It couldn’t all have been for nothing. Against the odds they had found a way inside the Water Dragon and harvested precious zircongris to create the cure. They had fought so hard to traverse the dragon’s body and reach the source of the infection.
Only to arrive too late.
“There are thousands of them,” Anil said. “Maybe more.”
The cure was designed to work fastest on unhatched eggs. Although it could destroy live parasites too, surely there would simply be too many now they were hatching. The dragon would still be infected and more parasites would swarm out into the world.
The eggs continued to crack open, shards of broken shell dropping around them like peeling paint. A cacophony of screeching and creaking bludgeoned the air as insectile limbs unfolded for the first time, transparent armour plates hardening into place. Some babies were almost as large as their parents while others were the size of ants, crawling over the backs of their larger siblings.
“There has to be a way we can still stop them,” Alex said, refusing to acknowledge the pit of hopelessness opening in his gut.
“We didn’t come all this way not to even try.” Zoey retrieved two large jars of the cure from her bag. Then she pointed. “There!”
The dragon’s brain stem trailed from the infested organ, a thick bundle of nerve tissue that dropped into a circular pool of fluid at the top of the dragon’s spine. Zoey opened the jars and emptied every drop of cure into the pool.
The luminous green liquid spread quickly, lighting up the fluid with cleansing light.
“Quickly!” Zoey thrust a hand into the water. “We can use our power to spread it.”
Alex and Anil dipped their hands into the glowing fluid. Together, they pushed with their shared magic as hard as they could.
The fluid kicked up into a stormy wave, frothing against the dragon’s skull as it rose higher and higher, before it broke to wash over the infested brain.
It spread like green fire, rolling flames across the surface of the dragon’s brain. Unhatched eggs splintered and shrivelled as soon as it touched them, great clumps melting into paste. The parasites screeched and recoiled as the purifying fire advanced.
“It’s like seafire,” Zoey said. “It only hurts them.”
Eggs continued to hatch despite the approaching fire. Parasites old and new leaped away from the brain, evading the sweeping green tide. There were simply too many of them. The flames spread along the walls, descending into the dragon’s body. The only way for the parasites to survive it was to escape the dragon all together. They began to swarm towards the back of its skull.
“They’re heading for the dragon’s mouth,” Anil said. “The same way we need to go.”
“There has to be something else we can do!” Alex cast around helplessly.
“At least we’ve thinned the parasites’ numbers!” Zoey shoved them both along. “If we can escape ahead of the parasites, we’ve bought enough time to regroup with the others and come up with a new plan.”
Reluctantly, Alex joined his friends in running deeper inside the dragon’s skull, parasites alive and dead tumbling around them as the wave of green fire finished washing across the dragon’s brain. Alex tucked Kraken inside his jacket so no smaller monster would infect her.
Stabbing sickness made him briefly stumble. Brineblood’s magic blew through him like a gale from somewhere nearby. That meant Callis was close. But there was no time to worry about him now.
“Get on the radio,” Alex instructed. “Tell Meri we’re coming out and we’re not alone.”
Static fuzzed from the walkie-talkie as Zoey clicked it awake. “Taxi, please!”
The reply was muffled but instant. “We’re already close. We’ll pick you up.”
“The parasites have hatched,” Zoey told her. “We’ll have to get away fast and find a plan B.”
The dragon’s skull curved down behind its brain. A gap between bone and sinew offered a way down. Jumping into it without hesitation, they tumbled down a bumpy chute that looped lower inside the dragon’s head. Parasites poured after them, screeching and snapping.
The chute spat them out into a hot, dark space and they rolled across a wet, prickly carpet. Tall, yellow spires rose in regular rows to either side.
Tongue and teeth.
They were inside the dragon’s mouth.
Somebody cursed and Alex was hauled roughly to his feet.
“Fancy meeting you here.”
Callis held Alex with one hand and the skull of his ancestor with the other. The skull’s power lashed at Alex’s senses, filling his head with thunder, making his stomach lurch as if he stood on the deck of a ship in high wind.
Zoey and Anil sprang upright behind Alex. Callis squared himself, red magic trailing over his skin, ready for a fight. But the screech of parasites inside the chute cut the confrontation short.
“Fancy helping me fight them off?” Callis asked.
Alex almost laughed. “I’m not falling for that again.”
The dragon’s tongue was spongy under their running feet. Its monumental jaws stayed firmly shut on either side of its mouth.
“If the dragon doesn’t open up, we’ll be trapped!” Anil shouted.
The feet of the pursuing parasites drummed on the wet flesh of the dragon’s tongue. Behind them, green fire swept down the chute from the dragon’s brain, herding the monsters ahead of it.
They had needed to escape before the parasites reached the exit, but the monsters were too fast.
Alex swept a hand down towards a puddle of salty saliva and pushed with his magic. The water became a wave that swept fiercely towards their pursuers. But Callis squeezed Brineblood’s skull and lifted a halting palm. The wave was dashed to pieces.
“You won’t get me that easily!” he crowed.
“I was aiming for the parasites, you idiot!” Alex shouted back.
The sealed end of the Water Dragon’s mouth was fast approaching. Cracks of sunlight squeezed through narrow gaps between its front teeth, nowhere near wide enough for them to slip through.
The group, along with Callis, screeched to a halt and whirled around. A line of the largest parasites led a pulsing swarm of smaller progeny, tumbling over itself like a wave. The green flames rolled steadily after them.
“Why isn’t your blasted dragon opening up?” Callis demanded. “We’re doomed if we stay here!”
“But if the dragon lets us out, it also lets out the parasites,” Alex said.
It wouldn’t be enough to destroy every parasite in the dragon’s body, but the rolling fire would take out most of the monsters trapped inside its mouth. That was more important than escaping.
Swallowing a lump in his throat, Alex looked to his friends. They had already sacrificed so much. Now both Zoey and Anil simply smiled in solidarity and took each other’s hands as they faced the parasites being herded towards them by the green fire.
Callis lashed out at the monsters with his volatile magic, but there were simply too many. Instead, he turned around and began physically trying to prise the dragon’s mouth open.
“And he thinks we’re the stupid ones,” muttered Zoey.
A fumbling sound came through the walkie-talkie as if somebody was wrestling for its control. The voice that came through was strained and breathing hard.
“The poison!” Argosy shouted. “You have to use it!”
“What’s he talking about?” Anil asked.
Kraken recoiled as Alex took the bottle of thick black liquid from his pocket. “Argosy gave me poison to give the dragon as a last resort. I never even thought about using it. But now I can’t make this decision by myself. If we use the poison, it doesn’t just stop the Water Dragon’s power being turned against the world. It also gives us a chance to get out of here alive.”
Anil’s eyes were wide with horror. “How could he…? No, even if it would work, it’s not right.”
Zoey answered by snatching the poison away and shoving it inside her jacket. “Not in a million years.”
Alex nodded, feeling a wave of relief despite everything. Then he tried to reach for the dragon. Before, the connection had been smothered by the parasites’ infection. Now it flickered faintly with life. Destroying the eggs must have opened up the connection again.
Hold them here as long as you can, Alex thought, hoping the dragon could still hear him. Don’t worry about us.
If there was a response, it was lost under a barrage of chattering, feral magic from Brineblood’s skull. Callis gripped the bone and sent red tendrils snapping at the dragon’s teeth and snaking around its jaw. Slowly, the dark magic began to prise open the dragon’s mouth.
“No!” Alex shouted. “Don’t let them out!”
“I didn’t come all this way to die here!” Callis roared.
The parasites had almost reached them, the green fire of the cure swamping those at the back.
A groan resounded from deep inside the dragon. The sound rose up from beneath their feet, rumbling through muscle and bone. At their backs, daylight poured inside as the dragon’s mouth opened wider. Brineblood’s magic had started the job, but now the dragon was taking control.
Alex, Zoey and Anil wrapped their arms around a tooth to hold on tight as the dragon tipped its head backwards. Parasites screeched as their feet scrabbled for grip, some tumbling away into the fire.
The quake intensified like thunder rolling across a horizon. Air rushed past them as the rising sound grew louder, and louder, until there was nothing but deafening noise.
The Water Dragon opened its mouth wide and roared.
Alex held the tooth tightly so the gusting exhalation wouldn’t blow him loose. He spotted Anil and Zoey doing the same, eyes clenched shut against the force of the roar. Only Callis watched, already searching for an escape.
Finally, the dragon lowered its head. But its mouth stayed open. Daylight flooded inside. Alex peered out between the dragon’s teeth at the long drop to the churning ocean below. He spotted The Dragonfly, sails snapping as it wheeled in front of the dragon.
Parasites were already scurrying for the exit. Callis didn’t hesitate. He threw Alex a smug salute and stepped over the edge of the dragon’s mouth. They watched him fall for a long time before losing sight of him in the mist thrown up by the turbulent sea.
“We have to do that too, don’t we?” Anil said.
Zoey nodded. “No point staying here now the dragon’s opened up.”
Teetering at the edge of the dragon’s mouth, they peered down at the great height between them and the relative safety of The Dragonfly’s deck.
“On three?” suggested Anil.
Alex nodded, hoping his thundering heartbeat wouldn’t disturb his ability to count. “One, two—”
He gasped as Zoey tipped them all forwards before he could finish the count. They tumbled out between the dragon’s teeth, into empty air, the torrid ocean rushing up to meet them.