Inferno Legacy: Valor of the Dragon (Book One)

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

            With a sigh Cody awoke sometime before dawn. He started to panic before he realized that he was supposed to be there, in the dusty old room on top of a possibly bug-infested mattress. The rider yawned as he sat up just before stretching and pulling himself out of the bed. There came a small crashing sound from somewhere outside the room, followed by an angry grunting sound. He slowly walked over to the door and opened it before peering out into the much larger living room.

            Cody carefully sneaked from his room and walked through the living room until he got to the other side. At that end of the room there was a half-open door that probably led to the kitchen, which he assumed was the source of the noise. He pushed the door the rest of the way open and he saw Mora angrily scrubbing the floor for some reason, seemingly oblivious to his presence.

            “What are you doing?” Cody asked as he stepped further into the kitchen.

            Mora jumped, but didn’t turn to look at him when she replied, “I was trying to get some things packed up before we leave, and knocked over some food.”

            Cody would have helped but she seemed to be just about done with cleaning up, so instead he sat in a little wooden chair nearby. Soon enough the woman was done cleaning and continued to put supplies in a fancy-looking cloth bag. She seemed to ignore the rider as she sorted some food and put it in the bag along with the book she had been carrying the previous night, though Cody failed to read the title, instead remembering the last time he and his dragon had read “Valor of the Dragon”.

            Sick of the silence, the rider finally spoke up, “Perhaps you could tell me a little bit about that friend of yours and how they got kidnapped. It might help us find them.”

            Mora sighed before answering, “Her name is Pippi, and she isn’t exactly a friend. My brother, being an important man in this town and captain of the guard, is always told about new visitors in the city that could possibly be a threat, and in the mayor’s eyes everyone who isn’t human is a threat.”

            “Isn’t human?” Cody interrupted in surprise.

            Mora nodded and continued, “She’s an elf with blond hair with purple streaks, and unusually friendly towards humans. She was just looking for somewhere to live for a little while but being an elf made everyone dislike her greatly. My brother and I allowed her to stay with us for a while until one day she went out to buy some food for us. That was when one of the guards told my brother that a band of thieves had kidnapped her and intended to take her away with them, for whatever reason. Like a said, she isn’t exactly a friend of ours, but we still don’t want her to suffer worse than she already has as an elf in a human realm.”

            Cody began to think deeply about what she had said, especially the part about them going to save an elf. Perhaps Pippi could help them find the Hidden Mountain Pass if she had been there before, or maybe even the enemy stronghold. In the very least she could help in the fight against their foes.

            “Maybe you’d want to talk about your friends?” Mora asked politely, pulling Cody from his thoughts.

            The rider thought for a moment before nodding and explaining, “Well it all started when me and my friends were back in our hometown somewhere near Starling, and someone told us that we had to go find this mountain pass. We made some enemies along the way and we were ambushed in the night. Luckily, my brother, my poisoned friend, and I were spared, so we found someone to try and help save my friend and came back to Morgran to track down Dongoithu. Now we don’t know whether any of our friends are alive, dead, suffering, or what, but we are intent on finding them and avenging them if they are dead.”