XIII

They stepped inside. Darkness, humidity, cold, chills. She touched the wall and almost screamed in discomfort.

"These are rocks, the space is huge and it is made up of caves. Legend has it that dragons once lived here. I think that at least some of them still live somewhere in the depths."

He giggled softly to her astonishment, so he continued faster and better. He was joking.

"This place was used by pirates, and later by smugglers who knows how many centuries ago. Do not be scared. There are no deadly traps here. The cave itself is a giant trap. The lamp is not worth it here. Wait.

Click.

He lit a kind of lantern that cast a bright blue light right in front of him like a car headlight, but limited as if it had blinds on the side and not above chest height, so they could see everything well without their eyes hurting.

Still, she noticed filigree work on the lantern. The dragon's head adorned it with two red eyes, the same as on her bracelet.

How they just flashed. Well this is crazy!

The dragon seemed to look at her and wink. She instinctively turned her gaze to the bracelet from which she began to feel the strange warmth as it began to envelop her and suddenly she was not cold.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa, you have a Dragon! Great, great. You are really a Dragon," Nicholas said excitedly and started singing a song in a language that was unknown to her, but still close. The melody itself gave her enthusiasm and strength. It was as if all worries had evaporated in an instant. She started singing as if she knew the lyrics.

It never occurred to her that she didn't know what it was about, but her voice moved and fit in the singing with Nicholas as they walked, turned, climbed, then got off, then turned again.

"Yes, yes, you are the one! My heart is happy," a wide smile lit up her guide's face.

"Do you know what we sang?" Hilda asked.

"They go to the dragon. The ancestor of all dragons. To your ancestor. Yes. Don't look at me in amazement. But I can't speak well. The priest will tell you."

After almost an hour, they came to a wall.

"Wall here, wall there." Smiling he said.

"How far do you think we have gone?"

"Maybe a few miles," she tried weakly.

"In the underground yes, almost eight kilometers, but on an area of only about two hundred yards." He laughed at her stunned expression.

"Yes, that's the way things are."

"Do you think it's easy to get to Seth's church?"

"From the surface it is almost impossible. Just this way. There were attempts, but everyone was killed. Don't worry," he said, when he saw her turning around in panic. "It was a long time ago and the bodies were removed."

"And, maybe the dragon ate them, who knows," he spoke again. "In other parts of the cave, at a great depth, there is a fast current of water that leads to the ocean, to an unknown place, maybe it took everything and everything is clean. That's why you felt the humidity and the cold air current. However, there are many things in the caves that we do not know, we must not even try to explore, because maybe, maybe, the dragon is lurking in the darkness. Enough chatter!"