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Feb. 27, 2013, 4:41 p.m.
Feb. 27, 2013, 4:41 p.m.
“I can’t make heads or tails of this thing,” complained Kurt, narrowing his eyes at the map. Is that supposed to be a mountain?”
Blaine took the map from Kurt and squinted at the lines and symbols.
“I’m not sure.”
“Figures,” Kurt snorted, “he sends on some mission and can’t even give us good directions to find the place.”
Presently, they came across a group of trees growing so close together their roots had become entangled, growing out of the ground in places.
“Wait,” said Kurt, “I think…I think we’re supposed to go through there.”
“Let’s go then,” said Blaine, “those two trees there are far enough apart that we can probably squeeze between the trunks.”
Kurt scanned the group of trees and, seeing that there was really no other way through them, sighed and followed after Blaine. It was fortunate how thin both of them were, because the trunks were hard enough for them to get through without pulling their stomachs in. Kurt made it through first and stood waiting for Blaine to come through. As Blaine stepped from between the trunks, he set his foot down wrong and caught it on one of the roots protruding from the ground.
As he fell to the ground, the soil crumpled underneath him and he was suddenly falling through the air. Kurt dropped to his knees, reaching wildly for Blaine, but the other boy was already seven feet down. Kurt shouted in despair as he thought Blaine was surly about to fall to his death, when the curly-haired boy suddenly landed on a ledge of rock.
“Blaine, are you okay?”
Blaine groaned, “I think so yeah. Probably a bit bruised, but I’ll be alright.”
“Do you see any way to get back up?”
There was a moment’s pause as Blaine looked around for a way back up. He shook his head, “No. Maybe you should go get the Doctor. There’s enough room for the TARDIS to materialize down here so he can just pick me up.”
“Right, okay. We should be there soon.”
“I’ll stay here.”
Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine’s attempt at humor as he hurried back the way they had come.
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Blaine sat on the edge of the rock he had fallen on. He actually had a very nice view of the forest and a nearby lake from up there. His side hurt from how he had landed on it, but he had suffered worse before and he was sure it would heal soon enough. As he gazed out across the forest, he didn’t notice how the cliff face behind him opened up like a doorway and was unaware of the company he had until he was struck on the side of the head and passed into unconsciousness.
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By the time Kurt had returned to the TARDIS it was to find that the Doctor must have already left with the villagers.
He groaned, running a hand through his hair as if trying to think of what to do next. On a whim, he pushed open the doors of the TARDIS and stepped inside. He had seen the Doctor talk to the machine many times and wondered if it was somehow alive. Then again, the Doctor was one of those people eccentric enough to speak to inanimate objects as though they were alive. He bit his lip before deciding it was worth a shot.
“Um, excuse me, TARDIS? I don’t know if you’re really alive or if you can hear me, but if you can, I could really use your help. You see, Blaine fell through the ground and is sort of stranded on a cliff with no way back up, but if you could maybe land there and give us a lift back up to ground level, that’d be wonderful.”
After a few moments of silence, Kurt figured it was pointless and turned to leave. That’s when the TARDIS doors slammed shut of their own accord and the ship de-materialized. Kurt was thrown backwards at the sudden movement of the ship and staggered to his feet again, holding onto the railing running up the sides of the stairs. The TARDIS soon materialized again and Kurt quickly made his way to the doors. He stepped outside only to find Blaine was no longer there. He looked up; checking to make sure it was the right spot, before looking around again as if making sure Blaine wasn’t hiding somewhere.
“Where is he?”
A shadow suddenly fell over the cliff and Kurt looked up, screaming as a giant, golden animal descended and snatched him up in its nine-inch claws.
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“Did you hear that?” demanded Henry, holding up a hand to halt the hunters.
“It sounds like someone screaming,” answered one of his men.
“The dragon has claimed another victim,” declared another.
“That’s means nothing,” said the Doctor. “Sometimes people just need to scream. It helps if you have a lot of frustration in your life.”
“That was a scream of terror, Doctor,” snapped Henry, “I know the difference. Now why don’t you just keep your mouth shut and keeping looking for signs of the monster?”
“There’s no need to be rude,” the Doctor studied the ground, seeing nothing but leaf litter, “this way!”
He set off in a random direction, the others following behind.
Sometimes I’m glad for the gullibility of humans, he thought.
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Blaine groaned blinking open his eyes only to receive a shooting pain between them. He slammed his eyes shut again to alleviate the discomfort.
“You’re not falling asleep again, are you? It won’t be as much fun to torture you if you can’t feel anything.”
Blaine’s eyes snapped open again and Egbert came into focus. They were in a shadowy room filled with all sorts of strange equipment as well as a giant map of England on one wall, checks of ink marking various locations that were unknown to Blaine. Blaine was tied down to a chair and it was nearly impossible to move.
“What are you doing?” Blaine croaked, wincing at how dry his throat was.
“Delivering justice,” growled Egbert. “You stole my diagrams about the dragon and now you may have ruined everything!”
“Why, you can’t remember how to control your creation?”
“I was never able to fully control that beast.”
“What are you talking about? It goes around burning the roofs in the village.”
“That was me. It’s not that hard to set fire to hay.”
“But there were people who saw it.”
“It shows up to try and stop me. That’s why I want it dead so that it can no longer interfere with my plans.”
“What plans?”
“To become the next king of England,” he snapped.
“What?”
“I made the dragon in the hopes of using it as a pawn in my rise to power. This one was only my first test and I think I may have finally improved the formula to make it nothing but a mindless beast that would follow my every whim. I need to get rid of this one before I make an army of them to storm the kingdom. With them, I can demand rulership over England before moving onto the rest of the world.”
“The world’s a pretty big thing to rule,” stated Blaine.
“Not with my precious creations it won’t be,” retorted Egbert. “Each one will be placed in charge of the separate realms I plan to separate the world into.”
“That’s great,” said Blaine, “but was kidnapping me really necessary?”
“You stole from me,” Egbert reminded him, “Probably to create dragons of your own in order to defeat mine, am I right?”
Blaine snorted, “No, I couldn’t even begin to read your notes, let alone make a dragon.”
“Nevertheless, I need something to feed the chicks when the hatch.”
“You mean chickens?”
“No, you fool.” Egbert moved aside to give Blaine a clear view of five silvery eggs resting in the softly glowing embers of a fireplace. “Once the little dragons hatch they’ll be hungry and you’ll be more then enough to sustain them in their first couple of days of life.”
Egbert picked up a knife from a table and strode calmly over to Blaine.
“Of course, they’ll need incentive to attack you.”
Blaine squeezed his eyes shut as the knife blade bit into his arm and he felt hot blood flow across his forearm.
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Kurt was trembling like a leaf in the wind, but whether that was from being alone in a cave with a ten foot tall dragon or his rough ride through the air, he couldn’t be sure.
The dragon cocked his head at Kurt curiously, silvery eyes boring into him.
“If you’re going to eat me just do it already!” Kurt snapped.
The dragon reared its head back as if it had been electrocuted.
“I’m not going to eat you, dear boy! Why would I do such a thing as that?”
Kurt’s mind reeled at hearing such a human-like voice (a decidedly feminine one at that) come from the overgrown reptile that it took awhile to remember that the Doctor said it could probably speak.
“I don’t know…you’re a dragon?” Kurt ventured, “Don’t you eat meat?”
“I am a creature formed mostly of metals and so that is what I eat. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried deer and found it palatable, but to be honest, I would choose diamonds every time.”
“Why’d you grab me off that cliff?”
“I figured you were trapped. Are you cold? You’ve been shaking every since I brought you up here.”
“No, I’m not cold…it’s just…well, it’s not every day that I’ve been picked off a cliff by a dragon.”
“No, I suppose you wouldn’t be. You’re not from around here, are you?”
“Nowhere close.”
The dragon nodded, “I can tell. You’re accent is different and you smell funny.”
Kurt looked affronted, “Funny how?”
“Like you have come from a long way off,” replied the dragon.
Kurt felt like saying that that hadn’t clarified anything, but thought better of it. He was starting to calm down now and his trembling was subsiding.
“I need to find my friend. He had fallen onto that cliff but now I don’t know where he is.”
“I think I might be able to help you with that. I saw the alchemist take him into his cave-lair.”
“Cave-lair?” inquired Kurt.
The dragon nodded, “It is where I was born.”
“Can you take me there, help me get him out?”
The dragon hunched her wings as if to protect herself.
“I do not wish to return there.”
“Please? I doubt I could get him out alone.”
The dragon said nothing, only curled her claws in which caused sparks to erupt on the floor of the cave.
“Look, I have another friend too. Could you take me back to the cliff so that I can go and find him?”
“Why would you want to be taken back to the cliff?”
“It’s hard to explain, but that blue box that was there, it can transport to him.”
The dragon didn’t look convinced, but agreed to take Kurt back to the TARDIS all the same.
“If you need my help again just whistle in this pattern,” the dragon gave three long whistles then two short and one more long one. “I will be able to hear you from wherever you are.”
“Thank you.”
The dragon nodded and flew off again.
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Blaine was beginning to lose consciousness again as his blood seemed to run in rivers from his arms and across his face.
He fought to keep awake as Egbert busied himself with a leather pouch of some sort. The alchemist hummed some unknown tune to himself as he packed the silvery eggs into the pouch. He hoisted the pouch over his shoulder before going back over to Blaine and untying him. Egbert caught Blaine before he hit the ground and slung him over his other shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He was surprisingly strong for someone who seemed so underdeveloped.
“All these eggs need now are a little cold air and I’ll soon have five chicks by my side. And they should be a lot easier to control then that stupid gold beast.”
Blaine fell in and out of consciousness as Egbert moved down a tunnel that led farther into the cave.
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The TARDIS materialized outside the mouth of a forest which Kurt hurried into, listening for the sound of voices. It wasn’t long before he heard arguing up ahead.
“You’ve been leading us in circles, Doctor,” Henry’s angry voice drifted through the trees. “If I didn’t know better, I say you were helping the demon!”
“We’re not after a demon, we’re after a dragon and I have not been taking you in circles.”
Kurt quickened his pace and soon found the Doctor and group of hunters in a small clearing. They all looked up when Kurt crashed through the bushes, many of them instinctively rising their crossbows at his arrival.
“Kurt, where’s Blaine?”
“He…was…taken,” Kurt panted.
“By the dragon?” demanded Henry.
Kurt shook his head, “By the alchemist.”
“The boy is raving,” said one of the hunters. “Egbert wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“I can show you where, Doctor. I need your help to get him out.”
“Of course, show me. You lot will be okay on your own, won’t you?”
“Probably better then with you,” snapped Henry. “Come on, men.”
The hunters continued farther into the forest as Kurt and the Doctor raced back for the TARDIS.
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“Yes, there’s a door here,” said the Doctor, running his hand over the cliff face. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the cliff. A door swung open in the rock as the concentrated waves of sound hit it.
“Let’s go.”
Kurt and the Doctor stepped into the shadows, following a narrow path to a room that was obviously an alchemical lab. Kurt grabbed the Doctor’s arm and pointed to a chair draped in ropes and pool of blood around it.
“Do you think that’s Blaine’s?”
The Doctor bent down and touched his fingertip to it. Kurt raised his eyebrow and curled his lip as the Doctor touched it to his tongue.
“It’s definitely human,” confirmed the Doctor, “type A negative. You don’t happen to know his blood type, do you?”
Kurt shook his head, “It’s not a subject that’s every come up.”
“Well either way, it’s still warm which means it can’t have happened too long ago.”
“There’s a tunnel over there,” Kurt pointed to a dimly lit corridor and the companions headed down it, following a trail of blood.
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Blaine was shaking with cold as he lay slumped against the outside wall of a wide cliff, a freezing wind blowing up from the sea below. His eyes were half open, focusing on the eggs placed in front of him. They had already begun to crack open and he could hear something reminiscent of peeping inside. A silver head with gold eyes popped out of one of the shells and the tiny head snapped towards Blaine, its nostrils flaring at the smell of his blood. Soon all five dragon chicks had their heads out of the shells and they struggling to get out and eat.
Egbert leaned against the other wall, watching with a twisted grin, his eyes glittering with malice.
Blaine thought he heard the sound of footsteps but had a feeling he was imagining things so when Kurt and the Doctor rushed out of the cave he of course thought they were nothing but illusions.
“Blaine!” Kurt shouted, starting towards him.
“Kurt, wait, look,” the Doctor pointed at the five chicks that had more or less cleared their eggs and were shuffling towards Blaine, licking his blood up where it had dripped as Egbert had set him down against the wall.
Kurt whistled out a strange pattern before stepping in front of Blaine. The chicks halted, their necks wavering back and forth as they gazed up at the obstacle that now stood in between them and their food source.
“There’s nothing you can do, Doctor,” Egbert stared daggers at him and unsheathed a dagger.
The Doctor held his screwdriver in front of him and clicked the button. Egbert shouted and nearly dropped his dagger.
“You practice witchcraft!”
“Nonsense,” said the Doctor, “but you wouldn’t understand what this is anyway so for arguments sake, then yes, I practice witchcraft.”
Suddenly there was the flap of mighty wings and the gold dragon landed on the cliff. The silver dragon chicks, perhaps sensing a form of kinship with the adult, peeped at her. The gold dragon hummed low to them and the five huddled together, backing away from Kurt and Blaine. The gold swung her head around and fixed burning eyes on the alchemist.
She drew her lips back and swiped her front paw at the man. The dragon grabbed the man around the middle and flung him to the ground. A terrible crack sounded as Egbert’s skull split open. The gold turned to the chicks and hummed low to them. The five creatures gave excited squeaks and shuffled forwards, tucking into their meal with gusto.
“Let’s get him out of here,” said the Doctor, grabbing Blaine’s feet.
Kurt bent down and Blaine flung and arm around his neck as they lifted him up and away from the bloody scene behind them.
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“I can’t believe it,” said Henry, looking over the alchemist’s notes. “He really was a lying bastard.”
The Doctor had brought back every scrape of paper he find of Egbert’s with notes on his plans to rise a dragon army and take over England and later the world as well as the map marked with dates, obviously when he planned to take over a certain area or place.
“Well you haven’t to worry about him anymore,” said the Doctor.
“No…but it still leaves us with the problem of a dragon.”
“There’s no problem, Henry,” replied the Doctor. “She adopted the chicks as her own and will raise them with her values. If you leave them alone they’ll do the same for you.”
Henry didn’t seem entirely convinced, but promised he would pass word on to everyone else. The Doctor bid farewell to him and went back the TARDIS.
“So are they going to leave her alone?” asked Blaine.
He was resting in one of the chairs on the command deck, Kurt hardly leaving his side as he had taken it upon himself to get whatever Blaine requested. The Doctor had patched up Blaine’s wounds easily enough with the screwdriver, but Blaine was still light-headed from the loss of blood.
“It’s what Henry said…I’ll probably check in from time to time just to make sure. How are you doing?”
“I’ll be fine,” Blaine assured him. “I’ll probably need a couple of days to recover before we head off for another adventure though.”
The Doctor smiled, “No problem.”
“At least I have a good nurse,” he joked, looking up at Kurt fondly.
Kurt couldn’t help but grin back at him.