Sarah and the Steam Dragon
Chapter 14

“Eric?” called out Lilly, still holding Sarah’s hand as they edged along the rail bed. The white powder was swirling in the air, brightly illuminated by the circle of construction lights. Everything was very hazy as a result and they could only see a few meters clearly in front of them.

“I’m Okay” he replied from somewhere nearby. “I winged Mr Albright but he took off down the main tunnel. Are you girls alright?”

“Yes!” said Sarah “We are trying to reach Stanley”

“That’s good” Eric responded. “Because if he is a dragon, we are going to need him really soon. Those things that chased us before are at the tunnel mouth and coming down here”

Sarah and Lilly looked in alarm to the tunnel mouth that led back to their school. Over their heads they could see the opening was filled with blackness, starting to roll down to the floor of the main tunnel. Groaning and the scraping of claws could be heard within the darkness as it descended the tunnel wall.

“Do you know how to get the dragon free from the shadows?” asked Lilly as they moved even more quickly.

“I am kind of making this up as I go” admitted Sarah, fear evident in her voice.

Eric called out to them again, a little further away now it sounded.

“I will buy you guys as much time as I can” he said, then his pistol was firing once more. Steady, well placed shots zipped into the dark mass that was approaching. Lilly spared a worried glance over her shoulder and could see the mass was moving to one side now, homing in on Eric and his booming gun.

“Please stay safe” Lilly whispered and Sarah heard her words and felt the same too. He may not be a human being, but he had become their friend in such a short time she thought. It was too soon to lose him, too soon to lose any of her new friends.

They stepped out of the white cloud of powder and saw before them the shadows. The dark cloud rolled and churned, filling a space nearly five meters in diameter. Easily big enough to contain Stanley but neither of them had any idea what it was made of or how to release the dragon.

“Suggestions?” asked Lilly. Sarah tried to think of something clever but she was not really one for detailed plans. She would have to tackle this how she dealt with everything else in her life. Head on and without worrying about the consequences.

“Wish me luck” Sarah said and ran into the shadowy cloud.

=====

In the school courtyard, Jericho-Two was looking at the locked down buildings. Every opening had been sealed by thick armoured shutters and doors. He had already sent a request via the quantum network to the local Guard office for cutting gear but even by air-lift it would take too long to arrive.

Rising up into the night sky was a torrent of blue sparks, joining into a circular mass around two hundred meters above the ground. Whatever was happening here, it was happening soon.

<Have you re-established connection to Agent Thirteen?> came the query from Archimedes, directly fed by the quantum network into his thoughts.

<Negative. After the light show started up I lost connection to Eric. I have been unable to contact him since. All the phone connections into the building have failed as well. It is a complete blackout>

<Interesting> responded Archimedes. <I have detected numerous attempts from the school computer stacks to access the external network. Currently I have isolated the school but it is only a matter of time before the firewalls are broken>

<Could it be related to the network attacks from before? Is the same entity behind this as well?> asked the Avatar.

<It would appear so> answered Archimedes. <If you can capture it alive, we can interrogate it. If it is too dangerous to capture, you have my permission to destroy it>

<Understood> confirmed Jericho-Two. <What about the two suspects held at the Guard base? Are they still there?>

<Remote and physical checks have confirmed that Albright and Crepsley still appear to be in their cells. They are responding to basic verbal queries yet seem vague and disconnected from the situation they are in> said Archimedes, monitoring the surveillance feeds directly. <It is likely what we took into captivity was some kind of magical construct or summoned shape-changer by the Adept. The real Albright and Crepsley must be hidden in the school substructure>

Archimedes ended the connection and Jericho-Two felt worried. It was not an emotion he was used to experiencing and that fact worried him even more, starting an endless loop of frustration. Eric was far too inexperienced for the danger this mission had put him in, yet he had been the only choice.

Another unfamiliar feeling was making itself known to the Avatar. For the first time he was concerned for the welfare of another being. Eric was a clone just like Two, in reality a younger version of Two and his other Avatar brothers.

Yet Two only had contempt for his fellow Avatars, Jericho-One and Three. Eric was more like a son to him, not an outcome he had ever expected. The Avatars were not even sure if they could have biological children of their own, so Two was caught by surprise when he felt protective towards Eric.

If they survived this mission and defeated Albright and his otherworldly ally, Jericho-Two wondered what kind of a relationship he would have with Eric.

And would he have to provide Christmas presents and stuff like that?

=====

Sarah was alone.

Darkness surrounded her, a formless void of inky blackness. Sarah walked forwards, her hands thrust blindly in front of herself, searching for Stanley. There was no sound, no light, not even the sense of anything moving in the unseen air in front of her.

She lost all sensation of up and down, forwards or backwards. There was nothing she could cling to as a reference point. With mounting horror she realised she was completely lost with no idea of where she was or Stanley could be.

“Stanley!” she cried out, unsure if she could even hear her own voice. “Stanlevitariously the Third!” she called again. “It’s me, Sarah Evermore! I have come to replace you! Please answer me!”

There was nothing. Sarah had lost track of how many steps she had taken. Surely she must have walked clear through this shadow cloud by now? It was barely five or six big steps across. How could she not have stumbled across someone the size of Stanley?

“Stanley! I have some pizza and fried chicken for you” she shouted. Her voice was swallowed up in the darkness. She could hear no reply only crushing silence.

“Stanley, I need you” she cried and collapsed to her knees. Thick wet tears rolled down her cheeks, dripping from her chin. She sniffed mightily and then paused, sniffing again carefully as a familiar scent caught in her nostrils.

A scent of flowers, hot and wet as though bathed in steam.

She sniffed again, cursing her woefully poor sense of smell. This was the fault of Brent and his smelly feet, ruining her poor nose. He would get such a bashing once she got home she thought! Sarah was sniffing so hard she thought her nose would explode with the pressure, then she got a definite whiff of Stanley.

Standing up, she turned herself, lining up her nose on the strongest scent. A single step forwards, then a confirmation sniff, slight turn and then step again. Step by step, sniff by sniff, Sarah moved forwards, all the while the smell of flowers growing stronger.

With a final step she passed into an opening in the shadowy cloud. At its centre lay a blue, white and black dragon, head down and eyes closed. Little puffs of steam came from his nostrils, so much weaker than she remembered.

“Stanley, wake up” she said and crouched next to him, laying her hand on his head. He was cool to the touch, not cold, yet he had lost much of his internal warmth.

A single pale blue eye opened and regarded her.

“Another dream?” she heard his voice whisper in her head. “Another false hope?”

“No, it’s really me, Stanley” Sarah cried and threw both her arms around his neck. “I found you at last!”

“Sarah!” he said, “Sarah Evermore! It really is you!” The dragon lifted his head and looked at her with both eyes, then nuzzled her as she held him tightly.

“I am sorry I could not save you from the Emissary” he said. “I was not strong enough”

“It’s alright, all my friends are helping us now. With you beside me, we can stop the Emissary together”

Sarah stroked her friend’s long head and he actually purred like a cat. A cat four meters long and covered in blue scales and black spikes of course.

“So how do we get out of here?” she asked Stanley. He blinked his big eyes at her and spoke sadly into her mind.

“If I knew that, I would have escaped already, Sarah Evermore” He paused, thinking hard. “It is a magic much like the one the Emissary uses to hide itself from human perceptions. It clouds the mind, making us see things that are not really there”

Sarah pondered this for a moment, then thought back to how she had gotten Eric and Lilly past the obscuration across the tunnel mouth. Maybe if you did not know the illusion of a barrier or a cloud was there, you could trick your mind into passing through it!

“Stanley, you need to trust me” she said. “Take my hand and close your eyes. I am going to use my special sight to guide us out of this cloud”

“Okay, Sarah” he agreed and held out one long foreleg. Sarah gripped it tight and made sure he closed his eyes fully. Once she was certain he could not see her, she closed her own eyes tightly.

Direction did not matter, so she confidently set off in what felt like the right one. Stanley stumbled along on his other three legs, blindly following Sarah with complete trust. She counted out five big steps, then to make sure she took five more.

“Open your eyes, Stanley” she said and opened hers at the same time. They stood next to the ruined device of Mr Albright, close to Lilly who was looking about in apprehension. Dark shapes could be seen advancing towards the girl, their groans and shuffling getting louder.

Sarah released Stanley’s foreleg and popped back into the visible world.

“You’re back!” shouted Lilly with relief. “Did you replace Stanley?”

“Yes, he is here with me” Sarah said, “So why don’t you come stand to this side of me where you’ll be safe”. She gestured to her right side, with Stanley looking around the tunnel curiously from her left side. Lilly ran to her friend’s side and pointed at the gathering dark horde.

“Eric did his best, but there are too many of them” she said, her voice quavering with fear. “He is out there somewhere but I lost track of him”

Sarah turned to Stanley, who was bristling at the oncoming monsters.

“Can you defeat them?” she asked.

“These are but simple summonings from the Dark Side. I could defeat these when I was newly hatched in my mother’s nest” he replied with confidence. He reared up onto his hind legs, balancing his upper body using his long tail. He drew in a long breath and then unleashed a blast of white hot steam into the dark mass.

The ones in front vanished in a cloud of oily dark vapour and the rest stumbled back in alarm. With a roar that reverberated throughout the tunnel, Stanley lunged towards the shadowy forms. Unlike the Shade he had fought before, these simple monsters were easily destroyed by his razor sharp talons.

Sarah watched in awe as Stanley battled the creatures. Some leaped onto his back, only to be impaled as the long spikes that ran along his spine sprang erect. Others tried to attack from his rear, where his lashing tail slashed across them with deadly effect.

He was a fearsome sight to behold and Sarah was glad the dragon was on their side. All Lilly could see was a blurred shape in the midst of the dark horde and exploding bodies that turned to black smoke. From Lilly’s viewpoint that was even more incredible, like some invisible Ninja was destroying them all.

The final creature summoned by Mr Albright was defeated, sent back to its own dark world. Stanley stood victorious, breathing heavily and without a single wound on his body.

“If that was your dragon that did all that, he was incredible” said a weary Eric, staggering into the circle of lights. He was bleeding from wounds on his cheek, chest and arms and sat down heavily on the raised rail bed close by. His empty pistol was held in one limp hand.

“Eric!” cried Sarah and rushed to his side. She looked fearfully at his wounds, the blood leaking over his torn school jacket and shirt. He gave her a smile and she felt her heart skip a beat again.

“I’ll be fine” he assured her. “My body has special implants to stop me losing too much blood or going into shock”. He grimaced a little as he shifted position on the concrete rail bed. “I may need more painkillers though. Those creatures had a real nasty bite”

Stanley walked to stand alongside the three friends. Only Sarah could see him, but Eric and Lilly could smell the flowery odour from his steamy breath.

“Thanks for your help, Stanley” Eric said to the air. Lilly added her own approval.

“Tell them it is not over, Sarah” Stanley told her solemnly. “The device was not destroyed in time. A portal has been opened above the school, I can feel it. The Abyss will be sending a Scout through to check that the way is safe. If it is able to report back, an invasion force will follow”

Sarah relayed this urgently to her friends and Eric asked a pertinent question.

“What kind of creature will this Scout be?”

Stanley answered and Sarah told it to Eric and Lilly.

“He says it will be one of the Dracoris Abyssal, a Black Dragon species that serves the Abyss. They are much bigger than Stanley, even one the size of a Scout dragon, and will be able to destroy most of this city just by itself”

“So how can we stop it?” Eric demanded.

“There is only one way. Stanley has to meet it in battle and use his Vapora, the most potent attack he can deliver. But there is a problem. He has none left to use and it needs coal to fire his boiler back up to full power”

“Coal?” asked Lilly. “You mean that old fossil fuel they used to dig up to run power stations and stuff?” Sarah nodded her agreement. “Mr Hanson has a big chunk of coal in his laboratory. It’s part of a display he shows us about rocks and chemistry”

“Okay, we need to get that piece of coal” Sarah announced. She saw all the scattered gems glowing around the broken device. “We need to collect all these gems up too. They have to be returned to the people that Albright stole them from”

The three of them collected every gem they could see. Luckily they emitted a glow that Sarah could see, even if her two friends could not. Once they gathered them all, Eric took a long spike of the dark metal and hefted it thoughtfully.

“I am not sure what this stuff is, but it may be useful” he said to himself. All three friends went to climb up the wall to the tunnel they entered by, when Stanley spoke to Sarah.

“There is not much time, Sarah” he said to her. “I need to go on ahead and try to delay the Scout. It is the only way I can give you time to replace the Black Rock and get it to me”

Sarah suddenly felt afraid for her friend. “Didn’t you say it will be bigger than you? How can you fight it without the Vapora?”

“The old way, using my speed and agility. If I can stay clear of its claws and Black Breath, I can stay alive. You just need to get me that piece of coal so I can finish it off”

He did not wait for any more words from Sarah, throwing himself into the air and zooming through the tunnel that led to the school.

“Come on guys, we need to hurry up!” she called to Eric and Lilly and they raced to follow her.