Firebolt(82)

I thought again about what Goran would do once he broke out of Etan. If he destroyed Paegeia and the wall, the humans would come, and the dragons wouldn't stand a chance. It would end in a war and be the end of my new home. With that thought imprinted on my mind, death didn't sound like such a big sacrifice anymore. I would rather die than watch my biggest fear come to life.

For the next couple of days, I read up on everything that had to do with the Sacred Cavern. Cheng must have found his information in these books and articles,so I kept looking. Most of the stories said that it was impossible to make it out of the Cavern, but the Queen and four other women had. I thought about her again. Could this be why she’d appeared inside my dreams? Could she have been pointing to the Sacred Cavern?

For some reason,everything was starting to make sense. Why I dreamt about the Queen, and what the Viden’s words meant. This was my destiny. I was the one meant to find the sword.

I read through the article again, waiting for something else to pop inside my head. The word “young women” caught my eye. Why were there only young women who made it out alive? I researched everything I could find on young women and ended up reading about maidens. In those times, maidens held a different meaning than they did today. Paegeia's dictionary read, “Maiden: a woman with her virtue still intact”.

A virgin? For the love of blueberries, the ones that made it out were all virgins!

Something Becky said to me the first time she discovered that I was still intact jumped to my mind. It was about Brian. My fingers flashed across the keys, and I hit the search button the minute the word “Fire-Burst” was typed.

Articles about Fire-Bursts appeared on pages and pages in front of me. It contained everything I needed to know about these dragons. Sites of how bad they really were hit my attention, and I clicked on the link. Pictures of young girls staked against a pole, naked with a Fire-Burst leaning over them, all held fear on their faces. The scene jolted through me and I shivered. I got a funny feeling that a Fire-Burst guarded the millpond. It made sense why others didn't make it out. It had to be it. I found a map how to get to the Sacred Cavern on another site. It didn't look that far, but then again, I was no expert when it came to reading maps. My other concern was how to get there. They had bus schedules, but that cost money, money I didn't have.

On the eleventh day, I went back to searching more about the Sacred Cavern. I found a couple of really good books, and it took me a couple of hours paging through all of them.

I took the book that contained the most information about the Sacred Cavern and went back to my room. Cheng really did have good theories. I laid the book over my chest after reading the last paragraph and closed my eyes. There were still a couple of things I needed before I could even think of leaving Dragonia. Things I had no idea where to get.

I made up my mind that I would take Ginger. I rode her once, well, with Lucian on the trails, but how difficult could riding a horse be? It would have to be on a horse. I really needed a couple of bucks, but whom to ask?Master Longwei would want a valid explanation. Lucian was the other source of income, but he would ask exactly the same thing. I didn't know a single person that wouldn’t question my intent. I was screwed.

My head pounded as I laid out my plans.

“Elena, what are you doing with that book?” Becky snatched it from my chest. I hadn’t even heard the two of them come in. She read from the open pages and her eyes suddenly filled with concern.

“Nothing, I just wanted to read up on something,” I said in a high-pitched tone as I cleared my throat.

She raised one eyebrow as if she could see right through me.

“The Sacred Cavern? What on earth is going on in that mind of yours? Why are you reading this?”

My upper lip twitched upwards slightly. I really sucked at lying.

She flipped the book closed and her eyes widened. She gasped and froze as understanding washed over her face. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Becky, it's almost two weeks. They haven't found the sword yet. Think about it, the Sacred Cavern holds the only thing that can make us see anything we want to,” I said.

“Elena, people disappear in that cave.”

“Five didn't.” I showed her with my fingers and motioned for her to give me the book back. “Look.” I pointed with my index finger at the five women that made it out alive.

“These people were raised in Paegeia. No, let the council find the sword,” she yelled with finality.

“Becky, are you blind?”I snapped back.“They're not going to find it. They don't even have any clue about where it might be.”

“Elena, you're only sixteen, think, please.” She was adamant, but so was I.