Rose

Chapter 22

What the hell was that? Portal? Vortex? Wormhole? I was sure there was a Scientific name for whatever it was that we had passed through, but to me it just felt like a tunnel of shadows. It had felt creepy and wrong the whole way through and it had seemed never-ending. Finally we did exit though as the cool, damp air hit me. It stank. Death and decay lingered in the walls of what looked to be a huge cavern, and I wondered if this would be my final resting place. Goddess I hoped not. I had given up fighting the force that had taken hold of me and dragged me through the shadow tunnel. At first I had tried to break its grasp on me, especially when I had heard Declan's voice. What was he doing there? I soon tired and thought it better to keep my strength for when I had a chance of getting me and Wynne out of here. She still hadn't gained consciousness and I was more than a little worried about her.

We went through an opening and into a corridor of stone, the walls glistening with moisture. We were definitely underground. It reminded me of an old school trip we had been on to the Peak District and toured the caves there. That had been a place of wonder and magic for me as a child; this place - not so much.

The space started to open up the higher we seemed to travel and I hoped that when we reached our destination it was a little more civilised. My hopes were dashed however as we rounded a huge stalagmite and I saw a line of iron bars on one side of the cave. Of course a guy like Ansuradon would have dungeons. Great. My heart sank a little more with each solid bar we passed. So far they were empty, but I could feel something up ahead. What is that? I couldn't place the vibrational energy. It was certainly nothing I had come across before. The space inside the cage up ahead was not empty. I could hear deep, raspy breathing and as we got closer I finally saw the inhabitant. I gasped. "That's a dragon!" It was huge. In fact it looked a little cramped in its cell. The bones didn't quite look as if they were growing right and I wondered how long it had been here. "You might want to think about bigger accommodations." I all but growled at Ansuradon. This was just cruel.

He looked towards the dragon. "I had forgotten he was here." He mused and continued down the path. The poor creature really must have been here a while if he'd been forgotten about. Surely he was being fed regularly? He looked thin and bony, but he was alive. How long could dragons go without food? One of his eyes followed us as we passed, but he didn't move. A tear slid down my cheek as I continued to float through the air, unable to go to him, to check on him, to see if I could heal him and set him free. Was I even capable of healing such a large creature? I knew I would have to try if I got the chance. I tried not to let the hopelessness of my situation take me.

A few cells down, the back of one of the walls had crumbled. It looked like it had been smashed. There was no creature in this room and I hoped whatever had been in there had somehow made its escape. The farther we went, the more cells we passed; some were empty and some had prisoners of all kinds. I was shocked to see a unicorn standing in the corner of one of the cells, but I noticed it was eating scraps of hay. Somebody somewhere was at least feeding this amazing creature. Maybe there was someone looking after them after all. I saw no one but I hoped that to be true.

The floors sloped upwards more and more now and we finally seemed to be getting somewhere. Between the natural walls of this underground dungeon there seemed to be more man made bricks working their way into crevices as if someone had spent time creating more individual spaces and corridors. The air seemed to be changing too and although it still felt damp, it was as if we were getting closer to the surface. We approached a door, an actual door rather than a hole in the wall. Lab Coat banged on it three times. What a boring knock. The door opened and a guard stepped aside allowing us to pass. He closed the door behind us and resumed his position at the door. Another obstacle to our escape.

It got harder to keep a track of where we were going, and therefore it would be harder to remember our way back out. I tried to memorise the twist and turns as best I could, but a lot of these corridors looked the same. Another guard stood at another door; this door looked sturdier, as if keeping someone out, or someone in. He opened the door as we approached just as the other guard had and the door closed behind us.