The Unlikely Hero

Chapter 5. A Pet

It took me almost an hour to cross the mines and get near the source of magic I had felt up earlier. I believe it was due to the fact that I had taken quite a few wrong turns and once I came onto a nest of rats that incorporated like 10 or 12 of those beasts... I ran the other way without even looking back.

But, surprisingly enough, I was finally here and as I stared at the wooden door in front of me, I could feel the magician was somewhere behind it. I did not know the mines had doors though. I shrugged my shoulders and took a quick glance at myself to make sure I looked presentable enough. Then, I pushed the knob and walked into a room-like cavern. The walls were lined with bookshelves that held old tomes and parchments. Papers were strewn around all over the floor and I squinted my eyes to get a better look at them. Most of the drawings looked a bit like summoning circles. Once upon a time, I had wanted to try my hand at summoning but it seemed the Academy had no professor and so I had to be content with my fire magic.

I surveyed the room further. There was a small bed in one corner and a wooden table with weird contraptions and books scattered all around. It almost seemed like someone was living here. I furrowed my brows, wondering who would actually choose to live so deep in the mines, secluded from the rest of the world. Feeling slightly confused I checked the power source I was following to make sure I came to the right place and it seemed that I did. I shook my head and crossed the room, having noticed some kind of stairs at the other end of it. The stairs were sculpted into the stone that covered the floor of the mines and I descended down carefully. The stairs rounded around in a spiral and when I finally reached the end of it, I found myself in a wide and spacious hall. It was devoid of any furniture, but there was a huge summoning circle on the floor or at least that's what I thought it was.

I walked towards it, glancing around curiously, but it seemed to be empty. Boy, was I ever wrong.

"Run, lass, run!" I jumped up startled at the voice and whirled around to face whomever it was but there was no one in front of me.

"I said RUN, you silly human!" I looked more carefully and finally, my eyes noticed a figure hunched up on a cliff about two or so meters up in the wall. I couldn't quite get a good look at him or her, but for a moment I thought it was a dwarf. He looked small, but sturdy and I once again checked in with the magical source to find out it was pointing to this particular man.

"Are you... magician Bour?" I asked doubtfully and the dwarf shouted back at me.

"What part of RUN don't you understand, you silly woman!" He bellowed at me and I flinched away from his loud voice. "He'll tear you to pieces!"

"Who?" I asked, feeling slightly confused, and that was when I heard a growling sound right behind me.

The dwarf up on the cliff groaned and I turned around very very slowly, wondering what beast I managed to come onto now. If a mental dragon wasn't enough already...

But as I finally turned around and my eyes fell on the beast in front of me, I merely cocked my brow. That... was the beast? Well, I had to admit I had never seen anything like it before but it did not seem that dangerous. It was a rather strange creature, actually. Black in color with red beady eyes, it stood on its all fours, crouching to the ground. I could see a tail swishing from side to side almost angrily as it whipped across the air in whooshing sounds. Its legs and entire body were muscular and well-toned, its head bowed down on a long neck in a defensive position. Its back had some kind of thorns standing up and they were positioned all along its spine and downwards to its tail. The monster was bearing its fangs at me, gnarling and growling and I stared at its long canine teeth astonished.

"Grrrrhh," it let out a low warning gurgle and I cocked my head in wonder.

"Awww," I squatted down to the ground slowly to be in its eye level. "What a cute little creature!"