chapter 23 Into the caves we go

"What, you mean into these caves?" Kadrid asked almost fearful of the idea.

"Yes, into the caves." He replied.

"What if someone lives in there? We would be invading thier home." Kadrid responded, nervous by the thought.

"Then we will explain our quest and give apoligies to them for the intrusion."

"What if something goes terribly wrong?"

"You worry way too much little dragon." Salem told her with a soft giggle as he entered the opening of the small cave. Then he stopped for a moment and spoke without turning around to look at her.

"Are you coming with me?" He asked his winged companion.

After a long deep growl of dissaproval she slowly forced herself to follow into the cave, giving him the evil eye as she did. Looking up she noticed the silly warlock pulled something out of his magical bag.

"What do you have in there?" She asked with the curiosity of a human little girl.

"It's a fire ball orb."

"Why do you need it?" She inquired.

"I need it to light the way. I didn't pack the enchanted torch light."

"Why didn't you?"

"I had forgotten to put it in the bag." He answered her, hoping there would be an end to her line of questions.

Kadrid nodded as they now walked through the at least dimly lit cave. As they walked on, they hadn't seen much other than a pack of wolf bane vampire bats. The name sounded more vicious than the creatures truly were. Both he and his faithful dragon ducked down quickly as six of the medium sized bats flew through the cave missing them completley.

"That scared me. Those things are just plain creepy." Kadrid admitted to him.

"Kadrid." He spoke in a firm tone.

"What?"

"You were raised by a half vampire. I would think vampire bats wouldn't bother you in the slightest." He spoke trying to hold back a chuckle as not to offend her. She was a very brave little dragon but at times had the sensitivity of a kitten.

"They were still creepy."

"It's okay, you're safe they are gone now."

The two kept going for several miles walking at least a few hours in the small dank smelling cave until they rounded the corner. As soon as they did they hauted quickly and to thier suprise saw that this cave was nothing more than a dead end. Kadrids annoyance with him started to rise. She glared at him so hard that it would have strained the eye of any common mortal.

"Now what are we supposed to do oh great and all knowing warlock?"

"We're going to go back the way we came and check the next one."

"Are you telling me we are going to check every single one of these caves until we find her?" The dragon asked with an unmistakable tone of aggravation.

"Yes, we will." He told her in light hearted tone.

The dragon simply rolled her eyes before following him back the way they had gone. By the time she and the hybrid warlock had finally made their way back out of the first cave the dragon had already become fuming with anger. She knew it was all to help rescue the sorceress, for whom she cared about on a deep emotional level, but since before the trip to the underworld she had been weary of so much traveling. The dragon really hoped that they would not be exploring caves every moment for the next couple of moon cycles. Kadrid was hopeful that they would find her before then. The journey had been much further than either of them expected. She wanted to find Pandora within the next couple of caves but it didn't seem like things were going to work out that way.

The dragon was well aware of the warlocks fate,it was never simple. No task involving him was ever an easy one. She should have known from the start that it would seem an endless journey. It had felt like they were traveling for years instead of a mere couple of weeks. She enjoyed going to diffrent places but this had been far too exhausting for her. She didn't mind a two or three day flight from home but this had been the longest running adventure either of them had been a part of. She grumbled while following him into the next cave. It had been over twice the size of the last one. She tried not to be too hopeful but maybe this one would lead them to Pandora or give them a clue to get closer to finding her.

She wondered if they would ever find the hybrid sorceress. Following closley behind him they walked a good three miles into it before the cave became deeper and a little more difficult. They walked with caution as the cave floors became more narrow, spiraling to the left at a 90 degree angle. The dragon loathed being in this cave. She would just remind herself that this cave couldn't go on forever. There had to be an end to it at some point. She kept repeatedly concentrating on that thought as they hiked through the cave for the next three hours. When they reached the end of the cave it led them to the other side of the gigantic mountain. Kadrid let out a long, deep sigh of relief.

"Do you feel better now?" He asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes I do warlock, thank you so much for your concern." She snapped back at him.

Salem knew not to push the dragon when she was in one of these moods, so he kept walking with the dragon keeping a steady pace behind him.It was less than two miles when they reached the next massive cavern.

"Salem could we rest before we go inside there?" She asked softly more of a need than a request.

"Sure. I'll sit and rest with you."

"Thank you." She replied in a bit of a whisper.

"No need my friend. I'd be tired too, I know this quest is much further and more difficult than I've ever asked of you.I shall make it up to you when we return." He comforted the dragon.

"That would be wonderful." She replied.

"I'm sure the journey will be over very soon."

"Do you really think so?" She asked with a grateful look.

"These caves look identical to the ones in my vision, we're getting close. I can sense it."

"Do you think a couple more caves and we'll find her?" The dragon asked with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"I'm not sure but maybe we will." He stroked her ear for a moment.

"That's good enough for me, let's go." Declared the dragon, getting up to stretch from her resting spot.