“What do we do?” Liza whispered, staring uncomfortably at the snakes, “Don’t mine snakes attack people?”

“Worse,” Ember replied with a scowl in a hushed voice of her own, “They keep them.”

There was a chill of silence as they contemplated what that meant. There were at least a couple dozen mine snakes down there, and if they accidentally killed one while fighting it would become a bomb. Ruena was not as worried as the others. Gero had clearly put those mine snakes there on purpose, and it hadn’t been to catch his potential customers. There had to be a simple way to bypass them.

However, that wasn’t good enough for Ruena. Gero had left them a precious gift at his entrance they could use against him. No one could control mine snakes but they could be tricked by using their endless greed. She did a quick scan of the area and her eyes landed on a large set of doors that must have been the official entrance. There was also a smaller door right next to the writhing pile of snakes. Perfect.

“We need to go through the side door if we want to access Gero’s treasure,” Ruena said as she descended the last few steps. The snakes came to a sudden stillness as if listening intently. “We can’t let him hoard all those riches for himself.”

There was a hiss from the snakes as they began to writhe again. A path opened up for them to the side door. Just as planned. No matter how smart a snake was, it couldn’t open the door by itself.

“What are you doing?!” Ember demanded as Ruena walked straight for that opening.

“Trust me,” Ruena told her, “We can’t go through the official doors where all his valuables will be closely guarded.”

The others finally seemed to catch on to what she was doing. It was unclear just how intelligent mine snakes were, but they could understand basic language. Especially any word having to do with treasures and valuables. Ruena led them past the group of snakes who had gone suspiciously still again and examined the door. As expected, it was locked.

Soral and his questionable past had taught her some valuable skills for just this situation. There was one thing defensive enchantments and alarms always seemed to lack. They overlooked the fact that there were ways to open locks without using any magic at all. Fake keys could be forged and there was always good old fashioned lock picking. In this case, Jazz had acquired the spare key.

As soon as the door was open, the mine snakes swept past them at alarming speed, disappearing in the maze of crates and chests beyond the door. Rather than an illegal operation, it gave the impression of a common storehouse. Ruena doubted the contents of those crates were common, though. It made the perfect mine snake paradise. The snakes should be too busy to hinder them or send off any alarms.

“Guide the others down,” Ruena ordered Ember now that they had confirmed the route was safe, “Once everyone is down, send the signal. We can’t risk the magic stairs vanishing while we are using them.”

Ember nodded. “I’ve already told Flame the way down. No need to wait on me.”

They moved forward, continuing to follow the information Jazz had given them. The deeper they went the more unsettling this place became. The endless maze of storage broke into long hallways connecting rooms full of cages of every size. Empty cages, luckily. The less victims Gero had the better. Ruena slipped into one of those rooms for a thorough check just to make sure nothing was hiding behind the cages and shadows.

“Everyone is down,” Ember reported in a whisper, “Sending the signal.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth, a tingle passed through them like a wave leaving an emptiness in its wake. Even Ruena who could not harness magic felt uncomfortable in its absence. She mentioned for them to keep moving. While this gave them an advantage in a fight, it also tipped the enemy off that something was happening.

Ruena sped through the halls at a steady stride until she came upon a door that matched the description Jazz had given them. It was out of place in the hall, looking more like the door to a safe than a room. The loss of magic had deactivated the opening mechanism, but Ruena had never intended to open it properly.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Just as they had practiced, the team set charges to the hinges and lock and retreated to a safe location before setting them off. The resounding blast sounded a lot more like a crack than a boom, and was shortly followed by the crash of the fallen door. They were in.

Something felt off from the moment they entered the room. There was no cell or cage inside, but instead a single chair. Sitting in that chair was a boy who bore the silver hair of a Valen with bright crimson dragon wings sprouting from his back. He appeared to be unconscious and as she moved closer, Ruena noticed that his wings were injured.

“Interesting specimen, isn’t he?” an all too familiar voice asked from behind them. It was Gero’s accomplice! “Both Valen and dragon, but unable to fully manifest either. I wonder, if I clip his wings will it unlock his power?”

A sickening feeling sunk to the pit of Ruena’s stomach. “You,” she growled, “Leave him alone!”

“You? How rude,” he scolded, “Ah, but I never introduced myself. Names are dangerous so I can’t tell you mine. You may call me the Blacksmith.”

“Blacksmith?” Ruena asked in disbelief, trying to draw all attention to herself as Rosalie carefully moved closer to the boy. “Nothing about you deserves that title.”

“On the contrary, young lady,” the Blacksmith told her, “I am the one who will create the greatest weapon in Althaedor. A living weapon.”

==========

Ferris had been carefully stashed away, partially against his will, just in time for the signal. Soral only had a moment to teleport before he activated the secret weapon, so didn’t bother taking the greedy stair like the rest. Jazz had shown him exactly where he needed to go. The moment Soral arrived, he felt the uncomfortable tingle of magic disappearing.

Before him was a massive cage with thick bars made of some kind of metal compound. It was hard to tell now, but Soral got the feeling there was crystilium in it. The crystal was stronger than any rock or metal and could absorb magic which was why it was likely the only thing capable of containing a dragon. At least the crude magic tool she was hooked up to seemed to have deactivated.

“Who are you?” the rose dragon asked wearily.

“I am Soral Voila,” he introduced with a flourish, “Jazz told me about your situation and my friends and I are here to help. Ruena should be rescuing your child at this very moment.”

“Rescuing? I find that hard to believe. Why should I trust a stranger standing on the other side of these bars?” she growled.

That was a fair point, but it was difficult to prove anything without using magic. Soral had been warned against using magic as he could potentially break the secret weapon and put everyone in danger. “Then why don’t I stand inside the cage instead?” Soral offered, opening the door with ease and taking a step inside, “You won’t mind if I at least disconnect that thing, right? We need to take Gero down today and we can’t let him use your poison.”

“Ah, I see now. I am a means to an end so you are rescuing my son to placate me and force me on your side,” the dragon decided. While she wasn’t exactly right, she wasn’t wrong either and the ulterior motive put her at ease.

“The Valen king is helping us as well,” Soral informed her, “He was more than willing after we told him your story.” As he talked he got to work disconnecting the chains and wires. Taking things apart was always far easier than assembling them, even when they were potentially volatile.

“You involved him as well? You have already abused my name as you see fit,” she noted.

Soral finished releasing her from the contraption and stuffed it in his pocket for later investigation. “We will use whatever means necessary to take Gero down,” he told her, “If that means you and your child are safe, shouldn’t you take advantage of us as well?”

“Very well. I have full control of myself again,” Venerosa told him, “If magic is released once more I can ensure my poison will not harm your friends or the prisoners. This is what you needed from me, yes?”

“It is,” Soral confirmed with a smile, then turned to the door much too small for a dragon to exit. “Is it possible for you to take human form without releasing magic? The halls of this place weren’t built for dragons.”

“They never are,” she told him and gave it a try.

Rather than the magical show one would usually expect from a transformation it was silent and swift. In a moment a beautiful woman stood where the dragon had been moments before. She bore the same shade of rosen hair as her scales had been with the same pastel pink eyes. Somehow she was also wearing a rose colored dress that perfectly matched her beautiful but dangerous aura.

“Amazing,” Soral complimented, “Things will be much easier like thi-”

“Enough with your empty words,” Venerosa interrupted, “Take me to my son.”