Rose

Chapter 24

The Fire Elemental held up his fingers and on three I opened the door. He tackled the guard, covering his mouth so he couldn't scream. Flames erupted all over the Elemental's body, consuming the guard completely. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air and I tried not to gag. The flames died down leaving an unscathed Elemental and a pile of ash. Well that was one way to deal with the bad guys. I turned and looked in both directions unsure of which way to go. The corridor was wider here and seemed in a lot better condition. To one end was a large stone staircase carved into the rock and I found myself moving in that direction. As we ascended the stairs the air became cleaner and the dank, dusky smell of the caves receded farther and farther behind us. 

A few dozen steps later there was a small paneless window. I paused to see if I could tell where we were but nothing looked familiar to me. We seemed to be in the mountains somewhere. It was dark but that was from being in the shadow of another mountain as I could see a sunlit sky off to the left in the distance. The sky was orange with no clouds, just an open expanse of colour. The air felt warm and dry compared to the cool dampness I had become used to. I ushered the Fire Elemental forward to look at the view. "Does anything look familiar to you?" 

"We are not far from my home." He pointed off into the distance. One of the mountains had an orange glow emanating from its peak. "That is the beginning of Volcano Towers. It is where my people live." A loud piercing shriek filled the air and my heart jumped. He looked into the sky. "We are at Griffin Peak." I heard sighs and profanities behind me and I turned to look at everyone. They all had sour looks on their faces so I was pretty sure that being here wasn't a good thing. "It will be hard to leave this place."

He was so matter of fact about it that I didn't doubt him but I found myself asking: "Why?"

"Griffin's are extremely territorial. They will kill anyone that is stupid enough to come anywhere near this place. However, not many would make it here since they would have to cross the Scorpion Desert to do so. Weeks of travel through the hottest climate and avoiding the large scorpions that dwell there is not usually on anyone's travels if they can help it. Nobody comes here and I highly doubt anyone returns." 

That didn't sound good. "What about the shadow tunnel that brought me here? Can't we use that to escape?"

"The shadow realm is used by the Vampires to travel." He explained.

I turned to look at the three Vampires in our party. "Is it doable?" 

One of the Vampires shrugged. "We can use it." I waited for the other shoe to drop as they kept glancing at each other. "But I've never taken anyone else with me that wasn't a Vampire." I looked at the other two Vampires, they were shaking their heads. 

Darn it. We'd have to cross that bridge when we came to it. Wait. "What about a gateway?"

"The closest one is at the crossing of The Upper Realms. It's where the four courts of the Elementals meet. We'd still need to get across the desert." Explained the Fire Elemental still standing next to the window watching the skies.

I puffed out air. OK we needed to fine tune this escape plan and I was out of ideas. "I need to get to my friend first anyway, so let's just focus on that for now. Then we'll work out how to get out of here. Maybe we can contact someone to help now that we at least know where we are." I was hoping my grandmother would come up with a plan. But first things first. I started back up the steps, my band of not so merry men (and women), following close behind me. We needed to find Wynne.