Vavel: The Sleeping Dragon

Vavel, the capital of the Kingdom of Pollechia, teemed with life. Merchant wagons rolled through the main gate one after another, and a steady stream of newcomers arrived to experience, if only briefly, the atmosphere of a city built on a hilltop, or, more precisely, on a sleeping dragon.

Mozuta would have given anything to be behind those walls right now. It seemed a far better option than loitering near the caves. Early that morning, they had crossed the bridge over the Visula River. Instead of entering the city, however, they turned and walked along the walls until they reached the cave entrances. These were situated on a rather steep slope. Anyone who valued their life would be unlikely to venture near such a place. If the dragon didn't get you, slipping down the slope would almost certainly result in a broken neck or drowning in the depths of the Visula. Mozuta swallowed hard as his foot slipped once again. Grateful that the liho was with Leontina, he pressed himself tighter against the rock face, shuddering to think what might have happened had that little creature of misfortune been resting on his shoulder at that moment.

Leontina walked slowly ahead of Mozuta, taking one step at a time, until she reached one of the entrances. Once she was on solid ground, she held out her hand to Mozuta and helped him inside.
The cave was adorned with stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites rising from the stone floor. Formed over thousands of years, they were proof that the dragon had not yet awoken. Leontina glanced around and noticed a damaged stalagmite, as if someone had brushed against it and broken the top off.

“L-l-let’s go deeper,” she instructed, stuttering. Liho emerged from beneath her hood and seated itself comfortably on its' owner's head, sniffing the damp air around it.
The deeper they went, the wider the cave tunnels became. They were constantly descending.
“Leontina,” said Mozuta, walking while holding onto her dress.
“Y-yes?”
“I can’t see anything,” the boy announced. The Soul Guide stopped and glanced back at him over her shoulder. Needless to say, she had no trouble with the darkness. She could move through it like a cat. As a Soul Guide, this ability was particularly important to her, since ghosts almost always appeared at night, when their powers were strongest.
But the same couldn’t be said about Mozuta.

Suddenly, the world around the boy brightened. A flame stretching a metre ahead of them flared up from the ceiling, illuminating their path.
“Well? Is it better now?” asked a familiar voice.
“Much better,” Mozuta replied. He glanced to the side, looking pleased, but instantly grimaced when he saw Dargorad standing there.
“What are you doing here?” the boy snapped, tightening his grip on Leontina's dress.
“I was curious to know what you two were up to. I never would have thought you’d go down into a dragon’s cave in broad daylight,” he laughed.
“My grandmother used to say that curiosity is the first step to hell,” Mozuta pointed out.
“And you’re saying that to a chort?”
“Tsk.”
“Instead of complaining, accept my help, offered from the depths of my good heart, once again, and use it to do what you need to do.”
“I wonder what the price will be for this help from the depths of your benevolent heart.”
“We can settle those details later.” Dargorad smirked while Mozuta scowled. The boy would have preferred to stay far away from someone who so easily sent others to the depths of Selew.
“C-c-c-could you please tone d-down your excessive use of the s-speech apparatus? I-I would be very grateful if w-we could keep quiet while w-we descend to the s-sleeping dragon,” Leontina interjected, stammering slightly.
Both men looked at her.
“You could have just said ‘shut up’,” remarked Dargorad.
“T-that would have been r-rude,” she replied, pulling her hood over her masked face.

They began their further descent in silence. The lower they went, the harder it became for Mozuta to breathe, though not so much that he couldn't endure it. After all, it wasn’t as bad as that time in an underground castle with a bunch of ghosts living in the walls. Mozuta shuddered at the thought.
Dargorad’s glowing black fire continued to light their way through the successive tunnels.

They finally reached the end of the tunnel. A steep drop lay before them. All four of them looked down. No matter how closely Mozuta looked, he could see nothing. The darkness prevented him from making anything out. He glanced at the two beside him. Both Leontina and Dargorad had frozen. Their eyes were wide with terror as they stared down. Dargorad took a step back.
“Wow,” the chort said, barely catching his breath. Meanwhile, the liho hid in Leontina's hood, shaking with fear.
Mozuta didn’t have to wonder for long about what the pair had seen below.

The Sleeping Dragon of Vavel.

Leontina had never expected to see it. They had descended to a great depth, but she had imagined that the place where it slept would be far deeper.
The sight of the dragon took her breath away. The creature was immense. It lay curled up in a ball, its back rising and falling gently with every breath. Long, gleaming fangs protruded from its snout, which was resting against its tail. If the beast were to wake, it would tower over the capital's castles and could easily topple them with a sweep of its tail.
Leontina was a doll, yet the dragon's majesty, slumbering deep within the Vavel caves, sent shivers down her spine.

The dragon held her attention so completely that it took her a moment to notice the stakes driven into the ground around its body. She narrowed her eyes. They resembled long wooden wands, each seemingly topped with an embedded amber crystal.

“W-what is it?” she asked herself, pondering deeply.
Dargorad stepped closer to her and turned to look in the same direction.
“What madman set this up?!” He stood up straight and clutched his head.
“D-d-do you know what it is?” she looked at him.
“Unfortunately for me, I’ve had dealings with sorcerers,” he said, gritting his teeth at the mere memory. “It's the thesis project of a student from the Underground University.”
Leontina had heard of the place. Sorcerers from there often asked Soul Guides to take part in their scientific experiments. Fortunately, to no avail.
The Underground University -- that was the name by which most people knew the institution. Its true name was known only to its professors and students. It was a place where anyone wishing to deepen their magical knowledge went to study. But this desire couldn't be casual. Anyone enrolling to become an expert in their field of magic had to be prepared to sign a pact with a demon if needed.
“Ugh,” said Dargorad, running a hand through his red hair. “How to explain it? Umm." He thought for a while and then explained, "One of the students made a pact with me to create the loudest sonic bomb in the world, powered by magic condensed within an amber crystal.” 

Unlike the other two, Mozuta could see nothing but darkness in front of him. He was actually quite grateful for that, as he would rather not know how seeing the dragon might affect him. However, Dargorad’s words were enough to make him realize the seriousness of the situation. Someone had placed the world’s loudest sonic bomb right next to the sleeping dragon.
“Why would anyone create something like that?” the boy asked in a trembling, irritated voice.
“Don't ask me,” Dargorad replied. “Trying to understand the madmen from the Underground Uni gets you nowhere. All they care about is studying magic and dreaming up useless contraptions like that bomb.”
“Maybe not entirely useless, seeing as someone might find it handy for waking up a dragon,” Mozuta chuckled hollowly to himself.
“Yeah, and someone must still have doubted its power because they planted about a hundred of them around the dragon,” Dargorad estimated at glance.
Mozuta’s eyes darted wildly at these words. He looked at the chort with sheer terror.
“Is this some kind of joke?”
“No,” replied Dargorad curtly.
“H-h-how powerful is that bomb?” Leontina asked.
“The sound from just one is enough to bring down the thickest wall,” said the chort. “That's actually what one of them was used for.” At the mere memory of events known only to him, a sinister smirk appeared on his face.
Leontina stepped up to the chort, reached out and grasped his face, pulling it down so that she could look Dargorad in the eye. The moment the chort saw his reflection in her golden eyes, he froze. Why did he let himself get charmed by this girl in a stupid mask so easily? He thought.
“I'd like to ask you to get rid of those bombs,” she announced.
The chort's eyes widened. He certainly hadn’t expected the Soul Guide to ask him for anything so soon, especially after they had known each other for barely a day. He closed his eyes to avoid looking into those honey-gold eyes and regained his composure.
“Huh?” Mozuta straightened up. “You’re going to trust him?”
“W-w-we have no choice, Mozuta,” Leontina said, releasing Dargorad's face, who felt relieved that she did so. “H-he’s the only one who k-knows what kind of b-bombs they are and can q-quickly figure out how t-to get rid of them safely,” she explained.
Mozuta pursed his lips.
“Am I to understand that…” Dargorad began. “You want me to go down there, to that sweetly sleeping little dragon, gather up all those sticks and take them as far away from here as possible?”
Leontina shook her head.
“It’s better not to risk going down there,” she said. “I'd prefer you to use your acquaintance with their creator to find out how to deactivate them remotely.”
Dargorad sighed and fell into deep thought. After a moment, he remarked, “Well, even my big boss would be against the deaths of so many people.”
Or rather, the loss of so many potential meals. Leontina and Mozuta thought simultaneously.
The chort covered his mouth with his hand and fell into thought again. He wasn't sure if he could help them.
Leontina approached him once more and gently touched his hand with her right. She used her left hand to uncover part of her face.
"P-please, we n-need your help. In return, I p-promise not to bother you while you’re d-doing your chort work.” She cast an innocent, hopeful glance his way with eyes that shone like stars in the sky. Her stuttering added to the overall charm.
The chort froze again, this time struck dumb by the combination of her beautiful face and captivating eyes.

Heh, Mozuta chuckled to himself. She’d finally realised that, rather than being self-conscious about her pretty face, she could use it to her advantage. After all, the chort was a guy, and he was unlikely to remain indifferent to her charm. Mozuta puffed out his chest proudly, as if he were responsible for giving her this idea.

Dargorad took a step back from Leontina and covered his face with his hands. Taking a deep breath, he ran his fingers through his hair and straightened up.
“OK, I’ll deal with this for you,” he declared. Upon hearing this, Leontina beamed and hopped with joy. The liho hidden in her hood poked its head out and seemed a little dizzy.
Seeing her joy, Mozuta smiled warmly.
Leontina suddenly stopped hopping and looked down again.
“W-w-we’d better get going. Our t-t-talking might wake him up.”
Both Mozuta and Dargorad nodded.
They left by the same path they had come in on.
Mozuta once again had to face the long trek through the cave and along the ceiling, where a single careless step could send him plummeting into the depths of the river below.