"Well, who wants to go first?" Azara joked with a gesture towards the ominous entrance. When nobody moved, she rolled her eyes and stepped forward. She held her trinket in front of her with her left hand, still shielded, and held her staff in her right hand. The staff was pointed threateningly, and the ruby stone at its top pulsed with a tiny red glow, as if ready to send off some sort of explosive blast. There would be nothing surprising her from the entranceway to the crypt as she entered.

As she approached her staff glowed brighter, and she sent a small ball of fire flying down the entranceway. It flew quite a distance, illuminating a long stairway before it struck a floor at the bottom. Azara then looked at the runes written on the side of the tomb entrance, but could not decipher them. To her surprise, Valerius stepped up.

"Here lies the dragonslayer and king Drefregis, his sworn men of a hundred, and all who called him or them their own - wives, children, scribes, wise men. Evermore shall they hunt the draconic kind, till the sun weep forever at her children's demise," he said.

"Such hate," Azara commented. ", they bound themselves here in death."

“I can feel it,” Irinia said. “It is like there is a chill here that is different from the natural cold.”

Azara nodded. “I think I can feel it too, but I'm not sure. It is very uncomfortable.”

"What is going on here?" Valerius asked. "What do you feel?"

"This is the source of our undead visitors last night, Valerius. When these men died they bound to this place by that oath," she said, and her face became a bit sorrowful. "It’s not quite necromancy, but it’s so close that it isn't much better. To be devoted to such a horrible cause too."

"What, to kill dragons?" Valerius asked, confused.

"Well, yes. They wanted to drive dragons to extinction. That is terrible."

The prince shook his head. "I don't see how. Dragons were, and are, pretty terrible creatures if all the legends are correct. It has certainly benefited us for many years to have them be thought of as extinct."

"Yes, but why think that all dragons are evil?" Azara replied, sending him a sideways glare. "I'm sure that they can be good."

"Have you ever heard a tale of a good dragon?" Kasper piped up from behind.

Irinia quickly chimed in to the discussion.

"I'm sure some were good, we just never heard about it and so we don't know it," she said.

"Can we just get this over with?" Joakim interjected.

"Fine, let’s," Azara said, and stepped forward into the darkness. Her staff glowed bright enough to light the tunnel in front of them.

The way down was uneventful, and the staircase led to a simple landing. After this, there was one singular hallway to follow, and the group of dragon slayer hopefuls and their dragon companion moved down it with care. Nothing came for them though, and they reached the end of this long hallway without triggering any traps or coming across any magical wards.

When they reached the end of the tunnel they entered an enormous square atrium, its roof opened to the sky. The sheer rock faces of its walls climbed upward a staggering distance and then ended at the surface.

There were two layers to the room. Upon entering, the group was on a raised walkway. It was a series of round, white, rock-like boulders lined up. A walkway had been carved into the top. Stone stairways ran down from the sides of the raised walkway into the room's lower level beneath them. On this lower level, to the left and right of the walkway, were metal doors. The doors had become rust covered over the ages and were partially decorated with the same white material that made up the walkway. The lower parts of the walls were also decorated with runes and even images of weaponry created using the ivory-like white stone.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"This is incredible..." Kasper said as they walked down the path, to the place where the two stairways began on either side. "Why not just put stairs leading down from the top?"

"Probably because it is near the peak, and the other side is a cliff straight down up there," Valerius replied. "Look at how the surface on this side is farther up than that on the far side. That means that the surface up there is slanted."

"But why even put this here then?" Irinia asked. "What need is there for an open roof like this?"

"Maybe this will offer some explanation," Azara said, pointing to a small stone tablet in the center of the room, where the two stairways lead down from the walkway on either side. "It has an inscription on it. Read it."

He struggled at first, but Valerius made it out eventually. "This dark hole is the grave of the ancient dragon Agarath, last of the dragon kind to be slain. We commanded he dig, and dig he did. We commanded he die, and die he did. Thus, the dragon was humiliated, and Dreifregis the II rests forever among his bones."

"I don't get it," Irinia asked, confused.

"I do," Azara said, looking both sad and confused. "The dragon Agarath was an ancient dragon, one of the first blessed by Sitari. He was one of Dreifregis the I's foes, and it was his children here in the north that Dreifregis slew. "

"Strange. How do you know this?" Valerius asked. "I've certainly not heard of any Agarath in past tales. The dragons Dreifregis fought in the legends do not have names."

"Valerius..." Irinia said, sighing and wincing at the same time.

Azara shrugged. "I'm a mage, idiot...I study these things. The dragons in tales of Dreifregis were at first given cruel names - such as Apotheos - to make them seem terrible. Eventually, they were not given names at all, reduced to beasts in the stories."

Valerius looked at her with a raised eyebrow and then spoke again. “You always told me you weren't the bookish type though, so I'm surprised, that is all."

The woman did not respond, instead, she just looked around the large chamber with a forlorn face. For a while, Valerius followed suit, till he noticed the same thing she had already seen.

"How large was this beast?!" he said, his jaw wide open now and eyes amazed as he looked around. "If it dug this hole, and every one of these bones was once..."

"He was an ancient dragon. Dragons get larger with age. At that point, he would have been enormous. Don't worry, this dragon we are hunting shouldn't be...quite as big." she explained. “Shouldn’t be, anyway."

"Where is the head?" Joakim asked, looking around.

"What do you mean?" Azara asked.

"Well usually, on an animal of this size, the head would be a valuable trophy. I couldn't see them carving it up to use in this," he explained.

Azara shrugged. "I don't know, maybe further inside?"

"Yeah, but that begs the question of which way is the right way. There are two doors here, and they are both steel and likely barred." Valerius commented.

"Maybe we should follow those drain pipes!" Kasper said, pointing to the corners of the atrium.

Everyone looked, wondering what he meant, and sure enough, there was a tiny trench dug around the room’s perimeter, and at the corner, there were large holes for draining. It made sense - at this point, a lot of the floor was covered in snow from the night before. When it rained or snowed the place would flood if not for that drainage.

"Why would there be anything down those?" Valerius asked.

"Well, they've got to lead somewhere," Kasper replied. "I've used pipes like that for getting through walls and into places before. Maybe they lead into the passageways at some point."

Azara shook her head. "That is a farfetched bet. In a city it would make sense, here, they probably drain off the side of the mountain."

The thief looked a little dismayed and shrugged. 

She smiled at him. "It was a good idea though Kasper. We'll just have to see if we can find any more writings, maybe someone on one of the entrances, and see what they say. Valerius seems to have a knack with reading the old Ursulan. Maybe that will give us a clue about which way to go. As to the doors, I can probably get through them with some effort. So, this conundrum is the least of our worries."

"It is." A male voice yelled from the entranceway.

Surprise and fright crossed the faces of the group as they turned around. Standing at the entrance were several knights in armor. Their armor was emblazoned with the wings of the Order of Silver. Their leader had his helmet under his left arm, and his silver hair and eyes were visible to everyone. He was also smirking, as if he was getting amusement out of the confrontation.

"Irinia..." Azara said, as she walked to stand between Konrad and the rest of the group. "You should leave. You should all leave."

Then Irinia responded, ever quiet. "Where too?"