A Mother's Wrath

My submission for IronAge Media's prompt "The Chrysalis."

“Professor! Professor,” came the whiney, girlish voice of Professor William H. Gladstone’s assistant, Laura. Turning his head, he saw that her golden curls were not pulled up and covered like they should be in an environment such as this. “Professor,” she said again, breathless. Her make up was immaculate, as it always was.

“What is it?” he asked, allowing his impatience into his voice. For one, he was tired of being interrupted, he really wanted to study this strange stone. And secondly, he was tired of his assistant ignoring rules. This time he was going to do something about it once he got back to his office.

The strange stone, as he often called it, had been discovered in a cave a couple weeks back. Being a notable geologist, the professor had been called down to the site to check it out and help identify it. So far, it had eluded all classifications. What made it hard to study was the fire that engulfed the stone which kept them from getting close, and the fact that none of their equipment seemed to work in the room if it was electrical.

The woman came to stand beside him. “That’s a big egg,” she said. It was her first time down here in it’s presence.

“It’s not an egg,” he replied sharply, but something against his reason told him her guess was right. “What did you come here for?”

“They want your report,” she replied. She had not looked over when she answered, her eyes were still glued to the strange stone.

“I don’t have a report.” He swore. “I wrote one up yesterday, give them that one.”

“They said they wanted one from today.” Her voice had now acquired a dreamy tone which made the professor even more irritable.

“Give them the report from yesterday,” he said. “Tell them its from today. I doubt it was sent out when I asked it to be. It’s in my office.” He wanted to get rid of the woman so he could study in peace. Why couldn’t she be more like the workers who slid around silently like cats.

“That wouldn’t be ethical,” she reprimanded him, taking her eyes off of the stone for the first time. She gave him a reproving look.

“Oh don’t try that on me,” he growled. “You’ve done far worse when you’ve been told, and you know it. Besides, you’re down here with nothing to keep your hair up and no head protection. This is the final straw, if you don’t do as I say, I shall have to fire you. You can’t even get, let alone make, a good coffee. I don’t know why I hired you in the first place. You spend more time in front of a mirror than you do your own work, I don’t see how you ever possibly graduated with a degree.”

Being a sensitive person, he expected his assistant to start crying from the harsh words. He didn’t mean to make her cry, but he had just wanted to say everything he had been wanting to say for some time. On further inspection, however, he found that she wasn’t crying, and she was looking back at the stone with that same dreamy look. He swore again, but she interrupted him.

“I wonder what kind of egg it is. Aren’t you interested?”

“Who cares,” he said, rounding on her. “And it isn’t an egg, do you hear?”

Still ignoring him, she went on. “Oh I bet it’s a dragon egg. Too big for a phoenix. Oh wouldn’t I just love if it was a unicorn, but I doubt they would lay eggs, though.”

“I wish it was, then it could carry you far away from me!” He finally lost any remaining control he had on his temper, which, admittedly, wasn’t much.

Then they both heard it. And he became quite timid. Her face, even with all her makeup, was white as snow. Almost as soon as the noise had started, the professor jumped behind his assistant.

She regained enough of her courage to say, “Oh please, what’s a great big man like you hiding behind a little woman like me? You think I can protect you? And that’s nothing to how mad I am that you would throw me into danger first.” The sound came again, stopping her before she could finish.

It was simply a roar. But such a roar they had never heard before. It sounded as if a hundred dinosaurs had come to life and all cried out at once. In the distance, they could just make out faint screaming. Then came the rumbling and shaking.

“What was it you said about a dragon?” he said, voice quivering and unusually high. The whole cave was shaking now, not just the floor.

“Didn’t you say something when we got here about a secret door?” she asked, her breathing quickening and voice shaking.

“I think so,” he said, running for the only exit. It was a long shot, but they just might be able to escape. There was a side door in the gargantuan tunnel that led to to surface and office tents. She grabbed his hand before he left and tried to keep up with the professor. They had to run for it, and he hoped that by hanging on to him, his assistant wasn’t going to drag them to their death.

The side door was almost in site. And then they saw the glow coming from ahead of them in the main passage. Flames could now be seen, and no more screaming was heard. The roars were louder, and now the rumbling was now recognizable as giant footsteps. The professor swallowed nervously. He was sweating, and not from the excruciating heat emanating from the glow.

Seconds later, it came into view. He screamed as he made a dash for the door. It was huge. It was red. And it was angry. Teeth as large as a grown man, and a serrated tongue, he knew it meant death to all who invaded it’s home. It’s eyes were blazing like the fire in it’s mouth.

His assistant screamed too, and toppled into him. Both fell to the floor in a painful pile. They got up, but the professor wasn’t sure if they could make it to the door in time now. She screamed again, and he did not look back to see if she was with him or not as he made for the door in one final, desperate attempt to save his own skin.

The End,
God bless