Chapter 16

Shortly before midnight, we arrived in the corridors. We had already eaten and were fresh from a good nap. There was an exit that I had located on the back side of Red Mountain at the level of the corridors. The ward on the door opened it easily, and we stepped out onto a smooth area that was just large enough for one ... one Human that is. I went first and transformed to my Dragon form at the forty-foot-tall level before jumping off the mountain after spreading my wings. Jorani did the same thing, and the door snapped shut behind her. She joined me in the air, and we flew around above the Potala Palace and Red Mountain for a time enjoying ourselves. It was a crisp, cold, dark night, and we hadn’t been flying in a while.

Remembering our mission after a time, we broke off enjoying ourselves, and flew in the direction of the Department of Public Security to put them out of business for a few days. We were nearly there when Jorani detected the sound of a helicopter approaching us quickly.

“Evasion!” she shouted in a loud Dragon voice, and we both broke in different directions as we dived for the ground. We didn’t just dive, we snapped our wings closed and plummeted toward the ground while taking evasive action. I pulled out close to the ground with difficulty and hid behind one of the buildings closest to our target.

Two missiles flashed by where we had been only a second before. They appeared to be heat-seeking missiles, but it appeared that they had lost our infrared signal as we dived, turned, and twisted. But we were nearly to the facilities of the Department of Public Security, and they picked up the strong infrared signal of the buildings, as they are well heated. The two missiles streaked down into the buildings and exploded on contact creating quite a visual display.

The helicopter was just approaching the area after the explosions. From the way that it slowed to a crawl and held its position above the facility, it was apparent that the two-man crew were shocked by what had happened. Their shock gave Jorani and me the time that we needed to circle around behind them and gain altitude. We both came in behind them and a bit to either side of them before blasting the helicopter with Ley Line Magic from the center claws of both of our hands. We then used wards like walls or fences to guide the burning and disintegrating helicopter into the buildings of the Department of Public Security creating a burning and exploding disaster. Following that, we created wards, tall wards, all around the area of the buildings. We used an excess of Magic to create the wards to ensure that all of their electronic equipment including any backup material was ruined. Those on guard here hadn’t fired at us. They were too busy avoiding the explosions and fires.

Flying back toward Red Mountain and the Potala Palace, we landed on the Potala viewpoint on Chagpo Ri hill. In the cold and the dark, the area was deserted. We changed back to our Human form to talk more easily.

“It’s a good thing that we discussed what to do in case a helicopter appeared,” Jorani said first thing.

“Yes, it was. I wasn’t really expecting one on a dark night like this. They had to have been directed here by someone,” I told her, and that was when I remembered the work in progress on the hill above the Army camp.

“Remember the work on the hill above the Army camp today? It must have been for some kind of radar unit, and they must have had a chopper on standby for it to get here so quickly,” I told her, realizing how it had happened.

“We won’t be able to fly here as long as that radar is set up and working. We should do something about that,” she told me.

“Like tonight?” I asked in agreement.

“Like tonight, yes. Let’s transfer out there to where we observed the camp and spread a little death and destruction,” she proposed. “You don’t shoot at Dragons,” she added.

“All right, but we need to hit the radar site first and then the helicopters. Follow that with the vehicle parking area, and then whatever we have time to blast and burn,” I told her laying out the basic plan of the attack. It was easy to transfer to the hill where we had observed the camp from, as I had left a marker there in case we needed to return.

Appearing in our old observation location, we checked the area for activity. Things were very quiet except for the guards moving around their posts. There were lights near the hangar where the helicopters were but no activity there yet. There were perimeter lights around the fenced areas of the camp. There were also a few small lights where the radar unit had been set up.

After checking everything, we did a line-of-sight transfer to the area below the radar unit. There were only a couple of people manning the radar plus a few guards, and they never heard us. We cast freeze spells on them before blasting the equipment with strong Magic. Very carefully then so as not to be seen, I breathed Dragon fire on the remains of the unit.

“Helicopters first and then vehicles. Also, the warehouses if we have time. Following that blasting and burning the buildings and the headquarters,” I reminded Jorani. We checked our wards and then took off.

Our attack was a complete surprise. We blasted the parked helicopters from the air and hit their fuel point with Dragon fire after blasting it, creating a nice explosion. Next, we blasted the vehicles randomly and also used Dragon fire on them and the vehicles’ fuel point. On the way between the two locations, we hit the warehouses with blasts of Magic and a bit of Dragon fire. One warehouse had to be storing ammunition and explosives, as it went up with a roar scattering shrapnel and unexploded ordnance in all directions. Luckily, we were well away from it before it went off.

The vehicle area was very similar. Burning vehicles exploded scattering fire and shrapnel all around damaging vehicles and setting other on fire. The fuel point went up with an explosion also, and it and its fuel tanks burned long into the night, illuminating the area around them.

Having finished our main targets, we flew over the barracks areas using blasts of Magic and Dragon fire to create panic and destruction. Some of the guards had fired at us, but we had our wards around us, and it had no affect on us. The guards didn’t do as well as they weren’t fireproof. On reaching the headquarters, we blasted and burned part of it before turning and flying back to Lhasa with a satisfied feeling having done a good night’s work. Landing again at the Potala viewpoint, we returned to our Human forms and transferred back to the corridors inside of Red Mountain.

From Red Mountain, we returned to the Nest tired and hungry. It was a hunger that would not be satisfied with Human food. It required a Dragon meal, yet it was now very early morning ... being well before dawn and not a good time for hunting for Dragon meals.

“I could eat a horse ... well a small horse,” Jorani said as we walked through the cave and past the lakes. Of course, she was eating for four now I remembered.

“I know. All of the Magic that we used, the flying, the transforming between forms and the Fire breathing took a lot of energy. We need to replace it, but I’m not sure how successful a hunt would be now, but we must try,” I agreed.

On exiting the Nest at the main entrance, we returned to our forty-foot-tall size and transferred to the Dragon-reality before taking off. It was still very dark, as sunrise was hours away yet. This was no impediment as our Dragon eyesight easily picked out where herds of animals sheltered for the night. We had only been flying for a short time when we spotted a male boar being attacked by a Tiger out on the valley floor. The fight had been going on for some time as the boar was seriously wounded. A Dragon roar from us startled both of them. The Tiger leaped away, but the boar was not able to move very well because of his injury. I knocked him out with a small blast of Magic.

On landing, we remained at the forty-foot-tall level. I dispatched the boar, as he had already been badly wounded by the Tiger. We roasted him on both sides before tearing him open right there on the valley floor, as we were that hungry.

The boar was old and a bit tough, but he was easily 275 pounds (125 kg), and we devoured most of him in our hunger, leaving only the one damaged rear leg and ham for the Tiger out of sympathy for the loss of its meal.

On returning to the Nest, I used a cleaning spell on both of us before we returned to the nests that we were using and went to sleep still in our Dragon form but only at twelve-feet-tall. We slept for about six hours or so before awakening. There were things to do today, and we were late already.

After returning to our Human forms feeling better for the sleep, Jorani prepared breakfast while I checked out the Nest and went through to the corridors to make the food deliveries that were also late. On finishing, I returned to have breakfast.

“Tsepak will be upset that we are late,” Jorani said as I rejoined her.

“Probably, and also because the deliveries were late, but we had a busy night last night. He will just have to deal with it,” I told her.

Unknown to the Dragons, earlier that morning an injured and very upset General Wang convened a staff meeting in the remains of the headquarters conference room. He had a bandage on his head, and his right hand was wrapped in cloth being treated for the burn he had received. He also limped from a knee problem.

“Report on the status of our camp and our soldiers,” he growled at those present. The Colonel from the Department of Intelligence and Security was the first to rise. He too had been injured.

“This started last night shortly after midnight when the radar picked up something flying over the city. The standby helicopter was dispatched and guided to the target by those at the radar unit. From there things become confused, as contact was lost with the helicopter.

“According to those in the city government, the helicopter fired two missiles which struck the buildings of the Department of Public Security and exploded causing considerable damage to the buildings.

“Shortly after that, the burning remains of the helicopter struck the two buildings and exploded, according to those from the city government. Also at that time, the power went out, and the guards discovered that they were restricted to an area within 25 meters (80 feet or so) of the burning buildings. Whatever is preventing them from moving away from the buildings is still in place, and no one has been able to get close to the site. The fires burned themselves out,” the Colonel informed him.

“What caused the helicopter to crash and why did it fire those missiles?” the General demanded in an unhappy voice.

“No one knows why the missiles were fired. No one on the ground saw a target, but they did hear a loud noise just before the explosions. The helicopter just exploded on reaching the Department’s site. Again no one saw anything that would cause it to explode. Those at the site are still being questioned,” the Colonel told him before continuing.

“Approximately an hour after the crash, we were attacked. It appears that the attack started at the new radar site. The guards and equipment operators were found unconscious in a coma. They have only recently recovered and are still being questioned,” the Colonel told him.

“How could anyone sneak up on the radar site?” an upset General demanded.

“We have no idea, sir. Again, no one saw or heard anything. The guards and those on patrol have already been questioned. The equipment was destroyed the same way that the equipment at the missile site had been,” the Colonel informed him before continuing.

“The first we knew that we were under attack was when something bombed, strafed, and burned the helicopters and their fuel-point destroying them and setting everything on fire. From there the unknown attackers passed over the warehouses, and bombed, strafed, and burned them on their way to the vehicle parking area. They hit the warehouse containing our ready ammunition supplies and explosives, which went off destroying several other warehouses and raining unexploded ordnance all over the surrounding area. We don’t have enough explosives left to detonate all of it.