The Soul Slaver – CHAPTER VII

The group followed the dragon queen across the mountain hall to a metal door which covered the entrance to a tunnel. The queen breathed into the door and it opened with some difficulty at first. On the other side there was a tunnel just like the one they had used before. Straight and with side tunnels disappearing in the dark. They started down the tunnel and Alvaro who was going in his mind through the encounter with the queen asked after some hesitation, “Mmmmm. Excuse me your majesty, but how are you able to move so fast?”

“Your majesty?” Said his dragon brother with his mind, “you should say my lady. It's the proper way.”

“Come on. I just want to talk to her. I can't talk funny like Alberto and she did say it was ok,” Alvaro replied speaking aloud as he knew she could hear him anyway.

“That's correct,” the queen said, “I did say that but don't make fun of it. In reply to your question. I slow time up for myself so to others it looks like I move fast. Most dragons have a certain control over time and space and queen and king dragons even more.”

“Then that means if the Soul Slaver is a king dragon that he also has that ability,” Alvaro said.

“Yes. That's why it's a good idea that I come along,” the queen replied.

Alvaro wasn't happy about that reply. There was something fishy about it but he could put his finger on it. He decided to leave it for now and to think of something that would give them an advantage.

They had nearly reached the end of the tunnel. They could see it ended in the distance with a huge metal door blocking the way, but instead of going to the door, the queen turned right into the last side tunnel and after a while they got to a cave just big enough to hold them. The queen went into the cave first and alone as otherwise she might crush someone without realising it. In the middle of the cave there was a well which was wide enough for the queen to slide into. The boys and Ashram looked down the well when the queen had disappeared down it and saw just blackness and the scraping sound the body of the queen made on her way down.

“How can we go down it?” Alberto asked.

“We could sit on the dragons and they could fly down. It looks big enough,” replied Ashram.

“I don't think we have enough space to fly down it,” Alberto the dragon replied and the rest of the dragons agreed with him.

Alvaro had been looking at the metal structure above the well and got an idea. He closed his eyes pointed his wand to the structure and the beam of light jumped to it, making Alberto and Ashram jump back in surprise. The light from the wand surrounded the structure and seemed to drip down like a huge big drop of water and then it was gone. In it's place there was a platform that could hold two dragons which hang from the metal structure which was now in a much better condition. Alberto the dragon climbed on it one leg at a time and decided it was safe enough so Alberto and Ellen the dragon walked after him. Alberto noticed a panel on one side and when he got closer realised it had buttons. One said UP the other DOWN and a third STOP. He pressed the down one and the whole thing started to go down. Alberto looked up and saw that it was hanging from the metal structure and there was some kind of motor driving it. Alberto looked at his brother and asked, “Where does it get the electricity from?”

“Never mind that. It's run by magic,” replied Alvaro.

The platform lift was very silent and Alberto could still hear the sounds made by the dragon queen in the distance. After what seemed to be ages he heard some splashing. He looked up and was surprised to see just a little dot of light which was the top of the well. They had gone down quite a long distance. Then the well opened up and they were in the middle of a huge cave which was full of water. The dragon queen was flying and looking at them. Her flight was like a snake swimming.

Alberto climbed on his dragon brother and told him to jump into the air which Ellen also did. Once in the air he called Alvaro through the console and told him about the giant cave at the bottom of the well. Then the lift that had carried them down started glowing and disappeared. After a few seconds they heard a “weeeeeee....” getting louder and Alvaro appeared mounted on his dragon brother who opened his wings the moment they shot out of the well and started flying just skimming the water. The other dragons followed suit all having great fun in the process.

“That's the way you should have done it,” the queen told Alberto. “That's why the well is wide.” She then turned and said, “now for the difficult bit,” and she flew closer to one of the walls and dived under the water.

The dragons simply stared. Peter the red dragon said, “she doesn't really expect us to dive and swim under water, does she?”

“I hope not,” Replied Alvaro the dragon.

“It doesn't look that difficult,” said Ellen the dragon looking at the water with some new found interest. “If she can do it so can we.”

“That's right,” replied Alvaro. “ Flying creatures tend to be good swimmers as they have the right aerodynamic shape.”

“I'm just hoping she gone to find a secret mechanism that will open a secret door somewhere,” Alberto the dragon said.

Alberto looked at the dragons and surprised asked, “are you all scared of water?”

“Well. We are fire creatures. We do try to keep away from water. Especially if it's lots of it,” his dragon brother replied. Just then, the water exploded and the dragon queen came out, “what are you all waiting for!?”

“Seems like dragons don't like the water,” Alvaro replied.

The queen looked at him and then at the dragons “You haven't been taught how to fly under water?” The dragon queen asked, “it's a basic skill for all dragon warriors.”

“We are not warriors my Queen,” Alberto the dragon replied. “There hasn't been any wars involving dragons in thousands of years.”

“Yeah. Probably since the king and queen disappeared,” Alvaro said before he realised he was going to be in trouble.

The queen turned to him and hissed, “your impertinence is becoming very annoying young human. Dragon brother or not I may become tired of it. Now all of you follow me and don't lag behind.” The dragon queen turned and dived under the water again.

“Don't worry about it,” Alvaro said, “I have the solution to this problem,” and he pointed his wand to Peter and made a type of diving bell around his head with big windows so that he could see were he was going. The bell acted as a diving mask.

“Ha ha ha ha!” Alberto laughed “You look like a giant fly!”

“Never mind that. Try it. Dive in the water,” Alvaro told Peter while he did the same to the rest of the dragons. The moment they got their diving bells the dragons dived in the water but when it was Ellen turn she decided she wanted to try it without. After all, dragons had done this before.

“Are you going to put one of those funny masks on us as well?” Alberto asked.

“ No. I'll just change the console a bit...” he said while touching it with his wand “.. and we'll have a force shield around us that'll keep the water away.” Saying this, the consoles lit up and the air around them started to shimmer. “Ok. Dive in!” Alvaro shouted and they all dived in the water.

Under the water the dragons had difficulty moving as at first they didn't know what to do, but Alvaro told them to just fly normal and it worked. They saw that Ellen had managed to swim quite well. Better than the rest as the masks did bother them.

They saw a light in the distance and some dragons were already swimming that way. Ellen quickly overtook the rest and was first to get to the light, which was a lit up cave. When the boys arrived they saw that the light came from above the surface of the water and that Ellen was already out. It was another cave, much smaller than the previous one, but they all had plenty of room. The light they had seen came from a huge crystal that was one of the side walls.

“How can that crystal shine?” Asked Alvaro.

“It's the heart of the mountain,” the dragon queen replied. “It goes all the way up to the centre court in the castle. It captures the sun light and brings it to different levels in the castle and all the way down here. It's one of the reasons why the castle was build here.”

The queen turned and slid to a tunnel that went upwards. The rest of the group followed her and started climbing.

“What part of the castle is this my lady?” Asked Ashram.

“It's part of the original monastery of Aqua-Ignis were dragon of old would have to spend time meditating. They started at the top and went down the levels passing tests as they came along. The last was to live in a water environment. When they finished they understood the nature and balance of life,” the dragon queen replied.

“Why was it changed? It seems to me that it was a worth while use for this place,” said Ashram.

“An elf's answer I see. That was long ago. The wars of power came after that and that enlighten way of life was left aside. That's dragon reality for you elf.”

“Not any more. As far as I see dragons are balanced caring creatures that moved away from violence, power and greed as a way of life. Otherwise Alberto wouldn't have been able to change the dark dragons to free dragons,” Alvaro replied.

The queen stopped and slowly turned to Alvaro, “if what you say is true, dragons have gone back to the old ways. I'll have to see that to believe it.”

“Quiet!” Alberto shouted. The queen was shocked to realise that she was also included in that order. It was probably the first time any one had told her to be quiet.

Alberto with just two jumps got in front of the group, took his sword out and raised his hand telling them to stop, staring ahead to the darkness in front.

“There's nothing there,” the queen said to Alberto. “I don't see or sense anything.”

“That's the problem,” Alberto answered. “With the crystal light and the halogen lamps it is still very dark.”

Alvaro took one of the hand torches and shone it towards the front of the tunnel but just a bit further than Alberto the light seemed to disappear into a type of dark mist that wriggled all the time.

The queen slowly went past Alberto who thought about stopping her but decided it was better not to. Once she got to the edge of the darkness, part of the mist seemed to become a bit more solid and a dark tendril stretched out of it which started to slowly and gingerly reach towards the queen.

Alberto ran sword raised towards the tendril but before he got there it touched the queen who just stared at it. At that very second a huge roar shook the tunnel making bits of the roof fall down. The tendril disappeared into the black mist and this, in the blink of an eye, pulled back and was gone. Then another roar with what seemed like an earthquake, made bigger chunks of roof and rock fall down.

“Come on! Run! It's trying to bury us here!” Shouted Alberto.

“He's right! Run!” Shouted the queen.

They all ran and half flew the rest of the way. All the time the roar and the quakes got bigger. Suddenly they turned a corner and came out into bright daylight which blinded them, stopping them in their tracks.

When Alberto came out of the tunnel he simply knew that there was great danger coming towards them fast and jumped with all his might to the left. His dragon brother in synchronization with him. He quickly jumped on his dragon brother and took to the air and looked behind to see what had happened.

The dragon queen had moved fast to the right and was throwing what looked like big electric balls towards a big dark area on the other side of the centre court, the dark mist was there, waiting to ambush them. The centre court was simply a big flat area inside the walls of the Ignis fortress and at it's centre a huge crystal column rose into the sky. It was the crystal that captured the light which went all the way down to the heart of the mountain. The court must have fitted about a thousand dragons at one time and was probably made to allow for big dragon gatherings. Their tunnel came up on the south side which meant it was the sunny side. That's why they were blinded by the sun when they came out.

Alberto saw Alvaro and Ashram together running to hide behind a stone that looked like a giant's seat. The free dragons spread out right and left while they shot balls of fire to the dark mist but their shots simply disappeared inside it and didn't seem to have any effect on it.

From above, Alberto could see that the dark mist was only concerned in getting to the queen. It seemed to turn to all the places she would appear before she actually did so. The dragon queen was obviously moving with speed up time as Alberto could see and hear the air banging every time she moved and she simply seemed to disappear and appear somewhere else but the mist was always ready for her. It looked like it would quickly expand to one side which was were the queen would appear and when she did so it would shoot what looked like laser shots from Star Wars. These laser shots would make anything they touched explode and Alberto could see two or three wounds on the queen already.

“Come on! We have to help her!” His dragon brother shouted and moved to one side ready to dive into the battle. Just then Alberto saw a bright ball of heat passing down just next to them. He looked up and saw four dark dragons diving towards him. This time he knew what to do and joined his dragon brother to feel, think and act as one. With his mind Alberto told the free dragons to fly and fight the dark ones but not to kill them. He then told Alvaro and Ashram that the queen needed help and showed Alvaro an image of the lasers shots that waited for the queen every time she appeared somewhere. By now the free dragons where in the air which gave him more freedom as the dark dragons had to attack all the group and not just him. Alberto knew that his ninja skills were not enough to do what he wanted so he asked Alvaro with his mind to change his saddle and in a few seconds, that seem really long, his saddle got fatter and enveloped most of his dragon brother's body and it grew two little wings on the sides.

The free dragons had difficulty fighting the dark dragons even though with Alberto it was five of them, but fighting to the death when you can't kill your enemy is very hard. The dark dragons had noticed this and had become more cocky, getting closer to the free dragons. Alberto saw one coming for him fast and he pretended he hadn't noticed but could see it on the console. Just before the dark dragon had a change to flame them, he turned at ninja speed and threw a metal wire net which opened in mid-air and the dragon just flew into it. The dragon tangled in the net fell to the ground but before it got there Ellen and grabbed him and slowly put it on the ground. In the meantime the other three dragons realised that Alberto was the leader and they all went for him, regardless of what the free dragons did.

Ellen on the ground had gotten a surprise. When she had placed the dark dragon on the ground the mist grew one of the tendrils towards the dark dragon and touched the net which simply dissolved. The dark dragon which was all tangled up was already getting up when Ellen gave him a big mighty bang with her tail on the back of his head and the dragon just dropped unconscious. The dark mist reach it but the dragon just lay on the floor so it was obvious that it couldn't wake it. When Ellen saw this she took to the air to help Alberto and the free dragons.

Alberto saw that Ellen had handled the dark dragon OK so he concentrated on the last three. They had tried to attack but with some quick moves and the help of the free dragons he had managed to avoid direct confrontation. He noticed that the free dragons had one of the dark ones in trouble and he dived to throw one of his nets, but his dragon brother saw the other two dark dragons attacking and moved to one side to avoid their fire balls as they shot them.

“We have to get higher than them!” Alberto the dragon said, “but the higher we get they also do the same.”

“OK. Let's use the new saddle. Get ready to climb!” Alberto shouted and when his dragon brother was in the right position he pressed the console and out of the new side wings the saddle had, two after burners came on and they shot higher, faster than any dragon had ever done. The surprise of the dark dragons was such that Alberto had time to net one of them that fell screaming in fury. Further down Peter and Ellen were waiting for him and grabbed him. The second dragon turned and flew away fast with the two Albertos flying closed behind. Once Alberto tried the after burner again but they over shoot the dark dragon. They quickly turned and went after him again.

“It's time to try another of this saddle's tricks!” Alberto shouted. He then pressed the console again and on the screen a cross-hair sight appeared. Alberto waited until the dot showing the second dark dragon was in the middle of the screen and the press the fire button. Out of the side wings, like a fighter plane's machine guns, lots of Alvaro's sticky bubbles shot out at great speed an some hit the dark dragon which was instantly enveloped, making it fall to the ground. As Ellen and Peter were too far and the other free dragons were still busy with their dark dragon, who was making a big effort try to get away, it was Alberto the dragon who dived and managed to slow down the falling dark dragon before it reached the rocky floor. The moment they left the dragon on the floor they turned and, with after burners at full blast, they flew towards the last dark dragon who had managed to get away from the free dragons and had decided it had enough. He had no chance against Alberto. The bubbles got him before he realised he was being attacked. This time is was the free dragons it had been fighting with that saved it from the fall.

“Gather all the dark dragons here outside the fortress.” He told the free dragons while he landed next to the fallen last dragon. He climbed down and walked with his dragon brother next to the fallen dragon.

“The dragons you have fought are your brothers. That's why they didn't hurt you. Look at them. You know in your heart that we are not your enemies. You know that the soul slaver tricked you.”

The dark dragon looked at Alberto and the other dragons and said.

“I don't have any brothers! The King of Old holds the truth and you are our enemies!”

“But look around you. This dragons were also under the control of the King of Old and now are free again. Like you were when you used to enjoy your life.”

Then Peter the dragon, who had just arrived with Ellen and the dark dragon who was also bubbled walked closer.

“Hello Asif. Remember me?”

“You know him?” Alberto asked.

“Yes. You see that scar on his back leg? I did that accidentally when we were little.”

“You know me. We've always been friends. Just look in your heart and you'll find the truth.” Peter told Asif. Then the dark started changing to a metallic green and soon after they had a bright green dragon surrounded in a plastic bubble looking around as if he had seen them for the first time.

“Please let me go. I won't fight you.”

Alberto walked back to the console and found an option to dissolve the bubble. A shot of light jumped from the console to the fallen dragon and the bubble dissipated. Asif stood and opened his wings looking at them.

“Thank you dragon brother. Would be OK if I join your flight of dragons?”

“Of course. You are more than welcomed.” Alberto replied and all the dragons present open their wings and roared in unison to welcome their new brother. This process was repeated more or less the same way with the other three dark dragons. They did have problems getting the one in the centre court as the moment they got close laser shots would come out of the dark mist but while from a distance two free dragons pretended to attack the mist, Ellen and Peter in a daring rescue flight got the dragon and brought it to where Alberto was. After the dark dragons were rescued from the dark side they all took to the air and flew towards the fortress just in time to see in the distance Alvaro and Ashram fly with their dragons into a cave in one of the corner tower mountains. When Alberto got there he heard Alvaro talking about three heads being better than one.

Earlier, when Alvaro came out of the tunnel behind Ashram he was also blinded by the sun and would have been hurt by the dark mist if it hadn't been attacking the dragon queen, and Ashram, who was more used to looking at the sun, hadn't pull him to one side behind a big stone structure. Alvaro saw the free dragons coming out of the tunnel as if the light didn't bother them, running and jumping to the left and right shooting balls of fire towards the dark mist. He couldn't see the queen dragon and hoped she was using her faster than sight speed to attack the mist. Alvaro got off his dragon brother and peeked to see if he could spot the queen, but something like a laser blast hit the stone just in front of him and threw him on the floor with some cuts and bruises. He quickly got up and healed himself using magic. Just then he heard Alberto telling him in his mind about how the queen wasn't doing very well and an image of those laser blasts he had experienced. Just then all the free dragons took to the air and went to help Alberto who was being attacked by dark dragons.

Alvaro knew that with his imagination and the help of his dragon brother and the magic he had received he could fight anyone. He had to defend the queen but first he had to find her and to get to were she was. In this world, the advantage he had was the knowledge of technology and lots and lots of fantasy and science fiction movies and books. He climbed on his dragon brother and programmed the console using his magic to create a cloaking field around himself and Ashram. They could see each other on the consoles, but to the naked eye they had disappeared. They moved out from behind the stone structure and ran towards the sound of explosions. While on the way, Alberto started speaking to him about a plan to capture the dark dragons without hurting them and asked him to change his saddle sending him an idea of what he wanted. Just then, Alvaro saw the queen and realised they were in much bigger trouble than he had imagined. She had retreated behind one of the stone structures that were all around the centre court and, even though she was throwing electricity balls towards the dark mist, she was quite hurt and bleeding in many places. She turned towards them and was about to throw an electricity ball when Alvaro remembered that she couldn't see them but her senses told her there was something there, and probably thought it was a trick from the dark mist.

“Wait!! It's us!” Alvaro shouted.

“Show yourselves!” The queen shouted back.

Alvaro switched off the cloaking field when they were out of reach from the mist. The queen shot the mist from both sides of the stone structure but the lasers were waiting for her.

“I've never seen anything like it. If it is my cousin the king I don't know what he has sent to attack us. It always knows where I'm going to attack and it's waiting for me. Speeding up time doesn't make any difference.

“It's all very well your majesty, but before we go into discussing tactics I'm going to heal you.” Said Alvaro and did the healing spell he had done with Alberto the dragon.

“Thank you Alvaro. You are an annoying but surprising young dragon brother. Now back to the fight.”

“Wait!” Said Alvaro. He had remembered that Alberto had asked for a change in his saddle. Alvaro pointed his wand to the air, concentrated on his brother and sent the magic to do it's work hoping it would get there.

“Allow me to use some protecting spell on you my queen.”Alvaro told the queen.

“I already have my own protective spells.” The queen replied.

“Yes, but those don't protect you against laser blasts.” He replied creating a necklace that acted as a cloaking field which also acted as force shield around the queen.

“I don't think you can shoot while you have that on. It's only so that you can move around without being seen.”

“Well if it is what you had before it will sense it any way, but I think it will just give me enough seconds for a good attack.” Saying this the queen was gone head first into the mist which wasn't waiting for her so it was a good sign.

Alvaro and Ashram turned their cloaking shields on around themselves and the dragons, and ran towards the mist. Through the corner of his eye Alvaro saw Ellen hitting a dark dragon. Just before they got to the mist they felt a huge explosion and saw the queen flying on top of them out of the mist with the cloaking shield necklace burning and landed with a big crash behind them followed by a barrage of laser blasts which, as they were in the way, hit their cloaking shields and didn't hurt the queen. Then the mist seemed to reach out and the moment it touched the cloaking shield the console short-circuited and they were left unprotected. Instantly the dragons flew into the air but were hit by some of the lasers. As before when they got away from the dark mist, it seemed to ignore them but to look for the queen who was gone. Alvaro looked around but didn't see the queen. The air around them was empty. Alberto wasn't anywhere to be seen the same as the free or dark dragons. Just then Ashram spotted the queen on one of the huge towers of the fortress. She was going inside one of the caves that acted as windows. Alvaro quickly fixed the consoles and reactivated them. He then healed the wounds that the dragons had received and flew towards the high tower entrance where they had seen the queen. From below laser shots would come in their general direction but would miss them by a long way. Once they got to the entrance they saw that it lead to a big cave inside the mountain tower from were other connecting tunnels left. The queen was laying in the middle with gashing wounds all over and had difficulty breathing. Alvaro wand in hand ran towards her and did an Episkeu Maximus spell which quickly worked and healed the dragon queen.

“Thank you dragon brother. I owe you my life.”

“It's nothing my.....” Alvaro managed to say but a got a push from his dragon brother who shook his head. In reply Alvaro mouthed “What now?”

“When a dragon Queen or King thanks you and tell you that he or she owes you their lives it's great honour but for the queen or king it's one of the hardest things to do as they tie themselves to whoever they do the pledge to.” The queen replied to Alvaro. “Because we tend to be bad tempered it's better not to talk about things that makes us uncomfortable. That's what your dragon brother is trying to tell you.”

“You don't have to owe me anything. I don't care what tradition dictates. We are a team here and we help each other.” Alvaro replied.

The queen gave Alvaro a long look and sighed. “You are very different to any other human I have ever met, More annoying than an elf but a heart as big as a dragon's. From now on you will be called Alvaro Dragon Heart between my people.”

Alvaro the dragon lowered his head and reached towards Alvaro. “Now we are more than dragon brothers, we are officially part of the same species.” He said nudging him with his nose and smiling.

Alvaro, for the first time, thought that the queen wasn't too bad.

“Considering that we are a team I should tell you what I saw on my attack.”

“Yes please. Three heads are better than one.”

“I think that it's a lot more than three!” Alberto shouted while flying inside the cave. “There's four more dragons on our side. Look!”

Alvaro, Ashram and the dragons, including the queen walked outside and looked up. High in the sky, away from the laser blasts there were nine dragons flying in circles.

“You have the voice of the Old Kings inside of you Alberto.” The dragon queen said. “I'm glad you are with us. Now hear what I saw in the battle.”

Alberto who was still looking at the larger group of free dragons suddenly saw them freeze in the sky but without falling. He was going to warn the other but the queen told him.

“I've speeded up our time that way we'll have time to talk. That's way it looks like they are not moving.”

Then the queen told them about how when she reached inside the mist after some distance it parted and she saw her cousin looking much older in the centre of the mist. He had a device around his neck which was what shot the light arrows (laser blasts). When she uncloaked right next to him he was already getting ready to fight as he had sensed her. He moved to one side to avoid one of her electric balls and she got him on the tip of a wing, but then the dark mist simply grabbed her and threw her out while the device shot her all the time and the dark mist seemed to suck her life energy.

After a moment's silence Alvaro said. “Well, so the dark mist is a type of weapon worn by the Soul Slaver.”

“More important than that. We now know he can be hurt. Could be the reason why he's such a bad shot now.” Ashram said.

“According to the image the queen just showed us, the Soul Slaver is wearing a type of saddle or dragon vest which has laser cannons and produces the mist. I get the feeling he's using a type of intelligent cloak shield and real lasers.” Alvaro told them.

“But those things don't exist in this reality,” Ashram told him.

“So he brought them from another one.” The queen replied. “Although I can not imagine how he's controlling them. The mist seems to have a life of it's own.”

Alvaro sat on the floor and thought hard while the others discussed different possibilities of what the mist could be. After some time Alvaro, who was looking down while he thought, saw a tiny dark mote on the floor which when he looked hard, seemed to move a little. He stood and from his saddle got the tricorder which he pointed to the dark speck. The others seeing this stopped talking and got closer.

“Don't get any closer!” Alvaro warned them looking at the little screen on the tricorder. “It could still be alive.”

“What is it? Some type of insect?” Asked Alberto.

“I thought so at first.” Said Alvaro stepping away from the dark mote. “Look at this.” He said to Alberto who got closer to the tricorder and gasped.

“It's a little machine with wings!”

“Yes. It's a nanobot.” Answered Alvaro.

“A nano what?” Asked Ashram.

“A very small robot. Mmmm. A very small machine that can think for itself according to the parameters of it's programming,” Alvaro answered.

“OK. Let's leave it at a very small machine.”

“How can such a small and...” The queen flamed the spot were the nanobot was and carried on saying “... weak thing have beaten me in a fight?”

Annoyed Alvaro answered “It would have been better if you hadn't destroyed it, but to answer your question, it's because they all work together.”

“Can they be destroyed?” Asked Ashram.

A smile appeared on Alvaro's face as he answered. “Yes. I think they can. Come on let's try something.”

Straight away the dragons starting moving again high in the air. Alberto noticing this said, “look! It hasn't been more than half a second in real time.”

Alvaro was working on the console that Alberto the dragon was wearing and once he finished he told Alberto to fly towards the mist but to wait until they got close to it and then to fire the new gun on it. Alberto looked at the console and it had a new button with the word “EMP” on it.

“What's emp?” Alberto asked saying the word rather than spelling it.

“Electro Magnetic Pulse. It will fry any circuit close to it. It should take care of the nanobots and maybe even the lasers.”

Alvaro placed cloaking shields around all of them and Alberto told the free dragons to get ready to help in case they got into trouble. Once the cloaking shields went on Alberto looked around and said.

“Why does everything look red?”

“I've tried to filter all electromagnetic radiation, except for the lower light frequency, that way the pulse won't get past.” Alvaro answered.

“What?” Alberto and Ashram asked.

“I'm trying to keep the EMP out. That way it won't harm us.” Alvaro answered.

“Why didn't you say that before!” Alberto shouted while they dived towards the Soul Slaver.

Alberto could see the others on the flight console so he knew when they were ready. He then dived towards the mist and pressed the EMP button and two small popping sounds came from his saddle wings one after the other as two little rockets shot out. When the first reached the mist it didn't explode or anything but Alberto's console fuzzed for a second and the dark mist simply fell to the ground. The second little rocket carried on and crashed next to the Soul Slaver who now just looked like an old looking dragon, but before that Alberto's console fuzzed again.

The old dragon was too surprised looking around to the fallen mist to noticed the huge queen appearing next to him and shooting him a blue ball of electricity. When the ball got to him he was gone and appeared next to the queen, making a huge cut on her side with his tail. The queen screamed and slashed her tail to hit him but he was gone. Appearing on the other side ready to hit her again but Alvaro and Ashram appeared and their dragons shot balls of fire towards him making him jump out the way. Then Alberto saw that Alvaro and Ashram were falling from the air with their dragons. As they reached the ground, the Soul Slaver walked towards them, grabbed them both with his claws and threw them on the floor away from their dragons. Alberto couldn't believe that the dragons didn't do anything, including the queen which was hurt but not enough to stop her. The Soul Slaver walked towards Ashram and Alvaro and said, “you can't beat me! Not even with technology. I have been training for thousands of years in all types of dragon fighting techniques and I have injected myself with nano technology that enhances my psychic control over any dragon that I choose. Your weak EMP didn't hurt the ones inside my body!”

Alberto then realised that the Soul Slaver hadn't seen him. Just then he felt Alvaro's presence and a voice that said “Get ready. Work it out for yourself.” He looked at Alvaro but Alvaro was being crushed by the old dragon king, the slaver of souls. Alberto flew with his dragon to save his brother but then, just on top of the Soul Slaver he saw a flash of light and himself mounted on Alberto the dragon appeared shooting bubble balls like mad. Most of which hit the Soul Slaver and the old king in seconds looked like a giant used chewing gum.

Alberto couldn't believe his eyes as the other Alberto turned towards him and pointed to the console. He looked at it to see a message that said 'Press here to travel 30 seconds to the past'. He then knew what his brother had meant and what had to be done so he pressed the after burners, got to the top of the group with the Soul Slaver on the ground and the other Alberto talking to Alvaro, dived and pressed the button.
Alberto and his dragon brother traveled back in time and appeared on top of the Soul Slaver who was just about to crush Alvaro. He fired sticky bubbles until the old dragon was fully covered. He then remembeed something and looked towards where he had been and pointed to the console. He then flew down towards his brother.

Alberto landed and ran towards Alvaro.

“Are you OK?” He asked.

“A bit bruised but OK. Thanks!” Alvaro replied. “I'm ever so glad you got the idea and I wasn't sure if the changes to your console had worked.”

“They did!" Alberto replied. "You know, it's really weird to see yourself.”

The queen had reached them by then and Alvaro was going to heal her but she stopped him.

“Not now young healer. I will carry this wound as a reminder of what the greed for power can do.” She said. “I see you had the idea of time travel. This, with the quick thinking and braveness of your little brother, have saved us all today.” She then turned to her cousin the old king and Soul Slaver and asked “Why? Why have you gone to so much trouble to take over the land if the land was yours when you imprison me so long ago?”

Even though the old king couldn't move they heard the reply in their minds.

“It was because of the prophecy you said just before we imprisoned you in stone. I knew it could happen any time so I tricked the Oracle of the South to tell me that the dragon brothers came from a technological reality and I spent a long time jumping from universe to universe looking for one like this but for dragons. It took me a long time to come back.”

“You always were a fool. It was because you did so that they came here,” the queen told him.

“You lie! As always, you lie!” Shouted the old king.

“My queen,” Alvaro said, “I'm ready to kill the nanobots inside his body.”

“Fine. Please do so.”

Alvaro pointed a modified version of the tricorder at the old king, who was still enveloped in the sticky bubbles, and pressed a button.

“Nooo!” They heard him scream.

“He won't be able to control anyone now,” Alvaro said.

After that, Alvaro took the constraining bubble away and, even though the old king tried to get away, he was easily controlled by the queen and the free dragons.

The dragon brothers and Ashram were then surrounded by the free dragons who opened their wings and sang a beautiful melodic song in thanks for their freedom. The boys stayed one more day in the fortress hearing stories of old before they got ready to go back to the town of Middleway. The next day Sandipani the Sage, also known as Sandipani the Dragon Queen, and all the dragons were gathered at the centre court in a circle around the dragon brothers and Ashram.

“Alvaro Dragon Heart and Alberto Slaver Slayer, the new champions of the Ignis Fortress. I and my subjects thank you for our freedom. You will always be welcomed here as so will you Ashram Elf Prince of the North.” The dragon queen said and all the dragons raised their head and roared making the earth tremble. "It is the time of a new beginning!" The dragon queen shouted above the roar. Alberto went on one knee as Ashram did and so did Alvaro after some hesitation. All the dragons went quiet, opened their wings and shot tongues of fire into the air. The boys and Ashram were surrounded by multicoloured dragons and fire and were touched by the beauty of it.

When the ceremony was over an idea that was nagging Alvaro took form. He walked closer to the queen and said, “my queen. Don't forget that these dragons are free dragons and they will only be your subjects if they choose to do so.”

The eyes of the queen fired up but she controlled herself when she replied, “my impertinent young hero. I'm sure they will choose to do so. But if not, they are free to go anywhere they want.”

"Thank you my queen," Alvaro replied.

He then walked to his dragon brother, Ashram and Alberto and said to the rest,“we will go now. Who will come with us?”

Straight away Ellen and Peter said “I will!”

The queen turned to them and then to Alvaro and said nothing. Then the dragon brothers, Ashram, who mounted Peter, and Ellen flew away from the giant Ignis Fortress which once again was the home of dragons.

Sandipani the Sage– CHAPTER VI

After the rush of battle they fell quiet. All immersed in their own thoughts while they flew towards the heart of the mountains. It was getting dark and Alvaro could feel the air getting colder. After a while the chill brought him out of his thoughts and he looked around. Dusk was nearly over and he could already see a number of stars.

“How long until we get there?” He asked the group in general.

“We still have about six hours of flying.” Answered one of the free dragons. A light orange coloured one who was a bit smaller than the rest but also more agile.

“What's your name?” Asked Alvaro.

“Ell en,” answered the dragon.

“Are you a female dragon?”

“Yes, and somewhere I also have a dragon brother... or sister,” she said.

“Is Ellen spelled with a H or without it?” Alvaro asked remembering someone he knew.

“I don't know,” answered Ellen. “I'm hoping that my dragon brother will tell me about the name.”

“Well it's a girls name so it's bound to be a girl, and it's quite possible that she's from Ireland.”

Ellen the dragon looked at him with eyes full of hope and asked, "why do you say that?”

“Well it could be nothing. I'm sure there's lots of Ellens in the world, but I know someone that reminds me of you.”

Alvaro looked at Ellen wondering if maybe he shouldn't raise her hopes up too high. Then he realised that he couldn't see her eyes. It was too dark.

“I don't think we should fly in the dark in a terrain we don't know,” he told the others.

“But we have the flight console,” answered Alberto. “I can see everything here.”

“Still. I think Alvaro is right. We have the consoles but the free dragons don't and even if they can see better in the dark than humans or elves I don't think we could stand a surprise attack,” answered Ashram.

Alvaro who had been fidgeting with his console looked up and said, “nearly at the top of that peak over there, there's a big cave. I think we can all fit there.”

They all flew higher, over the smaller mountains towards a high peak that stood above the rest. True enough there was a big cave, with a flat floor. When they got there Alvaro was surprised to see that the floor was so flat that the cave looked like a big balcony. At the back, the cave turned right and opened to a bigger hall.

“This is just perfect!” Shouted Alberto.

“A bit too perfect,” Answered Alvaro. “What type of geological forces would make anything like this on the top of a high peak?”

“The type called Dragon Lookout Brigade,” answered his dragon brother. “This was made by dragons along time ago as a lookout post. That's why is not fancy but is very practical. Enough space for one or two dragons at the entrance who do the lookout. A hidden hall at the back were they can heat stones up and be warm and protected from the wind. And more importantly, where about ten dragons can comfortably fit and be ready to fly out in case of unwelcome visitors.”

Alvaro walked towards the back of the cave and at the corner, were the hall started to open up he saw Alberto the dragon, Ellen and Ashram's red dragon heating a pile of big stones with their fire. Alberto and Ashram were walking towards him getting away from the heat.

“How long do the stones keep the heat?” Alberto was asking Ashram.

“All night. They are big stones and soon they will be red hot. The dragons will sleep next to them and we will sleep on the other side of the dragons. That way they'll protect us from the heat. I recommend sleeping closer to the entrance that way it won't be too hot as you will get some fresh air from the entrance of the cave.”

The three of them walked towards the mouth of the cave were the floor extended out a bit making a nice view point. Alberto sat on the floor and said “Wow! Look at that,” pointing at the stars.

Alvaro looked up and couldn't believe what he saw. The sky was simply full of stars, a million more than he ever saw back home. He sat down staring up all the time.

“What's so special about the stars?” Ashram asked.

“It's so many of them,” Alberto answered. “Every little corner of the sky has some, and at the top there seems to be a river just made of stars.”

Ashram looked at were Alberto was looking and said “The dragons call that Mother Earth's Milk.” But before he could say anything else, the boys shouted “The Milky Way!”

“Wait a minute,” Alvaro said pointing at a spot lower down, ”that over there looks like the Big Bear. That means that that W over there must be Cassiopeia. So the three bright stars on top of us must be Orion's belt.”

“We call them The Three Kings,” Ashram told them.

“But they are all in the wrong place,” Alvaro said.

“Yes, and how come you have more than us. It's not fair,” Alberto added.

“I think it's because there's no light pollution here. Back home a lot of the lights we use at night go up to the sky making it brighter. So we are not able to see some of the stars. We only see the bright ones,” replied Alvaro.

“Were you live is the Plough higher up in the sky?” asked Ashram.

“The Plough is also another name for Big Bear and yes is much higher. Nearly as high as Orion's Belt here.”

“Then you are from the northern lands like me!” Shouted Ashram ever so exited. “Here the stars are in different places because we are in the Southern Lands. You can also see some new constellations like The Great Cross of the First Elven King.”

“I think that would be the Southern Cross,” Alvaro thought aloud.

“In old elven history it is said that Jarus, the sun god, is crucified and reborn after three days on the exact spot the three kings point after following the guiding star Stirus. Of course we now know that is just normal astronomy. It's what happens in the Winter solstice to the sun when it stops moving south next to The Great Cross and after two days the Three Kings align with Stirus and by coincidence point to the place were the sun raises and starts to move North again. That would be the rebirth bit.”

“That sounds familiar,” Alberto said.

“Yes, a bit too familiar. I'll have to ask dad about all that. It can't be a coincidence.” Replied Alvaro.

“Here in the south is all different of course. The dragons have different stories based on the movement of the stars, the sun and the moon.” Said Ashram.

“Wait a minute!” shouted Alberto “How come you have the same stars as we do?”

“That's because this is not another planet, but a parallel universe. Lots of things are the same, but others aren't. No one knows why,” Answered Ashram.

They all stayed looking at the sky and after a while a full moon appeared on their right making the sight more spectacular.

Soon after, the boys went to the entrance of the hall at the back of the cave, got some blankets out of the back of the saddles and went to sleep next to their dragon brothers. Ashram and the red dragon stayed up for the first lookout shift.

The next day, Alvaro woke up to see that only himself and his dragon were left in the hall. He got up and walked towards the entrance of the cave were he saw Ashram and Alberto looking right, toward the East.

“What's going on? Where's all the dragons?”

Alberto turned towards him and pointed to the rising sun. “We are all doing some sun gazing. The dragons are doing their morning meditation flight.”

Just then, Alvaro the dragon shouted, “let me through, let me through! I'm late,” and jumped over the top of their heads into the air, rushing towards the other dragons who were flying in slow moving circles.

“A sleepy head just like you Alvaro,” said Alberto.

“Dragon brothers have lots of things in common.” Replied Ashram with a smile on his face.

“Very funny. What's so special about staring at the sun anyway?” Asked Alvaro.

“It's not staring at the sun. It's Sungazing. You get energy from the sun at dawn or sunset when you can look at it. Ask mum. She knows about it.”

“I can't look at it,” said Alvaro squinting at the sun.

“Force yourself a bit. At this time of day it's still safe and a dragon rider has to learn to look towards the sun. It's a common tactic to attack with the sun behind so that your enemies don't see you.” Said Ashram.
Alvaro who knew that to be true from flight simulators and films covered the sun a bit with his hands and when his eyes got used to the red bright light he pull them away. First the sun just seem like a big bright area of the sky but after a while he could actually see the circular ball of fire. After a few seconds he looked away and no matter where he looked he saw a red spot.

“I don't think this is safe,” he told the others.

“You left it too late really. You should only do it when the sun is first rising. After some minutes the light is too strong. In the winter you can do it for longer though.” Replied Ashram. “It's an old dragon technique to fill up with energy. They say that if you do it properly you can go days without food, just sun energy.”

“Talking about food. What are we going to have for breakfast?” Asked Alberto.

“Just wait and see,” replied Alvaro getting his wand ready and closing his eyes. He then pointed to the floor and the flow of light jumped and made a pool of light on the floor which then transformed into a low table with glasses full of milk, a plate full of doughnuts and another with buttered toast with jam.

“Yummy!” Shouted Alberto and got a doughnut and a glass of milk.

Ashram walked towards the table picked a doughnut up and smelled it. He then had a small bite and looked surprised.

“You have sweet food for breakfast?” Asked Ashram.

“It's the best type of breakfast,” replied Alvaro. “What do you have?”

“Usually fresh fruit with some fruit juice or a glass of water.”

“The more I know you the more I think my mum is an elf,” Alvaro replied getting his wand and making some apples, pears, kiwis and melons appear on the table. Ashram looked at them, put the doughnut down and picked one of the kiwis.

“I know the apple and the pears but what's this?”

“It's called a kiwi. It comes from New Zealand but now they are everywhere,” Alvaro told him. “The other one is a melon but I don't know were they come from. Probably somewhere tropical or hot. Don't eat the skin of either of them!” Shouted Alvaro as Ashram bit the kiwi.

“It's very good.” replied Ashram.

“It's better if you peel the skin off first,” replied Alvaro smiling.

Ashram took a knife out and amazingly quickly peeled the kiwi. He then slowly ate it enjoying each bite. He then did the same with the melon with a smile on his face.

“You have to tell me where this comes from. I'm sure I can organize some sort of trade with the people of the lands were they grow.”

Alvaro was going to tell him that New Zealand was very far away but then remembered that Ashram had come from the northern continent which sounded like the northern hemisphere and that was also along way away. Apart from that, he wasn't sure were they were anyway and New Zealand was in the southern hemisphere so maybe it wasn't too far.

“Whenever you can, show me a map and I'll tell you were they grow,” Alvaro told Ashram.

They had finished eating when the dragons arrived. They put the rest of the food in their bags and saddles, and the low table they took to the back of the cave in case anyone else ever used the cave. Then they mounted the dragons and they all jumped into the air and flew West.

“Great. We have the Sun on our back,” thought Alvaro.

They carried on flying for a number of hours and,, amazingly the mountains kept getting higher. It was hard to fly higher as they had problems breathing and even though it was sunny it got cold quickly. This meant that sometimes they had to go around some mountains making the trip longer although more interesting.
Alberto could feel the dark presence getting stronger now and realised that after the battle with the dark dragons it had disappeared. He told Ashram about this and the reply was that, in elven folklore, dark beings stretched themselves so as to know what was happening in other parts but this made them weak, so if the Soul Slaver had known about the defeat of the dark dragons he would have retreated to his body to be stronger when they got there. Alberto wasn't very happy about this as the presence he felt was very strong indeed.

“I don't think it's that strong,” Alberto the dragon told him.

“Why do you say that?” Alberto asked.

“I have a feeling he has retreated and is actually you reaching out and sensing him. Which in my book makes you the strong one. Not him.”

Alberto thought about this and realised that it was true. It was him reaching out with his senses. This meant that he could tell were the Soul Slaver was. He reached for the console and told the others about this.

“So where do you think he is?” Asked Alvaro “I'm getting worried that this free dragons are a bit lost.”

“We are going in the correct general direction,” replied Alberto “It would be better though if we turned North now.”

Alberto the dragon told this to the rest of the group, but the free dragons weren't happy about it. It seemed that they only knew one way to get there. Alberto the dragon explained to them that Alberto could tell were the Soul Slaver was and it was actually better to arrive from a direction which was not used. That way the surprise factor would be better.

They turned North and the peaks got a lot higher so they had to constantly fly around them. If it hadn't been for Alberto and the 3D console they would have quickly been lost.

After one of the turns, Alberto saw in the distance five peaks that looked like a castle. Each mountain looked like the corner towers and a chain of smaller mountains like the walls. It even looked like there were windows in the towers.

“Look at those mountains. They look like a giant's castle,” Alberto told his dragon brother. The dragon looked at them for a while and answered, “you better tell the others we are arriving. That really is a castle.”

Alberto told the others and the two boys and the elf simply stared in amazement.

“Who could make such a thing?” Alvaro asked.

“It's so big that we don't seem to get any closer no matter how much we travel.” Alberto added.

“I never thought I would ever see this. It's the fortress town of Ignis. Build by the first dragon kings. All elven scholars consider this a myth as no one alive has ever seen it. Also they found it hard to believe that a town fortress could be made out of five mountains as high as those.”

They were closer now and they had to look up to see the towers even though they still hadn't reach them. The size of the fortress was mind blowing. What from a far looked like windows were big entrances a bit like the lookout post they had slept in.

Alberto knew that inside was the Soul Slaver, he could feel him clearly. The dragons and Alvaro could feel it too and they started getting nervous. The free dragons fell a bit behind looking all around expecting to be attacked at any moment.

Alvaro, who was back working on the console said, “according to this, there's a type of tunnel below us. It comes from the other side of that mountain on our right.”

“It could be some sort of escape tunnel. Can you see if it's blocked? It probably has been a long time since anyone used it.” Asked Ashram.

“Seems to be Ok, but I can't really tell small details here. I think it would be better to sneak in rather than a frontal attack,” Alvaro said, we don't know what they have waiting for us.”

They all agreed and turned to fly around the other side of the mountain to look for the tunnel entrance. They started to fly lower to go down to the level were the entrance appeared on the console but they reached the ground and didn't find any type of entrance or way in.

“According to this, it is right in front of us,” said Alvaro, “it's that piece of flat stone wall,” he added, pointing ahead.

Which, when they looked at it, it did look like a closed stone door rather than part of the mountain.

“Maybe we need a magic spell or password,” said Alberto remembering when The Fellowship reached the Mines of Moria.

“There has to be an opening mechanism somewhere,” answered Ashram. “Dragons are not into magic spells and even less into passwords. Anybody can work those out.”

“Maybe we can use sonar.” Alvaro told the others, and without waiting for a reply he got his wand out and made a pool of light on top of the console that turned into something like a Star Trek tricorder.
“A sonar is an old mobile phone?” Alberto asked, looking at the shape of the new device.

“It's not a phone. It's s fully functional diagnostics device. Look at this,” Alvaro opened the device and pointed it towards the wall. The device made a loud ping sound and then Alvaro put it next to the console. “Look at your console,” he told the others.

Ashram and Alberto looked at their console and saw what looked like an X-ray image of a door. After a moment Ashram said.

“I think I know how it works. Two dragons have to pull up that rock over there.”

The rock was huge and it took five dragons to lift it. The moment they did, the rock wall slid to one side silently and when the dragons let go of the rock, it started to sink slowly and at the same time the door started to slowly close. Giving them enough time to get inside.

Before the door closed they could see they were inside a big straight tunnel and when it closed they were in complete darkness. Ashram lit a torch which gave some light.

Alberto was surprised to find out that even though the torch gave little light he could see very well.

“You've changed to Dragon sight.” His dragon brother told him.

Suddenly everything became white with light and he was blinded like someone had fired a flash directly at his eyes.

“There! That's better,” Alvaro said.

“Wow! What have you done?” Asked Alberto who turned off his dragon sight and was getting his vision back.

“Halogen lamps on the consoles. We don't have to be in the dark,” he answered with a smile.

“Let's hope the batteries last,” replied Alberto still rubbing his eyes.

Ashram who was open mouthed looked at his torch, blew it out and threw it on the floor.

They started walking along the tunnel and Alvaro gave them powerful torches that looked like space guns with which they could use to see down the side tunnels that appeared sometimes.

Alberto, who was still thinking of the Mines of Moria, was a bit nervous about these side tunnels, which, even with a powerful torch, could not be seen to the end. He looked at the console and saw that the side tunnels ended in bigger halls or caves. There were no little red dots on the console which meant there were no dark dragons nearby, but his senses told him that something knew they were here and it wasn't dark dragons or the Soul Slaver.

“This tunnel is a bit clean for a tunnel that has been abandoned for a long time,” said Alvaro.

“Who said it has been abandoned?” Asked Ashram.

“Well. A secret tunnel of a city that no one has seen for millennia. I can't imagine who would be using it,” he replied.

“It could simply mean that no one has been here since they closed the tunnels.” Answered Ashram.

Just then a huge high pitch howl sounded all over the tunnels.

“It's coming! It knows we are here!” Shouted Alberto.

“Who? Where?” Asked Ashram and Alvaro.

“I don't know. But it's not a dragon or the Soul Slaver and it doesn't go beep on the console, but I can feel it.”

“Me too,”said Alberto the dragon.

“If it doesn't appear on the console then it's not an enemy.” Alvaro told Alberto. “So we have nothing to worry about.”

“Define enemy. I'm sure the fish don't think of the fishermen as their enemies but they still get eaten,” Alberto replied.

“Ok. We have to be ready for anything. Myself, Alvaro and Ellen will walk at the front. Alberto and Peter in the middle and the rest at the back. Be ready to fight.” Said Ashram.

Alberto saw a red dragon moving next to him and assumed he was Peter. He made a mental note to ask the rest for their names.

Alberto could see on the console that they were getting to a large cave. It was the heart of the mountain that was next to the giant fortress. When they got there not even the powerful halogen lights could light up the huge hall they were in.

“Weeeeeeeeeeegh!!” came the howl again and the dragons froze.

“Come on Alberto! Keep moving!” Shouted Alberto to his dragon brother but nothing happened.

He could see that Alvaro and Ashram had the same problem and looking around he saw the free dragons were also standing still like statues. Then he saw movement through the corner of his eye but when he pointed the torch to the spot, there was nothing there. He then heard a sound behind him and he quickly turned, but again nothing. Then he realised that one of the free dragons was missing. Ashram had noticed this too and shouted. “Let's get in the middle of the dragons, back to back. That way we'll see what ever it is coming and can protect the dragons!”

They stood back to back looking around. Alberto could see the two free dragons left that were at the back of the line. He blinked and one was missing. He then felt a rush of air coming from that direction. He felt another rush of air and Alvaro shouted, “Ellen has just disappeared!”

“Whatever it is, it's faster than we can see. It can take us any time it wants,” Ashram said.

“What! I won't let it take Alvaro!” Shouted Alvaro while running towards his dragon and started to climb on him. Then he was also gone. Alberto felt the rush of air and at the same time he heard Alvaro's shouts going straight up. Alberto and Ashram looked up just in time to see far in the distance a flash of light from Alvaro's wand. Then all the dragons woke up and roared making Alberto jump.

“Where is she!?” Shouted Alberto the dragon looking around.

They then heard a zooming sound and a huge big BANG. They turned and further away enveloped in Alvaro's plasticky bubble thing was giant snake who was trying to break free but couldn't.

“No one messes with the dragon brothers!” They heared Alvaro shout above them. Soon the dragon brothers, Ellen and the rest landed next to them, now free from the snake and whatever spell it had placed on the dragons.

“What happened? How did you? What's that?” Asked Alberto.

“When it grabbed Alvaro the dragon I was caught on the stirrups and it didn't realise I was there so I had time to bubble it. Doing that broke the spell of the dragons and they were able to fly.”

“Where did you get the idea of bubbling things with sticky plastic?”

“It's not plastic so they can breath, and I got the idea from the The Supernaturalist book dad got me.”

“What is it anyway? I've never seen a snake that big,” Replied Alberto. “Is it a Chinese dragon?”

“Could be a basilisk.” Replied Alvaro.

“No, it's a Queen dragon and you were lucky that she wasn't aware of your presence when she grabbed Alvaro the Dragon.”

“A queen dragon? But she has no wings,” Alberto answered.

“Actually she does, but they stopped growing when she became a queen and now they are too small.” Said Ashram.

“Why, what's so special about a dragon queen?”Asked Alvaro.

“Dragons are intelligent beings. Being a queen is a position of great power, great skills as you have seen and great responsibility. They are the ones that give birth to queen and king dragons.”

“Why did she attack us?” Asked Alberto.

“I don't know. We should ask her that.”

“No way! I'm not letting her go after what you just said.” Replied Alvaro.

“Alberto should talk to her.” Said Alvaro the dragon. The rest of the dragons including Alberto the dragon agreed to this.

“Do I have to get close to her?” Asked Alberto.

“It would be better.” Replied Alvaro the dragon.

“Well I hope that sticky bubble can hold her.” He replied while walking towards the fallen queen dragon.

Alberto wasn't sure what to do. The most disturbing thing was that she felt so different to the rest of the dragons. Like she wasn't quite here, like trying to grab smoke with your hands. He had to walk a long way to find the head and even though the light got there, it was a lot darker and he started to get scared.

“Don't worry. I'm right behind you.” His dragon brother told him.

Alberto jumped with the fright he got hearing his dragon brother next to him. “Don't do that! You scared me!”

“I don't think it was I that scared you. You were scared before I spoke.”

“What ever. You gave me a fright anyway.” Replied Alberto.

“Sorry about that.”

Alberto walked a bit more and saw, through the plastic (or what ever) film, the queen dragon's eyes. She was staring at him like you stare at a mosquito that has decided you are its next meal. Alberto was going to talk when the queen dragon moved. It was like seeing a house move in an effort to try to splatter you. Alberto jumped back fast and his dragon growled.

“We were only defending ourselves!” Alberto shouted. “We didn't want to hurt you really.”

The queen dragon moved even more then, trying to squash him, making Alberto jump out of the way this time using his ninja skills to get further away. His dragon brother jumped with him.

We have to understand here that a dragon is probably twice the size of an elephant and a queen dragon probably twice the size a blue whale. It could have crushed both of them easily.

“Don't do human talk. Talk to her like you did to the dark dragons.” Alberto the dragon told him.

Alberto stood next to his dragon brother and with a hand he touched his leg. He then changed to dragon sight with his eyes closed and looked within him for the dragon strength he found when he talked to the dark dragons. It was easier this time, after being through the fight of the battle. When he found the strength he opened his eyes and was left speechless. The beauty of the queen dragon reached him and he was left with no words just standing there. He noticed that she was mad with anger but then she felt him and became a little curious.

Alberto realised that there had to be no fear. Only enemies were scared of the queen dragon. He smiled and walked towards her.

“My Queen. We have come in peace from a far land to fight the Soul Slaver. The slaver of dragons and all free things in this land. We never meant to anger you, attack you or disturb you. Please forgive our careless intrusion,” Alberto said, wandering were he got all the long words from.

“My brother bound you because we didn't know it was you. As a proof of our innocence I will ask him to release you.” When he said this, all the others who still saw the queen as just a huge mad wingless dragon stepped back.

“Are you sure Alberto?” Asked Alvaro.

“How dare you doubt the word of a dragon brother when talking about his Queen?” Alberto replied.

“You little cheeky...” Alvaro was going to say when his dragon brother pushed him.

“Hey! What's the matter with everybody?”

“Just do what he says. He has the way of the old dragon kings. Do it now. It's important.” His dragon brother told Alvaro.

“Sorry Sire! What ever you say... SIRE!”

Alvaro pointed his wand and the light enveloped the queen making the restricting bubble disappear.

As quick as a flash the queen stood and faced Alberto getting slowly closer to him. Alvaro couldn't believe what he was seeing and was thinking of another bubble attack when in his mind he heard his dragon brother saying “It's Ok. If she wanted to attack we would already be dead.”

Alberto simply saw a gorgeous multicoloured creature getting close to him. True enough she was very serious and with a mouth full of big sharp teeth but pretty anyway.

“It's a long time since I've heard anyone talk that way. What are you little one?”

“My lady, I'm one of the last dragon brothers. My name is Alberto and I'm here on a quest to defeat the Slaver of Souls.”

“A dragon brother... Who's the sneaky one with the strange powerful magic?” The Queen asked.

“He's my human brother my lady. Also a dragon brother. The elf is Prince Ashram from the Northern Lands and the rest are the last of the free dragons.”

“Two dragon brothers!? I know of the legend that tells of two brothers from the East that riding their dragon brothers free the world from the darkness from beyond time.” She looked at Alberto and asked “Could that be you?”

Then Ashram stepped forward and on one knee replied, “we the elves from the Northern Lands believe so my lady.”

With a whoosh sound that arrived after she got there, the queen appeared facing Ashram.

“A cheeky elf. Talking even when they are not addressed. You wouldn't be a descendant of Asraya would you?”

“She was my great grand mother my Queen.”

“Yes. You look like her. We fought many battles together. Probably the greatest elven queen ever.” The dragon queen replied.

Ashram slowly changed to disbelief and looked up at the dragon queen. “But that would mean you are the queen of the City of Ignis, Lady Sandipani the Sage with which my ancestor queen Asraya was supposed to have secret alliance,” Ashram said. “Legend tells of a trip of self awareness of which you never came back. This is the reason why modern historians don't believe that queen Asraya actually met you or that you actually existed.”

The queen dragon seemed to relax after hearing these words and looked at all of them, including Alberto and his dragon who had arrived next to them.

“I did go on pilgrimage of self awareness but fell to a trap and was enchanted in rock until not long ago. Before I was turned to rock I saw in a vision the brothers arriving from the East and told my captor, this. That's the last I remember until I started to and everyone around us, aboutwake up and was not fully a dragon again until you appeared. I believe it was the strength of the dragon brothers and their friends what brought me back,” The queen said looking at each one in turn.

“Who captured you my Queen?” Asked Alberto.

“It was the king. My cousin. He must have taken over the hole world by now.” She answered.

“No my lady,” Answered Ashram. “The dragons have had no king or queen for aeons. They are a race of free independent individuals.”

Surprised the queen answered, “but that doesn't make any sense. Without me he had no one to stop him.”

“Could there be a relation between the Soul Slaver and your cousin the king?” Asked Alvaro. The rest of the dragons and Alberto stared at him. “You should address her as My Lady.” His dragon brother told him.

“Bugger off. She's not my queen.” Alvaro answered with his mind.

“It is true.” The dragon queen answered giving Alvaro a surprise. “You have been born and have grown independent. I am not your queen. Until I earn my title back I will treat you all as my equals.”

“Great!” Alvaro answered. “So what about the Soul Slaver then?”

The queen looked a bit annoyed just for a second and then turned to look to the other side of the cave. “I sense a dark presence that does feel a little bit like my old cousin. You could be correct. The two could be related.”

“My Queen, then it would be an honour for us to help you revenge the injury imposed on you so long ago,” Ashram told her.

“The honour is all mine. Come. I know of a secret way into the fortress.”