Happy Hump Day! I am pleased to anounce that I garnered another Honorable Mention in last week’s Thursday Threads flash fiction challenge. I’m not to proud to post what the judge had to say: Jacob says: “Ah, Silver. The way I read this so damned quickly. If this was a full book, I’d spend an entire Saturday or Sunday getting nothing else done til you got to a slower point in the book and I could take a break for air… or water. Just not the water coming down the tunnel. I like to grade these things on hook, style, flow, and my judge’s preference. And I think you nailed all four. I don’t remember from the previous entry if this is supposed to be a romance or not, but you’ve set this up to be either a romantasy or a straight up action fantasy, and either way I love it. Flow had me speeding through. The hook was subtle enough for it to keep me wanting to read, and the style was good but didn’t insist on itself. Well done.” See me doing a little happy dance. This scene is pretty much standalone. Sort of. And here’s the prompt: *”This had better work.”*

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Sade wrinkled her nose waiting for her eyes to adjust. Even with the beams of their LED flashlights, the tunnel remained drenched in gloom despite their LED flashlights. Taking a step, her boot sank to the ankle in something she didn’t want to identify.

“Which way?”

Ariel pointed down a side tunnel. “There. I’ll lead.”

“Be my guest.” She glanced at the other man. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

Nikos flashed an enigmatic smile. “My lair is comfortable. And dry. Unlike this miserable place.”

As they trooped along, Sade refused to remain silent. “I had no idea all these tunnels existed under Rochester.”

“It’s part of the old canal system,” Nikos explained. Then he froze. So did Ariel.
Sade glanced between them. “What?”

“Do you hear it?”

Ariel nodded. “What is it?”

The dragon’s eyes widened. “Run!”

He sprinted past Sade, grabbing her hand as he went. Ariel ran hard on their heels.

“What the hell?” she panted.

“Water.” The two men said simultaneously.

“Water?”

“These are drainage tunnels,” Nikos said.

Ari added, “Someone opened the valves.” He suddenly grabbed Sade’s free hand, jerking her in the opposite direction.

Nikos held on, his feet sliding in the muck as he braced against the pull.

After a string of expletives, she shouted, “I’m not a wishbone!”

“Lay line,” Ari explained. “This way. Higher ground.”

Sade heard the roar. She jerked Nikos, tugging him along as a wall of water chased them. The dragon released her. He shifted and then the channel filled with dragon fire. The torrent churned, turned to steam.

“This had better work,” Sade yelled. “Drowning is not on my bingo card!”
****

Okay. Technically, that’s not the 250-word original. I added back in some words I cut to make it fit the challenge. And I edited just a teensy bit. Anyway, there it is. FYI, there is all sorts of stuff in Rochester that I had no clue about. Fun research. Now to make sure I don’t info dump it in big globs along the way. 😉

Hope you enjoyed it, readers. Do you think dragon fire can boil away a gush of water in a drainage tunnel? Writers, this is a good, all-purpose prompt. Grab it and run!