Wings of Deceit

Chapter Eighteen

"I'll head in first," Larc announced, bringing his wing to his chest to tuck it in. It would be a tight squeeze for someone with his stature to fit through the gap. "Then I'll let you two know if the immediate area is safe."

Haera frowned, as if she wanted to be the first to enter, but she made no objections.

"Be careful," I replied with a nod, watching as he slowly edged his remaining wing through the gap.

After a moment of silence that neither I nor my sister breathed for, we got an echoing response from the Dragon-born. "It's safe! You can come on through!"

Haera took the lead and pushed her way through the cave entrance first and signalled her hand for me to follow her. When we both made it to the other side, it took a moment for our eyes to adjust.

Darkness swallowed the cave, fighting to consume everything in its path. It managed to capture any light as a hostage in its grip, all of it except the blue sparks that floated up from somewhere below us. The fragments of power provided just enough light to see, but we would have to move slowly to avoid tripping over or running into something we didn't mean to. As I squinted to get my eyes to focus, I noticed that the cave sloped downwards in a spiral, as if it led towards the centre of the mountain.

This had to be it.

In the distance, a faint squeaking sound could be heard, making a shiver run down my spine. "What was that?" I asked, stepping closer to Larc and Haera who had started making their way down the slope.

"Hopefully, it should only be bats," my sister assured. "They probably love an environment like this."

"Bats?" Larc questioned, his hand never leaving the hilt of his winged sword. "What are those?"

We both turned to the Dragon-born in disbelief. "You haven't heard of a bat before?"

He shook his head, slowing his pace as we reached a turn in the cave's path. "No, I haven't"

"They're small, flying animals that live in caves," I began to explain. "They're blind so they use squeaking as echolocation to move around. I'm surprised you haven't heard of one before, bats kind of have similar-looking wings to Dragon-borns."

"They're part Dragon too?" Larc's brows raised in surprise, the glow of the blue sparks reflecting in his eyes.

"No," I chuckled as Haera stifled her laughter too. "They're just regular animals. Though, I wonder if-"

My words stopped as Larc grunted and quickly moved to the side, dodging something that had headed his way. "Is that one of the bats you speak of?"

The sound of a dagger being unsheathed to my left made my breathing hitch in my chest. "It's not," Haera confirmed as she stepped towards whatever had soared past Larc. "Bats don't have eyes like that."

"Like what?" I squinted into the darkness, trying to find out what the others had seen. It was difficult to make out amongst the blue sparks that floated through the air, but near the roof of the cave was another set of blue glowing lights. However, these ones didn't flicker in and out of existence.

My hand reached for the dagger underneath my shirt. What were they? Were they another kind of shadowed creature we had seen in the forest? Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't good.

When the flying creature squeaked again, it was poised ready to attack Larc again. The Dragon-born raised his sword in anticipation of the attack and when it flew towards him, it met the blade with a piercing shriek. Just like the last time Larc had attempted to skewer the shadowed beast with his sword, his weapon clashed against more metal.