9. The Forsaken Mines.
The Forsaken Mines.
JAYCE
“ S he’s coming,” Harlow whispers, as if afraid the dragon is going to hear him. He offers me the spyglass.
Alduin is flying in our direction, following her usual path over her territory; we’ve been studying her routine for three days from a safe distance.
We hid the Blunder near the bottom of a canyon carved by the river over millennia.
Harlow didn’t think she was still in a rage, but I wouldn’t risk my ship and my crew.
“Ah, there she goes,” I say as the dragon dives for the valley.
Earlier today, we finally uncorked the bottle of dragon piss our dragoner harvested from Vlomir. It smelled awful, and we had to make sure not to spray a single drop on ourselves as we emptied it over the rocks.
“Dragons have an extremely sensitive nose, and they mark their territory with urine,” Harlow explained.
“Like dogs?”
“Well… yeah. Kind of like dogs.”
I chuckled. “The more you know. Not so godly, after all.”
Harlow is certain it will keep her busy for a few hours. As soon as she smells the piss, she’ll want to track down the dragon who invaded her territory and kill him.
When a female wants to mate, she visits a male’s territory, and not the other way around. Females are always bigger and stronger, and they don’t tolerate trespassing.
“I’m going,” Harlow says, hoisting his bag over his shoulder. But I pull it out of his grip to carry it. “What are you doing?” he asks, confused.
“We need to run. I’m bigger and faster, so it makes more sense for me to carry the bag, Your Royal Highness.”
Harlow blinks, a delightful blush spreading across his face. “We?”
“Did you think I would let you go to the Forsaken Mines alone? We have a deal. Come on, let’s go.”
I catch the expression of relief on his face. He might be brave, but going to the entrance of a dragon’s lair alone would scare anyone. I’m not so keen on the idea myself, but we have a job to do.
We hike down the rocky slope, then run through the forest for ten minutes to reach the mines.
Trees have long overgrown the royal road, but there are a few ruins left from the time when humans were working here.
Harlow is surprisingly fit for a bookworm, and he has no trouble following my pace.
It looks like the training regimen Freddy has set for him every morning after breakfast is working.
It has become the highlight of my day to see him sweat on the upper decks while doing soul-crushing exercises, his groans like music to my ears.
Alara and Freddy initially insisted on coming to the lair, but the more we are, the easier it’ll be for Alduin to smell us. We don’t want to set her into another rage that might turn her toward Bershine again, if not our airship. That would be unfortunate.
We finally reach the entrance to the Forsaken Mines, gaping like a giant mouth, wide enough to even let the Blunder in—it’s no wonder it attracted a dragon.
Although overgrown, a path has been cleared through the tall grass leading up to the entrance.
“Someone definitely paid Alduin a visit.” I offer a hand to Harlow to help him climb over a large rock.
“Yes…” he says, out of breath.
“And from the look of it, they made it here from the sky, as expected.”
They trampled the tall grass in a circle before heading up to the mines.
He nods. “The slick airship. Our mysterious aristocrat adventurer.”
“But what did they do to enrage our dragon? Attack her?”
Harlow frowns. “Possibly. But why?”
“Beats me.”
He looks up at the dark entrance beckoning us. And before he opens his mouth, I already know what he’s going to say. “I’m going in. I need to find her lair and see if anything’s amiss.”
I close my eyes. “Harlow…”
“Don’t worry, I’m small and fast. I’ll be back before you know it.”
I sigh. “Let’s hurry, then.” And I walk up to the mine, following the trampled path through the tall grass.
Harlow follows behind. “I can—”
“Shut up and pull out the liquid-fire lantern I know Freddy gave you. How long do you think we have before she comes back to her lair?”
“Three hours? Probably more.”
“Then let’s hope her lair isn’t too deep into the mines.”
As it turns out, finding Alduin’s lair is the easy part.
The dragon left claw marks all over the wide tunnel leading deeper into the earth.
Harlow holds up the liquid-fire lantern to light the way as I close the walk and make sure he doesn’t trip on rocks or large animal bones.
Twice, I caught him just before he face-planted.
There must have been carts and tracks back in the day, but I wonder if the dragon fire melted everything, miners included. Did they see their end coming, or did their doom come too quickly to realize it? I hope for the latter.
Harlow’s breathing sounds too loud in the empty tunnel.
“Are you okay?” I ask him for the second time since we entered the Forsaken Mines.
“No. I’m scared shitless. Aren’t you?”
“I am. But I’m used to it.”
He laughs nervously. “Oh, yes. Captain Jayce Hawkins, convicted pirate and fire scrounger.”
“You forgot handsome rascal and an incredible shot.”
He snorts, but the hand holding the lamp is shaking. I refrain from telling him he put us in this situation, seeking gods know what in an enraged dragon’s lair. I squeeze his shoulder, and he seems to relax at the touch a little.
At last, the tunnel widens into an impressive natural chamber with stalactites hanging from the walls and ceiling. The air is warmer here than in the other tunnels.
Harlow gasps in awe. “That’s it.”
There are even more bones here, and they crack under our shoes at every step.
The entire place is covered with soot and ashes.
And in the ashes along the walls, footprints that aren’t our own, as if someone followed the curve of the cavern.
In a few more days, they would have disappeared from sight, effaced by the dragon’s coming and goings.
“Our adventurer came all the way to the lair,” I say. “Would it have been enough to enrage Alduin?”
Harlow shakes his head. “Dragons kill us on sight if they find us in their lair, but it won’t send them into a rage. Something must have happened.”
He walks deeper into the giant cavern, following the path in the ashes and scorched bones to the center. He frowns, spinning slowly. “This is a nest,” he says at last.
“Aren’t all females’ lairs their nests?”
“No… Dragons only mate and lay an egg every ten years or so—sometimes longer. It’s a rare event. They don’t need to build a nest if it’s not to welcome a hatchling.”
I look around. The liquid-fire lantern’s glow is only strong enough to light a few feet around Harlow. I don’t want to think about what would happen to us if it broke and left us in the impenetrable dark until the dragon came back.
“How can you tell it’s a nest?” I ask. To me, it just looks like a sooty cavern.
“The quantity of ashes. She brought things to burn to make sure there was a thick layer of embers to keep her egg hot.”
I don’t like where this is going.
“You think our aristocrat adventurer came to her lair and stole her egg?”
Harlow nods slowly. The sweat on his forehead gleams in the liquid-fire’s wavering light.
I sigh. “For fuck’s sake… No wonder she went into a rage. But why? Aren’t dragons impossible to tame?”
“They are. A hatchling can’t survive without its mother. They refuse to eat and usually fade after a few days. And before that, they require dragon fire to hatch. There’s no reason to steal an egg.”
“Maybe our man wanted to force Alduin to move from the mines.”
“Maybe…” Harlow says. But he doesn’t look convinced.
“You have your answer. Now let’s go. I don’t want to stay a minute more than necessary in these tunnels. Not with a female still looking for her egg.” He walks to me, and my hand goes reflexively to his lower back. I don’t want to lose him in the dark. “Stay close and let’s hurry.”
The journey back is much faster; we know the way and we’re eager to see the light of day.
At last, blinding sunlight beckons us. We speed up and exit the Forsaken Mines with great sighs of relief.
But our joy is short-lived. A winged shadow falls over us, and Alduin’s roar is loud enough to shake the entire mountain.
Harlow lets out a blood-curling scream as she breathes fire over us. I get a hold of him, and we roll to the ground to avoid the flames. We land in the sea of tall grass.
“Stay hidden and crawl,” I tell him, dragging him by the collar of his tunic.
He obeys immediately, and we both creep through the greenery. Alduin breathes fire over our heads, calcinating another part of the area. We’re incredibly lucky, but the heat is still unbearable, and I hold my breath not to breathe burning air and smoke.
We crawl as far as possible, to the limit of where the sunlight-hungry tall grass gives way to the forest.
I pull Harlow into my arms and whisper, “Don’t move. Don’t make a sound.”
I cover his body with mine and drag the hood of my coat over my head. I’ve never been more grateful for the dragonhide garment.
Meanwhile, Alduin rages, looking for us.