Sandipani the Sage– CHAPTER VI

After the rush of battle they fell quiet. All immersed in their own thoughts while they flew towards the heart of the mountains. It was getting dark and Alvaro could feel the air getting colder. After a while the chill brought him out of his thoughts and he looked around. Dusk was nearly over and he could already see a number of stars.

“How long until we get there?” He asked the group in general.

“We still have about six hours of flying.” Answered one of the free dragons. A light orange coloured one who was a bit smaller than the rest but also more agile.

“What's your name?” Asked Alvaro.

“Ell en,” answered the dragon.

“Are you a female dragon?”

“Yes, and somewhere I also have a dragon brother... or sister,” she said.

“Is Ellen spelled with a H or without it?” Alvaro asked remembering someone he knew.

“I don't know,” answered Ellen. “I'm hoping that my dragon brother will tell me about the name.”

“Well it's a girls name so it's bound to be a girl, and it's quite possible that she's from Ireland.”

Ellen the dragon looked at him with eyes full of hope and asked, "why do you say that?”

“Well it could be nothing. I'm sure there's lots of Ellens in the world, but I know someone that reminds me of you.”

Alvaro looked at Ellen wondering if maybe he shouldn't raise her hopes up too high. Then he realised that he couldn't see her eyes. It was too dark.

“I don't think we should fly in the dark in a terrain we don't know,” he told the others.

“But we have the flight console,” answered Alberto. “I can see everything here.”

“Still. I think Alvaro is right. We have the consoles but the free dragons don't and even if they can see better in the dark than humans or elves I don't think we could stand a surprise attack,” answered Ashram.

Alvaro who had been fidgeting with his console looked up and said, “nearly at the top of that peak over there, there's a big cave. I think we can all fit there.”

They all flew higher, over the smaller mountains towards a high peak that stood above the rest. True enough there was a big cave, with a flat floor. When they got there Alvaro was surprised to see that the floor was so flat that the cave looked like a big balcony. At the back, the cave turned right and opened to a bigger hall.

“This is just perfect!” Shouted Alberto.

“A bit too perfect,” Answered Alvaro. “What type of geological forces would make anything like this on the top of a high peak?”

“The type called Dragon Lookout Brigade,” answered his dragon brother. “This was made by dragons along time ago as a lookout post. That's why is not fancy but is very practical. Enough space for one or two dragons at the entrance who do the lookout. A hidden hall at the back were they can heat stones up and be warm and protected from the wind. And more importantly, where about ten dragons can comfortably fit and be ready to fly out in case of unwelcome visitors.”

Alvaro walked towards the back of the cave and at the corner, were the hall started to open up he saw Alberto the dragon, Ellen and Ashram's red dragon heating a pile of big stones with their fire. Alberto and Ashram were walking towards him getting away from the heat.

“How long do the stones keep the heat?” Alberto was asking Ashram.

“All night. They are big stones and soon they will be red hot. The dragons will sleep next to them and we will sleep on the other side of the dragons. That way they'll protect us from the heat. I recommend sleeping closer to the entrance that way it won't be too hot as you will get some fresh air from the entrance of the cave.”

The three of them walked towards the mouth of the cave were the floor extended out a bit making a nice view point. Alberto sat on the floor and said “Wow! Look at that,” pointing at the stars.

Alvaro looked up and couldn't believe what he saw. The sky was simply full of stars, a million more than he ever saw back home. He sat down staring up all the time.

“What's so special about the stars?” Ashram asked.

“It's so many of them,” Alberto answered. “Every little corner of the sky has some, and at the top there seems to be a river just made of stars.”

Ashram looked at were Alberto was looking and said “The dragons call that Mother Earth's Milk.” But before he could say anything else, the boys shouted “The Milky Way!”

“Wait a minute,” Alvaro said pointing at a spot lower down, ”that over there looks like the Big Bear. That means that that W over there must be Cassiopeia. So the three bright stars on top of us must be Orion's belt.”

“We call them The Three Kings,” Ashram told them.

“But they are all in the wrong place,” Alvaro said.

“Yes, and how come you have more than us. It's not fair,” Alberto added.

“I think it's because there's no light pollution here. Back home a lot of the lights we use at night go up to the sky making it brighter. So we are not able to see some of the stars. We only see the bright ones,” replied Alvaro.

“Were you live is the Plough higher up in the sky?” asked Ashram.

“The Plough is also another name for Big Bear and yes is much higher. Nearly as high as Orion's Belt here.”

“Then you are from the northern lands like me!” Shouted Ashram ever so exited. “Here the stars are in different places because we are in the Southern Lands. You can also see some new constellations like The Great Cross of the First Elven King.”

“I think that would be the Southern Cross,” Alvaro thought aloud.

“In old elven history it is said that Jarus, the sun god, is crucified and reborn after three days on the exact spot the three kings point after following the guiding star Stirus. Of course we now know that is just normal astronomy. It's what happens in the Winter solstice to the sun when it stops moving south next to The Great Cross and after two days the Three Kings align with Stirus and by coincidence point to the place were the sun raises and starts to move North again. That would be the rebirth bit.”

“That sounds familiar,” Alberto said.

“Yes, a bit too familiar. I'll have to ask dad about all that. It can't be a coincidence.” Replied Alvaro.

“Here in the south is all different of course. The dragons have different stories based on the movement of the stars, the sun and the moon.” Said Ashram.

“Wait a minute!” shouted Alberto “How come you have the same stars as we do?”

“That's because this is not another planet, but a parallel universe. Lots of things are the same, but others aren't. No one knows why,” Answered Ashram.

They all stayed looking at the sky and after a while a full moon appeared on their right making the sight more spectacular.

Soon after, the boys went to the entrance of the hall at the back of the cave, got some blankets out of the back of the saddles and went to sleep next to their dragon brothers. Ashram and the red dragon stayed up for the first lookout shift.

The next day, Alvaro woke up to see that only himself and his dragon were left in the hall. He got up and walked towards the entrance of the cave were he saw Ashram and Alberto looking right, toward the East.

“What's going on? Where's all the dragons?”

Alberto turned towards him and pointed to the rising sun. “We are all doing some sun gazing. The dragons are doing their morning meditation flight.”

Just then, Alvaro the dragon shouted, “let me through, let me through! I'm late,” and jumped over the top of their heads into the air, rushing towards the other dragons who were flying in slow moving circles.

“A sleepy head just like you Alvaro,” said Alberto.

“Dragon brothers have lots of things in common.” Replied Ashram with a smile on his face.

“Very funny. What's so special about staring at the sun anyway?” Asked Alvaro.

“It's not staring at the sun. It's Sungazing. You get energy from the sun at dawn or sunset when you can look at it. Ask mum. She knows about it.”

“I can't look at it,” said Alvaro squinting at the sun.

“Force yourself a bit. At this time of day it's still safe and a dragon rider has to learn to look towards the sun. It's a common tactic to attack with the sun behind so that your enemies don't see you.” Said Ashram.
Alvaro who knew that to be true from flight simulators and films covered the sun a bit with his hands and when his eyes got used to the red bright light he pull them away. First the sun just seem like a big bright area of the sky but after a while he could actually see the circular ball of fire. After a few seconds he looked away and no matter where he looked he saw a red spot.

“I don't think this is safe,” he told the others.

“You left it too late really. You should only do it when the sun is first rising. After some minutes the light is too strong. In the winter you can do it for longer though.” Replied Ashram. “It's an old dragon technique to fill up with energy. They say that if you do it properly you can go days without food, just sun energy.”

“Talking about food. What are we going to have for breakfast?” Asked Alberto.

“Just wait and see,” replied Alvaro getting his wand ready and closing his eyes. He then pointed to the floor and the flow of light jumped and made a pool of light on the floor which then transformed into a low table with glasses full of milk, a plate full of doughnuts and another with buttered toast with jam.

“Yummy!” Shouted Alberto and got a doughnut and a glass of milk.

Ashram walked towards the table picked a doughnut up and smelled it. He then had a small bite and looked surprised.

“You have sweet food for breakfast?” Asked Ashram.

“It's the best type of breakfast,” replied Alvaro. “What do you have?”

“Usually fresh fruit with some fruit juice or a glass of water.”

“The more I know you the more I think my mum is an elf,” Alvaro replied getting his wand and making some apples, pears, kiwis and melons appear on the table. Ashram looked at them, put the doughnut down and picked one of the kiwis.

“I know the apple and the pears but what's this?”

“It's called a kiwi. It comes from New Zealand but now they are everywhere,” Alvaro told him. “The other one is a melon but I don't know were they come from. Probably somewhere tropical or hot. Don't eat the skin of either of them!” Shouted Alvaro as Ashram bit the kiwi.

“It's very good.” replied Ashram.

“It's better if you peel the skin off first,” replied Alvaro smiling.

Ashram took a knife out and amazingly quickly peeled the kiwi. He then slowly ate it enjoying each bite. He then did the same with the melon with a smile on his face.

“You have to tell me where this comes from. I'm sure I can organize some sort of trade with the people of the lands were they grow.”

Alvaro was going to tell him that New Zealand was very far away but then remembered that Ashram had come from the northern continent which sounded like the northern hemisphere and that was also along way away. Apart from that, he wasn't sure were they were anyway and New Zealand was in the southern hemisphere so maybe it wasn't too far.

“Whenever you can, show me a map and I'll tell you were they grow,” Alvaro told Ashram.

They had finished eating when the dragons arrived. They put the rest of the food in their bags and saddles, and the low table they took to the back of the cave in case anyone else ever used the cave. Then they mounted the dragons and they all jumped into the air and flew West.

“Great. We have the Sun on our back,” thought Alvaro.

They carried on flying for a number of hours and,, amazingly the mountains kept getting higher. It was hard to fly higher as they had problems breathing and even though it was sunny it got cold quickly. This meant that sometimes they had to go around some mountains making the trip longer although more interesting.
Alberto could feel the dark presence getting stronger now and realised that after the battle with the dark dragons it had disappeared. He told Ashram about this and the reply was that, in elven folklore, dark beings stretched themselves so as to know what was happening in other parts but this made them weak, so if the Soul Slaver had known about the defeat of the dark dragons he would have retreated to his body to be stronger when they got there. Alberto wasn't very happy about this as the presence he felt was very strong indeed.

“I don't think it's that strong,” Alberto the dragon told him.

“Why do you say that?” Alberto asked.

“I have a feeling he has retreated and is actually you reaching out and sensing him. Which in my book makes you the strong one. Not him.”

Alberto thought about this and realised that it was true. It was him reaching out with his senses. This meant that he could tell were the Soul Slaver was. He reached for the console and told the others about this.

“So where do you think he is?” Asked Alvaro “I'm getting worried that this free dragons are a bit lost.”

“We are going in the correct general direction,” replied Alberto “It would be better though if we turned North now.”

Alberto the dragon told this to the rest of the group, but the free dragons weren't happy about it. It seemed that they only knew one way to get there. Alberto the dragon explained to them that Alberto could tell were the Soul Slaver was and it was actually better to arrive from a direction which was not used. That way the surprise factor would be better.

They turned North and the peaks got a lot higher so they had to constantly fly around them. If it hadn't been for Alberto and the 3D console they would have quickly been lost.

After one of the turns, Alberto saw in the distance five peaks that looked like a castle. Each mountain looked like the corner towers and a chain of smaller mountains like the walls. It even looked like there were windows in the towers.

“Look at those mountains. They look like a giant's castle,” Alberto told his dragon brother. The dragon looked at them for a while and answered, “you better tell the others we are arriving. That really is a castle.”

Alberto told the others and the two boys and the elf simply stared in amazement.

“Who could make such a thing?” Alvaro asked.

“It's so big that we don't seem to get any closer no matter how much we travel.” Alberto added.

“I never thought I would ever see this. It's the fortress town of Ignis. Build by the first dragon kings. All elven scholars consider this a myth as no one alive has ever seen it. Also they found it hard to believe that a town fortress could be made out of five mountains as high as those.”

They were closer now and they had to look up to see the towers even though they still hadn't reach them. The size of the fortress was mind blowing. What from a far looked like windows were big entrances a bit like the lookout post they had slept in.

Alberto knew that inside was the Soul Slaver, he could feel him clearly. The dragons and Alvaro could feel it too and they started getting nervous. The free dragons fell a bit behind looking all around expecting to be attacked at any moment.

Alvaro, who was back working on the console said, “according to this, there's a type of tunnel below us. It comes from the other side of that mountain on our right.”

“It could be some sort of escape tunnel. Can you see if it's blocked? It probably has been a long time since anyone used it.” Asked Ashram.

“Seems to be Ok, but I can't really tell small details here. I think it would be better to sneak in rather than a frontal attack,” Alvaro said, we don't know what they have waiting for us.”

They all agreed and turned to fly around the other side of the mountain to look for the tunnel entrance. They started to fly lower to go down to the level were the entrance appeared on the console but they reached the ground and didn't find any type of entrance or way in.

“According to this, it is right in front of us,” said Alvaro, “it's that piece of flat stone wall,” he added, pointing ahead.

Which, when they looked at it, it did look like a closed stone door rather than part of the mountain.

“Maybe we need a magic spell or password,” said Alberto remembering when The Fellowship reached the Mines of Moria.

“There has to be an opening mechanism somewhere,” answered Ashram. “Dragons are not into magic spells and even less into passwords. Anybody can work those out.”

“Maybe we can use sonar.” Alvaro told the others, and without waiting for a reply he got his wand out and made a pool of light on top of the console that turned into something like a Star Trek tricorder.
“A sonar is an old mobile phone?” Alberto asked, looking at the shape of the new device.

“It's not a phone. It's s fully functional diagnostics device. Look at this,” Alvaro opened the device and pointed it towards the wall. The device made a loud ping sound and then Alvaro put it next to the console. “Look at your console,” he told the others.

Ashram and Alberto looked at their console and saw what looked like an X-ray image of a door. After a moment Ashram said.

“I think I know how it works. Two dragons have to pull up that rock over there.”

The rock was huge and it took five dragons to lift it. The moment they did, the rock wall slid to one side silently and when the dragons let go of the rock, it started to sink slowly and at the same time the door started to slowly close. Giving them enough time to get inside.

Before the door closed they could see they were inside a big straight tunnel and when it closed they were in complete darkness. Ashram lit a torch which gave some light.

Alberto was surprised to find out that even though the torch gave little light he could see very well.

“You've changed to Dragon sight.” His dragon brother told him.

Suddenly everything became white with light and he was blinded like someone had fired a flash directly at his eyes.

“There! That's better,” Alvaro said.

“Wow! What have you done?” Asked Alberto who turned off his dragon sight and was getting his vision back.

“Halogen lamps on the consoles. We don't have to be in the dark,” he answered with a smile.

“Let's hope the batteries last,” replied Alberto still rubbing his eyes.

Ashram who was open mouthed looked at his torch, blew it out and threw it on the floor.

They started walking along the tunnel and Alvaro gave them powerful torches that looked like space guns with which they could use to see down the side tunnels that appeared sometimes.

Alberto, who was still thinking of the Mines of Moria, was a bit nervous about these side tunnels, which, even with a powerful torch, could not be seen to the end. He looked at the console and saw that the side tunnels ended in bigger halls or caves. There were no little red dots on the console which meant there were no dark dragons nearby, but his senses told him that something knew they were here and it wasn't dark dragons or the Soul Slaver.

“This tunnel is a bit clean for a tunnel that has been abandoned for a long time,” said Alvaro.

“Who said it has been abandoned?” Asked Ashram.

“Well. A secret tunnel of a city that no one has seen for millennia. I can't imagine who would be using it,” he replied.

“It could simply mean that no one has been here since they closed the tunnels.” Answered Ashram.

Just then a huge high pitch howl sounded all over the tunnels.

“It's coming! It knows we are here!” Shouted Alberto.

“Who? Where?” Asked Ashram and Alvaro.

“I don't know. But it's not a dragon or the Soul Slaver and it doesn't go beep on the console, but I can feel it.”

“Me too,”said Alberto the dragon.

“If it doesn't appear on the console then it's not an enemy.” Alvaro told Alberto. “So we have nothing to worry about.”

“Define enemy. I'm sure the fish don't think of the fishermen as their enemies but they still get eaten,” Alberto replied.

“Ok. We have to be ready for anything. Myself, Alvaro and Ellen will walk at the front. Alberto and Peter in the middle and the rest at the back. Be ready to fight.” Said Ashram.

Alberto saw a red dragon moving next to him and assumed he was Peter. He made a mental note to ask the rest for their names.

Alberto could see on the console that they were getting to a large cave. It was the heart of the mountain that was next to the giant fortress. When they got there not even the powerful halogen lights could light up the huge hall they were in.

“Weeeeeeeeeeegh!!” came the howl again and the dragons froze.

“Come on Alberto! Keep moving!” Shouted Alberto to his dragon brother but nothing happened.

He could see that Alvaro and Ashram had the same problem and looking around he saw the free dragons were also standing still like statues. Then he saw movement through the corner of his eye but when he pointed the torch to the spot, there was nothing there. He then heard a sound behind him and he quickly turned, but again nothing. Then he realised that one of the free dragons was missing. Ashram had noticed this too and shouted. “Let's get in the middle of the dragons, back to back. That way we'll see what ever it is coming and can protect the dragons!”

They stood back to back looking around. Alberto could see the two free dragons left that were at the back of the line. He blinked and one was missing. He then felt a rush of air coming from that direction. He felt another rush of air and Alvaro shouted, “Ellen has just disappeared!”

“Whatever it is, it's faster than we can see. It can take us any time it wants,” Ashram said.

“What! I won't let it take Alvaro!” Shouted Alvaro while running towards his dragon and started to climb on him. Then he was also gone. Alberto felt the rush of air and at the same time he heard Alvaro's shouts going straight up. Alberto and Ashram looked up just in time to see far in the distance a flash of light from Alvaro's wand. Then all the dragons woke up and roared making Alberto jump.

“Where is she!?” Shouted Alberto the dragon looking around.

They then heard a zooming sound and a huge big BANG. They turned and further away enveloped in Alvaro's plasticky bubble thing was giant snake who was trying to break free but couldn't.

“No one messes with the dragon brothers!” They heared Alvaro shout above them. Soon the dragon brothers, Ellen and the rest landed next to them, now free from the snake and whatever spell it had placed on the dragons.

“What happened? How did you? What's that?” Asked Alberto.

“When it grabbed Alvaro the dragon I was caught on the stirrups and it didn't realise I was there so I had time to bubble it. Doing that broke the spell of the dragons and they were able to fly.”

“Where did you get the idea of bubbling things with sticky plastic?”

“It's not plastic so they can breath, and I got the idea from the The Supernaturalist book dad got me.”

“What is it anyway? I've never seen a snake that big,” Replied Alberto. “Is it a Chinese dragon?”

“Could be a basilisk.” Replied Alvaro.

“No, it's a Queen dragon and you were lucky that she wasn't aware of your presence when she grabbed Alvaro the Dragon.”

“A queen dragon? But she has no wings,” Alberto answered.

“Actually she does, but they stopped growing when she became a queen and now they are too small.” Said Ashram.

“Why, what's so special about a dragon queen?”Asked Alvaro.

“Dragons are intelligent beings. Being a queen is a position of great power, great skills as you have seen and great responsibility. They are the ones that give birth to queen and king dragons.”

“Why did she attack us?” Asked Alberto.

“I don't know. We should ask her that.”

“No way! I'm not letting her go after what you just said.” Replied Alvaro.

“Alberto should talk to her.” Said Alvaro the dragon. The rest of the dragons including Alberto the dragon agreed to this.

“Do I have to get close to her?” Asked Alberto.

“It would be better.” Replied Alvaro the dragon.

“Well I hope that sticky bubble can hold her.” He replied while walking towards the fallen queen dragon.

Alberto wasn't sure what to do. The most disturbing thing was that she felt so different to the rest of the dragons. Like she wasn't quite here, like trying to grab smoke with your hands. He had to walk a long way to find the head and even though the light got there, it was a lot darker and he started to get scared.

“Don't worry. I'm right behind you.” His dragon brother told him.

Alberto jumped with the fright he got hearing his dragon brother next to him. “Don't do that! You scared me!”

“I don't think it was I that scared you. You were scared before I spoke.”

“What ever. You gave me a fright anyway.” Replied Alberto.

“Sorry about that.”

Alberto walked a bit more and saw, through the plastic (or what ever) film, the queen dragon's eyes. She was staring at him like you stare at a mosquito that has decided you are its next meal. Alberto was going to talk when the queen dragon moved. It was like seeing a house move in an effort to try to splatter you. Alberto jumped back fast and his dragon growled.

“We were only defending ourselves!” Alberto shouted. “We didn't want to hurt you really.”

The queen dragon moved even more then, trying to squash him, making Alberto jump out of the way this time using his ninja skills to get further away. His dragon brother jumped with him.

We have to understand here that a dragon is probably twice the size of an elephant and a queen dragon probably twice the size a blue whale. It could have crushed both of them easily.

“Don't do human talk. Talk to her like you did to the dark dragons.” Alberto the dragon told him.

Alberto stood next to his dragon brother and with a hand he touched his leg. He then changed to dragon sight with his eyes closed and looked within him for the dragon strength he found when he talked to the dark dragons. It was easier this time, after being through the fight of the battle. When he found the strength he opened his eyes and was left speechless. The beauty of the queen dragon reached him and he was left with no words just standing there. He noticed that she was mad with anger but then she felt him and became a little curious.

Alberto realised that there had to be no fear. Only enemies were scared of the queen dragon. He smiled and walked towards her.

“My Queen. We have come in peace from a far land to fight the Soul Slaver. The slaver of dragons and all free things in this land. We never meant to anger you, attack you or disturb you. Please forgive our careless intrusion,” Alberto said, wandering were he got all the long words from.

“My brother bound you because we didn't know it was you. As a proof of our innocence I will ask him to release you.” When he said this, all the others who still saw the queen as just a huge mad wingless dragon stepped back.

“Are you sure Alberto?” Asked Alvaro.

“How dare you doubt the word of a dragon brother when talking about his Queen?” Alberto replied.

“You little cheeky...” Alvaro was going to say when his dragon brother pushed him.

“Hey! What's the matter with everybody?”

“Just do what he says. He has the way of the old dragon kings. Do it now. It's important.” His dragon brother told Alvaro.

“Sorry Sire! What ever you say... SIRE!”

Alvaro pointed his wand and the light enveloped the queen making the restricting bubble disappear.

As quick as a flash the queen stood and faced Alberto getting slowly closer to him. Alvaro couldn't believe what he was seeing and was thinking of another bubble attack when in his mind he heard his dragon brother saying “It's Ok. If she wanted to attack we would already be dead.”

Alberto simply saw a gorgeous multicoloured creature getting close to him. True enough she was very serious and with a mouth full of big sharp teeth but pretty anyway.

“It's a long time since I've heard anyone talk that way. What are you little one?”

“My lady, I'm one of the last dragon brothers. My name is Alberto and I'm here on a quest to defeat the Slaver of Souls.”

“A dragon brother... Who's the sneaky one with the strange powerful magic?” The Queen asked.

“He's my human brother my lady. Also a dragon brother. The elf is Prince Ashram from the Northern Lands and the rest are the last of the free dragons.”

“Two dragon brothers!? I know of the legend that tells of two brothers from the East that riding their dragon brothers free the world from the darkness from beyond time.” She looked at Alberto and asked “Could that be you?”

Then Ashram stepped forward and on one knee replied, “we the elves from the Northern Lands believe so my lady.”

With a whoosh sound that arrived after she got there, the queen appeared facing Ashram.

“A cheeky elf. Talking even when they are not addressed. You wouldn't be a descendant of Asraya would you?”

“She was my great grand mother my Queen.”

“Yes. You look like her. We fought many battles together. Probably the greatest elven queen ever.” The dragon queen replied.

Ashram slowly changed to disbelief and looked up at the dragon queen. “But that would mean you are the queen of the City of Ignis, Lady Sandipani the Sage with which my ancestor queen Asraya was supposed to have secret alliance,” Ashram said. “Legend tells of a trip of self awareness of which you never came back. This is the reason why modern historians don't believe that queen Asraya actually met you or that you actually existed.”

The queen dragon seemed to relax after hearing these words and looked at all of them, including Alberto and his dragon who had arrived next to them.

“I did go on pilgrimage of self awareness but fell to a trap and was enchanted in rock until not long ago. Before I was turned to rock I saw in a vision the brothers arriving from the East and told my captor, this. That's the last I remember until I started to and everyone around us, aboutwake up and was not fully a dragon again until you appeared. I believe it was the strength of the dragon brothers and their friends what brought me back,” The queen said looking at each one in turn.

“Who captured you my Queen?” Asked Alberto.

“It was the king. My cousin. He must have taken over the hole world by now.” She answered.

“No my lady,” Answered Ashram. “The dragons have had no king or queen for aeons. They are a race of free independent individuals.”

Surprised the queen answered, “but that doesn't make any sense. Without me he had no one to stop him.”

“Could there be a relation between the Soul Slaver and your cousin the king?” Asked Alvaro. The rest of the dragons and Alberto stared at him. “You should address her as My Lady.” His dragon brother told him.

“Bugger off. She's not my queen.” Alvaro answered with his mind.

“It is true.” The dragon queen answered giving Alvaro a surprise. “You have been born and have grown independent. I am not your queen. Until I earn my title back I will treat you all as my equals.”

“Great!” Alvaro answered. “So what about the Soul Slaver then?”

The queen looked a bit annoyed just for a second and then turned to look to the other side of the cave. “I sense a dark presence that does feel a little bit like my old cousin. You could be correct. The two could be related.”

“My Queen, then it would be an honour for us to help you revenge the injury imposed on you so long ago,” Ashram told her.

“The honour is all mine. Come. I know of a secret way into the fortress.”