Down The Rabbit Hole

[Philomel]

"They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell."

Charge of the Light Brigade. Tennyson.

Oh my word, she whispered internally, That is ... A giant, zombie dragon.

Approximately thirty full and long metres of curling, scaled beast. The colour of a sickly lichen the serpentine monster was wound loosely around a low hilltop. A mighty, horse-shaped maw, with the skin from part of his lower jaw peeling away looked over then cast cavern with cold, icy eyes. Horns sprang from his head, straight and true and began a fashion that extended down the entire length of his spine, all the way to thar flickering, weaponised tail. The only sections where the spikes were missing were in portions where his flesh had fallen away, leaving exposed dying muscle, organs and even bone poking through the khaki mess.

Four legs, one of them no more than a skeletal structure, supported a thin but muscular body, whilst two great leathery wings sprouted from his back. They were matted and torn at the end, as if years of fighting had ruined him, and one had a gaping hole, oozing with a strange green slime. It was clear though that they could support him, for there were signs of discarded remains and corpses strewn about around, beneath and above him, on ledges too far for even his gloriously length could reach. As Philomel watched through the cautious eyes of Veridian, just peering through the very edge of the mysterious inky smoke, she saw one of the dragon's eyes roll back as if dead into his skull and remain there, backwards.

"Drys above," she whispered, and reached the only useful thing right now - her plynt dagger called the Lover.

Flipping a switch set in the hilt she made the blade woosh up with flame. As it was Philomel was still within the black mist, only having stepped in just after Rianna. By Veridian's reckoning the others had to be between them, for nowhere in his sight of the huge chamber with the mighty dragon did he see them. And he was on a high up ledge, overlooking much of the cave. A steady path would lead down, but it would not be without notice.

Luckily the black fog was not flammable. Instead it seemed to be some sort of harmless smoke that only revealed a handful of feet before you and reached the ceiling by the time you were in fully. As Philomel turned around with her flaming dagger she began to see more - the sharp curves of the tunnel wall, and the glitterings of the jade still within. There was also a mushroom there - a dirty grey thing that grew in bunches of two or three. As Philomel passed by, her eyes searching rather for the rabbit girl or the vampire, she saw one of the fungi suddenly seem to breathe out and release a puff of black spores.

Which explained the fog at least.

For a minute or more she continued to search, but still could not find the other two ladies. Connecting back to Veridian she discovered they had still not appeared at the end of the tunnel at all, alongside him. It meant that they were somewhere between her and him still, or they had become lost entirely. Philomel had only one choice - and that was to press on. Yet she still needed to warn them, and thus she whispered.

"Rianna ... Ayami," she hissed, "You have to be careful ... Veridian has found the end of the tunnel and well ... caverns of luck indeed. We found a zombie dragon."

Though he does look to be lying on a huge pile of treasure, Veridian admitted. He spied skulls, old weapons ... and lots of shining jewels and gold.

"He is guarding the treasure!" she repeated.