Night of the Equinox

Chapter 6 - Discovery

Equinox navigated through the dense woods, around clusters of boulders and hopping over streams that divided the land. She tried to make a mental map of the area, but all the trees looked the same to her. She tried to avoid taking as many turns as possible so she had a chance of finding her way back. She just wanted to see more of the outside world, that was all. Was that so much to ask?

She was fascinated by owls that soared between trees, rodents that scrambled across her path, and the hundred or so types of bugs that chirped and trilled loudly at her. She would never have expected the night would be so alive.

She desperately wanted to spread her wings and fly high into the sky, as close to the stars as she could get, but she knew she would be running the risk of her father, or worse, SkyWings, seeing her, so she stayed on the ground. The air was so crisp out here, and now she realized how stale the air was inside their cavern. It almost seemed sweet outside.

Occasionally she would hear strange, chittering, squeaking noises from around her. She wasn't sure where it was coming from, but it sounded interesting. She wondered what animal it was.

Almost twenty minutes after she had left the cave, she was inspecting a group of boulders leaning up against a huge pine tree, and her talon went straight through a curtain of moss between two rocks. Startled, she yanked her foreleg back, and stared wonderingly at the strange opening. Carefully, she lifted the moss away to reveal a carefully carved passageway heading down into the ground, just big enough for a dragon around the size of her father to go in, if he kept his wings tucked in tight. She listened for a moment for any sign of whatever creatures had burrowed this tunnel, but she didn't hear anything. She supposed whatever it was had abandoned it.

Cautiously, she stepped into the darkness. The tunnel tilted downwards and continued until Equo was beginning to think it would never end, when it opened up into a cave with low ceilings a little smaller than the one she lived in. It looked artificial - there were no stalactites on the ceiling and the walls lacked ripples. She waited in the entryway for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the absolute darkness and realized there were tables in the room, with strange contraptions set up between them. 

So this is a dragon creation, She realized. I wonder who made it.

Examining the tables further, she noticed vials of various liquids open like they were being worked on when the room was abandoned. Shelves of jars and vials and tall beakers full of different substances lined one wall. She noticed scalpels on the floor and tables, standing out against dark stains underneath. Medical kits were hung up on the walls, at least six in total.

I wonder what this was.

Curiously, she crept along one wall, carefully peering at everything she passed. She was looking down at an odd contraption when she felt her talons come down painfully on a chain left lying around. Equo saw that the chain was bolted to the ground, and that it led into a small cage she hadn't seen from the entrance, and inside was a small sleeping dragon.