“That way,” Novir replied, pointing past some trees. But when Ryan looked, he saw nothing. “I think it could be best for Brazin and Sebast to remain here. Jolian can change form and come with us? Good. I think one dragon might be helpful inside, just in case we run into more trouble than expected. When we come back, only having to put one saddle back on is better than three.”
Ryan was about to ask if they needed to at least loosen the saddle on Jolian when she whispered a few words he didn’t catch and morphed into the leather clad vixen he’d first seen. For a second, she had appeared as both, the humanoid form where the dragon head was like an illusion, close to the ground. She dropped a few feet to land nimbly and straightened. The saddle, reins, and halter fell to the earth, the bulky saddle landing with a thud and rolling sideways. He assumed they were designed for such impacts and for the first time, wondered how they got it up there, as he hadn’t been watching Sebast get saddled, and the others had already been prepared.
“Is there any chance of Sebast and Brazin being seen while we’re inside?” Eric asked.
“Some,” Sebast responded, his rumbling voice deep, “but boredom is our greatest threat.”
Novir added, “There are trolls and ogres in these mountains, but they are smart enough to stay far from dragons. It’s a long walk to the nearest town, and a deadly one. There’s a reason few come to this cave.” He gestured toward the faint trail leading up into the peaks for what seemed like an arduous climb.
Ryan scanned around them but saw no signs of movement. “What should we expect inside?”
Novir pulled a cloth sack off his shoulder and pulled two torches from it, tossing one to the knight. “A walk down a narrow tunnel. We can talk about the cave itself as we go. Let’s move.”
He started toward some trees and the others followed, Ryan and Jolian in the rear as they stepped around boulders and over the random fallen trees always lying in the wilderness. Ryan had no tracking skills to speak of, really, though he had learned some from Lorian, but he saw no signs of recent passage, including near the ten-foot-wide cave opening that was low so that he had to duck into it. After another few feet, it rose just high enough to straighten.
And part of a humanoid skeleton was the first thing Ryan saw. A glance around showed another set of bones from something bigger, then a pair of skeletal wings with some of the leathery part still on it. Most of the remains were partial, and he wondered if animals had gotten to the rest, as something had moved various bones around. The bodies not being fresh gave him some comfort that a threat was not imminent, but they left no doubt that danger lay here.
Novir lit his torch and then Ryan’s. Matt made the top of his wizard’s staff glow with a spoken word.
“I assume we should keep our voices down as we descend,” Eric said.
“Yes.” Novir stepped deeper into the tunnel, Eric right behind, then Anna, Matt, and finally Ryan and the dragon. “There is little to concern us until the cave at the end, but sound travels here and we want to silently do this so as not to disturb anything.”
As they followed on what looked like a natural passage, every surface rough and uneven, Eric asked in a low voice, “What is at the end, and is it really the end or just our destination?”
“The Kirii Cave is at least a hundred yards high, less wide and deep. And it is not the end. There are several passages deeper into the mountains, or in other directions. Some of these are above in the ceiling, and that is how the kirii fly out into the sky to hunt. They are nocturnal, which means they will be sleeping, hanging from the ceiling above the water. They should not disturb us. The leviathan is our concern.”
“What is it, exactly?” Eric asked.
“No one is really sure. Hard to get a good look at in the darkness, and partly because it has long tentacles and can pull you from the shore without showing its body. These appear to grow back, so wounds do not easily deter it.”
“Do normal weapons hurt it?”
“Yes. It is not supernatural. Our best tactic, aside from not waking it, is to retreat into the tunnel, or near it, and fight from there if we haven’t gotten what we need.”
Ryan had a thought and asked, “Disturbing it means disturbing the kirii, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does. One will awaken the others.”
They stepped around loose rock that had fallen from a wall. “And what will they do?”
“Attack.”
“Us or the leviathan?”
“Everything that isn’t them.”
They entered a natural cave with the ground falling away to one side. As they skirted around, Eric asked, “How dangerous are they?”
“Very, especially because we are where they live. They do have young to protect and will see us as a threat. Expect a vicious, nasty battle if one happens.”
“Are they animals or smarter?”
The passage continued, tightly closed on all sides so that they had to turn sideways to continue, but it didn’t last long. Ryan wasn’t feeling quite claustrophobic, but a little uncomfortable when the passage got too tight.
Novir answered, “Oh, they’re smarter. They have weapons. Small crossbows, slings. They understand tactics. One of them is two or more of them grabbing you and carrying you away. You are as good as dead if this happens, whether they tear you to pieces in the sky, drop you to your death, or save you for food. It is
