Hybrid Magical Creatures

chapter 26

Kadrid shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. She sat down and got comfortable, waiting for their next move. He sat down across from her and opened the magic bag. He began to rummage through it, shuffling things around inside of it.

"What are you doing?" She asked lifting one eyebrow.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm looking for something." He replied.

"Ah, here we go got it." He spoke more to himself than the dragon.

He pulled out a very large, heavy looking book. Kadrid watched , knowing exactly what it had to be. Most likely one of his many books of spells or enchantments. She closed her eyes and leaned against the outer rock wall of the mountain.

Salem barely noticed that she had moved at all. He was busy, lost in his spellbook wishing against all odds that he would find it. He refused to entertain the thought of getting this close just to screw it all up at the last moment. Quickly he centered himself to curb the frustration that was beginning to boil from inside his very essance. Then with an obsessive focus, he went through the book until he found the spell that would help them. He went over the spell again and again. He studied the words until speaking them had become as natural to him as breathing. He stood a few feet away from the dragon as he began the enchantment. He had fallen deep into what he was doing.

Kadrid thought he was attempting to conjure a thunderstorm by the looks of him. She paid close attention just in case he screwed it up. The thought made her want to giggle, but she knew better and held it in. He needed all of his concentration when spell casting. She watched tenitively as he pulled out a small object. She leaned closer to identify it, some kind of magical little stone. It looked to be smooth and very shiny, it's colors were a purple and rose hue. He then placed it on top pf a huge boulder next to them. She watched as the warlock stepped back, lifting his hands up to the skies and chanting the incantation.

"Open the doors that have sealed her immortal fate. Let us discover her unseen space. We must find Pandora before it is too late." Chanted the warlock over and over again. He took a long deep cleansing breath and just stood there waiting. Looking at him with a hint of skeptisisim, the dragon looked to see what he was waiting for, shaking her head. When she did so, suddenly the mountain began to rumble and shake.

"Now what have you done?" Asked the dragon with worry.

"I promise you everything is okay. Just be patient."

The dragon nodded yes.

"That's a good Kadrid. Thank you." He replied.

The rumbling had slowed and then finally stopped suddenly as if someone had flipped an off switch. Looking in the direction of the stone, The dragon and the warlock noticed that both the large boulder and the stone were gone. In it's place there was now an opening to the mountain.

"How did you do that?" Asked the dragon, her faith in him restored.

"Magic, of course."

"Shall we go then?" Kadrid asked him.

"Yes, i'll go in first just in case there's anything to worry about." He offered.

"That sounds good to me." The dragon replied.

The inside of the mountain reminded him of a maze, much like the one surrounding his home, however it wasn't as dark inside as they thought it would be. It was very dim but not pitch black like a starless sky. They walked slowly through the mountain tunnel listening for any strange sounds. He was hoping to hear the sorceress somewhere in this mess of rock paths and unknown tunnels. They walked the better part of a mile before he turned left through another tunnel. Kadrid followed safely behind him, curious as to where it would lead them. As they walked though the tunnel, it got to be more difficult. There was a long downward slope then several twists and turns. Any mortal would not have been able to handle the journey, it was even making the hybrid warlock a little dizzy. It had taken only a few minutes for the disoriented feeling to subside. They went left down another spiraling tunnel, then right and left again through over a dozen spiraling tunnels. Once they reached the end of those bizare tunnels they saw a huge hole with a ladder attatched to it. Salem found it to be rather odd. It wasn't something he expected to find inside of a gigantic mountain. He never expected to be inside of a giant mountain, for that matter. He found most of the journey to be rather odd, from the voodoo swamp until now in their current predicament.

"Can we rest for a moment?" Asked the dragon.

"Yes, whenever you wish to rest is okay with me. I know this has been a difficult quest for you." He replied in a soft manner.

"Thank you, warlock." She responded as she slumped onto the ground and curled into a ball shape.

"Rest young one, I can wait."

Kadrid said nothing but simply nodded as she fell asleep.

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