by C. K. Rieke
“I’m here to show you something.”
“What she? Who told you my name,” Lilaci demanded in a stern voice. “Don’t play games with me. Tell me who you are and who sent you.”
The figure’s expression didn’t change. He gave the same stoic demeanor. “Very well. My name is Roren. I’ve been waiting for you to come. I’ve waited a long time. It’s good to see that you’re alive, but then again she said you would be.”
Lilaci stepped toward the man, with her sword out between them. She was growing impatient and didn’t want to ask again.
“Kera,” he said. “She told me you would come. Now please, follow me. I must show you this.”
K— Kera told him? And he’s been down her how long? I can’t trust him, but what other choice do I have? He does know her name, and maybe he has food and water. I’ll go with him. Moments ago, I thought I was dead, and now here I am, I have another chance to save her.
“Very well, Roren,” she said skeptically. “I’ll follow you. But I expect more answers.”
“Yes, I’ll explain all,” he said, turning to walk back down the way he came. “But I’ve been waiting a long time, and I want you to see what I’ve found.”
“What is it? Just tell me now.”
The man turned, his eyes glowing bright, dancing with the reflection of hot flames. “All due respect. No. You need to see this for yourself first.”
Chapter Forty-Six
The air was cool, and crisp. The murkiness had faded as the left the worms mating den. For the moment, Lilaci had forgotten that she was still in the middle of the sands, over a hundred miles from any sort of civilization. She followed the man who identified himself as Roren. Her mind was swimming with questions for the stranger— but truth be told— she hadn’t the energy to ask, and the be denied answers from him again. Her eyes even grew weary at the dancing light of the torch on the walls before them, it was hypnotic.
She was eager to see what lay ahead, hoping that it wasn’t a trap. But that seemed too intricate of a trap that Fewn would lay— and how would she have gotten past the worms? It all seemed too mysterious. But Kera, he knew her name. Whatever lay ahead, and whether Roren turns out to be friend or foe— or just crazy— I need to find a way out. I need to shake this pain and fatigue off. I can’t stay down here much longer.
She was surprised by the length of their journey down into the tunnels. The path began to grow steeper, and cooler. Indeed, they were heading further and further below ground. After the winding, and turning, and what felt like an hour of walking in silence, the tunnel began a subtle incline.
“Roren, is it close?”
No response, he only continued his steady pace.
“Is what you’re taking me to see close?” Lilaci asked again, this time more impatient.
“Yes.”
She continued following, and the incline continued.
Step by step, inch by inch, Lilaci pushed past her pain. Her feet were burning, and the insides of her boots were wet with blood and mucus. On the walk she’d taken the time to take her red sash, now filthy with thick, clotted blood and membrane, she slipped her left arm into it, and put the tied part of the sash across her shoulder, forming a makeshift sling. Her broken ribs shot pain throughout her body every time she breathed, so she tried to make short, small breaths. She could feel her hair had come undone from normally being pulled back, and the slime from the worms had made its way into her hair. It stuck to her face and neck, drying slowly in the dark.
They continued for what felt like another hour, although she thought it was realistically more like half that. The cave began to veer to the right, and she could feel the air was warming. Are we close to the surface? Has it been that long of a journey with him under the sands? Still my curiosity outweighs my caution. He seems not to be concerned for me, especially following behind him. He hasn’t once turned to check on me, and I’m still armed. What if Kera really sent him to wait for me? And how long had he been waiting? So many questions, and I’ll be sure to ask once we arrive at out—
“We’re here,” he said suddenly.
Roren stopped before her and turned to face Lilaci behind him.
“After you,” he said, extending his left arm to motion for Lilaci to enter the next turn first.
She thought about insisting that he go first. All of her training told her not to turn her back to an enemy, but again, there were doubts that he was an enemy— although she knew nothing of the man. She nodded, and stepped forward, but stopped just before the man, looking him squarely into the eyes, only inches from his face.
“If this is a trick,” she said. “You’ll not live long enough to enjoy any second of it.”
Roren was as stoic as she’d seen before. “If it was a trick, why would I have waited as long as I have? Alone. In the dark. Please, after you.”
She looked into his eyes. They were a dark blue like the water from a deep sacred source. His eyes seemed to be inspecting hers as well. Lilaci broke their stare and turned, walking down the corridor, with the light of his torch behind her. She walked, this part of the tunnel was flat. After walking thirty paces she began to see a shimmer of light up ahead. Again, her first thought was that of an ambush. She thought of the Reevins, and how far they’d go to catch and kill her. She thought of the lengths Veranor would go to re-capture her and punish her for what she’d done. Let alone what the gods themselves would do to her.
The shimmer of light appeared to be a single source, flickering in the center of the tunnel up ahead, it was reflecting off something rock-like, and lit the walls of the cavern. As she got closer, she saw what appeared to be a round object in the center of the cave, and as she got even further, she had to squint her eyes at the brightness of the tunnel. She looked back at Roren who held him same gaze. He seemed to be inspecting her reaction.
Once she was a mere twenty paces from the area in the cave, she stopped. Before her was an oblong, round object standing up waist high, and it was engulfed in a slow-burning light golden fire, the same hue as the light of the sun. The walls of the cave were dripping with it. To the right seemed to be a sort of pool waist-high as well, it shimmered in the warming light. The last thing she saw was perhaps the most perplexing of them all. Beneath the oblong object glowing with rippling flames was a mound of gold. There were golden coins, reflecting the light of the flame. There were amulets, and jewels of all shades and shapes. There were vases, rings, and even a dagger gilded with diamonds at its hilt.
Roren had walked up to her side, although she didn’t notice him there at first.
“What is this place?” Lilaci asked in a soft, perplexed voice.
“You don’t know?”
“I’ve heard tales. But it can’t really be one?” she asked.
He didn’t reply.
“Is it— a dragon egg?”
“She told me to wait for you here,” he said. “And now you’ve come.”
Lilaci walked over to it, looking back at Roren for approval to approach it.
“The flames are quite cool,” he said. “You can touch it.”
She took up her right palm and gently hovered it over the egg, feeling no more warmth than one of the Iox’s hides produced. She laid her hand on the egg cautiously, feeling the ridges in its shell. Sharp, hard spike-like scales encircled it. The flames danced around her arm harmlessly.
“Is it—” Lilaci asked. “Dead?”
“Listen—” he responded. “Feel for it.”
She placed her palm flush against the hard-scaled egg. She closed her eyes and listened in the silent cave. First, she only heard the soft flickering of the fire, and the gentle sloshing of the water in the pool. Then she heard it, thick and strong like the releasing of a taut bowstring. Listening further, she had to wait another full minute, but then she heard it again. With her eyes closed still, she moved her palm around the egg, and she felt a smile come across her face.
“A heartbeat,” she whispered. She then turned back to Roren.
“It’s alive. There’s a dragon alive in this egg.”
“Yes,” he said.
She then stood up, “What are we to do with it?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I was hoping you’d tell me.”
“I think we have a lot to discuss, Roren.”
“I believe we do indeed,” he said. “But first, please help yourself.” He motioned over to the pool of fresh water to the side. “You look like you could use it.”
Lilaci went over and dipped her hand into it. She held it up to her nose, sniffing it cautiously, searching for toxins or poisons, smelling neither. She sipped a small part of it, and she felt a warming sensation course down her throat, and down into her belly. She then gulped down the rest of the liquid and went back for more.
“I feel great,” she said to Roren. “My pain— it’s subsiding. What is this?”
“I don’t know. But that’s all I’ve had for a year’s time.”
“Have you had food?” she asked. He shook his head. “You’ve had no food for a year? You’ve only been drinking this?” He nodded. “Is this a magical fountain? What is this place? Was it made by the gods?”
“Best I can tell, Lilaci, is that these tunnels were created by the worms ages ago. It's an ancient breeding ground. They produce offspring in the cool depths underground, the big ones keep producing, they never leave. The egg, though, I have no idea how it got here or how long it’s been here. But Kera told me just where to go, and just where to wait.”
“Kera,” Lilaci said. “How— how did she tell you to get in here.”
“There’s another way in—” he said, “and another way out.”
“How did she know about this?” she asked. “She never said anything about his place, or anything about dragon eggs. Who laid this here? How long has it been sitting here underground? How did you know Kera?”
“We’ll have time to discuss these things,” he said. “There’s one thing you should know about Kera . . .”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“She . . . Has spells.”
“Spells?”
“Yes, like . . . Moments—” he said. “She seems to have moments where she becomes someone else. Like another spirit enters her body and mind. She’s clear and articulate like a wise adult. She says things she doesn’t remember later, but that’s when she’s it. That’s the Dragon’s Breath. I don’t know if you’ve heard it, but if you do— you listen. It’s like nothing else you’ll ever witness in your life. That’s how we found her, that’s how we went into hiding to protect her.” I feel as if I’ve seen a glimmer of that side of her. She does seem more like a wise adult than a young child at times.
“You’re—” she started. “You're of the Order of Drakon.” He nodded.
“In one of her— moments— she said that I needed to travel down here, and wait for a woman, a woman that would look like the enemy, but would come to protect her. That she— you— would protect her better than any of us could, and that that woman’s name would be Lilaci.”
Lilaci sighed. “She was wrong about that.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, eager for an answer.
“She’s gone, I’ve lost her.”
“What do you mean she’s gone?” he stammered, his normally stoic appearance faded to vivid concern.
“They’ve taken her from me.”
“Who? The Scaethers? How did this happen?”
“She’s on her way to the gods as we speak.” Damnit Fewn, I’m going to repay you tenfold for this, for the anguish you’ve caused us.
Roren’s face grew grim and serious. The thoughts seemed to be pouring into his mind, and his eyes darted around the room. “Come.”
He went over and grabbed his sword, a scimitar of good length in a scabbard of white ivory and black leather. He gathered a pack that had already been prepared. He threw an empty watersack over to her, which she caught. He stood quickly and began to walk forward down the cave. Lilaci went over and filled the watersack to the brim.
“Come on girl,” he said, walking at a fast pace down the tunnel. “We’ve got to go after her, while there’s still time.” His voice left a slight echo as he spoke louder and stronger than she’d heard him before.
Lilaci looked down at the egg one last time, laying her hand on it, and she felt another strong heartbeat. “This is your destiny, Kera. It was true. The whole thing. The prophecy, the god’s fears, it was all true.” She turned, and just before she was about to take off, she knelt and inspected the gold on the rocks below the egg. She shifted through it slightly, and one piece caught her eye in particular. She held it up to the light of the fire and peered at it. It was a thin golden coin, with the body of a dragon in flight on one side, and an ancient inscription on the other. She pocketed the coin and left back down the tunnel behind Roren who had disappeared into the darkness.
As she was behind him quite a ways, she began to jog, and then run. My pain— my pain is gone! Kera, I’m coming for you. ‘We’re’ coming for you!
Chapter Forty-Seven
Kera. That’s all Lilaci could think about. She also thought the same worries were going through Roren’s mind. He was fast, as he sprinted up the long tunnel away from the nest of dead, rotting worms. Lilaci was able to continue up at the same pace behind him, the light of his torch shining on the rocks along the way. They didn’t speak, they only ran up the long tunnel for hours.
On this side of the tunnels there were many splits and chambers with multiple offshoots, but Roren never hesitated about which to take, he only continued at a fast pace, and always upwards. Eventually the air began to warm, and it felt drier. Lilaci felt as though they were getting closer, and she then fully believed that he knew the way out of those dreary caves.
“We’re almost there,” he called from in front. Those were the first words he’d uttered since they left the dragon egg. She didn’t reply.
Then, after another twenty minutes of running, it appeared— the soft, warm glow of the sun. She’d never yearned for the sands so much in her life. At least once they were back in the desert, she would have a sense of direction, and she’d regain her power. She wouldn’t be at the mercy of dark rock anymore. This surely won’t be the end of these tunnels though. One day we’ll return, with Kera, and she’ll somehow awaken that baby dragon, and that beast will one day wreak havoc upon the crowns and heads of the gods.
As the light of the sun streaking in from the mouth of the exit of the tunnel grew brighter, a strange sight began to form outside of the cave, and Lilaci’s run turned to a cautious walk.
“Wait—” she called out to Roren, who hesitated to slow his run, but did so and turned back to look at her. “Where does this exit out to? This isn’t— one of the Great Oasi? Right? I mean— we’re so far away from them.”
“No, not one of the Three.” He turned back and began his walk to the exit of the cave. “Come and see.”
She continued wearily after him. The sun now burning her retinas, and she had to pull her hood back over her brow to block the bright sunlight. As she stepped out of the darkness of the cave after him, and after her eyes had adjusted to the sun, just overhead. She reached out to touch one of them, to see if they were real. Flowers. There were thousands of lilacs, sunflowers, and red daffodils in a sweeping arc around them. She felt the soft velvet touch of the lilac between her fingers and leaned down to sniff its sweet scent.
Lilaci looked around to find not a single cactus, but vividly green shrubbery and trees with large, hanging leaves. At the center of the flowers was a large, clear pond of warm water. On the outsides of the circular garden, were the high walls of the sands.
“What is this place?” she asked in awe.
“I got to calling it the Hidden Garden,” he said. “Clever I know.”
“Does anyone know of this place?” she asked.
“Not sure, but not a single person made it down to the egg in my time down there.”
She looked up at the high sand wal
ls surrounding the area, a cool air hung in the gardens. “It’d be impossible to find this place on the sands, unless you accidentally walked into it.”
“This is where the baby worms leave the caves under the cover of night— their hungry and ferocious. I guessed this place was a trap. Anyone who tried to stay here probably would end up their first meal.”
“What a way to go, in your tent being eaten in chunks by those slimy things,” she said. “Shall we continue?”
“Hold on one second,” Roren said, putting his hand on the hilt of his sheathed scimitar.
Lilaci looked at him cautiously, she was ready to move to a defensive position the second he made any aggressive behavior. Yet, she stood straight up, and calmly. “Yes—?”
“Kera said you’d come, and she even told me your name,” he said with an inquisitive look. “But she didn’t tell me . . . You’d be one of them.”
It took Lilaci a moment to gather what he was referring to. It felt like so long ago that she killed Foro, and essentially quit the Scaethers, and bowed out of the favor of the gods. “I know I look like one of them, but I’m not . . . Anymore.”
“So, you were one of them?” he said. “You were one of the ones hunting her? You were one of those evil Scaethers? Your group killed innocent families. They’ve done it for hundreds of years. Thousands even.”
She could see he was tightening his grip on the leather hilt of the scimitar at his side, his fingers and knuckles twisting on it, leaving a slight hum in the air.
“Yes, I was one of them. That is until I finally met her. My whole world has changed, and now I’m surely one of the hunted.”
“Why should I trust you? How do I know this isn’t a trap for me to help you find her, then you kill me? Give me one reason why I shouldn’t cut you down here and now.”
“Firstly, you’d die trying.” He gave an angry eye at her. “Secondly, my family was taken from me just like hers was from her.” The spell of the mages shot into her mind again when she said that, and she nearly fell to her knee, gripping her head. “Kera is my only family now. If you want to help me find her, that’s great. If you don’t, that’s great too. Either way I’m going after her. I’m going to help her do whatever she needs to be safe, to be free.”