Another explosion rocked the building and I could hear the sounds of shouting.
“What on earth is happening?” Arwel said. “Is this your doing, Gryf? Did you plant explosives?” Arwel snarled, anger filling his eyes.
“I was in the form of a bee! How could I have planted explosives?” I said. The look on Arwel’s face quite frankly terrified me.
“Then this must be the work of your friends,” he shouted. “You are all going to pay if you do anything to upset my plans,” Arwel shouted at me. Then he turned and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
For a moment or two I just stood there. Then I went over to the door and looked through the aperture that the gas had come through. Arwel had removed the gas tank so I could see a small circle of light beyond. The aperture was small, but not too small. Not wasting any time, I shifted to become a small fly (how tired I was of being an insect) and flew through the aperture and out into the corridor beyond. Then I shifted into my own form. This was not the time to bother with disguises. I ran towards the sound of all the commotion, and as I ran the sound level dropped suddenly.
I encountered several young dragons in the corridors and told them to return to their rooms and to wait instructions.
“Who are you?” one of them asked. “Why should we trust you?” He looked at me suspiciously and I felt anger flame within me.
“Because I am a dragon, and dragons do not deceive one another,” I snapped. “Surely you remember that. Surely you have not forgotten the Dragon Code.”
“No….no…I…I haven’t,” the young dragon stammered. “I am sorry, sir. I will do as you ask and tell the others. We will stays in our rooms until we are called for.”
Tracking Arwel by his scent, I soon found myself outside the door of the sitting area that the young dragons used when they were not working on their projects. I heard Arwel’s voice. He was talking loudly, slowly, and something about the way he was speaking sent chills up my spine. I carefully opened the door and saw Arwel standing with his back to me, his feet wide apart. Facing him were a group of adult dragons of different species. Several of them were Scottish Greys and I wondered if one of them was Lord Eagan. They had clearly entered the building through a large hole in the wall. Dust drifted down and I could smell a sharp unpleasant aroma on the air, which must have been from the explosion.
“There is no need for this. All is well. There is nothing here to be concerned about. You can go home….”
It took me only a few seconds to understand what Arwel was doing. He was hypnotizing the dragons who had come to the rescue.
“You will forget everything that has happened here and …..”
I could not stand by and let Arwel manipulate these dragons, these brave dragons who had come here to get me out and to rescue the young dragons. Carefully I entered the room, my heart pounding. I crept up behind Arwel and then clasped him with my paws, extending my talons to their full length. Arwel’s arms were held fast to his sides and though he wiggled and kicked, there was nothing he could do to free himself.
“Let me go! You don’t know what you are doing! I represent the future. I am the future. You cannot do this!” he roared.
“Would someone gag him with something please,” I said, trying to avoid getting kicked. “And a piece of rope would be useful too.”
Another dragon, an English Green, came over and helped me to hold Arwel, who was surprisingly strong. Language unlike any I had ever heard poured out of his mouth and every word was infused with hate. I cannot tell you how relieved I was when one of the dragons put a piece of cloth in Arwel’s mouth and thus saved us from having to hear his words. Soon after someone brought some rope and tied the human up securely.
“Phew!” Well I am glad that is over,” one of the Scottish Greys said coming over to me. “I am assuming that you are Lord Gryf. Lord Eagan at your service,” he said bowing.
“I cannot tell you how grateful I am to see you all,” I said, looking at the gathering dragons.
“We weren’t going to let a human have another crack at killing you,” a familiar voice said, and another Scottish Grey came forward. I recognized her at once as Lady Eithrig, the Clan Envoy of Lord Eagan’s clan. She was not a young dragon and I was touched that she had come to my rescue.
“I am honored that you made the journey on my behalf and risked so much. What did you do about the guards?”
“We gassed them,” Lord Eagan said, grinning widely. “They will wake up in a few hours and won’t remember anything. Actually they won’t remember the last six months of their lives. One of our scientists worked on a new gas formula which we knew we would have to use on the humans who are guarding all of Meister’s facilities. We knew we were going to have to mount a rescue at some point to get our young ones back. The only reason we waited this long was because the Dragon Council wanted to find a way to stop Meister without drawing attention to ourselves. It would be hard for a dragon to kidnap a human from a secure office or home in London. We were waiting for him to go somewhere more remote before we made our move.”
“Meister’s real name is Arwel,” I said and a hush fell over the room.
“He has the same name as the man who tried to kill you,” Lady Eithrig said.
“Not just the same name. He is the same man,” I explained. No one spoke for a long time and everyone looked at Arwel, who was propped in a chair.
“By the Flame,” she whispered. Then she looked at Arwel for a moment or two. “But how?”
“He used dragon blood to lengthen his life. At first he used the blood that he had taken from me, and then he took blood from other dragons once my blood was used up.”
“What in the Great Sky are we going to do with him?” a British Green said.
