Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 4 | The Lone Elf

"Approach with caution," Agent 34 ordered. "and ease in slowly. Don't land. Get within speaking distance," Their dragon grunted, slowly the pace at which he flew and began to go towards the stranger. 

When they were within a couple yards, the elf spotted them. It pulled its hood over its head and whipped out a bow. The elf fired at immense speed, arrows going straight towards the brown dragon. 

"Crud!" Paöminar stopped approaching and flew upwards, trying not to attack back. He dodged the arrows best as he could while he waited for someone to give him an order. 

"Agent 34, should we try to get down there and speak with them?" Ismara suggested.

"How? He can't get close with these arrows firing all around him!" The elf said, looking over the edge of Paöminar. He spotted the elf slowly retreating behind the mountain that they stood on. The elf continued to shoot at them, walking farther backwards with each step.

"Paöminar, when they go behind the mountain, land and drop us off. Follow and distract them," Agent 34 said, a smirk on his face. He flashed a smile at Ismara, who smiled back. Both of them were suddenly filled up by each other's warm expressions.

The dragon roared, flying from side-to-side and dodging every arrow thrown at him. Many pierced his scales, however most missed his wings, luckily.

The elf then bolted, running away as fast as it could. Most likely out of arrows.

Paöminar folder his wings, letting his body fall. He unfolded them when he was about to hit the side of the mountain and lowered his passengers down onto it. "Go get 'em!" He shouted, taking back off into the air and flying in the same direction as the mysterious elf.

Agent 34 and Ismara followed the trail that had been imprinted into the mountain by use. It was obvious something had been taking this route a while. The two elves reached the end of it, which led to a decently large cave. When they peaked inside, they were greeted by a large cannon getting wheeled outside. 

Agent 34 and Ismara jumped backwards, pulling out swords. The cannon aimed up into the sky and shot, pushing backwards slightly. Whoever controlled the cannon seemed oblivious to the Destigems standing beside the cannon.

"Hey, can we just talk?" Agent 34 said, trying to walk behind the cannon. The front of it whipped around to the source of Agent 34's voice and smacked him in the side, throwing him into a stone wall. 

Ismara grabbed him and pulled him up quickly, preparing for a battle, as if they haven't had enough in the past few days. The user of the cannon jumped out and drew a sword as well, both sides knowing what was to happen.

Agent 34 and Ismara launched at the elf, blades colliding instantly. The Destigems pushed against their opponent, throwing them into the stone walls of the cave. The elf hit the wall and slid down onto the stone floor, jumping up and retreating deeper into the cave. 

"Do we follow?" Ismara shrugged.

Agent 34 quickly nodded, grabbing Ismara's hand and pulling her with him. They ran after the stranger, deeper into the cave. Agent 34 knew that it could be a trap, but he also thought the elf was not expecting any visitors anytime soon.

The cave began to descend deeper until they came to a man-made stairwell. It obviously took years of work, loads of detail going into the carving on each uniquely shaped step. The walls all depicted different stories, all of which had some sort of jewel in it which the story revolved around. Agent 34 was intrigued but didn't get much time to fully comprehend each wall story, as he was running down the stairs after the strange elf.

The elf led them down to a small kitchen and a dining room. Connected to that was a very long hallway with muiltple doors, each around a few feet apart from the last. The entire floor they were on felt like some sort of bunker to him, something that was built for emergency.

A loud clank sounded behind them as the Destigems exited the stairwell and emerged into that kitchen. Agent 34 glanced back up the stairway and discovered that something had shut the entrance of it off. All that stood there now was a giant stone wall, much like the rest of the cave.

"Ismara, that elf shut us in!" Agent 34 whispered to his friend. She looked into the stairwell and looked up, seeing the entrance being shut off.

"There's no way," She said. "That elf was ahead of us. They have to be in here somewhere,"

Agent 34 realized she was right, nodding his head and raising his blade over his head. The two traveled through the kitchen towards the only door in that room. Both of them jumped out into the dining room quickly, looking for the elf and preparing to strike anything that jumped out at them.

Nothing did, and they continued down to the hallway with loads of doors. Both of them kept their instincts up and swords up higher. Each walked slowly down the hall, one foot in front of the other with their sides pressed against each other. 

They made it to the end of the hallway which curved to the right. At the curve was a small room with no visible door and was around the size of a supply closet. A big red button was on the wall of it with glass casing that had been shattered off of it. 

"The elf is in here," Ismara whispered, leaning towards Agent 34's ear. 

Agent 34 quickly held up three fingers towards Ismara. He mouthed three, then two and took off a finger. Finally, he mouthed one and lowered his hand.

Both of them jumped into the room quickly and prepared to strike at anything inside.