Warding Song

The roar and crash of … a dragon … deck tilted, sliding … falling … struggling to get out of the ocean, sky rising up all around her … “Eleyna.” Aunt Cat? “Eleyna!” Marcus? Bang. Blood everywhere … fangs … sinking … falling … “Aaah!” Eleyna jerked awake with a gasp, clutching at her chest. She was shaken, but already the nightmare was fading from her memory.

Acora was still asleep. Eleyna crawled out from under his wing and set off to relieve herself. It was very early; the sun was rising, painting the horizon with shades of pink and orange. Eleyna admired the view for a while. “This is it,” she grinned, excited. “It’s all going to have been worth it after today.”

Acora woke up and gave a cavernous yawn, stretching like a giant cat. Then he looked down at Eleyna. “Good morning,” she greeted cheerfully, chewing on some dried fruit. No sense going treasure hunting on an empty stomach.

Eleyna ducked as Acora spread his wings and took off, heading out towards the ocean. When he’d gone, her stomach fluttered. He‘ll come back, she told herself firmly. He could have ditched me twice before now, but he didn’t.

Despite this, she still felt uneasy. There was nothing she could do to persuade or force Acora to stick around … she just had to trust him.

She looked for an entrance to the mine. It would likely be overgrown – boarded up, certainly – so she’d have to keep her eyes peeled. Eleyna shouldered her rucksack and trudged up to the base of the mountain.

Eleyna kept searching, and eventually red paint caught her eye. The words ‘KEEP OUT’ and ‘DANGEROUS’ had been painted across some half-rotted planks. “Gotcha,” she beamed, standing in front of the boarded-off tunnel.

She tried to prise away one of the rotten boards, straining, but all she got for her trouble were splinters. “Ow,” she winced as she pulled them out. Eleyna then heard the roar of a dragon; Acora must have been looking for her.

“Over here!” she called. When he found her, he growled as if scolding her for walking off. “Look what I found.” Eleyna gestured to the tunnel. “Can you break through?” She mimed wrenching the wood away from the cave mouth. Acora caught on quickly this time, and raised a paw to pull the boards aside.

The jagged pieces left behind resembled fangs, like the maw of a beast. Eleyna had her own. She picked up two of the less splintery pieces of wood, and pretended to breathe fire on the end of one. Then she held it up to Acora and waited; after a moment, he set the tip of the stick alight. “Thanks.”

She squared her shoulders and headed into the tunnel, makeshift torch in hand. Its flame barely flickered, the air was so still. After a few strides, Eleyna realised that Acora wasn’t following her. He was peering into the tunnel, as if he didn’t want to come in. “C’mon. I might need you.”

Acora seemed to shudder, before creeping into the tunnel. He fit, if barely; his wings brushed the walls. It crossed her mind that this island might have been home to a flock of dragons once. She wondered if Acora was nervous because he could sense that. No, that’s ridiculous, she told herself. Never mind what the dragon is worried about. I have some treasure to find.

As they moved deeper into the mine, Eleyna felt a strange sense of foreboding. She ignored it at first; there was nothing to worry about. Except … Acora had been nervous. What if he had a good reason? What if dragons had reclaimed this island and they were walking right into a nest full of vicious beasts … no, she told herself firmly, don’t be stupid. If there were any dragons here, we’d know already. I’m … I’m just being paranoid.

It wasn’t until they reached a fork that she had cause to be anxious. Out of habit, Eleyna reached up to grasp her locket and see if it held some kind of hidden clue, but of course she wasn’t wearing it. What am I going to do?

She hesitated, peering into one tunnel and then the other. There was a maze of tunnels, it would take ages to search them all, and she could get lost, or trapped … inexplicably, she felt a strong urge to turn back, to leave.

Acora chirped and pushed past her. She watched, biting her lip, as he clawed at a gouge in the rock. That was nothing of interest; it was a mine, there were bound to be gouges and cracks and scratches all over the place.

He dug something out of the rock; it clattered to the ground. Eleyna raised her torch and the light fell on a small, brownish-yellow crystal. When her gaze landed upon it, Eleyna shuddered. The mere sight disturbed her, but before she could ask herself why, Acora smashed it and she flinched back.

Almost immediately, the sensation of dread began to fade. Eleyna wasn’t sure why she’d felt so unnerved at the sight of a yellow crystal. Wait a minute, she realised, it was a topaz! Aunt Cat had warned her about topaz; it was no good for healing, and when charged made people feel afraid.

Charged topazes made one feel fear … some must have been placed here to drive would-be thieves away from … from the treasure. That’s how I’m supposed to figure out which way to go – down the tunnels that scare me.

Acora licked up the broken pieces of crystal. When he raised his head, Eleyna stepped forwards and gave him a pat. “Good work,” she praised; she’d have gone the wrong way if not for him. “Come on, this way.” With a deep, fortifying breath, Eleyna set off down the right tunnel. He quickly followed after her; she could hear his claws scraping on the rocky ground.

She knew what was really making her nervous, but that didn’t stop the tunnels from being extremely creepy. The light from her torch only reached so far. Anything could be lurking in here, slithering out of view before the firelight reached it. Eleyna kept thinking she heard something up ahead, scritching and breathing loudly, even footsteps … but it was only echoes.

The air was stale; it was hard to breathe, and the torch smoke didn’t help. Eleyna’s arm was aching, but when she lowered it, smoke wafted into her face. She coughed, eyes watering. Acora huffed, blowing the smoke away.

“Th-thanks.” A spark jumped out and landed on her bare arm. “Argh!” she cried, hastily swatting her hand across to flick it off. She had to wet her skin and cool it down, but that meant putting the torch on the floor to get to the water bottle and it might go out or she wouldn’t be able to pick it up again …

Damn these topazes! Gritting her teeth, Eleyna turned to Acora and held the torch up to him. “Hold this. In your mouth.” She tried to demonstrate. Please get it. To her relief, Acora carefully grasped the burning stick in his mouth.

Eleyna poured some water on her hot reddened skin and took a swig as well. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Acora was fireproof; if anyone should be holding the torch, it was him. She put her rucksack on again, picked up the other stick and carried on. Another tunnel was branching off ahead.

As she approached it, Eleyna felt nervous. She tried to keep her head and go forwards no matter how much she wanted to go back. There’s nothing to be scared of, it’s just topaz. There’s nothing to be scared of, it’s just topaz …

Acora clawed at another gouge. Eleyna hung back. At last he dug out the tiny yellow rock, and smashed it. The overpowering sense of dread faded.

Eleyna sighed in relief. “That’s better. Thanks, Acora.” He tried to lick up the crystal without dropping the stick, which had almost gone out. She gestured for him to drop it. When he’d done so, she took the other stick and set the end of it alight with the embers of the previous one. “Hold this one,” she prompted when Acora looked up again, and handed him the second torch.

Trill held the burning stick carefully in her jaws, trying to not bite too hard. This was a clever idea of Click-Grunt’s, to make fire stay put. It was a shame he couldn’t make fire; Trill wanted to see how wingless ones made their fire float in mid-air up close. She’d let him have the next firestone she found.

Click-Grunt was nervous; he kept flinching. Trill had no idea what the danger was. The only wingless one she could smell was him, and if there were dragons here they would have been challenged as trespassers by now.

Soon the humming led Trill to another yellow firestone. After she crushed it, Trill waited for Click-Grunt to take some of the pieces. He chirped at her. She brushed the little bits towards him, but he nudged them back to her. It was Click-Grunt’s turn. She wanted to see how he made fire float in the air.

“You don’t want any? Well, okay. Let’s keep going.” She tried to walk down the tunnel, but Acora blocked her path. “What the … Acora, move. Go on!”

She shooed him. Acora’s eyes narrowed. He brushed the shards of topaz towards her with one paw. “What? I don’t want those bits. Now let’s go.”

Acora sat down. “What in King’s name has gotten into you?” Eleyna demanded, hands on hips. “I don’t like going through these tunnels either, but I didn’t come all this way to find my mother’s treasure to let some stubborn dragon keep me from it. So you move, right now, or I’ll – !”

I’ll what? Am I really trying to boss around a dragon? Eleyna groaned. Until now, Acora had done as she’d asked, more or less. She’d been relying on him being smart enough to figure out what she wanted, and agreeable enough to do it. There was no way for her to make him do anything.

If they were going to find the treasure, they had to work together. She had to figure out what he wanted this time. “Right. You want me to take these bits of crystal.” She held one of the pieces up to show him, and asked, “why?”

Acora breathed out a bit of flame. “Yeah, I know, it lets you breathe fire.” He kept staring at her. “No, it – it won’t let me breathe fire. Humans can’t breathe fire, where did you even … oh, never mind.” Now what was she going to do?

“Okay, look. I’ll prove that I can’t breathe fire.” Eleyna dusted the piece of crystal off, grimaced, and put it in her mouth. Holding it between her teeth, she huffed and puffed, to show Acora that she wasn’t going to breathe fire.

He seemed disappointed when he finally caught on. Eleyna, who’d spat the crystal into her hand when he wasn’t looking, smiled in relief. “Thank you. Here, you have those bits,” she offered, stepping back from the broken pieces. Instead he ignored them, and kept trudging down the tunnel.

The Ascalon and her escort had reached Ocaranes. Lambton had his men sail to the far side of the island, since the dragon and girl would have made camp there, if they had any sense between them. The hunters weighed anchor and then rowed to shore, taking all of their equipment with them.

They spread out in search of any trace of the dragon. A call went up from two of the men, who had spotted a tell-tale patch of grass through their spy glasses. The grass had been flattened by the dragons’ body as it rested.

“Captain, there are footprints here,” reported George. “The rider headed towards the mountain.” They set off, keeping an eye on the sky for any sign of the dragon flying overhead. George traced the girl’s footprints to one of the mine entrances, known as an adit. The wooden boards that had been hammered up were now lying on the ground, with splintered ends, and there were claw marks too.

Lambton ordered, “hoist a net up over the cave mouth and set an ambush. If they went into the mine this way, then it’s here they’ll try to emerge from.”

George said urgently, “Captain, wait. It’s been hours; I should go and ensure the trail has not gone cold. For all we know the dragon and rider have been and gone.” If not for Patrick’s death, this would be what frustrated him most. Dragons were difficult to track in the air, and this one had had a head start.

“I see your point. Very well, but Dalry will accompany you. Mr Dalry! You and Mr Liddan will go into the tunnels and try to ascertain the dragon’s whereabouts. Do not approach, simply confirm that they are actually in there and withdraw before they see you, understood?” he questioned.

Armed with shields, crossbows and lanterns, George Liddan and Daniel Dalry set off into the tunnels. They walked in silence for some time. Dalry cleared his throat. “I’m sure these criminals will be brought to justice. The Imperials have surely sent word of them all over the archipelago by now.”

“One would hope,” George replied bluntly. Once more the silence resumed, heavy with tension. The two men paused at an intersection. George spotted something glinting. He knelt down and brushed his hand over the ground; when he held it near the light, tiny shards sparkled in his palm.

Daniel’s brow furrowed. “I didn’t think there’d be any crystals in this mine. It was for iron ore, wasn’t it? Are you sure that isn’t just dust?” A fierce stare from George was all the answer he received. “I’m only pointing it out. You don’t need to bite my head off, you know; you’re not the only one who’s upset about Patrick.”

“It’s recently crushed,” George declared, brushing off his palm. “They went this way.” He set off, leaving Daniel no choice but to follow him. As they walked, George considered how to keep his fellow hunter out of the way; he knew why Daniel had really been sent with him, but he had a job to do.

The tunnel had collapsed, blocking itself with rubble. Click-Grunt took the burning stick back and Trill started digging. She clawed at the smaller stones until they fell out, and abruptly dug through to the other side. Trill could scent fresh air, see daylight. There was a cave beyond here.

Trill pounded the rocks, one paw at a time. Dust cascaded down from the roof of the tunnel. Click-Grunt screeched. She ignored him, until she felt him hitting her side. Trill snarled. Click-Grunt screeched again and flinched, hiding behind his own forelimbs. She crooned, feeling bad for scaring him.

He dropped the burning stick, and the flames died before Click-Grunt could pick it up. Trill pressed against the tunnel side so he could squeeze by. There was daylight on the other side, and she had moved enough rocks that Click-Grunt, who was much smaller, could get through.

Click-Grunt scrambled up the rocks and crawled into the cave beyond. He looked back at her and chirped gratefully, before moving out of sight. When she finally got through, she stretched her wings as wide as they could go.

After a short rest, Click-Grunt walked towards one of the tunnel mouths. He seemed reluctant to get too close, and turned to beckon her over. He was very bossy. Trill was in a good mood, however, so she approached him. When she came nearer, the firestones in her crop began humming again.

She followed the humming to another crack, with a firestone wedged into it. Trill then clawed it out of the rock, but didn’t smash it. Her paws still hurt.

Click-Grunt looked down the tunnel, but he didn’t walk into it. Trill got his attention, and crouched slightly so that Click-Grunt could climb onto her shoulders. He hauled himself up and chittered gratefully at her. Trill marched into the tunnel. Now and then she breathed fire – not much, and not for long, just enough to make sure she wasn’t about to walk face first into the rock.

At each intersection, there was one tunnel with pieces of cracked, broken crystal – topaz, thought George. It was too easy, and it made him suspicious. “We should head back,” suggested Daniel. “The captain sent us to confirm the dragon is still in here, not to make a survey of the whole bloody mine.”

“You go back then,” George called as he strode down the tunnel.

Daniel frowned, bewildered, and ran to catch up with him. He insisted, “With all respect, we both need to return. What am I supposed to tell the captain, that I let you go face the dragon by yourself? That’s against procedure.”

Scowling, George shook him off. “I’m well aware of the procedure. I think you forget that I am the captain’s second in command, not you.” Then he sighed. “Look, haven’t you noticed something odd about this crystal dust we keep finding? Always at the mouth of a tunnel, where two of them meet. It’s a trail of some kind. We need to find out where it leads,” George explained.

Daniel raised a doubtful eyebrow in response. “If you want to return to the others, I won’t stop you,” he continued, “but I for one am not finished here.” George rather hoped that Daniel would give up, and leave him to his task.

“The captain gave me an order to remain with you, sir. Seeing as we haven’t yet confirmed beyond doubt that the dragon is here, I suppose we ought to continue.” George gave a nod and a salute, which Daniel returned stiffly.

It wasn’t long before they came across irrefutable proof that a human – other than themselves – had recently been down here. The charred stub of a makeshift torch that crumbled to charcoal when Daniel stepped on it. “If the dragon can breathe fire again, we’re going to have to be careful.”

Further down, the two hunters came across a mess of fallen stalactites and boulders. They clambered over the rocks into a cavern, with sunlight coming in through a sinkhole. “Good to have some fresh air for once,” remarked George. “You check the tunnels on that side, I’ll check the ones over here.”

With that he made his way towards one of the many branching tunnels on the right. Daniel thought George was being obsessive, which didn’t bode well; but orders were orders. They investigated each tunnel in turn until they met in the middle, where more broken topaz was scattered over the ground.

“This is definitely a trail,” declared George, “but leading towards what?”

“I have no idea, sir. Besides, we now know for sure that they’re both down here, so let’s … ” Daniel trailed off when he realised George had already gone down the tunnel, and sighed. “One track mind, that man,” he muttered.

Once they were past the cavern, Daniel felt shivers of dread run down his spine. He was a stalwart fellow, not the most courageous but no coward by far. Yet these tunnels made him feel cornered. “Is it me,” he whispered, as if speaking any louder would be wrong, “or is this place rather creepy?”

George marched down the tunnel with single-minded focus. “It’s the topazes. They must be charged. Just ignore it, Dalry; there’s no danger.”

“Except for the dragon,” Daniel muttered under his breath. “This mine has been abandoned for decades. Why would there be charged topazes here?”

“I don’t know, but there are. Unless you’re afraid of the dark,” George mocked. “That must be it. No magic crystals, just a man scared of shadows.”

Daniel glared at George, “I am not scared of the dark. I just don’t want to waste my time down here committing insubordination by not going back as we were ordered to. The dragon and girl are here, we’ve established that.”

“Not until I see them with my own eyes,” the other man retorted. “Go back, then. In fact, that’s an order. Return and tell Lambton … it’s been an honour.”

Eyes widening, Daniel realised why George was so obsessive. “You’re going to risk your life to avenge Patrick’s? He wouldn’t have wanted this.”

“It doesn’t matter what he’d want. He’s dead, and it’s their fault. They’ll pay.”

“That is why the Imperials are here! To bring the rider to justice – true justice, not some vigilante … ” Daniel grit his teeth. “Fine. I’ll go and tell everyone you disobeyed orders and tried to martyr yourself. Perhaps the captain will make me his new second in command when you fail to return,” he said callously.

Both men glared daggers at each other. George gave a pompous salute, and Daniel returned it just as stiffly. Then he strode back the way they’d come. He didn’t go far before looking over his shoulder, seeing the glow of George’s lantern bobbing down the tunnel. “May the Judge acquit you.”

Trill’s fire had only been restored a few days ago, and she had no desire to waste it in this horrible, cramped, dark place. Caves were different, with room to stretch out, fresh air and light streaming in through their gaping mouths. She hated tunnels, and after this she would never go down another.

They emerged into a wider space; her wings no longer scraped the rock. She couldn’t resist pausing to stretch them out as far as they would go, with a low moan of relief. There was a chink of light from another sinkhole above them, that barely illuminated the dark mouth of the tunnel further ahead.

Click-Grunt scratched her scales, which felt nice. Despite her aching paws, Trill marched forwards once more, only for the ground to disappear beneath one of her steps. They both cried out in alarm, and her wings fluttered as she recoiled. When she tried again, more carefully this time, Trill discovered there was a wide crevasse in the ground that she’d almost fallen into.

She dangled her tail into the chasm; it brushed against a boulder sitting precariously on the edge. She couldn’t feel the bottom. It was very deep.

Oh, this meant she could fly! It would only be a short hop, but merely getting off the ground was better than all this plodding and shuffling. She couldn’t imagine how wingless ones managed with only their slow floating-nests to get them anywhere. She raised her wings, only to freeze in shock and snarl.

Her nostrils flared as she scented a wingless one hunting them. Her head swung around, jaws opened wide to unleash a pillar of flame.

The sudden burst of light nearly blinded Eleyna. When her eyes recovered, she could make out the silhouette of a person hiding behind a shield. They’d been followed. “Wait. Acora, stop!” she cried, kicking her heels into the dragon’s sides. To her relief, he stopped long enough for the stranger to duck behind a nearby stalagmite. “W-who’s there?!” she called warily.

For a few moments there was no reply. Eleyna couldn’t see a thing. Then at last a familiar voice spoke up. “You shouldn’t have left that cabin, Ellie.”

“Or should I say, you should never have left San Nicolas, Eleyna.” She bit back a gasp. “The Imperials are here to arrest you. They’re going to have you hanged for theft, destruction of property … and manslaughter.”

Eleyna wouldn’t deny the first two, but the last? “I haven’t killed anyone!”

“Haven’t-?! Patrick is dead!” cried George. “He was killed by that monster you let out of its cage, because you stole his helmet.” Eleyna gasped. “Oh, don’t worry. You won’t be going to the gallows. In fact, you won’t be going anywhere, because I’m going to avenge my friend, right here and now.”

A second later she heard the distinctive twang of a crossbow firing and screamed, crouching even lower as the arrow hissed overhead.

George heard a screech and distant thud as something heavy struck the ground far below. Even when he held the lantern as low as he could reach, there was no sign of the dragon or the girl. I must’ve hit the beast instead. Unable to go any further, he finally turned back. His work here was done.

Trill snarled viciously, even as she backed away. How had the wingless one found them? Why hadn’t her fire killed it? Her hind paw found the edge of the chasm – but then she had an idea, and swept her tail from side to side.

When her tail brushed against that boulder, Trill braced her hind legs against it. Her muscles bunched up as she pressed her weight against the rock.

The boulder gave way and Trill fell into the chasm, Click-Grunt still on her back, skidding down until she flapped to slow herself and dug her claws into cracks. When the boulder landed, she let out a strangled screech, as if she was in terrible pain.

It was a long time before Trill hauled herself out of the chasm. The hunting one had gone by the time she emerged. Trill felt a tiny bit of pride at tricking it so well. A sharp thing was protruded from the underside of her wing. She tugged it out, whining, then stretched both wings and leapt into the air.

There was no wind to carry her down here, so Trill had to flap incessantly to stay up. Her wings were cramped; when she was almost at the other side, her right wing refused to flap another moment. Unbalanced, Trill dropped in the air, and Click-Grunt screeched as she tried desperately to recover.

Much to her relief, Trill landed clumsily on something solid she couldn’t make out. It groaned like an exhausted dragon under her weight. Rather than wait to see if it would hold, she scrambled across to the other side.

Once she was safely back on solid ground, Trill panted and shuddered. Click-Grunt, who was trembling as well, stroked her neck and crooned.

Eleyna had no idea how long they’d been here, or how far it might be to the treasure. All she knew was if she never had to go into a mine again, it would be too soon. She’d take being at sea, or flying, over being underground any day.

George had left her shaken. She didn’t want to think about his accusations. Acora … It was like the dragon had tricked George. It was possible that he’d just backed into a boulder, but Eleyna didn’t believe it was that simple. Acora wasn’t stupid; he was clever enough to work out what her gestures meant.

Acora no longer broke the topazes, and the more they passed, the more anxious she became. George’s voice echoed in her head. “They’re going to have you hanged … Patrick is dead … I’m going to avenge my friend.”

Having a large fire-breathing creature around did wonders for her waning confidence. Much to Eleyna’s relief, Acora seemed to have decided he too no longer wished to dawdle. They moved quite swiftly through the tunnels, all things considered. After what felt like an eternity, Acora slowed to a stop.

Eleyna looked up. There was a sinkhole above their heads letting sunlight in. It illuminated the far side of the cave, into which large letters were carved. She slipped off Acora’s shoulders and walked forwards, brow furrowed.

For a long moment, Eleyna stared at the words, lips parted. She looked to see if anything else had been carved on the walls, but they were bare. “It can’t be,” she whispered, shaking her head. The message made no sense.

Eleyna had no idea what river it spoke of, or who this shaman was. All this time, all these hardships, every moment she had sustained herself with thoughts of her rightful wealth … and instead she’d found a big fat nothing.

She looked up at Acora. His head tilted, as if he was confused. “I’m sorry for dragging you down here. I thought … I was so sure … I was so stupid.”

Acora lowered his head to gently nudge her. A rueful smile crossed her face as she stroked the dragon’s warm scaly nose. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”