The next day started by crossing the glacier to reach the rock face at the upper rim. It was noon when Alenae lost consciousness.

“It’s just like it was back when our magic activated.” Tilly shook her head.

“It would mean that she will wake up tomorrow at this time. We can use the morning to scout a way to climb up the chasm.” Milly looked at me.

“That sounds good, but if it takes longer than noon, we should start to find an easier way over the ridge. I don’t want to stay here longer than necessary.” I looked at Alenae.

“Maybe we find a place to stay for a while on the other side. It’s too cold up here to rest comfortably.” Loraline let her gaze wander over the glacier.

“Let’s head over to the chasm we found, it will at least hide us from direct observation.” Caroline put on her backpack.

“Then let’s get going.” I got my backpack ready as well.

Then we continued the path we scouted the day before. The suns were already behind the western mountains as we reached the chasm. We found a decent place to rest on a ledge a few meters above the glacier.

“The way ahead looks safe enough to climb, but it will be quite troublesome with Alenae unconscious. I don’t think we’re going to make it to the top.” Caroline frowned up the sheer rock wall.

“We’re going to wait for noon. We all need some rest after the last days. In the worst case we loose half a day, which should be okay.” I looked at the roll of blankets which contained Alenae.

“It’s not the best place for a rest, but I doubt we find anything better soon.” Loraline started to unwrap Alenae to check her condition.

“How’s your shoulder, Lilly?” Milly looked at me, tilting her head slightly to the side.

“It’s still healing, but I think it will be good soon. I’m going to take care while climbing, but it should be okay.” I smiled at her.

“We should lighten your load a bit.” She bit on her lower lip.

“Let’s take the stuff for the meals from my backpack for now. I’ll complain if it hurts too much.” I opened my backpack.

We had dinner and got ready for the night. We shared our blankets to keep ourselves warm. The guards were not that fortunate, but it was only for a few hours.

We rested for the morning as planned while looking down over the glacier, but there was no one behind us as far as we could see.

Caroline and I scouted ahead for a while. There seemed to be wider ledges once in a while which might be usable for a rest.

It was around noon when Alenae came to again.

“I’m feeling. Strange.” She started to struggle in her wrapping of blankets.

Loraline started to help her to get out her cocoon.

“It’s. Ohhh!” She looked at me with wide eyes.

“How are you doing?” I smiled down at her.

“I’m fine. What happened?” She slowly got to her feet.

“You were unconscious for about a day.” Milly furrowed her brows.

“I’m feeling. I’m feeling mana again! Weak, but it’s there!” She beamed.

“It’s red mana though.” Tilly shook her head.

“I don’t care! It’s presence alone makes me feel warm!” She closed her eyes.

“Maybe you shouldn’t use the mana till dusk. There was just a single drop of it in the beginning.” Tilly looked at me.

“That’s a good idea. We should save the daylight for climbing and you shouldn’t be exhausted.” I nodded at Tilly.

“Oww! I’m longing to put my mana to an use after all the time, but it makes sense to wait for the evening.” She sighed deeply.

“Then let’s get going after Alenae had lunch.” I her a few rations from my backpack.

“I’m starving!” She took the food with a light bow.

After a while she was done, and we started to climb up the rugged rock face in the crevice. We had plenty of rests, and it was near sunset when we found a small cave just above a wider ledge.

“The air inside is quite warm.” Caroline sneaked a peek into the cave.

“Then let’s have a look, this might be a good place for the night.” I carefully approached the entrance of the cave, leaving my backpack on the ledge.

The entrance was small, about half a meter wide and double the height, but it got wider after a few meters, opening in a cavern. The ceiling was high enough to stand comfortably and it was about ten meters long and four meters wide.

“There seems to be no inhabitant.” I carefully checked the walls.

“Any other exits?” Caroline appeared behind me.

“There is a crack over there we should have a look at.” I carefully approached the crack, while Milly and Tilly entered the cave.

“There is a noticeably air current.” Caroline put her index finger in the mouth and held it beside her head.

“Yeah. It seems to come out of this crack.” I looked down the crack.

It was narrow, but still wide enough to enter. There was a bent a few meters in, but there was nothing interesting to see.

“We should stay here the night while having an close eye on that crack.” Caroline looked at me, tilting her head.

“The chance to find something better today is negligible.” I nodded at Caroline.

“We’re staying here!” Tilly went outside again.

A few moments later we had out backpacks inside. It wasn’t really warm, but certainly above freezing point, which was quite nice for the area.

We made camp after checking the crack deeper into the mountain for a while. There was actually a cave leading right to the other side of the ridge as it seemed.

“It might be a way to the other side.” Tilly munched some nuts.

“It might, but the crack for the air current might be too narrow to pass for us.” Milly shook her head.

“It would be good to avoid the climb further up though.” Tilly looked at me.

“Perhaps it’s worth a try. The ridge seems to be rather narrow and as long as the cave is decent to travel it doesn’t sound that bad. We could come back here after maybe two or three hours and continue our climb. We should make it up on the ridge before sunset as long as there’s nothing unexpected on out way up.” I shrugged.

“We won’t loose that much time, but have a chance for a decent shortcut.” Loraline nodded.

“This sounds reasonable. It wouldn’t be that cold as well.” Alenae gave me a nod.

“Seems like we’re going to try it, I don’t care which way we go.” Caroline yawned.

“Then let’s set everything up for the night.” I yawned as well.

“I’m going to try..” Alenae closed her eyes and I could see her nails growing in small claws.

“This is fascinating!” Tilly looked at her with wide eyes.

“It was a good idea to wait though. I’m feeling utterly drained!” She slumped forward.

“It will get better over time.” Milly gave her a hug.

“I know.” Alenae yawned.

“Now I want to know if everyone will get the same benefits, especially the mana pool.” Tilly pulled her knees to her chest.

“For now we don’t have a big enough sample for any estimation, and there is still much uncertainty how exactly this works. As soon as I have time I will have a closer look at the ability again. She’s not really comparable to us either, since we’ve all got orange mana now.” I nodded at Alenae.

“True. I’m intrigued nontheless.” Tilly grinned at me.

“We all are.” Loraline chuckled.

“For now there’s not much we can do. Maybe next winter we have some time to look closer at this.” I shook my head.

“We might want to wait a while to get more information about how it affects Alenae in more detail. There might be aspects we’re not aware of at this point.” Milly laid a hand on my shoulder.

“The more important problem are still these empire pricks. These marks are still too much of a pain. It’s much better than in the very beginning, but as long as they’re able to track us that way we’re not able to hide from them.” I looked at my mark.

“It’s not easy to predict how long they pose a problem. For one it’s not clear if it’s effects are related to the size and as the mana regeneration goes up over time, they will shrink faster towards the end as long as the process stays as mana intensive as it is now.” Tilly scratched her chin.

“It’s difficult to actually predict how fast we get rid of them.” I twirled my hair with my left index finger.

“The sooner the better.” Milly sighed.

“It would be nice to be able to visit civilization once in a while.” Loraline nodded.

“It’s still a risk, but with the magic out of the way it should be okay as long as we don’t stay too long.” Caroline stared into space.

“North of the claws the influence of the empire is barely noticeable. The beastkin living there hate them, because of a long history of slavery of their kin.” Loraline bit her lower lip.

“That doesn’t mean there are no spies at all and we would be poor guests drawing Empire troops to their settlements. Staying for a few days should be okay, but we have to keep moving.” I frowned at the far wall.

“I’m going to defend you, Lilly!” Atan puffed out his chest.

“They are far too many to defeat, Atan. It’s folly to fight when you don’t need to. There’s nothing for us to win and so much to loose. We might get captured or get hurt seriously enough to be unable to run.” I looked him into the eyes.

“Then we’re running from them like forever?” He looked at me with wide eyes.

“As they’re the most powerful nation around, finding a safe place is challenging.” I shrugged.

“My hope is that at some point they consider it to much of a bother to look for us. There’s still the chance they learn our whereabouts by chance.” Milly looked at me.

“Finding allies sounds like an option.” Tilly looked at Atan.

“There are people who are able to hide from their view, maybe we find a way to do that as well at some point. At the moment the most important thing is to survive and stay free. So don’t get killed or captured. You’ve still a lot to learn.” I looked at the boy.

He stared into space for a while. I hoped that he won’t pull something foolish at some point.

“Then I want to learn as much as I can to keep you safe.” He looked me into the eyes.

“We’re going to teach you as much as we can, Atan. Just remember that surviving a battle is what’s important. Most of our enemies will be stronger and will have more experience than you have at the moment. The spear is for keeping you out of trouble. Period.” Milly glared at Atan.

He frowned, looking at his feet.

“Just be careful. I don’t want to see you dying.” I gave him a solemn nod.

He looked up and finally gave me a nod.

“Let’s get ready for the night. Tomorrow will be tough.” Caroline got to her feet.

We set up a watch and settled down for the night. I took the first watch with Atan. We woke Tilly and Loraline at some point and got some shuteye as well.

I woke up feeling strangely calm. Ignoring that the cavern was completely empty I walked up the crack leading deeper into the mountain. After a while there was a narrow crudely smoothed passage to the left. Entering the passage I wondered where this would lead to. After a while I reached a staircase leading down, while a natural cave continued to left. At the end of the staircase the passage opened into a larger cavern, which stretched towards the left and the right for several hundred meters. I skirted a few rocky protrusions and found a crudely worked passage hidden behind a larger rock. There was a faint glow of mana filling the passage. Without a thought I entered the passage which continued forward with a few slight bends. After while I reached a dead end, but there were seven magical sigils made from draconic runes etched into the wall. Looking back I saw some familiar shadows standing at the last bend in the passage, about twenty meters behind me. Looking back at the wall in front of me I examined the sigils closer. Six smaller were arranged in a hexagon around a larger one in the center. All sigils were composed of draconic runes which made no sense to me. I touched the sigil at the top, then lower left one followed by upper right one. They all started to glow fainty blue. Then I touched the bottom sigil followed by the upper left one. Finally I pressed both hands on the central sigil. There was a flash of light and I woke up.

Milly and Loraline were on watch.

“Did you notice anything strange?” I looked around the cave.

“No. All calm.” Milly shook her head.

“I had a strange dream.” I yawned.

I took a rock and etched ‘T LL UR B UL C’ into the rock with my engraving spell. As this hadn’t be the first dream I could remember clearly upon awakening, this might be important information. Milly watched me furrowing her brows all the time, but didn’t interrupt me.

“What happened?” She frowned at me.

“I’m feeling good, so don’t fuss. I had a dream of a way through the mountain. It ended at a dead end with strange draconic inscriptions which I touched in a certain sequence. I just noted down what I did in the dream, just in case that it might be useful. There was no exit to the other side though, but the way to the sigils wasn’t that hard. While it’s not what we looking for, it might be something interesting. At least something involving draconic runes sounds promising.” I tried a smile.

“Maybe. Do you want to investigate. Tilly is going to insist checking out these runes.” She sighed.

“Runes?” Tilly stirred and her head appeared from under her blanket.

“We talk in the morning, Tilly. Let’s get some more sleep for now.” I nodded at Milly and pulled the blanked over Tilly’s head again.

“Sleep?” She mumbled tiredly.

“Sleep!” I whispered.

The next morning I told the other about my strange dream.

“We have to check this out!” Tilly looked at me with bright eyes.

“We could find something useful there.” Caroline nodded at Tilly.

“It will set us back in regard to our pursuers.” Milly gave a solemn look.

“We should take that in consideration.” Loraline nodded at Milly.

I looked at Alenae.

“I don’t know. It might be a risk to check that out, but there’s a chance that it might pay off in one or the other way.” She shrugged.

“I do what you do.” Atan nodded at me.

“That’s a tie. Then let’s check what this dream is about. I’m not sure about activating this sigil if we find it. At least we can try to find out more about it. The dream wasn’t focused on the runes. As long as the dream matches what we find, we should continue at least for a while. We go back and climb if it takes too long.” I looked at Milly.

“A few hours more or less shouldn’t be much of a problem, there is nobody on the glacier right now. We should have the time enough to check if the passages in Lilly’s dream do actually exist.” Milly nodded.

After breakfast we got ready and I entered the crack and squeeze through until I reached the passage I saw in my dream.

“I’ve found the passage.” I waved the others to follow me.

We repacked our equipment and carried it through the crack. The passage was wide enough for two of us abreast. I took point with Caroline, Alenae and Atan and Loraline were in the middle, while Tilly and Milly covered our back.

“This is exciting!” Tilly got her spear ready.

“I wonder if there was magic at play with that dream.” Alenae looked at me.

“I didn’t see anything during my watch.” Milly shrugged.

“It might have been only a short flash.” Tilly looked at Milly.

“We won’t know, but it’s probable.” I activated my amber of light for dim illumination.

The passage, even if there were no unique features so far felt slightly familiar. After half an hour we reached the staircase with the natural cave branching away to the left.

“Should we explore the cave as well?” Milly looked at me.

“There’s nothing to see that way, and I don’t notice tracks in the dirt. Since it’s no difference which branch we go, we’ll always have the other side in our back, we can as well follow the staircase. It’s more probable that it leads to something interesting as well.” I looked down the staircase.

“We might take look if we don’t find anything down there, but it looks promising.” Tilly piped up.

“Let’s go.” I started to continue down the stairs.

As Caroline checked for traps it took time to get down. At some point an faint orange glow was noticeable ahead. The temperature had been rising all the way down here.

“That’s the cave you mentioned.” Caroline stopped at the end of the passage.

“We have to head to that rock over there.” I looked into the cave.

The cave was illuminated in the orange light and to the left I could see what looked like a pool of lava. The surface was covered in irregular plates separated by cracks which were the source of light. The air was hot in the cave, but still bearable.

“It’s quite hot, but we should be able to cross.” I carefully tested the floor of the cave.

“We should check how temperature is in the passage on the far side.” Caroline held her arm into the cave as well.

“We should be able to make it back if it’s too hot on the other side.” I brightened the gem and started to cross the cave.

We crossed the cave quickly, but there was a magic aura across the entrance of the passage we would have to take.

“It’s air magic?” I looked at Tilly and Alenae.

“It’s too weak to cause injuries.” Alenae looked at me after examining the barrier for a few moments.

“It should be fine.” Tilly nodded.

I stepped through the veil and there was a noticeable drop in temperature.

“Come, it’s cooler on this side.” I waved at the others.

“Should we continue?” Milly looked back at the air magic field.

“We should. While this wasn’t part of the dream, it’s not surprising to find further signs of manufactured things. Someone had to cut the stairs in rock as well. We should stay vigilant, but at the moment there’s no reason to go back.” I looked at Caroline.

She nodded and started to examine the floor ahead. We advanced slowly. Then we could see magic ahead as we came around a bend in the passage. Finally we stood in front of the enchantment.

“I think it’s okay for all to stay here as long as we’re just looking.” I stepped aside to let Tilly and Alenae to the front.

“I’m not feeling comfortable to let you trigger it alone.” Milly looked at the enchantment.

“It’s all dragon runes, but I’ve no idea what will happen. The lower left one looks sinister though. The amount of fire runes and variations of them are disconcerting.” I studied the sigil a bit closer.

“They are only loosely connected to each other, as long as you don’t touch that one, it won’t do anything. I’ve no idea what the others will do, since there are parts of the enchantments which I can’t see clearly enough. There has to be a door or something like that, many of the structures remind me of wards I’ve seen at important doors or gates.” Alenae looked at me.

“There’s warding stuff.” Tilly nodded.

“Then how do we continue?” Milly looked at me with a frown.

“We don’t have many choices. The probably safest is to go back and leave all this alone. The next obvious is to do it like in the dream. I’m activating the sigils while you keep back. We could stay together as well and try to activate the sigil as well. In the end the question is how much do we trust my dream. It could be a ruse to split me off, but might as well be the way to get past the thing without endangering you.” I looked at the others.

“The probability is high that there’s something interesting behind the ward.” Caroline crossed her arms under her chest.

“It’s a risk.” Milly gave me an unhappy look.

“It’s either doing it like you dreamed it or bail out.” Tilly looked me in the eyes.

“I’m going to latch the viewpoint of the mirror on you if you do it. No discussion.” Milly gave me a stern look.

“That’s a good idea.” I nodded at Milly.

“I’m not comfortable with the idea, but will do whatever the rest decides. Lilly should have the final word about risking to trigger the sigil alone.” Loraline pressed her lips into a narrow line.

“I would like to see what’s behind that seal as long as Lilly wants to take the risk.” Caroline nods at me solemnly.

“I’m for the safe option, but will be ready to safe your butt, Lilly.” Milly furrowed her brows.

“I’m torn. Finding interesting magic is all well, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the risk.” Alenae shrugged.

“Alenae has a point, but I’m more inclined to check this out.” Tilly rubbed her chin.

“I’m doing what you do.” Atan looked at me with a smile.

“Hmm. I think it’s not that much of a risk for the rest of you, since the bend of the passage is some thirty meters away. I want you to turn back and take another route if this is going south.” I looked at the others.

I closed my eyes. How much did I trust this dream of mine? The others were torn. There were good reasons to leave the door alone. On the other hand we could discover more about dragons, as this looked like something that survived the dragon war intact. There was a chance to find useful information or even some artifact or other treasure. We already stumbled over interesting dragon related stuff more often than it was feasible. I could still remember the dream clearly and let it pass by before my inner eye again. Then for a moment the image of a cavern flashed up in my mind. There were familiar crystals set in a circle an a searing pain flashed up in my mind. As I opened my eyes the pain had already faded away.

“There was a flash of magic!” Tilly looked at me with wide eyes.

“There was a brief image of a cave with a trapped dragons soul. I recognized the glow of the crystals. Maybe this is something like a backdoor?” I looked at the sigils.

“I don’t like this!” Milly furrowed her brows.

“I don’t like this either, but I have to check what’s behind that door. There may be no other entrance.” I clenched my fists.

“Then let’s do this.” Tilly nodded with a grim smile.

“Take this.” Milly hit my forehead with the mirror.

“Ow! Keep the light gem, I see well enough in the dark.” I handed Milly the gem.

Then the others retreated until they were out-of-sight. The glow of the amber was still visible. Needing light in a dark environment was revealing. Without dark vision anybody could see the light long before being noticed.

“All ready?” I hollered.

“We’re as ready as we can get.” Milly cried back.

I activated the sigils in the order that was shown in the dream. The last I saw was a brief bright flash of magic and light.