The explosion was a spectacular affair, the air itself igniting as an expanding fireball covered the mountainside. Garble and the dragon behind him were knocked back far into the tunnel by the force of the blast, and any dragon within a seven mile radius was made aware of their escape attempt. That didn’t matter to Spike, who was busy trying to extricate himself from the sucking mud of the ground. He gulped in air greedily, gasping and coughing and aching as he moved. The explosion didn’t so much as char his scales, but the sheer pressure of it had pushed him into the ground with incredible force. He brushed off the fried clay from his arms and back as he watched Whirlwind slowly make his way out of the stinking, stagnant creek.