CHAPTER 13: When Dealing with Dragons
“She’ll follow you to her death,” Balefren repeated as he remembered Derpy’s words. He was pacing back and forth along the riverbank nervously as concern for Earren and fear for himself filled his thoughts.
“What do I do? What do I do?” he mumbled. “It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have told her to follow me, now she’s gone, everyone’s gone.” He looked up at the sky searching around for any signs of the pegasus, or the dragon. The endless blue sea was all that he could see in all directions.
“Nothing I can do now, she’s gone,” he reasoned. “But you saw where he flew off, you could go save her.”
“And get myself killed too?” he argued with himself.
“She was your friend; she may still be alive if you hurry.”
“She wasn’t my friend for very long though.”
“Don’t think like that, that’s how Delphina would respond.”
“No she would be all in favor to hunt down the dragon, that’s what we came here to do.”
“That’s what she came here to do, I can’t fight a dragon.”
“It’s your fault she’s gone, you have to do something, you have to find her.”
“I just… don’t think I can.”
“It’s that or stay here alone.”
“Alright, I’ll do it,” Balefren said finishing the conversation with himself.
With no supplies or gear the unicorn looked back up in the direction the dragon had flown off. His eyes moved slowly downward as he mentally plotted the direction through the field that he would need to take in order to come to the dragon’s lair.
Delphina had said something about the lair being about a day away. Hopefully the dragon was flying straight to it, he thought, or else his plan would fail and he would be hopelessly lost in the field.
Without another moment to spare Balefren Vivid began to run through the tall grass. With his horn glowing bright he used his magic to push down the growth in front of him, allowing himself a temporary path so he could run at run at full speed.
He thought about the tan pony and hoped he would find her still alive. The thoughts of the dead mare they had found earlier went through his mind. That being Earren’s fate disturbed him, but also gave him hope. That pony had been killed elsewhere then dumped on the road, meaning that Earren was likely to be alive for now.
With renewed effort he ran as fast as he could, skillfully dodging rocks and holes as they appeared from behind the fallen grass.
“I’m coming Earren, you just stay alive,” he huffed.
The white unicorn ran through the field for over an hour before the grass in front of him ended. Balefren slid to a stop as the plant growth that he had been clearing turned into a wide open clearing.
He took a moment to catch his breath as he looked across the barren area. The space before him was littered with rocks and gravel, as if it had once been a river or lake bed. But now there was no water and no plant life within the entire area.
In the distance he could see where the grass resumed growing, it was pretty far off, and he considered how exposed he would be running through the rocky plain. The dragon could easily pick him out running in the open and swoop down and snatch him up too. Then Balefren thought of the girls face as he rested. Earren smiling as she looked over him and pointing out that he was not injured. The look on her face as slept, so peaceful.
He could not let petty fears hold him back anymore if he was going to save her. Casting his caution aside he resumed running.
It was almost mid-day when Derpy Hooves came trotting up to what looked like a hastily created campsite along the riverbank. She glanced around quickly taking in the signs to confirm her assumptions.
Two impressions in the grass, some dug up roots confirmed that the two ponies she was looking for had spent some time here. The next thing she saw was the large pile of ash along the riverside. Frowning she examined the burned remains of the grass pile that once burned brightly.
“You fools,” she cursed as she realized that the smoke she had seen earlier was in fact a fire created by the unicorns.
Next her eyes followed a set of tracks that traveled along the bank. The hoof prints where spread out at a pace that told Derpy they had been running. She followed the trail to the point where they stopped. More impressions in the thick growth gave away the fact that they had hidden there.
“No…” Derpy said softly to herself. She had seen the dragon in the skies earlier and started to put things together.
She looked around more intently trying to find anymore traces of the pair of unicorns. To her frustration she could not find signs of where they went from there. The good news was she also did not see any blood or signs anyone had been killed there.
Frowning she knew that there was only one way she was going to pick up on their trail. Taking a deep breath and preparing herself, she unfurled her wings and leapt into the air. With a few strong flaps she reached a height high enough that she had a clear view in all directions.
Looking down she quickly spotted a narrow path cutting straight through the grass. Following it with her eyes, she watched the almost perfectly straight line go across the landscape until it reached a large grey patch far in the distance.
Taking a quick moment to look around to ensure she was the only thing in the skies. Delphina straightened out her hooves as she began to fly at top speed towards the distant clearing. With any luck she could catch them before anyone saw her out here.
“I’m going to wring your neck Vivid,” she said as she thought about how stupid making a signal fire was. “And you too Errant or whoever you are.”
Balefren had slowed his pace a little as he ran across the rocky ground. He wanted to cross the clearing quickly, but he was being careful not to slip or stick his hoof in a hole as he crossed the gravel pit.
His focused quickly switched from watching the ground in front of him and up to the skies. He was still very nervous about being so in the open, considering who his foe was. A quick scan of the sky brought silent relief to him as he saw no signs of anything hovering above.
He redirected his focus on the ground in front of him. He carefully watched for anything that could trip him up as he began to speed up. At a good pace he would be back into the thicket in no time.
Balefren counted his steps in his head as he moved his hooves from one patch of rocks to another, only deviating his rhythm to side step or hop over larger rocks and pits in his way. He was so focused on navigating he did not notice the shadow that crossed his path.
Looking up for a moment to check his progress, the unicorn grinned happily as he saw the edge of the clearing approaching quickly. He would be there in another minute. As he moved his eyes back down he caught a glimpse of something dark that flashed by. Slowing down, he looked back and forth across the ground around him.
“Please be nothing,” he muttered as he looked around franticly. The sun was shining directly overhead and it blocked much of his view as he looked into the sky. Balefren squinted his eyes as the direct sunlight left white splotches in his vision. “All clear,” he continued as he looked back down at the ground. He began to start running again, but stopped abruptly.
Balefren just stood for a moment his eyes wide as they watched a large black shadow slowly moving along the ground just feet from him. He took particular notice of the very distant wing shapes that the shadow had. It was the dragon.
Frozen in fear for a moment, Balefren just stood trying to keep himself calm. As the seconds past, his heart started beating rapidly as he expected to feel sharp claws dig into his back.
No, he thought, I won’t sit and let it take me. Balefren looked ahead at the tall grass that was but a hundred yards away, and then down at the gravel and rocks on the ground. A plan of action started to form, with no time to spare, Balefren’s horn came to life as his magic surrounded a large number of the bigger rocks on the ground.
The rocks sprang up into the air carried by the cloud of orange magic. Balefren spun around to face the direction the shadow was coming from. The sun still observed his view, but he could see something in the air now. Roaring loudly he used his magic to throw the cloud of rocks through the air.
Not waiting to see the effect of his missiles, Balefren turned back around and began to sprint towards cover. Small rocks and dust were kicked up by his hooves and he ran recklessly as fast as he could. Behind him he heard the crash of his rocks as they fell to the ground. He looked back over his shoulder hopeful to see the monster at least stunned by his assault.
Before his eyes could catch sight of anything, he felt one of his front hooves snag on something. With a gasp, he found himself being tilted forward and upside down as he tripped. The white unicorn began to tumble head first into the rocky ground. Balefren winched and gritted his teeth as he watched a rather large and pointed rock coming right at his face as he fell.
Something suddenly lashed out striking his back and sides, his descent into the ground stopped inches from the sharp rock, and he began to be lifted into the air.
“No!” he screamed as the beast behind him gripped his sides and held him under his shoulders. He twisted and fought trying to break free of the grip that held him.
“Stop that or I’ll drop you,” came Derpy’s calm voice from above him.
Balefren’s eyes went wide as he stopped struggling. Slowly he lifted his head up to see who was holding him. To his relief it was the grey pegasus who was carrying him to safety. All at once he felt great relief wash over him. Delphina had finally come.
“I’m so happy to see you,” Balefren said choking up as overwhelming emotions started to catch up to him. He was so glad she was here, he was so glad he wasn’t being killed by a dragon, he was so glad he wasn’t alone anymore. All these thoughts filled him at once and began overflowing.
“I’m putting you down,” Delphina said with a grunt as she readjusted her grip on the white unicorn. He replied with a simple nod. Delphina let her altitude drop as she slowly brought herself down toward the ground, until she was low enough that the unicorn’s feet could touch the ground.
Balefren sniffled and blinked his eyes trying to fight back tears as he stood on solid ground again. “I thought…” he started to say but couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Sorry if I surprised you,” Derpy said. “I was in a hurry and didn’t really have time to try to explain.” She continued to look around as she landed on the ground next to Balefren. “Where’s the other one?”
Balefren closed his eyes and turned around as he fought his emotions back. “She’s gone,” he managed to blurt out.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Derpy questioned.
Balefren turned around to face the Pegasus, looking into her eyes he repeated, “She’s gone,” tears began to roll down his checks at the realization of the situation began to sink in. Derpy hung her head down. From the look on Balefren’s face she understood what had happened.
“I hope it was quick at least,” Delphina said softly.
“The fastest I’ve ever seen,” Balefren said as he cleared his throught. “She was there one moment, and gone the next.”
Delphina let a small sigh as she reflected on things. Balefren watched her as she looked up at the sky. He could tell she was shaken up by it.
“I don’t understand,” she said turning her focus back to Balefren. “I didn’t see any signs, there was no blood anywhere around.”
“What?” Balefren asked confused.
“If she died that fast, there would have to be signs,” Delphina said.
Balefren hopped in place slightly as he realized they were both talking about Earren’s disipearence in different ways. Delphina was thinking she was ‘gone’ as in dead. He was trying to explain she was gone as in taken.
“No, no, no,” Balefren corrected. “The dragon swooped from the sky and carried her away.”
“What!” Delphina said alarmed. “Why didn’t you tell me that? There is not time to waste!”
“I said she was gone,” Balefren defened.
“No time to loose, she may still be alive,” Delphina said with urgency as she flew up into the air a few feet.
“How far are we?” Balefren began to ask. Delphina looked out into the distance for a moment before landing back on the ground.
“His lair should be straight that way, about half a day if we run,” she estimate
“And if we flew?” Balefren asked.
“Much quicker, but too dangerous,” Delphina cautioned. “Let’s hoof it.”
“You can leave me,” Balefren offered.
“No time to argue, let’s go,” Delphina said ignoring him as she started to run towards the tall grass.
Keeping his mouth shut, Balefren began to follow. Renewed hope filled him as he watched the powerful pegasus running ahead. Rays from the sun reflected off an exposed side of the sword she had strapped to her back.
That dragon is going to pay, he thought. Hang on Earren Tangle.
Earren opened her eyes slowly. Everything was very dim and she was not sure where she was. The smell of moist dirt filled her nostrils and made her uneasy. Slowly she looked around and tried to gage where she was. Rubbing a hoof across the ground in front of her, she confirmed that she was laying in dirt.
Sensing no danger around, she slowly stood and began to carefully explore. She brushed against a wall of some type. Sliding her hoof around his surface she discovered it was also dirt. Now curious she reached up over her head. Standing on her hind legs, she felt around towards the ceiling. She did not make any contact with anything solid, but she felt small strings hanging from up above.
“I’m underground,” she whispered to herself as she realized that the strings were roots from plants above.
Slowly she moved around in the dark, up ahead she saw the dim light seemed to be coming through some kind of opening. As she walked she tried to remember how she got here. The last thing the young unicorn remembered was being outside with Balefren and hiding in the grass, from… The dragon…
Earren kept a hoof on the wall as she made her way to the opening. Sliding her hoof along the smooth dirt wall, it suddenly came to a stop as the wall turned and went into another camber. She stood for a moment looking into a hallway of sorts. Not far away there was another entrance that had much more light emanating from it.
If there is a way out, it must be through there, she thought. Cautiously she took a few steps into the hallway like passage. Looking from side to side, she did not see anyone or anything. This place made her uneasy. Perhaps it was due to ponies were not underground dwellers or perhaps it was the abandoned feeling to the place.
Taking a few deep breaths she approached the light filled room. Just before she was about to turn the corner into the light, a nagging thought crossed her mind, “turn invisible,” it said. It was a voice of habit and insecurity, and she obeyed. The unicorn suddenly disappeared by magic as she stepped into the light.
“Wow,” Earren whispered as she stood in the doorway of a much larger chamber. This room was no mere hole in the ground, it was an ennourmas room lined with blue stones carefully crafted and carved to serve as support to hold up the chamber. The celling was very high above and small windows in the shape of little circles allowed in beams of light in.
The sides of the room went on for hundreds of feet. Along the walls rested many different shelves and objects. Earren recognized some things as parts of machinery, armor, and other items ponies might carry around with them. In a far corner in the distance her eyes caught glimpse of silver and gold glinting in the light.
“Treasure,” she said feeling excitement come over her. This place was some kind of storage vault, she thought. Excited she trotted out into the middle of the chamber, he eyes darting from side to side taking in all of the things lying around. She wasn’t sure how to handle this as she had not come prepared to loot anything.
Before she could think about it more, she stopped as she ran into a large black structure in the middle of the room.
“What’s this?” she said aloud. It was black, jagged and seemed to be in a large circle shape. At first she thought it was a large pillar of some sort, but looking up, she noticed it was not attached to the roof or any other support beams.
She poked the mound with her hoof a few times. It was stolid and felt almost like poking steel. Unable to determine what it was, her attention began to shift to a different pile of items in the other back corner.
Across from the file of gold, it was a pile of white shapes, that seemed to have cloth and other fashioned goods scattered around. The thing that caught her eye was a saddle bag sitting in front. Grinning she trotted over to the pile, she knew if she could get some bags, she could at least get a good amount of the gold loaded up.
Earren reached down and picked the old bag up off the floor. It was very dusty so it must have been there for some time. More evidence of this place being abandoned and forgotten, she thought. Taking the bag she opened it up and dumped it upside down. She watched as a few skinny black chunks fell to the ground.
Must have been food, she thought as she watched one of the round decayed objects roll across the ground and up to the base of the pile. Earren’s eyes moved up as she started to look closer at the pile.
The tan unicorn let out a loud gasp, as she dropped the bag she was holding. She found herself standing feet from skeletal remains. Earren realized that the shiny white from the corner was from a great assortment of bones, and the other objects see saw, were personal items that the owners of the bones had left behind.
Earren was about to scream as the sight of the remains unnerved her greatly, but suddenly there was a loud rustle from behind.
Holding her breath, she turned around quickly. With fear in her eyes from her discovery a second before, she watched as the black pillar, began to swirl and come alive. The floor vibrated slightly as the massive mound spun and untwisted.
“No way,” Earren muttered as she watched the dragon’s shape begin to appear. Her grim discovery was quickly forgotten as her eyes locked on the entryway all the way back on the other end of the room.
With adrenaline flowing through her, she raced along the wall towards the exit. She jumped and avoided flag stands and other things that rested along the wall as she ran.
The black dragon having woken from his rest seemed to sense something was amiss. Quickly he took a few steps through the middle of the room, and with his tail he lashed out towards the doorway.
Earren was running at full speed and was almost to the exit, when the dargon’s large spiked tail flew past her head, missing her by inches. She fell flat and slid to the stop as the tail continued on his way.
From her prone position she watched in horror as the tail struck the top of the entrance. It flicked back and forth for a moment and then a large iron gate came crashing down sealing the way out.
“Noo!” she squeaked. Realizing what she did, she covered her mouth regrettably. Her magic, covered up her sight and natural sound, but it did not cloak her speech.
Instantly the dragon spun around taking into account the entire room. He left out a roar as he blew a stream of fire around into the air. His flame lit a number of torches that were placed midway up to the ceiling.
“Aren’t we an eager pony?” He spoke with a booming voice. “Most find their way in here eventually, you seem to have come in right away.”
Earren lay still not daring to move. Her back was to the dragon, but she could feel his eyes scanning the room trying to spot her. She did not dare more or make a sound.
“I know you’re here, I can smell you,” the dragon said. “Your magic can not save you. I can stay in here for months without food or water, how long can you?”
Earren reminded quite, but his words rang true.
“Show yourself pony,” the dragon demanded again. Earren slowly got to her feet as she thought, what would Derpy do?
Derpy was so brave and confident and strong. She would never be afraid of long dead skeletons or a great intimidating dragon. She would stand up and face it and never back down.
“I am here,” Earren said out loud, but still kept her invisibility spell going. The dragon’s head turned quickly facing the spot where the mare was standing.
“Well, well, well,” the dragon pondered. “Is this how you treat your host? Sneaking around invisible, trying to steal things.”
“I wasn’t stealing anything,” Earren said as she slowly began to walk across the room. Newly found confidence filled her as she knew the dragon was not able to track her movements.
“They all try to steal something,” the dragon retorted as his eyes remained locked on where Earren had been standing a few moments before.
“Why even bring me here then?” she asked. As she spoke the dragon’s head moved locking on to her new position.
“Long story, but you need not concern yourself,” he said. “Now show yourself,”
“Are you going to kill me?” Earren asked as she looked up at the dragon’s narrow green eyes.
“I will not lie,” the dragon responded as he tried to focus hard to catch a glimpse of the magic pony. “You will not be leaving this place alive.”
Earren felt a spark of angry go through her at the threat. “How dare you do such an evil thing,” she scolded.
“The amount of time you stay alive is up to you,” the dragon continued. “I’m in no rush to kill you.”
He isn’t? Earren thought to herself as she slowly moved to a different corner of the room. Why would he keep me around so long? She continued to reason. It’s not like he wants my company…
“What are you doing?” the dragon said breaking the silence. Earren stood next to the pile of gold as she looked at the dragon from behind. He was so large, his black scales were like iron plates that covered him completely. Along his back they changed to a red color as they formed sharp spikes that run from his head to trail. He was a fearsome monster, but he was all alone.
Suddenly Earren was struck by a wave of unexplainable empathy as she watched the creature search for her.
“I can make this room very hot,” the dragons threatened as he looked around more.
“I’m right here,” Earren said as she appeared directly in front of the dragon.
The dragon whipped his head forward locking his eyes onto the tan unicorn. He moved his tail slowly around the room behind him lining up his target so he could strike.
“Nice of you to show yourself,” he said with an evil grin. “That power of yours seems quite useful.” He added as his tail began to slowly snake towards the unicorn from behind.
“Thank you,” Earren said smiling. The dragon towering before her was very intimidating and she still felt incredibly nervous, but she knew what she had to do. The dragon’s eyes narrowed as his tail began to whip at the unsuspecting mare.
“Will you be my friend?” Earren asked looking up into the dragon’s eyes. His eyes went wide as his tail stopped in midair just feet from the pony.
“What do you mean?” the dragon asked shocked.
“Do you believe in friendship at first sight?” Earren asked.
“I don’t think I believe in friendship at all,” he responded as his tail slowly retreated and slid back around behind him.
Earren giggled slightly, “I said that same thing once,” she explained. “Let me tell you a story about myself.”