The Lost Dragon Princess

Chapter 2

I was alone at the entrance of the cave and I knew that this was time that I had to call upon Damas. I knew that if there was something that I should be doing that was taking back up in order to try and get a look at this creature. There had been a lot of things that had happened in the past year and I had increasingly tried to know what was happening to me.

I had not been able to understand a lot but by accident I had crossed an ancient text which had been uploaded by someone. I had downloaded the e-copy and then tested it and what had happened had blown my mind. There were a few passages which had been highlighted. It was a ritual of something which had caught my attention.

What it was going to do I had zero clue. So when there was a huge silver jaguar in the middle of my bedroom my first reaction was to scream. Thankfully I was alone at home and no one was alarmed and the jaguar informed me via telepathy that his name was Damas. I could not believe myself when he said that it was him that was talking to me. But finally he raised his paw and I lost consciousness.

The next time I summoned him I was more ready for Damas this time and he said that there must be some kind of magic running through my veins or else it was going to be impossible for me to call upon someone from the realm of Ragnokh. It sounded awfully familiar and close to some of the fantasy Marvel names but I decided against telling that to the jaguar.

I chanted the message again and Damas appeared before me and materialised fully. Every single time I was blown away by his presence.

“Where are we going?” he enquired me telepathically.

“I am not entirely sure but as far as I have last heard and researched the last wyvern is supposed to be inside this cave. I did not think that it would be safe to come here unarmed, so I brought this side piece. It is semi-automatic,” I said and he looked at Fezzik in the holster and snorted.

“That thing is going to do nothing against a wyvern but it is a good thing that your brought a weapon along with you,” he said telepathically and I nodded. If a silver jaguar was saying that bringing a weapon was a good thing that I hoped that it most certainly was.

“Can you smell that creature?” I asked and he nodded again,” I can smell it. It is a her. They are a lot more dangerous and vicious than the male of their species. And you are not ready for battle.”

“Battle? Why will I be ready for battle at all? I just want to shoot a video and want to prove that these creatures exists and show that to the world,” I said and I was literally quaking because of the thought that I would have to fight that kind of thing which could ravage any human within seconds.

“That is the more intelligent for you, since you are not ready for battle at all,” said Damas and I could not help but roll my eyes at his words. And then he said,” You may think that way since you are all but a child but you have to understand that I was reared and trained for battle. I never thought that I would be summoned and connected with such a young cub who knows nothing about herself.”

“Why do you need to discourage me in such a manner?” I asked him while he stared at me and then said in my mind,” You need to stand firmly on the ground with a good knowledge of reality. Because if you don’t then you are going to be wyvern fodder very soon and as my Mistress I cannot let that happen to you.”

I could not say anything else after that. He was correct. I knew nothing about fighting and I knew nothing about protecting myself or killing other creatures. He was absolutely correct in his assessment.

Damas led the way. Normally, I wouldn’t let someone else go first, but if he was grievously injured, he could instantly return to the safety of his realm to heal.

We crept down the passage, rounding bends, and the roar of the surf grew fainter, replaced by drips and trickles deeper within the cave. Soon, we were close enough to the lair that my own ability to sense magic, one of the few powers I’d come to know about in the past few days since I had started communicating with Damas, let me feel the aura of the wyvern.

The tunnel widened into a chamber twenty feet high and twice that deep. We had gone back far enough that I guessed we were under the spot where I’d parked my Jeep. A hundred feet under it.

Stalactites leered down from above, and stalagmites interfered with the view ahead. I couldn’t yet see our target, but I could smell her. More bones littered the floor in here. Some were deer and some were human, with blood and gristle still clinging to them.

My grip tightened on Fezzik, anger simmering as I wondered how many people this intruder in our world had killed in addition to those caught on the video.

She is resting behind those stalagmites, Damas said. Your mongrel aura is weak, but you should cloak yourself.

“It’s subtle, not weak. Just like me.”

You are as subtle as those massive steel orbs on chains that pummel the sides of your buildings.

Wrecking balls, yeah, yeah. I touched the powerful cloaking charm, another hard-won prize, and faded from the sight and smell of others. My aura, my signature to those who could sense magic, also disappeared.

Sufficient, Damas said.

Knowing I would prefer to attack from a distance and the higher ground, he led me toward a natural ramp creeping up the side of the chamber to a ledge. Just as the blue scales and folded wings of the dozing wyvern came into view, Damas halted. His tail went rigid, and he whirled back toward the entrance.

Certain he’d sensed a second wyvern, I also turned, pointing Fezzik at the tunnel. I didn’t see or hear anything.

We need to get out of here. Damas took a step but halted. No, we can’t go that way. He’s coming that way.

My ferocious battle tiger, the same tiger who’d been worried the wyvern would be too easy an opponent, looked around, nostrils flaring in fear as he sought some back exit from the cave.

I started to ask why, but then I sensed it. Something with an aura so great that even I could feel it from far away. And tell that it was getting closer.

He’s coming, Damas groaned into my mind.

What is it? I’d never sensed anything like this.

A dragon.

A dragon?

I wanted to be skeptical and dismissive. Dragons didn’t exist, never in a million years. And nothing that he told was making any kind of sense but the bracelet on my hand glowed a deep blue and that only happened when there was a very powerful magical creature nearly and until now Damas had never lied to me. So I guess that he did not lie now as well.

It was hard, however, to be skeptical when I could sense the incredibly powerful aura coming closer and closer. It—he?—was in the tunnel. And shape-shifted into something small? How else could a dragon fit in here?

We must hide. There’s no way out unless we run past him. Damas backed farther up the ramp. Which I do not advise. Your weapons will do nothing against him, and my fangs will be like toothpicks if he shifts into his natural form. Even if he is in human form, he’ll be impossible to kill.

I followed Damas, trusting his assessment. My only experience with dragons came through stories from other magical beings who had encountered them in their native worlds.

We scooted back to the deepest corner of the ledge. Below, just visible between two stalactites, the wyvern stirred for the first time.

Her head came up, snout opening to reveal long pointed teeth dripping with poisonous saliva. Her wings spread as she rose on her two legs to sniff the air. The wyvern was a distant relative of a dragon but much smaller, much less dangerous.

She shifted to peer around a tall stalagmite. I found a spot where I could watch her and also see the tunnel. Her talons flexed nervously on the rock floor, and she glanced around the chamber. Looking for an escape?

Her yellow-eyed gaze raked over us, and I held my breath, worried my charm wouldn’t be enough to keep me hidden. Damas, his kind masters of stealth, had innate magic to camouflage himself. He wouldn’t be the problem.

But the wyvern’s gaze didn’t linger. It ratcheted back on the mouth of the tunnel as a human figure in a black robe with silver trim strode into view.

He had a tall, broad build and olive skin, a tidily trimmed beard and mustache, and short, curly black hair. My senses told me he was the dragon, even if he’d shape-shifted into this form to blend in. Not that he would blend in. That robe looked like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie, the silver slippers like something from Oz, and the dragon-shaped gold amulet on his chest was bling that Mr. T would have loved. Lastly, the violet eyes that glowed with inner power were nothing contacts could have achieved.

That violet gaze roamed around the cavern, skimming over us, and I held my breath again. Even if my charm worked on a wyvern, a dragon might not be fooled. I’d scrounged and fought far and wide for my collection of protective magic, and most of the centuries-old trinkets hadn’t come with instruction manuals.