The Traitor's Heir

Chapter Sixteen

"What do you know of the stories that are told of the end of these dark years? That is to say, what do you know about what's gone on above ground in recent years?" They had reached a large arched opening and they followed the dragon into an enormous tunnel, wide enough for at least five dragons to walk down, side by side, with space between them.

"Nothing." Lina took up speaking as they walked slowly, eyes wide as they took in the brightly shining walls. "The mood in the caverns of late has been rather morose. There's some sort of a conflict coming, but no one will tell us anything. And the guards hardly seem optimistic about it, although some seem eager enough to go throwing their lives away at the earliest possible date." They made their way further into the passage, lights racing alongside them, illuminating their way. Quara glanced back over her shoulder and saw the lights in the cavern behind them extinguished as the room fell again into darkness.

"The lights will follow us," Ausfela explained as she glanced to the side, noting Quara's expression. "It's just how this place works. The cave itself was built to sense movement and when there's a light source the room that's occupied dances with light while the empty rooms fall dark. Although that little piece of fire energy you brought down here could easily light this entire complex of caves for ten thousand years. If it had been left here with me, as it should have been, I wouldn't have spent all these years in the dark."

"So the Egg was yours to begin with? It was stolen from you?" The words tumbled from Lina's lips.

"Yes and no. That stone, which you call the Egg, did belong in these caves, although it certainly didn't belong to me alone, unless you say that the caves belong to me now after I've spent these long years in them. It's strange because usually a few thousand years isn't all that long for a dragon, but these years that I've spent waiting have ticked by slowly. You'd think that sleeping in caves is sleeping in caves but I think that the fact that I was here waiting for you to arrive made time pass all the more slowly. Well that and also knowing about the hardships that nearly everyone was enduring above ground."

"You've mentioned waiting for us before, but how can it possibly be? How could you have been waiting for us millennia before we were actually born?" Quara tore her eyes from the dancing lights around her and fixed her gaze firmly on the dragon's sharp profile.

"It is quite the question, isn't it? And it's going to take some time to explain. And I daresay that it will take some time to convince you in particular that we need to do exactly what we need to do." The dragon's nostrils flared for a moment and she turned to gaze at Quara before moving her head away from the girls, to the left and tapping a claw on a bright blue spot of light. "Here we are. Come right this way," as Ausfela spoke a door appeared in the midst of what had appeared to be solid crystal a moment before. A door appeared and they entered a cave, which was much larger than their entire family's living space back home, but which they sensed must be considered small by the dragons, although it was still large enough for Ausfela to stroll easily about the room without knocking into anything, even when she turned about with her tail swishing behind her.

On their right side as they entered the room there was a table, with chairs lined up around it. A bit further in there were four large, overstuffed sofas, all made of a luxurious red velvet. Lina immediately walked across the room and threw herself into one of the sofas, running her fingers back and forth across the arms with a smile. "Remember when Abintha wore a purple velvet dress to the Christmas party in the Heart and then she wouldn't let anyone come near her because she was afraid someone was going to spill something on it."

"Her mother would have killed her if she'd gotten it stained. I couldn't have imagined wanting to wear something that would cause so much trouble if something happened to it." Quara walked around the room slowly, peering from side to side. Beyond the chairs that Lina had immediately gone to there was a large freestanding fireplace in the middle of the room with a stone chimney that appeared to be made of river rocks that swept upwards towards the ceiling and disappeared out of sight. As Quara's eyes followed the chimney into the darkness she noticed that the space above them was not lit entirely, but was covered in tiny twinkling lights, so that she imagined what she was seeing was very much what the night sky must look like when you laid on your back and gazed up at it after the sun had long since set.