Dragon Wars: Rise of Quagmire

Twenty-five thousand feet above, Torch could just make out the white tips of the waves as they moved along the sea, endless in every direction. 

“Look out below!” Flipwing bellowed and did a nosedive. She whooped as she careened past him. Her purple scales shone bright in the sun, cascading sunlight around her in shoots of rainbows that reflected off Torch’s deep orange scales. 

“Good one, Flip,” Torch laughed. “But not this good!” Torch straightened his wings, caught the breeze and hung for just a moment, suspended among the clouds. Then, in a flash, he rolled right and barrel dived straight toward his friend. 

The wind screamed by his ears and his stomach was plastered against his ribcage. Inches before impact, Torch pulled up and let out his massive wings. The sun shone through them and they sparkled like diamonds in the light. 

Flipwing laughed and rolled over the the air, flying upside down. “I can’t wait to get to Princess Cassandra’s island. The first thing I’m doing is finding a hot spring and never coming out.” 

“Think they have food?” Torch asked.

Flipwing knocked him with her tail. “Of course they have food!”

“No,” Torch stared dreamily at the clouds. “Not just food…  Hams and cheeses as big as your head, and juice sweeter than the sweetest fruits, and chips and popcorn crunchier than the saltiest seaweed…” Torch asked, mouth already starting to water, his stomach rolling with hunger. 

“Land ahoy!” Flipwing called out. Snapping out of his reverie, Torch joined Flipwing in adjusting his course to fly straight toward it. 

Below the high spires and vast towers, they spied manicured gardens bursting with sparkling fountains and explosions of pink roses and blue hydrangeas. 

“Looks good to me!” Flipwing called out, starting to dive toward the front lawn. 

The dragons alighted on the front lawn and walked up to a big, wooden door that had a rose knocker on it. Thinking of the ham and the juice and the cheese and the popcorn, Torch grasped the handle and knocked hard. 

Suddenly, purple smoke spewed from under the door, surrounding them. The smoke clouded their eyes. Coughing and sputtering, the dragons tried to see in front of them as the door creaked open. 

A transparent, wispy tiger stood in the doorway. Its eyes shone with light and the dragons backed away. 

“Leaving so soon?” the tiger purred. “Come in! We’ve been expecting you.” 

“Umm… I think we got the wrong island castle in the middle of the sea,” Torch said. “We’ll just go back and you can forget you ever saw us,” he laughed nervously. 

“Certainly,” the ghost tiger said. “But, you mustn’t leave on an empty stomach. We’ve just laid the table with hams and cheeses as big as your head, and crispy corn saltier than the sea.” 

Torch’s stomach betrayed him with a loud rumble. 

“I mean… it’s probably fine… right?” Torch shrugged, going into the castle. 

Flipwing sighed and followed him in. 

The door slammed shut behind them and the ghost tiger led them through winding hallways full of closed doors and high ceilings. 

They came to a vast entry room with a vaulted ceiling painted lavishly with golden roses atop winding, silver stems. The leaves shone off the firelight, and a heavy stillness settled over the two dragons. 

“Is Princess Cassandra going to join us for dinner?” Flipwing asked. 

The tiger sat on its ghostly haunches and looked expectantly at the door. 

“She did say she would be here, right?” Flipwing whispered. 

Torch nodded. 

Suddenly, the doors creaked open. More purple smoke issued from the doors. Flipwing and Torch coughed again, flapping their wings to dispel the haze. 

“Ahh… my friendsss,” a deep, rumbling voice. 

The dragons’ eyes widened as the smoke dispelled from their eyes.  

“I’d know that voice anywhere…” Torch muttered. 

“It couldn’t be…” Flipwing started, looking at her friend. 

“Quagmire!” they both said. 

A monstrous two-headed snake slithered out into the hall and sat up, eye to eye with the dragons, red tongues flicking in and out. His red and black scales shifted eerily with the light. 

“What are you doing here?” Flipwing growled. 

“We beat you!” Torch spewed, fire spitting out of his mouth. 

“Eassy, my friendssss,” Quagmire hissed, laughing softly. “You did put up a good effort. Very… convinsssssing.” He slithered around them, circling them in his mammoth body. “All according to plan.” 

Torch and Flipwing stood back-to-back keeping their eyes glued to both heads. 

“What are you talking about?” Torch demanded. 

The snake’s evil laughter filled the cavern again. “Trusst! Ha ha ha ha! If the princess believed I was still a threat, this casssstle would still be locked up and under guard. But now,” the snake laughed again, “now… you’re ssssssselebrating! Who would ssssussspect the recently destroyed Quagmire to ssstrike sso ssssoon?” He laughed this time tears falling from his yellow eyes. 

“What have you done with Princess Cassandra?” Torch shouted and signaled Flipwing with his hind foot while Quagmire wiped his eyes with his tail. 

“Princess, princess, princess,” the snake rolled all four eyes, “everyone’s alwaysss ssssso concerned with the poor princessesssss in thesssse sssstoriesss. She’s fine. Locked away at the tallessst tower.” 

“Just like in the stories?” Flipwing spat. 

Quagmire smiled. “Just like in the stories.” 

“Now!” Torch leaped into the air blowing fire into Quagmire’s eyes. 

“Aaaahhh! Currssssssee you, flying lizardsss!” Quagmire shrieked. 

Flipwing and Torch shot through the hall and streaked out the front entryway. 

“There!” Flipwing motioned with her claw. Circling higher and higher, the dragons reached the tallest tower. “Stand back!” Flipwing called inside the tower. Torch blew more fire, melting the iron bars into puddles of molten goo. 

“Glad you two showed up,” Princess Cassandra appeared in the opening. “I was beginning to think of a plan to scale down the wall.” 

“Hop on,” Flipwing said. The Princess leaped from the window and grasped onto her purple scales. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Torch said. “Where to, Princess?” 

“There’s a secret hideaway on the eastern edge of the Dark Forest, close to the High Cliffs,” Cassandra said. 

“Flip, you’ve got our tail?” Torch said, casting a look at the ground where the ghost tiger peered up at them with bright eyes. 

Flipwing smiled and breathed on Torch. Cassandra gasped as his skin turned a transparent purple, shifting with the sky. 

“You can turn us invisible?” she asked. 

“Not invisible,” Flipwing shrugged, “just very hard to find.” She closed her eyes and Princess Cassandra suddenly felt weightless as her body transformed into the same shifting, transparent purple. 

Princess Cassandra smiled. “I have a feeling this vacation is about to get a whole lot more interesting.”