The Inconvenient Alliance

Chapter 14

Grayson's POV:
Everything is quite peaceful currently in our small hidden camp area, almost too peaceful. I keep watch but since I have some time I take out a few of my maps from my backpack, especially one of the magic library, and look them over once more. We have been searching for a way to hatch the dragon egg and to figure out how to save Armen. We also first suspected the answers we are searching for would be in the magic library but after what happened we haven't even gone back to the magic library, in fact, I'm not sure if Armen is still around anymore since Drake mentioned he felt his life force leave once he broke one of "his" diamonds. As for the dragon egg, I suspect there is a hatchery or some way to hatch it, though due to searching all across practically the entire land and not being able to find it yet I have a feeling we may have missed something in the magic library. The last time I went near the area where the magic library is supposed to be the land just felt different, it wasn't the same, I know since breaking the diamond it not only affected "him" but the land around that area warped to be something entirely different, something unnatural. It's way too silent in the forests, no birds sing up in the trees, and all of the wildlife have seemed to vanish. Iv never ventured into the land that much to figure out what all had happened, part of me is frightened to find out how much damage Drake caused, how much we all caused that day. Though I suspect more happened than simply the land warping into something different, we just haven't discovered what it is yet. I let out a deep sigh and hear the scout shuffle a bit, straining against his bonds, he's waking up and I quickly put away my maps, checking the time once more. It's just before sunrise, this works out perfectly, I toss my clock back into the side pocket of my backpack. When I look up, the scout had shifted and lost his balance, now on the floor again on his side still struggling against the bindings around his hands. He looks over noticing I'm awake, noticing I'm watching him silently as he struggles on the ground and he attempts to say something, yell something at me perhaps but it's all muffled due to the gag, the cloth around his mouth. I pack up my sleeping bag then I look over to drake who is still asleep and nudge him gently to wake him up. I hear him mumbling Armen quietly under his breath, he must be having another nightmare and wakes in a panic, but soon realizes where he is and calms down. "Hey, Drake? Are you ok? You seemed to be having another nightmare about Armen." He takes a moment before responding, "yeah, I think so, sometimes I just feel like I failed him, I couldn't save him." I looked over at his saddened expression as he thought about it and I say back to him, "It wasn't your fault, some things happen but you tried everything you could and you never gave up on him." He looks over at me and responds, "you really think so?" I put my hand on his shoulder and look at him sincerely, "yeah, I do, you tried your best, and you never gave up on him, you still don't give up on him." His mood lightens up, hearing this from me, one of his good friends, and he responds. "Yeah, I guess you're right, part of me believes he's still out there somewhere, and I worry "he" may still have him." I think about this for a moment before responding, I guess there could be a small chance Armen is still out there or there is a way to get him back, I'm not sure what that would take though, "If he is still out there somewhere, I would try to help you again to get him back, I know he means a lot to you." He nods, a slight smile forming at the edges of his lips and I remove my hand from his shoulder and glance back at the scout. I would hate to ruin this nice moment but we still have to deal with him and get out of these caverns. I look back at Drake, "We need to finish up here and head out before reinforcements come" I remind him then continue, "can you pack up the rest of our things while I try to get answers out of this scout?" "Yeah sure." He would respond back and soon stand up, beginning to quickly pack up his sleeping bag into his backpack and pick up the two lanterns after he puts away the dampener cloths as well. Meanwhile, I go over to the scout cautiously, not underestimating him this time. I position him back up against the wall and take off the cloth around his mouth, then step back, beginning to ask him questions in the most serious tone of voice I could muster. "How long have you been following us?" He looks up at me, nothing is preventing him to speak and yet he hesitates, "Why should I tell you anything, dragon thief?" He finally says to me, with a lot of resistance, I have a feeling this is going to take longer than I want it to. I respond to him, "says the one who is bound up?" He still shows resistance, "You can hurt me, I still won't tell you anything about the empire, or the mission we were on." I don't say anything about it, but I have a feeling I already know what the empire sent this scouting party out to do, to find the dragon egg and to capture me, to turn both things into the empire, possibly even my friend Drake. He already knew about the egg somehow as he called me a dragon thief at the start so I have a fairly good guess of what he was trying to do, but my questions are not all about exactly what he was doing but to find out more information on the empire. I continue, knowing he is going to continue to show resistance unless I do something different so I plan my words carefully this time, "do you remember the diamond in the other room? I doubt you would want the same thing to happen to you." I hate using this as a threat knowing it's "his" diamond and I know what happened, it could happen to this scout too, but I also know not everyone in the empire knows a lot about magic, in fact, sometimes it even scares them. Perhaps I can scare him just enough with the talk of magic to get some information out of him. His flat expression falters slightly just for a moment when I mention it, though he catches onto my bluff, "No, I doubt you would do that, as you seem to want information and all of the information I have will die with me if you send me off to the same fate as that one fool in my group." He doesn't seem to want that same fate to happen to himself, though he also doesn't seem to care about the one in his group that did go for the diamond, saying he's a fool. I think for a moment then get an idea as I glance over at Drake, "Hey Drake?" I begin and he responds, "yeah?" "could you help me over here? He's being very stubborn, I can't get any answers out of him, maybe you could show him some of your fire magic." I wink to him out of view of the scout as he walks over, he returns a slight smile getting where I'm going. The scout struggles some more and kicks with his feet to scoot further back once he sees Drake, able to finally see him more clearly due to the lanterns light and Drake being closer to him, there was fear in his voice, "What the hell is that creature!?" I paused, I would assume he's heard of Drake as well but I guess, he's never seen a hybrid like Drake before, Drake may not even have to use magic after all now. I take advantage of this opportunity, "you don't want to find out, now I'll ask again, how long were you all following us?" He takes a moment, glancing between me and Drake now shakily, but finally answers my original question "Since the woods, we were following you two since you were the woods. We didn't attack then even though we should have and continued to follow as one of my group members became intrigued about the diamond once overhearing you mention something about it, I suppose you can thank him for that and his clumsiness." The empire isn't too far from here, at least one of their larger towns. I'm surprised we never noticed them out in the woods with us, and I continue, "How did you know we were out there?" He continues to respond, "we saw you out there, we were assigned a mission by the emperor for once, I'm sure you already know what that mission was." I finish the sentence, "to catch me and the dragon egg?" He sighs but admits it, "yeah, along with your freak friend over here." He shoots Drake a nervous glance, I slightly glare at him for calling Drake a freak but otherwise, I try to stay calm and ask him the final question I have yet an important one. "How far will the empire go to retrieve the dragon egg I took so many years ago?" He hesitates again, his lips coming together in a hard straight line, Drake becomes slightly impatient, handing me the lanterns as he shoots a small streak of flame near the scout that vanishes as soon as it came, the scout leans away from it and shuffles back quickly, as well as he can, and stutters, "I-I don't know, I doubt the empire will stop though, you have a high bounty on your head and will pay for all you have done! You have betrayed the empire, the emperor himself years ago, though I may not have completed my mission, I will know I served the emperor well unlike you, and I hope that your faces will not be the last thing I see." I look over at Drake, not having any more questions, "Do you have anything you want to ask him." I ask and he shakes his head, "No, and we probably shouldn't take him with us either." "Yeah, we should find someplace to leave him in the caverns" I add, handing the lanterns to Drake again and I crouch down beside him, quickly putting the gag back on him and I drag him out of the alcove. He tries to stand up to get away but I manage to knock him over and drag him out despite the struggle he's putting up this time. As we are going out, we notice the puzzle door to the room with the diamond is sealed and reset again, I guess "he" didn't like that many people in there, it's better he sealed himself in there with "his" diamond then chased after us that's for sure. I drag the scout out to one of the larger stalagmites off to the side and tie him up to it, then as I begin to walk away with drake to the exit of the caverns, we hear him shout one last curse at us, "When I get out of here, I will hunt you two down and find that dragon egg, for the glory of the empire! You will remember the name of Kalis to be your downfall!" He must have managed to get the cloth out of his mouth but I continued out of the cavern with Drake taking a mental note of the name, he may hunt us down later on, but his fate is in his own hands now, and he will have to get out of these caverns where "he" lurks first.