Rhaegal had been circling for ten minutes now, trying to contain his nervousness. He was in a clearing in the middle of the forest, where he had made an appointment for the others, and was almost half an hour early; all signals that betrayed his tension. He knew that what would soon happen would determine much of his future... and his friendships.
That would be yet another attempt at reconciliation since the relationship between him, his sisters and their adventurer friends had deteriorated; he had already tried many times to fix things between them, but unfortunately it wasn't that simple. This time, however, he had to succeed: Haku was counting on him, and even if he had told him that he could refuse if he wanted, Rhaegal at least wanted to try. After all, even without considering the political implications that had led Haku to ask him that request, if he had to go looking for a cure he wanted to have all the help possible.
The dragon at least hoped that, even without repairing their friendship, the adventurers would agree to help him. After all, everyone's life was at stake. If Tzegorn was willing to cooperate with Haku despite both he and Darbi having confirmed that the tigerman hated dragons, then he didn't see why his friends too shouldn't momentarily forget their enmities and help him in that endeavor. Perhaps in fact it was just what they needed: if they worked together and consequently could not move away from each other, they would have more opportunities to get closer and talk. A nice adventure all together, it didn't sound bad at all as an idea.
Suddenly he heard a noise and familiar smells entered his nostrils. Rhaegal waited, and within minutes Efren, Carlos, Martha, Sarah, and Lisah appeared among the trees. The two men greeted him with smiles (although Carlos smiled far less than Efren), but the three women didn't even pretend to be friendly. However, they weren't alone: with them there were also two other individuals, namely the lionman and the tigerman who had helped them explore the underground caverns some time before, Dyana and Atelas. Rhaegal sighed as he saw them. The day after what had happened in the caves, Dyana had gone to Carlos's tent to make sure he was well and fully recovered from the bite of that terrible snake. The man had appreciated the visit and had welcomed her in the best possible way. Dyana had been very amiable and kind, and when Carlos's friends had gone to check on him they had found her still there. Dyana had proved pleasant company and had not struggled to make friends with everyone. A short time later, Atelas also went to see Carlos, and he too was greeted warmly. Both the lionman and the tigerman had found that visit pleasant, so the next day they returned to see the adventurers, and also the day after and the day after that; it didn't take long before they started working together and helping each other. Now, more than a month later, Dyana and Atelas were considered practically part of the party, even if they weren't really since they still remained soldiers in the service of the army. Rhaegal had nothing against them, in fact he found their company pleasant too (he had spoken to them a couple of times and they had both seemed like very nice people), but their constant presence meant that Rhaegal could not speak freely with the his friends, as he might have let bad details slip and he still didn't fully trust the two newcomers. However, this time he was willing to accept their presence because they could actually be useful to him. As Haku had rightly said, if the dragons had found the cure by themselves they could have been accused of having always known and concealed it; Rhaegal had reflected that probably if people notoriously close to them had found her, the result would not have been much different, but the presence of the tigerman and the lionman could have changed everything. Therefore, he wanted to ask for their support as well. "Thank you for coming"
"Okay. That and more for a friend" Efren said pleasantly, then he asked: "Right, guys?"
Carlos, Dyana and Atelas nodded vigorously, fully agreeing with his words; Sarah, Lisah and Martha did it too, albeit a little reluctantly. Rhaegal had noticed that the three women seemed to have begun to soften towards him: if it had been his sisters the ones in front of them, they almost certainly would not have given them the satisfaction of nodding. Rhaegal just didn't understand why there was so much tension between the girls... maybe his patience and constant apologies were just making the girls more malleable towards him... or maybe Efren was right when he said that between women the dislike was destined to last a very long time.
"Excuse me if I asked you to come here in secret, but I had my reasons. If we wait a moment they should come too…" Rhaegal was interrupted by the sound of branches breaking and something large landing beside him. "... my sisters"
Serengal and Corgorin had appeared at her side, with the classic stealth all dragons used to have. Their presence immediately irritated Sarah, Martha, and Lisah, and the two dragonesses in turn exhibited irritated frowns. "So, brother" Corgorin grumbled. "You told us to come here and that it was urgent. I hope this isn't another attempt to..."
"Haku believes there is a cure" Rhaegal exclaimed before his sister could continue.
Those words were enough to break the silence and to make all traces of hostility disappear from everyone's expressions, replaced by pure curiosity. "A cure?" Carlos repeated in amazement. "You mean... a cure for the blood death?"
"Yes, that's right" Rhaegal answered. "It would take a long time to explain all the details, so settle for this: Haku believes that underground, where the amount of mana is greater, we could find a substance, a plant, a nectar, a mushroom or in any case something which, pure or mixed with other medicinal substances, may be able to produce a cure. Not a simple remedy for the symptoms, I'm talking about a real cure. With that we could not only cure the sick, but put a real stop to this damned epidemic. Blood death would become no different than a simple flu"
"If there really is this possibility, why didn't Haku tell anyone about it?" Efren asked. "I am part of the Council, I would have known if such a hypothesis had been made public. We would have made many resources and men available for..."
"Because the chances of success are very low," Rhaegal replied. He wanted to tell Efren the truth, namely that Haku aimed to make people love dragons, but he couldn't do it in front of Dyana and Atelas since, as already said, he didn't trust them. So he had invented as believable an excuse as possible. "Haku doesn't know if this substance really exists or not. Revealing it at the Council could only cause false hope. What if people find out? It would be a disaster if it turns out that Haku was wrong and there was no cure. Imagine being one of those scared citizens, learn by word of mouth that there is a way to cure yourself without having to go through all the symptoms, and then find out that it was false; how would you feel? Someone might start to worry that even the remedy for the symptoms doesn't work, that there are other lies at play… we all know what that would lead to. And it is true, certainly if the Council knew it would make resources and men available... but this would not be positive. Those resources and soldiers are needed to maintain order and stability in the village, and I'm pretty sure they'll soon be critical. I'm sure you too, Efren, will have been made aware of certain rumors that are circulating. It's not worth depriving the Council of military forces to send them looking for something that may very well not exist. For this Haku has decided to act in secret. We are experts in research, it is not the first time that we have explored new environments, and if we alone disappear, no one will notice"
Efren groaned in understanding. He knew what Rheagal was saying was true: being part of the Council he had been informed of the rumors circulating among the populace. Even if at the moment they were only rumors, nothing guaranteed for the future: it was better to keep all the soldiers in the village to prepare for the worst. "Seriously?" Dyana asked suddenly in a suspicious voice. "Do we have to go underground in secret just because the chances of finding this cure are low?"
"What are you afraid of? Do you think we intend to keep the cure to ourselves?" Corgorin said with a chuckle. "We dragons are immune to disease, kitten"
"Hey, don't talk to her like that!" Lisah exclaimed taking the defense of the lioness.
"STOP!" Rhaegal screamed in exasperation, silencing everyone. "Corgorin, don't belittle the intelligence or value of this woman. And Dyana, I don't know what doubts you have, but ask yourself this question: if we have something in mind for the cure, why involve you? We could have gone and looked for her on our own ours. If you are afraid of a dirty trick, I can swear right now that when we find it, we will publicly bring the cure into the village and I myself will personally deliver it to Zamor"
A dragon's promise couldn't be broken, everyone knew that. Rhaegal didn't mind taking that oath: after all, the goal was to be admired by people, and publicly delivering the cure to Zamor would therefore be perfect. Dyana didn't seem convinced, but since the dragon had sworn she couldn't find any further reasons for doing what they were secretly doing except the ones Rhaegal had already listed, so she changed the subject: "Okay, I believe you. So which would that be the plan?"
"We will use the cavity from which the water that fills the lake comes, and from it we will descend to the underground caverns. Don't worry, I have already thought about how to make you breathe underwater for all that time" Rhaegal answered. "Once down there... let's explore. Haku told me that he will ask Isaac to tell him the amount of mana necessary for our purpose, and what we will have to do is find something non-poisonous that has that amount or a little more, not too much because otherwise there would be other problems. When we find it, if we find it, we will collect as much cure as possible and return a surface using the same passage; it shouldn't be difficult, the presence of water in the lake proves that there must be a current carrying the water to the top, so we'll just let us carry from it. Once we're up here, we'll deliver the cure and let Isaac do the rest"
"I won't be able to go with you" Efren said. "I am a member of the Council, my absence would be immediately noticeable"
"I know" Rhaegal replied. "This time unfortunately you won't be with us... but you could still participate by helping us hide our absence. If someone noticed our disappearance, you could make up an excuse. You're our friend, so anyone would believe you". He let out a sigh. "Listen, I know we've had some disagreements in this group. Especially some of us" and he said this looking at the girls, both human and dragon, who turned away. "But this time the safety of the village is at stake, so let's stop playing the fools and get back to working together, and seriously I would add. So, are you in? Another adventure, like in the old days?"
There was a moment of silence, where all the people present looked at each other. Finally the one who did however was Carlos: "Let me wrap it all up... should this group made up of members who can barely stand each other go back to the same place where I almost died to look for something we don't even know exists? I like it! When do we start?"
Rhaegal snorted in amusement at Carlos's joke. "I'd say... tomorrow at the crack of dawn? Is that okay with you?"
"I will make sure that no one knows of your absence and I will move some patrols so that you can leave the village peacefully" Efren said looking at his companions. "Good luck to all of you"
Having decided, each went his own way; the adventurers returned to the village and her sisters returned to the forest. Rhaegal breathed a sigh of relief and lay back on the ground, inhaling deeply as if he had just run for miles. He had managed to convince everyone. It was at that moment that he heard a voice. "Brother, you should slow down a bit"
He looked up and saw Darbi, who was watching him smiling. "How long have you been here?"
"Half an hour. I was watching you from the trees. I hid really well if even you didn't notice me" Darbi answered. "I'm serious, brother, you were clearly on the verge of a nervous breakdown just now. What's the matter with you lately?"
"It's nothing. I just have a lot of thoughts on my mind"
"It doesn't seem like it to me. It's been a long time since I heard you scream"
"I told you it's nothing!"
"We already have an introverted brother, don't become one you too"
"Mind your business, Darbi!"
Rhaegal stood up and tried to walk away, but Darbi stopped him putting a hand on his shoulder: "Brother, seriously, it's clear that you have something bothering you. I'm your brother, you can talk to me about it and..."
"Do you really want to know what's wrong!?" Rhaegal snapped in exasperation. "Okay! I'm still having nightmares about Haku because I'm still afraid of him, I lied to my friends just now about why I want to keep this mission a secret, me and Serengal and Corgorin gave them our blood, Black Vulture tortured me when I was a prisoner and according to a stupid prophecy our brother should become the king of all dragons!"
Darbi gasped and his eyes widened.