Wild Dragon of Rome 19 (Patreon)

“How are we going to get out?” Lillian asked as she looked at the collapsed entrance. “I can probably cut through the rocks to reopen the entrance, but it would take too long. My kidnappers will catch up soon.”

“Probably,” I said. “The island is too small, and they are too professional to miss such an opportunity,” I said as I looked at the tunnel. They probably had scouts, already waiting. I performed shockingly well against the colony of moles, but a bunch of second-order beasts was completely different from a trained group of mages and soldiers.

And, even if they didn’t have any scouts, I doubted that the colony of earth moles was the only beasts that had been drawn to the commotion. They were simply the closest and the best equipped. If we tried to get out of the tunnel, we would be bogged down with the beasts, and eventually, the mages would catch up with us.

It was not a challenge I wanted to face.

There were too many elemental spell combinations that would negate my strength and speed advantage. It was not a confrontation I wanted, especially not before I could understand my changes after my breakthrough mishap.

My gaze turned toward the tunnels the earth moles had used to invade the cave, some large enough for a dog to walk comfortably.

Meaning, we could use them as long as we were on our knees. “How’re you with enclosed spaces,” I said even as I went to the tunnel, and peered in to make sure there was nothing. The cave was bright enough so I was able to see quite a distance, and there was no beast in sight.

“I don’t know…” she muttered, suddenly hesitant. “It’s too dark.”

“What are you talking about? We have excellent visibility —” I started before I froze. It was bright, too bright, but the shadows didn’t look the way they were supposed to. “Okay, I just found another effect from the failed breakthrough. I have a much better vision under limited lighting.”

That earned a gasp of her. That surprised me. Compared to my earlier display, better vision wasn’t exactly shocking. “What, a failed breakthrough?” she asked.

Her reaction made more sense in that context. “Of course. You can’t expect that I planned to absorb the dragon heart?” I said even as I crouched in front of the tunnel, only one dagger in hand.

That earned a growl of her. “How would I know? The only thing that you told me was that it was some kind of genius method from your grandfather that allowed you to make a breakthrough very quickly.”

I didn’t mind her complaining, as it was a good outlet for her stress. She had just another close call, and it was better for her to focus on her frustration than having an existential crisis in the middle of our escape. “Well, planning to absorb a dragon heart is crazy. No one would plan for that. It was an accident,” I explained.

“And, what was the plan?”

“I punctured my elemental cores at the same time, and mixed the elemental vitae,” I explained as I started crawling through the tunnel, with Lillian following behind, with a floating orb of water following her, glowing gently to illuminate our path.

She froze for a moment, and I looked back, watching her shocked expression. She smiled sardonically when she caught my gaze. “Oh, my bad. How dare I insult your sanity by daring to claim you tried to absorb a dragon heart intentionally. Mixing vitae forcefully is a perfectly sane method of breaking through, after all.”

“No need for sarcasm,” I said, feeling a smile spread on my face.

“I agree. You don’t deserve sarcasm. You deserve open insults for daring to even think that a method like that could work. You told me that your grandfather was confident about that method. How?”

I chuckled, feeling slightly hysteric even as we continued to move. Around us, I could hear the movement of the moles, which suggested that my hearing had improved as well. “Well, not exactly confident. He had warned that it was a very dangerous method, and it needed to be used only as a last resort.”

“Your grandfather warned you that it was very dangerous. The same man who decided that training a teenager with an intensity that would kill a team of experienced legionnaires was normal. He told you it was dangerous.”

“Well…” I muttered, feeling touched despite her anger. It had been a while since someone had worried about my well-being.

It was nice.

She growled. “We’ll talk about it very much once we’re safe.”

I suddenly felt mischievous. “Sure, dear. As long as we discussed the kiss as well.”

Her gasp was beautiful. I didn’t need to turn back to see her blushing, but I still did, catching her beautiful eyes widening shyly. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said.

“Oh, really —” I started, before I felt an unwelcome distraction. The sound of a beast, digging a tunnel toward us. It didn’t make much noise. Without my enhanced hearing, it would have been a nasty ambush. With it, it had an easy solution. “Cast a water blade here,” I said as I pointed where the beast would burst out.

She looked surprised at the sudden order, but she still cast the spell. She trusted me unconditionally, at least when it came to fighting. I had a feeling that she wouldn’t trust me easily when it came to elemental theory.

“Good work,” I said as the water blade cut through the dirt and killed the beast preparing to ambush. “Now, about what we were talking about —”

“We can talk about it later,” she said, her blush back. “Now, focus on the moles, and stop speaking.”

I was tempted to tease her more, but she was right. The moles might have been scared after I had massacred a portion of their colony, but they might change their mind if we drift too close to their living space.

I closed my eyes, focusing on my hearing as I tried to listen to their movements, trying to understand the direction of their voice. It was not easy, as the sound spread and echoed weirdly in tight and elongated enclosed tunnels. My job would have been much easier if I could actually feel their magical presence.

But, with my elemental cores temporary — at least that was what I had been hoping — useless, I couldn’t use my many methods of detection. As a water mage, Lillian couldn’t either, at least not without using enough mana to bridge the gap, shouting our location to our enemies.

That limitation slowed our journey somewhat, and added several false turns. Collapsing the tunnels behind us took even more time. Still, after almost an hour of crawling, and several false turns, we finally reached the surface, which was a small cave near the shore, one of many emergency exits of the mole colony.

Outside, some distance away, near our cave I could see the beasts of the island and the mages battling. Not very well, as there were too many objects on the way to catch a glimpse of the fighters. I could only see the spells themselves.

“Excellent. We’re safe … well, safeish,” I said as I watched Lillian walk out. “A little more luck, and we might actually get away from this godforsaken island safely.”

“Safe,” she muttered as she stood up, her tone wistful. I could see that her face was trembling, which was a beautiful reaction. “What exactly are we going to do?”

“First, we need to find a better location to hide, and wait for the darkness.”

She looked toward the center of the island, and the battle that was ongoing in between. “Isn’t it dangerous with the battle going on?” she asked.

“It would have been, if we were going there,” I explained.

“Where are we going, then?” she asked, her eyes widening when I pointed toward the cove where they had their ships moored. “You’re mad.”

“That’s actually our best option,” I said. “Once the battle ends, they will continue their search…”

“You’re betting that they will go deeper into the island rather than searching the shore again.”

“They don’t have any other choice, not with the beast stampede going on,” I said. “And, meanwhile, we’ll go to the cave we first met.”

“Really, why there?” she asked.

“Because, with the obvious signs of battle, it’s one-stop they had certainly searched, making it the likeliest place to avoid them until dusk. Not to mention, it’s close enough to their ships that we could make a move.

“Wouldn’t it be safer to just stay and hope we can avoid them?”

“No. We still don’t know who they are, and how determined they are to find you,” I said. “And, I don’t know how long I could keep my mana contained. Sooner or later, it’ll flare, and I much rather be in the vast wilderness of Gaul than locked in a tiny island with three ships worth of enemies searching for me.

“It still feels weird, trying to hide so close to their ships.”

“Sometimes, the shadow of a hunter is the best spot for a prey to hide.”