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MERLIN RAN back to get Gunther’s attention.
“Sophia, Gunther, I just saw some knights. We need to go over to the mainland and have a look.”
“Come on Gunther, let us get on you so we can go see who found us!” Sophia was so happy she wanted to jump for joy but climbed onto Gunther instead. Of course, Kanani had to go too, so Merlin helped her get aboard, then he got on and off they flew over the water.
The men were looking around and then noticed Gunther.
“Look, I think that’s Gunther!” Shouted Perceval, he was thrilled!
“It is, there’s Sophia and Kanani!” Lamorak shouted as he jumped off his horse.
Gunther flew over them. “It’s our knights! You can land Gunther.” Merlin instructed the dragon.
Gunther circled and landed by the men.
Sophia jumped off Gunther and Kanani did too following behind her.
“I can’t believe you found us! I’m so happy!” She ran over forgetting her dignity and hugged each of the Knights.
“We are happier to see you,” exclaimed Lamorak. “We have had a rough journey, it looks like you did too. We saw the stone trolls and the dead dragons. I’m amazed to see all of you alive. How did you defeat the black dragons?”
“We had help.” Sophia continued relating the adventure they had along the way to find the white dragons.”
“Where are the rest of you?” asked Merlin.
“They were killed, Merlin. It was a horrible battle. How many dragons have you found?” Lamorak asked.
“There are ten dragons, eleven with Gunther.”
“Well that’s too many dragons for us to take to Camelot alone. There are too many dangers.”
“Lamorak, you four cannot stay here either unless the dragons come over here. Black dragons guard these beaches at night.”
“Perhaps we should get the dragons to move over here,” Perceval told them.
“Yes, I think that is the best idea,” said Lamorak.
“Ok, then it’s decided, if we can convince them. Let’s talk to Gunther.” Merlin turned around and walked over to Gunther giving him the men’s suggestion.
“Ok, let’s go back and talk to Drake and the others,” agreed Gunther.
“Sophia, you and Kanani stay over here. Gunther and I will return with an answer or with dragons. Why don’t you find a good place for eleven dragons and all of us,” Merlin offered?
Sophia turned around and spoke to Lamorak. “There’s Smoo Cave down below us. I would love to explore it. I think it’s big enough for all the dragons and us too. That way we will have protection from the black dragons and plenty of food from the sea.”
“That is an excellent idea. Can you show us where it is?” he asked her.
“Yes, just follow Kanani and me.” Sophia started leading the way.
Lamorak turned back around, “Perceval, you and the others can follow us with your horses.” Then he turned back around leading his horse behind Kanani down the trail.
We got down to the beach and approached the cave.
“Stay here Sophia, let us check out the cave first and make sure that there aren’t any dragons living in it.” Lamorak said.
“Ok, but I’m pretty sure it will be ok. The white dragons had a battle with them and won. The black dragons haven’t been seen around since.” Sophia told him.
The men left their horses outside and walked into the cave. Upon entering they saw what a wide cave it was, the chamber they walked into was about forty to fifty feet high, one hundred fifty feet long and a little more than 100 feet wide. This would be an excellent place to house all of them, even throughout the winter. They came out a bit later and Lamorak had a grin on his face.
“It is a grand cave, Sophia. You can get Kanani settled here. We will arrange for the horses to eat and start a fire. Perceval is already getting set up to catch some fish for our dinner.”
“Fabulous! Come on Kanani!”
Ok, Sophie, this is fun! Can we eat now?
By the time they saw Gunther flying back with Merlin with other dragons flying behind him, they had a warm fire going. Dinner was made; a place for the dragons was set up in the cave.
There was a great introduction between the men and dragons.
~~~~~~
Cundrie, Iago and Afawen arrived in Camelot. Lady Yglais ran over to great them. She didn’t know if she was angry with Cundrie or glad to see her. Cundrie was also apprehensive about the meeting. Lady Yglais interrogated both Cundrie and Iago until she was satisfied, and then laughed from relief. She had feared the worse for both of them. Iago was allowed to stay for now. They were to wait until Accalon arrived, if he came back alive it would be his decision. In the meantime, Iago was put to work getting the homes and caves ready for the hopeful return of the dragons and people.
~~~~~~
The Kings men were getting closer to the cave where Sophia and the Dragons were staying. They didn’t know it though and with winter coming upon them the King feared they would be stuck with no shelter or food. They needed to get there soon or find a town to stay in and wait out winter
~~~~~~
The dragons were doing well sleeping with the humans in the cave at night. By day they went up the cliff, played, caught food and looked for any help coming to get them.
“Sir Lamorak,” said Sophia, “I really want to explore this cave. I’ve checked and there are several tunnels and chambers. It would be fun to see where each of them go. Tomorrow Kanani and I are going exploring. I just wanted you to know so that you don’t worry about us.”
“Thank you for telling me, however I do not think it is safe for a Lady to go off on her own. Perceval and I will accompany you and Kanani.” He was determined not to let Sophia out of site after that attack of the black dragons and not knowing what was in the tunnels.
“Great, do you think you should ask Perceval first though?” Sophia was being smart.
“Yes, I suppose I should,” Lamorak laughed. “Come with me, let us find him and see if he will go on the mission quest with us.”
With that Lamorak called Kanani and they climbed the cliff looking for Perceval.
Perceval and Lancelot were practicing swords fights. The dragons were cheering for one or the other of them. They had to keep themselves in shape.
It was agreed that the next day Perceval, Lancelot, Accalon, Sophia and Kanani would explore the caves. Merlin preferred to stay back and work on some magic, protecting the dragons too, in case any black dragons approached.
“After this Sophia, we must prepare for winter. I do not think any of the King’s men will get here before the cold winds and temperatures arrive.” Lamorak was looking a bit worried about this.
“Ok, I promise that I will help us get everything ready after this venture.” Sophia agreed excitedly.
Smoo Cave is a very large sea cave; it has a cave river running through it and lies at the inner end of a narrow inlet with Durness Limestone. The layers in this formation are layers of limestone and dolomites. The birds she had seen in the cave were rockdoves, they nested in the higher chambers of the cave. There were starlings living in the holes within the rocks. There were wrens and blackbirds living at the cave mouth plus numerous other creatures. They had been eating a lot of rabbit lately. Sophie knew they couldn’t live on just rabbit. They needed to find other sources of food, perhaps there were fish in the river. She was anxious to see the cave river she remembered reading about years ago. Sophia had a special love of caves and had done a thesis paper in college on the most famous caves around the world.
The next morning, they got ready and explored through one of the tunnels. It was dark at first then they heard gushing water. They came into a massive cavern dimly lit with phosphorescence. They could just make out a pool of fresh water and a waterfall coming from above out of the limestone walls.
“Look, fresh water for us!” Sophia chased Kanani over to the water. Kanani barked and jumped in splashing all around. Yippee, water! Everyone started laughing, this was a good sign that they had some fresh water now.
“We will have to figure a way to get this water to all of us daily, it’s too narrow in here for the dragons to get through the passageway. Let us move on and see what other wonders we can find in here.” Lamorak led them out of this cavern back into the passageway.
They came to another cavern and it too had running water, which ran into the cave river she knew was here.
“This is what I wanted to find,” she told the others.
“Wow, if we had a boat we could go down the river and see where it comes out.” Accalon said.
“We might have plenty of time to build one if no one comes to help escort the dragons home soon,” Lamorak answered him.
They spent a whole day walking down one passageway, before they knew it the day was drifting into evening and they needed to get back. Little did they know what they had missed that day, but they were about to find out.