At some point in their journey through the caverns, Blayre and Caval came upon a multifaceted treasure trove of crystals. They appeared to be attached to the stone floor and walls of the cavern, like a miniature rainbow city of sunset citrine and ruby, morning amethyst, and midnight sapphire. There were clusters of them in the deepest emerald of the lush tropical forests that Caval had once described on the southern continents, and some the turquoise blue of the ocean.
Blayre felt breathless at the sight of them, and at the feel of the magic they contained as they glowed softly, shimmering like multifaceted stars against the dark stone backdrop. And the power that emanated from them - Blayre felt tears prick at her eyes at the sensation of it. Both young and ancient and warm and cool all at once.
"Caval," She murmured "You had said that the crystals were a product of compressed scales. But these are... they're growing out of the cavern floor and walls."
Caval had been watching her, and deep in thought, had one long finger pressed to his cheek, elbow propped on his other hand. "What if..." He trailed off, and she could almost see the gears turning in his head, and smell the smoke as he pondered the perplexity before them. He unslung his pack from his shoulders and began searching through it until he procured the book that he had been using since they had arrived in the mountains. He flipped through the pages and squinted at them a bit, holding the mage-light over them. "What if these were once dragon scales?"
Blayre made a face. "You're suggesting," she said succinctly, "That these beautiful things, are from the decomposed bits of dead dragons?"
Caval threw one of his wild grins her way and she felt her insides go slightly liquid. "Yes, my dear, Blayre. That is precisely what I am suggesting. Dragons are - were creatures of magic. Perhaps when they died, there wasn't the same rot and decay that occurs when humans do."
"Aren't you a creature of magic?" Blayre pointed out.
"It isn't the same kind of magic." Caval said explained. "You said so yourself, these feel ancient - different somehow."
Blayre swallowed and nodded. Different was an understatement. This magic made her both giddy and ready to cower in fear all at once.
"Natural creatures go back to the earth, to continue the life cycle of other natural-born creatures. Perhaps the dragons, who come from magic, return to magic to continue the life-cycle of other magic creatures." the sorcerer continued.
"That egg - the one Bartley ran off with - it was nestled into a bed of crystals. Do you think the magic of the crystals was growing it... or preserving it somehow?" Blayre inquired. Her mind was fit to burst with all this theory and speculation. She needed a nap. Not that she could take one.
"Either could be true, I suppose. The books on the breeding of dragons which had been practiced centuries before us were destroyed for the most part. This one," He held up the tome in his hands, "Doesn't say much in the way of the life cycle of a dragon."
"And what of the scales we found in Port Roubeles? Why were they still in...scale form?" She wrinkled her nose.
"You're asking a lot of questions that I don't have the answers too." Caval said, looking at her softly. His hand rose, making it halfway to her face, and then he dropped it. She bit the inside of her cheek, wondering if she wanted him to touch her or not.
Blayre hung back as Caval began to move on. She feigned dropping something on the ground and instead, with a good deal less effort than she expected, plucked one of the midnight crystals from the group of shimmering geodes, and tucked it into her pocket, the cool ancient magic making her feel instantly calm.
It might have been somewhere around midday, or could have been just past dawn in the morning, Blayre had completely lost track of time down in the caverns where there was no sunlight to gauge the time. Being perpetually exhausted meant that it had constantly felt like the middle of the night. There appeared to be light ahead, and though she wanted to rush toward it and drink it in with her skin as though she were a great blossoming plant, she held herself and Caval back. She couldn't feel anything unusual. But the constant lingering feeling of clan magic was all around them in these caverns and above them.
They proceeded with caution, especially when they came upon a stone staircase in the rock wall, climbing up and up in a spiral until it blended into a gaping hole of blinding daylight above. Blayre covered her eyes as she looked up at the glorious sunshine. The two exchanged a look that said they had no intention of risking themselves to whatever predator was above them - whether it be the weakened Bartley or the fresh clanspeople, with their magic still at full-strength.
Blayre squinted as they ascended, her eyes adjusting very slowly to the light above them. She hoped to the Moon and Sun that no one was peeking over the ledge, waiting for them at the top. They were mice in a trap down here - anyone above could likely see them if they peered into the narrow hole. She wondered if there had been a staircase in the other entrance. Perhaps she and Caval had missed it when they took the more direct route down to the cavern floor.
Trembling with fatigue, they made it to the top. Despite Caval's silent protests, Blayre had insisted on going first. If there was danger above, and if that danger came in the form of magic, it was best for her to take the blow. Or lack thereof in her case.
Blayre collapsed onto the dirt and clay above them - she had forgotten that the place up here was barren of greenery. A desert tucked away on a mountainside. It was such a stark contrast to the vibrancy they had seen of the crystals in the caverns below, that it was almost startling.
Lightheaded, sweaty, and completely and utterly exhausted, Blayre dragged herself into a sitting position as Caval hoisted himself up and out of the cavern. She glanced around, blinking away blurriness, and breathing the dry air. She hadn't expected to prefer the fragrant moist air of the caverns below.
"How in Twelve Hells did Bartley make it up here with that egg, with enough time to get a head start on us?" She demanded.
Caval was laying on his back, chest heaving, arms splayed out wide. "I'm wondering if he didn't manage it." He said, his voice grim. Blayre wondered what there was to be so grim about, when the man had as good as said he would breed her to get powerful offspring. She swallowed back a wave of nausea.
"What is it?" Caval was looking at her.
"Nothing," She said shortly, "Let's keep moving. He might not be in front of us. But he could damn well be behind us still."
They had just made it to a group of larger rocks, and were contemplating laying down and napping right there. Blayre was digging in her pack for the last of her food rations, when her head shot up at the sudden surge of magic. She was too late to warn Caval, as a burst of power enveloped them, trapping him in place. She felt with her sense. It was like when she was a child, and her father had brought home "texture boxes" - small wood crates with a deerskin flap over them. You were supposed to reach in and guess what was inside the box by touch alone. It was much the same, as Blayre stroked the magic. It felt smoother and more natural than the other magics she had felt, as though it were being drawn up from the earth itself, three strands braided into one. Clan magic, she decided, but felt little relief at the discovery. This magic was powerful.
Caval looked her way and said "Pretend." Through clenched teeth.
Pretend. What she had done her entire life. Even if she'd had the normal amount of magical resistance for a seeker, this would have affected her at least slightly. The way they merged their magic together - three becoming one - she had never experienced it before. Each clan mage had been powerful in his or her own right, but Moon and Sun. She hoped that not all clan mages weren't this powerful. It was a wonder they hadn't taken over all of the kingdoms yet if they were.
Following the woven string of magic, were the three clan mages in question. The same ones - two male, one female - who she had encountered before. They peered down at Blayre and Caval from atop the large boulder. "There you are." Said the woman, with a purr to her accented voice. In that moment, Blayre had never felt more like a mouse cornered by a cat than she did in that moment with the three clanspeople looming over her, the magic pulsing with them as fiercely as the bitter anger that shown on their faces.
This was not going to end pleasantly, she decided, glancing at Caval who wore a mask of neutrality.
"What have you done with the egg?" The woman demanded.
Blayre snorted. This was why they were being magically corralled. Because these damn people thought they had been the ones to take the egg?
The woman's fiery gaze fell on her. "You think this is funny, half breed? You will not find it so funny, when I figure out your parentage, and your mountainer mother is so shamed by you that..."
"You don't even know if my mother is alive!" Blayre spat, for the first time in so long, losing her control. "And we don't have your gods-damned dragon egg."
Caval glanced at her startled, pleadingly. He apparently hadn't expected her to crack that easily either.
And she shouldn't have. She should have taken deep breaths. She had dealt with so many years of Lady Marianna's bitterly false accusations, that she should have had plenty of practice with holding her tongue. But Blayre was fed up. With everything, and fed up with everyone.
"What do you mean you don't have the egg?" The taller man beside the woman demanded. "Where in twelve hells is it then?"
"A mage sent as an errant boy, by the Crown Sorcerer of Emares took it. We don't know where he is." Caval answered.
The second man - of shorter and stockier build, but with the same golden-skin and dark hair of the other clanspeople - studied Caval intently as he spoke. "He's being truthful." The man announced.
He must have a truth-telling charm. Blayre thought, groaning inwardly. And then he rested his golden gaze on her. "But her I cannot read. She must have some ward..."
The woman's eyes flashed as she narrowed them at Blayre. "Hm. Well, we should keep them anyway. Take them back for questioning. They might prove useful."
"If we help you find the mage with the egg, will you let us go?" Blayre asked quickly. She did not want to spend another moment confined somewhere against her will.
The woman scoffed, "He's probably long gone girl."
"I swear by the Moon and Sun that I can find him." Blayre said.
"Blayre! Stop." Caval said.
She threw him a glare. He assumed she was going to give herself away. But she was smarter than that. She wouldn't hold up that last card unless she desperately needed it.
"Can she?" The mountain woman demanded of Caval, her sharp gaze falling on him.
"No." Caval said, but looked immediately crestfallen and defeated - as defeated as he could seem anyway, with his posture still straight, shoulders still thrown back in that confident way of his. He knew. Once he had spoken, that no matter how he had answered would have been answer enough for the man with the truth telling charm. That was why the woman had asked Caval and not Blayre herself.
"Very well then," The woman said curling her lip as if in a snarl. "Lead on, half-breed."