Wren+and+Inali+find+the+dragon+cavern

Wren stepped carefully on to a thick branch of one of the tall oaks in the city. She’d been looking for Kale for hours, but couldn’t seem to find him in the lower city. She climbed into the basket carefully. Inali stood on the ground staring at her in the basket. Wren motioned for her to get in.

“Are you sure about this, Wren?” Inali asked her, eyeing the basket they had gone up in once before, “What makes you think he’s up there?” Wren gazed down at the little fox with a raised eyebrow.

“Don’t be such a scaredy fox. C’mon,” Wren teased her and patted the basket again. Inali sighed and leapt up on the edge of the basket. Wren pulled the rope to take them up to the wooden pathways among the trees. They walked along one of the bridges and Wren ran her hands along the flowering vines, keeping her balance. It really was beautiful up here. After walking through several different trees and pathways, Wren realized she was lost. She stopped walking and looked around. Inali looked up at her and drooped her ears when she saw Wren’s face.

“How is it that you always manage to get us into some kind of trouble?” Inali sighed as she accused her. Wren frowned down at her.

“Hush. We’re not in trouble,” Wren said defensively. She looked around to find something familiar. She gazed far down below them and the world started to spin a little. She steadied herself on the bridge and brought her sight back up to this level. Cirdan flew across the way and landed on a little rope ladder going down one of the back of the bigger trees. It seemed to Wren to be odd, it didn’t seem to be the same design as the rest of the city… but she climbed through the branches to get to Cirdan and the ladder. Inali looked down and back at Wren.

“Oh surely you’re kidding…” Inali said as she looked down again. Wren petted her and looked at the rope ladder. It seemed old and unused. She tested it carefully with her weight on one foot. Cirdan called out and flew down.

“I’m going to eat you!” Inali called after him. Wren giggled. She helped Inali nest securely into her hood on her shoulders and carefully climbed down. They climbed down a long way and finally dropped to the ground. Wren looked around. It was a large clearing that seemed to be hidden within the lower level of the city. She could see the backs of some of the building woven in almost a circle around her. The trees had grown in above her, but growing up in the woods, she could tell that the growth here was younger. She looked around again.

She had heard the tale that there was a dragon that nested in the city before it was retaken by Lady Lionspaw and the elves… Could this be an area he had once cleared away? She found a small opening in the stone on the ground, just big enough to get her four fingers in. She gripped the stone with her fingers inside and pulled open an old door. A small staircase led down. Inali sighed and jumped down from Wren’s shoulders. They went down the stairs slowly. Cirdan landed on Wren’s arm before she closed the door behind them. She rubbed her fingers together over a torch and softly blew to form a spark spell. She held up the light and looked around. It was a large ancient cavern below the city.

“Amazing!” Wren said aloud as she walked through the enormous cavern. There were occasional runes and drawings of a dragon on the wall.

“Interesting…” Inali said as they looked around, “Its large enough for a dragon to roam in for sure… but what bothers me… is the dragon wouldn’t have needed a staircase and a little door and he… or she… probably didn’t do all these carvings.” Wren nodded in agreement to Inali.

They came to a room in the cavern with great curved walls. Painted on the wall was a picture of two dragons facing each other, but one of the dragons was painted ghost or spirit like over the form of a female elf. There was a love story written on the wall with the painting that spoke of an elven woman and a dragon in love. He taught her the spell to transform into a dragon, so for a few hours a day she could be like him. At the bottom of the story was the girl’s instruction on performing the spell.

“Inali!” Wren said excitedly nudging Inali by her side, “This is a real spell! Look here at the way the words are written with enunciation marks and movement… We need to learn this!”

“I don’t know that your skill is ready for a spell like this, Wren…” Inali started to say before Wren shot her a look, “but I’ll do my best to memorize it and help you.” Wren hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head.

“You’re the best!” Wren exclaimed excitedly. They worked for hours to learn all the parts of the spell without flaw. Wren collected a few strange white dragon scales from the cavern floor as the needed component. She would have Oriole fashion them into a necklace for her. They slept in the cavern, tired from studying and traveling.