Alex ran up to the dwarf and cleared her throat before awkwardly saluting him. “Uh, hi. We’re the dragonriders who were sent to pick up minerals. What’s going on here?”
The dwarf glared at Alex as he threw up his hands. “What the hell does it look like? My mines are on fire!” The dwarf waved Alex’s hand away. “Name’s Rocten. These here are my mines, and these here mines of mine are on fire. Great flippin’ day, am I right? Them’s your minerals, right? Well, they might be burning up in there too, along with my miners.”
“Forget the minerals. There are people still in there? What can I do to help?”
Rocten surveyed the dragons and their riders. “Huh. They’re too big to get in there, but they could deal with the fire from the outside. Fire’s coming from the inside, though.”
Gill stepped forward away from the rest of the riders. “I can help with that,” he said. “Fire isn’t a problem for me.”
Rocten eyed Gill suspiciously. “Huh. Ain’t seen one of your kind out of the Veil before,” the dwarf growled. “Don’t matter. If you’re offering help, I’ll take it.”
Alex exclaimed, “I’m going too. My suit has an elemental buffer. We’ll take care of it.”
Rocten pointed to the northernmost entrance. “All right. That’s where the fire started,” he explained. “Whatever happened came from there.”
Alex hoped her dragon anchor power was enough to withstand the fires, but she was going to find out. Chine, can you use your mister to help smother the fire at one of the entrances?
Chine nodded as he lumbered toward the southern entrances to the mines. “And the rest of you, get creative! We need to keep this fire from spreading,” Alex said before grabbing Gill and pulling him toward the entrance Rocten had indicated.
Jollies took off with Brath toward the miners carrying water. The pixie used an elemental amplifier as Furi dug into the ground around the river the water was being drawn from. She and Furi redirected the river toward the mine.
Alex and Gill ran into the tunnel. Alex slammed her fist into her palm, and flames burst over her body. She was right; it was enough to handle the heat. Gill, on the other hand, didn’t look fazed by the flames.
The two fought past the entry, trying to find the source of the fire. Most of the mine’s entryway had burned, and flames were shooting sporadically from somewhere deeper in the mine. “Something’s generating the flames!” Gill shouted.
Alex leaned over a ladder leading farther into the mines. “What could be doing that? That’s not how fires work.”
“Could be a weapon. Or a monster. The Dark One’s forces might have sabotaged it!”
Alex climbed down the ladder, Gill following her.
Outside, the dragonriders were still helping the miners combat the flames. Jim and his mech dragon Croy were drenching the mines with water from the river.
Inside the mine, Alex and Gill continued to go deeper into its depths. Suddenly, Alex motioned for the drow to stop. She pointed ahead, unsure if Gill’s darkvision was good enough to discern what she saw. “Oh, I see it now,” Gill murmured.
Backed into the corner was a creature no bigger than a cat but shaped like a bear cub. It was covered in bright red fur and had large black eyes. Its face was buried in its paws as it cried. With each hiccup and sob, a blast of fire shot from its body.
Alex knelt, as did Gill. “That would be enough to start a fire,” she said. “The poor thing is probably just scared, with all the mining going on.”
Alex began to crawl toward the creature when Gill placed his hand on her shoulder. “No, let me,” he said, moving forward.
As Gill got closer, the creature looked up. It squealed as it tried to burrow into the wall behind it. Gill didn’t freak out, though. He merely reached out so slowly Alex couldn’t even tell he was moving. Whatever he was doing worked; the creature stopped trying to dig its way out, and it got its tears under control.
Gill scooped the little red ball of fur up. “Let’s get going and see if the others put out their side of the fire.”
Alex and Gill climbed the ladder while the red creature held onto Gill’s shoulders, tugging lightly on the drow’s hair. The dark elf was suddenly even more interesting to Alex.
It didn’t take long for Alex and Gill to find Rocten. The rest of the dragonriders had extinguished the mines’ fires and were sitting around looking very pleased with themselves.
Rocten took the creature from Gill and cradled it in his arms, which looked even stranger than Gill holding the creature. “Blast it,” Rocten complained. “No one told us there were firebrights in there. I’m sorry, kids, but we’re going to have to clear out the rest of them unless we want the same thing to happen again.”
The rest of the dragonriders joined Alex and Gill. “No problem. You guys take your time. Just let us know when you’re finished.”
“All right,” Rocten said as he walked toward the mines. “I’ll let the rest of the team know. Thanks again for the help. You guys saved a lot of lives today.”
Alex watched the dwarf walk away and couldn’t help feeling a little bit proud. She knew her parents would be happy this was the first thing she’d done as a dragonrider.
Chapter Five
The riders and their dragons sat on the hills near the mines, watching the workers clear out the creatures responsible for the fires. Alex thought it was kinda funny watching the rough, dirt-covered dwarves cooing to the fire creatures they carried like infants.
Chine explained to Alex that firebrights were easily frightened. Sending out flames was a defense mechanism since
