Taking Sides

Chapter 2: Contacted!

-Chapter 2: Contacted!-

There was a bright flash, accompanied with a loud ‘bang!’, both somehow reminding me of a what I imagined a nuclear explosion would look like. Most of us were blinded momentarily, and took a while to recover, with enough curses being uttered to appall even the commanders.

Then, came a loud and pretentious sounding voice, which bellowed “I am Draco the brown! Fear me, for I return to reclaim my lands!”

By then, I had recovered enough of my vision to see that the creature was indeed a dragon, with a maw filled with sharp and vicious-looking teeth, deep, black eyes that seemed to absorb you into a bottomless abyss. His scales were indeed brown, and he had a mottled yellow underside. His wings laid folded on his back, mostly obscured from my sight, as was his tail. He must have glided out of the wormhole thing, and presently stood in the middle of the parade square, eyeballing all the buildings with disdain. I was quite sure that he hadn’t noticed us, for he failed to comment on the huge group of armed men hiding behind the building… Either that, or he simply didn't see us as a threat, which meant that one side would be in big trouble soon enough. I hoped that the case was the former. 

Out of nowhere, I saw Captain Wee walk out, also dressed in skeletal battle order, but he carried no weapon. He seemed to say something to the dragon, and received a scornful snort in return. He seemed to add more, and the dragon seemed to get angry…

“You claim that these lands are mine no more, but you show me no proof! You say that you can defend it, but I see no troops! Begone, human, and let me restore this place to its proper natural state!” He then loosed a jet of flame into the air and roared.

Captain Wee took a few steps back, but seemed somewhat unperturbed. He turned in our direction and shouted, “You want to see the army? Very good. BRAVO! CHARGE!”

Everyone had obviously been briefed before, as they immediately got up and charged, screaming random war cries. Picking up on it, and not wanting to be trampled, I charged too, rifle in hand. The tension was released, but as I could see from most of the people around, fear prevailed instead. Yet, I found myself strangely calm, as I followed the flow, shouting too…

The entire show received another scornful snort. “<i>That</i> is your army? What a joke. You people aren’t even holding blades! Those clubs of yours won’t even <i>scratch</i> my scales. Now begone!”

Captain Wee seemed surprised at this reaction, and stood there speechless for a moment. The dragon took this as a moment of acceptance, and told us once again to ‘begone’.

However, the captain would have none of it. He reached over and tapped me on the shoulder. “Fire warning shot. Aim, don’t hit anyone.”

I nodded and loaded my weapon. I cocked it, took aim, and fired a shot what barely missed the dragon’s eye. Meanwhile, Captain Wee added, “Oh, these are far from being clubs. We progressed beyond those centuries ago. These can down a man hundreds of metres away. What makes you think it can’t down <i>you</i>?”

The dragon said nothing, for he was too busy staring down his snout at the smoking muzzle of my rifle.

The whole lot of us waited to see his reaction with baited breath. He would either back off, or reach over and swipe the whole lot of us into the nearby wall with one of the huge, clawed forelegs of his. What the captain had done was not to show our power, but instead, even the odds…

Captain Wee continued, “But, we don’t want to fight. If you and your people are willing to coexist with us, there will be no reason to point weapons at each other. So, will you stand down?”