Dragon's Eye

by Robin Joy Wirth

  When Lance managed to get to his feet, he was overcome by a wave of nauseating dizziness and fell to the floor of the cave again. He would not have known he was unconscious again, but for the dream.

  “Jones?” came Laenos’ voice. “Lancelot Jones, you can’t just lay there like this. You’ve got to get up now, and see to the matter at hand. Your entire destiny lies ahead.”

  “My head will not let me do so, elf,” Lancelot muttered grumpily, barely able to move as he opened his eyes. A bright light moved toward him as quickly as a shooting star, and then he saw Laenos standing at his feet.

  “Is this real, or is it a dream?” he asked with great uncertainty. After all, the elf never glowed like this in the light of day.

  “It is both, in a way,” he explained with an enigmatic smile. “Lie still now, and I will try to heal you, Jones. At least enough to get you up and moving again. You cannot stay as you are.”

  “Why do you keep helping me anyway, Laenos? It’s not as though you and I are friends, is it?” Lancelot wanted to know.

  His eyes were crossed, so that Laenos appeared to be two elves instead of one. The persistent elf leaned down and ran his glowing hands over Lancelot’s aching head. As he worked diligently at his task, he tried to explain.

  “Long have I suffered at the thought that you think I played a part in your loss, even though your wife’s choice to leave had little to do with me,” he admitted. “I always knew that you would need my help someday. It is the way of things, at least in the world of the elves. All things are intertwined, and I owe you a debt for what I gained.”

  “A life for a wife, perhaps?” Lancelot scoffed, smirking at his choice of words.

  “At least you are finally able to laugh again, now that your little hellcat has come into your life,” he said as he wiped blood from Lancelot’s brow. “In a way, perhaps it is a wife for a wife?”

  “Hellcat, is it?” Lance chuckled. “I wonder at your choice of words.”

  Laenos chuckled, too. “That is no great secret. You know that women can be such fiery creatures when their convictions are strong. And your Felicity seems like she has strong convictions about a great many things. Be well, my friend, for I do not believe I will see you again.”

  “Thank you, Laenos,” Lancelot replied. “I really mean that. If not for you, I could never be as happy as this.”

  “Then go rescue your love, Jones,” he said, and turned to walk away.

  When the elf disappeared from view, Lancelot sat up and rubbed at his head. Even the blood was gone now, and he was able to get to his feet with remarkable ease.

  “Damned elf,” he grumbled as he looked around. “Right when the blighter would have been useful as a lamp, he says he’ll not see me again. Well, at least if he’s talking about Felicity in such a way, she can’t have been eaten yet in any case.”

  When Lancelot turned to seek a path, he found that now a faint trail of light weaved in a meandering path in the direction he needed to go. Chuckling because he knew Laenos must have heard him, he began to follow it without another word.

  It felt as though many hours passed before he approached a cavern with dimly lit torches to either side of the entrance. Bones had littered the cave all along the way, but here a veritable pile of them lay just to the side of the path.

  Wondering at this, Lance took a deep breath and put his wand away. Torches now lit the pathway, spaced evenly along the wall of the cave. To the other side of the narrow path was a wide chasm, and far across the great divide, the other wall appeared to have torches as well.

  Wherever it might lead, Lancelot set his feet upon the path and began to walk. Somewhere in the background he could hear the sounds of many guttural voices as they clicked and growled, their sounds not unlike those he’d once heard in a nest full of baby snakes.

  Glancing again at the bones that lined the sides of the cave, he took a heavy, shuddering breath. Whatever he was about to find, there was definitely more than one of them to face. Lips in a grim line, Lance’s steps became more cautious and he moved onward into the light.

  THIRTY

  Wherever torches lined the wall over the next half hour or so, Lance followed them in that direction rather than taking any of the unlit side paths. He no longer believed with complete certainty that Felicity would remain unharmed after such a long time, but his heart refused to let go of the hope Laenos had given him.

  All he could think about was Felicity’s beautiful doe eyes, and how her smile usually tended to quirk off to one side. He thought of her sweet laugh, and the throaty way she’d moaned as he’d dined upon her nipples. Gods, how he longed to do that again, and more!

  The further he walked, the more convinced he became that a larger number of dragons had to be present. The bones of far too many animals lined the walls of the caves, and the sounds of hisses and guttural noises echoed far too frequently off the walls.

  He was close to tears when he finally spotted a tall mound of rocks up ahead. The serpent-like sounds that had been getting steadily louder seemed to be coming from within, but it was too far above his head to simply look inside.

  Lancelot had to think about what he should do next. He knew that the fastest way to reach the top would be to simply use his wand, but would it not be foolhardy to suddenly appear above a nest full of dragons who may very well want you for their dinner?

  Thinking better of that idea, he charmed a rope to go to the top, and used it to climb up instead, carefully peeking over the ledge. The sight that met his eyes was in no way comforting, for at least a dozen dragons slept there.

  Then, peeping from beneath the wings of one of them, he saw Felicity’s legs. He grabbed a small stone off the edge of the nest’s wall and expertly threw, and it nicked her in the foot.

  Felicity startled awake and sat up abruptly, wondering what had hit her foot. She spotted wand-light briefly as Lance flashed it to get her attention. He held a finger to his lips as he beckoned her over.

  Silently, Felicity crept around the sea of dragons that barred the way, and finally reached the wall, looking up at Lance with joy bubbling throughout her entire being. His own face mirrored the sentiment.

  Lancelot tossed down a rope, and Felicity used it to climb to the top. As soon as they were out of the dragons’ possible view, he used his wand to set them on the ground again, then shrank the ropes back down and returned them to his pack.

  “You’re alive!” she whispered then, clinging to him so tightly he almost couldn’t draw in a breath. Smiling at this, Lance kissed the top of her head.

  Lance buried his face into her hair as he whispered, “I was so afraid they might have eaten you by now, love, but we have no time for this. We must get well away from here first. Come on—quietly.”

  Felicity nodded her agreement, but she clung to his hand all the more as they started to walk. Lancelot gave her hand a squeeze to let her know how glad he was that it was there.

  As the pair of them continued on past the nest, they noticed many others clustered together throughout the huge cavern. Lance counted himself quite lucky that Felicity had been taken to the first, rather than the fiftieth.

  “There must be at least a thousand dragons here,” Felicity pointed out. “I’m worried, Lance. I don’t think these creatures are true offspring. There was something in my lore book I’ve got to check on to see if I’m right.”

  “Felicity Lake, I could not possibly have heard you correctly. You want to read your book right now?” he asked incredulously.

  “It’s important, Lance,” she insisted as she took the book he’d pulled out of his pack from his hands and rifled through it as he held his wand up for her to see. She found the page that she needed, and read it out loud.

  “The legend says that if the person who tried to break the curse was not worthy, he himself would be turned to a dragon and made to serve Amaranth for all time,” she said. “All of these dragons here must have been humans who tried and failed, Lance. And if we don’t figure
out what we’re supposed to do, we may very well be turned to dragons next.”

  “This place just keeps getting better and better,” Lance commented. “Come on, sweetheart, we’ve got to find a way out of this massive nesting ground before we can rest. The risk of being discovered is far too great.”

  Felicity and Lance clung to each other’s arms as they continued to walk. When a slight breeze kicked up, the two glanced at each other and wordlessly turned to follow the direction from whence it came.

  Soon they broke free of the cavern full of nests and found themselves on a ledge overlooking a deep abyss. It seemed to stretch on for an infinite distance ahead of them, and many torches lined the walls to light the gloom all along the way.

  “I’m beginning to think this place is bewitched somehow,” Lance mentioned after they had been walking for some time. “Perhaps it’s not nearly as far as it would seem. Perhaps we are just meant to think it is.”

  “Do you think it’s some kind of an illusion?” Felicity inquired. “Perhaps the whole thing is some sort of a test. Like a maze or a puzzle of sorts.”

  “I had thought the same thing concerning your recent abduction, my dear,” he mentioned as he draped an arm about her waist. Felicity blushed for a moment, and then slipped an arm around him as well.

  “What do you mean?” she inquired as she rubbed his arm with the side of her face, and inhaled softly to catch his scent.

  “Well, if your theory about all these dragons rings true, then Amaranth has had plenty of time to devise a plan on how to deal with the contenders,” he pointed out. “That being said, it would make perfect sense for her to send out a dragon to snatch you. She could then determine how brave you are, or my heroism, for that matter, as I was trying to come after you.”

  “Yes, but what has that to do with this current fix?” Felicity wanted to know. “There are no dragons chasing us now.”

  “This may be some test of our intelligence,” he pointed out. “Maybe there is some sort of hidden passage, or perhaps the way in is simply to go back to the beginning. Who knows?”

  “But why would the way in be back at the beginning?” Felicity asked. “That would be somewhat pointless when there’s an entire mountain to traverse, and more than one level could easily come into play. Perhaps it’s much more likely that the way in is either up or down. We’re dealing with a race of flying creatures, remember?”

  “Ah, yes, you’re right. So then perhaps we must stop thinking with a non-flying mentality,” Lance agreed, giving her a bit of a squeeze. “An excellent point, my girl.”

  “Maybe we should use our wands to fly up or down and examine the walls,” Felicity said. “You could go up while I go down, or the other way around.”

  “No more splitting up, love,” said Lance firmly. “That’s how we got into this fix to begin with. We will begin by going up, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll go down. We can zigzag our way along till we come across something.”

  “Sounds like a lot of work, but it makes the most sense,” Felicity agreed. Soon the two put the plan into action, meticulously persisting until they found what they sought.

  “A secret door,” Felicity said, not at all surprised. “And at the bottom, as I had expected.”

  “Yes,” Lancelot agreed. “But what does it mean?”

  “It means that we should take a rest and have something to eat,” she said.

  “I think we ought to get some rest, too,” Lance interjected. “There’s no telling how many hours have passed, but I suspect at least one day has gone by since we entered the caves. And, it will be safer to rest out here. We’ve no idea what we’ll find inside.”

  “Agreed,” said Felicity with a nod, and the two found a comfortable spot to lie down on the ground. Lancelot pulled a blanket out of his pack, making Felicity chuckle.

  “Why did you pack that along?” she inquired with a smile.

  “Just in case,” he answered with a wicked smile. “Now come here, and I’ll show you in case of what.”

  Giggling, Felicity went willingly into his arms. They didn’t manage to search his pack for food for quite a while.

  THIRTY-ONE

  “Felicity, my sweet, if we don’t stop doing this, I’ll be sorely tempted to initiate you into the ranks of womanhood right here on this blanket,” Lance whispered against the hardened flesh of her exposed nipple. “Hardly a suitable place for that sort of thing, in my opinion.”

  Felicity took in a shaky breath and whispered, “I’d be half tempted to let you.”

  “Hush, my dear, do not tempt me further,” he said as he pulled her clothing back into its proper place and slid his hands up into her hair instead.

  “I need to read a bit more, anyway,” she answered circumspectly. “Maybe I can learn something more about this place.”

  “All right, sweetheart,” he agreed as he let her go and sat up. “You can read a bit while I unshrink us something to eat. Lucky I thought to put some food and water into this sack of goodies as well.”

  “Yes, it was,” Felicity agreed as she sat up, and she kissed him between his shoulder blades before he moved away. His chuckle vibrated against her mouth, and then he turned back to face her again.

  “Here is your book, my dear,” he said, handing it to her. Felicity sat reading it while he pulled out some miniaturized sandwiches and made them big again. He turned back around and handed one to her, and she smiled gratefully.

  “I know it’s not much, but it should fill your belly at any rate,” he said. “I’m much more concerned about the water supply, truth be told. All we have is this one canteen, and I’ve been drinking from it the entire time I was looking for you. I’m afraid there’s not much left, and I haven’t brought any cups, either. But since we’ve been swapping spit lately anyway, I hardly think that matters.”

  Felicity raised a quelling brow at him as he took a swig of water, and Lance almost sputtered the drink back out again on the laugh that welled up in his throat.

  “Here now, you don’t have to put extras in there while you’re at it!” she chastised him good-naturedly as she took the canteen away.

  Lance nearly choked as he swallowed the gulp of water that was still in his mouth, and then he laughed even harder. With an impish twinkle in her eyes, Felicity leaned forward and gave him a swat for good measure.

  “Felicity, I swear I’m going to invest in a new pot of ink this very moment,” he informed her with a look that made her want to return to the blanket for the aforementioned deflowering.

  “Better get some new quills, and a few extra scrolls, too, if you intend to keep track of me,” she answered him with a smirk.

  “Oh, really?” he asked as he sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, nibbling playfully at the sensitive spot he’d discovered on the side of her neck.

  Felicity gasped at the sensation and swatted at his questing hands. “Hey, do I look like lunch to you?”

  “No, certainly not,” he told her. “You look much more like the main course. And I’ve definitely got that meal wrote in for a better time and place than this one, you can be sure.”

  “Do you really?” she inquired sweetly. “I rather thought that dining upon one another had to be something agreed upon by both parties.”

  “Mm, I’m fairly certain it will be,” he told her as he kissed the side of her mouth. “Now eat your lunch, my sweet. We’ve got a lot more adventuring to do as yet, and we’ve got to keep our heads in the game.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” she agreed with a salute. Lance shook his head, chuckling again as he moved to a less tempting distance from the delectable girl, opting to nibble on his food instead.

  “Come on, Felicity, let’s get some rest,” he said when they’d both finished their food, and he snatched the book out of her hands and used it for a pillow.

  “Hey, don’t smash the thing!” protested Felicity as she reclaimed it. She shrank the book and set it back inside his bag, then settled down contentedly in his arms
, making a pillow of him instead.

  “Gods, you’re beautiful,” said Lancelot as he threaded his fingers through her hair again. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.”

  “Don’t think about it, Lance,” she answered sleepily. “You’re stuck with me for the next six years, at least.”

  “Mm hm,” he agreed contentedly. “A most promising thought, that.”

  “Go to sleep,” said Felicity with a yawn, and then they did.

  )0(

  Several hours later, Felicity awakened to the sound of Lancelot’s soft snoring, and it was like music to her ears. If she had to be out adventuring, she couldn’t choose a better partner to be doing it with, she thought with a contented sigh.

  Lancelot stirred and opened his eyes, and Felicity blushed that he had caught her watching him. He smiled at her and rolled away with a slight grimace. Wordlessly they each found a different place to relieve themselves before sharing the last of the water as they prepared to go.

  “When we discover the source of that incessant dripping noise, we’re going to need to fill this canteen up again,” Lancelot commented as he held it upside down to show her. Then he shrank it and threw it into his pack again. “We won’t last very long without water, I’m afraid, even if we did have enough food. I wish there was some sort of a spell to refill one’s canteen.”

  “Well, if you’re going to refill the thing, you’d best make sure any water we find down here is drinkable first,” Felicity pointed out. “So many dragons around might make the water a bit contaminated, if you know what I mean.”

  “What a lovely thought,” he answered with a grimace as they approached the hidden door they’d discovered earlier. “Keep your wand ready for any surprises, love. Just to be on the safe side.”