Finally, some light in this darkness. Light, a strange light. It doesn't look like the brightness you'd normally see coming out from a crack in the stones. I wonder what it could be.
"What is that?" Gingercat asked in a whisper, exchanging a quick glance between Leona and I. We paused our motions, thinking.
"I have no idea," Leona replies to my little sister. "But let's take a closer look, shall we?"
"As long as we stay low and keep quiet," I meow. Together, we slowly begin walking in the direction of the light. As we approach closer and closer, I make an assumption of what is glowing.
Fire. Golden, glowing fire.
Suddenly, a pair of magenta eyes appeared out from a shadowy corner. The shape of the body was long and skinny --muscular too--.
Was this a dragon? It had fiery orange scales, four black claws on every foot, and a yellow underbelly. Next to the glowing eyes were two red streaks, looking very similar to the shape of little flames. The fire we saw must have come from this creature, for it looked pretty fiery.
"Like what you see?" the dragon asks, smirking down at me. I didn't realize that I had been staring. I feel the skin on my cheeks burning from embarrassment. It's not a big deal though, so I'm fine.
"Hey Dark, I've seen you around." Ah, yes. Loong. A dragon. An old friend of mine.
Gingercat and Leona glance over at each other with confusion and surprise, while I just smile and wave my fluffy, black tail. My sisters sit down to rest their legs for a minute.
"Loong, I haven't seen you for years!" I touch my nose to Loong's in greeting. "Where have you been?" I look up into his eyes. Those gorgeous, magenta eyes.
"I've been here, in my kingdom." Loong answers, his strong voice echoing. He sounds kind of gay, honestly, and I don't say it in a mean way. He's very flirtatious, to say the least.
"Cool!" I smile, looking back at Leona and Gingercat. "That's more fun than what we've been doing here," I sigh. "We're lost." Well, the other two are. I know this place well, but I have to keep a secret. A secret no one needs to be involved with anymore.
"Oh… how unfortunate." Loong looks fixedly at Gingercat. "I know these tunnels very well. Do you and your sisters need any help finding your way out?" Loong's hiding it, too.
"It would be nice to have a guide." Leona meows, trying not to make eye contact with the dragon. She gets uncomfortable easily, maybe because she has trust issues. I don't know, honestly.
Before we begin to follow Loong, the ground starts to shake. Little bits of stone fall from above. A chunk hits the top of my head, hard enough to make a 'thud'.
"Stay to my side," Loong snaps, the yellow flame on his tail flickering even quicker than usual. "A layer of the roof is starting to collapse!" He doesn't snap unless he's worried.
Bigger chunks of stone fall, almost landing on top of us. Loong's horns are no longer on fire, and the flame is replaced with bright amber sparks. A giant orange cube of amber forms around us, and a big boulder smashes against the outside of the cube. The cube didn't get a single scratch or dent. The stone chunk had broken instead. That goes to show how strong magic can be. As long as it's under the right kind of control.
"Woah!" Gingercat gasps. The tabby turns to face the fiery dragon and asks, "How did you do that?"
"My horns hold my magic," the dragon explains to the young cat. "Well, actually my Queen gives me my powers." Queen. Hopefully she's better than Mint. They'll find Mint eventually… they may not live long enough.
"What else can you do?" Leona asks, tilting her head. The amber cube appears to melt, but it's disappearing instead of becoming a liquid. Must be really hot.
Loong pauses, thinking of how to reply. I know there's lots he has to hide from my sisters. It would be too risky to tell too much. "I can make myself an Amber Platform to glide on, I can light myself on fire, and I can make an Amber Cube, which I just used."
The tabby looks around, as if expecting something to appear. Maybe a unicorn. There's dragons, so why can't there be unicorns too? Unicorns wouldn't last a day here.
"Now can you show us the way out?" Leona asks, sounding slightly annoyed. Once Leona has a plan, she doesn't like taking long to start following that plan.
"Um… Okay. This might be harder than I thought," Loong replies, glancing around. Is there someone here that we can't see? I look over my shoulder into the darkness.
Glowing purple orbs.
Eyes.
So there is more than last time.
"We need to get going," I whisper urgently to the fire dragon. He glances back, watching the purple flash. Loong nods, nudging Gingercat with his snout.
There's a sudden screech that echoes through the tunnels. Seriously?
"Damn it!" The dragon hisses. "Again?"
"Why did you say that?" Gingercat asks, tilting her head to one side.
"There are many things that roam through the tunnels," he explains. "There is a lynx, a cougar or two, and the R.O.E."
"R.O.E.?" I repeat, trying to remember what that is. Right, that.
"The River of Evil," Loong clarified. "There are more secrets, but it is against the rules of the tribe to tell you more." Why'd he say that? No one needs to know more than they do.
The low growl comes again. This time, it sounds as if something's standing right behind us….