Chapter 20

A very nice sweet talk you had with him but did you really have to tell him?

"DREDGE!" Flint yelled opening her eyes to her being on the surface again and Dredge in front of her. "You know some of us need to sleep? I don't like that you keep entering my dreams when I had a long day."

"Oh your still sleeping and getting you rest, don't worry," Dredge said. "You just only feel tired in your mind but you body will be well rested."

"Well I would like my mind to be rested as well!" Flint yelled.

"Calm you snout," Dredge said. "I'm just here to say that I've found something that may help you in finding the artifact for me. Also to say that it hurt hearing my 4th great-grandson calling me those mean words. I only lied to protect him, I wasn't trying to hurt anyone."

"Lying is still bad either way," Flint said.

"Have it your way," Dredge said. "But no matter what you think, I'm not evil, I just want what is the best for everyone. I know you must be skeptical about what I did with the Webwing Queens and that Cavewing Nash but I promise you that I would never lie about something like that. They turned vicious and I had to get rid of them. Believe me I didn't want to, you think I would be a dragon who would kill their own wife?"

"Maybe if you got something out of it, you would," Flint said.

"Ouch, that's a low blow," Dredge said. "I know I want something now but back then I just wanted to keep peace."

"Well, look where that went," Flint said.

"I've said I'm sorry multiple times, what more do you want?" Dredge asked.

"It doesn't matter," Flint said. "Now what did you find in that book?"

"One sec, lets get another dragon's opinion on this," Dredge said and Flint saw Prancer appear in front of her.

"Woah… where… who…" Prancer then turned and saw Flint. "FLINT? Where are we?

"I've connected your minds into one dream," Dredge said. "This way we can all communicate with each other."

Flint saw Prancer turn in disbelief to look at his 4th great-grandfather, Dredge.

"YOU ARE THE WORST, YOU KNOW THAT?" Prancer yelled.

"Hey, don't be like that, I just tried to to help, I couldn't predict the future," Dredge said.

"You said you would leave my friends alone but then you blackmail her and force her to get you this stupid book!"

"Please stop," Dredge said. "I've found something in this book that will help you with your journey."

"NO!" Prancer yelled. "I don't know what you want with the artifact but we aren't your sacrificial pawns to go do what you want. WE ARE DRAGONS, LIVING DRAGONS!"

"I know that, please Prancer, stop yelling," Dredge pleaded.

"NO! Flint come on, lets get out of this dream," Prancer said.

"Fine," Dredge said, "You leave me no choice!" he said in a voice that wasn't his own. The area around Prancer and Flint went dark and they appeared in a room that had blood all over the walls and at their feet were Tulsi, Hunter's, and Vala's lifeless bodies.

"What on earth?" Prancer said. "Flint, what is this place?"

"I don't know," Flint said, scared of what was going on. "Dredge brought me to a similar place once before but it was only for a second."

"Now," Dredge said, appearing from the shadows, "You are going to do what I say!"

"What's making us?" Prancer asked.

Dredge clapped his claws and they appeared over the same lava lake that Dredge brought Flint to once, except this time instead of Hunter in his claws, it was Hunter and Tulsi, both frozen.

"Now do as I say," Dredge said in what seemed to be his normal voice.

"Hunter!" Flint said.

"Tulsi!" Prancer said.

"Now stop trying to resist me," Dredge said. "Just find me the artifact and everything will be okay."

'Wait, last time he did this I wasn't sleeping," Flint said. "But this time we are in a dream, he can't hurt dragons in a dream."

"Your right Flint," Dredge said. "But they can still feel some pain," and Dredge dipped Hunter and Tulsi's tails in the lava and Prancer and Flint both heard screams pierce through their dreams.

"STOP THAT!" Flint yelled.

"Oh relax," Dredge said, pulling Hunter and Tulsi's tails out of the lava. "It isn't hurting them, I will just leave them a sting that will last for a little bit."

"Your sick, that's what you are!" Flint yelled.

"Do you want them to suffer more?" Dredge asked, bring Hunter and Tulsi back to the lava.

"NO!" Prancer said. "We'll be good, just don't hurt them anymore."

"Finally," Dredge said and teleported them back to the grassy surface. "Now don't try to threaten me again!"

"We won't," Flint said.

"Good, now I can tell you two what I found in the book," Dredge said. The book then teleported in between all of them and started flipping through pages by itself until it stopped on one page that had a picture of a door and four lights at the top that were off.

"What's this?" Flint said.

"I think it's your door in the riddle," Dredge said. "See the four lights which could represent your four pathways. The door could represent the end to your journey and to find the lost artifact."

"How does this help us know where to go though?" Prancer asked.

"Look at the bottom of the page," Dredge said and Flint saw that there was words written underneath the picture.

"I can't read them," Flint said.

"Oh, hang on," Dredge said and he clapped his claws and the words changed in front of Flint to words that Flint could understand.

"Thanks?" Flint said.

"Told you I am just trying to help," Dredge said. "Now look at what it says. Four pathways, one door. Two riddles, one prize. Power is strong, power must be earned. If this power disappears, only one way will find it again. Conquer the pathways and only then will the lost artifact show itself to you."

"So the riddles will hep us find the lost artifact?" Prancer asked.

"Yes, now I got to tell you something else, so that you will trust me."

Don't trust him, said a voice that went through Flint's mind.

Huh? Flint thought looking around but didn't see anyone.

Don't trust him.

"Flint, are you okay?" Prancer asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Flint said.

"Ok," Prancer said and turned back to Dredge.

All of a sudden, the world around Flint fell away and Prancer and Dredge disappeared. Flint felt like she was dropping down a deep hole with no bottom in sight. Out of nowhere, she landed in a cave that had waterfalls on all sides of it and an island in the middle that she was standing on. She looked up and saw a Cavewing standing in front of her.

"AHH!" Flint screamed, trying to back away from the dragon.

"Hey calm down, calm down, I got you out of that situation."

"What?" Flint said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Queen Lennon."

"WHAT!" Flint yelled.

"Hey I know you must be confused but let me get something straight right now. I am dead, I am not alive anymore."

"Wait, but then how are you here talking to me?" Flint asked.

"Let me tell you the true story and then you will understand," Queen Lennon said.

"Ok, I'm listening," Flint said.

"You see that day, two hundred years ago, it was me, my husband Nash, Queen Shelob and her husband Dredge. Ugh, I still hate saying that name."

"Why, what happened?" Flint asked.

"That day is when we found the lost artifact. We fell into a cavern that had a golden pillar in the middle. None of us could read it and went around looking for clues but Dredge stayed beside the golden pillar."

"Why?" Flint asked.

"I don't know," Queen Lennon said. "But all of a sudden, he started acting weird. Like lashing out at the walls and almost attacking us."

"What happened after that?" Flint asked.

"We tried to stop him," Queen Lennon said. "But he was too powerful." Queen Lennon then brought her face right in front of Flint. "Flint, he murdered all of us, while speaking in a voice that wasn't his normal voice."

"That's… That's… terrible," Flint said and felt her eyes starting to water.

"Now, now, don't cry," Queen Lennon said, wiping Flint's eyes. "It wasn't a total loss because we were able to do something before we died."

"What did you do?" Flint asked.

"We managed to latch onto whatever power Dredge got. That's right, we are a part of the power that he holds. That is how I can talk to you, but only in dreams, not in real life."

"So as long as Dredge has the power, you are here as well."

"Yes," Queen Lennon said. "But we can't do much in this form but we learned that there was one thing we could help with."

"What's that?" Flint asked.

"Well a few months ago, a spell was casted by a dragon on some distant continent called Pyrrhia."

"I've heard Vala say that dragons fled from there to here," Flint said.

"Yeah, well anyways, that spell was to get rid of a magic called animus magic," Queen Lennon said. "Apparently Dredge is some sort of animus dragon, that's how he got this power."

"So if the spell was to get rid of the magic, how did Dredge keep his?"

"I don't know," Queen Lennon said. "But at that moment we had gained the same amount of power that Dredge had so we used the power to cut off Dredge from the pillar. We hoped that if he was getting his power from the pillar, then that he would lose it. That's not what seemed to happen but it seems like his power is weaker than before."

"So you did do something," Flint said.

"Yes, and the only way to get to the artifact is through the riddles that we have made, waiting for dragons with good intentions to solve them. And you have solved the first pathway."

"Really?" Flint asked. "Which one was it?"

"It was the heart one silly," Queen Lennon said. "I've seen you struggle these past couple days but you have been able to overcome your conflict with your jealousy and I see that you are worthy of this." Queen Lennon then had a piece of paper appear in front of Flint.

"What is this?" Flint asked.
"It one of the pieces of the map that will lead you to the artifact. Only when you have all four can you find your pathway to the artifact. It only will appear in your mind though so once you get all four, you all will have to find a way to connect each other's minds into one dream."

"Thank you for this," Flint said. "I promise we won't let you down."

"I know you won't," Queen Lennon said and disappeared. Flint then woke up out of her dream to a dark cave and snoring dragons. She saw Vala hanging upside down on the ceiling with her wings folded around her like a bat, sleeping. Prancer and Tulsi were sleeping right next to each other on the same web across the room. Flint looked beside her on the web she was sleeping on and saw Hunter still sound asleep. She didn't remember when she got up and moved over here but she wasn't going to leave now. She laid her body back down beside Hunter, allowing her scales to rest on his.

I will do anything to protect you, she thought. We will get through this war together and we will find a way to take down Dredge. I know it and I believe in us. We can end this war, as long as we do it… together.