The Fount of Dragon Fire

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Beau burst through the doors of the temporary office that he had claimed for himself. It wasn't in Summitville, there was no room for him there. The building was an old structure in the town of Blackridge Pass, the town at the base of Blackridge Mountain, and the last town before Summitville. It had the distinction of being both larger and easier to secure. When the president wasn't in Summitville itself, he was down here.

His temporary offices took up two floors - for security purposes - though he really only needed the single room that had been allocated to him in the back of the top floor.

At the moment, there was no one inside. He looked around quickly, cursing when the person he sought couldn't be found. He turned and immediately snapped at his secretary-

"Where is he?"

The woman had been with him too long to be upset when he became short. She answered calmly, not even looking up from the letter she was typing in his name, "He's on his way now, sir. He just entered the building, per security."

Beau let out a quick breath before walking into his office. He grabbed the decanter of fifty year old scotch that he had brought with him to the city and poured himself a glass to steady his nerves. He tried to savor the fantastically aged drink, but he was too agitated to do so.

From the other side of his open door, his secretary called, "He's here, sir."

Beau put down the glass and hastily fixed his face and suit into something resembling calm as he turned to face the door.

Thad, lead government scientist for the WPA, specializing in dragons, came walking in with a grin on his face like he had just been told he was having a surprise party for his birthday in this room.

"Well?" Beau asked, annoyed with his jovial attitude.

"I think this is probably the best day of my life." Thad responded gleefully. "I have never been so excited. Do you understand the ramifications this has for current scientific knowledge? This is going to rewrite several laws of biology and physics and probably chemistry! At the very least, the face of organic chemistry and biology are going to be forever-"

"Thad." Beau cut him off mercilessly. "I don't particularly care about the science, right now. I want to know what in the hell happened."

Snickering, Thad pulled out his phone. So excited, like a kid. "They got it on video. They were recording from the helicopter. Look, look, look..."

He repeated the word quickly, nearly skipping in his eagerness to show the president the footage they had captured of the events on the mountain just yesterday.

The footage was at an odd angle, and it was hard to see perfectly through the branches of the trees, but Beau could still make out the massive green dragon. And, right in front of the beast, positively minuscule by comparison, little Cameron Delaney roaring into its face. She threw her entire body into it. Beau couldn't hear it, the video had no sound, but he pictured it perfectly. He even heard a phantom echo when the dragon returned the greeting.

Then, there was a long few seconds where Cameron Delaney looked around uncertainly. Beau's hands tightened. He knew what was going to happen, though he hadn't seen the video yet. He had already been informed. Multiple times.

The dragon reared back slightly, and the explosion of gold fire that he spit over the girl darkened the rest of the video - it was so bright. The fire split like a wedge was being driven down the center, sparing Ash who stood just behind the girl, covering his face with his hands in an effort to protect himself from a blast of fire that didn't come near him.