Chapter 6
Cody was suddenly terrified about what Omen had said. He either had to ignore the cave and look somewhere else for someplace where he could train Inferno safely, or reveal everything to the blacksmith, including Inferno. He told the dragon about their predicament, and he was beginning to get anxious about the whole thing as well.
“I’ve explored the cave a bit more,” Inferno began to explain, “I know that it is exactly what we need. My vision is superior to the vision of your race, including night vision, and I’ve discovered that it is at least tall enough, long enough, and wide enough for me to practice flying, not to mention a few ledges that I could climb onto and take off from. If you can trust him, then by all means accept his offer, and we can tell him everything when we meet him after he gets the torches. Your other friends are clearly less trustworthy, and the blacksmith is much more determined to join in adventure than them.”
Cody cursed to himself angrily, realizing that he had a completely valid point. He glared at Omen, who was perched in his chair with a gleam of excitement in his eye at the possibilities of adventure that were just lying at his feet. Cody tried to steer him away from it.
“Being a blacksmith, you’re probably very busy and have a lot of work to do.”
Omen let out a loud laugh as he said, “Then why would I want to make a bunch of torches? I told you already, I have little to no business right now. At the moment I’m just waiting for Autumn to come buy to pick up some arrows she wanted me to make for her. Apparently one of hers broke today while she was out hunting, and she lost a few others. I didn’t speak to her personally, but Aval came by and told me what she wanted.”
Cody laughed a little bit at how Omen strayed from the original conversation, probably thinking Cody would be interested to hear the news about his friends, but then he focused more on their current dilemma. He held out his hand to Omen.
“It would be my honor to include you in our exploration.”
“Our exploration? Who else is there?” He asked.
Cody grinned before saying, “Make those torches, and meet me at my house at noon to find out. What day do you thing you’ll finish?”
Omen leaned back in his chair and replied, “I could work through the night, and with your help I could be done by tomorrow morning with about a dozen.”
“Bed,” Inferno said repeatedly to Cody, making him chuckle.
“I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to help you tonight, I have to be in bed soon. But, I have to get started on the exploration of that cave as soon as possible. How about you make as many torches as you can until about four in the morning? Get some sleep, and then meet me at my house a bit before noon and we can go to the cave.”
Omen nodded and said, “I will do my best to make as many as I can as quickly as I can, and I might be able to get about five ready in the time you mentioned. I will see you at noon tomorrow.”
Omen reached forward and grabbed Inferno’s scales before putting them in his pocket and nodding to Cody formally, even though it was obvious that he was barely containing his joy at the potential adventure. Cody left with a small, joking bow. He went out the open door and chased after Skeletar the horse, feeling eager to discover everything about the caves.
Cody awoke somewhat late the next morning after another dreamless night, and got up to look out the window at the trees in the direction of the cave. Out of the corner of the window the sun was resting above the trees, showing him that there was an hour or two before Omen arrived, although he expected that the eager man would arrive much earlier.
As he left his room, he became painfully aware of how early Omen would be there, since he came riding a palomino horse right up to the door only ten minutes later. Cody was glad that his parents had left for the town a while before he woke up, so the blacksmith wouldn’t tell them anything.
Omen jumped off of his horse clutching a large bag that Cody assumed contained the torches.
“May I come inside?”
Cody laughed and nodded, tying up the horse to a nearby tree (being too lazy to walk it out to the stables) and led the way inside. Omen set the bag on the table with a tremendous clank and flopped down into a chair.
He looked up at Cody and asked, “Well, just when will we be meeting this person that we’ll be exploring the cave with?”
Cody smiled and replied, “We’ll be meeting him at the cave. He’s probably the most eager to look at everything.”
“I hardly think so,” Omen laughed. “I’m pretty excited. But first, do you want to check out the torches just to make sure they’ll work?”
Cody nodded just before Omen dumped the bag’s content onto the table with various chinking and clinking noises. Apparently, he had had very good luck the night before and had made exactly ten torches, all of them ready to be lit. There was also some flint, some steel, a small hammer, and dozens of nails to attack the torches to the walls. There were also three smaller hand-held torches.
“We only need two hand-held torches, I’ll explain why later. But, how long do you think each of them will last?”
Omen kicked his feet up and put his hands behind his head before saying, “I used a really old technique for making torches, but successful. They should last about a week before they need to be refilled with ground charcoal and some special twigs that I keep in my forge.”
“Sounds great!” Cody exclaimed with growing excitement. “We should get going though; the sooner we leave, the sooner we’ll get to exploring the cave, and the sooner you’ll meet my companion.”
Cody scooped up the torches and piled them into the bag before attempting to swing it over his shoulder, unsuccessfully, despite his amazing new strength. Without a word, Omen grabbed the bag from him, and popped out the door with the same enthusiasm. As he raced off to the edge of the woods, Cody untied his horse, quickly brought it to the stables, and bounded after him with greater speed, especially since the blacksmith was lugging the huge bag.
The rider pointed out the trail that Inferno had followed and carefully swept away his tracks before leading on. Cody then conversed with the dragon for the first time that day.
“We’re on our way; will you be there before us?”
Inferno stopped a moment to catch his breath before replying, “Definitely, but I’ll remain hidden in the trees so he won’t see me right away. We have to prepare him a bit more than me just suddenly being noticed.”
Cody agreed and said, “Yes, but you should probably hide in the shadows of the trees a tiny bit. That way he can see you as less of a threat, and won’t see you looming over us like an eagle watching a mouse scurry along the forest floor.”
“Now you’re comparing me to something as small and fragile as an eagle?” Inferno joked.
Cody chuckled a little bit, but was careful to hide it from Omen as they raced off. It was only about 10 minutes more of running when they slowed to a stop in the familiar land that surrounded the hole that led to the cave. Omen put the bag down and gasped heavily for a minute or two until he was feeling energetic and excited again.
“Where’s your friend?” He asked as he twisted his waist and torso, stretching out his back and arms.
Cody smiled and said, “He’s already here. Now let me explain him a little bit first. He is the actual one who gave me the scales, and has loads more. Now promise me you won’t freak out.”
Omen laughed a little before sitting on a rock and throwing his arms out wide with a huge grin on his face, “I promise.”
Cody told Inferno to come out from the trees, and he came very slowly so he wouldn’t scare Omen so abruptly. The blacksmith was at first very confused, just seeing the vague outline of his face, but then Inferno flapped his wings slightly and silently, and that was when Omen gasped. It wasn’t a gasp of fear or horror, or a gasp of surprise, but one of wonder and amazement.
“Meet Inferno, the last dragon to be seen by man,” Cody explained as he, too, marveled at Inferno, who had clearly grown a few inches taller and even a good five or six inches longer.
Inferno slowly, warily, and carefully stepped around the blacksmith, who stood up once more and did the same to the dragon, thinking deeply. He occasionally tilted his head to look at Inferno’s chest, legs, neck, and wings more carefully.
“I don’t know much about dragons, since I’ve never seen one even in a drawing,” Omen began, “but it is obvious to me, as a sort of nature and battle enthusiast, that he is a mighty predator. He has razor-sharp claws, pristine white swords for teeth, tough metal armor for skin, a whip-like tail, glistening spikes along the spine, and elegantly curved horns. He would be the most powerful warrior, if he were human. But I see nature at work here too, like a graceful and majestic hunter.
“His lean yet muscular forelegs, and even stronger hind legs for leaping onto and clinging to trees or even rocks, his powerful wings for soaring high above the rolling hills, and the wings also seem to be made perfectly for careful aerial acrobatics. Ah, and the icy storm raging in the eyes, revealing both generous and caring characteristics, as well as destructive and beastly, if provoked.”
Inferno suddenly seemed to trust him much more, and stopped walking as a faint gesture of trust. Omen used his sea-green eyes to gaze at Inferno, before making a small bowing gesture, of great respect. He suddenly stepped forward, though carefully, and reached out to Inferno only a few feet away. The dragon slowly leaned into his palm and allowed the blacksmith to stroke him and caress his smooth scales with one heavily-callused hand.
“I wasn’t wrong, was I? He is both wary of potentially dangerous strangers, and warm and welcoming to friends,” Omen said with a slight grin.
“How did you do that?” Cody asked, realizing Inferno was also quite surprised at his apparent knowledge of how to act towards dragons, even hatchlings.
Omenn shrugged, and with tearing his gaze from Inferno said, “I guess it just…came to me.”
After a while, when the sun reached higher into the sky right around noon, Omen carefully removed his hand and stepped away, towards Cody.
“What is your true purpose of exploring the cave now, since it’s pretty obvious to me that someone like you wouldn’t just explore things without reason, even with the potential of vast amounts of wealth hidden inside,” Omen said, stretching once more.
Cody envied his keen perception as he explained, “Inferno has yet to fly, and he has only just learned how to glide. The problem is; we need a safe place for him to train and rest without being disturbed by curious travelers. We were using a meadow for a short while, when Avalsmokes and Autumn got too nosy and discovered us. Both my dragon and Autumn now have scars to prove it.”
Inferno shifted just enough to reveal the minuscule gap between his foreleg and chest, where Omen clearly figured out had been the origin of the two scales.
The blacksmith then grew a little grim as he explained, “Last night, when I was working on the torches, Autumn did indeed come to pick up her arrows. She tried to hide it, but I saw that she had a large wound from her brow to her jaw on the left side of her face. She’s still a beautiful girl, and if that gash does indeed scar, which I think likely, it couldn’t ruin her face.”
Cody felt reassured that she was alright as Omen suddenly spoke to Inferno with a slightly lighter tone, “I suppose she lost her arrows fighting with you, and you gave her a nice scar with your stunning tail for revenge.”
Though the word revenge made Inferno cringe slightly, he nodded his bulky head in agreement, knowing it was at least partial truth.
Omen then looked around before moving on, “It’s about time we look around this cave, know where it is?”
Cody simply nodded and pointed at the hole, making Omen say, “I’ll light two of the hand-held torches, and Cody can have one, as well as myself. I will also be carrying the bag of torches, and we can nail one up on the right side fifteen feet in, and put one on the left fifteen in, and so on and so forth. After we have them all hung up, we will have ventured one hundred and fifty feet inside, if we even go that far. Agreed?”
Cody nodded as the blacksmith set to work, striking the steel on the flint (or the flint on the steel, Cody couldn’t remember which one) right over one of the slightly smaller torches. When it finally lit, he used it to light the other torch before handing it over to Cody, who he gestured should go in first, while Inferno brought up the rear.
Towards the beginning of their trek, Inferno wiggled through easily, with a few feet to spare on all sides. Then, as the cave got bigger, they began to see the ledges Inferno had described, and they noticed the ceiling began looming over them, easily 10 feet high when they had only taken a few paces in.
“Look here!” Cody exclaimed as he raced over to one of the walls where there were three deep gouges, and hundreds of other, slightly smaller ones began to appear all over the entire cavern.
Omen ran his hand along it, the whole length of about five feet, and showed them that it was much wider than his hand. He then handed his torch to Cody, and dug out one of the others before nailing it to the wall just above the scrape, and lighting it with his torch once he got it back from Cody.
“I’ll bet your kind has lived in this cave a long while ago, and hand-carved most of it out,” Omen told Inferno as he traced the claw-marks of a smaller dragon with the same palm.
About another fifteen feet in, Omen nailed up another torch, and pointed suddenly to a place a bit deeper into the cave. They all raced over and saw a large circle dug into the ground with bits of a hard substance that Cody and Inferno recognized, but not Omen.
“Dragon eggshells, this must have been a nest,” Cody explained. “Now that I think about it though, there’s no evidence of a humanoid being here, so this must be the old den of a wild dragon!”
The other two stared at him with their eyes dazzling with excitement. Wild dragons were extinct, and were extremely rare even thousands of years earlier, according to stories. They were the rarest of all dragons, and it was said that only a few extremely lucky people ever saw them, even the dragons that had riders rarely came across them, despite the wild dragons being ridiculously huge in comparison to the more tame dragons their age.
Omen picked up a piece of a shell, that was a pretty purple hue, and Cody said, “Inferno hatched from an egg only a fraction of that size. No doubt this is a wild dragon den…or at least was at some point.”
Cody picked up a piece of the only other egg that now lay scattered around, and noticed its beautiful luminescent golden color. He showed it to Inferno, who clearly felt a little jealous that he wasn’t the largest dragon, even though he was the last, which was a pretty high honor and responsibility also.
The three pressed on and continued to set up torches, finding nothing else particularly interesting except that the ceiling was now more than 50 feet above their heads, and the sides of the cave were nearly 80 feet across. That was when Omen pulled the final wall torch from the bag and nailed it to the wall before lighting it.
“Guess there’s nothing left to do but go and make more torches, or have you two practice together,” Omenn said with a sigh, very disappointed.
Cody patted him on the shoulder as they all walked back towards the entrance of the cave. They all marveled at the brightness of the torches one last time, however.
Cody said, “I think we’re going to wait until we have explored the cave some more before we practice. Who knows what’s lurking in there.”
Omen slapped his forehead with his palm and asked, “Then we probably should have brought weapons, shouldn’t we have? A dragon, no matter how powerful, can’t protect people from everything. A man has to stand up for himself.”
Cody reluctantly agreed and asked in return, “What do you intend to do?”
The blacksmith gave him a look of surprise and delight before answering, “I’m a blacksmith, you think I won’t make you a sword truly worthy of a dragon rider? Of course, it will take a long while to finish, so I’ll be expecting you to bring your bow along for a while and I’ll bring my dagger, the treasure that my father made for me when I was just a boy.”
Cody laughed as they slowly stepped back out into the open air, and saw that it was only an hour or so later than when they went in. Omen sat on a rock nearby again, and set his bag down to rest.
“I had better get back to my forge to start creating more torches and that sword. I’ll be talking to you two tomorrow about the same time, and I hope you’ll excuse me for forcing my way into your adventure, and then leaving so abruptly.”
Cody nodded and replied, “At least let me walk you back, you don’t know the safe trails like I do.”
Omen nodded as he stood up, picked up his bag, and gestured towards the forest for Cody to lead on. Inferno left to go to the meadow, which was his home until they could explore the cave far enough to be sure that there weren’t any hidden dangers. He just hid in the branches and kept alert for the sound of approaching footsteps or the scent of humans. Cody sighed as they reached his house and walked towards the stables to get Omen’s horse.
“What’s his name?” Cody asked Omen, feeling that he should try to learn as much as he could about Omen’s life.
The blacksmith laughed before replying, “Inheritance. I named him that when my father died only a few weeks after this guy was born, also since I felt that this horse was sort of an inheritance, especially since I adored my father’s horse who mothered this one.”
Cody felt a little confused as he pulled Inheritance from the stall, realizing that he had forgotten to take off all of the tack. The horse was probably fine, but might have been pretty uncomfortable if they had been gone for as long as they thought they would have been.
“He looks like a really good horse,” Cody said, more curious about the horse than Omen at that point.
“The finest I’ve ever seen,” Omen said. “He’s fast, which is how I got here so much earlier than I thought I would have, and he is strong and can be ridden for a long time. I once road him all the way to the mountains at a gallop at one point without stopping even.”
Cody was truly amazed, since the mountains were about two leagues away and the maximum distance a horse could travel at a gallop was about a league, and they’d be pretty exhausted afterwards. But as he took another look at the horse’s flank, he noticed that Inheritance was much stronger than he had first thought.
Cody looked at Omen as he stroked the horse’s neck and said, “You could probably make some really good money selling him.”
“Name one person in this town that would need, let alone pay, for a horse. No one travels very far around here, which would mean that I’d have to sell him somewhere else, and the nearest town is probably 20 leagues away!”
Cody shrugged and replied, “If you ever have to go that way for some reason, then you could probably make even more money selling him. Although, I suppose if you were travelling a long ways, you’d need him to get back. Oh, maybe when a trader comes by, they might need a good horse like that.”
Omen sighed and said, “I love this horse, I don’t know if I could sell him. But, if I need to, and I am penniless and completely broke, I’ll sell him, but only then.”
Cody grinned and helped the blacksmith onto Inheritance, and said good-bye as they charged off down the road.