Prince of Fire | Dragonfire Book One

Capítulo Trece

The dragon is the most cunning creature of all. It had all of eternity to learn its seductive and evasive skills.

~ History of the Order

Chapter Thirteen

Elena tried to fall asleep. She really did. But the rigid stone ground was unforgiving against her curves, and the most uncomfortable aspect of her current position was that her head was laying on a rock. For her, it was between a rock pillow or the stone ground with no neck support. She was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. Clenching her eyes shut and trying to force herself to fall asleep, she turned to her back and felt her lips purse into a frown.

Eventually, she gave up. Elena sat up and observed that Colton, Katie, and Evelyn seemed to have fallen asleep. The soundness of that sleep seemed to vary among the three, with Colton sleeping the most soundly, Katie the next, and Evelyn the least. Tossing and turning, Evelyn seemed almost as restless as Elena had been, but at least she appeared to be in some state of sleep. At that point, Elena realized that there was an empty spot around the fire and a missing person from the group: Dante.

Her shoulders tensed, and she swiftly and quietly rose to her feet, careful not to disturb anyone. Her bare feet pattered against the cold ground before slipping into her sturdy combat boots. Elena shivered slightly, running her arms to generate some heat, but continued walking away from the fire to investigate Dante's whereabouts. The further she was from the fire, the darker and more limited her vision was. She had to slowly move and allow her eyes to adjust to the changing light, or, rather, the declining amount of light.

Outside the small cave lie a rocky platform, outlined with a fairly smooth pathway. The hoots of owls and chirps of crickets created a night symphony in the surroundings. Yet, Elena's hearing was still keen enough to pick out an abnormal rustling sound on the path to the left. She cautiously followed that sound, reaching for the knife in the small sheath of her boots. Every following step was carefully weighed and considered.

Finally, she identified the rustling sound when she saw Dante, whose torn shirt was flapping with the wind. Despite being in the dark, Elena could see Dante's hazy outline leaning casually against the stone face of the mountain, with his arms crossed and his face tipped upward to the sky. Based on his pose, she would have guessed that he was secretly stargazing.

"Dante?" Elena called out, watching as the figure turn his head.

"Elena?" Dante's voice replied, unsure. "What are you doing up and about?"

Elena smiled, though he probably couldn't see it. "I could ask you the same question," she replied before actually answering his inquiry. "I couldn't sleep. My head isn't meant to lay on rocks. And when I got up, I saw that you were missing, so voila, here I am."

She lifted her foot to hide the knife back in her boots before walking toward Dante. She left a comfortable amount of space between them before she copied his pose and leaned against the wall, looking up at the clear and starry night sky. Every silver light was a pinprick of glitter, scattered unevenly to the naked eye. So overwhelming were the stars because of their unmasked presence far from the cities. Yet, in the moonless night, they were beacons, guiding them in the dark.

"The stars are very beautiful, aren't they?" Elena mused quietly, knowing that Dante could hear her.

"They also give directions," Dante remarked, pointing up to a familiar cluster of stars and gesticulating as he spoke. "Recognize the small dipper? Well, at the end of it is Polaris, the North Star. And since this way is North, our cave is facing East, which means that the morning sun will rise from our direction."