Flying To New Heights

Chapter Fourteen

They walked into the cave. At the very back was a steel door. Johnathan inserted a black key into the keyhole. The black key had an "S" on it. Why was that on there? Johnathan looked back at her and smiled. He the pushed open the door.
At first, all Adelaide saw was a tunnel lit by lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Then she saw it branched off into three tunnels, the middle one ending in a staircase leading down. Doors were along the tunnel, and some had signs on them. Johnathan walked into the tunnel and waited for Adelaide and Oliver to come inside. Then he shut the door and locked it.
"How about a tour?" Johnathan said.
"Sure," Adelaide said. Oliver nodded.
"This tunnel is where the head of defenses and other major defenses and spies have their offices," Johnathan said. "See that door down there? That's my door." He pointed at the door at the very end of the hallway. Adelaide nodded and Johnathan led them down the far right hallway.
"This is where we keep our Relay and Prison offices. At the end, you'll see a staircase that leads to the cells. If I were you, I would never, ever go near that," Johnathan said. He led them back to the intersection and to the far right hallway. "This is the Helper's Hallway. The Helpers heal wounded solider and help kids of both species who are either found on the battlefield or orphaned by the war."
"Hey Johnathan?" Someone said, making Oliver and Adelaide jump. They turned around to see a tall woman with short, black hair standing behind them. She had deep, blue eyes and a blank expression one her face.
"Are these the ones?" She asked. "Calix is requesting to see them as soon as possible," she said.
"Yeah," Johnathan said. "Take them."
"All right. I'm Cordelia, by the way," she said to Oliver and Adelaide. "Now, come on. The head of the Parliament of Peace wants to see you."
Cordelia led Oliver and Adelaide down the staircase. It was lit by lanterns, and Oliver had to squeeze a bit to fit, since his shoulder were so broad. They eventually got down to the bottom. It opened up into a large room with tables set up. Dragons and humans sat together at the tables. They were eating, drawing, and writing. Some were just talking. But it was certainly very loud. Except when they stepped down into the room, everyone went silent. They stared at Oliver and Adelaide. Adelaide's cheeks went pink and Oliver put one of his wings around her. When he walked on his back legs, he was much, much taller than her. Adelaide walked a bit closer to Oliver. She realized her scales were showing and attempted to cover them, but to no avail. She looked around and saw that each wall had about ten tunnels leading off to different places. The wall they were heading for only had five, because the in the middle was huge. Cordelia led them through it to a large chamber filled with three desks, about a million maps, scrolls, books, quills, and many other things. A handsome, blue and green dragon sat at the desk writing furiously on a sheet of paper. He looked frustrated.
"Calix," Cordelia said. There was a certain tone to her voice that made it seem as though Cordelia and Calix weren't just coworkers. "I have Oliver and Adelaide." The blue dragon looked up and smiled, a wave of relief rushing over his face.
"Thanks Cordelia, you can go," Calix said. Cordelia nodded and left. "Welcome, Oliver and Adelaide. You do not know how good it feels to see the two of you together, and acting as though you are siblings." Oliver realized he had seen the wing around Adelaide, so he brought it down.
"I'm just glad we made it here alive," Adelaide said.
"Yes. I heard you had quite the run-in with the Council," Calix said. Adelaide nodded. "Are those scales on your arm?"
"Yeah. A CursedTalon touched me," Adelaide said, looking at her feet.
"Hey," Calix said softly, getting up and lifting her chin so that her eyes met his. For the head of a powerful group, he was gentle and warm. "No body cares what you look like. They care as long as you be who you are."
"I can do that really well," Adelaide said, smiling.
Calix clapped his hands together. "Well. Welcome to the headquarters of the Parliament of Peace!"