The dragon's gold scales glinted just ahead of Torin as it walked farther into the mountain. The tunnels branched apart into a confusing underground maze, and the soldier knew that he would have become lost very quickly if he had to try to find his way through the passageways alone. After a few minutes the path twisted and the dragon stopped at the entrance to a cave. "Oi, you. Some human is here."
There was a rustling in the cave. Torin stepped forward to peer around the giant creature, and stumbled into the room as it moved away suddenly.
"Who's there–? Oh. It's you. I should have known. What do you want?"
Torin blinked as a shape emerged from the edge of the cave. "What?"
"You were sent here to rescue me, weren't you?" Now the knight could recognize the figure. Acyia's gray-green eyes glared at him as she walked across the cave. Her black hair was now cropped short, something her father, the king, wouldn't have liked.
"I knew he'd send someone eventually," the girl grumbled. "I thought it would be a different knight, though."
"Just because I'm not the best knight-!" started Torin indignantly.
"Yes, I know. Well, you can go back and tell them that I'm not coming."
"But-"
"I'm not coming! How hard is that to understand? And I thought knights were supposed to be smart!"
"But you have to come!" Torin exclaimed. "The dragon kidnapped you, so I have to rescue you!"
Acyia frowned. "That's stupid."
"That's the right way!" Torin glared at the princess.
"Hey." The dragon stuck its head into the cave. "I didn't kidnap her, remember? I already explained that to you."
Torin rolled his eyes. "Right."
"It's true," admitted the princess. "It was a different dragon, not Terascythe."
"What did it look like?" asked the dragon. "Maybe I can figure out which one it is."
"There are other dragons?" Torin shuddered.
Terascythe stared at him, as if it were obvious. "Of course! There are tons of them in the mountain range and the forest on the other side of the mountains."
"Great," muttered the knight.
"So what did was this dragon like?"
Acyia closed her eyes. "I'm not exactly sure, but it wasn't yellow-orange like you. I was practicing archery, so I didn't see it coming." She thought harder. "But it brought me to a cave, and I saw that its scales were more red than yours. Kind of fiery colored."
"Wonderful," snapped Torin, losing his patience. "That only narrows it down to about 50 dragons, I bet. And what were you doing practicing archery, anyway?"
"I like archery!" protested the girl. "It's a lot better than learning how to make dresses, anyway. Really, would you want to sew clothes when you could be shooting arrows into targets instead?"
"Do remember anything else about the dragon?" asked Terascythe before Torin could start arguing with Acyia.
"Yeah, there was another dragon in the cave. The one carrying me called it Gyio. They said that there was a plan to-"
"Gyio?" screeched Terascythe. The dragon's wings shot open in anger. "The other dragon was Gyio? What is he doing?" Spines on the back of his neck bristled in fury. "I can't believe it! What was the plan?"
"As I was saying," snapped Acyia, the interruption irritating her, "The red-orange dragon said that they had a plan to overthrow Krenmar and reclaim the world from humans-"
"They want to kill Krenmar?" The dragon didn't seem to notice Acyia's furious glare as it cut her off again. "For Dalya's sake, that's the plan? "They're up to their wings in trouble! This is serious! Very serious!"
"If you don't mind, exactly who is Krenmar?" demanded Torin. He had a feeling that this was going to become much more than a trip to bring back the princess. "And Gyio. Who's he?"
"Krenmar? You don't know who Krenmar is?" By now Terascythe was staring at him, wondering just how stupid a human could be. "He's only the ruler of all the dragons!"
Torin blinked. "Dragons have a king?" he spluttered.
"Well, not exactly. Krenmar just makes sure that we follow the rules, like staying away from humans. He oversees things, and can deliver punishments, but that's really all he does. The point is that Krenmar is the most important dragon in the whole dragon society! If this red-orange dragon wants to overthrow him…" Terascythe's growl faded away. He was lost in thought.
"So you're going to tell him?" prompted Acyia.
"Yes, yes…" The dragon closed its eyes. "Very soon."
"Sorry to interrupt," muttered Torin impatiently. "But I'm supposed to just come here, fight you if necessary, and bring the princess back. So could you let me leave now?"
Terascythe's gaze snapped around to bore into him. "No. That would take too much time, and I can't leave you here."
"Leave me here-"
Acyia grinned as the dragon spoke again. "I need to go see Krenmar now, and you have to come with me."
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