Flames [Slow Updates]

Chapter Ten

Step by step, I carefully edged my way deeper into the tunnel. The light from the enterance faded suprisingly quick, and for a while, I was wandering blind. I had no idea where I was going. All I could do is stick my arms around to keep from bumping into anything, and pray that I wouldn't miss a turn-off in the dark. The tunnel began to close in a little. Then it suddenly widened. I could begin to see the walls. It was growing lighter.

Energized, I rushed forward, and burst into the chamber. The light suddenly brightened, a starburst who's afterimage I could see with my eyes closed. When my eyes no longer burned, I opened them.

I'd seen this place before. A huge marble cavern, tinted in green, though the far off corners gleamed white. The iridescent floor was smooth and cold against my feet. I couldn't even see the ceiling, walls around me just swooped up into shadows. I could imagine them disappearing into the sky. The far side of the room was draped in shadows as well, but I could easily see the huge hole in the wall, evidently the enterance to another chamber.

It was the place from my dream.

I shuddered, thinking about it. I'd seen a Dragon here. I'd BEEN a Dragon here. I slipped my hand inside my little pocket, and my fingers curled around something hard. I pulled it out and frowned. How had THAT gotten there? My Onrefni twinkled innocently under the light, not offering a single answer. Shuddering, I continued my lonely walk towards the hole. I began to count my steps aloud. It echoed uncomfortably through the chamber. "One, two, three..." I began feel warmer. My skin started to tingle. "Four, five, six, seven, eight..." My hair itched against the nape of my neck. “Nine, ten, eleven, twelve…”

A thud shattered the silence. I instinctively froze. My senses went hyper-sensitive. I stood rooted to the spot for a few minutes more, then ventured to try to figure out what it was. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

Silence.

I tried again. “Is there anyone there? Um, people? Flamers? Rainfreeze? Dragons?”

The thuds started up again. A single golden claw had flashed at the end of the hall, from the hole in the wall, and only then did I realize what was going on. I turned to my heel and ran, towards the entrance. But it simply wasn’t there.

I was trapped.

I began to scream. “No no no! Leave me alone! I’ll go away, I promise! Really!” The thuds horribly, heartlessly continued. I continued to scream myself hoarse. My doom had come to fetch me.

 Finally I could see it. A huge thing made of red scales that glowed like coals and ivory teeth and razor-sharp claws and horns. Gleaming golden eyes.

 Honestly, I couldn’t see the family resemblance.

 “Who are you?” She looked down at me with her flat, lifeless eyes. I was reminded of a snake. Her voice was the gritty sound of rock scraping against each other. The sound grated against my ears.

 “I-I-I a-am Sa-Sa-Sam-an-“

 Her eyes narrowed. “Who are you!” I nearly fell down.

 “I-I-I’m Samantha!” I blurted out. “And I’m a Dragon.”

 “A Dragon, you say.” I nodded. Her tail flicked across the floor, resting around me. It coiled closer and closer. “Prove it to me.”

 I swallowed. "I c-can't. Dragon's b-b-bond."

 "Were you told to stutter as well?" Stern. Unforgiving. She reminded me of military schools.

 "No," I answered, forcing myself not to.

 Suddenly, her tail writhed off the floor, and slammed down. I shut my eyes, shrunk back slightly, expecting to be crushed. Instead, I felt a light touch on my head. I opened my eyes, and looked up at her. The tip of her tail hovered above me, carefully kept in palce. I was standing in the middle of a ring of coils. There was absolutely no way that I could escape. If she wanted to kill me, I would be dead. "Speak."

 "M-my name's Samantha Summers. I"m a D-Dragon."

 The cold eyes watched me. "Do you know who I am?"

 "You're a Dragon, too. The Dragon Mother." The coils tightened around me. Any tighter, and I'd be squeezed. Her scales were warm.

 "And you, little hatchling, are a Dragon?" Tighter. I could only take shallow breaths.

 I jerked my head. "Yes."

 "Prove it." I could barely breathe.

 "L-l-let me go," I gasped. I found an energy I didn't know I had and shoved against the enclosingred walls. "LET ME GO!" My fingers flickered with fire. I began to black out. Then suddenly, the pressure around me disappeared. I could breathe. "Thank you."

 "And you are a Dragon." If The Dragon Mother had eyebrows, she would've raised them.

 I took a shuddering breath, gave a hacking cough. "Yup. A very wimpy one, but a Dragon all the same."

 "Do you have any stone with you? Anything?" Urgent. Why would she want a stone?

My hand dug into my pocket. My fingers closed around the Onrefni. I pulled it out and balanced it on my palm. "Here you go."

She looked at it. "Passable." Then, with out any warning, she blew fire at me. The narrow stream of red flames licked at me. The diamond heated up, crumpled into itself. I expected the pain my mother had told me about, but it didn't come. Instead, the pressure on my head lightened. I could think again. The Dragon Mother snapped her jaws shut. The room looked dull and dark, compared to how it'd been earlier. The diamond condensed in a colourless, ugly lump.

"What was that for?" I scowled, stutter all but forgotten. "I thought that if your Onrefni was destroyed, you'd die too."

She looked at me evenly. "Yet you are alive. My children have grown weak in the ways of the Dragon. That worthless stone is nothing but a weakness. But now I have given you a key."

"A key to what?"

The tail swept away. I, for one, was happy to see it go. She looked at me shrewdly. "Are you aware that there are other Dragons in the world?"

"I thought that.. that there weren't any left.," I said, haltingly. There weren't, right?

"You and I, and a few others, are the only Dragons left free. All the others are locked up."

I made the connection. "And you just gave me the key. If you had it all along, why didn't you free them yourself? Or why didn't you get some other Dragon to free them?"

"I cannot leave my shrine alone. And as to letting you free them, I see strategic value in letting you do it. Tonight, after they believe you are asleep, take the key and leave. They will not see you. Head west. Shift and fly as far as you can. To shift, simply imagine yourself a Dragon. It will work. When you get to the prison - you will not miss the prison-, stand outside and and ask them about the shrine of Athnams. They must respond by saying 'simply a myth'. Only then should you free them. Otherwise, get rid of the key. Do you understand?"

I nodded, dumbfounded. Here was another superior pushing me around.

"Then its best if you get back." And she was gone.

I looked at her hole. Then I headed to the tunnel.

A while later, I emerged blinking, in the sunshine. "How did the talk go?" It was the patient soldier.

"Well," I shrugged, unsure myself. "I'm not dead, am I?"

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Hi. I decided to update. This is dedicated to a fan. Please remember to vote and comment. (My author's notes ae getting routine.) Lalalalalalalalalalalala. Really. Go ahead.