We moved slower and with greater care now as we descended deeper into the darkness below Gothol'gathrak. I had no idea if the dragon could still sense us but I didn't dare speak much anyway. What little talking we did we did in hushed tones. We kept our eyes open but we didn't come across much of anything that could proof useful in our endeavor to get out of here alive. We could have gathered some more oil for the lamps but we decided against it since we were lacking a proper container for the oil. Carrying more lamps would have just burdened us down.

Some rope would have been nice. We probably would have to do some climbing eventually. A bedroll or even just a plain blanket would have been welcome as well but the chances of finding anything like that down here were probably pretty much non existent. We probably would have to make do with what we already had. I really hoped that Gash'zur was right about the water at least. Now that things started quieting down above I couldn't help but notice just how parched my throat was. It wasn't even due to the heat of the dragon fire washing over us as we ran. It was mostly due to running for as long as we had first and foremost.

I almost bumped into the giantess walking ahead of me as she suddenly stopped. I only noticed her raised hand at the last moment. Ahead of us the tunnel we had followed opened up into a wide chasm. The tunnel continued on the other side but only a rather narrow rock bridge connect our side with the other. Could it be that this was the same chasm we had to cross to get into the royal quarters? There couldn't be too many chasms like this one under just one mountain. Right?

I leaned past my companion and out into the open just a little to look around. Our light didn't reach very far and there wasn't much to be seen anywhere nearby anyway but I didn't have much trouble finding what I had been looking for. The darkness above us wasn't nearly as deep as it was down here. Flickering firelight illuminated the destruction up there. The bridge we had initially crossed in the other direction was still whole though. At least I assumed that it had to be that bridge. There weren't any other I could see after all.

Just as I was looking the relative peace and quiet was shattered once again. Some rocks came crashing down the chasm, as something big tore its way through the royal palace above in pursuit of its prey. Thankfully none of them came down anywhere nearby. If one had smashed the rock bridge we probably would have been trapped for good. The last thing I saw, before ducking back into the tunnel next to Gash'zur, were some figures bursting out of the royal quarters and onto the bridge in a mad dash to reach the forges and foundries on the other side.

A mighty roar followed them. That roar alone was enough to have me shaking in my boots again. I had no way of knowing if the figures I had seen where some of mine. They simply had been too far away and the angle, viewing the scene from below, had been bad as well but I just couldn't do nothing. The chance that it might have been some of my banner was small but it was not zero. I gestured to the other side and gave my companion a light push. “Move!”

For a moment it looked like she wanted to protest but then she got moving anyway. Even as she moved to cross the chasm I started building the spell matrix for the spell I had in mind, gathering Mana to feed into the spell as I went.

Moments later the gargantuan dragon burst free from the corridor we had taken to get into the palace, sending rocks flying everywhere once again. It roared once more and reared back to bath the fleeing in fire. Some might find cover behind the heavy machinery of the forges and foundries but it probably would not do them much good.

I could already see the flames flickering from its mouth. I had no more time to waste. Gash'zur had reached the other side of the chasm and ran into the tunnel there, never stopping or looking back. Good. I finished the spell matrix for Lion's Roar and fed the Mana I had gathered into it and as I roared I mimicked the dragon's own furious call. I probably even matched it in volume. The chasm might have helped in that regard.

Whatever I had expected to happen, it wasn't quite what I glimpsed as I started running across the rock bridge myself. The dragon almost choked on its own fire, exhaling only a few flickering flames and great puffs of black smoke instead of bathing the whole area of the forges and foundries in a sea of fire.

It certainly did not appreciate me mimicking its call though. Of that much I was certain. The way it glared at me left little doubt about that. What little doubt there might have still been left went overboard as the giant scaled beast launched itself in my direction into the chasm.

I jumped into the waiting tunnel entrance to cover the last few paces as rocks started raining down around me again. Not one moment too soon either. Just as I came back onto my feet a piece of the cliff side from above smashed through the bridge, leaving almost no trace that it had ever been there. I had no time to stare though. Never mind, I had no time to waste. It would be only moments at best before the dragon got here. I redoubled my efforts to get away from the opening to the chasm and catch up to the giantess ahead of me.

The mountain shook again as the gargantuan beast crashed into the side of the chasm somewhere nearby. It was almost enough to make me loose my footing. I stumbled a few steps forward but never slowed down. As I risked a look over my shoulder I looked straight into an eye that might as well have been a portal into a raging inferno. My heart skipped a beat and my breath caught in my throat for a moment.

Then Gash'zur grabbed me and dragged me further into the tunnel, breaking the spell. It had to be a spell of some kind or a spell like power granted by the mad goddess it was serving. Something to make prey freeze in fear. The giantess dragged me deeper into the tunnel and not a moment too soon either.

As I stumbled along the dragon pulled back. It didn't bath us in fire though. Not right away at last. I must have angered it for real. Instead of roasting us it reached into the tunnel, trying to grab us. Its claws fell short though even if not by much. As it pulled back, part of the tunnel and the cliff face came away as well. Its claws easily dug into the rock and its powerful muscles made short work of the rest.

I had caught another glimpse of something important though as we ran for our lives. Stuck there, in its flank just beyond the paw with which it had reached out to grab us, was my glaive, or at least what remained of it. The shaft fashioned from one of the wyvern's impossible flexible wing bones had broken but the blade carved from its stinger was still stuck in the dragon's flank, some of the scales around it blackening.

Obviously the wound was not bad enough to kill the fire breathing beast, not any time soon at least, but it was a weak point I could exploit, if I ever got the chance. That would have to wait though. First we had to survive and our survival was anything but a certainty right now.

We had put some more distance in between us and the enraged monster when it finally gave up on digging us out. As I looked back one last time I could see its chest swelling and glowing from within once again as it prepared to breath fire once again. In this narrow tunnel we wouldn't stand a chance.

Before I could despair for good though, Gash'zur pulled me aside into another tunnel and through a bronze door which she promptly slammed shut. Once again her timing was perfect. Just as the heavy metal door closed, flames licked around its edge. Only moments later it started to glow slightly and the heat washed over us even though the flames themselves couldn't touch us.

I looked around wildly and pointed at another door on the other side of the room. The giantess nodded and we got moving again. Only once that second metal door closed behind us did I dare to relax even if just a little, as we left the worst of the heat behind.

Gash'zur just shook her head and hushed me, pointing down the tunnel behind her. As she spoke she was whispering once again. “We should get a little further away. Considering just how angry you made that thing it might just try to dig us out again other wise.”