Fireball

Vanished

Fireball and his friends flew up and down the coastline, looking for Dronin and the others. Days of hard work on fortifying a wall around their new village was just the thing to push the last visit to the large cavern with the eerie room to the back of Fireball's mind. His desire to enjoy some relaxing underwater exploring with his friends was all he could think of.

After searching for hours and finding no one, Fireball and the other dragons were ready to head back home. Then two sea dragons broke the surface of the water. They recognized the dragons, but were quick to notice neither of them was Dronin.

"Where is Dronin?" Fireball asked. The female dragon, Elyse, looked at Fireball, strangely.

"We don't know. We have been looking for him. I just saw you and your friends flying above and we thought we would ask if you had seen him. Dronin went to the surface two days ago, looking for you. Nobody has seen him since. We had hoped he was with you."

"The wizards got him!" The other sea dragon blurted out. "They are evil. I know they got him."

"Don't listen to him." Elyse replied quickly. "Endrik believes that wizards kidnap dragons and torture them, but there are no wizards around here. In the years since we arrived here, some have made their way to this island, but just passing through. None of them have ever stayed long."

Endrik glared at Fireball and his friends.

"If I'm crazy and wrong, then explain why we have had several dragons go missing every year? Nobody has ever found a body and no missing dragon has ever returned home."

Elyse discounted Endrik's theory, since her group had hundreds of dragons, with some coming and going all the time. She looked at Fireball, with worry in her eyes.

"Please look out for Endrik. Maybe you could even help us search the caverns, in case he got stuck in one."

Drake and Kaida moved up beside Fireball. They were all very interested in helping to search for Dronin, but then Fireball started to think about their last trip under water and the secret room. Maybe, he thought, the disappearance of Dronin had something to do with them disturbing the hidden room and removing some of its contents. Maybe some hidden guardian of the room kidnapped Dronin and wanted the treasure returned. Fireball had to help find Dronin and he had a pretty good idea where to start.

Fireball teamed up with Elyse and Endrik. Endrik's theory seemed a little unbelievable, but Fireball knew anything was possible, and Endrik was very large and agile. If they did encounter trouble, Endrik would be an asset in any fight. Fireball also wanted Elyse with him. He hadn't known her long, but he knew she was very smart and she seemed to know the caverns better than anyone. Any clue they found, Fireball was sure he and Elyse would best be able to use it to find Dronin. Kaida and Drake teamed up with several other sea dragons who had accompanied Elyse and Endrik.