"The Green Opal Dragon" for the Short Affair

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Challenge: The Short Affair

-Prompt Word #1 - Pendant

-Prompt Colour – Brown

Author: mrua7

Title: The Green Opal Dragon

Word count: Approx. 2000 OOPS sorry I blew the maximum word count of 1000. I couldn't help myself.Blame it on Illya and the angst...

Napoleon and Illya were scurrying along a hill, the landscape of which was bereft of any fresh growth as there’d been a severe drought in the area.  What that area was, they had no idea, having been taken captive and transported to the place in the middle of the night during a mission that had gone bad. With Christmas fast approaching, that cast a pall over what had already happened.

Things didn't look good for either of them making it out alive, much less home for the holidays, but one could always hope. That was the thought the eternal optimist Napoleon maintained, though he said nothing to his partner.

At the moment, they were scrambling along amidst the dry brush, helping to support each other. Their short term goal was making it to a mountain not far off in the distance; there surrounded by pines, they could at least lose themselves until they came up with a plan.

They’d been through a tough interrogation at the hands of a lunatic named Leland Palmer, who was in search of a green opal pendant encrusted with near perfect diamonds set in18k white gold.  The gemstone was just under eight carats in weight.

Not rare as opals go, but it was the legend that surrounded the pendant that made it a thing of desire. It had been carved into the likeness of a dragon and was said to give the owner certain unnamed powers.

The jewel, was owned by the heiress Miss Arabella Guilford, who’d inherited it from her father, Lord Mordechai Guilford, the well known explorer and tradesman.  He came into possession of the gem under questionable circumstances after a visit to China and Peking, the forbidden city as it was known.

It seemed strange that once the last emperor of China no longer had the dragon in his possession that the downfall of his dynasty began. The invasion of Japan and rise of Communism sounded the death knell for that ancient way of life.  Did the loss of the Green Dragon have something to do with it? Some believed it to be, at least Mordechai Guilford did so.

Once the dragon was Guilford’s, he had it set into precious metal, and surrounded by other jewels. His fortune grew but his life ended badly; a riding accident broke his neck.

That was a long time ago, and the Green Dragon had now been in the possession of his only child, Arabella.

Many thought Miss Gilford unusually youthful looking for her age, she was in fact in her sixties, but looked like a woman half her age.  Was it the dragon that granted her this youth?

Many asked that question; Leland Palmer among them. He wanted the stone for himself, thinking the Green Dragon could grant him success in his many power-seeking schemes.

Arabella Guilford's perceived luck ran out thanks to Palmer; dying at his hands. Solo and Kuryakin failed in protecting her as she had dismissed their concerns.  Her over confidence was her undoing and the UNCLE agents couldn’t save the woman, but they had to keep the pendant out of the hands of Leland Palmer.  At least that was what they thought.

Kuryakin managed to hide the pendant before being captured by Palmer’s lackeys, not even telling Solo where it was; though Leland didn’t know that and beat the two men, demanding to know the whereabouts of the dragon.

After their last session, Palmer left the two men alone in their cell; Solo barely conscious.

“Napoleon,”Illya whispered.”Have you formulated one of your famous escape plans yet?”

He cocked his head, staring at his Russian friend. “Really? I’ve been a little preoccupied, if you hadn’t noticed?”

“As have I. I am in huge amount of pain and am not sure how much more I can take. I think I have several broken ribs, and I cannot feel my left leg  at the moment, seeing is a bit difficult as both my eyes are nearly swollen shut.

“I know chum, I’m in bad shape too. Hmmm, I suppose if we stick our jackets under the blankets on our cots, and position ourselves on either side of the door…”

“And when a guard comes in, we jump him,” Illya finished his partner’s thought. “Works for me.”

Though they were both injured, their will to survive and escape superseded their pain.

Once the bedding was arranged, Solo helped his partner into position and moved to the opposite side of the door where they waited, and waited and waited...

“Napoleon, I am not sure how much longer I can take this.”

“Shush. I hear someone coming.”

The door slowly opened and as anticipated, it was a lone guard.

As battered and bruised as Napoleon and Illya were, they managed to knock out the man.  Taking his rifle; they tied and gagged him, shoving him into one of the cots and covered him with a blanket. It would have to do...

Together the agents hobbled out the door and were away from where they were being held in a matter of minutes. Heading out amongst the scrub and rocky terrain, they disappeared into the hills; stopping to rest after they were a reasonable distance away.

Illya leaned against a large boulder, letting himself slowly slip down to the ground with a grunt.

Napoleon was in better shape of the two of them, and had been bearing more of the burden, helping Kuryakin to walk.

“You need to leave me my friend,” Illya finally spoke up.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because you cannot keep going with having to help me. You are weak as it is.  You must see to the safety of the dragon and you can…”

“Listen, when I was in Korea we had one rule and that was no man was left behind, so I’m not breaking that rule with you.”

“We are not in Korea,” Illya tried smiling.

“Har har, you smart-ass Bolshevik”

“I am not  Bolshevik, I am Socialist.”

“I thought you were a Communist?”

“Napoleon now is not the time to be discussing the complexities of my political beliefs as we need to get going.”Illya looked up at the sky, not liking the look of it. “There is a storm coming.”

“In this drought-ridden terrain that’s not going to be good.”

“Agreed.”

Napoleon helped his partner to his feet and they continued moving; their mountain goal still a fair distance away, but hopefully there they might find a cave for shelter. "You need to hang in the tovarisch, we gotta make it home for Christmas."

"Christmas? Napoleon why do you keep trying to push this notion onto me. You know I do not celebrate."

"Humor me buddy, just for once?"

The sky opened up before they reached their destination, with a heavy downpour turning the earth into brown muck and mire, making it even more difficult to move.

Illya collapsed into the muddy ground, heaving for breath. “I will not argue with you again. You need to go. One of us must survive. Here, take this.”

The Russian held out the green opal pendant, that had apparently been hidden behind the buckle of his belt. It was no longer in it’s setting, and was just the jewel by itself.”

Napoleon snickered. “You dirty dog, you had it all the time?”

“Take it. Perhaps the legend of it’s power is true and it will help you rescue both of us?” Illya jokingly said.

Solo took the dragon, shoving it in his wet jacket pocket. “Come on, I’m not leaving you.”

He offered his hand, giving Illya a stern look.

Kuryakin shook his head, finally taking his partner’s outstretched hand as he was hefted to his feet. Though his request to be left was genuine, he had no real desire to be abandoned.

They continued in the rain, finally reaching the base of the mountain, and there hidden among a stand of sturdy pines they found a cave. They had to duck to enter but once inside there was plenty of height to stand and the interior was completely dry.

There was enough dry wood laying about to allow them build a small fire, and searching through the bits and bobs of stones lying about, Napoleon found some from which he could get a decent spark.  There was plenty of dried weeds to use as tinder and in no time there was a nice toasty fire to warm them.

“I’ll keep watch tovarisch, though I think this weather is going to keep them off our trail for a while and they won’t be able to see the smoke from the fire.”

The sun was going down, allowing the pair feel a little more at ease.

“You catch some sleep Illya, God knows you need it.”

His words fell on deaf ears, as Kuryakin was already lightly snoring.

Napoleon pulled out the opal dragon from his pocket, holding it up to the light of the fire, watching the dancing colors in the stone.  The effect was almost hypnotic.

“Hmmm, so do you have some sort of power?” He turned the stone in his hand. “Well, maybe you could do a little something for us...find us with a way out of this mess perhaps?” He shook his head, realizing the absurdity of him talking to a stone and as he tucked it safely back in his pocket, Napoleon closed his eyes, letting sleep take him as well.

What good was keeping watch anyway? Neither of them had weapons to defend their position.

In the morning, the meager fire had gone out and rays of warming sunlight were beaming into the cave entrance.

Illya woke with a moan as he’d stiffened up quite a bit. His ribs were aching terribly but his left leg now has more feeling and he was able to move it more. The rest had done him wonders.

“Why didn't you not wake me to take over the watch?”

“Tovarisch, it didn’t matter. The storm gave us cover and we have no weapons.”

“So you fell asleep as well?”

“It was hard not to,” Napoleon smiled, though his eyes gave away his guilt.

Just then there was a ‘snap’, the sound of a twig breaking outside the cave, sending both men to high alert. They grabbed rocks, they only thing with which they had to defend themselves.

Napoleon carefully moved to the cave entrance to take a look-see, and returned, chuckling to himself.

“Hey, I just spotted a way out of here for us chum, come on.”

He helped Kuryakin to his feet and the two men emerged from the safety of their cave to an unexpected sight.  In front of them was a chestnut mare, nibbling on some greenery. It had a bit in it’s mouth and reins dangling to the ground.  There was no saddle but seeing the brand on the haunch, they knew the animal was rideable.

It must have escaped from its owner, but that didn’t matter at this point.

Napoleon fingered the opal dragon in his pocket, half smiling to himself. He took hold of the reins, patting the horse’s neck to calm it.

He quickly hiked himself up on her back, and offering his hand again to his partner, he pulled the Russian up behind him.  Though Illya was the better horseman, he was in no shape to keep a big animal like this under control.

“So shall we ride off into the sunset chum?” Napoleon smiled.

“It is morning is it not?” Illya responded, as usual reacting literally to his partner’s words.

“Tovarisch, that was just a figure of speech.”

“Oh,” Illya smiled,” Then perhaps the phrase...’wagons ho’ will suffice?”

“Very good chum, as I’ve said before, there’s hope for you yet,” Napoleon laughed as he gave the horse a little kick, spurring it on as they rode off to their freedom.

Had the Green Opal dragon offered it’s power? There was no way to know, but it was a nice thought and one he decided best not to share with is partner.

The gem would be turned over to U.N.C.L.E. and from there it would most likely be banished to the secure File 40 warehouse and that would be the end of the Green Opal Dragon...for now.

All that mattered to Solo was that he and his partner were alive and would most likely be home for Christmas, albeit recovering from their injuries but at least...home. That was his dream.