The Dragon Bond: Heirs of Lyra

Chapter 34

Shade refused to look at her. Instead he lowered his head and said, "Come, we're wasting time."

It took her another moment to gain control of her legs. She was awestruck, made dumb by her own actions. She shook her thoughts clear and hurried to catch up with her guardian before he could leave her behind. They were silent for a long time after that. So silent it almost drove the young Princess mad.

It wasn't too much longer, however, that they came to a sudden halt. Shade looked around before finally crouching low to the ground and examining something. "We're here."

Elysia frowned, looking down to see what he meant by that. It certainly didn't look like they were there. She had expected a large, grand opening into a dark and damp cave. After all, the few books she had read involving caves described exactly that. Instead it looked like every other part of the kingdom they had walked so far. Nothing looked particularly special here.

Then Shade moved a few branches that were resting on the forest floor and pushed them aside, revealing a small opening in the ground.

Elysia peered down into the opening but saw only darkness. "What is that?"

"That," Shade answered, "Is the entrance to the cave."

Elysia gulped. "Looks more like a pit of doom to me."

Shade grunted in agreement. "One in the same."

That didn't sound good to the Princess. She was baffled as to how they were going to move forward from here. It seemed as though the only way to get into the cave was through this small opening in the Earth's crust. But Elysia had no idea how far it went or what the inside would be like.

"What do we do?" she asked, her voice panicked.

Once again Shade pulled an item from his pack, this time revealing a long knotted rope. "We go down," he stated simply. He began fastening the rope around a sturdy trunk, securing it tightly. He gave it a good tug, then put his body weight into it until he was satisfied.

He went right up to the looming hole in the ground and turned back to the Princess expectantly. "Coming?"

Her eyes widened. "Is this the only way in?"

Shade nodded grimly. "Believe me, if there were another way I would have taken it years ago."

She took a step forward, closer to the hole.

"I will go down first and then call to you when I am ready," he explained.

Elysia shook her head, "How far does it go?"

"Far enough. Don't think about it." Suddenly he had an idea, "Think of it like that night you climbed out of your bedroom window when you tried to escape. This is no different."

"You said you would never mention that night again," she pointed out, embarrassed he would bring it up. She remembered that night well, when she thought she had been sneaky and outsmarted her guardian. She made it all the way to the bottom scaling down a make-shift rope only to find her guardian waiting for her at the bottom. He left her dangling there for a while before he insisted she climb her way back up and go to sleep. He had promised he would not speak of her efforts to escape if she climbed up rather than took the stairs back up.

Elysia had been furious at the time, though her guardian obviously found much humor to it. He thought he was so clever.

"If you can scale down the castle wall, you can scale down the opening of this cave."

Elysia nodded, gaining enough courage to at least try. She watched in worried anticipation as her guardian went first, skillfully climbing down the rope for what seemed like eternity. Finally, she heard him call up to her.