Xan hung on to Verbena's harness for dear life as he rode behind Celia on Verbena as she sprinted through the branching tunnels in a seemingly random path. "Do either of you have any idea where we are going?" He spoke over the Verbena's breathing and the gentle thuds of her furred paw pads against the ground in her run.

'I'm following my nose to fresh air,' Verbena huffed as if her answer was obvious as she confined her run, 'and also heading upslope.'

After a pause where no one replied to him, Xan spoke up again, "will either one of you answer me?" His voice cracked with a squawk on the second syllable of "answer," but Xan worried more about their escape then potential embarrassment.

Celia blinked, then remembered Xan could not hear Verbena through a mindlink as she could. "She's using her nose to find the cold outside air," she repeated for Xan, "that's how she knows where the nearest exit it."

"Thank you," Xan replied, then looked over Celia's shoulder to peer ahead to the tunnel system before them. "I hope we get out soon before we're noticed by the guards. I do not think our escape will go over well if we get caught."

"Then we will not be caught," Celia replied, though she recognized an itchy feeling in her heart on Xan's correctness and recognized the high probability of extreme punishment. Though she willed Verbena to run faster, she also recognized the fact this was Verbena's her top speed.

After they passed a branch in the tunnel yells of anger and exclamation began to echo behind them. Shortly after, a long, trumpeting note rang at intervals through the tunnels like an alarm.

Celia clenched her teeth and gripped Verbena's harness in her gloved hands as the noise repeated itself at regular intervals along with angered shouting from behind them. 'Are we close?' She mentally asked in the desire to be free from the caves, despite her usual comfort underground.

'Not far,' Verbena panted as she continued to run, then huffed when she noted the sudden appearance of more Ulven guards in front of her, 'hang on.' She roared angrily ahead of her as she leaped into the air to avoid an object the guards in front of her flung at her feet, which she thankfully completely avoided.

As she leaped into the air, Xan yelled out in a bit of panic and wrapped his arms around Celia's waist without thinking, as it was the only place for his hands behind Celia. When Verbena landed, the rough movement briefly knocked him off of the dragonet's back. However, thanks to the panicked hug he had given Celia, he fell back into place behind the human female.

After the realization that he could easily fall off again, Xan glanced down to his feet and wrapped them around the straps of Verbena's harness closest to his feet. Though he was used to riding bareback on a dragon, he normally rode on Irin's collarbone, in front of his wings, rather than where he was situated behind the wings, just in front of Verbena's hind limbs.

Xan's action surprised Celia, but she focused and kept her grip as something noisily slid across the ground behind them and Verbena ran through two Ulven guards. She glanced behind them and saw weighted glowing chains spiraling across the ground that the Ulven had slung at Verbena, probably in an attempt to chain her legs together and inhibit her movement.

The obstructive Ulven guards exclaimed out in pain as the dragonet barreled through them without slowing her sprint for the exit. Before they recovered, Verbena rounded a corner and disappeared out of their sight.

As the trio continued to speed through the tunnels, more guards appeared occasionally, but they were disorganized and in pairs at the most. Strangely, none of the Ulven attempted to harm Verbena. Even the few that had swords and spears hesitated to even use them, instead favoring impediment practices. Glowing chains were flung at Verbena's feet multiple times, and one guard even tried to lasso the dragnet's muzzle with a magical rope while another group created a wall with two spears held by guards on both sides of the tunnel.

Thankfully, Verbena avoided or broke through all of the obstacles placed in front of her almost completely unscathed. She may develop a few bruises on her chest in the near future, but they would be far better than the alternative of bleeding cuts caused by sharp blades or broken bones.

Soon, even Celia and Xan noticed the hints of a chill in the air and recognized the increasing proximity to the freedom of the outside world. "We have to be close now," Celia spoke with a widening smile of excitement. "Not much farther," she promised herself and Verbena in a low whisper.

However, the Ulven were not only increasing in number but in their desperation to prevent the dragonet and her riders from leaving the matrix of tunnels.

Thankfully, Verbena prevailed and continued to run through the Ulven's attempt to stop her, though it seemed that they were not trying too hard. Though more guards attempted to block their path with more obstacles, they still only caused a minor hindrance. Celia thought their attempts were as if the guards were only trying to tire Verbena so they could capture her without harming the dragonet.

Verbena was much harder to stop than the Ulven had predicted. She leaped over objects thrown at her feet. If any of the Ulven held a barricade of magic chains, she ducked under or jumped over any she could, and when that was not an option, she barreled through the barricade off center so that one of the sides took so much of the force compared to the other side they either fell forward and was accidentally stepped on or had the chains wretched from their grasp.

Suddenly, they could see the night sky stand out from the white walls and ceiling of the tunnel ahead of them. 'Almost there!' Verbena huffed as she continued to run, excited to free her rider and continue their noble quest.

However, the Ulven were not going to let the trio escape as easily as the two humans and the dragonet hoped. Several Ulven guards appeared between them and the exit, all of them armed with ropes or chains prepared in order to constrain Verbena and tie up Celia and Xan once the chance arrived.

After a glance ahead, Celia tensed as she recognized one of the men standing there, or at least she recognized the blue crystal staff. The same man that previously captured Celia and Xan now stood between them and freedom.

When Celia tensed, Verbena growled slightly between pants. She sensed from Celia's reaction that the man with the staff may have attacked or her partner, an unforgivable action in the dragonet's mind. Verbena may not be able to make him feel the full consequences of his actions now, but if they ever met after Verbena escaped with Celia and Xan, the Ulven man with the staff would know what happened to the other people who tried to get between a dragon and a bonded rider.

As they neared the final line of defense, the Ulven man with the staff raised the magic artifact a few inches, then gently touched it to the ground. Upon the tiny sound, ice spread out from the ground towards the running dragonet and her mount for a few arm lengths, then spread upward and began to close the tunnel between them.

If the wall of ice completed and thickened enough, Verbena would be forced to turn into one of the two branching paths. Most likely, they simply traveled deeper underground instead of towards another exit. At the same time, the Ulven would have more time to capture and detain them.

Upon seeing the formation of the wall, dragonet's nostrils flared and fire began to build up in her throat. She glared and growled at the man through the shrinking gap between the ceiling and the expanding sheet of ice. 'I will not stop!' She roared in refusal and expelled a fist-sized glob of flaming liquid ryume at the growing barrier of frozen water as she continued to run.

'This is our only chance,' Celia mentally whimpered as the flaming ryume traveled through the air towards its target. After a millisecond of a pause, she took a deep breath and refocused. 'We can do this!' Celia cheered to Verbena as the dragonet raced just behind the ball of ryume. 'we cannot and will not let them stop us here! We will prevail!' She took another deep breath to quell the uprising of terror-filled thoughts, 'we will succeed. The Ulven cannot stop us.' She held on to the tendrils of hope.

The fireball continued its path, then slammed into the middle of the ice wall and the liquid exploded in fire against the barricade. Much of the wall melted and left behind a hole large enough for Verbena to escape through with her mounts.

With her new escape route completed with the destruction of the ice wall, Verbena managed to increase her speed for one final push for the exit.

With the very possible threat of being hit by another flaming attack from the dragonet, most armored Ulven guards pressed themselves against the walls in order to provide room for the sprinting dragonet.

However, one Ulven remained in the center of the path: the man with the blue crystal staff. A scowl and a frustrated glare formed across his face as he pointed the glowing tip of his weapon at the trio.

Three of Verbena's strides separated her from the pointed tip of the staff, and though she desperately wanted to flame him into ash, not enough of her fire remained. She had used too much of it to melt the ice wall before it completely formed.

Celia stared at the sharp, glowing tip of the staff, then looked up to the man's determined gaze.

Two strides remained.

With their approach, the Ulven man shifted his feet in preparation.

In a panic, Celia searched for any object she could easily throw at the man to at least make him flinch or dodge and create an opening. Her bag was both too big and to well attached to her back to remove quickly enough.

One stride remained.

Celia's eyes widened as she felt something in her pocket. Without thinking, she ripped the object out of her pocket and hurled the sphere with all of her strength at the Ulven's last standing line of defense.

The blue orb sailed in a blue streak so swiftly and at such a short distance it gave the Ulven man little time to react.

Luckily for the escaping trio, he sphere sailed straight into his chest and forced the Ulven man to release a pained exhalation, "Oomph!" He falls and makes another "oomph" when he landed flat on his back.

His staff, which fell out of his hand, clattered to the ground, but still fired out a bright beam of energy that hit and spread ice across the wall to Verbena's left without ever harming the dragonet or her human riders.

No strides remained between Verbena and the magic weapon, but after "accidentally" using the Ulven sprawled on the ground, Verbena leaped out of the cave and spread her wings. Panting and sore, she allowed her wings to take in the rising warm air as she increased her altitude.

They escaped the cave, but not the danger.

Author Notes!

They escaped! YAY!

That last bit is almost a cliffhanger. Some of you may consider one, but that just makes the story more suspenseful!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have a great day!