Lights appeared in the distance, bobbing along the ground; gremlins with lanterns or flashlights. Laughter drifted into the room. They'll be here any second! "Leave me," Ash muttered. "I won't be able to help, and I'll only slow you down. Just go."

"Yeah right." Jason replied softly,pulling them both up. He let his wings fold out and lifted the prince mostly onto his wing and took pretty much all his weight with seemingly little effort. He followed after the packrat that had motioned to them.

The first wave of gremlins entered the tunnel and shrieked in alarm when they saw them. Ash steadied himself, shrugging off Jason's wing, as the gremlins howled with outrage and surged forward. They ran for the hidden tunnel, following the pack rats as they scuttled through. The corridor was low and narrow; they had to duck their heads to avoid the ceiling, and the walls scraped their arms as they fled. Behind them, gremlins poured through the opening like ants, skittering along the walls and ceiling, hissing as they pursued.

Jason kept himself between Ash and the gremlins,shooting flame behind them to keep the monsters back. he didn't strike them,knowing that more would replace them by experience. He didn't seem to have much in him as he kept going backwards as he kept flame and ice between them and the creatures.

Ash suddenly stopped. Turning to face the horde, he raised a pickax like a baseball bat, bracing himself against the wall. He must've snatched it earlier, right before they reached the tunnel. The gremlins halted a few yards away, their eyes bright as they analyzed this new threat. As one they began edging forward.
Ash's voice, despite the pain below the surface, was calm. "Jason, I hope you find your brother. If you see Puck again, tell him I regret having to step out of our duel." And then the gremlins attacked Ash. He smashed two of them senseless with the pickax, ducked as another leaped at his head, and was overwhelmed. They swarmed over him, clinging to his legs and arms, biting and clawing. He staggered and dropped to a knee, and they skittered up his back until she could no longer see him through the writhing mass of gremlins. Still, Ash fought on; with a snarl, he surged back to his feet, sending several gremlins flying only to have a dozen more take their place. "Go!" His voice was a hoarse rasp as he slammed a gremlin into the wall. "Now!"


The packrats were beckoning Jason and the tunnel split and branched off in several directions. A packrat pulled something from his lump and waved it at the leader. It was a stick of dynamite. The leader snarled something, and another packrat scuttled forward with a lighter.

Soon, Ash was pulled under the sea of gremlins and lost from view. The gremlins screeched in triumph and flowed toward Jason and the packrats. They had to collapse the tunnel, now.

Jason pulled against the pack rats,not wanting to leave Ash. It tore at him,not physically but inside it did,it hurt him emotionally. He saw that they where ganna colaps the place. "No,W-we....No..." He dodged a few of the gremlins and moved back,wings beating a few away. "Ash." He grit his teeth and forced his body to shift,painfully losing that liquid glass stuff,no longer enough blood to lose now. He used his body to batter the little attackers. "Get out,I'll be right there." he told the little pack rats,his large wings shoving some of the little gremlins to the walls. He looked desprately for Ash,not wanting to lose yet another person. He had to move back tho despite how he fought. He didn't think he'd be able to live through another death of someone he care for,even if it was Ash.

A packrat chitters frantically at Jason as the fuse sputtered to life. The lead pack rat hissed at Jason and pointed to the tunnels, where the rest of them were vanishing. The packrat holding the dynamite flung it toward the oncoming gremlins.

Jason's snout was now glittering faintly with silver tears,darker than the ones he'd shed back at the castle. He looked around for a moment,just a moment and when he knew he couldn't do anything else he threw his bloodied body toward the tunnels.

The boom shook the ceiling. Dirt and rocks rained down on them, filling the air with grit. When everything was still, the entrance to the tunnel had caved in. The packrats were moaning softly. One of their own hadn't made it through in time.

Jason had,not on purpose,shifted to his true dragon form,the prince one. He struggled up and shook his head on his long elegant neck. He looked around and realized the entrance was closed. "No,no no no no...not again,no no no.Not again,not again." He rushed toward the new wall and padded at it with frantic talons,his eyes wide and frills out wide as sick green and white washed over them like water over your head in the shower. "No no no." He seemed to be cracking,his snout now having cracks in it like ones you'd see in a glass vase after being hit. They grew,slowly,but surely.