Misted Deceit

Freedom So Close

"You're sure there is absolutely no way to get out?"

Forrest stared down at Mossy.

"I'm positive.  This is a seamless hunk of metal, save for the door, which opens to the outside," the young dragon replied earnestly, "We've searched the whole thing."

"Well, you did," Zanzi pointed out, gesturing to Mossy and Solar.

"Well, you sure weren't helping.  Sometimes I wonder if you even want to get out of here," Solar growled in annoyance.

Forrest sighed, Here we go again!  "Come on, you two.  Cut it out.  It's bad enough we're stuck as prisoners; we don't need to be at each others' throats."

Zanzi sniffed and Solar continued to glare at her before they walked to opposite sides of the cylinder.  Forrest lay down, exhausted.

Mossy stared, in turn, at the two dragons.  "What's up with them?"

"Beats me.  I've been trying to puzzle them out ever since I met them."

Forrest stared into the darkness.  "Wait.  Mossy, you said something about the door opening to the outside."

"Yes, which means the hinge is also on the outside.  I know what you are thinking, Forrest, that maybe we could escape that way, but believe me, we've tried."

"What about weakening the hinge and then busting down the door?"

"What about it?  There is no gap between the door and the wall."

"But there are screws, right?  What if we heated those up?"

"I don't know, Forrest.  I've never encountered a situation like this before.  The only thing that I can think of that came close to it was after I failed the entrance test to the King's Academy at Sky Spire City."

Forrest stared at him in shock and amazement.  Standing before him was possibly one of the few smartest dragons in Pyrrain.  To get even a chance to go to the King's Academy...

Either Mossy didn't see it as a big deal or he was hiding his emotions pretty well, but he seemed to brush off the matter.  "Now," he said, "seeing as we'll probably be stuck in here forever, why don't we try you plan?"

Mossy nodded, still in shock, and headed to the other end.  Forrest went to stand next to Solar, who had laid down, apparently asleep.  "Solar?  We may be getting out of here."

The dark dragon looked up at him, "What?"

"Escape.  Now.  You in?"

"You really think I want to spend more time in this piece of junk?"  He shook his head and got up, "So, what are we going to do?"

"Heat up the hinges, then bust the door down.  But it'll take all of us," Forrest stared at his friend.

"Fine, yeah, whatever," Solar glanced away.

Mossy and Zanzi were already standing by the door when Forrest reached them.  He saw Solar make a point to stand farthest away from the healer, which, once again, puzzled him.  Stop!  You're only distracting yourself!  his mind screamed at him.

Taking a deep breath to rid himself of such thoughts, he turned towards his friends, "On my count.  And...fire!"

All at once, a blistering wave of fire basked the small area.  Forrest watched as the metal turned from a cold grey to a cherry red.  Backing away from the heat, they continued to supply fire until Mossy yelled, "Stop!  That'll be enough!"

Stepping back, Solar ran at the door, ramming it with all his strength.  He then repeated it up to the point where the door gave off a low groan.  Once more, this time with everyone helping, they slammed into it, sending it flying off, where it then bounced off the ground several times before rolling into a hydra.

Solar swore as it turned towards them, yelling an alarm, "You didn't think of this, did you, Forrest!?"

"Yes, I did.  But it's not like we could do anything about it," he called as he charged out, tackling the first hydra.  Solar rolled his eyes and joined in the fray. 

A large explosion rocked the ground, knocking everyone off their feet.  Half of the hydras around them didn't rise as Solar and Forrest shook their heads, trying to clear out the ringing in their ears.  Whipping around, Solar snarled in the direction of Zanzi, who had pulled out her medicinal bag; apparently cures weren't the only thing she kept in there.

Forrest shouted a warning as one of the hydras pounced on Solar.  Surprisingly, it was Mossy who killed it.  He had managed to somehow throw a part of the remaining venom at it, burning it to death.  However, as soon as another one advanced on him, the young dragon cowered back into the cylinder.  Zanzi jumped in front of him and swiped a paw across its face, sending it stumbling back, clutching its bleeding face.  She opened another flask and sprayed it in front of her just a several more hydras came forward.  And as soon as they touched the mist, their scales and skin melted away, leaving just a skeleton with a large pool of blood around it.  Forrest almost fainted when he saw it; she just grinned. "Only a little something I've been working on!" she called.

He shook his head and ripped off a limb of one of the hydras, sending it falling to the ground where he crisped it.  Taking flight, he bathed the ground in fire, careful to avoid Solar and the others.  As he was doing so, he noticed a rather large group hydras approaching.  And leading them was Autumn Breeze and...

"Orchid!" Forrest screamed, "What are you doing?!"  He dropped back down to the earth, baffled, hurt, and defeated.  Solar and Zanzi looked up at his outbreak, startled.  They gazed at her with surprise and confusion.

"Stop the attack!" Autumn boomed, "We wouldn't want to have our prisoners harmed, now would we?  Load them up in the cages and whichever poor soul who was standing guard had better start pulling!"

Two of the cages were brought up and Forrest and his friends were once again loaded up.  He snarled and snapped at the soldiers.  Then, the canvas was pulled over, but not before he shot Orchid a hurt, angry stare.