When Dragons Came Chapter 5: Into the Dark

I knew I needed to hurry, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. I shuffled along leaving an unconscionable mess with every dragging step. Any tracker with any skill would notice that someone had come this way.

The wind, which had been gently pushing at my back, helping me move forward, now slacked for a moment. Then it whipped itself into a frenzy that roiled and gusted behind me. Vegetation tore. Rain poured down. Eddies, gusts, and water transformed the forest, leaving it unrecognizable.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

The wind only continued its wild antics behind me and to either side, though I felt only the gentle push at my back, helping me on my way.

I would pay for this later, I suspected. Interacting with winds always exhausted me, and I’d never done as much of it at once as I was doing today.

I let that be tomorrow’s problem. For now, I had to keep moving forward. The wind at my back helped, and the storm hid me, but I still moved sluggishly. I picked up the pace a little when I managed to find a sturdy fallen branch to use as a walking stick, but even then I moved slowly. It took me three times as long to reach the entrance to the tunnel that led to the vault as it had when I’d followed Khan and his father, and that day we’d started from the farm, not this side of the river.

Eventually, though, I found it—a small opening in a rocky hillside. Judging by the cobweb that covered it nearly completely, no one had been this way recently.

Unless that dragon could conjure imaginary cobwebs as easily as imaginary wounds. But why would the dragon bother? This tunnel was far too small for it, even if he knew of its existence—and the treasure inside wasn’t likely to be the kind it sought. Historical papers and practical provisions for journeys. There was some gold, and that might attract a dragon—but enough gold to make it worthwhile to knock down the hill and pierce a magical vault? I doubted it.

The cobweb felt real enough when I crawled through it—the ephemeral strands clinging to my skin despite repeated attempts to brush them away.

A largish yellow and black creature scampered up one line and hid in the rocks. I felt guilty about reducing her web to tatters though I knew she’d likely replace it this night anyway.

“Sorry, Miss Spider,” I said. “I had to come this way. And I’ll be back out before too long, so you might want to hold off on remaking that thing.”

Though I’d be quite happy to have her replace it after I’d gone. It was a good way to see if someone else might be inside.

Why I worried about that, I didn’t know. Khan’s father had said this was a well-kept family secret, well-concealed, and seldom accessed.

I’d wondered at the time why he’d brought me there before the wedding. But he’d muttered something vague about a premonition, some feeling that he should show me early.

Perhaps he anticipated trouble—though who could have predicted the disaster that fell upon his farm this day.

The tunnel near the mouth was too small for standing up, so I crawled, leaving my walking stick just inside the opening.

I wished I’d brought some kind of lamp or torch, but that would have been silly on a nut-gathering expedition. Now, though, I crept forward, worried about what I’d do if I got stuck in these close quarters. What if I’d misremembered the way? What if the magic near the vault didn’t respond to me, and I only managed to bury myself in the heart of this hill?

What would happen then?

“Just keep going, Neli,” I muttered to myself. There’d be plenty of time for despair later if I got stuck. For now, I needed to count. One opening on my left. Two. Three—that was the one. I couldn’t see, but I turned into that third lefthand branch off the tunnel. Now there were occasional openings to both my left and my right.

I turned at the sixth right-hand opening.

I thought at first I’d got it wrong, the tunnel narrowed so severely. I remembered it constricting some, but this much? And for this long?

Of course, I was moving much more slowly today than that first time. The walk here had seemed much, much longer as well, and I knew that wasn’t true.

But I could easily have gotten the wrong turning in the dark.

I’d nearly decided to back out and try my count again when, the tunnel widened on either side of me, and I could no longer feel earth above my head.

Carefully, I lifted myself to standing. This must be the right place then. And if it was, there should be a smooth spot on the wall next to the tunnel that held some kind of magic. Khan’s father had touched it, and light arose in this place.

I ran my hands over the rough cave wall, until I found it—a smooth, cool, round plate, like a disc of metal.

My touch did not bring any light, though. “Please,” I begged it. “You must know me. I was here not more than a month ago. Khan’s father brought me. He even gave me a key.” I pulled it from beneath my damp dress, and held it up, as if to show the plate. Misjudging the distance, I actually bumped the key against the plate.

It clanged, a sharp clear sound almost immediately swallowed by the darkness.

I slumped against the wall, defeated for the moment. How could I find even the keyhole—let alone the rest of the things I needed—if I had no light?

I let myself slide down until I sat upon the floor, hugging my knees to myself, head bowed.

I assume that’s why I didn’t, at first, notice the light glimmering, then glowing. I only realized the light had arrived when it shone full around me, revealing the door to the vault.