Fight or Flight

Chapter 10

Simon

I swallowed nervously as Enola motioned with one wing to the tunnel that led into her lair. I had glanced at the wide entrance several times, but now I was noticing that – aside from the small crystal sunk into the dirt on one side – it was very, very dark.

And Enola's teeth were still very, very sharp.

And the term, 'mouth of the tunnel' kept coming to mind as I stared at the opening. With a heavy emphasis on the word, 'mouth'.

"What is the matter, human? You have been pestering me to help since the day I met you. Now that you have wasted the chance to leave, are you suddenly gaining some sense?" Enola stared at me from where she sat beside the entrance, looking uncomfortably like a cat waiting patiently to pounce on a mouse, with only the expression on her face conveying her impatience. "Either go inside and let me show you the crystals, or do what I have been telling you all this time and leave."

I gripped the strap of my pack a little tighter and stepped into the dark tunnel. The creepy, ominous, pitch-black tunnel. The light from outside brightened the tunnel for a few steps... then Enola moved in behind me and blocked the entrance. What little light there had been vanished, and I stumbled on my next step.

The tunnel was quiet except for my footsteps and the clacking of Enola's claws against a random rock. There was nothing to see, though I could swear that every time I glanced back, Enola's pearly-white teeth were gleaming right behind me.

I was half a second away from stuffing the whole plan and running back the way I came, preferably screaming, when I began to make out shapes ahead of me. Small crystals jutting out from the wall... and then the walls themselves. Colors teased my eyes, growing brighter with each step, as the gentle glow of magical crystals began to light the tunnel.

My breath left me for an entirely new reason as I continued walking. The crystals ranged in size from the size of a finger all the way up to the size of my arm, and each new crystal I saw glowed its own unique color – some green, others purple, still others red or orange – and the soft light from them melded into interesting patterns on the rock and dirt around me. It felt like walking on a rainbow, and each step brought new patterns and color combinations.

I remembered the old myth about treasure being at the end of a rainbow, and wondered what Enola's lair would contain. Gold? Precious gems? Ancient books, long forgotten by the rest of us and read only by her? Sculptures and paintings? Dragons were famous for their riches, and stories abounded of the various treasures they collected over their long lives.

Though knowing Enola, I would probably be greeted by gruesome skeletons arranged around a crude sign that had "GET OUT!!" written in some poor animal's blood.

I shuddered at that thought, but the soft mixture of blue, green, and purple crystals around me calmed me back down. It was hard to imagine anything that ugly being among the beautiful sight all around me. I glanced back behind me to ask Enola how much further it was to her lair, but forgot the question entirely as I saw the way the crystal glow played out over Enola. Each pink scale seemed to glitter in the light, but seemed to shift and change colors as the lighting changed. The dragon didn't seem to walk so much as glide down the tunnel, with different patterns shifting and flowing over her tucked-in wings.

Okay, I thought to myself. This was worth walking into the scary tunnel to see.

"Is something wrong, human?" Enola caught me looking at her and glared down at me, though it was hard to be very intimidated as her head passed by a light-blue crystal that caused her scales to twinkle as they reflected its light.