The Obsidian Void

Nine: The Rose Dragon

The trio arrived at the entrance of Roxnola Caverns by sunset. They had actually arrived at the mountain far earlier, but the path leading to the cave halfway up had several blockages along the way, resulting in the climb taking twice as long as planned.

Still, despite being massively behind schedule, they had made it, which considering the day they'd had was an achievement in and of itself.

The caves tunnels were large- large enough for a dragon to fit through- yet still difficult to navigate as they twisted left and right. It seemed as if there may have been a pattern with which caves the Rose Dragon chose to nest in. Unlike the cave at Blythewick, however, the walls of Roxnola Caverns were filled with jewels and crystals, some of them glowing with enough light to illuminate the tunnels. Quinn had tried to pry one out of the wall, but all of them seemed to be firmly stuck. His efforts only resulted in him sending himself flying across the cavern, much to Artemis' chagrin.

Eventually they found the primary room of the cave, as they stepped out onto a natural stone balcony overlooking a gigantic circular cavern- so deep there was no way of telling how long it went down for- filled with an immeasurable amount of gold, silver, jewels and who knew what else.

It was like- as Quinn quite helpfully described it- a money soup.

For all the priceless artefacts in the aforementioned soup, however, there was no sign of the Rose Dragon anywhere.

"Aw, shoot." Quinn said, "I messed up again, didn't I?"

"It's fine." Artemis told him, putting a hand on his shoulder and pulling him close, "We'll start looking for the next cave in the morning."

As soon as she'd said that however, a deafening rumbling sound began emanating from beneath the piles of gold.

"Is it a volcano?" Moridaì asked.

"I don't think so..." Quinn said, both relieved and terrified. "I've got a feeling it might be-"

The gold below them began to give way as the Rose Dragon emerged from beneath. She had been buried underneath, having a nap, when the noise from above woke her up.

Once she had shaken all the treasure from her back and unfurled her wings, the trio managed to look at her properly. Her scales were a dusty, light shade of pink, which darkened and faded into red as they went down her body and tail. Her wings, a dark pink, were tipped with gold, as were her horns.

"Who are you?" She asked, her tone more curious than angry.

"We've come here looking for the Runaway Witch!" Artemis shouted, hoping the noise would travel far enough.

"Who?"

"The sorceress that banished the Somnii!"

"We think she stayed in one of your other caves!" Quinn added.

"Ah, her!" Rosa said, "Well she's not there anymore..."

"We guessed as much..."

"I believe she mentioned something about having been followed- a nearby village was destroyed, terrible business- so she had to move to somewhere called Gravedown woods."

"And where is Gravedown Woods?" Artemis asked.

"I haven't the foggiest darling." Laughed Rosa, accidently creating a tiny fireball, "I don't know if you could tell, but I'm not exactly the trees and flowers type." She scooped a pile of gold up with her tail to prove a point. "Why exactly are you looking for her anyway? You're not the people she was running from are you?"

"No!" Artemis laughed, nervously glancing at Moridaì, "We're finding her so she can recast the banishing spell."

"The Somnii banishing spell? Whyever would you need to recast that?"