“And . . . and you're sure about this, are you?”

“Yes.”

“But . . . how?”

“I saw it in Phontus’s magical ceiling when I first met him, but I didn't know what it was at the time. It was pitch black, and shaped like an upsidedown beaker.”

“That's not usually the shape a volcano takes, Milius,” Calder said shrewdly.

They had arrived back at the castle a short while ago, and had immediately found themselves face-to-face with the Elders, Hestia, and Cole, who had noticed their absence and had been waiting for them in the hallway just beyond the dragons’ paddock. Milius had hurriedly recounted their conversation with the Paladin and Archer, their venture under Lake Tiberion, their discovery of the second Catacomb and the first half of the blank stone tablet, and their meeting with Phontus and everything he had told them about the Catacombs. Their calm demeanors had shattered the moment Milius began to explain of the deal that their predecessors had made with Phontus’s ancestors, but they had been far more interested in Milius’s statement that he knew where the third Catacomb lay hidden.

“I know that,” Milius said, “but I'm sure of it.”

“But how are you sure?” Sirius asked, for the third time so far. “You've never been there, you've never even seen this mountain in your life, besides down at the castle!”

“I just do!” Milius said, likewise for the third time. “Just looking at it that day . . . it made me feel . . . something like fear, but also . . . something else. And earlier, when I started thinking about the third Catacomb, it just came back to me. I don't know how to explain it, but I just know that this is the place, and besides, we don't have any other leads!”

“Then we will have to take your word for it, Milius,” Calder said, raising his hand to silence Sirius, who was about to retort. “But you must admit, your explanation of why you are so certain isn't very satisfactory. However, I don't believe it will hurt to simply check. But if you are right, I am more concerned for what you would find, rather than where you would find it.”

“What do you mean?” Shakil asked.

“Thus far, it has been confirmed that these buildings are, as we had initially believed, connected in some way with the Dragonknights. How, we do not know. But it seems that our predecessors were quite keen to keep the secrets of the Catacombs buried with them. Or perhaps, they weren't hiding the information from future charges, but from someone — or something — else, and now these clues are surfacing because our older Knights wanted their successors to uncover these secrets before something else does. Which one it is, we have no way of telling unless we unravel the mystery of the mirror and tablet. But whether you wish to ignore or pursue it, is entirely up to you; we can only guide you at this point. You must make your own decisions.”

“Calder — !” Aaron began furiously, but Calder held up a wizened hand to silence him too.

“Which would you like to do?” he continued calmly.

“I want to check it out!” Milius said at once, avoiding Aaron’s dark, incredulous gaze.

“So do I!” Sirius said.

“It only makes sense,” Ariana said, shrugging. “We're already halfway there on both accounts, it makes no sense to stop now.”

All three of them turned to Shakil, who sighed but nodded.

“Very well,” said Calder. “If we are indeed correct in our suspicions, and the third Catacomb (Sirius and Verdona’s) is located near this beaker volcano, then it seems that we may discover the secret of this magical mirror at last.”

“How do you know?” Sirius asked.

“These buildings were established by our people, Sirius. They may have existed in ancient times, but they have passed down their customs to us. Since the dawn of the Dragonknights, specific pairs of our charges have been noted to develop a more significant bond of friendship than with the others. Fire and wind, lightning and water — Ruby and Emerald, Amethyst and Sapphire.

“Ariana was able to procure the first half of the mirror, so if a second half indeed exists, it will most likely be you, Sirius, who will be able to obtain it. And Milius, of course, will secure the second half of the tablet. Then, finally, the puzzle of the Catacombs may be solved.”

“I think we should go now,” Milius said. “It's been torturing us for weeks, it's long past time we found out.”

“Tis up to you, my pupil,” Calder said with a smile. “And you, Ariana, Sirius, Shakil? Do you share the same eagerness?”

The three of them nodded.

“And us?” Frederick asked, indicating himself, Hestia, and Cole. “Can we go too?”

“Er — that is also up to them,” Calder said hastily. “If they wish to take you —”

“Hang on!” Cole interrupted loudly. “We were only supposed to be here for Fredrick and Hestia’s aunt! We were supposed to stay with her after the wedding because —” He hesitated. “Well, you know why! I spoke to her after you” — he stabbed a finger in Frederick’s direction — “ran off with them! She's been waiting for us for hours, we're leaving!”

“Oh, come on, Cole,” Frederick pleaded. “You have no idea what it was like! I have to see what happens next!”

“No!”

“Actually,” Hestia chimed in unexpectedly, “I'd like to see it as well. A secret of the Dragonknights that even they don't know? I think it would be worth checking out.” She caught Milius’s eye and smiled.

Milius smiled back, but the odd, fluttering feeling in his stomach no longer bothered him.

“Cole, please, for me?”

Cole glared at her for several seconds, then sighed. “Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “But once you've seen what you need to, we're leaving, all right?”

“Done,” Frederick said exuberantly.

“Where is this mountain, anyway?” Ariana asked Milius. “You didn't say.”

“Huh? Oh, that's right!” He clapped a hand to his forehead. “I don't know, I only saw what it looked like!”

“What?” Sirius demanded.

“If I might speak,” said Demus, and everyone ceased staring disbelievingly at Milius and turned to face him. “It sounds as though you are speaking of Mt. Phobos — the Dread Mountain, as it was called in my youth. It is a magical place that radiates powerful waves of fear. No one goes near it unless absolutely unavoidable; even animals are repulsed by its magic. If you go, you must not approach too close. Otherwise, you will experience your greatest fear, amplified a hundredfold by the mountain's power. Terror in that intensity can cause madness, even death.”

“I think I might have a solution to that,” Milius said. “Where is Mt. Phobos?”

“In the Old Country, to the far south.”

“Thank you,” Milius said, bowing. “Well, shall we?”

They clambered atop the dragons, Hestia with Ariana, Milius and Frederick, and Shakil with Cole, waved to the Elders, and they were off. The dragons streaked over the castle and through the cool, evening air, the wind ruffling their hair. Milius looked around and saw the other dragons on either side of him, their wings working furiously, pushing as fast as they could, with the exception of Vrydius, who seemed to be working fairly hard not to burst on ahead of them.

The sky slowly darkened around them, the wind becoming chillier with every passing minute, but on they flew. The moon had risen before long, and they were passing through a stretch of darkness, the moon having been obscured by a passing cloud, when Ariana suddenly cried, “I see it!”

They looked to where she was pointing and saw, on their left, a most strange-looking mountain. It was so dark that it was quite difficult to make out at first, but then the cloud had passed, revealing the crescent moon again, and its pale rays illuminated the mountain’s odd form, like an upsidedown beaker. As Milius looked at it, he felt that sudden and inexplicable surge of fear creeping through his chest again, as he had felt it in Phontus’s castle, but he did not look away, nor did the fear fade. His heart rate rising furiously, he seized his wreath of gold and placed it clumsily atop his head.

“It's . . . horrible,” Ariana said in a quavering voice. Hestia was clutching at her back, looking, along with everyone else, suddenly terrified.

“Back up!” shouted Sirius, who was already urging Verdona backwards. “Come on, back up!”

Lumeus, Aleia, and Vrydius followed, and Milius felt the knot of fear in his chest unfurling slowly and steadily.

“What are you doing?” Frederick asked him, as he reached up to fix the wreath.

“The magic in this wreath allows me to project my own emotions onto beings around me. Of course, with enough willpower they can always throw me off, but I doubt anyone here's going to object.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, ridding himself of his anxiety, of doubt, leaving nothing but a sense of peace, sweeping through him. . . . And again, he felt his own serenity seeping through the air and into those around him, clearing their minds, placing them into states of pure calmness, almost indifference. . . .

“That's better,” Ariana said, heaving a deep sigh. “Now what?”

“Can you feel anything?” Shakil asked Sirius, who shrugged, looking unconcerned.

“Does that mean it isn't here?” Milius asked, slightly disappointed.

“Or maybe . . .” Ariana began.

“Maybe what?”

“Well, think about it. The first Catacomb was found under the floor of a forest teeming with vicious magical creatures. And the second was plopped in the middle of a lake.”

“So?” Milius said, a little impatiently.

“So, whoever hid these Catacombs seemed to have gone to pretty great lengths to keep them hidden, didn't they? A normal person who knew what was in the forest would have avoided it at all costs. Or if they didn't, they'd most likely be killed by the monsters. And again, if not, it took a powerful earthquake from a mystical sword to reveal the Catacomb beneath. And no one would have been able to go under the lake without assistance from underwater beings. Now here we are, near this weird mountain that repels almost every living creature by instilling them with visions of their greatest fear. Judging by the pattern of the other two. . . .”

“Wait, you're not saying — ?” Shakil said suddenly.

“You think this Catacomb or whatever is inside the volcano?” Cole demanded, looking incredulous. Milius quickly looked back at Ariana, who looked uncomfortable.

“If it is anywhere around here, that's where I think it would be, yes,” she said.

There was a little silence.

“But that's . . . is it active?” Milius asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Ariana said. She urged Vrydius forward and the dragon swooped towards the mountain. Sirius went soaring after her, and after exchanging looks, Milius and Shakil followed. The four of them crowded around the eccentric mountain and peered down inside it. The surface was completely smooth, a glassy, midnight-black lake that gleamed in the moonlight.

“Well, I guess —” Milius began, downcast, but he broke off as Vrydius drifted even lower. “Hey, I don't think —”

Hestia screamed. The black lake, as though it had sensed the descending dragon, had melted at once, transitioning smoothly into a roaring pool of magma.

“Yep, that pretty much proves it,” Ariana said, gliding back up to them; her face was now shining with sweat.

“But how are we going to get through the surface?” Milius asked.

“I've an idea,” Sirius said. “Bloom, with me.”

Shakil, looking bemused, glided over to Sirius, who had pulled out his goblin-like figurine once more. He held his palm out to Shakil. “Not too deep, if you don't mind.”

“W — what?”

“Your sword!” Sirius said impatiently. “I need blood for this next part.”

“Oh — okay.” Shakil looked apprehensive, but he seized Oceannerva nevertheless and ran it across Sirius’s palm. Blood blossomed from the gash, and Sirius held his palm above the figurine, letting it flow over it. The figurine’s eyes began to glow a deep red, and a barrier appeared around them, encasing them like a great scarlet bubble.

“Ariana,” Sirius continued, “can Vrydius make a shield for you two?”

“I — I think so.” She bent lower across the dragon's feathery flank. “Vrydius, I need a bubble of air around both us and Lumeus, can you do that?”

The dragon gave a loud squawk and began flapping his wings furiously. Huge plumes of green wind began to stir around them, encasing both dragons in a dome of emerald wind.

“Follow us!” Sirius shouted, and judging by the loud splashing noise a few moments later, they had dived.

“Well?” Frederick said from behind Milius, his eager smile still in place. “Let's go!”

Lumeus and Vrydius dove as well, the dome of wind working furiously around them as they plunked through the fiery surface. They forced through the magma, striving downwards like a stone falling through tar, listening to the ominous sloshing sound of the magma as it parted around them. A moment later, however, Milius and Ariana exchanged bewildered looks: they were now moving upwards. After a solid minute had passed, they emerged into what felt and sounded like a clear space, and Ariana deemed it safe enough to remove their wind guard.

As they looked around, they found Shakil, Sirius, Cole, and the two dragons on the floor of the room, around an enormous hole that they had obviously just flew up through. They wheeled about and landed beside them, dismounted, and began to gaze around.

The third Catacomb seemed to be as large as the others, with shining black and crimson walls, and a floor that perfectly resembled the frozen black lake they had seen earlier. Balls of scarlet fire were whizzing around in midair, quite unsupported, providing light to the mysterious, yet beautiful room.

“This way,” Sirius said. Vulcatrix’s ruby was aglow. They trailed along the corridors behind him, not even bothering this time to check the remaining rooms, but simply following Sirius as the mysterious power that had called to Shakil and Ariana led him to what, Milius was sure, would be a humming, glistening ball of scarlet energy. And at last, they reached it. A room smaller than all others, yet far more sumptuously decorated. The walls were studded with glittering shards of rubies and dark grey jewels.

Ariana’s ball of emerald energy had been guarded by an invisible barrier; Shakil’s had been suspended in a sphere of water; but Sirius’s was floating freely in midair, in the center of the room, over the vast pool of lava that obscured most of the floor.

Frederick tore a piece of cloth from his shirt and tossed it into the pool; it burst into flame and dissolved entirely in the pit a split second later.

“Oh wow, good luck with that,” Milius said, clapping Sirius on the back. Glaring at Milius, Sirius took a deep breath and, very slowly, dipped his toe into the water. Nothing happened. Sirius sank his entire foot into the pool, then his other. Still, there was no reaction.

“Huh . . . it's actually quite nice, you know,” he said cheerfully, splashing around. Catching Milius’s impatient look, he turned and began to wade through the water until he reached the ball, and as he raised his hands to touch it, it began to burn white. A moment later it had exploded. The shards of energy did not solidify, but simply dissolved in the volcanic stream. But out of the mess of white, Sirius had caught it, an ornate silver object — a burnished mirror.

“Well, come on!” Frederick called. Sirius splashed back to them enthusiastically as Ariana pulled out her own half. They hesitated for a split second, no more than a heartbeat, then pressed the two halves together. As soon as the pieces touched, light began to spread along the crease. When it had faded, the mirror was whole and undamaged, no sign that it had ever been divided.

There was a moment when nothing happened, and everyone exchanged confused, disappointed looks. Then Ariana gasped. She was pointing dramatically at the mirror; something was appearing upon the surface, as though traced by an invisible hand.

“I think it's a spell,” Ariana said.

“What do we do?” Sirius asked blankly.

“Read it!” Milius, Shakil, Frederick, and Hestia hissed.

Ariana shrugged, Sirius cleared his throat, and both began to recite: “Dormat em vu, dispans ar mat va, ah met va til!”

A circle of light appeared behind them, and as they turned to look at it, it began to expand, rising to the ceiling, an enormous doorway of brilliant white light. There was another slight pause, then Sirius reached out towards the light, and touched it. His hand sank into the surface as his feet had in the lava, and then he pressed through, disappearing completely.

“Come on!” Milius said, and he leapt after his cousin.

A moment later, he emerged into what seemed to be another corridor in the Catacomb, but something was wrong. The walls were completely different. They were gold and brown now, with strange plants blooming from the walls, their glowing leaves illuminating the room.

“Is this another part of the Catacomb?” Ariana said, appearing behind Milius.

“No . . .” said Shakil, who had just emerged from the light and was staring around too. “I think — I think we're in a different one!”

“What — mine?” Milius said quickly, though he could not feel any mystical force reaching out to him as the others had; and in any case, the colour scheme was quite different from what he had expected.

“I don't think so,” Sirius said. “Come on —”

They swept along the hallway and into a vast, sumptuous hall, but stopped quite abruptly, for they were no longer alone. An enormous, glittering bubble was hovering before them, in what seemed to be the dead center of the hall, and beside it was a neat block of marble. A sword was buried, point-first, into the marble block, so that its hilt stood out, embedded with a large, glittering topaz. And suspended in the bubble was a magnificent dragon. It did not appear to have noticed them, for its eyes were still resolutely closed.

“I think it's asleep,” Shakil said quietly.

Ariana gasped again. “Look,” she whispered, pointing at the mirror again. More writing had blossomed across the smooth surface: the word Cerea, and underneath it, Gaiaden.

The dragon opened her eyes.