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Quest of Hope (2)

The second chapter

By Lin CoreyPublished 2 years ago 9 min read
2
Quest of Hope (2)
Photo by Jayy Torres on Unsplash

I fixed my eyes on the pouch in Calian’s hand, the sun causing the worn leather to glow. For a pause, there wasn’t a sound aside from our breathing. Mine, deep and steady, his tense and uneven. I moved my gaze to his face, and an odd feeling settled in my chest when our eyes met. He had dark brown eyes, though they glittered amber in the light of the sun. They were very emotional… I hadn’t known that humans could show that much emotion. The ones that had attacked the mountain fortress had been cloaked in armor and helmets, their faces indiscernible.

I snorted out a cloud of smoke and Calian flinched away, ending the strange moment of silence.

“Show me this ‘secret’ of yours,” I hissed, extending my wings to cover my tail, which was growing hot from the sun.

Calian began to undo the strings when my ears caught the sound of wingbeats. I whipped my body around, knocking the boy to the ground, and flared my wings so that he was hopefully shielded from view. When he tried to protest, I slapped my tail across his face, praying to the stars that he would sense my tension. Dragons had a sort of “sixth-sense” in that we could, when standing in close proximity, feel each other's emotions. This sense was stronger for clutch-mates, dragons born in the same litter of eggs. However, I was unaware as to whether or not humans had this ability.

Out of a wide ravine a few paces back flew a large male dragon. His scales were blue like mine, but darker in shade, like the night sky. He was my brother, Arum, no doubt coming to see why I was still out. I squinted against the sunrise as I watched his silhouette land and stalk over to me.

It was common courtesy to dip your head when in another dragon’s company, especially one of greater age. Despite this tradition, I often only gave Arum a small nod. This was not out of disrespect, mind you; we were simply so close that any formalities seemed silly.

“Ailith, what are you still doing outside?” he asked in his deep, rumbling voice. “The sun has risen.”

I felt Calian stiffen behind me, pressing himself against the rocky ground.

Act natural, I growled in my head. Arum will be able to sense if you're nervous. What would you normally say in a situation like this?

I widened my eyes in feigned shock as Arum inspected me, my voice tainted with sarcasm as I replied, “By my scales, so it has! I hadn’t even noticed!”

Arum rolled his eyes but couldn’t hold back a small chuckle. Good, he was laughing, which meant he wasn’t concerned. “Your clever remarks will do you no good if you burn, dear sister,” he continued. “The morning feeding has started, you should hurry inside if you wish to eat.”

Despite the tension of the situation, I felt my heart warm up with affection. Being the eldest of my clutch, Arum was naturally protective. Part of me longed to show him Calian, to help me make sense of the human’s strange requests, but I knew that would be unwise; Arum had been older than I during the attack, and his hatred was stronger, his memories all the more vivid.

“I’ll be down in a minute, don’t worry,” I told him, hoping I was convincing enough.

Arum’s bright eyes studied me for a moment, and I began to panic. We were downwind from him, but he was standing so close. Surely he would pick up Calian’s scent. I watched as his nose twitched, eyes slowly narrowing.

“Ailith, get behind me,” he suddenly ordered.

I felt my stomach clench as I tried to slowly shuffle to the side. Relief swept over me when I felt Calian crawl along with my movements. This human was smarter than I gave him credit for. I tried to drag my talons along the ground, disturbing the sand and pebbles, to hide the sound of the boy’s motion. I crept back until we reached the hill I had been perched on earlier, and then wrapped my tail around Calian’s waist and tossed him behind it.

“What is it?” I asked Arum, who was still inspecting the air, his black tongue flicking out.

He replied without facing me. “It’s nothing, don’t worry. Just go back in the caves. It’s getting hot out.”

I held in my sigh of relief until I had ducked down where Calian was waiting. “Stay silent,” I hissed before picking him up by the back of his tunic. I hurried to the ravine where Arum had emerged from and bounded down onto a patch of sand, sliding a ways before launching myself onto the hard surface of a boulder. I then expertly picked my way down through the jagged rocks to the gaping cave mouth at the bottom. Once inside the dark, cool hollow I let Calain drop from my jaws. He landed with a thud at my talons and quickly regained his footing, dusting off his pants. I shook out my scales, happy to be out of the sun’s heat, but I knew that we were still far from safety.

I gestured with a nod of my head for the boy to walk beside me as I padded down the shadowy tunnel. My ears pricked forwards, listening for any dragons coming our way. Hopefully all the clans were busy in the feasting cavern, the largest of the caves where meals were held.

I can't believe I just carried a human into the caves, I thought with a growl, feeling my cheeks grow warm with shame. If my clan knew, they would be furious. Maybe this is a bad idea. Stars above, this secret had better be worth all this trouble.

The tunnel continued to grow darker as we descended further into it. It didn’t take long to reach a familiar entrance, which led to a wide cave littered with pointed stalagmites. It was my home, the den of the Torrent clan. I paused before entering, letting out a low growl when Calian bumped into my side. After concluding that none of my family was in the cave, I hurried to the back of the room, where the cave curved out of sight, back behind a rocky, jagged pillar. I heard Calian stumbling after me, and frowned when I felt his small hand grab hold of my tail. Before I turned to burn off his sandy-brown hair, I reminded myself that humans could not see in the dark, otherwise they would have attacked our mountain home without the aid of torches.

Once we were hidden in the back of the cave, I tossed Calian up on a ledge before hopping up after him. Before us was yet another tunnel. A faint draft wafted out of its gaping black entrance.

“This leads to somewhere safe,” I explained in a quiet voice. In the darkness, I saw the human nod his head. “You can show me your secret when we reach our destination.”

I led the way down the tunnel, his hand once again taking hold of my tail. We walked for a few minutes in the dark, weaving through the narrow passage, which was just wide enough for me to fit through. I had discovered this passageway when the Torrent clan had first chosen their cave. I liked to use it to get away from the other dragons, to be alone. After a short time the ceiling began to grow higher, the walls on either side of us widening. We reached a sandy pit where streams of light leaked in through cracks high above, where the ceiling reached the ground outside.

Calian gazed up at the new light and temporarily shielded his eyes with his hand. I raised an eyebrow at him. Why did he feel inclined to stare straight at the light? Humans are so strange.

“Well?” I snapped after he returned his gaze to me, making him jump. “Show me the secret.”

Calian nodded hastily and dug out the pouch from his pocket. He again undid the small strings, and then pulled out a blood-red stone about the size of his palm. I watched the beautiful rock as he took it in both hands and raised it up for me to view. The sight of it was entrancing, and as I stared harder, it seemed as though it was pulsing, like a heart.

“What is it?” I inquired, finding myself overtaken by a strange sense of awe.

“It is a wizard stone,” Calian explained. “My father was a knight of Bayne, and he discovered it while on a quest with his company. This one stone contains the power to destroy entire armies.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Then why do you not simply use it to defeat the goblins?”

Calian lowered the stone so that it was cradled against his chest. “A wizard stone can only be activated once it is attached to a staff. Dragon fire is required to forge them together. That is why I need your help.”

I gazed at the stone for a moment longer, and then frowned, beginning to pace the length of the cave. My mind scrambled to make sense of it all. It still seemed like a terrible idea to even be talking to a human. Did we really have a chance at reclaiming our homeland? Would the humans even stay true to their word?

“I need time to think,” I finally declared. “You stay here. Do not leave this cave, if you value your life.”

Calian gulped and nodded in obedience. I could see the urgency in his eyes, and knew he wanted to protest, but instead he returned the crimson stone to its pouch and sat down against the wall.

Once he was settled, I returned the way I had come, letting my eyes adjust back to the shadows. As I walked through the dark, weaving tunnels I thought back to Arum. He would know exactly what to do. But again I reminded myself that he would not take well to the sight of a human, especially now that Calian was in the caves.

Once inside the Torrent clan den, I inhaled through my nose, realizing that the boy’s scent still hung faintly in the air. I quickly decided that if I brought my meal back, I might be able to cover up his scent with that.

I hastily made my way to the feasting cavern and found myself growing oddly uncomfortable as the sounds of the dozens of dragons ahead grew louder. Usually I was excited to see my clan mates and the rest of the dragons, but knowing what I had just done, I didn’t know how to feel. I reminded myself to remain calm so that they would not be able to sense my discomfort.

I had reached the entrance to the feeding cavern, and sat listening for a moment. I listened to the sounds of crunching and chewing, the sounds of wingbeats and talons scraping against stone, the sounds of voices casually conversing.

All these dragons, I thought. They’ve survived here in this miserable place for five years. We’ve all lost family and friends. Shouldn’t we take any chance we get to reclaim our home? They all deserve to go back. But none of them would ever trust Calian. Do I have to make this decision alone? Is the fate of our future up to me? Me… and a human?

Fantasy
2

About the Creator

Lin Corey

Author, artist and horse girl. Just published my first book on amazon The Spade Trilogy: Rise of Nerizza! Writing has been a passion of mine since I was little and my favorite genre is fantasy.

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  • Alex H Mittelman about a year ago

    Great writing! Thank you for sharing!

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