Legends of Stone

Written by Zelda

 

                The fog was hard to see through. It rolled and billowed thickly across the ramp of the Aerowing as the Ducks stepped warily off, clicking their weapons in threat. Drake One had detected prolonged teleportation waves in a remote part of England, and the Ducks had shot over there as soon as they were able. Now, through the fog and twilight, they could see that they had landed in a wide spanse of deserted field and old farmland. Crisscrossed with crumbling stone walls and walled by smooth mountains, it made a strange scene for a Saurian to be prodding around.

                "What ever would the Saurians want here?" Duke asked, shivering in the clammy air.

                "Beats me, but they're here." Tanya said.

                "Can you get an exact pinpoint on their location?" asked Wildwing. Tanya tapped furiously at her Omnitool.

                "Well, the energy waves are coming from the east, about 1/8 of a mile away." she said.

                "We'll walk." Wildwing decided. "We'll let them know we're here to soon if we come flying that close in the Aerowing. Let's go!" With that, the team started walking warily, silently through the wet grass and fog. As the stars came out overhead, the Ducks made out the dim outlines of an old castle, in ruins from centuries of solitude. From inside, there pulsed the faint glow of firelight.

                "Well, somebody's in there." said Grin. They crept up, and walked through an overgrown trench that once was a proud moat.

                "Watch out for the alligators!" joked Nosedive. Mallory slapped him on the arm to silence him as they peeked through the broken walls. The castle was shaped in a huge circle, the once-high turrets now lay in piles of stone on the ground. In the center, Wraith stood, with Siege, Dragaunus, and the Chameleon not far behind. On the other side of the castle, the blood red metal of Dragaunus's scout ship burned through the cracks. Wraith, alone in the center of the space, tapped the end of his staff on the old stones, and began to wave his other hand about in a circle. Suddenly, he began to create a small whirlwind in the fog, colored distinctly pink, with streaks of flashing light blue and green.

                "He must be trying to cast a spell or something! We have to stop him!" Wildwing yelled. Leaping out of their hiding place, the seven charged. Dragaunus, Chameleon, and Siege immediately turned and fired on them, but Wraith appeared not even to notice.

                "You get those three!" Duke yelled to the others. "I'll take out Wraith!"

                "Right behind you!" Zelda yelped, running just behind him. The two charged towards Wraith while the rest took the fire of the remaining villains. As they ran Wraith still didn't budge, just kept waving his arm and spinning the fog. Duke drew his saber and slashed at his staff. Knocked away and surprised, Wraith fell down, but he tossed the whirlwind strait at Zelda. She braced herself as she saw the blast hit the stones before her, but there was no explosion. Opening her eyes and looking down, Zelda saw the stones beneath her glowing and flashing. Instinctively, she leapt up and to the side to get away, but something held her fast to the ground! Looking back down in panic, she realized the stones had actually risen up to cover her feet!

                "Zelda, get out of there!" Duke yelled, taken up with Wraith.

                "Stones of old, work your magic!" Wraith laughed evilly. The stones now oozed and flowed like liquid. Zelda cried out in panic, still jerking to get away. A stone lashed out like a wide sheet, and wrapped around her neck. Zelda tore to the side, but the stone held fast. Another wave lashed up, and then another, and another, enveloping Zelda in the flashing coating. Zelda jerked and wrenched wildly, but still couldn't break free.

                "Hang on Zelda!" Mallory yelled, breaking free from the Chameleon's fire and running to help. The coating fully enveloped Zelda now, and as Mallory ran closer, Zelda actually started to grow! Her shape changed and she reared up, snapping the bonds she was held in. The light faded quickly, leaving behind a huge monster!

                "What is that thing?" Nosedive asked in panic.                                

                "A dragon, to be precise." Dragaunus laughed. Zelda was about the length of a football field, the height of a two-story building, and looked like a dragon out of a medieval folktale! She still retained her purple color, but looked horrendously different. Her snout was long and thin, and much like that of a crocodile, terminating in two huge, sharp teeth protruding from her lower jaw. Her ears were flapped by two horns on each side, the upper one bigger and curved. Long, thin, and feather-like silver scales ran from the back of her head down around her long, snake-like neck, from which large, curved spines stuck, running down her spine to the tip of her longer, serpentine tail, which terminated in the same long, razor-sharp silver scales that were on her neck. Her claws were large and sharp, each talon a vicious gray. Her wings were huge, rippled flaps of skin, with thorns running along the outer wing spoke, and a huge spine protruding at the joint. Her eyes burned a reptilian orange. She reared up to full height, over 5 stories, spread her wings, and let out a screaming roar, which sounded like a cross between the broken cry of an eagle and the scream of an ancient creature.

                "Oh boy..." started Nosedive.

 

                Wraith yanked Dragaunus back.

                "Now what?" he yelled. "Can't you see I'm enjoying this?"

                "There's no time for enjoyment Lord!" Wraith yelled over the din. "That dragon could attack us as equally as she would the Ducks!" Dragaunus looked doubtfully up at the creature, as Siege and Chameleon were already running for the ship. Suddenly, the thin, whiplike end of Zelda's tail came crashing down inches from him, and Dragaunus took off too.

                "Get back here and finish this you slimeball!" Wildwing yelled, shooting at him as he ran. But he stopped and looked back up, remembering the problem at hand. Zelda came crashing back down to all fours, and eyed the Ducks for a few seconds.

                "What do we do?" Duke whispered to Wildwing.                             

                "I'm open to suggestions." he replied helplessly.

                "Nothing to do but try and bring it down!" Mallory cried. She carefully aimed her puck launcher and fired. The puck bounced dully off of Zelda's hind leg, and she turned around. Enraged by the shot, Zelda whipped her tail around, sending a wall tumbling down. Tanya yelped and ran to avoid the rubble. Zelda saw her and followed her with her eyes. Suddenly, she opened her jaws, hissed, and blasted out a thick plume of fire effortlessly.

                "Careful! Hot stuff!" Wildwing warned.

                "No kidding!" panted Tanya, coughing in the smoke the flames created. Zelda whipped her tail around in a slow, graceful circle, knocking Mallory and Tanya to their knees. The thin, blade-like, silver strands on the frond of the tail suddenly entangled the two, and they were encoiled in the tail and lifted high in the air.

                "Hang on you two!" Grin yelled. He and the rest of the Ducks began to fire at the tail. Zelda yelped, getting annoyed. She raised her wings like a massive, moving airplane, and with a swoosh and a roar, rose into the air, with Mallory and Tanya still in her grasp.                             

                "Hang on!" Wildwing cried, running back out. "Come on, we have to get back to the Aerowing!" The team (or what was left of it) ran the whole way back, through the fog, keeping their eyes on Zelda's huge body as it disappeared into the night. Panting, Wildwing threw himself into the controls, and blasted away. They flew at full speed, finally catching up to Zelda, flying along side of her. The Aerowing fired a few laser shots at her flank. Zelda screamed in pain, and slammed into the side of the ship in rage.

                "Watch it! Watch it!" Duke yelled, trying to keep himself from being thrown into a wall. But Zelda wouldn't stop. She clamped onto the top of the ship, and gripped a wing in her jaws. With a single wrenching twist, she ripped through, creating a huge hole. Immediately, the ship dipped down. Zelda lurched heavily off of it, and flew back up, hovering in the air, watching the ship flutter down.

 

                The impact was shattering. The ship groaned in metallic protest and pain as it slammed into the ground, sliding slowly to a stop. Finally, silence. Wildwing sat up slowly, feeling a pain run up his arm, which was twisted up in the flight controls.

                "Everyone okay?" he asked slowly. Grin put his hands on the back of Wing's chair and pulled himself up.                            

                "Nothing some meditation won't fix." he answered. Nosedive came up behind him slowly.

                "Yeah, I'm okay, just a little shaken up." Duke lay slumped across the dash. He hadn't moved. Wildwing unwound his arms from the controls and got out of his seat.

                "Duke?" he asked. Duke groaned softly. Wildwing put a hand on Duke's shoulder and shook him gently. Blood dripped slowly off of the dash. Duke leaned up slightly and put his hand over his head.

                "You okay?" Grin asked.

                "Yeah yeah, I'll be fine." Duke grunted. From way off in the distance, they heard the dragon's cry. Nosedive turned to face his brother in the darkness.

                "So now what?"

 

                The Duckcycles ripped through the long grass in the dark night. Wildwing and Nosedive each took their own, and Grin and Duke took a third. Duke had gotten a mild concussion from the impact, and had a gash across his forehead. It was bandaged and he was getting better, but was still too woozy to drive himself. He slumped weakly, holding onto Grin's shoulders as they drove. The three followed a distinct pattern in the fields. In rhythmic spots, the grass was flattened in a large triangle, created by the downward wind gusts of Zelda's huge wings. Finally, they came upon a small hill in the landscape, and the spots in the grass ended. The Ducks dismounted from the cycles, and walked around to the other side of the hill, to reveal a gaping hole in the solid rock, burying deep underground. A dragon cave.                        "Okay now, everybody has to be quiet." Wildwing cautioned.

                "Well DUH!" Dive retorted. "Unless we wanna become dragon shish-kebob!"

                "You coming Duke?" Grin asked.

                "Yeah." he answered, waving his hand. "Let's go."

 

                The cave echoed with a deep, hissing breathing. It was black as pitch and full of fog and spiderwebs.                          

                "Eww." whispered Dive, as they crept through the huge cavern. Finally, the long tunnel widened out into a huge room. The walls glowed an eerie red, from a small fire that burned in the corner. About halfway up the wall was a hole in the side, covered by a mesh of long, old bones. More piles of bones lay nearby. Some were cows, some were horses, birds, and some where human.                  

                "Great." Duke gulped. "Just our luck this one's not a picky eater." From up in the ceiling, there was a shuffling. From inside, they could see movement.

                "Wildwing?" Tanya called.

                "Tanya! You two okay?" Wildwing responded.

                "Fine for the moment, but keep your voice down!" Mallory hissed. She pointed beneath her, to the sleeping head of the now silent dragon. "You'll wake her up!"

                "And I'd hate to see what she does to alarm clocks." Grin sympathized. The four crept forwards.                 "We've gotta get them outta there, but how?" Wildwing thought.

                "Leave it to me." Duke grinned. He shot his grappling puck with a mastered accuracy, and it wrapped around one of the bones of the cage bars. He tested his weight, and it held.

                "You want one of us to go up there instead?" Wildwing asked.

                "Quit babying me." Duke snorted, and began to climb. When he reached the bars, he took his sword and slashed them in half.

                "Watch out!" Tanya yelped softly, wide-eyed, as the bones fell down, clunking in splinters on the dragon's head. The team held their breath, motionless, waiting. The dragon shuffled a bit and continued to sleep. The team breathed a checked sigh of relief.

                "Nice going Duke." Nosedive snorted. Tanya and Mallory slid down, thunking softly in the fine dust that coated the cave floor.

                "Good job." Wildwing praised. The others nodded silently.

                "Well let's get out of this medieval morgue!" Dive said. "The less I have to hang around this thing..." he said, jabbing his elbow inadvertently into the creature's head. "The better." Suddenly, Nosedive stumbled back as the room blazed orange. The team stared back in horror to find themselves standing inches away from the burning orange eye of the dragon! It stared at them wrathfully. Suddenly, a plume of fire shot out from each nostril, rocking the walls and sending jagged shadows everywhere. Instinctively, Grin wheeled around and punched Zelda in the eye. The dragon threw her head up and screamed in pain, wrenching in all directions.

                "RUN!" Wildwing yelled, ducking and fleeing for the tunnel entrance. The Ducks turned tailfeathers and ran as fast as they could, trying to avoid the lashing animal. As they leapt onto the Duckcycles, they heard the angry cries of it as it charged out of the tunnel. The team ripped off through the grass as fast as they could, but suddenly, they realized Zelda was no longer giving chase. They stopped and turned around, to see her standing at the mouth of the cave, a frozen statue of stone in the early morning sunrise!

                "Whew!" Nosedive panted.

                "So now what?" Mallory asked.

                "Well, we'll try and get back to that castle. Maybe we can find some clues about what in the name of the NHL happened to Zelda." Wildwing started. "Oh and Tanya, you've got repair work to do on the Aerowing." Tanya sighed and smacked her forehead.

 

                The castle echoed with the same stillness it had when they first visited it. The Ducks walked in, and started to look around.

                "There doesn't seem to be anything here Wing." Duke said. "It's just your ordinary run down castle in the middle of nowhere." After the team had fixed the Aerowing, they had come back here. They had searched for hours. The sun was setting, and still, they found nothing. Wildwing sighed.

                "There has to be something." he sighed, leaning up against one of the still-standing walls. Suddenly, a brick in the wall gave in. The stones of the floor before him sank down into shallow steps, revealing a passageway to an underground tunnel beyond!

                "Well, looks like you just found it." Mallory said. "Come on, let's see what's inside!"

 

                The tunnel was damp, musty, and short. It led into a octagonal room, lined with rotting bookshelves and dusty books. In the center, was a large round table with several candle stubs in tarnished brass holders. Duke pulled a book of matches out of his pocket and lit them, casting an eerie glow about the room.

                "One of these books might have something about what happened to Zelda." Tanya said. She and the rest of the team started pulling books out of the shelves and thumbing through them carefully. One book lay open on the table. Tanya picked it up, placed it on an old wooden podium, and started to read through the pages.

                "I think we've found it!" she said, holding a candle closer so she could read.

                "How do you know?" Nosedive asked, turning around to see.

                "Look at it." Tanya said. On the old yellowed page, was Zelda's exact likeness!

                "Yup, that's it." Duke said.

                "What does it say?" Wildwing asked, listening as he looked through more books.

                "The page is entitled... 'The Legend of the Great Dragon of Stone.'" Tanya began. "Long ago, this was a peaceful kingdom, until one day a horrible dragon came, and started to wreak havoc on the people of the region. It killed the knights and pages, and ate the fairest maidens. No arrow or sword could pierce through it's hide."

                "Maybe not, but the Aerowing's laser did the job." Grin said. Tanya continued.

                "It toppled the castle, and looked as if it would terrorize the region forever until it was destroyed." Tanya raised her head. "It died out there." She said, gesturing to the empty castle outside. "In the middle of the destroyed castle. It was said that the blood of the dragon seeped into the mortar, forever cursing the stones. Whoever stood upon them when the curse was invoked, would take on the form of the Dragon of Stone once again."

                "Great." said Nosedive. "Looks like Wraith went through here before we could."

                "And why did she turn to stone?" Mallory asked.

                "Says it here." Tanya said. "She was killed during the day, so when the sun rises, she turns to stone. When the sun sets, she is free again."

                "But the sun set a while ago!" Mallory said.

                "That part about how it was killed..." Wildwing said. "Do they give any more detail?" Tanya flipped back a few pages and read.

                "Yeah, here." she pointed. "They say there is a single red scale on the back of the neck, in between all those silver things on her head. Beneath that scale is a weak spot. Hit that, and we'll take her down."

                "Good, let's get outta here before Zelda finds us." Wildwing said.

                "Go ahead, I just wanna read a few more pages." Tanya muttered, burying her head in the book. Wildwing turned back and headed out. He and the team scattered about the castle ruins, searching for any more clues. Suddenly, there was an immense swooshing noise, and the ground shook. Wildwing spun around in horror to face the Great Dragon of Stone, landing where it had died on the center pavillion, and roaring.

 

                The creature wasted no time. With a swoosh of its agile tail it cleared the immediate area, thwacking any of the Ducks that were in its reach unceremoniously out of the way.

                "Tanya! Get out of there!" Duke yelled. But the Dragon left no time. Lowering its head near the hole, it hissed, and suddenly shot a plume of fire from its snout, that filled the cave entrance with a ball of churning flames. The team stood aghast, then ran to attack. After making sure the place was thoroughly gutted, The Dragon rammed its head into the entrance, ducking out to fling away charred bits of wood and paper. Suddenly, it withdrew, face covered in soot, with a ragged form in its jaws. It snapped at it for a moment to assure its grip on the dangling form, and then shook it violently in its jaws like a dog would shake a rat. It tossed the object up into the air and reared, snapping its jaws closed and swallowing, it like a bird would swallow a fish. The team stopped in their tracks. Was that Tanya? The dragon turned and screamed triumphantly at them, ragged pieces of wood and fabric hanging from its jaws. The team fired on it, but the Dragon didn't notice. It swept at them with its claws and tail, blowing them to the ground with its wings. The Ducks did all they could for cover. The Dragon caught Wildwing as he was trying to run for the gutted tunnel entrance. She swooped about and roared at him, knocking him over. As he crumpled up in anticipation of a blow, he raised his ice shield in defense. The dragon swiped at him, but screamed in pain and withdrew as her claws raked against his shield. Wildwing stumbled up, surprised. Holding the shield out in front of him, he backed away, the Dragon keeping a wary distance. He then remembered that his shield was protected, and glowed with a thousand laser beams that protected it. The lasers must have been her only weakness, and now the Dragon was wary. Suddenly, he saw movement by the tunnel entrance. Panting, charred, and shaken, Tanya stumbled from the entrance, and collapsed, gasping, on the stones a few feet away. Wildwing lowered his shield immediately and ran to her.

                "Tanya! he cried. "You're alive!"

                "Yeah." She coughed. "There was a crevice in the wall behind a bookshelf..." She was suddenly blotted out by a loud growl. The Dragon stood broodingly behind the two, almost grinning at them. Wildwing raised his shield, but the Dragon took no notice. She swatted at the two with her enormous talons, and tore the two apart. Wildwing screamed as he landed, and the Dragon came away with blood on her claws. He crumpled up into a ball, trying to buckle and hide in the open space. Tanya struggled up and limped over to him. Zelda stood over the two again, and lowered her jaws, looking to eat them both in one savage bite. Suddenly, there was a the whizzing snap of fire, and the Dragon roared and withdrew. Behind the three, the rest of the Ducks flew in the Aerowing, firing the laser. The Dragon left the two, and spun around, slamming her tail across the windshield of the ship. The glass spiderwebbed, but did not break. Duke, at the controls, fought to keep her steady, while Mallory stood waiting to fire at the weapons console. As Tanya helped Wildwing up, the Dragon lifted itself into the air. It soared agilely over the ship, and landed on it with a heavy thud, creating a dent in the roof. The side hatch flew open, and Duke stood up in his seat.

                "Where do you think you're going?" Nosedive asked.

                "Remember what Tanya said? I'm gonna take that thing down." Duke snarled. He climbed up onto the roof, and when the Dragon swooped down again, he was scrambling up one leg. Irritated, Zelda snarled and snapped at him.

                "Come on, let's keep her distracted!" Mallory said, firing. Zelda roared, trying to keep an eye on Duke and the ship at the same time. Duke raised his wrist and shot his grappling puck out, the end wrapping around the base of one of the horns on Zelda's head. Zelda roared and thrashed in midair. She smacked full into the side of the ship, throwing it dangerously off course. But the Aerowing steadied and fought back alongside her. Duke climbed steadily, avoiding slamming into the ship one moment and Zelda's jaws the next. Suddenly, something bright and silver slipped across his hand, slitting easily through his wrist. Duke ignored the thin thread of blood coming up in the wound, and continued up. He was getting to those silver scales in the neck. He was getting close. He was entangled in more of the scales, which whipped and blew past, leaving paper-thin and shallow wounds behind. Duke bled slightly from at least twenty places. He parted through the scales as he struggled to retain his grip on the snakelike neck, and finally he saw the scale.

 

                It was a dark red, and shaped like a V. Just like Tanya said it would be. He was thrown off as Zelda lurched suddenly again. He reared back up, scrabbling through the silver scales again to find it. There it was. Duke took a risk and lifted one hand from his grip, drawing his saber. He aimed, and struck.

                                               

To be continued.....