Chapter 31
Thirty-One
Stone
“It’s not a good idea, Birdie.” Stone gripped the torch, highlighting the building he and Aesira were in yesterday. The sun was high in the sky but with the thick coverings of moss and vines, it was mostly dark inside the ruins.
“You didn’t even go in the tunnels,” she said. “You could have missed something.” Birdie scoured the floor, wiping away dust and dead vines until she found it.
The hatch.
“We didn’t have time to go in the tunnels before whatever was down there tried to kill us.” He reached for her arm and tugged it away from the hatch. “Bird, don’t.”
“What if it is a dragon, Stone. You, of all people, are going to leave without knowing for certain? It could be the discovery of a lifetime.”
“We won’t have a lifetime if there’s a dragon down there. Let go of the handle.” Her dark eyes flicked to Stone’s then back to the hatch. She was hesitant, which was good, Stone figured. It meant she didn’t think it was the best idea either. “Bird, let’s go back.”
Her fingers tightened around the handle, indecision weighing on her face. He set the torch down and crouched next to her. “Come on, let’s go back.” He slid his hand atop hers.
She whipped her head towards his and narrowed her eyes. “You don’t always get to decide.” Hurt slashed across her face then the hatch flew open.
“Shit.” Stone stumbled backward and reached for the torch. She peered down the hatch, the rickety ladder barely hanging on after he and Aesira fled up it yesterday.
“I’m going down,” she said. She stepped onto the ladder which released a loud creak through the empty room.
“One of the rungs broke,” Stone said. “You need to be careful.”
She nodded, then stepped down another rung. Then another.
Soon, Stone couldn’t see the top of her head at all. Soon, he couldn’t hear the creaking of the ladder. Soon, he found himself doing the same thing he did yesterday, taking the ladder one step at a time.
Fear coiled in his stomach like a snake cornered, that monstrous feeling rising up his spine, wrapping around his throat, but he couldn’t let Birdie go alone.
Rule number two, we always have each other's backs.
Even when it’s a stupid fucking idea, and it was a stupid fucking idea.
His feet hit the dirt.
“You came?” Birdie smirked, arms crossed.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t?” Stone held the torch to the wall with the runes and old Ravkian text. A shudder ran down his spine, that snake in his stomach coiling tighter, those teeth growing sharper and sharper, scraping against his insides. “Let’s make this quick.”
“This way?” She pointed to one of the long, endlessly dark chambers.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Their steps echoed through the chamber, the weak flame of the torch doing little to light their way. Birdie was silent next to Stone’s side, other than her occasional curse when she tripped over a rock or bumped into the chamber wall.
“I thought you said there was a beast down here,” she asked after they’d been walking for a while.
“There was. Is. Forgive me for not knowing its schedule.” This earned him a dramatic sigh and it was almost enough to make him smile and forget they were walking toward their certain death. “Bird, I know this is important–”
“Did you hear that?” She gripped his arm.
Stone held his breath.
A deep scratching sound came from the back of the chamber. Like nails on rock. “We need to go.”
“Not yet.” Her grip was firm on Stone’s arm but he could feel her tremble. “When you and Aesira came, it was nightfall,” she said as they took a tentative step. “Maybe they sleep during the day and it was simply waking up when you were here.”
“Even if that’s true, what are you going to do if we get to the end of this chamber and there’s a dragon there?”
“I don’t know.” The words came out fast, all running together. “We came all this way, it feels wasteful not to at least look for the most powerful creature in the world.”
“We came to find the king, Birdie.”
“He’s not our king.”
Stone stopped, forcing her to stop too. “We have a job to do.”
“Oh please.” She shook her head. “You don’t give two shits about the king of Vargah. What, because he gave you a job after years in that underground prison? You care about the pay. The adventure. It’s not like you to be so…” She shook her head again.
“To be so what?” He wanted her to finish the sentence. Say what she–and likely Bee–were thinking as well.
Her dark eyes glowered in the light of the torch. “It’s not like you to be so obedient.”
Stone reared back. “I’m not obedient. I accepted a job that would change our lives, and I’m trying to do just that.”
She sighed again then took the torch. “The old Stone would be exploring every chamber here without question. He’d be figuring out a way to capitalize on whatever we find.”
They continued down the tunnel, it grew wider the farther they walked. Their voices felt too loud, their boots too loud. He tried to hold his breath, slow his breathing, steady his heart, but the further they walked, the more Birdie talked, the more that serpent in his stomach tightened and hissed.
“The old Stone would have ditched the king and the commander and taken the Aquila as far as it could fly.”
The old Stone, he thought. The one that broke the law. The one that was miserable and desperate for a way out. Was that who they wished he was, still? A runner with no future in sight?
He took a chance before, getting them out of Vic’s empire and succeeded in keeping them safe for a long time. If it wasn’t for Vargah and their flying ships, they wouldn’t have been caught on their last run. Wouldn’t have ended up in Vargah’s prison.
He owed it to them to try again and this trip gave a real chance to get him and the cadre out of Vargah. He was trying, for once in his life, to do the right thing. Then there was the matter of Aesira. They’d found her to be an unexpected obstacle but she wasn’t an obstacle at all.
She was trying to find herself, just as he was. Just as they all were.
Another deep scratch came from the end of the chamber, stirring and rousing the monster in his chest, but Birdie pressed on, taking the torch with her. Stone followed behind, keeping his distance, thoughts of who he was and who he wanted to be muddying his mind.
“Shit,” Birdie gasped. “Stone…”
Stone took one, two, three, dreadful steps until he was caught up with her.
The tunnel had come to an abrupt end with nothing but a steep drop off.
They were hundreds of feet above the bottom of a cliff and there, nestled at the bottom, was what Stone could only believe to be one of the beasts that were erased from history.
Black scales and expansive wings. Talons that stretched out in its sleep, scraping against the walls, leaving thick lines in the stone, massive horns jutting from its forehead.
A dragon.
Stone’s mouth hung open as he watched the beast sleep. It was enormous. Larger than any animal he’d ever seen. Maybe even larger than the Aquila. “See!” Birdie squealed. “If we hadn’t come, you wouldn’t have seen this. A real dragon.” Her face beamed as she peered farther over the edge.
“It’s incredible.” Stone was at a loss for words. This was the discovery of a lifetime, just like she said. Just as the astra and Ravki itself. They had unearthed centuries worth of secrets. They knew the way and yet… “We can never tell anyone about this.” He stepped back, away from the ledge.
“What?” Birdie joined him, a deep line creasing between her brows. “And why not? We’ll be famous, Stone.” She peered back over the ledge. “And filthy rich.”
Stone shook his head. Of all the things he wanted in his life, fame was the last of them. “They’ll destroy it. The kingdoms. We can’t tell anyone Ravki is here. We certainly can’t tell them a real fucking dragon exists.”
The fear in his stomach had uncoiled at some point, and had been replaced with deep, deep dread.
If anyone in Vargah or Novaria or even the Outpost knew this was here–everything preserved in Ravki would be threatened.
They would use every last drop of resource until there was nothing left, then blame the world for not providing, rather than facing their own greed.
“We need to go.” He reached for Birdie’s hand but she shrugged away.
“Not yet,” she said. “If you’re making me keep this a secret for the rest of my life, at least let me look a little longer.”
He peered back over the ledge. The dragon was incredible. Powerful, even from the distance at the top of the chamber. He couldn’t imagine the things it could do–would do–when it surfaced.
“How long do you think it's been here?”
Stone shrugged. “I have no idea,” he said.
Its wings were tucked tight and hundreds of lines marred the wall where its talons scraped as it stretched.
“My guess is a very long time.” He and Birdie stood for a while, watching the sleeping beast. Memorizing the shape of its wings and massive head and deadly talons.
“We really should go.” He expected another protest but to his surprise, she nodded and turned back toward the chamber.
“Thank you for coming down here with me,” she said. “Bee couldn’t understand why it was important.”
“I’m not sure I understand either,” he said as they walked back down the long chamber to the entrance.
“I just wanted something for myself, you know. Something I can look back on and say, ‘I really did that.’”
“You’ve done so many things. Remember the time you and Bee stole Vic’s ship and sailed halfway to the Isles.” A smile stretched across her face. “He was so pissed when he found you.”
“Yeah but if it wasn’t for you and Patch, he would have killed us.” Birdie snaked her arm through his. “This was just for me, but I’m glad you’re here.”
Despite still thinking it was a shit idea, Stone was glad he was there too, but they had wasted almost an entire day, leaving little time to do what they actually needed to. Look for the king. “We need to–”
A deep roar echoed through the chamber, cementing them in their steps. Stone’s heart thundered in his chest, setting a bruising pace against his ribs. Another roar and scrape of talons against rock. “Stone…” Birdie’s grip tightened around his arm.
He dropped the torch and the light blotted out, leaving them in nothing but darkness.