2.2 (part 2) Here There Be Dragons
“Marshall!” Dash screamed, but it was too late. The dragon abruptly stood and let loose with an earsplitting roar, making the entire cavern shake. Marshall froze in place.
“What are you doing?!” Dash yelled at him, desperately trying to aim his gun and keep the flashlight steady so he could see, a task that was proving impossible. “Run!”
The dragon noticed Marshall standing there- he was way too close to get out of the way- and with an angry growl, it flicked its tail at him with surprising force. It slammed into Marshall, and he was thrown backwards. Dash watched in horror as he smacked against the wall, then crumpled to the ground.
He didn’t get up.
“Shit!” Dash threw the flashlight down- it shattered, and the cavern was plunged into darkness. But Dash didn’t care; he just pointed the gun in the direction where the dragon was and started firing off shots as quick as he could. But if they hit, they had no effect, save for pissing the dragon off even more.
Suddenly, Dash found himself pinned against the other wall, the dragon’s claws spread out around his torso and neck. He could feel blood running down his arms and neck- the claws had scraped him, and in fact, the one had totally pierced his arm, gouging deep under the skin. But that didn’t concern him as much as his throat, which felt like it was being crushed.
Simon… Mom… he thought, his mind going fuzzy, I’m sorry…
“Mars! Dash!”
“Hey, slimy lizard! Why don’t you try fightin’ a real opponent?!”
Suddenly, the entire cavern lit up- the electrical system had been turned on, and all the lights along the walls were now blazing. Simon was there, looking ashen, and right beside him was Malone, who was holding a sword.
“Simon…” Dash gasped. “Marshall… he is…”
The dragon, annoyed by this latest disturbance, released Dash and turned on Malone.
“Go help your friends,” Malone told Simon. “I’ll take care of this thing.”
Simon nodded and turned to Dash, ready to help him. But Dash shook his head and gestured frantically to Mars; when Simon turned and saw him lying motionless on the ground, he immediately ran in that direction. The dragon made a move to follow, but Malone hurled a rock at its head, catching it on the snout.
“Hey! Your beef’s with me!” he yelled.
Dash watched as Malone, completely fearless, charged straight at the dragon, brandishing the sword as if he’d been trained to since birth. The dragon tried to snap at him, but he easily dodged. He managed to slide underneath its front legs, and with all the force he could muster, he thrust the sword upwards. Dash was sure he couldn’t penetrate the dragon’s hide, but he was proven wrong as the sword easily slid right through and sliced the dragon’s heart. It roared, this time out of pain rather than fury. Malone deftly rolled out of the way, and the dragon collapsed, making the cavern shake one last time.
And then there was silence.
“…how?” Dash finally managed to ask, staggering to his feet. He was simultaneously trying to stifle the gashes on his neck and arm, but the one on his arm wouldn’t stop bleeding- he could tell it was deep. His sleeve was already soaked through with blood.
“You boys must not read too good,” Malone chastised them, tapping the dragon’s head with his boot. Its eyes were still open, but it didn’t move- definitely dead. “Otherwise you’d’ve known that swords kill dragons, not shotguns.” He then turned to Simon. “Hey, he still alive over there?”
“Marshall.” In the midst of all the confusion, Dash had completely forgotten about Marshall. He came and fell to his knees behind Simon, who was patting Marshall’s face gently.
“Wish I had some cold water,” he muttered. “Mars, c’mon, wake up.”
“Is… is he okay?” Dash asked, nervously peering down at Marshall’s face. Appearances were deceiving- it looked like he was merely asleep.
“No head wounds, I checked to make sure. But he’s out cold.”
“’m not.” The reply was faint, but definitely Marshall. He slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he focused on was Dash’s arm.
“You’re bleeding,” he mumbled. “That looks really bad.”
“Just a flesh wound.” Dash was starting to feel the effects of blood loss, but he was trying not to let it show. “You got thrown against the wall by the dragon’s tail.”
“The dragon-“
“Dead. Malone killed it. Never mind that, anyway- are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Marshall said and sat up- a bad idea, as it turned out. He promptly leaned over and retched, making both Simon and Dash recoil. “Ugh. Or… or not.”
“Looks like you got banged up good,” Malone said, coming to join them. “Concussion, looks like. And that wound’s too deep- you two need to see a doctor.”
“No,” Dash immediately objected. “No doctors. I don’t do doctors.”
“You gotta. Malone’s right- your arm looks really bad,” Marshall said, then smiled wryly. “I should know about arm wounds.”
“No. No way in hell am I going.”
“I’ll make you.”
“How? I’ll knock you back unconscious.”
“You’re both going,” Malone insisted. Standing over them, he made for quite the imposing figure. “I’d like to see either of ya fight me off right now. It’d be a riot.”
“How are we gonna get them out?” Simon asked. “Can either of you even walk?”
“Help me up,” Marshall said. Simon looked hesitant, but he took him by the arm and carefully helped him to his feet. He wobbled briefly, but managed to stay upright. Color was rapidly returning to his face, and he looked in no immediate danger of getting sick again.
Dash, on the other hand, was looking paler by the minute- if that were even possible. Marshall held out his free arm to help him.
“Dash, you gotta get up,” he said. Dash glared up at him, but he wasn’t just furious- he could see the fear pretty clearly in those eyes. For a moment, it made him feel guilty.
No choice, he thought, and without waiting for Dash to respond, he grabbed his good arm. Together with Malone, he hauled Dash to his feet. Dash swore loudly at the both of them.
“Cuss me out after I’m sure you’re not gonna bleed to death,” Marshall snapped. “Right now, why don’t you concentrate on staying upright?”
Dash fell totally silent and broke eye contact. He looked positively mutinous. Marshall sighed.
“Let’s get outta here,” he mumbled, looking back over his shoulder at the dragon. It lay in a small pool of its blood. “Malone, when we’re all fixed up, I want the whole story.”
“You got it, kid.”
With that, the four began their ascent out of the depths of the mine, and none of them looked back.
Marshall was awakened by the sun on his face the next morning. It was too warm, making him sweat; he could feel a drop of sweat running down his neck, and his hair was sticking to him. There was a dull pain in the back of his head, but otherwise he felt decent. He’d been lucky- no broken bones, no internal damage, just a mild concussion and a few bruises.
“Morning, sunshine.”
Marshall looked over and saw Simon sitting on the couch nearby, reading a pamphlet. The cover said something about outpatient care.
“Hey,” Mars said, half-smiling. “You haven’t been up all night, have you?”
“You’re the one with the concussion, and you’re worried about me not sleeping?”
“Yeah, Simon. You’re still my best friend, so naturally I worry about you.”
Simon smiled. “Well, don’t, ‘cause I did sleep a little. How are you, though?”
“Much better than last night. Head still hurts, but I don’t feel like puking this time.”
“Yeah, the headache’s to be expected. The doctor said you could take some aspirin for that. But he also said you shouldn’t drive for about a week, just to be safe. Otherwise, though, you’ll be fine.”
“How about Dash?”
“Really mad at us, and especially you, for making him stay here. But yeah, he’s fine, too.”
Marshall sighed in relief. “Thank God. Katherine would’ve killed me if he’d been really badly hurt.”
“Oh, and you think your mom wouldn’t be upset about you being hurt?”
“I’m sure she would, and that’s why you gotta promise me you won’t say anything to her. Or Katherine, for that matter. They really don’t need to know about this.”
“Mars…”
“I know, I know. It was stupid, you were right, and I’m sorry. Just please don’t say I told you so.”
“Don’t worry. I know better. But maybe next time you’ll take my advice, huh?”
Marshall grinned sheepishly. “Point taken. But, hey, what happened to Malone?”
“He had to… clean up the mess,” Simon explained. “I mean, he couldn’t just leave that dragon there. Someone else would’ve found it.”
“Why did he lie to us? He knew about that thing, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, and he lied because he didn’t want you guys doing what you did. I think he was actually trying to hide the dragon from everyone,” Simon said.
“Did you get him to come after us?”
Simon nodded. “After a while, I got really uneasy about the whole situation, so I went to talk to Malone. When I told him what you were up to- and especially the part about you taking the guns- he wanted to go after you right away. Turns out guns can’t kill dragons- only swords can.”
“Go figure. Is… is he mad? About the gun thing?”
“I think he’s willing to forget about it. I kinda told him about our mission and all, and he seemed to get it.”
“Remind me to thank him when he comes back. He saved all of us.”
“No kidding. Well, we certainly started this trip out with a bang, didn’t we?”
“Understatement. We should probably lay low for a while.”
“How about I go get a nurse. Maybe she’ll clear you and Dash to leave, and then we can lay low back at our room instead.”
“That would be great.” Marshall shifted in the bed, frowning. “These hospital beds kinda suck.”
“All right then.” Simon stood and tucked the pamphlet into his back pocket. “Can you stay out of trouble for five minutes?”
“I will try, o wise one.”
Simon shot him a grin, then ducked out of the room. Marshall sat up and took the aspirin, then lay back down and stared absently up at the ceiling. Suddenly, though, a creak from the other bed made him glance over. Dash wasn’t facing his way, but he was curled up on his side in the fetal position, and the tension in his shoulders told Mars he was definitely awake.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Define ‘okay’,” Dash replied, his voice barely audible.
“Fine, in this case, okay would be not feeling like you’re gonna drop dead any minute.”
“Then I suppose I am. But if you didn’t have a concussion, I’d get up right now and sock you into next week.”
“Tch, you’re welcome. Next time, I’ll just let you bleed to death. How’s that sound?”
Dash flipped Marshall the bird. He ignored it.
“Have you never been to the doctor, Dash?”
“Of course not, idiot. You and Simon should know better than anyone why not,” Dash snarled. “You know how I came into being. You really think I’d want anything to do with doctors?!”
“Uh, don’t you get sick?”
“Have you ever seen me sick?”
Marshall had to pause and mull over that one. It was true- not once in the ten years he’d known Dash had he ever seen him sick, not even with the common cold. He had to admit defeat there.
“Moot point. This wasn’t an illness, anyway- this was an injury, and one that none of us knew how to treat. For God’s sake, you could’ve bled to death!” he shot back. “So, what, Dash, do you expect me to apologize? Because you’re gonna be disappointed. I won’t apologize for taking the necessary steps to save your ass!”
“You should’ve been worrying more about yourself.”
That threw Marshall for a loop. “What?”
“You hit that wall pretty hard, and when you collapsed, you didn’t move.” Dash curled up tighter on himself. Tension was practically rolling off him in waves. “For a moment, I actually thought… Marshall, I thought you were dead.”
There was total silence. Marshall just stared at him, not knowing how to respond.
“I… I’m sorry,” he said at last. “I didn’t mean to scare you. But you forget I have a thick skull.”
“Yeah,” Dash muttered. “You are rather thick-headed. That hasn’t changed, either.”
Despite himself, Marshall laughed. “Okay, I deserved that. But hey, let’s just let it go. I mean, we’re both alive, and we’re gonna be fine. Nothing a bit of respite won’t cure, right?”
“I guess.”
“Anyway, Dash, I was only doing what your mom told me to do. I was taking care of you.”
“Don’t remind me,” Dash replied, but Marshall could hear the amusement in his voice. “You might have to step up your game, though. Can’t take care of me if you’re in worse shape than I am.”
“I’ll remember that in the future.”
“And if you forget, I’ll keep reminding you.”
It was in that moment that Marshall realized just how far they’d come. He could easily admit now that Dash was as good a friend as Simon was to him- like a brother. He smiled, feeling at peace.
“That sounds like a good deal, Dash X.”