The Firelands

Chapter 26 - Dan Day Lore

7th day of the third Month, Winners Moon

1:30 am

Dead King Valley

"Zedkiel!" Kalen cried, whirling back to try and catch him as he fell backwards but no sooner had he turned then the ground closed over Zedkiel again, parting him from the group. "Zedkiel!" Kalen shouted, dropping to the ground, trying to feel where the ground opened, it had to open like the goblin tunnels, like a trap door surely.

"What? Where did... what?" Incendio said, staring at the floor, not knowing what to do.

"There has to be an opening somewhere. Where did he step?" Kalen said, pressing on the earth. "There will be an opening. Argh!" He ran his hands through his hair and forced himself to sit back on his heels and calm down. He took a breath, closing his eyes. "What is it with this group and falling down holes. Three falls in barely a week, that is not normal."

He opened his eyes and jolted to his feet, making the other two jump and look behind them, to where he was staring before they whirled around.

There was a figure standing in the shadows, the firelight barely reaching it, dressed in a dark blue robe, the hood pulled down over the face. The group stared at the figure and didn't move and the figure just looked back, at least they assumed it did, they couldn't see any features.

After the first few minutes, Kalen wasn't sure what to do. The figure didn't move and there was no sense of malice. Slowly, Kalen took a step back and the figure turned its head slightly, tilting it to the side and Kalen froze.

Then it really moved. It raised its arm and pointed away to the left, further into the forest. Kalen stared at the hand. It was of a male, smooth pale skin and there looked to be ice threaded through the skin and traced in the nails. His brow furrowed, then a thought hit him out of nowhere, so suddenly it was almost like it wasn't his. He glanced at the figure's hooded face again.

So suddenly it was almost like it might have come from another.

Zedkiel was that way. They could get to Zedkiel if they went that way. Because that way led to...

Kalen stepped back, grabbing Zedkiel's fallen items and gripping Incendio and Theth's arms. They glanced at him but Kalen kept his eyes on the figure until the last second when he turned and pulled the other two away into the forest at a run, leaving the figure behind, feeling his eyes on them as they ran away into the shadows of the forest.

"We have to hurry," Kalen said as they rushed to put distance between themselves and the figure and also find an entrance. "I know where Zedkiel's fallen to. We need to get him out."

"Where?" Incendio asked.

"Dan Day Lore."

"Where?"

"Dan Day Lore! It was a famous underground kingdom that belonged to a group of paraquin. Have you heard of paraquin?"

Both Incendio and Theth shook their heads.

"They're like a cross between fey and spirits. They have the torsos and heads of people but their legs are tails like mermaids – only without the fins attached – and they glow any colour imaginable with big shaped black eyes. They look like they're made of mist; really weird to come across in a forest but you'd know one to look at it. As a breed, they're masters of discovering jewels. Dan Day Lore was home to the Avee paraquin, but that was hundreds of years ago. It was long since abandoned."

"Why?"

"Because it became infested with rogue dragons that came looking for a place to nest. A warm underground kingdom, filled to the brim with jewels? A dragon's paradise. It was abandoned and believed lost forever. If there hadn't been the threat of dragons, it would have been plundered centuries ago; however no one knows how many dragons are still down there. They say there's an entire colony."