won’t fit through the path that seems to lead up through the caldera, I let my bare human feet meet the sharp rocks, which instantly cut into them. My blood puddles on the black, shiny stone for a moment before being absorbed, like the rock itself is tasting me.
I shiver, I can’t wait to get out of here. A bad feeling pushes through me at being here, my dragon roaring to flee. Who and what exactly is on the sleeping council? I wish I had asked.
But I push forward, knowing Griffin will never let me live it down if I come back empty-handed or abscond from the mountain. He will be all, ‘oh big, bad dragon got scared? Poor baby,’ and then I will have to gut him, and that will really put a damper on my relationship with Dawn.
Muttering to myself, I head farther into the volcano. I insult Griffin and his stupid wings, which are more decorative that functional—I mean, come on...feathers? He can’t even kill anyone with them! Next I start on his stupid, pretty face, the crazy bastard.
My muttering only stops when the rocks on either side of me give way and open up into a giant hole in the volcano. Okay then. Standing on the edge, I look around for stairs or a path, but there isn’t one, there is just blackness below me in a chasm, and darkness above me.
And I thought Griffin wasn’t very hospitable.
Leaping forward, I change mid-air, catching the upstream and flapping my wings to carry me upwards. I’m hoping that’s where they are, they wouldn’t be down, right? Who knows, this whole place is a maze.
I spot another open cave near the top, which seems a lot taller than the outside, undoubtedly with more magic. I have to change mid-flight and throw myself forward to get into the cave. Rolling to my feet, I come face-to-face with a small man wearing a drab, grey tunic tied at the top with short brown hair. His eyes are wide and alarmed. In his hand is a jug, and I sniff to smell whisky.
“Hello,” I greet, and he squeaks like a mouse and takes off back into the cave, his feet slapping against the rock. I hear the squeal slowly grow quieter and quieter until it disappears.
Well, that was odd.
Shrugging, I follow after him at a normal pace, wondering if he has gone to warn the sleeping council or whoever is awake. They felt me enter, I know it, unless they were distracted. Wait, do they actually sleep? What if they are asleep right now and he panicked because they didn’t feel my arrival?
The tunnel curves around and down a bit, with carved stone stairs that assist in my descent, until it opens up into what looks like a throne room where two angry-looking supernaturals are standing with the small man hiding behind them and pointing towards me.
They both turn my way. One’s eyes flash gold, while the other grins, even as mist swirls around him.
“Hello, do you have any appointments available to speak to the council?” I inquire, and then almost cringe at that. Who storms into a volcano, which is cursed and protected by magic, hunting a sleeping council to save their mate, and then is that polite?
“I mean, I need to see the sleeping council!” I demand, and raise my chin.
“Well, well, a dragon, how interesting. How did you get past the guards, I wonder?” the one with the black eyes muses, stepping by the infuriated man who is glaring at me as if I have burned down his home and then asked him to cook me dinner.
“It was easy, I am a king, after all.” I sniff.
His lips quirk up again. He’s taller than me, skinnier though, but has some bulk. The power that is leaking from him is staggering and his face, though just as beautiful as my own, has an edge to it—it’s too perfect. Too sharp, too many angles. His eyes are dark, and his eyebrows slope down even as he smirks. I can almost see the outline of a giant monster behind him in the mist that swirls around him.
What is he?
“Not something you have ever encountered before, dragon, I can assure you,” he answers, addressing my thought, and I startle.
“Serpent, this is not protocol! That—this is disturbing, unruly, and against all our laws! We must kill him!” the other man yells, but the first, Serpent, ignores him and tilts his head, watching me closely