Tales of Vyscher Book 2

Chapter 15

"You're joking!" Vic growled at her brother, Jondure. They were examining the well cooked corpse of the creature within Pallon's shrine, and Jondure was worried about there being more of them.

"No, I'm not. If there is another of these, or two, the city could be ruined. The casualties would be through the roof," he stated calmly.

"That is fine, but we can always show the other teams how to do it," pointed out Rek. "You have to let us go see Lady Bawnia! We owe it to Fehrys and Luce!"

"Lady Bawnia isn't going anywhere, and she doesn't know that we know about her. She can wait until we know the city is safe."

"And how long will it take to determine that?" Vic asked while crossing her arms over her chest. "Are we going to lose another season or two?"

Jondure sighed, knowing that his sister was already upset at the time spent in the south of the valley, even though that had yielded results in the end. "Fine. I'll talk to Gyrtek and have him get all the other Bishop teams here to let you show them what was done. There are two other teams finishing training, so I'll have him bring them too. If that happens, and the city is quiet for a few sevendays, then we'll have you pay a visit with Lady Bawnia."

Rek smiled happily, she wanted revenge for what happened to Luce and for what Fehrys continued to go through without her. "It will be our pleasure!"

The entrance to the cave that the dragon Kraulth lived in was closer to what Fehrys had expected from a dragon's lair. A dark tunnel burrowed into the side of a mountain surrounded by an overgrown tangle of bushes and trees, you knew immediately what it was. Long gashes in the stone showed the strength of the claws of the creature that inhabited this cave, and only a fool or someone blinded by greed would enter.

"Remember, just deliver the scroll, and see what he says. He'll attack you, so be prepared. The smoke spell worked for me, but have a backup," Alia reminded me.

"Do you have any ideas for backups?"

"Anything but attacking him!" she snickered.

"Yeah, that doesn't seem ideal, thanks!"

Alia gave him a quick hug. "Come back safe!"

Giving her a quick nod, Fehrys strode slowly into the cave. He remembered the trap with the fake gold in Hrushmia's lair, and wasn't sure if there could be similar traps here. Based on the bones, both animal and humanoid, scattered through the cave tunnel though, it seemed as though Kraulth was his own trap.

That didn't put his mind at ease.

When he'd walked for several minutes, the light from the cave entrance had all but disappeared, and he pulled his sword, casting the flaming enchantment on it to use it as a makeshift torch. After that, the tunnel was easier to see, and the bones that had been crunching under his feet became more of a distraction when they looked human. There was no point in trying to be quiet, the senses of the dragon were much more sensitive than his, and he knew that Kraulth would have been aware of him as soon as he set foot in the cave.

He paused for a moment and thought about what was about to transpire. Alia had done this, and evidently Kraulth had let her escape after she'd turned into the foggy apparition that she had taught him. But would that work a second time? If this was a test, was that the only answer? If he were the dragon, he would come up with a different test, so maybe Alia was right about having a backup!