Dawn's Light

Chapter 53

Celia groaned in pain, then blinked as her limbs obeyed her will to roll off of her side and sit up. She quickly burst into a seated position, then stood. After she regained her balance, the female Burt's into a sprint and ran over to the prison bars.

Once she arrived, the human female grabbed the bars in her hands, then looked down the hallway the best she could. However, the man who had captured him had already mysteriously vanished into the darkness. Celia could not even hear his footsteps echoing from back down the tunnel.

"Well, I guess we just stay here for the day. At least this way we do not need to find a way to pay for a room in an inn." Xan crawled over to a corner, then brushed a bit of dirt off of his clothing as he leaned against the wall.

"Should I summon Verbena and Irin?" Celia questioned as she looked around the carved grey stone room. "They could probably break us out."

"This is not the place to summon Verbena or Irin. Do not do it. Do not even think about it." Xan's sudden slightly aggravated tone rang with stern harmonies. "I do not want to try to explain a pair of dragons in our cell in a city that wants to kill dragons for stealing the sun."

Celia squeaked as she swiftly spun on one heel and turned back to face Xan. "But they would—"

"NO!" Xan cut her off. "Not. The. Place." He repeated as he shifted until he faced away from Celia and rested his head against the wall. "Just get in the corner and fall asleep. That is all we can do for now."

"You're here! You are actually here!" A sudden voice disturbed Xan's attempts to sleep. "The two of day's sky and grass! The white spirit dragon said you would arrive soon, and here you are! I had to wait until he was gone, but now I finally get to speak to you!" The voice burst into a bit of hysterical laughter.

"It is finally happening!" The strange voice continued to speak. "The end of the reign of the night is nigh! Finally nigh!" A gleeful laugh echoed through the dimly lit hallway. "True day!"

"There are always crazy people in dungeons," Xan groaned and pulled his cloak tighter around himself. "Ignore that man," Xan instructed Celia without looking up to her. "The white dragon is evil and cannot be trusted, everyone knows that. The black dragon is the savior of this city."

Celia frowned and paused as she mentally argued with herself over if she should continue the conversation. After a moment, she slowly walked over to the vertical cell bars and spoke to the man, "who are you? How did you know about us?"

"The white dragon told me about you! He is very wise and nice! Nothing like the stories. The black dragon has been lying and the tapestries have been misinterpreted! That has to be the answer!" He breathes heavily for a few moments.

When the strange man finally calmed, he spoke again. "I was a priest at the Temple of Cownturs," the voice began, "I was cleaning the ceremony room for King Rook's arrival, you know, cleaning out the snow and making sure the room is ready, when I accidentally bumped into the pillars that hold the summoning spheres. The white orb off of its pillar and into the summoning pedestal! As the room began to glow, I admittedly panicked and was frozen in fear for a little while but I recovered when I realized he—"

"The Temple of Cownturs?" Celia interrupted with a question, "what and where is that? I have never heard of it before."

"That temple atop the mountains west of here," Xan snorted, "We saw it once, but we avoided the place. It is better we did. That place is filled with a crazy cult and their crazier magic." The blue-cloaked rider paused as a brief yawn caused him to temporarily stop his speech. "The spirit dragons are not real, they are just legends to make the children behave and explain the unexplainable. Humans don't like the unknown, so they explain it with anything they can, even if they made it up."

"They are real!" The man squeaked indignantly, "And the black dragon has been tricking us this entire time! He told King Jude how to control the people by banishing the sun and giving the royals control over the light! Your pessimism is just the dungeon curse getting to you!

"But as I was saying," the priest attempted to continue, "the white spirit dragon told me—"

"Let me guess, you got sent into prison for blasphemy," Xan rolled his eyes and scoffed, "because absolutely no one would believe a single word that is coming out of your mouth. It is absolutely ridiculous, and I am pretty sure a lot of people would definitely agree with me. What you are saying makes absolutely no sense and it never will. No one will understand because the black dragon has been the patron of this city for a century or more."

"...well..., yes I was thrown in here for blasphemy...," the prophet slowly replied, "but only because Advisor Konrad told the king to do so!" The distant voice briefly wavered and groaned as if resisting a force attempting to silence him, "whatever you do, do not trust the wizard Konrad! He controls the king! Beware the man with eyes the color of blood—"

Celia blinked and waited for several moments, but the prophet's voice never returned. "Hello?!" Celia eventually called out as she hoped for the thin man to continue his tale. Despite Xan's aversion, the female rider found the story interesting and wanted to know more, especially if the former priest elaborated more on how he knew them or if he knew about the rays of light.

At first, small muffled noises carried down the hall as if the man was trying to speak, but eventually, even those petered out.

Unnerving silence ruled in Urre's dungeon.

"Xan?" Celia attempted to strike a new conversation. "Xan what do you think about the black and white spirit dragons? You know more about this culture than I, and since we're just sitting here I thought I could maybe learn a bit."

"I think he is insane and that you should just try to get some sleep." Xan mumbled without moving anything other than his mouth.

"But—" Celia attempted to speak.

"No." Xan countered.

"But—"

"No." Xan growled, then snorted. "Sleep is the best option right now, so do that and stop talking." Xan spoke through gritted teeth. "I'd rather rest now for when they come to kill us."

"They wouldn't kill us..." Celia murmured.

"Go to sleep." Her companion ordered in a stern tone.

"Xan—" the green-cloaked rider began.

"Not doing that again," Xan interrupted her once again, "especially not a third time. I'm not in the mood."

Celia moved to speak again, then closed her mouth with a slow defeated sigh. She gazed around at the multitude of vertical lines that scarred the dark stone and pondered what they meant.

Still quiet once again reigned as king in Celia's ears. Other than human breaths, no sounds permeated the dark dungeon. No acoustic water drips reverberated down the tunnel, and any movement from the residents sounded like a rumbling earthquake in stark contrast to the numbing absence of sound.

After a few more moments of sitting in the noiseless environment, Celia looked to Xan as the blue-cloaked rider attempted to drift asleep. The still-awake human hesitated, then walked over to the other back corner and sat down.

She felt completely alone in the dark cavernous dungeon. Because of what she believed to be a spell, Verbena could not hear the girl's thoughts or respond, and now Xan wished to ignore her.

Celia sighed, then leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. A light sleep slowly arrived, one that the green-cloaked rider would remember as dreamless.