That night, as the rest of the company slept, Alex kept watch with Arconn. If the dragon caught them unawares and asleep, there would be no chance at all to fight or escape.
As the darkness became complete, Alex felt a small twinge in his mind. It was more than his nervous feelings of being watched. There was something about his feelings that made them more real to him, something he couldn’t find a name for. He pondered on his feelings for several minutes, and then he spoke.
“He is close,” Alex said softly to Arconn. “I can feel him.”
“What?”
“The dragon,” Alex replied. “I can feel him.”
“You can sense what he is thinking?” Arconn asked in a slightly surprised tone.
“Confusion. Dark thoughts. Hate, and a terrible longing for . . . for something.”
“Turn your thoughts away,” Arconn warned. “If he sleeps, you may wake him. If he is awake, he may sense you and try to find you through your thoughts. His thoughts may drive you to madness.”
“Madness,” Alex repeated softly. “That would be a good way of describing what I’m feeling.” For a moment, he felt like he was inside the dragon’s mind.
“Close your mind to him,” Arconn warned again. “Think of happier things.”
With some effort, Alex forced himself to think of other things. He focused his mind on the camp and Arconn sitting beside him in the darkness.
“Are dragons mad?” Alex asked after a few minutes had passed.
“I do not know what you mean by mad,” answered Arconn. “If you mean, are they mad like a man who does foolish things for no reason, I would say no. But there is something in them, something that drives them to be the way they are.”
“You told me once that some dragons weren’t evil.”
“That is true. Some of them are free of evil and greed. I have met only one that seemed to be free, and that was long ago.”
“You were friendly with a dragon?” Alex questioned.
“We spoke of many things, but I do not think I could call him a friend,” said Arconn softly as if remembering something from the distant past.
“What happened to him?”
“I do not know,” Arconn sighed. “Perhaps he found a place to live away from the known lands. Or perhaps he has simply hidden himself from all who seek him.”
“Could Slathbog hide himself from us?” Alex asked.
“I do not think so, but then, I do not know all the ways of dragons.”
They sat in silence for a long time, looking into the darkness around them.
“Go to sleep,” Arconn said eventually. “You will need your strength.”
Alex walked to his tent, wondering if he would ever meet a dragon that was not evil, before he remembered that he had never met any dragons at all. That would change in the morning however, and he had to be prepared.
He fell asleep with thoughts of an uncertain future filling his mind.
* * *
Alex dreamt of dragons. Some of the dragons were good and kind, but most were evil. He dreamt of Slathbog as well, a great red monster that spoke to him the same way the wraiths had spoken to him. He knew Slathbog was lying to him, just like the wraiths had lied to him. In his dream, he was not tempted by Slathbog’s words, and Alex woke feeling a strange sort of comfort.
As the sky began to grow light, it was clear that nobody had slept very much during the night. Everyone looked tired in the pale sunlight and worried about what they were going to do. The clouds had blown away during the night, and the dark cave beside the stream looked unpleasant to them all.
Alex and his friends gathered around the small opening, preparing for what they had to do. His eyes fixed on the darkness in front of him and a shiver ran down his back. The darkness didn’t bother him, but the smell coming from the cave did. It was a nasty mix of rotten eggs and meat that had been left out too long, and it turned his stomach. Looking away, he tried to think of something happy, but nothing came to him.
Everything that had happened to him in the past few months seemed like a dream, a dream that was fast becoming a nightmare. They had reached the goal of their great quest. Alex had thought this day would never come, and for a moment he wondered why he was here.
“In we must go, or give up our quest,” said Bregnest in a grim tone.
“To some this would seem foolish, but let us seek our fate and trust to luck,” Skeld added, looking as serious as Alex had ever seen him.
Foolish,thought Alex. That was a good word for what they were about to do. Foolish or incredibly brave, he couldn’t decide which. It didn’t really matter though, because Alex knew he would go into the dark cave with his friends. He looked around at his seven companions and smiled.
They all checked their weapons, nervously gripping them as if fearing the dragon would attack at any moment. Alex drew Moon Slayer from his side and the pale winter light glimmered bright blue on its sharp edges. He could feel the sword’s power enter him, but it was not as violent as before. He knew he would not feel the burning heat until his enemy was much closer.
“A single torch,” Bregnest ordered as he bent down to look into the cave. “We will need some light, even if it proves fatal.”
Thrang quickly retrieved a torch from his bag. Lighting it with a word, he handed the torch to Bregnest.
Bregnest took a deep breath, looked around at the company, and then slipped into the cave. Arconn followed him with Thrang right behind him.
“After you, master wizard,” said Skeld with a brave smile. “Perhaps your luck will flow behind you and I may catch some of it.”
Alex smiled and followed Thrang into the darkness. The smell was even worse inside the cave, and the floor seemed to be covered with slime. He slipped slightly and touched the wall to balance himself, discovering the walls were also covered with greenish slime.
“The dragon’s filth is all around us,” said Thrang in a hushed whisper.
“Silence,” Bregnest whispered back.
Alex could see Bregnest’s worried face in the torchlight ahead of him. He knew they needed to surprise the dragon if they could, and the smallest sound might mean their doom. As quietly as he could, Alex moved forward with his friends, keeping close to the slimy wall. The idea of slipping and falling into the dirty stream was far worse than touching the filth on the wall beside him.
They moved along the tunnel slowly, quietly. The water rushed past them, covering any noises they made, including the sound of their breathing. Fortunately, the path was level and fairly wide, running straight into the heart of the mountain.
To Alex, time seemed to crawl by, but in the darkness, it was difficult to tell. Bregnest’s torch moved forward, its light flickering against the walls. With every step, Alex became more nervous, sure they would emerge in the dragon’s lair. Suddenly the torch stopped, and he could see Bregnest motion for the company to gather around.
“We are close,” Bregnest whispered so softly that Alex wasn’t sure if he’d heard him or only imagined it. “There is no light ahead. I don’t know what that means.”
Alex remembered what Arconn had told him about dragons, how their fire made them glow in the darkness. The fact there was no glow from in front of them meant Slathbog wasn’t there. And if Slathbog wasn’t there, where was he?
Bregnest shifted nervously, looking around at the darkness. He seemed to be thinking the same thing as Alex, and was just as unsure of his answer. Slowly he began to move forward, holding the torch high above his head. The others stayed close behind him, moving quietly along the passage.
They finally came to a wide set of stairs, and Alex knew that these would lead into the great hall of Varlo. This was where they had hoped to find Slathbog. They moved forward in pairs: Arconn beside Bregnest, Thrang beside Alex. The deep darkness and quiet was almost painful, and Alex would have welcomed the dragon, if only to break the silence. Then they would no longer have to wonder and worry about where he was.
When they reached the top of the stairs, two things happened at once. For a second, the torchlight blazed, reflecting back at them from thousands of gold and silver objects in the hall. And then the torch went out.