The Traitor's Heir

Chapter Eighteen

         "I'll ride in the front. That way you can sit behind me and hold on to my waist and close your eyes if you're afraid." Lina scrambled up onto the dragon's back for a second time and then, holding tightly to the pommel of the saddle, she reached down and extended her hand to her sister to help pull her up. With one foot pushing off Ausfela's elbow, Quara managed to clumsily make her way into the seat behind her. Immediately she realized that the dragon wasn't the only one with a harness and that there were narrow, sturdy straps that could secure her to the saddle as well.

"There's a harness!" She exclaimed as she carefully fastened each buckle and then began to make sure each of Lina's buckles were secure.

"I had a feeling you'd be happy about that." Ausfela made a noise in her throat that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. "Nearly all of the saddles have harnesses. Dragons are built for long journeys but humans tend to need sleep and a harness ensures that you can continue to fly and we don't have to worry about chasing you down if you fall off. Which is especially important with a double saddle. Because while I know I could catch one of you if you were to take a tumble, two might be something more of a challenge." Quara looked both harnesses over a second time and gave one of the straps a tug.

"I think we're good to go." Despite the harness her voice sounded strained and she wrapped her arms around Lina's waist and closed her eyes. "Should we go? Before I change my mind?"

Ausfela settled down on all four legs and moved rapidly through the room, dipping down as they moved through the door, although Lina was quite certain that even if she'd walked through it at her full height they all could easily have fit. The hallways began to flash by, a blur of bright crystals and dancing lights. Quara buried her face into her sister's back, and thought she might be ill, while Lina watched the caves flicker by, her eyes wide and a smile playing across her features.

They came to the center of a great room, but before Lina had a chance to glance at their surroundings Ausfela's enormous wings were unfurled and they began to climb rapidly, higher and higher. At first Lina couldn't see a ceiling at all. The cavern that made up the room was massive and the dancing lights of the wall simply disappeared into the darkness. But as they went higher and higher the cavern walls began to narrow, coming closer together until they were no longer really in a room at all, but a vertical tunnel. When the walls were only a length on either side of Ausfela's wings, and she was clearly concentrating hard on flying, the walls ceased their glowing and a few moments later Lina realized that they were surrounded by granite, the natural stone of the mountain.

"We should have brought the egg," Lina whispered into her sister's shoulder as the light from the crystals below began to fade and darkness descended around them.

"The egg is back where it belongs." Ausfela's voice in their minds left no room for argument. "It's where it always should have been. I loaned it to..." the dragon's voice trailed off as she searched for the right word and finally, with a sort of sigh, she choose one, "a friend many, many years ago, but I think now that that was a mistake. It should never have left the Hall of Lights to make its way up the spiral staircase. It was not meant for the world above."

The tunnel did not stay dark for long, but it was obvious to even Quara, who had finally opened her eyes now that there was no danger of seeing the ground looming far below, that Ausfela could see quite perfectly in the dark. If the tunnel below was any indication, they were now in a rather narrow space, yet the dragon didn't hesitate as she flew steadily upward.

Lina's eyes caught the slight lightening of the complete darkness ahead of them, just as the tunnel came to an abrupt bend, turning horizontally so that Ausfela stretched her body out and perched on the edge and ran a short distance before a second bend came into sight and she launched herself upwards as they came through into the light. The dragon flew roughly a hundred feet before reaching the end of the tunnel and perching on it, folding her enormous wing against her body for a moment, so that the girls could peer down into the darkness of the crater before them.