARDIS, waving a final goodbye to the dragon… or was it final?
No, apparently not.
Clara looked at The Doctor with her big, pleading eyes.
"Go on then," The Doctor sighed
"I've made up my mind that dragons aren't that bad, after all," Clara smiled as the dragon followed her to the TARDIS.