As the first beams of the sun peeked out from behind the horizon, the two girls had already packed up their tents and continued up the mountain. They encountered some mountain trolls, which they skilfully avoided by veering off the path and climbing up a steep wall. They spent about half the day climbing the mountain before they reached their final destination — a large cave which the wyverns apparently made their home.
"This is it!" Velvet exclaimed when they stood in front of the gaping hole in the wall.
Arianna felt her heart starting to beat faster. They were both quite exhausted from the climb already and the thought of now having to face off with these vicious and deadly creatures made her legs feel like jelly. Arianna fell down, sitting on the ground. "Give me a few minutes," she said with a labored breath. "I need to prepare myself..."
"Are you nervous?" her friend asked her.
"What do you think?" she chuckled.
"It's going to be alright," Velvet crouched down and placed her hand on Arianna's shoulder. "This is going to be easy! In and out! Just make sure you have your teleportation tablet ready for when we grab the egg!"
"Right," Arianna nodded, taking a few more deep breaths, before pushing herself back to her feet. "I'm never going to be truly ready anyways. So let's just get this over with."
Velvet extended her hand toward Arianna. "Take my hand. We should stick close for this one. I promise I will be with you every step of the way. No running off."
"Thanks," Arianna smiled, taking hold of Velvet's hand. "That's reassuring."
She was glad that Velvet was taking this seriously. Wyverns were no joke. Unlike goblins, where they could make some mistakes and still come out alright, just one moment of carelessness here would result in a possibly fatal injury. It could mean their end.
Arianna clenched her new staff tightly, checking her pocket for the teleportation tab before the two entered the cave carefully. It was much, much bigger than the one where they fought the cave goblins. No cobwebs or narrow tunnels were to be found here. The air inside was dry and carried a subtle aroma of rotting flesh, no doubt coming from what was left of the wyvern's last meal. Arianna shivered. If they messed up, they could well become the next one.
Soon, the cave widened into a large platform area, a seemingly endless pit opening up in front of them. A narrow bridge led across it, formed of natural stone.
"This place is enormous," Velvet whispered, remembering this time to keep her voice down.
"Do we have to cross this pit?" Arianna asked, clenching Velvet's hand tightly.
"Well, there's nothing here. The wyvern nest must be on the other side of this pit." Velvet observed casually. Arianna gulped as they walked up to it and Velvet let go of her hand.
"It's going to be hard to hold our balance if we hold hands. You should just fly over anyway." Velvet explained.
"No. I don't want to alert the wyverns," she whispered.
"Yeah, probably a good idea," Velvet nodded and started walking across the bridge of stone. She glanced down and saw an eerily black abyss staring back at her. How deep was this pit?
Reluctantly, Arianna followed her, holding her staff close and making tiny steps, placing one foot in front of the other. Her eyes looked straight forward, focused on her friend, who was almost at the other side already. Velvet jumped on the platform and turned around to see how her friend was doing. At that moment, Arianna slipped and shrieked, falling into the pit.
"Arianna!" Velvet yelled out, leaning over the edge. There was no sign of her anymore.
Moments later, an eagle soared up from the darkness below and landed on the platform. It turned back into Arianna, who was breathing quick, shallow breaths in panic.
"That was so scary," Arianna managed to say, falling to her knees. "I almost couldn't cast my transformation. I thought I might hit the ground and be flattened."
Velvet ran up to her and patted her on the back. "It's alright...you're safe now."
A distant growl made them immediately fall silent and look at each other with wide eyes.
"Oh no...that must have woken them up..." Velvet said.
"I'm so sorry I screamed," Arianna whispered, her face draining of blood.
"No, no, it's alright. Anyone would scream if they fell. It's a natural reaction. Not your fault. We do need to keep moving, though. Let's quickly find their nest and get what we need!" Velvet said cheerfully, encouraging Arianna.
Picking themselves up, they continued deeper into the huge cavern. The ceiling was high and full of stalactites that looked like they could crush the girls at any second. All the while, the feeling of being watched accompanied them, bringing with it an uncomfortable tingle in the girls' nerves.
Finally, some shattered branches and the strengthening aroma of dead animals signaled that they were getting close. And then they saw it. Lying in the far corner of the cavern next to a wall, a large dragon-like creature slept, its large wings neatly folded and its head resting on its front legs. It was a wyvern.
Velvet dimmed out the light she was producing with her spell as much as she could without making the surroundings unable to be seen. Slowly, they crept by the creature, walking on their tiptoes and not daring to make a sound. Behind it was a pile of branches and rocks, along with a half-eaten cow — a wyvern's nest. Arianna covered her nose and mouth, feeling her eyes water as she resisted the urge to vomit.
As the girls came closer, they saw what they were looking for. In the middle of the nest were six eggs, about the size of their heads, along with one larger one. Velvet deduced that this is the one that was planted and they should probably be taking, and her friend nodded in agreement.
"You climb in and take it," Velvet whispered lightly into the blonde girl's ear. "While you do that, I will watch the wyvern. Try to be as quick and quiet as possible."
Arianna swallowed and inhaled deeply, trying to shake off her rising nervousness. After taking a minute to muster up the courage, she carefully started climbing over the rocks and branches to get to the eggs while Velvet watched her back.
She winced every time a small crunch or crack was heard, fearing it would wake up the sleeping beast. Thankfully, it slept tightly. Reaching the center, she set her backpack down and grabbed the biggest egg. It was heavy and hard to grip, so it slipped from her fingers and fell down, breaking a branch. The wyvern groaned at the sound and lifted its head. Both girls froze in place and glanced at each other with wide eyes. It only replaced its head back in a different position, however, and continued sleeping.
They breathed a sigh of relief and Arianna tried picking up the egg for the second time, successfully stuffing it in her empty backpack. She felt sweat tricking down her forehead as she slowly made her way back over the rocks and branches and eventually reunited with her friend, who could hardly contain her excitement.
"You did it," Velvet whispered quietly and hugged her. "Let's get out of here now," she added, letting Arianna go. The blonde girl nodded and reached into her pocket for the teleportation tablet...but it wasn't there. The pocket was empty.
***
Outside, Ralph had just reached the platform in front of the cave, still following the two girls up the mountain.
"That old fart better give me a raise for this!" he grunted, bending over and holding his knees as he panted. It wasn't as easy a climb as it looked. "These girls are quite fit for their age," he admitted to himself.
After recovering, he straightened himself up and stepped forward. Just as he wanted to enter and go after them to make sure everything is alright, he heard a distant roar and turned around. His eyes went wide and his face went pale as he saw a dragon flying directly towards the mountain.
"Oh, mother have mercy," the stunned sorcerer whispered under his breath in shock. "Are these two cursed or something?! How does trouble always seem to find them like this?!"
For some reason, the enormous creature seemed to be headed directly to the cave he was standing in front of. As it came closer, Ralph prepared himself to fight. If the dragon got in there, the girls were as good as dead. He crouched down in front of the opening and placed his hand on the floor.
"Wall of Ice!" Following his will, large spiky glaciers shot out from the ground in front of him, blocking the passage into the cave. But he wasn't done yet. "Cage of Light!" he yelled, adding another layer of protection over the entrance. Beams of light shot up vertically forming a giant cage that covered both the glaciers and the entire width of the hole. He knew though, that this worked both ways. The girls were now also trapped inside with the wyverns. But a few wyverns are still better than a dragon.
I have no idea what an adult dragon is doing here, Ralph thought as he watched the giant reptile descend towards him, but it sure as hell isn't eating any of my students today!
When it came sufficiently close, the beast opened its mouth and breathed fire at the man who was standing in its way. The man did not flinch even for a second, swiftly casting a powerful water spell that clashed with its flames and extinguished them, pushing it back.
It's been a while since I've seen some action. He grinned. No matter. I haven't graduated top of my class and studied magic under the great Argus over the last eight years to be intimidated by a mere dragon!
He stood tall and pointed at the beast in the sky, yelling at the top of his lungs. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!"
***
"How do you not have it?!" Velvet hissed through clenched teeth, barely containing herself from shouting. "That is the one thing we need to finish this task and get back home safely!"
"I...I don't know..." Arianna answered with panic in her voice, frantically searching all her pockets. She stopped and looked at her friend with a stone-cold stare. "I probably lost it when I fell."
"Damn it!" Velvet kicked a rock at her feet in frustration. It hit the wyvern's head, waking it up. Both girls looked at the two yellow eyes shining through the darkness, their faces turning pale. Then they looked at each other. "Run," Velvet said, grabbing Arianna. A loud roar echoed across the cavern as they broke into a sprint.
"Nice going!" Arianna yelled angrily as they ran.
"You lost the tablet!" Velvet shouted. "We need to find it or we can't get back in time!"
"That's what you're worried about?!" Arianna was appalled. "We're going to die!!"
"No, we won't! We just need to get out of the cave, then we can lose it!"
They could hear the growling getting louder and turned around, only to see the wyvern flying after them, quickly gaining ground. And it wasn't alone! More wyverns were beginning to wake up and take to the skies.
"Run faster!" Velvet grabbed her hand and started sprinting even faster, literally pulling the other girl behind her. "Go, go, go, go!!"
"I can't...run this fast... with a heavy egg!" her friend complained.
The narrow bridge leading to freedom was nearing fast. But with every step the girls took, the wyverns gained ground. They could either barely make it... Or not.
***
Outside, the battle between the dragon and the sorcerer was quite literally heating up. The colossal creature was relentless in trying to enter the cave.
"Why does it want to get in so badly?!" he yelled out in frustration when he repelled it once more. "Dragons are solitary creatures! They would never associate with wyverns!"
After a few more aerial attacks, the dragon decided to aim for the platform instead. It blew its boiling flames at the rocks and melted them, making the whole area collapse and triggering an avalanche of rocks and boulders that fell on the platform the sorcerer was standing on, crumbling it to minuscule pieces as Ralph was sent tumbling down the mountain.
"Screw you, vile vermin!!" he yelled out as he was falling, cursing the dragon who had meanwhile broken his cage and melted his glaciers, flying directly into the cave.
Thank you for reading this part of the story!
Uh oh, things are getting heated. Can Velvet and Arianna escape the wyverns and the dragon?