Dawn's Light

Chapter 16

Celia stared at the wall of snow slightly illuminated from the moonlight from the waning celestial object on the other side of the icy barrier.

"Hopefully," Celia calmed her breathing as she spoke to herself, "that will hide us well enough that those two will be unable to find us, or at least stall them long enough that we can rest and try to find another way out."

The frozen flakes of water that curtained the entrance appeared as both a savior and an evil force to the pair. It was a savior in how it impeded the two malevolent beings from following Celia and Verbena, but at the same time, it made their entrance too unstable to be used as an exit. If they tried digging through the snow, there was no telling if more snow would simply slide down the mountain and recover all of their hard work if it did not encase the duo in snow as well.

After she evaluated their frozen surroundings, Celia turned toward Verbena, "Let's descend deeper where it is hopefully warmer."

'Good idea,' Verbena agreed with an exhalation.

After the dragonet looked to her rider and agreed to the suggestion, Celia reached into Verbena's saddlebags for the bottle of ryume to use as a source of light but paused when her gloved hands grasped a different bottle.

Celia hesitated, then retrieved the bottled fire magic and watched as the room became illuminated with a warm glow. "This is even better light," she smiled slightly to herself as she gazed into the flickering orange plasma, "Since it is contained, it can't be put out and we don't need to worry about it as much. I need to be smarter and learn instead of working harder and only relying on what I already know," she reminded herself as she held the warm glass bottle.

Verbena's nostrils flared as she curiously sniffed the bottle, 'Did you also get this from the town?' It smells kinda funny.'

Celia nodded, "I did," she stated, then looked deeper into the cave. "Let's get moving to the warmer depths of the cave. Once we are farther in I will see what I can do about fixing the harness." She glanced back to the now-blocked entrance, "at least now it will be much harder for those two to follow us now, even if they even find the entrance. I think we are safe for now though."

The dragonet nodded, then turned and used the fire magic as a light source to ferry her rider as they traversed the caves. 'I hope we never run into those meanies ever again,' she huffed and raised her nose into the air. 'That dragon attacked me! No dragon from home ever did that."'

"I quickly learned that this place is nothing like home," Celia shivered as a droplet of water from a dripping stalactite above them splashed onto the back of her now-unprotected neck, "nothing here works as it does back home. Everything is different out here." Her hands clenched the glowing bottle of flames.

Verbena nodded as she trotted deeper into the cave, 'I do miss home and being in an aaven with many other dragons,' she sighed softly, then blinked and looked back to Celia as the human frowned slightly, 'but I'm still glad to be with you! As long as we are together, I know that we can do anything!' She looked at Celia and flashed a draconic smile, then nuzzled her as well.

Celia laughed a but as Verbena's snow-coated muzzle rubbed her face through the cloth that protected from the cold. "I'm glad to have you along as company as well," she reached out and stroked Verbena's head, "I couldn't do this without you? So what is an aaven?" She looked to the dragonet for answers.

'That's what dragons call a group of dragons,' Verbena explained as she refocused on where she was walking so she would not trip or slip on the wet and icy ground, 'and different dragons have different titled positions of power in the aaven. For example, a gretist, like Gretist Valiant, is the leader of all of the dragons in the aaven, while those under him are called gretors. I am the near the lowest rank possible at ireless, but now that I can breathe fire, I should be promoted to ometa!' She seemed proud of herself as she continued, 'it's the highest rank a dragonet can be!