They both were silent as they found their way down, passing buildings in which civilians and soldiers had set up camp. Before the shelter had felt deserted, but in one night it had transformed into a small village. Seeing people help each other clean up houses or find lost belongings, made him remember just how resilient the human race was.

He would have to speak to Roland soon to compile a list of everyone who was here before another emergency struck and they didn’t know who to search for. Just another thing to add to his list of things to do.

Arriving at the pale green house, he could see no light coming from inside. Perhaps she was still asleep, considering the long day they had before. He paused to suggest to Crystal that they should turn back, but the half-demoness passed him by and entered the home. The door creaked loudly as it opened, offending his sensitive hearing. Warchief had mentioned to Lidea that she should lubricate its hinges, but she didn’t seem to mind it. One of these days he would bring the oil and do it himself.

“Lidea?”

The loudness of Crystal’s voice in the silence made him cringe. If Lidea had been asleep, she wouldn’t be any longer. The lack of response from within the house made him start to worry until a muffled voice sounded from somewhere down below. Crystal and him shared a look as they started to follow the sound of a door under the stairs. Once open, it led down a spiraling staircase carved out of the stone of the cavern wall. Its existence puzzled Warchief as he had been convinced that they had found no basements when they first inspected all the houses after his arrival. Had they missed it?

“Lidea? Are you down here?”

“Yes! What is wrong?”

Lidea’s response to Crystal’s question sounded clearer and they started descending the stairs. Darkness eventually gave way to a faint green glow coming from down below. He wondered what could be down there. It didn’t surprise him that she was already awake, maybe she hadn’t even slept, but he had predicted her to be peering over maps of the cavern in her office. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to let go unless she found a solution to the danger they found themselves in.

“Warchief mentioned you passing out. I just wanted to make sure you are fine.”

Glancing at the demoness, her face didn’t reveal any guilt at making up a lie. Although it was probably a partial truth. Knowing Crystal’s fondness for her, she must be worried.

“I will come up in a minute.”

He could hear Lidea coming their way just as they reached the bottom step. The stairs gave way to a cellar and his eyes were immediately drawn to the central pillar holding a column of green fire which illuminated the room with a sickly glow. Sets of human armor lined one wall, all wearing the distinctive insignia of the dragon riders. The other wall was lined with boxes, some neatly piled while others had been opened and its contents were spilled onto the ground. However, it was the dragon statue clad in gold-plated armor standing at the back that made his breath hitch.

“What is all this?”

He couldn’t contain his wonder and only noticed Lidea when he almost stumbled over her. She was sitting on the ground, between books and papers as she was looking over a map of the shelter.

She didn’t look as tired as she had been the day before and she smiled sheepishly before answering the question he had unwittingly posed out loud.

“I told you my family were dragon riders. These are the belongings my great uncle left behind.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about this?”

How could she have been mad at him for keeping secrets, when she was holding some of her own?

“Did you not check all of the houses? Clearly not, if you didn’t know this was down here.”

Lidea rolled her eyes as she spoke down at him. It was times like these that he was reminded of how young she was, as she resembled a defiant teenager who thought she knew the world because she had read a book.

He was about to quip back but a hand squeezed his arm. Crystal’s unnatural blue eyes and sapphires gleamed turquoise in the strange light, making her seem even more ethereal than normal as she shook her head at him before kneeling at Lidea’s side.

“They did look everywhere. My guess is that they didn’t miss it, but that the door was spelled so it wouldn’t be found by anyone who wasn’t supposed to.”

Her gentle tone cut through the tension and made Lidea fall silent as she considered the column of green fire in the middle of the room. It seemed that her rebellious side was only reserved for him.

“Maybe. But wouldn’t it need to be inscribed like with the pillar? Also, I thought inscription magic needed to be activated but I am no magician and I didn’t do anything to either the door or pillar.”

Again the half-demon shook her head, looking up as if she was digging through her long memory.

“Not necessarily. You are correct when you are talking about inscription magic, which uses words as an instruction by which the surrounding natural energy should be extracted and converted to execute the spell. To activate these instructions, a push of energy from an outside source is needed. This can be a magician, but it could also be the activation of a different spell or a sudden change in natural energy available in the surroundings. The spell is then activated until the energy source is depleted or the spell itself is worn down.”

Crystal paused, making sure that Lidea was following the story so far.

“Yes, because spells are naturally endogenic, meaning they are non-spontaneous and consume energy to work.”

The half demoness grinned as a proud teacher learning her student had actually paid attention before she continued.

“Indeed. However, not all spell types work that way. You can imagine that inscriptions would quickly become cumbersome if the rules were more complex. In those cases, magicians often chose to cast spells in a different way. For instance, there is no spell inscription for the barrier around this place. This is because the rules for the spell were probably woven into a pattern. Magic weaving allows far more complex instructions, like ‘allow only people with good intentions to enter’. Something that would be far too hard to be concretely put into words, as you would have to define what you consider to be ‘good intentions’.”

Her explanation even surprised Warchief and he wondered how much he had missed when he slept through his magic classes. If he wasn’t careful, even Lidea would soon surpass it when it came to magic theory.

“I think a magic weave was used to keep the door invisible until a person of the right bloodline entered the house. This spell would have needed a lot of energy to be activated and maintained. As its energy source hasn’t depleted through a decade, I assume that there might be a substantial energy gem hidden somewhere. However, once the requirement of the spell was fulfilled, the spell was lifted and energy was released as it wasn’t needed to keep the door hidden anymore. This free energy must somehow be coupled to the pillar, hence why it ignited without you doing anything.

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At least that is my theory, but I am by no means an expert.”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Since when did you know so much about magic?”

Warchief couldn’t help his question. How had she managed to never talk about her knowledge of magic to him?

“You pick up a thing or two after wandering for a couple of centuries.”

She answered nonchalantly after which she led a hand onto Lidea’s forehead.

“More importantly, are you feeling alright? Warchief mentioned that a dragon might have contacted you?”

The young woman pushed away Crystal’s hand as she smiled reassuringly.

“It did, but I’m fine now that I have slept.”

Her admission piqued Warchief’s interest as he had wandered over to the boxes, curious to see what valuable information Lidea’s great-uncle might have left. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the triumph in Crystal’s face. She had gotten the information she had wanted.

“That is a relief. Dragons are powerful beings and they normally don’t talk to anyone outside of their kind. Unless they are riders of course.”

Lidea started at the possibility but quickly waved it off.

“I have riders in my bloodline, that must be the reason.”

Wise as Crystal was, she just stared at Lidea for a moment but didn’t push the issue and prodded for more information.

“Perhaps. Can you tell us what it said to you?”

Warchief turned back to them, wanting to see her answer, but Lidea just looked confused.

“It didn’t exactly speak. Rather it showed me images. I saw how it was planning to fly back to the order and after that… I’m honestly unsure of what I saw. There was a meeting and someone was discussing an antidote but that was all I could gather.”

Warchief frowned, disappointed by the banality of what it had shown her when he had hoped for some sort of revelation. His thoughts stalled, his body realizing something before his mind could.

“How well did it show you the way? Could you follow its path?”

His sudden excitement caught Lidea off guard but she nodded slowly as the same realization hit her.

“I think so… Maybe I can find us a way out of this cave. I am not sure but I think he exited the caves somewhere outside of the city. I will go and try immediately.”

Before she could run off, Warchief stepped in her way, leaving Lidea looking confused.

“That is great, but I was thinking further. Can you find the order?”

Her happiness disappeared as her mood turned sour.

“And what if I know? What would you plan to do with that information? Send a letter?”

Her stormy gaze told him to be careful. He knew her question to be a trap, but he still went full ahead.

“No. We would go there ourselves to speak with Prince Cullyun.”

Her mouth hung slack in disbelief at what he had said. She must think of him as stupid but just didn’t grasp how important Cullyun’s presence would be. It wasn’t only Lynoës that was at stake, and even if they somehow managed to stop the Pebeieren church here, it wouldn’t eliminate their existence. They would rise again, just in another country.

“We? Who is ‘we’?”

Her threatening tone made him wonder if she was finally about to lose her temper with him. From the corner of his eye, he could see Crystal watch him with one eyebrow raised. As if she was saying that this was his own mess to clean.

“You, me, and knowing Crystal, she probably will tag along as well.”

He turned up his charm, hoping a smile would help convince her. Lidea per usual didn’t seem to be impressed as she rattled on.

“And what about the people here? Are you just leaving them to deal with the problems you helped create?”

“Of course not. We can bring them to Udrän as we discussed before. They will be safe there.”

His solution didn’t mollify her as he thought it would.

“And then what? We leave the city to rot while we go frolicking over the whole continent?”

Although he understood her reasoning, he couldn’t help feeling annoyed at her refusal to be sensible. Especially when she was supposed to be the rational one between the two of them.

Sighing deeply, he chose his words methodically. Wanting her to understand without getting mad.

“Lidea, please listen. We are fighting a losing battle. For all my assertions that we will fight even if it is just us, the reality is that we will probably die if we do. I don’t know about you, but I would rather avoid that.”

She stayed quiet, probably as she agreed with him so far. It encouraged him to continue, even if it might enrage her again.

“If we want a chance at winning, then we need allies. But you were right when you said that none would help us unless they were threatened themselves. That is why I suggested using the Hûldral seal.

Again, the prince of Hûldral is not just any prince. He is a legend, and one I know would see why this needs to be stopped. He will hear us out. Trust me in this.”

In his mind’s eye, the image of a larger-than-life man appeared. Eyes a fiery red and with raven black hair, he had towered over the lithe-figured elves, and a heavy cloud of magic had surrounded him.

His power had overwhelmed the young Warchief, instilling an instinctual fear as his breathing had turned labored. To him, the prince looked like a creature from his nightmares. Clad in non-decorated, spiked dark armor and accompanied by a huge black dragon. All about him seemed to scream danger and he couldn’t comprehend why the elves venerated him.

As his royal family had gone to meet him, the young Warchief had stood back while struggling to keep his composure. His duty as prince demanded he be there, but his status as the human shame of the family, made him avoid as much attention as possible.

Suddenly the pressure had lifted and he had been able to breathe normally again. The elves had clamored to the dark prince, asking why he had hidden his radiance, and it made Warchief realize that he must have contained his magic.

“Are you alright?”

A kind voice had asked him in his mind. With all those people present, he had been the only one to recognize his suffering. Not only that, he had understood Warchief’s precarious standing at court and had not called attention to his failings, leaving the human prince to keep his dignity.

The encounter had humbled him and taught him how looks could be deceiving, and he had followed any news on the Prince’s goings-on. Not a hard thing to do, considering the people of Neoire treated him as some kind of diety.

In Hûldralian years, he had only been fifteen when Warchief met him. Even so, he had been the youngest dragon rider in existence, one of the few to have tamed a mature wild dragon instead of bonding with a hatchling. He had been called a prodigy of magic and had fought in battles for his home country of Hûldral, the Lynoën Dragon Order he had been raised in, and finally for the order of Terriath in which he had resided before his disappearance. His existence had brought havoc to the powers at be as he could destroy them all with a simple spell.

Of course, Lidea could not understand what kind of existence a man like that was. She was too young, too human.

His words must have conveyed something to her, as she calmed down and offered him a letter that had laid off to the side. Without thinking, he accepted it. Not understanding what it was.

“I understand that we need allies Warchief. But I can’t leave my people to chase this hero of yours.”

He wanted to protest but the narrowing of her eyes, made him stop.

“Having said that, it doesn’t mean that you can’t. If you really believe that it is necessary, then you should go. That letter should tell you the way.”

Taking out a map of the continent, she rolled it open and pointed at the mountain range in the south.

“My great-uncle left that for my mother to find. He states that you need to go to the Range of the Gods and there should be a harbor from where a boat can bring you to wherever the Dragon Order is now.”

His eyes widened as he rolled open the letter, quickly finding the passage she was talking about.

“How long have you had this!?”

“You never told me that you needed this information!”

Before another argument could start, Crystal stepped in between them to look over the map.

“I have heard of the hidden harbor, merchants stop there from their way between Sihaya and Astresh. However, crossing the mountain Range of the Gods is madness. Can’t we take a boat from Astresh or even Sihaya?”

Following her finger on the map, he considered either option.

“We would pass Astresh anyway, so we could try. I would rather not go to Sihaya though, it would take months longer. We could inform ourselves in Astresh what our chances are at crossing those mountains. We wouldn’t need to climb to the tops, there must be valleys we could follow.”

Crystal didn’t seem convinced but hopefully, they could find a boat in Astresh to bring them there.

He then looked over at Lidea who had a concerned expression on her face.

“I promise you, that I will bring help back. We will wait until most of the injured have been healed and we have a sure way for you to find supplies.”

His reassurance did not seem to ease her worries but she nodded anyway.

“Sounds like a plan.”

She almost sounded defeated, making him feel guilty but he knew it was necessary and that she would understand later.