"Useless scales?" Ash asked, incredulous. "You didn't sleep for quite a while and you still won a war, and you're going to do it again. Don't give me that crap." If he could've growled, he would've. There was silence for a moment. When he finally speaks, his voice is so low it can barely be heard. "Sorry, Jason. Looks like I won't be able to bring you back to the Unseelie Court after all."

Jason dropped back onto his legs for a moment but as he heard,faintly heard,what Ash lastly said he looked to him with deep hazel eyes. "...You....needed to bring....a dragon to...your queen." He said,suddenly pulling himself up tho he seemed a little shaky,it seemed as if when he knew he had to do something he was able to force himself to do things against pain. "And if we can't.....do anything else....that's what your ganna do....your bringing a dragon....and if not me...if I die....your ganna get another." He growled,pulling at the binds behind his back. He held back a pained sound as he let his spine lengthen and his tail formed. He used his stinger and started jabbing at the metal,trying to feel for something he could pick at,but he also was jabbing at himself,wincing here and there but not one sound.

There was a low, humorless chuckle. "Right now, it's taking everything I have not to pass out," he muttered. "We'll talk about that later." Ash looked around the room and spotted the pickaxe. "Do you think you can reach the pickaxe with your tail?"

Jason looked to it and nodded,turning and stretching his tail out. He almost got it but his normal tail wasn't long enough. He growled and,for the first time,forced his tail to shift without the rest of his body to full size. It was clear it hurt but he said nothing as he wrapped his tail around and yanked it over. He let his tail return to normal length and tried to move it between the two of them. He kept a hazel eye on the guard still there.

The guard didn't do anything to help or hinder them. "Do you think your tail is strong enough to break the chains?" Ash asked

"Do I think? I've shattered and battered things with this thing." He said,part of his jocky persona back for a moment as he shoved his tail up between his body and the chains. Wincing as it pulled his shoulders back,he thrust backwards and the chains snapped,his arms swinging to his sides. He grinned for a moment before it fell as he remembered their situation.

Ash smiled weakly at Jason's boasting. Ash fell silent, and the light in the tunnel had gone out, leaving them in pitch blackness. Creatures could be heard moving toward them, surrounding them, and neither of them could see a thing. There were all sorts of terrifying conclusions: giant rats, huge cockroaches, massive underground spiders. Something patted Jason's arm, but then the low babble of familiar voices could be heard.


A yellowish beam clicked on in the darkness: a flashlight. It illuminated the curious, wrinkled faces of a half-dozen pack rats, blinking in the sudden light. They chittered at him in their odd language. Several surrounded Ash, pulling at his sleeves, but he was still chained to the post.

Jason realized who they where and almost smiled again. "Hey guys,nice of you to pop in." He said softly. He forced the metal off of his wrists,scraping himself but not caring,as he walked over to Ash. He threw the metal down and then grabbed the pick ax. "Looks like they might be able to help." He said,using a gentle tone toward Ash as he worked carefully at the metal on the Ice Prince. "I'll get those fixed up." He muttered as he saw the burns on Ash more clearly.

The burns were awful. The flesh was now black where the iron had touched him. The packrats jabbered nonsense and tugged on their clothes as if trying to drag them away. The packrat with the tricycle stepped forward. He pointed at Jason and then Ash, then at the back of the room. In the flashlight beam, the mouth of another tunnel was able to be seen, nearly invisible in the shadows. It was only partly formed as if the miners had started digging only to abandon it. A way out? The packrat jibbered impatiently and beckoned them forward.

Jason nodded,seeing the tunnel. He quickly was able to bend the metal off of Ash with scaled and clawed hands. He threw it away,then let his hands return to normal as he came over to help Ash up. He tried to put his arms around the prince and pull him carefully up. "Come on.Please."