Chapter 44: Chapter Forty-Two

The vaadin delivered us to the foot of Dragonis Mountain, and from the moment I stepped down, I felt the weight of something far older and darker than I had ever encountered pressing in around us. The air was cold, biting at my skin through my uniform, and the wind carried with it a strange, hollow sound, like distant whispers warning us to turn back."

"Above us, the mountain loomed, its jagged crags seeming to shift in the shadows as the faint light hit the rocks at odd angles. It seemed in itself like a monster, daring us to continue. My stomach twisted as I eyed the steep ascent ahead. The sharp stone face looked like it might rip the skin off my hands if I wasn't careful.  I analyzed my success against the handful of times I'd climbed a rock wall at the Y and snorted. There was no way I could get up that.

"Brin, I think we'll have to leave you at the bottom. Rielte could probably make it, but I don't think centaurs climb." I had thought I might need extra transportation, but I hadn't really thought about the climb. Sure, he could take on a human form, but it would take a lot out of him.

"I understand, My Lady. I will guard the bottom against attackers."

"That's a great idea. Thanks, Brin."

Then he surprised me by lifting me up in his arms and holding me like a baby. "Be careful. I doubt I'd survive losing you."

I touched his face. That weird night at my father's had definitely changed everyone -- everyone but Luis. Despite not being as close to Brin as my friends from Earth or even Luke or Ciaran, there was a new deepness to our relationship.

"I will be." Then I surprised myself by kissing his cheek. He closed his eyes as though I'd blessed him, then released me from his arms.

I looked at the mountain again. It was about 1000 feet to the top. I nervously rubbed my hands against my pants I'd changed back into before we left.

"Who else wants to stay down here? I don't want anyone freaking while climbing up the mountain."

There were worried stares, but no one spoke up.

I nodded, then asked, "Who wants to take the lead because I don't think I should. I've only climbed rock walls, nothing like this."

"Same with me," Dominic said.

"Heck, until our practice session,  the only climbing I've done is into bed," Adrian piped in.

I laughed. "How about any of you girls?"

"I shall do it," Luke cut in. "I have much experience in climbing the mountains near the mansion."

"Great."

"I'll take second," Erick said. "I've also had a lot of experience."

The roster was Luke first, then Erick, and after him came Beth, Jeanne, and Elsie, all three having had some mountain climbing experience. Dominic, Adrian, and I made up the rear.

Ciaran stayed on the ground with Brin. When I asked why, he said, "I would sway the trial too much. You can do this without me, but I'll come up should there be any foul play."

I grumbled at this but agreed that his ability to teleport us all up there would probably be unfair.

The higher we climbed, the more the wind howled, a constant, unnerving presence in our ears. The path narrowed, twisting in ways that made my stomach churn. Each step felt like a gamble, the cold stone underfoot slick with patches of ice hidden beneath thin layers of snow. My fingers were going numb, and my heart hammered in my chest. Every glance upward felt like a taunt—the mountain daring me to slip, to fall.

Luke led the way, his large frame moving with practiced caution, but the gap ahead seemed impossible. The space we needed to squeeze through was barely wide enough for him to pass, and when Dominic tried, his broad body stuck fast. I could see the panic flash in his eyes as he struggled to push through the smooth, unyielding crevice, his breath coming in short, desperate bursts. Finally, however, he had to pull back out.

We tried to see if it might be possible for him to climb over the spot and drop to the other side. After a few clumsy tries with a makeshift pulley system, his large, expansive build made it difficult for him to lever himself up the smooth face of the gap. He was red-faced and panting heavily as he collapsed on the ground.

"Sorry, Matt," he said in a dejected tone.

"Nothing to apologize for. Luke barely got through as well. Why don't you head back down and get some food ready for us?" I touched his cheek with the palm of my hand, and he leaned into it.

"You got it!" he said brightly, though I could see the disappointment in his eyes.

"We'll climb some mountains together until we both get good at this, okay? There are a lot of things I want to do together, Dom."

His face lit up, and he dropped a kiss on my lips. "Okay. Deal."

I blushed at the display of affection and cleared my throat. Adrian was shaking his head as he watched Dominic make his way back down. "The man's bold. I give him that. He doesn't care what people think of him, he goes ahead and does it." He sounded a little envious, I thought.

"Yeah, it's what I love about him."

"Huh." He looked contemplative for a moment but eventually grinned. "I can see why." He slung his arm companionably over my shoulder. "If you go climbing with him, I want to come too."

I glanced up at him, checking for any hidden meanings, but simply found a friendly smile. "Sure."

We continued up the steep path, getting more winded as the slant of the mountain became more vertical. Elsie twisted her ankle on a hidden rock under the snow and also had to descend. We eventually reached the spot where we would need ropes. After a water break, Luke climbed up ahead and placed pitons in sturdy areas for us to attach our rope. We got our harnesses out of our packs and strapped ourselves in. With Luke guiding us, the trek up the face of the mountain was arduous but doable.

At the summit, the shrine awaited us, not as a beacon of hope, but as something far more ominous. It was crude, built from rough-hewn stone that looked like it had been carved by hands that hadn't cared for beauty, only for function. Twelve pillars ringed the space, casting long, eerie shadows across the snow-covered ground. A thick silence hung in the air, pressing in on us from all sides. It felt wrong—like we'd stepped into a place we weren't supposed to see, let alone touch."

The gargoyles stood sentinel, their stone forms grotesque and twisted, each one frozen mid-snarl or mid-lunge. Lizard faces, eagle talons, dog fangs—they were monsters, trapped in rock but ready to move at any moment.

"You're the only one that can take the coin from the pedestal and once you take it, the guardians will activate and we'll have to battle them. It would have been good if we'd brought more forces, but we will prevail." Luke gritted his teeth and gave a stoic nod.

Great. Well. Guess I had to go get our butts kicked.

The moment I lifted the coin, the ground beneath us trembled, and a deep, rumbling growl echoed from every direction. The gargoyles began to move, their stone limbs creaking and snapping into action with terrifying speed. Their eyes glowed red as they lunged at us, claws scraping across the frozen earth, teeth bared in twisted snarls. The air was suddenly filled with the screech of metal against stone as Luke's sword connected with one of them, but it only seemed to anger the creature more.

Realizing this was the underworld, I said, "Skeletons, ghosts, anyone, if you're able to help us, come here!"

A lizard-like gargoyle stomped forward while a clattering of bones swarmed up the side of the mountain. Skeletons clambered over to the shrine, along with the blue glow of spirits. They gave me just enough time to run from the shrine before a silver glow emanated from the guardians. The glow dispersed the spirits and turned all the skeletons to ash.

Crap! I guessed that these ugly dudes were holy or something. That was too quick! I felt horrible about the blue spirits that lost their afterlives and decided not to try that again.

Luke pulled me behind him, as he smacked at three of the gargoyles that had lunged forward with alarming speed, considering how heavy they seemed to be. The screech of metal on rock rang out, and I winced at the sound. It distracted them from coming at me for a moment, and I shuffled farther back.

Erick shifted into his feline form, but even with his speed and strength, the gargoyles overwhelmed him, their massive stone bodies immune to his attacks. I scrambled back, heart pounding in my throat as I watched Beth, also in cat form,  claw at another beast,  raking through stone, but the gargoyle didn't slow down. We were outnumbered, outmatched. This wasn't a battle—we were prey being hunted.

All around, my friends battled the gargoyles, but a large eagle faced one pinned Jeanne. She touched the talon that held her, and it dissolved into golden coins. It fell over on its side and made an ear-splitting screech. She had escaped the hold, but the creature still came at her and it swiped at her with its wings. Before the wings could hit her, she ducked. Afterward, a dog-faced gargoyle cornered Adrian. He was hollering and shouting as he struck the monster, but the gargoyle was unfazed as it slung a fist at my friend.

In a panic, I thought we would not make it. We would die on this mountain, inches from victory. I was going to fail, and that was that. Then Luke let out a blast of fire that melted two of the gargoyles, and a sliver of hope rose. A pillar on the shrine was flaming because his fire had been that hot. Beth squalled as she narrowly missed being engulfed by the stream of fire. She hissed at Luke, then gave a powerful swipe at the head of a lizard-headed gargoyle. Her claws found purchase, and she made a deep gouge. Blue fire poured from her, and the gargoyle exploded. She glanced at Luke as if to say, "That's how you do it, chump."

Despite their efforts, they'd only got rid of three gargoyles. As a lion-headed gargoyle made its way toward me unimpeded, I put up my left hand in a reflex.

The ring on my finger pulsed, a searing light shooting through it as the tiny dragon emblem began to move. My heart lurched as I watched the creature grow, its form expanding with every beat of my pulse until a massive, gleaming, blue dragon towered above us. Its wings stretched out, blotting out the sky as it let out an earth-shaking roar. The air around us vibrated with its power, sending us all staggering backward.

The gargoyles turned to face it, drawn to its might, and I was struck by a terrifying thought—this thing could destroy us all if it chose to. It didn't owe me anything. And yet, as its glowing eyes locked with mine, a thread of connection sparked between us. The dragon reared back its head, and I knew what was going to happen next.

"Fire in the hole!" I screamed as I flattened myself.

My friends leaped out of the way toward the edges of the mountain.

The dragon let out a white-hot stream of flame. As it did, a blue force field flashed around all my friends.

I looked behind me and saw Dominic struggling on the edge of the mountain. He was holding one hand out. I grabbed his hand and helped him over the edge.

"I couldn't let you guys have all the fun," he wheezed.

When it was over, not one gargoyle remained, and the dragon had turned the shrine to obsidian. It snorted and smoke billowed from its nostrils. Finally, it looked back at me, and that was when I noticed.

There was a root between me and the dragon. I had found my seventh consort.

The dragon flapped its wings again, and I realized it was going to leave, just like that. It lifted into the air and flew away with a screech.

"Wait!" I cried out. "Wait!" I ran uselessly after the receding dot until Dominic caught up and held me.

"It's the dragon! It's number seven!" I cried as I tried to pull away from him.

"Shh, yes, I know," Dominic rubbed my back soothingly as we both stared at the part of the sky where the dragon had fled.

Why had it flown from me? I looked at the ring. It was now just a bluish gold band upon my left ring finger, seared to my skin.

It looked like a wedding band.