They arrived at the caves a while later.

 

Drake looked at the entrance to the cave system. “How deep does it go?”

 

“Pretty far.” Severo said with a smirk, obviously giving the overly general answer on purpose.

He paused for a moment. Severo knew most of the caves interconnected, but he was given a choice of five entrances, which he could see. In the end, he picked the center one and proceeded inside.

It was one of the larger openings. He smelt some strange smells as he went inside, but none strong enough to distinguish, like a lot of creatures that were long gone now.

 

Drake followed, eagerly. He put his right hand out, almost as if he were calling one of his raptors, and ignited a small flame to light the way as they traveled further and further into the darkness of the cavern.

 

The caves were a bit warmer than outside, and a lot less drafty. Still, they whistled loudly in the wind, and their footsteps echoed. It made it hard for Severo to use his hearing to find anything in the cave. The darkness didn't help either; he was very glad for the light Drake’s fire provided. The smells were confusing...

“Ahh! This is a challenge.” Severo declared happily in a loud whisper, as he stepped over what looked like a Mu's skull.

 

Drake grinned and the fire grew slightly as his energy built. “Something not normally found in these regions could easily live here, the climate change is amazing.”

Drake felt better in the darkness; out of the chilling cold... he felt energized, almost hyper.

 

Severo noticed Drake's flame get brighter. If it got much brighter, he would tell him to lower it. It was already high enough to startle something, but then again, so were their footsteps. Sneaking around in the cave was really hard, if not impossible.

What also concerned him was how Drake's eyes almost seemed to glow. It might have just been a trick of the light, or something to do with his power.

Soon, the cave split into two directions. “Which way do you think, lad?” Severo asked.

 

Either way seemed fine to Severo. He had no real leads so far, but that didn’t matter; the inside of the cave was fascinating and fun just to explore. On the floor were traces of animals that had been there. Parts of nests, paw prints, scratch marks and bones.

 

Drake looked around, taking it all in. The sights, the smells, the... feeling! The only light was his flame, and somehow that was an energizing thought; knowing he could cast the world into darkness without a thought or a care.
“Hmm... That way,” he motioned toward one of the tunnels on the far left.

 

Severo nodded, and started down that way. He noticed after only a few meters that this tunnel was quieter. Sure, he could still hear their footsteps, and the occasional crunch of something beneath their feet as loud as ever, but the wind didn’t whistle down here as much. Now it felt like they had really left the outside world behind.

A quick glance over to the young prince gave Severo the impression that he was enjoying the feeling too.

 

Drake wasn't sure why he had chosen this path... it just felt right. His fire dimmed as he forgot why he'd created it. He could see fine, the fire was hardly needed, though it did provide additional warmth that was welcoming.
Drake’s steps grew quieter as well. He found it was a simple task of watching and knowing where and when to put his foot down and take a step.
He felt like something was coming up, something he should get ready for, but he didn't know what.

 

Severo found that Drake really wasn't exaggerating when he mentioned that he could see in the dark. Even he was having trouble seeing now. He couldn't understand how Drake could see so well. He was also impressed at how quiet Drake had become.

He did not have long to ponder on it though; he caught a scent. It was faint, as if it was a long way down the tunnel, but, it was unmistakable...

A Dragon!

He started to follow the scent; he was so absorbed in it that he almost walked into a wall when the tunnel came to an abrupt end.

But how could the scent be coming from here? He asked himself, and then he saw it. About knee-height in the wall, there was an opening. It was small, about just enough for Severo to crawl into. Kneeling down, he peered inside. It was dark, and he couldn't see the end, but there was a very slight draft, and the Dragon's scent was on it.

“We might be able to crawl through...” he whispered to Drake. If the little tunnel stayed this wide the whole way, Drake would be fine. Severo, on the other hand, would have to be very careful not to get stuck.

 

Drake knelt down and peered down the opening. He looked for a while and then dropped the ball of fire in his hand so it hovered in the air before he started crawling.

 

Severo waited until Drake was far enough in before he too knelt down and started to crawl through the narrow tunnel. It wasn’t as pleasant as exploring the bigger tunnels. It was cramped, and a harsh reminder of how deep in the earth they were. Claustrophobia was made of things like this, even Severo felt trapped. The roof of the tunnel was constantly just above his back, sometimes sharp points would threaten to tear at his coat. There was one or two points were he was afraid he had got stuck.

Drake’s body blocked out most of the light, so it was also very hard to see if there was an end in sight, but he expected Drake would tell him if there were. However, the scent of the Dragon was stronger, now, so this tunnel had to come out into a much larger one sooner or later. Or they were stalking Gaia’s smallest dragon to be able to fit through this tunnel…

 

Drake kept crawling until he got to an area where he could stand up. “It gets wider,” he called back as he walked forward.

 

Severo crawled the last few meters until he, too, was able to stand. Once he could, he stretched out. It felt good to be out of that hole. Now that he felt better, he looked around. They were in a larger tunnel, a steep one. There were Stalactites on the ceiling here and there, and they dripped occasionally with water. The floor was rather slippery, as thin trickles of water flowed downwards to an unknown destination in the darkness. The tunnel continued off into blackness both upwards, and downwards. However, the breeze, and the scent, seemed to be coming from below. Which was a little strange...

“We should head down.” He whispered to Drake, “But watch your step.”

 

Drake nodded and started walking. He was used to walking on slippery surfaces, but he was having a difficult time on this terrain.
He put his hand against the wall for support as he went along.

 

Severo tried his best to pick out drier parts of the floor. Higher rocks that weren't quite as damp, but the difference was only marginal, even the walls seemed slippery. If either of them slipped, they might be falling for a long way, so progress was slow.

“You doing okay there, lad?” Severo asked quietly after about ten to fifteen minutes of the slow descent.

 

Drake threw a wave if fire forward, burning up some of the water on the ground. “Not well... that might help...” he sighed, slipping again.

 

Severo was a bit unnerved by the difficulty they’d had so far getting to this dragon. It was dangerous, and part of him said that they should just head back before it got worse, or something happened, but the curiosity drove him onwards. He bet the same was true for the boy, though he did have to question himself on if it was wise allowing this to continue… he didn’t want to put the young prince in danger. He had to keep asking himself if he wasn’t just using Drake for his abilities as aid in this tunnel.

“Do you see anything coming up?” He whispered to Drake. The breeze was getting stronger, and the scent was close now.

 

“I see...” Drake focused harder, concentrating on trying to see further in the darkness. “Yes... there's a chamber up ahead.”

 

“Okay.” Severo said, at least glad that this struggle seemed nearly over... until they wanted to leave.

A couple of minutes later and they were on much more level ground. The tunnel had opened out into a chamber. Not just any chamber, a huge cavern. The ceiling was high above their heads, and covered in Stalactites that dripped water much like in the tunnel. Small waterfalls around the walls of the chamber, and the dripping from above made it sounds like it was raining, but it wasn’t that bad. If Severo had to guess, he bet that an airship could fit inside the chamber easily.

At one end of the chamber, light poured in. It wasn’t so much an entrance, more like a large crack in the side of the mountain. An airship would definitely not be able to fly in or out of the cavern, but a dragon, with its agile wings could.

A dragon is exactly what was at the center of the room. The biggest red dragon that Severo had ever seen was sleeping in a sort of nest. Around it were scattered bones of hundreds, and quite possibly thousands of dead monsters. It seemed like this dragon had been here for years.

Severo moved quietly as possible, and secluded himself behind a rather large stalagmite. The stalagmites were far outnumbered by the stalactites on the ceiling, but there was still a fair number of the pointed rock formations sticking out of the ground.

 

Drake let his fire go out as he watched the dragon, unable to look away; hardly able to move.
Something was bothering him...

I've seen a red dragon before. He thought, briefly.

His mind whispered things to him as he tried to push the thought away.

Stop. Think about it. Where have you seen a red dragon before? His answer was a blank void— a spot in his memory that should have been there, but simply wasn't.

Think about it. His mind whispered, ordering. Where? Where and why?

“It's amazing, isn't it?” Severo whispered into Drake's ear, mistaking the boy's look of confusion for one of awe.

 

Drake was startled from his thoughts and the voice. He looked at Severo a minute before looking back at the dragon. “I've seen one before... I had a red dragon toy.”
Yes, that had to be it. He had a plushy red dragon when he was younger— it was still somewhere in his room, he bet.

 

Severo nodded, again passing the odd words off as simple awe. Still, they had to decide what to do. “I can try to move closer and get a shot at it with the Ice arrow...” Severo whispered the suggestion.

Again, some of his better judgment told him that it would be a better idea to just walk away. To leave it alone, but he was a hunter, and this was prey he had not seen the likes of in many years. It seemed too good to pass up, even if it was dangerous.

 

Drake nodded slowly, only half listening. “Alright…”

 

Severo was a little worried about the boy for a moment. Was he scared? He wouldn't blame him; the regular Red Dragons in Mount Gulug were dangerous, and resistant to the boy's natural powers… it would be natural for him to instinctually be afraid. This one looked twice as dangerous and was an uncommon breed.

Still, the dragon was sleeping, its red and black body was wrapped in its brown and red feathered wings. Its black, kind of ugly, horned head was resting on its front legs. Both of which had three powerful and deadly looking black claws.

If it woke up they would have a problem, but Severo was confident that he could sneak up and fire a shot without the dragon even waking up. One shot, and it would all be over.

He readied his bow as he walked carefully, silently and reached over his shoulder for the ice arrow…

… and then his foot scraped the floor slightly…

It wasn’t enough to wake the dragon, but the echo was enough to send a slight vibration to a cracked stalactite just managing to hang on to the ceiling. Just enough to send it over the edge, and it fell.
In less than a second, it crashed into the floor loudly, smashing itself to pieces in between where Severo was standing, and where the dragon was sleeping. Severo dove for cover behind a rock near him as the dragon’s head shot up sharply.

 

Drake had watched the stalactite fall how one might watch a ship scrap across the dock. You cringe and dread and know that it will cause problems, but you're helpless to do anything about it.

As the dragon woke up Drake's gaze shot to it.

 

The dragon blinked; confused for a good couple of seconds, then it became aware of the two people in the room. Its first thought was to attack the closest one, Severo, but then it seemed to notice Drake and its eyes locked onto his for a moment.

The dragon didn’t see Drake as a boy. The red dragon saw the boy for what he truly was; part dragon. As far as it was concerned, part dragon or full dragon, it didn’t matter! Young, old…. This was another dragon in his territory. Another dragon challenging him. Another dragon that he would have to kill, because there was no way that he was going to give up his home! This attacker was an easy kill; young, practically a baby and most likely had wandered into the wrong area to play… but it didn’t matter, it would die like the rest had.

The red dragon climbed to its clawed feet and unwrapped itself from its huge feathered wings while turning to face Drake. Once standing, it let out a loud roar which shook the cave, causing a handful of other stalactites to fall and shatter loudly on the floor.

 

Drake had to dodge a few of the falling stalactites, but then his attention went right back to the dragon that glared at him.

It had done that on purpose, caused the stalactites to fall... it was angry at him for being in its territory. It was calling out a challenge.

Drake didn't know and didn't care how he knew this— something else took him over; some primal force inside him that screamed for a battle. He snarled and his teeth grew to fangs, his eyes glowing brighter and his energy soared. He glared back at the dragon, accepting the challenge and stating that he wasn't going to back down.

Drake snarled again, louder. You want a fight? I'll give you a fight.

 

The dragon took to the air; its powerful wings causing artificial gusts of wind to blow through the dark cavern with each wing beat. The dragon knew that Drake couldn’t fly, and this was as much an insult as it was a preparation for battle.

Drake growled at the insult, and pulled his Wings of Fate bow and an arrow from his quiver. He took fast aim and fired at the dragon's left wing.

 

It was too fast for the dragon to dodge, and it stuck into its wing dead center. It roared in rage and pain, but its ability of flight seemed to remain.

Severo tried to do the same; he reached back and took out the Ice arrow. This arrow had the same shaft as the others, Pale blue/white feathers as flights, and an arrowhead that looked like it had been cut from ice. It looked fragile, like an ice sculpture.

He made to fire his Ice Arrow at the dragon, but at the same time, the dragon cast Twister on Drake, which also hit Severo. This caused him to accidentally fire his bow too soon.

There was a flash, which actually felt cold, and in the blink of an eye, the arrow bounced off the far wall of the chamber. At the same time, every drop of moisture in the cavern seemed to turn to ice. All the droplets that were falling turned to hailstones in mid air; all the damp walls frosted over, the drips from the ceiling became icicles. And for a brief moment, the small waterfalls around the walls froze over too. But the water soon forced those to crack, and break. The arrow landed on the floor of the cavern, out of sight, but was undamaged.

This all happened in about a second.

 

Drake was blown back and snarled angrily at the chilling cold. He didn't see where the arrow landed and he didn't reach to fire one of his own for a while as he waited for Twister to end. He didn't feel as weakened by the ice as he usually did, he just felt... mad!

Drake's entire body erupted into flames as he jumped up toward the dragon. It was higher than he'd ever jumped before, and felt different. The fire around him seemed to fold and bend, mold itself into sails behind him and then harden... like wings.
It caused him be able to reach the dragon.

“Vrajã Flacãrã!” He shouted and a beam of blue and black fire flew from his hands and at the dragon.

 

The dragon seemed surprised by what happened, and screeched shrilly in pain. Some of its feathers were singed off, and it looked burned all over. However, it was strong against fire, and was able to quickly counter attack by circling the cave and then using a strong Aerial Slash on Drake. After it had completed the attack, it kept circling, making it harder for Drake to strike back. A thin trail of smoke trailed behind it where it still smouldered slightly from the prince’s flames.

If the dragon had been shocked by Drake’s attack, Severo had nearly fainted. He had seen the boy for the first time since the dragon had awakened. Drake looked different. That wasn’t just the flames, and the ‘fire wings’, there was something else… his body looked different. The boy was moving so fast it was hard to get a good look. It was obvious something was going on, and for the first time in a long, long time, the wolf man wasn’t sure what to do. Drake obviously had more power than Severo could have imagined… he’d only heard of great, experienced fighters being able to step on the air like that, to fight in the sky… very, very, very few were capable of it, it was something even Severo had never learned.

 

 

Drake growled, taking the hit hard. The fire behind him solidified into black and red leathery flesh, like the wings of the Grand Dragons outside his palace, but more vibrant in color.
He turned, trying to keeps the dragon's head in sight, but its movement and experience in flight was outdoing Drake.

Thus, he used another attack that would cause a ring of fire to form around him and then shoot out in all directions. “Dãfirei Drumul!”

 

Severo did his best to avoid the attack by diving behind the other side of the rock. It worked, for the most part. The air around him was made barely breathable by the stench of singed fur. He was lucky to have been able to move at all. The boy had wings now! Severo was sure of it!

The dragon seemed unconcerned by this attack. It tucked its wings closer and darted through the fire, managing to avoid a lot of damage. The dragon’s feathers again got a bit singed— if it kept taking damage to its wings, it would lose the ability to fly. Knowing this, the dragon went for his opponent’s power of flight. The dragon made some random turns, and then dove in fast, trying to tear at Drake’s right wing with sharp, long claws.

 

Drake threw himself backward, doing his best to avoid the monster's claws; he grabbed the dragon's left taloned hand and sent his own flame energy through the dragon, boiling its blood. He had realized by now that the fire wasn't doing much of anything, but having one's blood literally boil would cause enough pain, he hoped, for the dragon to be distracted.
As Drake did this, his own wings erupted into fire again and then vanished. Drake pulled himself forward and kicked off the dragons arm, jumping onto its back.

 

The dragon freefell for a bit, as it was too overcome with pain to move its wings. At about the same time, Severo chanced sticking his head up again. The boy’s wings were gone now, had he really seen them? He was starting to wonder if he really had. The idea of it made no sense... Now he watched as the dragon fell, only to pull up from the sharp stalagmites at the last millisecond.

As the pain died away, the dragon became aware of the boy on its back. Now, dragons hated to have people ride them. It was part of why they were so hard to capture and train. Why, despite the advantages, dragon training as mounts would never be feasible. Dragons would only let people they truly respected to ride on them; and that is if it was a ‘nice’ dragon. They were proud creatures, and never forgave things like this.

This one roared in unequaled anger and flew upward fast, toward the stalactites. It didn’t care if it injured itself, it wanted that boy off its back immediately. If Drake wasn’t killed by that, the dragon would then see that he died for this insult. Its determination had easily doubled.

Severo saw what was happening and fumbled for the Water arrow. It was the Red Dragon’s only other elemental weakness. The water arrow had pale green feather flights, and the arrowhead was like the Thunder arrow; it was like water, but contained by some invisible barrier. You could see bubbles inside it, and it seemed to glow slightly. It would look like ice, if it didn’t move. However… Severo would not be able to shoot it in time… he was trying to aim at the dragon, but it was moving so much that it made hitting it nearly impossible, even with his skill with the bow. He needed to wait for a better opportunity.

 

 

Drake held on tight and then jumped to the dragon's left wing as soon as he was stable enough. He grabbed the arrow he'd shot into the dragon and pulled on it with one hand, and raked out feathers from the dragon's wing with his other hand, now engulfed in flames, working as fast as he could, having seen where the dragon was now headed.

 

The boy knew nothing of a dragon’s determination; the creature thought angrily, and although it was in immense pain, it still turned to ram itself and the wing the boy was on against the wall of the cavern. Hopefully it would make the boy fall, but if not, at least stun him enough that the dragon could continue the last leg of the journey to the top of the cavern.

Drake looked down and noticed Severo trying to take aim. He swiftly sent his fire energy into the dragon again, hoping for the same result as last time to give Severo an opportunity to fire— but then the dragon turned, knocking Drake off the wing.

 

Severo wanted to run to try and catch the boy, but it was much too far, and he knew it. There was no chance that he would be able to make it.

The dragon again felt the waves of pain, but it wasn't as strong. He freefell for a bit, but was able to recover much faster. The dragon would have smiled if it was able to, but instead it gave a short roll, and then circled to see what would happen. He wasn't sure if the part-dragon prince would be able to save himself, but if he was, he was going to be ready for it.

 

Drake shouted in shock and fear as he fell, but his wings grew again and stopped his decent surprisingly fast. His wings were three times the size of his body; it was like opening a full sail. The sudden jerk back didn't hurt as much as one would expect and his wings flapped to further assure that the fall had ended.

Drake saw the dragon waiting and grabbed his bow and an arrow. He fired an arrow at the left wing once again.

 

The dragon had been watching the boy, and was not going to be caught off guard this time. It managed to dodge the arrow, but only just. It caught a single, useless feather on its way past, which started a slow and uneven descent towards the cavern floor, while its former owner dove in toward Drake, hoping to grab him with its claws, this time aware that the boy’s touch hurt.

Severo, meanwhile, wasn’t sure how to feel about the boy suddenly having wings again. He was glad Drake was still alive, but was troubled by the boy being able to grow wings at all. No human could do that… he knew Chaucer couldn’t and Marina was just a mage… Severo had known, deep down, that there was something different about this boy, but he had never expected something like this. The boy looked like he had not just any old wings, but dragon wings…

 

Drake pushed himself back, trying to stay away from the dragon. He wasn't sure what would happen if his wings were damaged, but he wasn't thinking about any of that; he was just focused on the attack. Fear was later; action was now!

Fire wasn't all he could do... “Cutremur!” Drake summoned.
Instantly, the ground started to shake, causing many of the stalactites to start to fall.

The dragon was far larger than Severo or Drake, so Drake was hoping it would be easier for them to dodge the falling shards than it would be for the dragon.
At the same time, Drake threw a fireball at the dragon's face.

 

The dragon by nature was usually able to avoid earth damage; he also took only half of the damage from fire attacks. However, in this case, the dragon was distracted. His head was the strongest part of his body against fire, so the fireball did little damage, however, two small rocks hit his injured wing, and a larger rock hit his tail. The rocks hitting his wing was painful, but did no real damage, but the rock that hit his tail was much heavier and may have even fractured or broken the bones. The dragon roared in pain.

Severo saw this as a possible chance, and took aim, but before he was able to fully prepare, the dragon dove at Drake again, purposefully flying close, but missing, then once behind him, fired another Twister spell at the prince.

 

Drake was again thrown back by the attack, and let out a sharp yell as he hit the wall. He somehow managed to get flying again, and grabbed another arrow, firing it at the dragon once Twister had passed.

 

The arrow hit the dragon in its hind right leg, sticking in. Another roar of pain came from the dragon’s throat, shaking a few more stalactites loose. Severo never got a chance to aim as the dragon kept moving, despite the new injury. The creature was taking a lot of punishment in this battle, but it still had a lot of fight in it. It flew above Drake, and then dove at the boy, slashing at him with the dark black claws.

The Red Dragon wanted to force the boy down; one way or another. Whether through injury, or avoiding his claws, it didn’t matter.
When dragons fight, forcing an opponent to land was an insult. Forcing an opponent out of the sky by injury almost always meant the battle was as good as won.

 

Drake, however, surprised the beast. Rather than retreating, this little dragon attacked and, again, grabbed the dragon's clawed hand and sent his firepower through; full force! This was getting risky— dangerous; too many narrow escapes... Drake was going to end it, quick; he was NOT going to be the one to fall.

 

Despite the unbearable pain, the dragon turned it head and tried to bite Drake. The pain was too much to bear to be able to use its wings, so it grabbed at the boy’s arm as well. If he was going down, this insulting intruder was going with him.

 

Drake hissed in agony, dropping the bow. His wings vanished as one was struck, but he kept hold of the dragon, forcing his heat in.
If it got hot enough, bones would explode and the shards would puncture the heart... if he could keep hold long enough…

 

The dragon lashed out at Drake with its other clawed arm. It wasn’t so much a calculated attack, but more like an involuntary reaction at what was hurting it. They both continued to fall. The floor and the sharp stalagmites below were rushing towards them.

 

Drake let go, shoving away the dragon and pushing himself away from it. It was much larger and would fall muuuch faster.

 

The dragon never really had a chance to regain its thoughts before it hit the ground; there was no last minute thought of panic, just unbearable pain and the thought that the source of that pain was away from him and that it would go away soon.

Then it crashed into the sharp rocks, and didn’t think again. Despite the thick hide on its head, one sharp stalagmite pierced straight into his skull. The Red Dragon was also impaled in a few other places, but that didn’t really matter. It was over.

Severo would probably have been delighted at this, if Drake didn’t look like he would soon suffer the same fate. The boy had also taken a lot of damage and Severo cursed himself for not being able to act!

 

Drake's body covered in fire once again, and he... stopped. In mid air. Fire streaked above him, and bellow him, an inferno!

When the fire was gone, he was on the ground, laying down and breathing hard, but… he seemed fine other than that.

 

Severo rushed over after seeing the strange column of fire that didn’t seem to burn the boy, and deposited him safely on the ground. Once he got there, however, he was speechless. Did he ask the boy if he was alright? After all that had just happened, it seemed like a stupid thing to say.

“What happened?” Severo decided on in the end.

 

He wasn’t talking about the dragon battle, that was obvious. He was giving Drake an odd look, but it wasn’t fear. More like, confusion.

 

Drake sat up slowly, still in pain from the fight. “What?”

 

Amazingly, the boy didn’t seem seriously injured from the fight, though he was obviously exhausted. Still, Severo needed to try and get to the bottom of this.

“You had wings… and… you look different.” Severo said, pointing at Drake’s face.

 

Drake was unable to look at his own face. “... Different?” he asked groggily.

He looked down at his hands. His nails were... black and longer... much like Celestina's talons. His shirt was ruined... torn up, as were his armguards he had somehow lost. Leaving the scars open for view... they also had... changed. There were red scales around his arms and hands, following the scars there.
His skin seemed... white-ish. Glowing slightly like from some internal light. It was odd. He'd never seen that happen before.

Drake’s eyes were still a bright, bright red, but he couldn't tell. There were blood-red scales across his face, too, following his hairline and around his eyes as well, and his teeth were sharp as arrow tips, his canines had grown to fangs.
He already had an accent that he'd picked up from being around Eclipse for so long, and his speech, perhaps because of that accent, was not impaired at all, but the Romanian accent was more pronounced. “... Different.”

 

“But... why? How?” Severo wanted to know, as he looked at the boy, taking in all the impossible changes.

 

Impossible if he were fully human. What Severo saw seemed to suggest Drake was somehow… part dragon... It was possible it was something else, but something inside him said 'dragon'. Oddly though, Drake smelled nothing like a dragon, even now... He didn’t smell different than he ever had…

 

Drake shrugged. “I... I don't know.” Drake started getting a little worried about that, but he was also completely exhausted. His upcoming fear was all that kept him awake, and yet the exhaustion kept him from panicking.

 

Severo sighed when he saw how truly confused, and exhausted the boy looked. It was a long way out of that place, so they had better start back while the prince had some energy left. The crack that the dragon had used to enter and exit looked like it was in a very steep side of the mountain, and they had no climbing equipment.

“Come on, lad, we better get out of here…” The wolf man suggested.

 

Drake nodded and got up, carefully. He glanced around, wondering how, exactly, they were going to get out...

 

“We’ll have to go back the way we came…” Severo said, almost sadly.

It was a long way. There might have been a shorter way, but it was the only way he knew for sure. It wasn’t very practical to search some of the other tunnels, in a hope that they would find another way out. They might even end up on the wrong side of the mountain.

 

Drake groaned, not liking that option, but he headed that way. “... Hopefully it'll be easier going up...?”

 

The wolf man detoured to pick up the Ice arrow on his way to the tunnel they had come from. He slid it back into the quiver and caught up with Drake. “Hopefully, it will be…” he started, but didn’t finish.

They reached the tunnel, and found that the shallow trickles of water that had made their descent so hazardous were now melting ice. “…probably not.” Severo observed, his face falling in disdain. There was no telling how far up the ice went.

 

Drake sighed, not at all thinking he'd have enough energy for this, but not daring to say it.
How would they be able to climb that steep up through ice?
“Ah...”

 

Severo knew that it was too dangerous to attempt. They had both nearly slipped and fallen many times on the way down, and it had been just water then. Not to mention they were both unburdened by fatigue. No, he had to find another way.

He thought for a moment, before it hit him. If an elemental arrow had caused this problem, he could use one to fix it. Although he felt annoyed at having to use them this way, it wasn’t like they had much choice, so he reached over his shoulder and pulled out the Fire arrow.

The Fire arrow had a slightly darker shaft, as if it had been exposed to considerable heat, but wasn’t charred. The flights were feathers that greatly resembled that of the red dragon Drake had just defeated. In fact, they probably were feathers from the wingtips of a Red dragon. They were a dark red, and had no brown in them. They were the only feathers on the dragons that were fully fire proof.

The head of the Fire arrow was one of the more spectacular of the set. A blazing inferno in the shape of an arrowhead. It glowed brightly with yellows, oranges and reds. It twisted and swirled angrily with the heat and flames. If you were desperate, you could probably use it as a torch it was so bright. Despite looking like it was hot enough to melt steel, it did not feel hot to the touch at all, just sort of tingly, like a statically charged balloon. The razor sharp point at the very tip was white hot at all times…

“You might want to step to the side a little, lad.” Severo said, motioning to the wall next to the opening with the fire arrow, as he took his bow off his shoulder.

 

Drake backed up so he was behind the wall, out of the way from the tunnels entrance.

 

Severo aimed up the tunnel, hoping to get as much distance up there as possible, before he fired. When he did, there was a slight orange flash, and a wave of heat. As if you were suddenly standing on the edge of a volcano about to erupt. As soon as it was there, it was gone.

The elemental arrows were fast, and Severo had no chance to move before the arrow hit a long way up, nearly out of sight. Severo saw a flash, and then a fireball heading straight toward him. In actual fact, the fireball was really a wall of fire traveling both up, and down the tunnel.

Outside the cave, a lone Snow Mu found a small cave opening, high up in the rock, just about big enough for it to squeeze into. It sniffed around, checking to see if anything else had made this excellent discovery of a place to sleep. Then all of a sudden, fire shot out of it!
The fire singed off the Mu’s whiskers, and a bit of fur around its nose before it was able to jump back. The fire stopped almost immediately, and the Mu decided it wouldn’t be such a great place to sleep.

At the bottom, Severo just managed to jump to the other side of the opening to avoid the wave of fire that exploded out of the opening. It seemed to travel several meters though the air before it seemed to lose its power and disintegrated into merely smoke, which traveled upward in a thick cloud.

 

Drake looked down at his arm, which was on fire and shook off the flame, then he looked down the tunnel and found that the ice was gone! As was the water, evaporated into nothingness. “...Cool! Do it again!”

 

“No!” Severo said, exasperated.

He moved away from the wall and glanced up the tunnel. The breeze seemed to be clearing the smoke out for them. The rock, though it seemed hot, was cooling. When he looked carefully, he could just make out a tiny orange/red point in the darkness, which must have been the Fire arrow.

 

Drake pouted a moment and then started up the tunnel. The heat of the still cooling rocks didn't bother him at all, nor did the smoke, which was easy enough to get through now.
He used his new talons as well to help him climb, and picked up the fire arrow once he reached it.

 

Severo had to be more careful not to touch the walls, at first. His boots protected his feet, but he could still burn his hands easily. By the time they reached the fire arrow, the rock had cooled to the point where the walls were almost pleasantly warm to the touch.

“I got it further than I thought I would…” Severo said, referring to the Fire arrow.

 

“Good thing; or you would have been BBQ'ed.” Drake laughed, holding the arrow out to Severo.

 

Severo took it from the boy, and put it in the quiver with its brethren. It was still a little warm, but undamaged.

“Yeah, there's nothing worse than the smell of burned dog hair.” Severo joked, continuing on up the slope. It was still a long way.

 

Drake laughed and followed Severo up the steep path, down the narrow tunnel, and finally to the edge of the cave.
Drake sighed and shivered as they exited into the frozen land, the cold cut at him like a knife.

 

Severo had to narrow his eyes. It was so bright after being in the dark caves for so long. He thought he would be pleased to get out of the cave, but the icy wind seemed completely determined to prove him wrong. Still, he led the way back to their camp. They would be able to start a fire there, and rest.

He would probably let Drake sleep while he went out hunting, his way, and found them some food. He wished they had been able to get some of the dragon meat, or at least the dragon blood. That stuff sold for a lot...

 

… but there were other matters that had crossed his mind, at the time…

 

Drake trudged along to the camp, forcing himself to keep moving. When they finally did arrive, he used his remaining energy to start a bigger fire and then he practically collapsed in his tent. Dead asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. His scales shimmered and then seemed to burn up, leaving his scars and his normal flesh. His teeth returned to their previous, non-animalistic forms and his eyes dulled to their usual blood red. His whole body returned to its human like state.

 

The wolf man missed this; he let the boy go into his tent, and after a short rest, set out with his bow to find food.