"What if they're not in these mountains?" voiced Ecru uncertainly as he landed.
"Well, I suppose we'll have to try to find some other places with caves or something," replied Marina.
Ecru nodded, then looked up towards the peak. "Be careful Marina, I'm worried about rock slides. A rock slide can hit and hurt both of us you know."
Marina gave a jerk of her head. "Got it." She smiled and turned carefully. "Let's go that way."
Ecru glanced over. "What's there?"
Marina turned, smiling at her mate. "I see a hole."
The two dragons didn't bother to try and fly again, as doing so would require more wing space than they had. Go get into the air, they'd need to push off the mountain, and the hole was so close it just wasn't worth the jump off.
Marina managed to crawl to the hole first, Ecru laughing. "It's not a race you know," he laughed.
"You only say that because I'm faster than you," she chuckled.
Marina tilted her head. "I'm going in!"
"Wait, Marina!" cried Ecru, but she was already in the hole. "We don't even know what's in there yet," Ecru said to nothing, then sighed. He began trying to climb into the hole, but the opening was a bit small for him.
"Marina?" called Ecru cautiously.
"Over here!" Marina answered. "It's really dark in here," Marina said in a small voice.
"Marina, I think I'm stuck."
"Ecru?" asked Marina, not sure she heard correctly.
"I can't move. This hole is too small, and I don't think Aquaflame is in here. Or Orion. Aquaflame might fit, but Orion, definitely not."
Marina walked up to her mate and looked at the cave's opening where he was stuck in. Not much sunlight peeked through.
"I'm going to kick the rock out, okay? Then you'll have enough room to go free."
Ecru nodded. "Once you do, fly out as fast as you can. I don't want you to get stuck somewhere."
Marina snorted, "Okay," then proceeded to turn around and lash out with her tail, knocking out the rock around Ecru.
Ecru quickly turned and leaped out, flying away. Marina also began bounding away when the mountain cave rumbled.
"Marina?" called Ecru, look over his shoulder. Seeing the situation Marina was in, he quickly turned and began flying as fast as he could back to Marina.
Marina manged to leap from the cave, and began sliding down the steep slope. A rock slide was put into motion because of the attempted at rescue Marina had made. Ecru flew to Marina and tried to knock Marina out of the way, but before he got close enough, a large rock hit him on his back, and he fell, crashing into the forest below.
"Ecru!" cried Marina. She jumped, trying to get airborne, when a small shard of rock slashed across her face, making her flinch. At that moment, another boulder had decided to hit Marina full force, and she too fell to the forest, but unconscious.
Ecru shook the small pebbles from his wings and body and looked up. "Where is Marina?" thought Ecru frantically. "This place is getting too dangerous," Ecru yelped, as rocks, stones, and boulders of various sizes came raining down. He began running, or rather, galloping, away from the mountain. Reaching a clearing, Ecru bound up and began beating the air furiously. Relieved to be in the air, Ecru quickly scanned the forest for Marina, but the canopy of leaves was too thick to see into.
"Marina!!!" roared Ecru. "Marina!!!" After no response, Ecru snarled his frustrations and began flying back to where he and his mate had slept for the past couple of days. Ecru landed with more weight then it seemed possible. It was almost as if his heavy heart was making his weight increase. Ecru ripped a tree out and, instead of gently blowing a small stream of fire, Ecru blasted it, turning the tree to cinders in just a few seconds. Ecru then settled into the ashes and embers and whined a lamentation.
"When it's night time, I'll fly above the forest and light up the sky so you will know where to fly. I'll be your beacon," Ecru sighed, overcome with grief. Then, in the warm embers, Ecru settled down and waited for night to come.
