Dawn of the Wolf Dragons: Book one; A Dark Beginning (unedited version)

Chapter 10

The passage became narrower the as we trudged through it. The faint flicker of the torchlight danced against the walls.  

Quinn stopped. "does anyone feel like we're going up?"

He was right. We were going up. We continued on through the tunnel until it led straight up. I leapt. We were in a small cupboard. As I helped the others up I peeked through the cleft just like the mystery note person said. There was a small shop. It was opened up to the outside to allow visitors to walk straight in. There were four CheetahHawks currently in line. The barber, who in my opinion had an excellent trim, and a gorgeously flowing mane on the back of his neck, Wa just finishing a small cub's cut. I tried signalling to him through the crevice but, He turned his back to allow the cub to exit.

"Ah! Mr. BriskTail, I expect you would like a slick trim around the back of the neck and leave the mane out?" said the barber as he addressed his next customer.

"Yes please, and make it quick! The monthly derby race is going to begin in a short hour! wouldn't want to be late! Oh and I would like some gel please, citrus and palm if thats available." Mr. BriskTail said.

"Oh my! already!" The Barber exclaimed beginning to trim his fur. " I thought that was in three days! I must attend. The shop is closed. Everyone here will get their cuts. No more customers please!"

That blew our chance to talk to Cymry. But it also opened a passage for us to speak to the barber.

"Oh man. What will we do now!?" Quinn whispered.

"Red would be at the derby i'm guessing. Why else would she bring us here the day before the race?" Red pointed out.

"She must be attending!" I whispered back. "Or perhaps she's taking part."

We focused our attention back to spying on the salon.

"There you go sir. And now I will get the gel. Citrus and palm?"

"Yessir." BriskTail siad.

The barber headed our way. Oh no. What will we do? I thought desperately, trying to think of a way to get out of this. But to my surprise he opened up the cupboard and gave no indication that he knew we were there.

"Axe" Red whispered.

The barber raised his eyes and nodded, still not looking at us while he grabbed the gel containers. He leaned over and grabbed a bucket of water overtop of our heads. "I'll talk when everyone leaves." He whispered to us. His nose was black. He turned and closed the cupboard. 

No one noticed we were there. The cupboard was angled away from the front. We waited until all the customers were gone.

Then, the barber jumped into the cupboard. "Go down the tunnel." He instructed. When we were all down in the tunnel, he said; "I see you must have found my old friends note." 

We all nodded.

"Good. Now, he is a MoonFox. His name is Lumist and he was all about magic. When the new Admiral was elected, his tribe was hunted for their magnificent wings. He was sentenced to death but of course being a fox, he knew al sorts of tricks. He dug a massive tunnel leading to the prime locations here in Laostia. Of course, I was young then. Not that old. I was a basically a cub. but then he found me and we became friends. he wanted to make sure the Admiral wouldn't harm anyone without magic so he left those notes." He said.

"what about you? What's your name?" I asked.

"Me?" He chuckled. I'm Simba. "I wanted to follow him but he told me it was too dangerous. I was left here to pretend to go about my day, every day."

"so that's why you're a rebel, because you hate the government for chasing and hunting his tribe?" I asked. 

"Rebel?" he smiled with dreamy look in his eyes. "Is he still saying that? That was our joke. It's kinda like a resistance, but with positive protests." He told us.

"how long ago was this, is there a chance that he is still alive?" I asked then corrected, "no sorry, he is still alive right?"

"I guess i'll never know." he shrugged. "This was about five years ago."

"You are young then." Red remarked.

"How old are you?" he retorted 

"Two. We are all two." I said sheepishly.

"Well then." He said.

"You could come see your friend again. if you help us find our- our friend." I said.

"Your friend?" he asked. "What friend?"

"Her name is Cymry" Red said.

"Oh I heard about that. You're the prisoners she turned in. Please don't blame her. She is threatened everyday to have her mother executed." Simba said.

"Oh." We all said.

"I can show you the passage that leads closest to the derby. If we get there on time, you can see Cymry. She is competing." Simba told us.

"We are grateful. But why is the race so important?" Quinn asked.

"the winner gets to become part of the few individual CheetahHawks who get a private den at the outskirts of the village." He told us.

"hmmm" I said. "I wonder why she wants that?

"Her mother would be safe there." Simba explained.

"let's go then!" Red said.

"you're right! the race is starting very soon!"

We headed down the tunnel once more.