Where There Be Dragons

Chapter 5

Time passed quickly, and we soon saw the castle of these dragons off in the distance. I want to say that it looked medieval, but it was so much more than that. All of it, from the castle to the catapult to the submarine, it was all influenced by medieval design but made from some future technology that humans had yet to figure out.
We knew that if we docked while tethered to the long boat, then we would be spotted immediately. So, we made the decision to cut our ties once we'd seen the castle in the distance and head in on our own.

We moored our boat over by some rocks and very carefully climbed, constantly looking over our shoulder.

Up ahead, in the distance we could see a futuristic, industrial city, but its entire population were made up of dragons. Most had no wings and four legs, but it's as if the majority were ashamed of their quadruped beginnings. The general fashion seemed to be a staff or cane for most, that would prop them up on their hind legs, even if it pained them to do so.
The Main Street led up to the steps of the palace. We decided to go around the back, where we found something that resembled an elevator, but was probably something far more advanced given the technological capabilities we had already seen in this world.

As Hank and I stood on the platform, I could see a little shelf clipped onto the handrail and on top of the little shelf was a remote control with a switch on it. I picked it up and flicked the switch and as I did, a wall of energy cracked to life and steadily moved down over us. It started at our heads and followed down to our feet. The energy once again resembled the gateway, but we didn't feel anything as we went through whatever this window was. I have to admit, I was so busy staring up at the heavens that I didn't even notice what had happened. It functioned like an elevator, but with no shaft, no cables, just a sender at the bottom of the building and a receiver at the top. We were instantaneously on the top floor of the palace looking out at the surreal and fantastical city, while dragons wings flapped overhead.
"My God, it was certainly designed to be seen from above, wasn't it?" I exclaimed.
"We don't have time for this, Connor! Keira could be dead already!" shrieked Hank with a stern tone. "We have to find her!"

"OK, OK, let me think. Do you have a picture of Keira?" I asked.

"What are you gonna do?"cried Hank. "We don't even know that their eyes work like human eyes."

As we quibbled over Keira's photograph, two lizard-y guardsmen slowly crept up behind us, their tails slithering as they went. They raised their batons high and brutally brought them down across our skulls with a thud.