Onward: Grand Quest

Chapter 2

-Ian-

Ian and Linda go to his house to study. The kitchen is occupied by the mom and colt, the police centaur, because they are having date night. So the two teens study in the living room. Ian is completely innocent and is actually trying to help her study; he has no intention of letting her know, yet, that he likes her.

-Barley-

Barley and Cinda take his van, Guinevere 2, to the forgers lair and where they find a sign up that says they will demolish the property the following day. Barley is not happy about this but doesn't know what to do about it. "Well they plan to take it down. There has to be something we can do?!" he says looking around at the entrance.

Cinda looks around the entrance and then turns to him with a smirk. "We should go in."

"Well they said it had become dangerous." Barley replies. "I don't want them to build over it but i don't think it's safe."

"Well I'm going in." she replies. "I want to see if this place can be saved. I don't like wasting my time." she enters the cave mouth and disappears.

Barley can't help it, he wants to see the inside and he doesn't want her to go alone so he follows her. They enter inside the cave and immediately walk into a large cobweb. She pulls it off her face without a sound and keeps walking. Barley is almost impressed that she hadn't screamed. 'Something about her. It's like she knows how to quest.' they go deeper in and no longer can see because it's so dark.

Cinda stops in front of an object in the dark. "Barley." she whispers.

"Yeah." he whispers back. "Don't freak out." she replies. Then he hears her begin chanting in a voice so low he isn't sure if it's her or if it's farther away.

"Why would i freak out?" he mumbles.

After a second a fire shoots along the back wall of the cave and roars up through large rocks and along some strings of lanterns that dotted the previously dark room.

Cinda smirks with a hand on her hip. "Just like I thought. The forge still works." she turns to Barley and nods towards the forge which is now lit. "I didn't know it would light these lanterns but I was hoping the forge would still be active."

Now that they can see they notice little cobwebs thick around the whole place. "How did you do that?" Barley says staring at Cinda.

"Um..." she kind of avoids the question. "Looks like nobody has been in here since the dragon left."

"You... you don't want to talk about your magic." Barley realized. "You have magic?! You're a witch?!" He says this a lot louder then he had meant to and he points at her excitedly bouncing up and down on his toes at a loss for more words.

"I said don't freak out." she mumbles.

"Who's freaking out?! I'm not freaking out?!" he says louder then he intended.

The cave rumbles and a piece of the ceiling falls. It doesn't hit anyone but it scares them a little. "You need to lower your voice." Cinda mumbles. "This place is sensitive."

He looks apologetic. "Sorry." he whispers. "So what do we do now?"

Cinda looks around and finds a path that leads deeper into the tunnel. "I bet this cave here leads down into the metals mine." she replies. "I'm curious what could be down there."

"The stuff used to make ancient swords." Barley replies with a smirk. "The forging dragon used to make all kinds of blades like the manticore sword. He needed rare metals which could be hidden down in these caves."