Chapter 9

I wanted to know what was going on so Adsila gave me a monocle made from stone with an uncut red gemstone in the middle. I looked through it to see that the rectangular frame was a ruse. It was a cage that was cleverly disguised. People were trapped inside and they were screaming to get out. Meanwhile the woman swam gracefully till she realized she wasn't alone. She tried to screech for help but I quickly covered her mouth. She tried to bite me but Tiamat slapped her across her face. She shut up immediately. I pushed her inside the rectangular frame and no sooner I did she came out with others in tow. They gave me a look of thanks and hugged their family members that came with us. The red faced woman was chained and some opened vortexes to leave. I went forward and so did Adsila. We kept going till we walked into a rocky corridor. The walls had uncut diamonds, rubies, emeralds, opals and torquois. The floor suddenly began to crack. I realized that we were about to fall so I screamed, "Turn around" It took them a moment to understand that I was warning them. The others managed to get out but the floor gave away and I fell to the abyss. It took me a moment to remember that I can fly. I changed into a bunch of bats and flapped my wings till it got me back to Tiamat. She hugged me tightly and then I walked on the ceiling while Tiamat crawled the wall. The mermaids followed her while the others either flew or used magic to levitate themselves over the eagerly waiting spikes.

We reached the other side and I saw a creature made of fire. He had a tail of a scorpion, the body of a horse and the head of a goat. The mermaids hissed at the sight of him. I can tell that they are afraid of him. So I tried to face him. Tiamat grabbed me and dragged me away. We decided to take a different route. This time we came face to face with the thing. We tried to run but he saw us and screamed to warn the others. There goes the element of surprise.

It charged at us and I pushed Adsila aside. I threw rocks at it to make sure that it chased after me. It charged at me like a bull chasing a metador. I ran to the floorless Tunnel. I managed to pretend that I was walking over thin air but the scorpion like whatever it was fell into the spikes. It screamed in fear as it was impaled. It stopped moving and I came back. I came back to see a happy Adsila. Tiamat nodded her approval. The others expressed their approval of my bravery as I tried to take in what had happened. The dragons were smirking as I walked past them.

I walked towards the tunnel to see a gnome and a dwarf running to clear the room. Their arms were stuffed with rolls of parchment and other things. I only managed to grab a few of the parchments from their clutches when they snapped their finger and disappeared. The others were moving boxes and I quietly grabbed a few boxes as they hastily stacked them. I moved them closed to Tiamat who was outside the cave. Finally the gnomes emptied the room. They gave the place a once over and disappeared. When the coast was clear I gave the stuff I swiped to Adsila. The nymphs were trying to read a document I had taken. I leaned forward and immediately I recognized it as a map of the Drogon's Isles. It was the most accurate map I had ever seen. I quickly excused myself as I removed the map from them. I gave the map to Drakov. He smiled till he saw what it was. He waved the map at Drozdov. The both of them started to grunt. I am assuming that it how they spoke to one another.

I heard a noise so I walked in between them. They stopped arguing immediately wanting to know what was going on. I said that I heard a heartbeat. I am going to find out who it was. I asked Drakov to burn the map. He threw the map in the air and sneezed. I thought his mouth had turned into a flamethrower. As a straight line of fire came out and burned the parchment. I gave him a thumbs up as I walked towards the sound. It turned out to be Tiamat's mother Nigreos.

Nigreos decided to let out bolt of electricity out of her fingers. I jumped out of the way as she tried again. Behind was a man resembling Poseidon. He waved his hand and I was soaked to the bone but this didn't deter me as I got out of the way. Tiamat let out a bolt of lightning from her fingers and she incapacitated both of them. They were restrained and moved out of the caves.

They were taken to Bast Castle on Winter island. This was last day of acid rain season so we had to wait till it stopped. When it did the elves that live there sprayed the floor and the doorway with a milky substance to neutralize the acid. They made sure that it was safe before we were allowed to move. We watched as the sky turned a dark gray and soon the horizon was fully blocked. It actually appeared as though it was nightfall. We heard a crack and a segment of the wall fell down with a crash. I focused on what caused it when it started to hail. The smallest pieces of ice were as big as my first. The larger ones were size of basketballs. Trees fell as they were brutally assaulted. A few even broke the barrier and got in Bast Castle. The elves waved their hand and the entire castle was covered in red smoke.

I only managed to blink once. I opened my eyes to see that we were outside a different island. It was sunset so the scene was perfect for a few dozen romance novels and a few fight scenes in many old age martial arts movies. I was told we had arrived to Sabé. An island were the toughest warriors are trained. Even dracula spend a few years here before he became the prince of darkness. I was warned about a place called the lotus palace. It appears with every third full moon and disappears with the rising sun. Anyone who is trapped there will live there till death. They will serve as guardians to ward off intruders. These people turned into gruesome beasts to fend off intruders. So far no one has survived an assault from these creatures. Not even dracula himself.

We walked into the halls when Poseidon's son Perseus changed into a gnome and Nigreos turned into a dark elf. Their chest lit up with red angry flames. I yelled at everyone to run for their lives. Those that heard me took a moment to understand what was going on. Meanwhile the rest of us ran as fast as our legs would allow it. These people got themselves caught so they can blow up the council. Both light and dark were going to be eliminated. We managed to lock the door behind us when we heard a deafening bang. The energy generated blew the door off it's hinges. Adsila was whimpering in pain as a nymph picked her and ran towards Tiamat. I passed out as Tiamat and Drakov opened a portal to get out of here.