The ground floor of the castle was mainly taken up by a large empty room, which in years gone by, had been a training room for guards of Lamya leaders. There were three entrances to it, one simple small wooden door right at the back, a staircase that twisted up and away and a grander entrance, the one typically preferred by all Lamya leaders of the past.

This entrance was huge, two heavy wooden doors cast in iron and studded with evil-looking spikes. It was operated by a simple pulley mechanism that allowed the doors to be opened inwards in one smooth movement and although it hadn't been used in years, still worked as good as ever.

Corrinus stood in the room a little in front of these doors with his back to them and faced the smaller door right across the room on the opposite side. He was waiting. On either side of him stood his twin dragons, as still as the stone that made them.

He sighed and shifted his weight on his feet. He would be patient.

#

Sorrel's passageway was becoming narrower and her two friends had to follow on behind her in single file. She stopped in front of a small door and turned to Gaeshi.

"Well, it looks like we have to go this way," she said. "There's no other route and I'm not turning around and going back now."

Cloud peeked over Gaeshi's shoulder and looked at her. "I have a very bad feeling, Sorrel."

She grinned and shrugged. "Cloud, you have bad feelings about everything! Now..."

She turned back to the door and flexed her fingers nervously before slowly pushing it open. The room was dark and she could see very little as she stepped farther inside. Gaeshi and Cloud followed behind her and stood by her side. Cloud unhooked a lantern hanging from the wall nearby and held it up though he almost dropped it again when he saw exactly what was in the room with them.

Sorrel's eyes widened. Across the room stood Corrinus, flanked on both sides by two wiry dragons. As she stared, Corrinus uncovered the hood from his head and laughed, a slow chuckle at first and then louder and longer until her stomach clenched. She stepped forward and brandished her sword.

"Corrinus! Your rule is over," she called, anger and nerves twisting her guts. "Leave the Kingdom now. I am taking it back for the Elani!"

Corrinus shook his head, still smirking, and took a pace forward from his dragons, who raised their heads expectantly. "So," he said, "you are the swords–master? Hmm... you were much bigger in my dreams." He waved his hand dismissively at Sorrel and spoke to his dragons, "I needn't have summoned you, my pets. This girl is weak, yes? Pathetic Elani!" He spat the last two words and his eyes narrowed towards hatred.

Sorrel glared back at the Lamya leader, taking a few seconds to calm her beating heart and control her breathing. By her side, Cloud and Gaeshi stayed firm.

"I may look small," she said quietly, unable to stop the hint of anger trembling in her voice, "but I am a warrior born. My father was a warrior, my brother is a warrior and I, however I may look, am a warrior!"

Corrinus shrugged and his gaze roved over Cloud and Gaeshi at her side. He regarded them with his pink eyes before speaking quietly. "Bodyguards? No, no, you're an Elani. Friends then. Yes..."

"Just go away, Corrinus!" Cloud cried, rather lamely. "The Kingdom is ours now!"

"Oh? Not yet it isn't. Dragons!" Corrinus raised his sceptre and stepped back behind the protection of his pets. The twin dragons prowled forward, snapping their jaws and swaying their thin tails behind them, rasping their scales across the stone floor.

"What now, Sorrel?" Cloud muttered, reaching for his sword. There was a scrape of metal as Gaeshi did the same.

"Now," she said, adjusting her grip on her weapon, her eyes focused on the two dragons, "we fight."

Just as she finished speaking one of the dragons ran forward and, with its head held low, snapped at Gaeshi.

Gaeshi danced nimbly to one side, tucked himself in close to the dragon's side and followed it as the beast turned this way and that in its effort to reach him.

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"Well done, Gaeshi!" Cloud cried. "That's it!"

Sorrel watched for a moment, realising how lucky they were to have the Sarkany there with them. She would not allow him to turn into the dragon any more but he knew how these creatures moved, what their strengths were, and weaknesses! She smiled grimly, and then yelled a warning as the other dragon lunged in to help its crony.

"Gaeshi, watch out!"

Gaeshi reached up behind him to the dragon's back and, grasping one of its large shoulder blades, pulled his knees up quickly so that the other dragon lunged in and snapped at thin air. He dropped down to the ground again and kept close to his dragon. Sorrel and Cloud moved in to distract the other from attacking again.

"It's a good job these dragons are only small ones," Sorrel whispered, as she and Cloud menaced the dragon with their swords. "Imagine if they were Sarkany!"

Cloud laughed nervously and quickly rolled down to one side as the dragon darted forward. Sorrel swiped at it with her sword as Little Cloud backed away. The dragons were taller than them both, Cloud's head would probably just come up to their shoulder blades, and they were a good deal longer. Sorrel knew that to Cloud, that was big enough. To her, it was big enough.

"Cloud, stay alert," Gaeshi warned, just as the dragon he was shadowing momentarily lost interest in him and snarled at the young seer's back. Gaeshi dug his elbows into the dragon's side so it swung its neck back to try to have another go at him. "Sorrel!" he cried. "What do I do?"

She jumped back, slashing down across her dragon's face, causing it to blink and back off. "Kill it!" she cried.

Gaeshi turned and faced the dragon's side. Its tightly knitted scales showed no way in for his sword. With an irritated cry, he grabbed one of the dragon's folded up wings and pulled himself up onto its back. The creature hissed and thrashed about underneath him, swinging its long neck as it tried to reach the irritation that just would not leave it alone.

Sorrel had little time to watch as the dragon she fought hissed at her and opened its wings threateningly. She jabbed forward with her sword and the beast stepped back and refolded its wings.

It can't make fire, she thought. At least, she hoped it couldn't.

"Sorrel, look!" Cloud pointed out a staircase and ran towards it and jumped up onto the first step. It was just wide enough for two people to pass by, no way for a dragon.

She made to join him but stopped and looked desperately to Gaeshi. "Come down from there! Get to Cloud!"

Gaeshi was watching the back of his dragon's neck. He grinned and cried, "No, wait! I see it!" He held his sword high above his head, and with a thunderous cry, plunged it down into the dragon's neck.

The beast shuddered briefly and then collapsed to the floor, breaking into stone as it hit the ground. Gaeshi scrabbled to his feet and ran towards Cloud and safety.

Once Gaeshi reached the staircase he and Cloud turned back to look out on Sorrel and the one remaining dragon.

"Sorrel!" Cloud cried out to her. "Sorrel, quick!"

She wanted to run after them, but the dragon she was up against seemed incensed at the defeat of its companion and it came forward powerfully, forcing her back and back. She managed to keep the dragon's head at bay by parrying with her sword, but now the creature was striking out with its claws and tail too and she knew she had to get out of the way fast. She glanced over her shoulder. The staircase was getting closer.

Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and pulled up off her feet. She screamed and then again as the dragon lunged towards her, and Gaeshi and Cloud dragged her even farther up the staircase.

"Get me up, get me up!" she cried, struggling to get to her feet on the stone steps as the dragon pushed its head towards her.

The boys quickly helped her to her feet and then stood behind her as the dragon tried to squeeze itself up into the stairway.

"It's never going to fit!" Cloud cried, half-turning past Gaeshi to retreat.

Sorrel watched the dragon as it struggled and squeezed, its claws raking down on the stone steps and cutting grooves into them. Every now and again, the creature opened its mouth wide and roared up at them.

"It's going to make the staircase collapse," she cried, flinching as the dragon roared again and a shower of dust fell from above.

"Get farther up," Gaeshi shouted, pulling her up the stone steps.

She allowed him to pull her a little way before she stopped and watched as the dragon tried to push its head farther into the stairway. The dragon opened its mouth again and hissed at her, its head so close to hers that she could see her reflection in its evil emerald eyes.

She heard Cloud and Gaeshi call out for her again but their voices sounded distant. In front of her, the dragon roared out its anger, revealing two rows of needle sharp teeth and a thin pink tongue. Its breath smelled of nettles and wet rock.

Sorrel thrust her sword forwards at the dragon irritably, making it pull its head back sharply in surprise before coming forward again with even more effort.

"Leave it, Sorrel!" Cloud cried, worried she had provoked the creature to attack harder.

She shook her head and kept her eyes firmly on her target as the dragon screeched at her. The dragon snapped its jaws, narrowly missing her foot as she scrambled back on the step.

"Wait, Cloud!" she called, then quieter, "Wait, I see it."

The dragon pushed forward powerfully, causing several of the lower stone steps to crumble under its weight and dust trickled onto its head from above. The dragon opened its mouth wide and roared in annoyance.

She lurched forward from the step and forced her sword straight into the dragon's open mouth as hard as she could. The animal shuddered briefly and then it was gone in a shower of dust and stone.

"They were only stone, they were only stone," Cloud muttered, trying to calm himself down. "We're all here, nobody's died. Let's go!"

"We've got to find Corrinus," she said. "Quickly, up you go!"

Little Cloud didn't need telling, he turned and ran up the stairs, Gaeshi and Sorrel hard on his heels.