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Garren sends Rangavar and Zag to fix the mess they've made. Despite Zag's rather rotund size, it should be simple enough, right? Just crawl into the tunnel, then- Wait, what was that first step?
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Surprisingly, Jeroshe didn’t lead them toward the crevice they were used to squeezing through. He instead began to lead them through a slightly larger tunnel with a gentle incline. Zag stared at the back of his head questioningly, but the much taller dragon didn’t turn around to explain.
“Do you think there’re other ways into the cave?” Rangavar thought.
Zag put a paw on his chin. It wasn’t an unreasonable guess. “If we get to skip that really long tunnel to the cave, that’s fine by me.” He could do with a break from all the walking lately. He was pretty sure his legs still hadn’t entirely recovered from last night. Although that could also be from the running. “Wouldn’t mind skipping that crevice, either,” he added. That part was for sure.
The tunnel narrowed slightly, bringing them farther away from the much busier areas of the underground cave system. The three dragons eventually came to the end. Nothing seemed particularly interesting about it, although there was a short door rather low to the ground on their left. “If anyone is still around in that cave, this door opens farther into it so we can cut them off before they escape into that tunnel you two… ‘found’.” Jeroshe still sounded annoyed. Zag knew from sensing his emotions that he’d been annoyed this whole time, but it obviously wasn’t letting up.
“This door?” Rangavar asked. “It’ll take us in through the side?”
“Closer to the tunnel you uncovered, rather than the gap to the cave,” Jeroshe nodded. “There are guards stationed outside the gap now, so when we cut them off inside unexpectedly, they’ll have nowhere to go.”
Rangavar took a deep breath. “Alright.”
Zag was honestly just relieved there was a door instead of a small crack in the wall to squeeze through. He was wondering why the door itself was so small, until Jeroshe moved it aside to reveal that it was more of a small trapdoor that they’d have to crawl through. Oh no.
“Since this door is discreet, they shouldn’t have noticed it.” Jeroshe was whispering now that it was open so his voice wouldn’t carry.
Rangavar was resisting the urge to look at Zag. He eventually took a deep breath. “Okay. Well, we’ll be right behind you.”
“Oh, no way, you’re going first.” Jeroshe stood back and crossed his arms. “You two created this mess. I’m just here to ‘supervise’. I’ll follow you.”
Rangavar’s ears flattened. Zag fidgeted nervously. If Jeroshe noticed the obvious problem in the room, though, he didn’t give any indication.
Finally, Rangavar was the first to move toward the door. “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered, crouching down. Up close, it actually looked almost large enough for him to just duck under, if he leaned extremely close to the ground, but at the last moment he decided to scramble through on all fours. Zag wondered if it was larger than he’d initially thought.
“Your turn,” Jeroshe softly jerked his chin in the same direction. Flattening his ears a bit, Zag carefully got down on all fours and crawled forward. He knew for sure that he wouldn’t be able to just ‘crouch’ under it, if Rangavar couldn’t either. The other Darkal didn’t have a ponderous potbelly to contend with.
Coming up on the opening, Zag slowly eased his way through, giving his broad shoulders a small wiggle. They actually slid through more easily than he’d expected, giving him a bit of hope. If the space was large enough for his wide shoulders, it made sense that—
He was suddenly ground to a halt. Shit.
He could see Rangavar waiting in front of him with a somewhat concerned expression. He obviously couldn’t see Jeroshe, but could tell that his emotions were quickly turning from annoyance to exasperation. Zag braced his paws on the walls at his sides and pushed, sliding forward another few inches. He wasn’t that much larger, right?
“Here,” Rangavar said telepathically as he put out his paws. Zag gratefully took them and sucked in as the other dragon began yanking on them. The hole came out over some crumbling rock at the side of the cave, as Jeroshe had promised, so there were plenty of places where Rangavar could place his feet for some leverage.
“For the love of Vaugh,” he suddenly heard Jeroshe growl from behind him, although his voice was mostly muffled by the plump Darkal plugging the hole. Zag stifled a yelp as Jeroshe suddenly started shoving on his backside, trying to hurry the process along.
Between the two of them, Zag felt himself inch forward, squeezing through until the fattest part of his middle was past the opening and he slid out onto the rock pile where Rangavar was standing. He spent a moment panting after the exertion and from sucking in his breath so long. Telepathically, he just said, “Thanks.”
He heard the annoyed growl come from behind him as Jeroshe pulled himself through next. “Move your feet.” Jeroshe’s frame was overall larger than the two other dragons, but mostly in height and stature. He was actually quite lean, and climbed through about as easily as Rangavar while shooting Zag a glare. “On our way out, maybe you should go out through the gap on the other side of the cave instead.”
Zag decided not to mention he ‘might’ have the same problem.
“It’s pitch black in here,” Rangavar remarked softly as the three of them dusted themselves off. The only light was coming from the rather far gap, presumably from the torches of the guards Jeroshe had mentioned. Zag, Rangavar, and Jeroshe were close to the uncovered tunnel at the other side, deep in shadow.
“Shh. The intruders are probably still in here somewhere,” Jeroshe whispered.
Zag was as grateful as ever to be a Darkal as his eyes adjusted quickly to the dim lighting. Within a minute, he could make out spaces on the rocky floor around them that would be best to put his feet. Rangavar quickly followed. Zag supposed it didn’t really matter whether or not Jeroshe kept up, since he seemed pretty intent on doing absolutely nothing.
After a few paces, Zag stepped out of the way slightly to let Rangavar take the lead. Not only was the other dragon admittedly fitter, but he also had slightly stronger senses; if there were any other auras in here, he’d be the first to know. The more lithe Darkal padded quickly across the floor, his ears pricked. Zag kept his own senses alert as he tried to carefully control his breathing. Behind them, they could hear Jeroshe’s feet sliding awkwardly over some rocks in the dark and some soft cursing beneath his breath. Ironic if after shushing us, he’ll be the one who gives us away.
Zag suddenly smacked face-first into Rangavar’s outstretched paw. He stifled a surprised noise in his throat. While distracted, he hadn’t noticed the other dragon stop and put it out to block him.
Rangavar thought, “Do you hear that?”
Rubbing his snout, Zag focused his attention for a second. He realized he did actually hear something. “Footsteps?” he thought back. They were pretty fast, like whoever they belonged to was running, but they sounded far away. He frowned. The cave they were in definitely wasn’t long enough for the running to sound so distant.
“The tunnel, Zag,” Rangavar thought.
Oh. Right. Zag turned sharply toward the tunnel, listening to the sound fade. “They must have noticed the trap door open after all and made a run for it.”
Rangavar growled softly in his throat. The noise didn’t matter now. The other dragons certainly weren’t listening for them.
Jeroshe finally appeared behind them, in an even worse mood than before. Zag could tell he’d stubbed his feet a few times. “You check the far wall, I’ll sweep this one.”
“Oh, they already went down the tunnel.” Zag helpfully pointed, but realized a moment later that the gesture was useless to the Faerian’s eyes.
“What? You just let them?!”
“They got a head start,” Rangavar spoke up. He crossed his arms. “Stumbling around in the dark tripping over yourself must have alerted them.”
Jeroshe didn’t take the jab very well. He scowled. “Or maybe the sounds of scrabbling from someone getting plugged in a hole gave us away.”
Zag flattened his ears, but least Jeroshe couldn’t see it. He couldn’t think of a really good comeback, so he tried to change the subject. “Should we go after them? Instead of standing around talking?” Honestly, the idea of going after them down the long, endless tunnel was exhausting, but at least the question took the attention away from his inconvenient size.
Jeroshe looked at both of them, but Zag was pretty sure he couldn’t make out their expressions. Jeroshe’s was frustrated. He finally just said, “I guess we don’t have much of a choice, now that you two have already botched this.”
“Should we grab a torch?” Rangavar asked. It was true the two Darkals already knew the direction of the tunnel was one long, straight line, even without the ability to see. It was really more for Jeroshe’s sake.
The taller dragon just shook his head. “They’ll see the light and know we’re coming from a mile away. If I recall correctly, the tunnel is a fairly straight path, so if we just walk in a straight line, we’ll catch up eventually.”
Zag and Rangavar shared a glance in the dark. If Jeroshe already knew that, then he’d presumably been here back before it was sealed up. That meant he probably knew what to expect. That was useful.
“No point in standing around.” Jeroshe turned in the direction of the tunnel, squinting at it in the dark. “Let’s go.”
As they climbed through the opening Zag had made into the tunnel beyond, the light eventually faded behind them. In this level of darkness, none of them could see, but they were hoping it would give them the ability to see light from the other dragons ahead long before they knew they were being followed.
Rangavar had all of his senses at high-alert, assuming he would be the first to detect the dragons up ahead. Although right now, he could only sense the dull presence of the walls on either side of them and hear the way their breathing echoed against the stone walls in the dark.
“Any sign?” Zag thought at him.
Rangavar shook his head, but remembered a moment later that the other dragon wouldn’t see. He thought back, “Not quite. They got a huge head start. It might be a while.”
They spent a long time walking. A long, long time walking. They couldn’t pick up the pace, too nervous in the dark to risk tripping or moving off track, so the going was slow. Jeroshe was especially stepping carefully; he didn’t have the ability to sense aura at all, so he was the most disadvantaged of the group. Rangavar supposed he finally had an excuse for doing nothing.
When Rangavar spotted a light ahead in the dark, he audibly sighed with relief.
“What is it?” Zag squinted slightly, but it must not have been visible to him yet.
Jeroshe pricked his ears. “I don’t see anything.”
Rangavar walked slightly faster. “It’s really, really faint, but I can make out a light.”
It was still another few minutes before Zag could see the same, and he was relieved too. Under his breath, he whispered, “Finally.”
“I still don’t see anything,” Jeroshe complained. Rangavar wasn’t surprised. The Faerian probably thought they were lying or something, but neither of the Darkals were about to slow down. Jeroshe was just forced to trust them.
“What else do you see?” Zag telepathically asked as the light grew brighter up ahead.
“Nothing else,” Rangavar admitted. He was actually beginning to wonder if the light would illuminate them before their eyes were able to adjust to the brightness. It would give them away.
“There’s nothing we can do about that now,” Zag thought.
Rangavar scowled. “Are you in my head again?”
“Oh, I do see something,” Jeroshe interrupted, oblivious to their conversation.
Rangavar and Zag shared a glance. If it was close enough for Jeroshe to see, then they were probably coming within range of what the other dragons could see. Assuming they were up ahead. Rangavar realized that they really didn’t know what to expect, except that there was probably the same big metal door they’d encountered last night, and the fleeing dragons would probably be able to get inside and hide. It probably didn’t really matter, since they were about to catch up either way.
The metal door was closed. Faint light was glowing from some gaps in the edges, like a light was turned on directly behind it.
“Dammit,” Zag growled out loud. There wasn’t much of a point to being quiet anymore.
Jeroshe carefully moved past him to stand directly before the door. “Hey, open up!” He made his voice sound authoritative as possible, but it still echoed hollowly in the empty tunnel.
“Yeah, maybe if we all yell really loud at the same time, it’ll knock the door down.” Rangavar hoped even Zag could sense the sarcasm.
“This isn’t a joke!” Jeroshe growled. “And I know they can hear us.” He lifted a paw to bang on the door. Zag and Rangavar jumped at the sound, still slightly rattled from the night before, but Jeroshe didn’t seem to notice. “Hey!”
Suddenly several creaking noises came from the other side of the door, and Rangavar’s wingfur stood up as Jeroshe stepped away. The door began to open a crack from the side, the other side disappearing into a mechanism in the wall. It was more advanced than he’d expected. Not that he really knew what to expect anymore.
“You’re trespassing!” a voice growled from the gap. A moment later a face appeared, although the door didn’t open wide enough to reveal all of him. The blue-gray dragon glared at the three of them. He was radiating annoyance, and also… nervousness? Although he was doing a good job hiding that part. “Unless you want to break our truce, you need to leave.”
“You’re the ones who had dragons in our caves last night.” Jeroshe crossed his arms.
“Look—I’m not authorized to talk about anything like that. You’d have to talk to our leader. Preferably with your leader,” the other dragon pointed out.
“I’ve been given clearance by my leader to talk to your leader,” said Jeroshe, although Rangavar sensed he wasn’t fully convinced of that. Garren had sent them down here, though. Jeroshe must consider it close enough.
If the other dragon had any telepathic truth-telling abilities, he didn’t seem to be using them. Instead he glared at them another moment, appearing to think over his next move. It made sense that he wouldn’t automatically open the door for them if he didn’t think he had the authority. Finally, he just said, “I’m going to go ask my superiors.”
Before any of them could protest, the other dragon slid the door back into place.
“Should… should we do the same?” Zag sounded as nervous as he felt. “Don’t we need Garren?”
Jeroshe drew in a deep breath and eventually sighed. “No. Garren and I go way back. He trusts me to do this, and I trust his judgment. Which means I do have his authority.”
“Maybe he just knew he wouldn’t fit,” said Zag helpfully. Rangavar shot him a look.
Jeroshe seemed to mull that over a moment. Instead of arguing, he eventually just said, “Well, that would make sense that instead of coming himself, he’s sending Rift and I.”
Rangavar had a feeling that Garren and Rift went way back too. He was beginning to suspect that together with Jeroshe, maybe they had more of a joint leadership. They didn’t portray themselves that way, but the more he observed, the more he noticed the way that Garren had several times deferred to their judgement.
His thoughts were interrupted by the door before them suddenly sliding open, fully this time. Behind it were actually five wary dragons, none of which were the one they’d been talking to. The first thing Rangavar noticed was that they were holding guns. Not anything modern-looking, of course, but they looked real enough. Despite their technological age, he certainly wouldn’t want to find out the hard way whether or not they were functional.
Fortunately, none of them had their guns pointed at the three of them, although they were held at the ready. The dragon at the center of the group shifted his eyes between the three tired, somewhat dirty pursuers. “Your people and our people agreed to keep to ourselves, to maintain peace. Why are you here?” He spoke with a slight accent that Rangavar thought sounded familiar for some reason, although his tone was harsh.
The corner of Jeroshe’s lip curled. “Some of your dragons entered our cave last night. From our point of view, you came to us.”
The other dragon watched them carefully. Probably sensing they had a point. “Well, if you really are authorized to speak on behalf of the Iylarians, then we can take you to our leaders to sort it out,” he conceded.
Jeroshe gave a stiff nod and stepped forward to follow.
When Rangavar and Zag moved to follow, a couple of the dragons shifted their weapons slightly in warning. “Who are you two?”
Rangavar stared back awkwardly. “We…”
“They’re our witnesses,” Jeroshe said quickly. He avoided stammering out loud, but Rangavar could sense his mind practically tripping over itself to think of an answer that sounded real. He obviously didn’t want to go in alone. “I’m authorized to speak on behalf of our leader, but he’ll want to hear other accounts of the conversation.”
The other dragons didn’t seem to pick up on the bluff. Probably no truth-tellers among them after all. They just finally stood aside to let them pass, the designated one in charge beckoning them along. “This way.”
It was hard to take in, but stepping through the door to the other side was like crossing into an entirely new world. The rock walls immediately turned into what looked more like the interior of a ship, with sleek metal panels for walls and flat metal floors. The air was still as cold as anywhere else underground, but noticeably less dusty. Overhead lights glowed faintly—real, actual electricity.
Zag thought, “If they have the ability to build all this, the grates leading outside finally make sense.” He seemed relieved. They were one step closer to fixing their ship and getting off this Vaugh damn world.
Meanwhile, Rangavar was busy wondering, if they had the ability to build all this… Why did they let the Iylarians chase them deeper underground?
They spent several minutes walking down random, twisting hallways that Rangavar tried to memorize in his head. They did see what appeared to be regular people going about their business who stopped to stare as they passed. They probably weren’t used to visitors very much. Like the Iylarians.
Unlike the Iylarians, as they walked, Rangavar began to notice that the residents here weren’t nearly as ‘well-padded’ against the cold, either. It was somewhat jarring after days spent trapped in a series of caves with dragons twice their own size. The blue-gray dragons that lived here seemed slender by comparison, having a narrow build and shorter statures. Despite their smaller frames, however, the clothing they wore seemed just as worn and thin. For a moment he supposed it was possible the metal conducted heat way more efficiently or something, but he didn’t really think it felt warmer in here than anywhere else he’d been underground. It was odd.
“It’s weird that with all their ‘advanced technology’, they don’t seem to eat a lot or have the resources for clothes,” Zag suddenly thought.
He didn’t seem to be directly in Rangavar’s head, so it was only based on his own observations. They had both noticed the same thing. Rangavar just shook his head slightly. It didn’t make any sense.
“Here we are.” Their guide suddenly halted before a rather inconspicuous door. He pressed a button next to it. It simply slid open. All three of them felt wary as they followed the other dragon inside, but they were all careful not to show it.
A rather stern-looking dragon sat at a desk, eyeing them. Rangavar had trouble getting a read on his emotions. He seemed worried, annoyed, maybe… angry? It certainly wasn’t lost on anyone involved that the situation was serious.
The dragon pricked his ears. “Jeroshe,” he greeted.
Jeroshe nodded back. “Michor.”
Michor leaned back in his chair. “I’m going to skip the diplomatic language for a second to point out that we gave your people a very clear message that I can best sum up as: ‘Get lost.’ Yet here you are.”
“We could say the same,” Jeroshe carefully replied. The three of them were still standing before the desk, but Rangavar and Zag were hanging back at Jeroshe’s sides. “How about you try keeping your dragons on your side of the barrier, and we can go back to pretending each other don’t exist.”
The other dragon, Michor, scoffed slightly. “You think we really didn’t notice the noises last night? We sent people to see if you’d been in our territory, and you had. What do you expect us to do about keeping your people under control? Aside from the obvious.”
It would have been easy for Jeroshe to throw the dragons at his sides conveniently under the bus, but he was suddenly very, very focused on the last thing Michor had said. “The obvious?” He kept his voice light and innocent. “I’m sorry, I’m sure I’m missing something, but that almost sounded like a threat.”
“Oh, we don’t make threats,” Michor assured him. “We only state facts.”
He was clearly trying to rile Jeroshe up or something, but Rangavar wasn’t sure why. He’d always hated political drama like this. Zag was probably having a more interesting time. He loved this stuff. Rangavar sort of wished they could just shake paws and go.
Zag seemed to sense his thoughts. “I hope something as stupid as walking down the tunnel last night isn’t about to lead to war,” he thought guiltily.
Rangavar stared at the ordeal with dull eyes. “If it does, I hope they kill me first.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works.”
“One can hope.”
While Zag clearly resisted giving him an annoyed glance, the conversation had moved on without them. “I’m not authorized to make decisions like that,” Jeroshe was saying. “I need to report directly to Garren about that.”
Since this clash supposedly went back a gazzillion years or so, Michor didn’t have any questions about their chain of command. He simply said, “Well, Garren can come to us himself if he wishes.” He visibly tried to keep a sudden smirk off his face. “If he can get down here.”
Before Jeroshe could reply, Michor dismissively waved his paw. “Either way, we’ll give you a day to convene with the other two Iylarian elders and decide what to do about the barrier. I, personally, believe a conversation about our living arrangements is long overdue. We’ll meet you in the cave tomorrow night.” Now he actually smirked, just a little. “I hope to see Garren there. But if not, I understand.”
Jeroshe stared at him a long moment, but finally just said, “Jealously does not become you.”
Several of the guards from earlier appeared in the corridor to lead them out. Neither dragon said another word as Jeroshe turned away and the three of them stepped back into the hall.
As they started walking, Rangavar could hear Michor whispering something to one of the guards still in the room. A moment later, several of the guards caught up to stop them in their tracks. They blocked his and Zag’s path specifically. “You two are staying here. Jeroshe leaves alone.”
Rangavar wasn’t sure how to respond, but Jeroshe demanded, “Since when?”
“Michor knows you need to talk to the other Iylarian leaders, but your two assistants are staying in case you… forget, to hold the meeting tomorrow night.”
“This is absurd,” Jeroshe glowered. Although he seemed to realize that, deep in enemy territory, unarmed, there wasn’t much he could do. “If you insist, I fully expect them returned unharmed,” he said instead.
“Oh, of course,” the lead guard nodded. “When we see you at the meeting tomorrow. Until then, they are our honored… guests.”
The guard was clearly enjoying the chance to word-play with his enemies, but Rangavar sensed Jeroshe becoming quickly exasperated. “Fine.”
The guards didn’t give the two Darkals the chance to speak to each other before being drawn down a different hallway, but afterward, Zag finally reached out telepathically. “Michor really, really wants to make sure they go over these ‘living arrangements’.”
“He obviously doesn’t realize we don’t mean anything to the Iylarians.” Rangavar suppressed snorting out loud. “Garren really could skip the meeting if he wanted to.”
“I dunno.” Zag avoided looking toward him. “I have a feeling he won’t.”
Even despite his doubts, Rangavar was inclined to agree. The Iylarians had taken great interest in them ever since they’d arrived. It wasn’t tied to Rangavar’s identity, either—they still didn’t know the truth about that. They seemed genuinely interested in their well-being.
“Let’s hope it stays that way,” thought Zag.
Rangavar didn’t even tell him off for being in his head.
The room they were left in was small, square, and completely empty. No bed, no chairs, not even a blanket on the cold, metal floor.
“We’re really supposed to sleep in here?” As soon as the heavy steel door closed behind them, Zag was back to complaining out loud. “They’re not meeting until tomorrow night. We’re supposed to be in here for a whole day.”
Rangavar was pretty sure he’d be able to sleep anywhere, but of course Zag wasn’t used to going without comfort a single day in his life. Then he shook his head to himself—no need to be mean. “When we get tired enough, maybe it won’t seem to matter as much,” he said instead.
Zag tiredly sat down on the floor. The room was essentially a glorified metal box. There was nothing to look at, nothing to do. “I wish they’d at least give us lunch.”
For once, Rangavar could agree. Time had gotten away from them, and he was starting to feel hungry. Maybe that was the source of his annoyed thoughts. “I’m assuming they’ll give us food at least twice between today and tomorrow. Whether or not these dragons are being fair, they at least don’t seem unreasonable.” It wouldn’t make sense to starve them for two days in a row, after explicitly telling Jeroshe they’d be unharmed. Politically, it would be in bad form. “At least you got to eat breakfast.”
Zag was quiet at that. A long moment passed, but he suddenly brightened. He pointed a finger across the room. “Look!”
Rangavar looked. There was nothing there. Just a plain metallic wall with a vent at ground-level for fresh air. Or whatever could be considered ‘fresh’ this deep under ground, he supposed. “What?”
“The vent!” Zag exclaimed. “I bet air ducts lead all over this place. Maybe we could just get out of here.”
Rangavar stared at it doubtfully. “It seems a bit… small.” He tried to sound as gentle as possible, although Zag had surely noticed that it was smaller than both the trapdoor they’d had to crawl through earlier, and even the gap to the other side of that cave.
“Well, for me,” Zag started to say.
Rangavar immediately didn’t like the way that sounded. “Damn, that’s too bad.”
“It might be big enough for you,” he plowed onward.
“Zag,” Rangavar said carefully. “I’m not trying to climb through that vent.”
“If you got outside the room, you could unlock the door and let me out. I could use my magic to protect us to escape back to the tunnels.”
Rangavar crossed his arms. “Why don’t you just use your magic to unlock the door?”
“It’s controlled by an electronic mechanism. I can’t control electricity,” Zag scoffed, like it was obvious. Rangavar could tell he was getting ‘hangry’ too.
He cast another glance at the vent. He still didn’t think it was big enough, but to humor him, he went over to look inside. “Look, Zag, even if I could get so much as my shoulders through, I’m not sure there’d be enough room to crawl.”
The much heavier dragon came over to look with him. After he paused and stared intently for a moment, the metal grate fell off the wall and clattered to the floor, apparently pulled off by his powers. It was loud, but Rangavar was pretty sure their captors planned on ignoring them; there certainly weren’t any auras around outside the door to suggest they were being guarded.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Rangavar rolled his eyes. “Okay, you try, and tell me how that goes.”
“Rangavar!! You know it has to be you!” Zag whined. As he stood there, his chubby arms crossed over his plump potbelly, Rangavar knew at least that much was true.
Finally, after another moment of thought, he crouched down to the vent’s level. Was he really going to do this? “I’m going to put my head in and see if it looks like I’ll fit,” he said. “BUT no guarantees, alright?”
Zag nodded eagerly as Rangavar got down and stretched his arms out ahead of him. He scooted forward using his legs, keeping his chin flat to the ground. He already didn’t like the look of it, folding in his wings slightly. But at least peeking inside would satisfy Zag’s insistence and show that he really couldn’t fit.
When Rangavar reached his shoulders, they squeezed tightly against the edges of the vent, as he’d predicted. Crawling any farther would take some determination. Which Rangavar didn’t have, because he didn’t want to be doing this in the first place. “See, this isn’t going to—
“Oh it’s okay, I’ll help.”
Rangavar yelped as Zag suddenly grabbed hold of his sides and shoved him harder inside. He was immediately cramped as the square vent compressed his chest and shoulders. “Zag!”
“Shh, don’t yell! If your voice echos, anyone at any other openings in the vent could hear you.”
“You’ll be the one they hear yelling when I get out of here.” As it was, Rangavar didn’t really feel inclined to go any farther. He started to back out.
“No, no, keep going.” Zag’s voice was muffled by the way his body filled the square. “Now we know you fit.”
Rangavar let out something between a sigh and a growl. “I can barely move and barely see. I’m coming out.” He began worming his way backward, only to suddenly realize that his hind legs were sliding on the sleek metal floor, and he had nothing to brace himself against. “Can you grab my ankles or something and pull? I’m jammed too tightly inside to move.”
“Maybe you’ll have better luck if you just pull yourself in farther.”
Rangavar slapped one of his paws on the floor in exasperation. “Zag!” His claws scrabbled helplessly against the floor outside. He tried to wriggle a bit, but it didn’t do anything to help the vent’s tight grip on his shoulders.
“You’re already halfway inside. Let me just push.”
Rangavar sighed in defeat, pretty sure Zag would just do what he wanted. It occurred to him that if he actually did get out, he might just neglect to unlock the door after all, and simply escape on his own. That’d show him. The way things were going right now, the idea was incredibly tempting.
Zag took his silence—and what he could read of his mood, probably—as an affirmative. Rangavar jolted again as he felt Zag’s pudgy fingers start pushing into his backside. Rangavar tried clawing his way in farther, but they were having pretty much the same effect as his hind claws on the floor outside. This just wasn’t going to work.
However, Zag seemed determined, shoving him again and again. Rangavar felt himself gradually slide forward, his own squirming contributing to the movement, but eventually he halted.
“When you lie on the floor, your sides press out too far,” said Zag telepathically. Sound was having trouble carrying past the dragon in the hole. “You need to suck in.”
Scowling into the dark, Rangavar drew in a deep breath, feeling Zag shove him again. He slid another few inches, but came to another halt. And the end of the tunnel wasn’t even in sight. “There isn’t a chance,” he thought back, more than a bit irked by now. He suddenly startled and hit his head on the ceiling as something pinched his sides.
Zag spent several moments trying to squish him farther inside, but finally gave up. “All those damn snacks the past couple of months.”
Rangavar snorted. “Sure, that must be it.” No matter what reason he was too wide, however, that fact remained: He was too wide. He gave himself another experimental wiggle. “I think by this point, you really just need to pull me out.”
Finally, Zag didn’t argue, apparently conceding defeat. He grabbed Rangavar’s hips and pulled, making the much thinner dragon jolt again, although he was just grateful to move backwards at this point. Which was why he started getting annoyed when he wasn’t moving backwards. “Zag?”
“I’m trying,” Zag grunted. “Damn, I really wedged you in there.”
Rangavar sighed in exasperation. He didn’t have anything to push against to help. “This is your fault, you know.”
Zag’s emotions were a bit sheepish. “I know…”
Rangavar sucked in, and they spent another moment pulling and heaving to drag him backwards. Whatever amount of pudge was pressing outwards on his sides continued to fill the hole. He glared at the darkness around him and stifled a groan. This might take a while.
<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>
Surprisingly, Jeroshe didn’t lead them toward the crevice they were used to squeezing through. He instead began to lead them through a slightly larger tunnel with a gentle incline. Zag stared at the back of his head questioningly, but the much taller dragon didn’t turn around to explain.
“Do you think there’re other ways into the cave?” Rangavar thought.
Zag put a paw on his chin. It wasn’t an unreasonable guess. “If we get to skip that really long tunnel to the cave, that’s fine by me.” He could do with a break from all the walking lately. He was pretty sure his legs still hadn’t entirely recovered from last night. Although that could also be from the running. “Wouldn’t mind skipping that crevice, either,” he added. That part was for sure.
The tunnel narrowed slightly, bringing them farther away from the much busier areas of the underground cave system. The three dragons eventually came to the end. Nothing seemed particularly interesting about it, although there was a short door rather low to the ground on their left. “If anyone is still around in that cave, this door opens farther into it so we can cut them off before they escape into that tunnel you two… ‘found’.” Jeroshe still sounded annoyed. Zag knew from sensing his emotions that he’d been annoyed this whole time, but it obviously wasn’t letting up.
“This door?” Rangavar asked. “It’ll take us in through the side?”
“Closer to the tunnel you uncovered, rather than the gap to the cave,” Jeroshe nodded. “There are guards stationed outside the gap now, so when we cut them off inside unexpectedly, they’ll have nowhere to go.”
Rangavar took a deep breath. “Alright.”
Zag was honestly just relieved there was a door instead of a small crack in the wall to squeeze through. He was wondering why the door itself was so small, until Jeroshe moved it aside to reveal that it was more of a small trapdoor that they’d have to crawl through. Oh no.
“Since this door is discreet, they shouldn’t have noticed it.” Jeroshe was whispering now that it was open so his voice wouldn’t carry.
Rangavar was resisting the urge to look at Zag. He eventually took a deep breath. “Okay. Well, we’ll be right behind you.”
“Oh, no way, you’re going first.” Jeroshe stood back and crossed his arms. “You two created this mess. I’m just here to ‘supervise’. I’ll follow you.”
Rangavar’s ears flattened. Zag fidgeted nervously. If Jeroshe noticed the obvious problem in the room, though, he didn’t give any indication.
Finally, Rangavar was the first to move toward the door. “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered, crouching down. Up close, it actually looked almost large enough for him to just duck under, if he leaned extremely close to the ground, but at the last moment he decided to scramble through on all fours. Zag wondered if it was larger than he’d initially thought.
“Your turn,” Jeroshe softly jerked his chin in the same direction. Flattening his ears a bit, Zag carefully got down on all fours and crawled forward. He knew for sure that he wouldn’t be able to just ‘crouch’ under it, if Rangavar couldn’t either. The other Darkal didn’t have a ponderous potbelly to contend with.
Coming up on the opening, Zag slowly eased his way through, giving his broad shoulders a small wiggle. They actually slid through more easily than he’d expected, giving him a bit of hope. If the space was large enough for his wide shoulders, it made sense that—
He was suddenly ground to a halt. Shit.
He could see Rangavar waiting in front of him with a somewhat concerned expression. He obviously couldn’t see Jeroshe, but could tell that his emotions were quickly turning from annoyance to exasperation. Zag braced his paws on the walls at his sides and pushed, sliding forward another few inches. He wasn’t that much larger, right?
“Here,” Rangavar said telepathically as he put out his paws. Zag gratefully took them and sucked in as the other dragon began yanking on them. The hole came out over some crumbling rock at the side of the cave, as Jeroshe had promised, so there were plenty of places where Rangavar could place his feet for some leverage.
“For the love of Vaugh,” he suddenly heard Jeroshe growl from behind him, although his voice was mostly muffled by the plump Darkal plugging the hole. Zag stifled a yelp as Jeroshe suddenly started shoving on his backside, trying to hurry the process along.
Between the two of them, Zag felt himself inch forward, squeezing through until the fattest part of his middle was past the opening and he slid out onto the rock pile where Rangavar was standing. He spent a moment panting after the exertion and from sucking in his breath so long. Telepathically, he just said, “Thanks.”
He heard the annoyed growl come from behind him as Jeroshe pulled himself through next. “Move your feet.” Jeroshe’s frame was overall larger than the two other dragons, but mostly in height and stature. He was actually quite lean, and climbed through about as easily as Rangavar while shooting Zag a glare. “On our way out, maybe you should go out through the gap on the other side of the cave instead.”
Zag decided not to mention he ‘might’ have the same problem.
“It’s pitch black in here,” Rangavar remarked softly as the three of them dusted themselves off. The only light was coming from the rather far gap, presumably from the torches of the guards Jeroshe had mentioned. Zag, Rangavar, and Jeroshe were close to the uncovered tunnel at the other side, deep in shadow.
“Shh. The intruders are probably still in here somewhere,” Jeroshe whispered.
Zag was as grateful as ever to be a Darkal as his eyes adjusted quickly to the dim lighting. Within a minute, he could make out spaces on the rocky floor around them that would be best to put his feet. Rangavar quickly followed. Zag supposed it didn’t really matter whether or not Jeroshe kept up, since he seemed pretty intent on doing absolutely nothing.
After a few paces, Zag stepped out of the way slightly to let Rangavar take the lead. Not only was the other dragon admittedly fitter, but he also had slightly stronger senses; if there were any other auras in here, he’d be the first to know. The more lithe Darkal padded quickly across the floor, his ears pricked. Zag kept his own senses alert as he tried to carefully control his breathing. Behind them, they could hear Jeroshe’s feet sliding awkwardly over some rocks in the dark and some soft cursing beneath his breath. Ironic if after shushing us, he’ll be the one who gives us away.
Zag suddenly smacked face-first into Rangavar’s outstretched paw. He stifled a surprised noise in his throat. While distracted, he hadn’t noticed the other dragon stop and put it out to block him.
Rangavar thought, “Do you hear that?”
Rubbing his snout, Zag focused his attention for a second. He realized he did actually hear something. “Footsteps?” he thought back. They were pretty fast, like whoever they belonged to was running, but they sounded far away. He frowned. The cave they were in definitely wasn’t long enough for the running to sound so distant.
“The tunnel, Zag,” Rangavar thought.
Oh. Right. Zag turned sharply toward the tunnel, listening to the sound fade. “They must have noticed the trap door open after all and made a run for it.”
Rangavar growled softly in his throat. The noise didn’t matter now. The other dragons certainly weren’t listening for them.
Jeroshe finally appeared behind them, in an even worse mood than before. Zag could tell he’d stubbed his feet a few times. “You check the far wall, I’ll sweep this one.”
“Oh, they already went down the tunnel.” Zag helpfully pointed, but realized a moment later that the gesture was useless to the Faerian’s eyes.
“What? You just let them?!”
“They got a head start,” Rangavar spoke up. He crossed his arms. “Stumbling around in the dark tripping over yourself must have alerted them.”
Jeroshe didn’t take the jab very well. He scowled. “Or maybe the sounds of scrabbling from someone getting plugged in a hole gave us away.”
Zag flattened his ears, but least Jeroshe couldn’t see it. He couldn’t think of a really good comeback, so he tried to change the subject. “Should we go after them? Instead of standing around talking?” Honestly, the idea of going after them down the long, endless tunnel was exhausting, but at least the question took the attention away from his inconvenient size.
Jeroshe looked at both of them, but Zag was pretty sure he couldn’t make out their expressions. Jeroshe’s was frustrated. He finally just said, “I guess we don’t have much of a choice, now that you two have already botched this.”
“Should we grab a torch?” Rangavar asked. It was true the two Darkals already knew the direction of the tunnel was one long, straight line, even without the ability to see. It was really more for Jeroshe’s sake.
The taller dragon just shook his head. “They’ll see the light and know we’re coming from a mile away. If I recall correctly, the tunnel is a fairly straight path, so if we just walk in a straight line, we’ll catch up eventually.”
Zag and Rangavar shared a glance in the dark. If Jeroshe already knew that, then he’d presumably been here back before it was sealed up. That meant he probably knew what to expect. That was useful.
“No point in standing around.” Jeroshe turned in the direction of the tunnel, squinting at it in the dark. “Let’s go.”
~
As they climbed through the opening Zag had made into the tunnel beyond, the light eventually faded behind them. In this level of darkness, none of them could see, but they were hoping it would give them the ability to see light from the other dragons ahead long before they knew they were being followed.
Rangavar had all of his senses at high-alert, assuming he would be the first to detect the dragons up ahead. Although right now, he could only sense the dull presence of the walls on either side of them and hear the way their breathing echoed against the stone walls in the dark.
“Any sign?” Zag thought at him.
Rangavar shook his head, but remembered a moment later that the other dragon wouldn’t see. He thought back, “Not quite. They got a huge head start. It might be a while.”
They spent a long time walking. A long, long time walking. They couldn’t pick up the pace, too nervous in the dark to risk tripping or moving off track, so the going was slow. Jeroshe was especially stepping carefully; he didn’t have the ability to sense aura at all, so he was the most disadvantaged of the group. Rangavar supposed he finally had an excuse for doing nothing.
When Rangavar spotted a light ahead in the dark, he audibly sighed with relief.
“What is it?” Zag squinted slightly, but it must not have been visible to him yet.
Jeroshe pricked his ears. “I don’t see anything.”
Rangavar walked slightly faster. “It’s really, really faint, but I can make out a light.”
It was still another few minutes before Zag could see the same, and he was relieved too. Under his breath, he whispered, “Finally.”
“I still don’t see anything,” Jeroshe complained. Rangavar wasn’t surprised. The Faerian probably thought they were lying or something, but neither of the Darkals were about to slow down. Jeroshe was just forced to trust them.
“What else do you see?” Zag telepathically asked as the light grew brighter up ahead.
“Nothing else,” Rangavar admitted. He was actually beginning to wonder if the light would illuminate them before their eyes were able to adjust to the brightness. It would give them away.
“There’s nothing we can do about that now,” Zag thought.
Rangavar scowled. “Are you in my head again?”
“Oh, I do see something,” Jeroshe interrupted, oblivious to their conversation.
Rangavar and Zag shared a glance. If it was close enough for Jeroshe to see, then they were probably coming within range of what the other dragons could see. Assuming they were up ahead. Rangavar realized that they really didn’t know what to expect, except that there was probably the same big metal door they’d encountered last night, and the fleeing dragons would probably be able to get inside and hide. It probably didn’t really matter, since they were about to catch up either way.
The metal door was closed. Faint light was glowing from some gaps in the edges, like a light was turned on directly behind it.
“Dammit,” Zag growled out loud. There wasn’t much of a point to being quiet anymore.
Jeroshe carefully moved past him to stand directly before the door. “Hey, open up!” He made his voice sound authoritative as possible, but it still echoed hollowly in the empty tunnel.
“Yeah, maybe if we all yell really loud at the same time, it’ll knock the door down.” Rangavar hoped even Zag could sense the sarcasm.
“This isn’t a joke!” Jeroshe growled. “And I know they can hear us.” He lifted a paw to bang on the door. Zag and Rangavar jumped at the sound, still slightly rattled from the night before, but Jeroshe didn’t seem to notice. “Hey!”
Suddenly several creaking noises came from the other side of the door, and Rangavar’s wingfur stood up as Jeroshe stepped away. The door began to open a crack from the side, the other side disappearing into a mechanism in the wall. It was more advanced than he’d expected. Not that he really knew what to expect anymore.
“You’re trespassing!” a voice growled from the gap. A moment later a face appeared, although the door didn’t open wide enough to reveal all of him. The blue-gray dragon glared at the three of them. He was radiating annoyance, and also… nervousness? Although he was doing a good job hiding that part. “Unless you want to break our truce, you need to leave.”
“You’re the ones who had dragons in our caves last night.” Jeroshe crossed his arms.
“Look—I’m not authorized to talk about anything like that. You’d have to talk to our leader. Preferably with your leader,” the other dragon pointed out.
“I’ve been given clearance by my leader to talk to your leader,” said Jeroshe, although Rangavar sensed he wasn’t fully convinced of that. Garren had sent them down here, though. Jeroshe must consider it close enough.
If the other dragon had any telepathic truth-telling abilities, he didn’t seem to be using them. Instead he glared at them another moment, appearing to think over his next move. It made sense that he wouldn’t automatically open the door for them if he didn’t think he had the authority. Finally, he just said, “I’m going to go ask my superiors.”
Before any of them could protest, the other dragon slid the door back into place.
“Should… should we do the same?” Zag sounded as nervous as he felt. “Don’t we need Garren?”
Jeroshe drew in a deep breath and eventually sighed. “No. Garren and I go way back. He trusts me to do this, and I trust his judgment. Which means I do have his authority.”
“Maybe he just knew he wouldn’t fit,” said Zag helpfully. Rangavar shot him a look.
Jeroshe seemed to mull that over a moment. Instead of arguing, he eventually just said, “Well, that would make sense that instead of coming himself, he’s sending Rift and I.”
Rangavar had a feeling that Garren and Rift went way back too. He was beginning to suspect that together with Jeroshe, maybe they had more of a joint leadership. They didn’t portray themselves that way, but the more he observed, the more he noticed the way that Garren had several times deferred to their judgement.
His thoughts were interrupted by the door before them suddenly sliding open, fully this time. Behind it were actually five wary dragons, none of which were the one they’d been talking to. The first thing Rangavar noticed was that they were holding guns. Not anything modern-looking, of course, but they looked real enough. Despite their technological age, he certainly wouldn’t want to find out the hard way whether or not they were functional.
Fortunately, none of them had their guns pointed at the three of them, although they were held at the ready. The dragon at the center of the group shifted his eyes between the three tired, somewhat dirty pursuers. “Your people and our people agreed to keep to ourselves, to maintain peace. Why are you here?” He spoke with a slight accent that Rangavar thought sounded familiar for some reason, although his tone was harsh.
The corner of Jeroshe’s lip curled. “Some of your dragons entered our cave last night. From our point of view, you came to us.”
The other dragon watched them carefully. Probably sensing they had a point. “Well, if you really are authorized to speak on behalf of the Iylarians, then we can take you to our leaders to sort it out,” he conceded.
Jeroshe gave a stiff nod and stepped forward to follow.
When Rangavar and Zag moved to follow, a couple of the dragons shifted their weapons slightly in warning. “Who are you two?”
Rangavar stared back awkwardly. “We…”
“They’re our witnesses,” Jeroshe said quickly. He avoided stammering out loud, but Rangavar could sense his mind practically tripping over itself to think of an answer that sounded real. He obviously didn’t want to go in alone. “I’m authorized to speak on behalf of our leader, but he’ll want to hear other accounts of the conversation.”
The other dragons didn’t seem to pick up on the bluff. Probably no truth-tellers among them after all. They just finally stood aside to let them pass, the designated one in charge beckoning them along. “This way.”
It was hard to take in, but stepping through the door to the other side was like crossing into an entirely new world. The rock walls immediately turned into what looked more like the interior of a ship, with sleek metal panels for walls and flat metal floors. The air was still as cold as anywhere else underground, but noticeably less dusty. Overhead lights glowed faintly—real, actual electricity.
Zag thought, “If they have the ability to build all this, the grates leading outside finally make sense.” He seemed relieved. They were one step closer to fixing their ship and getting off this Vaugh damn world.
Meanwhile, Rangavar was busy wondering, if they had the ability to build all this… Why did they let the Iylarians chase them deeper underground?
They spent several minutes walking down random, twisting hallways that Rangavar tried to memorize in his head. They did see what appeared to be regular people going about their business who stopped to stare as they passed. They probably weren’t used to visitors very much. Like the Iylarians.
Unlike the Iylarians, as they walked, Rangavar began to notice that the residents here weren’t nearly as ‘well-padded’ against the cold, either. It was somewhat jarring after days spent trapped in a series of caves with dragons twice their own size. The blue-gray dragons that lived here seemed slender by comparison, having a narrow build and shorter statures. Despite their smaller frames, however, the clothing they wore seemed just as worn and thin. For a moment he supposed it was possible the metal conducted heat way more efficiently or something, but he didn’t really think it felt warmer in here than anywhere else he’d been underground. It was odd.
“It’s weird that with all their ‘advanced technology’, they don’t seem to eat a lot or have the resources for clothes,” Zag suddenly thought.
He didn’t seem to be directly in Rangavar’s head, so it was only based on his own observations. They had both noticed the same thing. Rangavar just shook his head slightly. It didn’t make any sense.
“Here we are.” Their guide suddenly halted before a rather inconspicuous door. He pressed a button next to it. It simply slid open. All three of them felt wary as they followed the other dragon inside, but they were all careful not to show it.
A rather stern-looking dragon sat at a desk, eyeing them. Rangavar had trouble getting a read on his emotions. He seemed worried, annoyed, maybe… angry? It certainly wasn’t lost on anyone involved that the situation was serious.
The dragon pricked his ears. “Jeroshe,” he greeted.
Jeroshe nodded back. “Michor.”
Michor leaned back in his chair. “I’m going to skip the diplomatic language for a second to point out that we gave your people a very clear message that I can best sum up as: ‘Get lost.’ Yet here you are.”
“We could say the same,” Jeroshe carefully replied. The three of them were still standing before the desk, but Rangavar and Zag were hanging back at Jeroshe’s sides. “How about you try keeping your dragons on your side of the barrier, and we can go back to pretending each other don’t exist.”
The other dragon, Michor, scoffed slightly. “You think we really didn’t notice the noises last night? We sent people to see if you’d been in our territory, and you had. What do you expect us to do about keeping your people under control? Aside from the obvious.”
It would have been easy for Jeroshe to throw the dragons at his sides conveniently under the bus, but he was suddenly very, very focused on the last thing Michor had said. “The obvious?” He kept his voice light and innocent. “I’m sorry, I’m sure I’m missing something, but that almost sounded like a threat.”
“Oh, we don’t make threats,” Michor assured him. “We only state facts.”
He was clearly trying to rile Jeroshe up or something, but Rangavar wasn’t sure why. He’d always hated political drama like this. Zag was probably having a more interesting time. He loved this stuff. Rangavar sort of wished they could just shake paws and go.
Zag seemed to sense his thoughts. “I hope something as stupid as walking down the tunnel last night isn’t about to lead to war,” he thought guiltily.
Rangavar stared at the ordeal with dull eyes. “If it does, I hope they kill me first.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works.”
“One can hope.”
While Zag clearly resisted giving him an annoyed glance, the conversation had moved on without them. “I’m not authorized to make decisions like that,” Jeroshe was saying. “I need to report directly to Garren about that.”
Since this clash supposedly went back a gazzillion years or so, Michor didn’t have any questions about their chain of command. He simply said, “Well, Garren can come to us himself if he wishes.” He visibly tried to keep a sudden smirk off his face. “If he can get down here.”
Before Jeroshe could reply, Michor dismissively waved his paw. “Either way, we’ll give you a day to convene with the other two Iylarian elders and decide what to do about the barrier. I, personally, believe a conversation about our living arrangements is long overdue. We’ll meet you in the cave tomorrow night.” Now he actually smirked, just a little. “I hope to see Garren there. But if not, I understand.”
Jeroshe stared at him a long moment, but finally just said, “Jealously does not become you.”
Several of the guards from earlier appeared in the corridor to lead them out. Neither dragon said another word as Jeroshe turned away and the three of them stepped back into the hall.
As they started walking, Rangavar could hear Michor whispering something to one of the guards still in the room. A moment later, several of the guards caught up to stop them in their tracks. They blocked his and Zag’s path specifically. “You two are staying here. Jeroshe leaves alone.”
Rangavar wasn’t sure how to respond, but Jeroshe demanded, “Since when?”
“Michor knows you need to talk to the other Iylarian leaders, but your two assistants are staying in case you… forget, to hold the meeting tomorrow night.”
“This is absurd,” Jeroshe glowered. Although he seemed to realize that, deep in enemy territory, unarmed, there wasn’t much he could do. “If you insist, I fully expect them returned unharmed,” he said instead.
“Oh, of course,” the lead guard nodded. “When we see you at the meeting tomorrow. Until then, they are our honored… guests.”
The guard was clearly enjoying the chance to word-play with his enemies, but Rangavar sensed Jeroshe becoming quickly exasperated. “Fine.”
The guards didn’t give the two Darkals the chance to speak to each other before being drawn down a different hallway, but afterward, Zag finally reached out telepathically. “Michor really, really wants to make sure they go over these ‘living arrangements’.”
“He obviously doesn’t realize we don’t mean anything to the Iylarians.” Rangavar suppressed snorting out loud. “Garren really could skip the meeting if he wanted to.”
“I dunno.” Zag avoided looking toward him. “I have a feeling he won’t.”
Even despite his doubts, Rangavar was inclined to agree. The Iylarians had taken great interest in them ever since they’d arrived. It wasn’t tied to Rangavar’s identity, either—they still didn’t know the truth about that. They seemed genuinely interested in their well-being.
“Let’s hope it stays that way,” thought Zag.
Rangavar didn’t even tell him off for being in his head.
~
The room they were left in was small, square, and completely empty. No bed, no chairs, not even a blanket on the cold, metal floor.
“We’re really supposed to sleep in here?” As soon as the heavy steel door closed behind them, Zag was back to complaining out loud. “They’re not meeting until tomorrow night. We’re supposed to be in here for a whole day.”
Rangavar was pretty sure he’d be able to sleep anywhere, but of course Zag wasn’t used to going without comfort a single day in his life. Then he shook his head to himself—no need to be mean. “When we get tired enough, maybe it won’t seem to matter as much,” he said instead.
Zag tiredly sat down on the floor. The room was essentially a glorified metal box. There was nothing to look at, nothing to do. “I wish they’d at least give us lunch.”
For once, Rangavar could agree. Time had gotten away from them, and he was starting to feel hungry. Maybe that was the source of his annoyed thoughts. “I’m assuming they’ll give us food at least twice between today and tomorrow. Whether or not these dragons are being fair, they at least don’t seem unreasonable.” It wouldn’t make sense to starve them for two days in a row, after explicitly telling Jeroshe they’d be unharmed. Politically, it would be in bad form. “At least you got to eat breakfast.”
Zag was quiet at that. A long moment passed, but he suddenly brightened. He pointed a finger across the room. “Look!”
Rangavar looked. There was nothing there. Just a plain metallic wall with a vent at ground-level for fresh air. Or whatever could be considered ‘fresh’ this deep under ground, he supposed. “What?”
“The vent!” Zag exclaimed. “I bet air ducts lead all over this place. Maybe we could just get out of here.”
Rangavar stared at it doubtfully. “It seems a bit… small.” He tried to sound as gentle as possible, although Zag had surely noticed that it was smaller than both the trapdoor they’d had to crawl through earlier, and even the gap to the other side of that cave.
“Well, for me,” Zag started to say.
Rangavar immediately didn’t like the way that sounded. “Damn, that’s too bad.”
“It might be big enough for you,” he plowed onward.
“Zag,” Rangavar said carefully. “I’m not trying to climb through that vent.”
“If you got outside the room, you could unlock the door and let me out. I could use my magic to protect us to escape back to the tunnels.”
Rangavar crossed his arms. “Why don’t you just use your magic to unlock the door?”
“It’s controlled by an electronic mechanism. I can’t control electricity,” Zag scoffed, like it was obvious. Rangavar could tell he was getting ‘hangry’ too.
He cast another glance at the vent. He still didn’t think it was big enough, but to humor him, he went over to look inside. “Look, Zag, even if I could get so much as my shoulders through, I’m not sure there’d be enough room to crawl.”
The much heavier dragon came over to look with him. After he paused and stared intently for a moment, the metal grate fell off the wall and clattered to the floor, apparently pulled off by his powers. It was loud, but Rangavar was pretty sure their captors planned on ignoring them; there certainly weren’t any auras around outside the door to suggest they were being guarded.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Rangavar rolled his eyes. “Okay, you try, and tell me how that goes.”
“Rangavar!! You know it has to be you!” Zag whined. As he stood there, his chubby arms crossed over his plump potbelly, Rangavar knew at least that much was true.
Finally, after another moment of thought, he crouched down to the vent’s level. Was he really going to do this? “I’m going to put my head in and see if it looks like I’ll fit,” he said. “BUT no guarantees, alright?”
Zag nodded eagerly as Rangavar got down and stretched his arms out ahead of him. He scooted forward using his legs, keeping his chin flat to the ground. He already didn’t like the look of it, folding in his wings slightly. But at least peeking inside would satisfy Zag’s insistence and show that he really couldn’t fit.
When Rangavar reached his shoulders, they squeezed tightly against the edges of the vent, as he’d predicted. Crawling any farther would take some determination. Which Rangavar didn’t have, because he didn’t want to be doing this in the first place. “See, this isn’t going to—
“Oh it’s okay, I’ll help.”
Rangavar yelped as Zag suddenly grabbed hold of his sides and shoved him harder inside. He was immediately cramped as the square vent compressed his chest and shoulders. “Zag!”
“Shh, don’t yell! If your voice echos, anyone at any other openings in the vent could hear you.”
“You’ll be the one they hear yelling when I get out of here.” As it was, Rangavar didn’t really feel inclined to go any farther. He started to back out.
“No, no, keep going.” Zag’s voice was muffled by the way his body filled the square. “Now we know you fit.”
Rangavar let out something between a sigh and a growl. “I can barely move and barely see. I’m coming out.” He began worming his way backward, only to suddenly realize that his hind legs were sliding on the sleek metal floor, and he had nothing to brace himself against. “Can you grab my ankles or something and pull? I’m jammed too tightly inside to move.”
“Maybe you’ll have better luck if you just pull yourself in farther.”
Rangavar slapped one of his paws on the floor in exasperation. “Zag!” His claws scrabbled helplessly against the floor outside. He tried to wriggle a bit, but it didn’t do anything to help the vent’s tight grip on his shoulders.
“You’re already halfway inside. Let me just push.”
Rangavar sighed in defeat, pretty sure Zag would just do what he wanted. It occurred to him that if he actually did get out, he might just neglect to unlock the door after all, and simply escape on his own. That’d show him. The way things were going right now, the idea was incredibly tempting.
Zag took his silence—and what he could read of his mood, probably—as an affirmative. Rangavar jolted again as he felt Zag’s pudgy fingers start pushing into his backside. Rangavar tried clawing his way in farther, but they were having pretty much the same effect as his hind claws on the floor outside. This just wasn’t going to work.
However, Zag seemed determined, shoving him again and again. Rangavar felt himself gradually slide forward, his own squirming contributing to the movement, but eventually he halted.
“When you lie on the floor, your sides press out too far,” said Zag telepathically. Sound was having trouble carrying past the dragon in the hole. “You need to suck in.”
Scowling into the dark, Rangavar drew in a deep breath, feeling Zag shove him again. He slid another few inches, but came to another halt. And the end of the tunnel wasn’t even in sight. “There isn’t a chance,” he thought back, more than a bit irked by now. He suddenly startled and hit his head on the ceiling as something pinched his sides.
Zag spent several moments trying to squish him farther inside, but finally gave up. “All those damn snacks the past couple of months.”
Rangavar snorted. “Sure, that must be it.” No matter what reason he was too wide, however, that fact remained: He was too wide. He gave himself another experimental wiggle. “I think by this point, you really just need to pull me out.”
Finally, Zag didn’t argue, apparently conceding defeat. He grabbed Rangavar’s hips and pulled, making the much thinner dragon jolt again, although he was just grateful to move backwards at this point. Which was why he started getting annoyed when he wasn’t moving backwards. “Zag?”
“I’m trying,” Zag grunted. “Damn, I really wedged you in there.”
Rangavar sighed in exasperation. He didn’t have anything to push against to help. “This is your fault, you know.”
Zag’s emotions were a bit sheepish. “I know…”
Rangavar sucked in, and they spent another moment pulling and heaving to drag him backwards. Whatever amount of pudge was pressing outwards on his sides continued to fill the hole. He glared at the darkness around him and stifled a groan. This might take a while.
Category Story / Fat Furs
Species Dragon (Other)
Gender Male
Size 120 x 116px
Listed in Folders
you should have a chapter where they are stuck through the entire chapter maybe 2
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