by Eric Vall
“You caught all the assassins I assume?”
“We did.” I nodded. “Well, we think we caught them all, but there are still people looking, just in case.”
“So, what does any of this have to do with me?” the crimson dragon hummed.
“We obviously need a way to better guard Hatra,” I replied. “Would you consider helping us out? You don’t need to stay within the city or anything like that. Just help us keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”
“Evan, you already asked this of me. I told you I needed to think about it.”
“That was before we had members of the Green Glass Sect infiltrate my city,” I argued. “So, I need an answer now.”
Valerra cast a glance back into her cave, bit her lip, but didn’t respond.
She was a stubborn one, I’d give her that.
But she was no match for me.
“You know,” I drawled, “if you help us keep an eye out for enemies, it could benefit you as well.”
“And how is that?” Valerra asked as she turned her eyes back to me and raised a brow. “It seems like I would be giving you a lot more than you can offer me in return.”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
“Valerra, come on.” I leveled her with a pointed look. “What about our future children?”
Valerra narrowed her eyes. “What about them?”
“Help us out, and maybe we can focus more on having a child or an egg. Whatever it would be.”
“Why would you offer to have a child with me in exchange for protection? Wouldn’t a child make me less likely to help you?”
“If you have an egg or a child with me, the entire city of Hatra will die to protect it,” I explained to her quickly. “It will be my heir, and my people will have a sworn duty to protect their Lord’s child. It will have more protection than you could offer, so you wouldn’t have to worry. Besides, we need you. No one will risk pissing off the Crimson Dragon, especially now that the sect has already attacked you once.”
“I don’t need the reminder,” she growled darkly. “The Green Glass Sect tried to kill my sister’s egg, I will never forget that. Hmph. Perhaps the extra protection could be beneficial.”
“So,” I said decidedly, “you’ll help us, then?”
“Fine,” Valerra scoffed, “I will make sure your city will be safe for now. This is not me agreeing to help you once you’re gone, though, I still haven’t decided about that.”
I smirked at her, and she groaned.
“Stop it. I’m only helping because I want to see the sect burned to ash.”
“Sure you are,” I snickered. “It has nothing to do with me being the person who asked. Admit it, you just can’t say no to me, your wonderful mate who provides you with treasures and kills driders on your doorstep.”
Valerra glared at me, and her jaw clenched. “Go away.”
“I have one more thing to talk to you about,” I protested as I tried not to laugh at her obvious discomfort, “but don’t worry. It’s just a question, you don’t have to do anything other than answer.”
Valerra shook her head and sighed, but gestured with her hand for me to continue.
“There are tunnels under Hatra, and within these tunnels are passageways that lead to different locations around the area,” I started. “We’ve found a few of them already, and we have a few groups down there now who are continuing to search the tunnels for exits, but do you know anything about them? You’ve lived here for thousands of years, if anyone knows where the passages lead out, it would be you.”
Valerra absently ran a hand through her crimson hair as she seemed to think.
“I might,” she admitted after a long moment. “I vaguely remember something about secret passages when Lord Tristan lived in Hatra. I believe a few of them led into the canyons, which is why they stopped being used. I might be able to find some of them.”
“Tristan,” I repeated in surprise. “My grandfather.”
“Yes,” Valerra nodded, “they used the tunnel system to help with trade and to hide from bandits who lurked around the area. When Tristan was a teenager, though, his father had the tunnels banned. I may have killed a few of their men when I first moved here. I needed to guard my territory. Tristan came to me when he had grown to ask permission to use the passages inside my canyons, but I refused him. He never asked again.”
“But Tristan knew about them.” I grinned. “That’s great!”
“Lord Tristan is dead, Evan,” Valerra said with a frown. “How is that good news?”
I stopped for a moment. I hadn’t told her about my ability to time travel or about my conversations with Tristan’s ghost, but I didn’t have the time to explain the whole story to her now.
“It just means we might be able to find something if we look at books from his time, maybe he had something recorded about them,” I told her instead.
“I see, then I guess you should leave me alone now.” She smirked, and a fang peeked out of her upper lip. “How tragic.”
“Alright, I can catch a hint,” I chuckled. “I’ll head back home now, but I’ll see you later. Let me know when you’re ready to begin our patrols again. Or when you miss me too much.”
Valerra rolled her eyes at me again while I shifted into my dragon form.
“Our patrol can resume in two days, but don’t be late, or I’ll leave without you,” she warned.
“I’ll see you in two days, then.” I dipped my massive head and bared my fangs at her in the semblance of a smile. “Bye, Valerra.”
The crimson dragon didn’t respond, she just walked toward her cave and vanished inside.
I chuckled before I launched my body into the air and flew back in the direction of Hatra. Instead of returning to the city, though, I continued forward to the mountains. It had been nearly a thousand years since this tunnel was in use. I just hoped Tristan had a good memory and could help me figure out how to navigate the escape route.
I flew low over the forest just beyond Hatra, and I could feel a slight tickle as the tops of the trees brushed against my scaled stomach. I angled my wings to get a little more air, and then I soared over the Asuran village and the mines. I could see the workers as they walked around the town, and when my shadow passed over a small group, Anton looked up and gave a wave before he turned back to his work.
I continued past the forest and up into the mountains at a leisurely pace. Thankfully, I had a photographic memory, and I quickly found the mountain the escape route fed into. I landed on the rocky ledge that overhung a steep cliffside and slipped inside the cavern. It looked exactly the same as when I’d come with my group while we searched the tunnels. A long river split the chamber as it weaved across the room, and sharp stalactites hung along the ceiling menacingly. A quick glance around the room let me know I was alone, so I jumped across the river to the opposite side and walked to the secret passage entrance. Then I shifted back into my human self and pulled the Sword of Hatra from my storage space.
“Lord Tristan?” I said quietly, but the words still echoed around me.
I was unsure how to summon the past wielders of my sword, and I felt kind of stupid standing in the middle of a cave talking to a sword, but I didn’t have any better ideas.
“Grandfather?” I asked again, and once more, nothing happened.
What are you doing? Miraya asked inside my head.
“I need to talk to Tristan,” I spoke out loud. “It’s important.”
I see, well you don’t need to do whatever you’re doing to reach him. Just summon him with your mind and heart.
“How do I do that?” I asked, slightly annoyed.
Just ask for him to talk to you.
I sighed, took a deep breath, and tried again.
“Tristan, can we talk? I have some questions I need to ask you.”
For a second, nothing happened, and I was about to ask Miraya what went wrong, but then I heard a familiar voice over my shoulder.
&nb
sp; “Evan?”
I quickly turned, and Tristan stood behind me, with his red hair and green eyes bright against his pale complexion. A soft blue hue also seemed to surround him, and if I looked at him from a certain angle, his outline was slightly transparent.
“What is it you need from me?” Tristan asked as he seemed to take in our surroundings. “Well, I see you have discovered the escape tunnels.”
“Yeah, that’s a long story,” I said with a wave of my hand, “I just need to know if you know how to get out of here. The Green Glass Sect discovered the other passages, but this one is unknown to them, and I want to learn how to maneuver it in case the day comes where we have to use it.”
“That makes sense.” My grandfather nodded. “This passage was never made public knowledge, to keep it safe. I haven’t been down here since I was a boy, but I think I remember the way out of here.”
“Great,” I said, “then lead the way.”
Tristan glanced around the area before he turned back to me with a mischievous grin identical to Ruslan’s.
“If we get lost, you can’t blame me. I heard if you lose your way in these caves, you’ll never escape the mountains.”
“I think I’ll be okay.” I rolled my eyes with a laugh.
“Then by all means, follow me,” the ghostly form said, and then he walked toward the river.
We followed the water until we hit the rocky wall of the cave where a tall, thin waterfall trickled down the side of the cavern and fed into the river. I watched the water silently as it poured from the drop off above us, and I frowned at the sight.
“Uh, Gramps?” I asked. “This looks like a wall to me.”
“It’s here somewhere, I think,” Tristan grumbled in front of me as he floated near the wall. “Aha! Here it is.”
He moved out of the way to point to a six-foot tall gap within the cave wall. The stones along the gap matched up perfectly with the ones along the sides, and it created a kind of optical illusion that prevented the gap from being seen unless someone was looking for it.
“Smart,” I commented. “It’s easy to find once you know what to look for, but if you’re just down here, this would be invisible.”
“Exactly. Now, come on, this way.” Tristan walked down the narrow passage, and I trailed behind him, but I was careful to keep an eye and an ear out for any possible dangers.
“Where does this lead?” I asked as I stepped over some loose stones.
With the opening to the outside far behind us, the path we walked down became darker as we trekked deeper into the mountains.
“If memory serves me correctly,” Tristan said over his shoulder, “this should lead us down into a crystal cavern. After the cavern, we should reach the opposite side of the mountains and find the way out.”
“Crystal cavern?” I frowned. “What is that? Is it like the River Moonstone House?”
“I guess it is, in a sense,” Tristan answered, “but this cavern is more than that. The River Moonstone House is used to enhance magical abilities and to help you grow with your magic to become stronger. These crystals are said to have magical properties. Our cave has always been hidden, but there are others throughout the world. Some people believe they are gifts from the gods. Other’s think they are a test from the gods. The rumors say that a single hour inside a crystal cavern can bring back the sickest man from the brink of death.”
“Are these rumors to be believed?” I questioned as I studied my grandfather.
“I don’t know,” Tristan laughed and shook his head. “I’ve never seen anyone try.”
“Why not? If it can heal people, why wouldn’t people at least try?”
Tristan was quiet for a long moment as his brow furrowed.
“All things come at a cost,” he finally said. “While it is entirely possible that the caves have magic and can heal people, it comes at a high price. For every story about a healing, there are stories of terrible curses. Most people don’t want to risk it.”
“What kind of curses?” I asked out of curiosity.
“Death. For everyone that is healed, someone else dies. The most common stories are about parents saving one of their young children, only for the curse to take its payment in the form of the lives of their other kids.”
“Damn,” I muttered. “So, you have to choose to save one child or all of them. I can understand why no one comes down here if that’s the cost.”
Tristan nodded in agreement as we continued along.
After a few more minutes of walking, we finally came to a wide opening. A faint bluish hue seemed to glow from the inside of the cave, and I watched as the light flickered around the walls.
“We’re here,” Tristan told me as he walked into the chamber. “Welcome to the crystal caverns.”
I followed him inside, and my jaw gaped open.
“Woah,” I breathed. I’d seen many awesome sights since coming to Inati, and this was yet another spectacular one.
Every inch of the cave was full of massive crystals, and they seemed to reflect off the small amount of sunlight that squeezed its way through the cracks along the ceiling. There was a large pool of water, and it was surrounded by blue and green crystals that grew from the earth into giant pillars probably the size of my human body. Water dripped from the ceiling, landed into the pool, and created large ripples over the surface, and the reflections of the glowing crystals became fractured and distorted.
“That’s the healing pool,” Tristan explained. “It is where you place the sick or injured person and allow them to heal.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said as I looked around. “I can see why rumors would start around these kinds of places.”
“It is indeed lovely,” Tristan agreed, but then his brow furrowed. “It’s strange, I haven’t seen this cavern in centuries, but it seems like it hasn’t changed at all. It’s a relief to know no one else has come down here since.”
“Do you think any of the stories are true?” I asked him. “I mean, do you really think this place could be magic?”
“Perhaps,” Tristan admitted with a shrug. “In our world, I suppose anything is possible.”
Like a human being transformed into a dragon when he put on a dragon mask back on Earth.
“I think you’re right,” I said with a smile. “Anything is possible, but maybe this is something we should test at another time. The last thing Hatra needs now is a curse.”
Tristan nodded and led us along the wall around the crystals and away from the pool.
“We need to stay along the left path here,” Tristan directed and led us down another trail.
The glow of the crystals faded away behind us as we continued to walk, and the rest of our journey was slow as we made our way through the mountains. Eventually, we began to descend downwards, and the paths we took started to wrap around at strange angles to confuse anyone who didn’t know the way. Tunnels split into several directions, and I was reminded again how lucky I was to have a photographic memory, or else I would never be able to remember any of this.
When we finally reached the end of the route, we exited on the opposite side of the mountain through a narrow path that I had to squeeze through. There was another dense forest in front of us, similar to the forest between these mountains and Hatra, but it felt different.
“This land once belonged to a great city, but like Hatra, it was destroyed by demon attacks and then overrun by the miasma,” Tristan explained as he gestured to the land before us. “The city fell to ruin and was unable to ever recover. By the time Ruslan was born, it was nothing more than a ghost town. All of its people had moved on to survive.”
“I can’t believe how many people the miasma has hurt,” I whispered while I looked out into the forest.
I knew Hatra wasn’t the only city to be tormented by the demonic smoke, but it was one thing to hear about and another to see it in action.
“It was a dark time for all of Rahma,” Tristan muttered, and a shadow of sadness crossed over
his face as he frowned. “Many people were lost.”
“Thanks for your help, Tristan,” I said to the ghostly figure of my grandfather. “It would have taken us weeks to find a way out of there without you.”
“Of course,” he replied with a smile, and his darkened mood vanished. “I will always be willing to help you and Hatra as best I can. You need only ask. Will you need assistance getting home?”
“No, I’ve got that handled. You can rest now.”
With a small nod, he vanished into the air, and I stowed my sword back into my storage space. Then I shifted back into my dragon form and flew into the sky.
After a few minutes of searching for the best view, I perched along the top of the mountain and glanced around the forest. I couldn’t see anything that would even resemble a city within the dense green trees, but this place could be a stop along our campaign when Alyona and I left. We could at least inspect the city for more resources we could take for Hatra. Maybe even in a few years, we could help to restore that city as well.
I suddenly felt a rush of anger toward the demons that destroyed this city, and I knew I would kill every last demon that plagued this world. They had haunted the people of Rahma long enough, and I was sick of it.
I would continue to grow stronger and one day soon, I would seal the Breach, slay every last demon, and free all of the innocent people from this darkness.
And all this land before me would be mine to rule.
Chapter 12
Once I was done in the mountains, I flew back to Hatra slowly and enjoyed the solitude I very rarely got to have since I was the lord of a growing city. I leisurely passed over the Asuran village and watched the workers as they walked toward the mines, with their gear wrapped in rope and slung over their shoulders. The dryad sisters had reopened the mines a few days prior, and we had guards on duty to ensure everyone’s safety while we continued to mine for materials.
While I flew, my thoughts were filled with the different ideas I had for the Lunar Palace. I knew I wanted Alyona, Laika, Ravi and even Valerra to have their own rooms that could incorporate each of their unique personalities into it. So far, I’d planned out Alyona’s and Laika’s rooms, but I still needed ideas for Ravi and Valerra. The first thing I was going to do once I returned to the city was find Raisa and Azra, so we could finish the designs for the palace and begin building.
