Nalu: A Dragon Mating Season Story

Chapter 9

Chapter published on April 7th 2021

Lucy's POV

We hiked up the mountain to where Loke and I were ambushed by Silver. On our way there we saw absolutely no sign of my keys and after 30 minutes of searching the ambush site we came out empty handed. I felt devastated and miserable. How could I have lost my precious keys?

"Hey Luce, maybe when we find those thugs they'll have your keys. It's possible you dropped them here and that Silver picked them up and took them with him." Sighing in what felt like utter defeat I just nodded along. I really do hope he is right but I'll never forgive myself for letting them go in the first place.

Walking over to Natsu I tugged on his arm and began to trace something. "How will we find the thugs?" Natsu read after I was done tracing. I was very curious as to how he was going to do it, for all we know they're very far from here.

"Good question, with a simple answer. I'll sniff them out. You reek of those men, I'll have no problem tracking their scent." Seems easy enough to me, I just hope there isn't a whole ton of walking.

We started to walk up the mountain to the road. My feet were starting to get sore and I didn't have very good shoes to be doing this.

"Oh shit! I just remembered something. I still have my wings." With that Natsu picked me up, stretched his wings and took off. Surly if I could scream I would be screaming so loud we would warn the thugs we were coming. It was terrifying at first but after awhile I got used to it and started to enjoy myself.

From where we were I could see the whole mountain, the trees, different animals, water, it was amazing! I wish Natsu could enjoy it too but he was just focused on sniffing the air and finding those men. I couldn't blame him, they hurt me and he wanted revenge.

As we soared beside the mountain it felt so nice to feel the wind going through my hair. Then we started dropping. I felt my body go into panic mode as the ground below us got closer.

"Calm down, Luce, I've found the hideout. Now let's be quiet so we can sneak in." I squeezed his shoulder as he flew down the the side of the mountain. Almost unnoticeable, there was an entrance into the mountain. It was carved in a way that folks passing by wouldn't notice it unless they were looking for it.

We landed on the ground and Natsu put me down. He snuck around the opening until he felt it was safe to go inside. We snuck along the inside of the cave, being sure not to make any sound or move any rocks.

So far we didn't hear anything at all but we kept on going. Along this main path in the cave, which was narrow and small but could fit at least two men side by side, was other paths veering off in different ways. I thought maybe we should try one of those but Natsu insisted we stay on the main one, he must smell something.

To keep the small tunnel lit was lanterns placed every few yards. They seemed to be placed strategically so that between lanterns was a small dark spot. I haven't figured out why they would want these dark spots but I'm sure they have their purpose.

Natsu held his arm out behind him and stopped me. He looked back at me and put his finger to his lips, telling me to shush. He then put his hand behind his ear and then pointed into the cave. He was telling me to listen. So I did just that, as I silently listened. I could hear the faint voices of chatter. There must be a group of men up ahead.