Chapter 14

{See “Chapter 13? Ellismera” on Render’s blog}

Chapter 14
“Where is the scepter of time anyway?” asked Flint. They were moving again, this time joined by their new friends Cless the Dragoon and Luna Moonarrow.

“It’s in the Cave of Calindide. To get there we have to go through the city Silthrim. That could be dangerous,” said Render as he walked.

Will nodded in agreement and added, “Most people here haven’t seen dragons for years. They don’t even know they still exist. If they see us they will start talking and spies will tell the shade. His name is Borom and he will stop at nothing until the whole world is under his power.”

“Then we can’t go through the city,” said Charity. “It’s too risky. Is there another way?”

The riders exchanged glances and said nothing. Bonnie listened in on their mental conversation, but only head the last words Cless muttered, “…the tunnels.”

“There is another way…” started Cless. Render gave him a dark look but he continued. “There are tunnels deep beneath the ground of Alagasia that are known only to a few dwarves and a handful of trusted Elves. In the tunnel system there is a route that runs directly under the city and pops out on the East side of the cave.”

“Great,” said Charity, happy to avoid unnecessary danger.

“What’s the catch?” asked Bonnie. Render kept his eyes on the road and replied, “The tunnels are made of grobdenite, the only substance known to mankind that can block magic.” Charity stopped and looked at him as he continued, “We’d be defenseless if anyone attacked us and we couldn’t even mindspeak!”

Luna walked slightly behind them with Levi. Her blonde hair was tied back loosely and her bright eyes were trained on her many minor dragons. A purple one flew near her shoulder but the rest stayed inside her hollows.

“I think we should take the tunnels,” said Levi, thinking about the possibilities. “It’s better to not have anyone know we were even here instead of risking it. Besides, no one knows about the tunnels anyway except for Elves and Dwarves. What threat are they to us?” They all agreed this was the best way to go but Render said nothing, only keeping his eyes on the ground.

Cless found the nearest tunnel entry around noon that day. It was covered by magic and took Will, Render, Cless, Levi, and Luna just to uncover it. Once uncovered they were happy to find the entrance big enough for all the dragons to pass through. Cless led the way with a small light in his hand. Luna followed, a blue light emanating from her palm. Bonnie followed after them with Miya perched on her shoulder. Will walked behind her with another small light. Charity and Flint walked side by side and Render was last. The dragons stayed by their riders if their rider was not on them. They walked for what seemed like an endless eternity. Flint and Bonnie argued for a while. Will and Charity talked quietly, remembering old times aboard their ship. Render and Cless were silent yet on occasion they stopped, looked at the walls, muttered something under their breath, and continued walking. Levi and Luna watched the minor dragons and discussed everything that had happened since they had been separated. Bonnie joined them after a while.

“So how is finding this staff going to help us bring Borom’s reign to an end?” asked Bonnie.

“If we find the staff and time-travel, we can go back to the point in time where he gained power and stop it from happening,” answered Luna.

“When would that be?” asked Bonnie.

“10 years ago. It started there. Slowly, spies and slaves of Borom had become trusted guards and security agents in the castle. Borom himself was the King’s adviser. One night he murdered the king in his sleep and his minions killed all the loyal servants. They took over the whole castle and slowly, like poison, spread among the country, taking all they desired.” The group fell into silence, imagining what it would be like when they went back to the night when the king was killed.

Will walked by his dragon and looked at the walls. They were smooth and round, kind of a grey color with blue streaks running through them like veins. He noted a few holes, and when examined closely he found they were deep crevices. He could see ten feet into them and they were not smooth at all, for on the inside were formations that should have been in a cave. The tunnels had been mined out from the inside of a gigantic cave and some of the older tunnels that branched off were dangerous and rough because of that. The caves were dark and Will couldn’t even see the end of them. Fortunately for the travelers, they only had to stay on the smoothed paths.

It would take two weeks for them to arrive near Silthrim, and another week for them to reach the tunnel they needed to surface, and they would have to walk back for a day in order to reach the cave. They were about one twentieth of the way through the desired tunnel on day two.

“We’re a bit behind schedule so let’s try to move a bit faster,” said Cless as he led the way. Will {with Baladon in tow} and Luna followed him, talking quietly. Bonnie and Charity walked behind them, talking and laughing animatedly. Flint and Levi were discussing the best weapons to use in various battle scenarios, Clesseath walking alongside Levi. Render hung back. He still didn’t trust the caves. Without magic he felt like part of him was missing. Ancalagon also seemed a bit nervous. They continued in this manner for a while.

“Be careful here,” said Cless. They had come to a place in the tunnel with a low ceiling. There were two paths. One was the smooth path they had been following. The other was shaped roughly with formations poking out of the entrance. They crawled into it and stood up on the other side. Huge rocks and boulders had been pushed away to the sides of the cave to make a path. The roof was pointed with stalactites and the ground still had many stalagmites. It was dark so the dragons had to breath fire to light the way.

“As far as short cuts go, this is the worst one yet,” whispered Charity to Bonnie. They began the trek down. There was no wind and no light, which made everyone a bit nervous.

“Everyone needs to stay silent. The rocks above us are old, and if we are too loud or move too quickly with enough force they may fall down on us,” said Render, softly. Bonnie and Luna’s minor dragons were hiding in their hollows. Ancalagon and Baladon breathed flames lightly on the ground in front of them, lighting up the beginning and ending of the train of travelers. Baladon’s tail swept up a pile of dust. He pulled away but was not quick enough to evade the dust from flying into his face and up his large nostrils. He made a face, swiveled his head around, and blinked wildly. The friends stared then began moving away from him desperately. He sneezed, his roar echoing around the walls, fire erupting from his mouth.

The roof rumbled from the impact. The ceiling caved in. Rocks and stalactites fell on them. They barely managed to move out of the way. The noise caused more to fall. The whole room seemed to be collapsing. They threw themselves on the ground and covered their heads with their arms. A few minutes later the dust cleared and they cautiously climbed their way out of the rubble. Luna peeked through her hands and gasped. There was a wall of debris and rock in front of her. It stretched from ceiling to floor and wall to wall. Looking around, she found that Cless, Will, and Bonnie were on her side of the wall. They glanced at the looming boulders, foreboding and impenetrable. The dragons had flown to their riders and now stood near the wall, lowering their heads and trying to push the wall. The friends joined them in moving the rocks. The only opening they saw was at the very top and it was so small not even Miya could climb through it.

“Chair!” called Bonnie, reasoning that no more rocks could fall because all of them already had. No reply.

“Render!” called Luna.

“Flint!” yelled Will.

Silence. “Luna, can you climb to the top and peek through the hole?” asked Bonnie. Luna nodded and began the dangerous ascent to the top. Some pebbles fell down.

“Careful!” called Cless. She nodded and took another step. She slipped and slid a few feet down but caught herself, wincing as she felt her leg get scraped. She finally reached the hole and peered through. She could not see her friends, only rocks and wreckage like on her side.

“Levi? Are you alive?” she asked, searching for them with her eyes. She could sense them. Four beings were breathing. Slowly a rock moved and Render climbed out. He searched for the rest of them. Charity, Flint, and Levi were all unharmed and had survived with minimum bruises and cuts.

“We have to turn back. We can’t move these boulders without magic,” said Render.

“We will continue along the tunnel and reach the cave first. It should take you an additional day or two to get to the surface,” said Cless, loudly. Luna repeated what he said to the group on her side.

“But that means we’ll have to go through the city!” said Charity. Luna translated again, leaving out the worry she had heard in Charity’s voice.

“That just means you’ll have to be smart and careful,” said Cless.

“Looks like you’ll have more of an adventure than we will,” said Bonnie to Charity, sounding a bit jealous.

“What on earth do you mean?” asked Charity, confused.

“You guys get to go back and sneak through the city, hiding your true identities from spies, concealing your dragons, and evading all shades in the process. And I’m stuck in this hole in the ground.” Bonnie said. Charity almost smiled even though Bonnie couldn’t see her.

Will spoke to Flint. “Take care of Chair, ok?”

“Duh. Somebody’s got to,” He replied. “And keep your weapon sharp.”

“Of course,” Will said.

Luna looked down at her friends. “Levi says he’ll meet us a mile in front of the cave. On the night of the next full moon.” Cless nodded.

“We need to go now. We have already wasted much time,” he said in a low tone.

“I shall see you in time. Keep them safe.” He said to Render.

“Same to you,” replied Render. The riders, dragons, and pirates thus parted ways. Render, Flint, Charity, and Levi were bound to go back to the tunnels’ entrance to surface and go through the city with the dragons Ancalagon, Clesseath and Baladon. Cless, Will, Bonnie, and Luna were going to press on through the tunnels to get to the Cave of Calindide.

~ Captain Bonnie Spinner
The Week of Terror