Darkness clung to the cavern walls like a slick coat of fresh oil. At scarce intervals slim beams of sunlight broke through the stone ceiling and sliced through the shadows with the striking ease of a Wildclaw's talon piercing a foe's flesh. Moisture dripped down at a steady pace; anywhere else the noise of the small droplets of water would barely have been noticeable, if at all, but in the caverns it seemed as though even the lightest sound was amplified tenfold. The dripping water, occasional flutter of smoothly-scaled wings and rhythmic thudding of a heavy dragon's cautiously slow footsteps made for a particularly unsettling symphony.
The scaled head of a Nocturne peeked around the corner of one of the cave tunnels. Darimi inspected the expanse of the tunnel up ahead, quickly assessing whether or not it was safe to proceed; seeing no danger ahead of herself and her partner she quickly darted back around the corner to face the fellow dragon that had come to a halt behind her. The Nocturne greeted her partner with a hasty nod.
"Looks like it's all clear," Darimi confirmed in a soft tone of voice. The dark-scaled Snapper to whom she was speaking breathed forth a heavy sigh.
"That's a relief…" Xelis responded. She looked up at Darimi with a light tilt of her head. Having met her partner's gaze Darimi instinctively tilted her own head a little in turn, as was typical of her breed. She seemed to shrug a little, drawing her lengthy wings in a little closer to herself.
"I don't understand. Why aren't they here? They've been giving everyone such trouble but we've not had a glimpse of even one..." she mumbled.
"You're complaining that they're not here, then?" Xelis somewhat jokingly asked. "I told you before. They'll be rotating their ambush placements at this time. Every couple of days each smaller group of them either moves to a new position from which to attack the likes of us if we pass by or allow other members of their sect to take their place. I don't quite understand why that's the case but after having observed their movements for a few weeks I've been able to work out that this is the safest time to sneak in, if we were ever to get in here at all."
"It does surprise me… I thought the Serthis were more of the type to remain in an ambush location far longer than just a couple of days," Darimi attempted to consider, her scaly brow furrowing as she attempted to fathom the information.
"That is an excellent point, quite correct at that…" Xelis agreed, with a solemn nod and a hint of worry creeping back into her otherwise relatively confident tone. "For all my journeying I can't say I've ever seen or heard of Serthis who rotate their forces so regularly. They guard this stretch of the caverns with such infuriating dedication…"
"What do you suppose the reason could be?" Darimi asked her, once again mimicking the previous tilt of her partner's head though Xelis had since straightened up her stance again. "Perhaps they're simply protecting theirs and the Swiftfoot herd's territorial claim?"
"That may be, but not even the Centaurs that call these caverns home guard this particular stretch of tunnel so viciously… I would think that there's something more here that we do not know about and that they do not want us to find," Xelis surmised. She quickly shook her head. "But that's not of our concern now. We may not have much time before the next Serthis group arrive to set up their ambush here… and dare I say it if they were to find us having gotten this far in I don't think we'd be getting out unharmed, if we were to get out alive at all."
Darimi straightened up a little and gave another quick nod. "You're right," she replied. "Let's take note of what we can while we have the chance."
Xelis nodded in response as she moved past her taller companion, carefully padding around the corner to advance into the tunnels they'd not been able to gain access to until now. Darimi quickly followed suit; as she moved she reached to the scroll case that hung by her waist and pulled out some parchment on which to take note of the various features and factors of note in these caves. To most dragons it would have been difficult to tell one cavern from another, overlooking small details and assuming each one to be the same. The keen eye of an Earth Flight dragon such as Xelis, however, was able to better discern the details that would set certain caverns and tunnels apart. Though they'd not have time to fully map the expanses there, the Snapper and her devoted Nocturne companion would have the chance to make a log containing the most crucial information in regards to this hitherto relatively unexplored place.
As they cautiously advanced Xelis continually glanced up, down and around at the rocky cavern walls that surrounded them. Given she was better suited to spotting and citing the appropriate name of rock formations or other points worth noting down, it was she who took charge of discerning them while her Nocturne companion, being far better suited to writing things down with her more nimble hands, would nod in due course and dutifully write each spoken detail down. This process started just as the both of them had expected it to. Occasionally they would pause to listen if a sound caught their attention, not wanting to be caught by the returning Serthis when they came back, only to resume their work when they were satisfied they still had precious minutes in which to log the cavern's features.
"We should probably start heading back," Darimi eventually advised. Xelis frowned; she was reluctant to leave after having become so engrossed in her enthusiastic exploration but wasn't naive enough to think that Darimi didn't have a good point. After a moment's hesitation she quietly sighed and gave a slow nod of her head.
"You're right," she responded. "It wouldn't be wise to stay much longer." She moved to turn around, careful not to brush against or disturb the cavern wall and alert the returning Serthis that dragons had indeed been there; doing so would have jeopardised any future attempts to get back here, which Xelis fully intended to do whenever they were next able in order to make more progress in logging the untouched tunnels.
"We've made good progress today," Darimi assured her, folding up the parchment on which she'd been writing and tucking it back into her scroll case. "You should be proud - we're the first to have gotten this far past the Serthis here. We're the first to log and take note of these particular caverns."
Xelis managed a smile and glanced up at the taller dragon, bowing her head for a brief moment in a grateful, respective nod that the Nocturne mimicked in due course. "Quite right. We've done our clan proud. I couldn't have done it without you, Darimi."
Darimi smiled fondly as she finished securing the scroll case resting by her hip. She leaned down momentarily to treat her companion to a gentle, affectionate bump of her snout. It was in moments such as this, with the Snapper smiling so sincerely and with that gleam of discovery in her eye, that she was at her most endearing.
"You know it's no problem, Xelis," she assured her. "I promised you I'll accompany you on each of your expeditions, and I plan to live up to that promise. For now, though, we ought to move out of here so we can show the clan what we've been able to log."
Xelis nodded in turn and the two dragons turned around, ready to head back up the way they had come in order to avoid being confronted by the Serthis they knew would not take long to arrive on the scene. The devoted Snapper held her head high as they prepared to leave. Her mind was alive with the thought of how impressed her clan would be when she returned to them. Surely they would be proud of herself and her partner for having succeeded where so many dragons before them had failed.
Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she glanced over at Darimi who seemed to be lagging along beside her. She was walking at an uncharacteristically slow pace, with her head pointed down as she gazed with odd focus upon the ground at her feet. Quite suddenly, before Xelis could speak, Darimi motioned with a clawed hand for her to stop where she was. Bizarrely she did not shift her gaze from the rocky cavern floor.
"Something's not right," Darimi muttered.
"What's wrong?" Xelis asked, with a concerned tone of voice. She lifted her head for a moment to sniff the air; she could neither smell nor hear any approaching Serthis, so quickly knew that wasn't what had caused her friend's worry. She turned her head back towards her companion. "We really should get goi-"
Darimi interrupted her, raising a claw quickly to her mouth and shushing her with a soft hiss. A confused Xelis watched on as the Nocturne maintained her focus on the floor beneath their feet. Steadily she knelt down, her slender frame shifting to allow her head to slowly move closer and closer to the ground, and tilted her head to the side so as to press her ear to the floor. Xelis was unable to find the words to put to her partner as to inquire what in the world she was doing. Granted she'd long since known her partner to have her quirks, but this was definitely not something she'd ever been observed to do.
"It can't be…" Darimi whispered. "I can't believe we didn't notice it sooner!"
"What is it?" a well and truly baffled Xelis asked. She was acutely aware of the fact that they were not in the safest place in which to linger.
"Listen!" Darimi urged her, gesturing for her to do the same as she was doing at that moment. Xelis did just that, albeit somewhat hesitantly, and lowered her head to the cavern floor in turn. She glanced over to Darimi who raised up one clawed hand and knocked it thrice against the ground. She paused, as though to allow Xelis a moment to think, then did so again. Three knocks of a clawed hand against stone should have made little noise. When Darimi did it, however, the sound resonated far more than one would have expected.
Xelis' eyes slowly widened as the realisation of what her partner had worked out hit her with the force of a furious Imperial and shook her to her core. She looked up to her partner, finding herself able to utter just two words in relation to the revelation they'd just come to.
"It's...hollow!"
Darimi gave a solemn nod in response. Her eyes held a hint of concern within their gaze as she did know the risk they were at while lingering in such a place. However there was an increasingly glimmer of curiosity in her expression, one she undoubtedly got from her Snapper associate who had also steadily begun to grin as excitement began to run its way through their veins. They'd already made quite the achievement in what they'd been able to log, but it seemed they'd come across an even more incredible discovery quite literally right under their noses.
"We need to come back here," Darimi eagerly whispered. "We can't possibly just leave this to go without investigation."
"My thoughts exactly," Xelis agreed with an enthusiastic nod. "We need to hurry out now lest the Serthis catch us here… but now we know when we'll have an opening to infiltrate this stretch of the caverns again. Don't worry, we will return to learn more about what's here."
With a nod, Darimi and Xelis began to hurry back the way from which they had come with an increased vigor in their step. The sheer mystery of it all and fuelled their shared curiosity; it burned within them as though it were the Flamecaller's very own fire as they hurried to take their leave. The prospect of what could possibly lay beneath the cavern ground both mystified and intrigued them.
The day of their return there could not come soon enough.