THE IMMORTAL: Dance with the Dragon

32: The Tower

A lone tower stood on the horizon. It looked exactly as it had in Samara's dream. Several stories tall, the top of it barely protruding above a circular rock structure, perhaps an old crater from a long-dead volcano. Fog rose from inside, helping to provide a cover for the stone tower.

It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

"Well, I guess this is it," Leela said.

"It's been nice knowing you guys," Rufus joked as he stared ahead.

Kit slapped his arm.

The tower was farther away than it looked. It took another day and a half to reach it. They camped beside an outcropping nearby. Samara and Leela helped Rufus build a lean-to out of old sticks and branches from the sparse desert trees to help camouflage their campsite in case Cyril was in the tower. While they did that, Kit practiced with her long knife.

They didn't build a fire that night, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

"What if he can sense us, even with us blocking our power?" Samara asked Leela.

"I guess if he comes after us tonight, we'll know."

"Gee, that's comforting." Samara rolled her eyes.

None of them slept well that night, except for Kit but she could sleep anytime anywhere it seemed, even with the possibility of death on the horizon.

Halfway through the night, Leela suddenly sat up wide eyed, peering out the side of the lean-to. She had been on watch and leaning against a small boulder.

"What is it?" Rufus asked, waking up at her sudden movement.

"Cyril," Leela breathed.

Samara had woken up too. She and Rufus looked where Leela was staring and watched in awe as the silhouette of a huge black dragon flew over the almost full moon. The dragon was even bigger than Dalton. His tail snaked up and down as he flew northeast, away from them. The sight of his wings rotating around his huge shoulders sent shivers down Samara's spine.

The three of them sank back into their sleeping rolls, trying not to make any noise, just in case....

Once he was out of sight Leela whispered, "Does that mean he left the orb there?"

"He must have," Samara said. "I can still feel it."

"Me too. Why would he leave though?"

"He goes back and forth between working on the orb and going back to Bear Cliff to keep things in order, remember?"

"He is heading in that direction," Rufus said.

"What if Celeste talks to him while he's there?" Samara said.

"Then I guess we better hurry," Leela replied grimly.

They rested another hour or so before waking Kit. It was still dark when they packed up and left. Kit was not happy about being woken before the sun was up.

"Can't we sleep a little longer?" she whined.

"We don't have time," Samara replied and then briefly explained that they had seen Cyril leave. "We have to get there before he comes back."

The girl yawned and shook her head back forth while they walked to try and stay awake. Every now and then she would sprint ahead of them and do jumping jacks in order to keep from feeling like a zombie.

When they finally reached the rock structure that encased the tower, it was late afternoon. They climbed up the side of one of the outcroppings to get a better view, trying to stay out of sight in case Cyril returned.