Morning was beautiful, there were orange clouds, with pinky sky's. Although only a fraction of the light met the cave, that Kassa and Sembi slept in. Sarkon however was awake. He had been awake ever since the sun hit the sky. Gradually the Warrior had been marking tunnels and caves, and holes onto a map. The Yellow Blood had been here before, but he had needed to check the route.
"Kassa, Sembi. We need to move, now." Not urgent... maybe a few more minutes? "Wake up." Nope, apparently I have to get up now. Slowly, I sat up. Sarkon was crumpling a piece of paper into his pocket. Sembi was shaking his mane. A cold breeze whipped my hair. I was freezing! I shuddered, it was the Stallion that wandered over to me. I wrapped my arms around his middle, stealing his warmth. "Let's move."
So we did. Sarkon led the way through underground tunnels and passageways, that I didn't even know were there.
Two nights later we saw daylight. The light stung my eyes. Sembi had to use his wings to light the way. And Sarkon still hadn't touched his powers. Immortal. Sarkon was immortal.
Rocks and snow were scattered on the floor and the sky was as clear as day, despite the cold. We walked a few steps up a sharp rock, and then we peered over the edge to find ourselves on top of the world. Well, it looked like it. There were many peaks of rock around us, and when it got to the valley rivers, mountains blended into trees. Emerald trees. It was full of wildlife.
"How close are we to Zepter?"
"Your looking at it." Sarkon informed us. Then he pointed to the other side of the river in the valley, "That, is Zepter."He sighed,"Now, why are you here?"
"I'll tell you if you teach me to fight!"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Don't go through this again."
"So your too selfish to even spend ten minutes teaching me?" I argued, "I'm not asking for much!"
"So what if I'm selfish." He growled, his brows furrowed.
"That's not something you should be proud of." I told him in a singsong voice. He just snarled back at me like an animal. "Grrrrr to you too." I told him. Yup, it had worked. I had successfully pissed him off. I smiled to myself. "So teach me." I pushed.
"What do I get out of it?" Not casual. He stared at me, burning holes in my eyes. I didn't drop his gaze, even if my body told me to and run.
"You get to leave me, then you won't have to defend me."
"Do you really think that's why I'm here. Why I put up with your nonsense and complaining ever single day? You never stop! No... no." He kept shaking his head.
"Why are you here then?" I demanded. But he never replied. I repeated the question, but he just started walking down the mountains. Idiot. Even Sembi shook his head. I watched him and the Stallion have a silent conversation. But Sarkon cut it off and kept walking. I gave Sembi an apologetic look. Then got onto his back and galloped down, faster than the wind.
The river was cold. It was more of a stream to be honest, but we still had to cross it. Jumping it was out of the question, the far bank was too high. Sembi refused to fly us. So instead I was pushed onto the Stallions back, and shuffled along to his neck, where I jumped and grabbed onto the bank. It was wet and slippery, but Sembi nudged me up. I felt the grass on my hands. I heard the calls of the birds. I smelt the pine trees.
I had entered Zepter.