Soul Bound

Chapter 15

When Eva first arrived at Dragon Canyon, she had thought the clay castle hanging off the canyon cliffs was all that the base had to offer. It had been an easy enough fact to accept, given the size of it. Surely, it was big enough to house all of the heroic Knights and their dragon partners inside it?

It was not.

Inside was far bigger, burying deep within the canyon walls and spreading like an ant colony. Eva's head reeled trying to store all the information, which turn led to where, the best tunnels to take, where the fucking mess hall was. How to get back to their room. There were a few signs at main intersections, but they didn't appear as often as one would hope. It was like it was designed to confuse people.

Annaliese paused by an inconspicuous tunnel, turning to find a slightly overwhelmed Eva. She offered an apologetic smile. "We have two more stops after this, then I promise we'll take a break."

Eva rubbed her temples, wrestling with a headache, then nodded.

The Corporal gestured down the narrow tunnel. "If you follow this passage to the end, it'll take you to a cute date spot on top of the canyon. It's completely private." She waggled her eyebrows, no stranger to using hideaways such as this one. "If you want to stop other couples with the same idea from interrupting you, all you have to do is place a lightstone." Reaching into her pocket, she tapped her palm-sized stone then laid it on a small ledge at the tunnel entrance.

A flush worked its way up her face when she began to wonder what kind of things people got up to at the end of the tunnel.

Annaliese grinned at Eva's blush. "You're adorable. Come on. Next stop."

Eva followed her down a flight of stairs. This stairway was more compact, and only went down two flights, far more discrete and practical than the giant cylindrical staircase at the heart of the base.

Their next stop was the stables, which was the Knights' nickname for the giant cavern where riders saddled their dragons before leaving the canyon. It must have once been an underground lake, it was so big; stalactites hung from the ceiling, while the walls and floor were smooth but held soft ripples in the rock. Despite being dry, the rock surface glistened as if the sun was shining down on a lake. At further inspection, the glittery effect was created by tiny stones embedded into the rock, like in their bathroom ceiling. She wondered if they were natural, or if someone had installed them when this base was created.

"This is the stables. Everything you need for tack and Arkon's saddle can be found in there." Annaliese pointed at a large room on the far end. "When I teach you how to saddle Arkon, we'll go over stable etiquette. There's only so much space here and hundreds of Knights come and go from this place daily. You'll need to know where everything is and how to move quickly."

Eva nodded, tucking this information away for later examination.

"Okay. Next stop."

Annaliese took her up to the same floor as the gyms and training rooms. This particular room was at the end of the long hallway and it boasted a double door entry, while the rest were only single doors. Winking, she opened the ordinary, unsuspecting doors and gestured grandly to the fresh Five Hells inside.

"Eva, meet Plummet!"

Eva craned her neck up and up to take in Plummet in all of its horrendous glory. Plummet was a balancing beam wedged between two platforms. The beam spanned the length of the room, which was the length of a dragon, and was narrow, barely wide enough for a foot to balance on. The kicker? It wasn't a solid piece of wood, with hundreds of segments breaking it up into tiny pieces. Doubtfully stable for anyone to walk along. To make it worse, it was twenty feet high and the only thing to break her fall was a pile of mats.