The group slept in silence, it was hard to tell how much time had passed but atleast they could sleep as much as they needed since they knew it was safe there.

Jing was the first to wake, moving a little and wincing, bringing a hand to her head. It was still hurting after a day? How hard had she been hit?! She didn’t move much besides that, looking around at the others, eyes stopping on Iris. The rakune still blamed herself completely for everything that had happened latly, which was why she had kept so quiet, especially about the hit to her head. She didn’t want to bother or worry anyone anymore.

The others slept on peacefully, but Bast began to wake and as he did, looked around. He sighed in relief as everything was fine, then spotted Jing awake.

Jing’s ear twitched a little as she heard something, moving a little to look at Bast. So he was awake now too? She said nothing though, just looking away.

Bast frowned faintly, and got to his feet silently, putting on his hat as he walked over to her. “How are you doing?” He asked.

“Fine…” Jing muttered quietly, not looking up at Bast.

Bast sighed, sitting beside her, and pulling her into a hug with one arm. “No you’re not.” He stated.

Jing tried to hide a small wince as she was moved into the hug, not hugging Bast or looking at him. “I said I’mfine Bast…”

“How’d you come to get captured back in that city?” He asked, noting the matted blood at the back of her hair, and still holding her close to his side as he leaned against the wall.

Jing bit her lip a little at Bast’s question. “When I had got to the square and started working on the distraction… something hit me in the back of the head. Next thing I remember is that dragon above me…”

Bast nodded, “You’ve got a pretty nasty bump.” He said, sighing, ‘Why didn’t you tell Iris last night?” He asked.

“I just didn’t want to…” Jing muttered, refusing to lookup at Bast. “It will be fine on its own…”

Bast frowned, “What’s picking at you kid?” He asked softly.

Jing kept quiet for a moment, unsure if she wanted to say anything. “Bast… I’m sorry…” She finally said in a quiet voice.

Bast blinked, “What for?” He asked, surprised.

“For everything that happened the last few days… You were right it was to dangerous.” Jing explained quietly. “I should have listened to you… especially when we saw the draconians. I…I shouldn’t have listened to Palari… It ended up having Iris killed and you hurt. I’m sorry… I’m sorry was was so stupid.” She continued to explain, tears forming in the rakune’s eyes by now.

He sighed, “Ah… so that’s what this nonsense is all about.” He said. “Listen Jing, we got what Palari told us to get, and we’re all alive and well. So don’t blame yourself for things that happened, okay? If those disks are what we need to defeat those dragons…”

“What if Iris hadn’t come back though Bast…? What if somethong worse happens next time?” She asked, starting to tremble a little as she spoke.

He sighed, “Liste, kid. This is getting very dangerous, yes. But none of it is your fault. We all do what we can, and if we have to believe in these gods now, then… so be it. So far they haven’t let us down, right?”

Jing slowly looked up at Bast, tail twitching. “You… You don’t belive in them either… do you?” She asked quietly. Though she did trust Palari now… she still had some of the old doubts in her still of gods.

He sighed, “I’m not sure what to believe.” He admitted, “But whoever these gods are, they’re helping us, and I guess that’s enough for now.”

Jing didn’t say anything else, looking back down at the ground again but leaning a little agest Bast.

Bast smiled faintly as she leaned against him, and he held her close. “We’ll get through this, we always do, don’t we?”

Jing nodded a little “I guess… But I’m scared of someone else dieing… and not coming back.”

He sighed, nodding. “We’ll just have to do our best to protect them all.”

Jing again nodded, trying to hide a small wince from her pounding head. “I guess…”

“And you can’t protect them well if your head isn’t healed.” He added gently, “So I’m telling Iris to heal that wound of yours.”

Jing sighed as she heard Bast “Alright…” She agreed quietly, looking up at him. “Where do you think we should go now…?”

He sighed, “I’m not sure. I suggest we try heading for Altador though, there’s many warriors and heroes who have been there, so… maybe we can find those willing to fight back against the dragons.”

“That sounds good… But… Didn’t Lei say the valley was attacked? Do you think the ship is still undamaged?” She asked, a little nervous.

“We can only hope so.” He said grimly. “We did land away from Happy Valley, it might have been missed by the army.”

“I hope so…” Jing said quietly, looking around and eyes stopping on the skeeping Dalit. “Do you think… Leria and Kinu will come back soon…?” She asked. Every day with the little dragon gone was hard, and seeing Dalit, who looked so much like Kinu when she first hatched… it was making it harder.

“I don’t know, Jing.” He said gently. “I hope they do return soon, we need them.”

“I know we do… And I miss them so much… I miss Kinu.” She said quietly, arms wrapping around herself a little.

Bast hugged her close, looking down at Jng, “Aye, I know you do.” He said quietly, looking up as Iris stirred.

Jing just closed her eyes, relaxing agenst Bast.

Bast smiled a little at Jing’s relaxing against him, and did not move. Iris sat up slowly, smiling at Rena who slept curled at her side.

Lei was starting to wake as well, wings twitching a little at the slightly uncomfortable position they had been put in through the night. Obviously Lei wasn’t use to them yet.

Jing kept quiet now, feeling a little better now that she had gottne what had been bugging her the day before and night off her chest.

“Morning guys.” Bast said, not moving from where he sat with Jing. “How’d everyone sleep?” He asked.

Iris smiled at him, happy to see him with jing like that. “As well as sleeping on stone floor can be.” She said wit a chuckle, “But it was a peaceful sleep nonetheless.”

Dalit shifted as Lei woke, blinking as he looked around and yawned.

Lei looked at Bast, chuckling a little “Alright I guess.” He said, trying to streach his stiff wings out a little. He then looked down at Dalit and smiling “Morning Dalit. How did you sleep?”

Jing’s ears twitched as she heard everyone else, slowly opening her eyes and looking around at them.

Dalit looked up at Lei and smiled, ‘Much better!’ He said, stretching out like a cat. ‘I’m hungry though…’ Rena was stirring now as well, not seeming to want to wake up just yet.

Bast looked to Jing, “Why don’t you go tell Iris about that head wound?” He murmured for only her to hear.

Silver was not where he’d fallen asleep the night before, and was nowhere to be seen.

Lei nodded in agreement with Dalit “Same here.” He said, looking at the others, wondering if they had much for food left.

Jing bit her lip as she heard Bast, and after a couple seconds she nodded. He was right… she should tell her. “Iris…?” She muttered quietly.

Iris was rummaging through the bags for what food they had left, and looked up as Jing called her. “Yes?” She said with a smile.

Jing was unsure to say, tail twitching a little behind her and she didn’t look up. “Um…I…I kinda lied last night… about not being hurt…”

Iris blinked, frowning slightly. “Oh…” She stood, walking over to Bast and Jing, “Why?”

Jing still didn’t look up at Leria, biting her lip again. “Because… I didn’t… want to. And I was… stupid…” She finally answered quietly.

Iris smiled faintly, kneeling beside Jing. Bast chuckled, “They bashed her head to knock her out when she was trying to make the distraction.” He explained, and Iris nodded, putting a hand on Jing’s shoulder, she prayed to her goddess, and Jing’s headache slowly faded away.

Jing kept quiet, glad to feel the headache finally going away. When Iris was done she smiled at her. “Thank you.”

Iris nodded and smiled back, “You’re welcome.” She said, “And don’t hide your wounds okay? We need to all be in top shape.”

Jing nodded “Ok Iris… I won’t.” She said, looking around and noticing finally that they were missing someone. “Where is Silver?”

Bast and the others blinked, looking around as well. Bast scowled, “Where is that blasted jerboa!” He got to his feet, finally letting Jing go. “I’ll go look for him, you guys get some food ready.”

“I can go look.” Jing offered. She wanted to streach out anyways and walking around a little would help. She stood up beside Bast, looking up at him.

Lei blinked a couple times, looking around “Does that little guy go off on his own a lot?”

Bast sighed, “Apparently so.” He glanced at Jing, hesitating, then nodded, “Okay, but be careful.”

“I’ll be fine Bast.” Jing said with a nod before walking off. After all, Iris had said they were safe here. Silver had probably just gone off out of bordum.

Lei chuckled quietly, looking at Bast. “He is quite the interesting little guy.”

Bast grinned faintly, “He is kinda interesting. I can see why Leria wanted him along with us, but he’s a handful. He’s also got a case of sticky fingers. He means no harm of course, but if you’re missing anything, he might have it. Like your earring thing, which seems you no longer have.” He grinned faintly, pointing at Lei’s missing jewellery.

Lei blinked a couple times confused, bringing up his hand to his horn, noticing the lack of feather. “Ack! How did I not notice it?!” He asked in suprise, sighing. “I’ll have to get that back from him later…”

Jing wandered around the temple, once in a while calling out Silver’s name and looking around for the Jerboa. Where had he gone?

The temple was not that large, and Jing found the statue of the goddess in one room, and some rooms of prayer and such, one of which was collapsed. The main hall of the temple had a pair of large double doors of solid oak, and one was open just a bit, letting light slide in from outside.

Bast chuckled, “He’ll keep it safe till you do. Just don’t accuse him of stealing it. He’ll give it right back to you if you ask.”

Jing blinked a couple times before sighing. Did Silver go outside?! She moved over to the door, going through the opening and looking around for the Jerboa.

Lei smiled and nodded “Thats good that he will keep it safe then. Hope he comes back soon so I can get it back though.”

Bast nodded. Iris and Rena were preparing the food, though it wasn’t much and there was no fire to make more of it.

Outside there were the remains of a ruined city, in the same style as the one underground. Apparently, this was one part of the city that had not fallen into the underground cave. There was less snow here than where they had entered the mountain, and the sun was in another place in the sky… they were on the other side of the mountain.

Lei watched them, sighing quietly “Hopefully we get out of here soon. I know the mountian well so mattering on where we are I can find more food.” He offered.

Jing looked around in suprise, eyes going to the ground, looking for any sign of Silver’s footprints in the snow.

There were a pair of tiny footprints in the snow, leading out of the temple and into the city ruins.

Bast nodded, “As soon as Jing comes back with Silver I suggest we head out then.” He said, taking his share of the food.

“Thats a good idea.” Lei said, taking a little bit of the food and giving it to Dalit before having a bit himself. He was really hungery, since he hadn’t gotten any food the day before but desided it was best to save what could be until they found more.

Jing looked at the footprints, sighing before following them into the snow and to the ruins, searching for the Jerboa. How far had he gone off?!

Bast nodded, sitting down again as he watched Dalit eat, then shifting tolook at the dragon’s wings. “What happened to his wings?” He asked.

Lei winced a little as he heard Bast “The black dragon… The chains that held Dalit when I first saw him… went through his wings. And she used her acid on them…” He explaiend quietly.

Iris looked over at Dalit in surprise and sadness, “That… is terrible!” She said quietly. Dalit watched them looking at him,a nd shifted uncomfortably.

Lei looked at Dalit. “Something wrong?” He asked, wings twitching a little, again put in a uncomfy position by accident.

Dalit shook his head, but moved closer to Lei shyly. Bast noticed this and smiled, looking down at his food instead. Iris moved over beside them, “Let me see what I can do to heal them.” She offered.

Lei looked at Iris and smiled a little, looking down at Dalit “Will you let her do that? Don’t worry, everyone here is safe. And Iris might be able to fix your wings.”

Dalit looked at Iris hesitantly, then nodded, ‘Okay…’ Iris smiled warmly, laying her hands gently on the small dragon’s wings she murmured a prayer to Merial. Slowly, the damage done to them began to heal, though not completely. Finally Iris pulled back. “That’s all I could do… but it should be better now.” Dalit nodded, sitting up and flapping his wings slightly. ‘They don’t hurt!’

Lei grinned happily at Dalit and nodded. “Thats great. Maybe when they get stronger we can go flying? If I can remmeber how to.”

As Jing walked into the ruins of the city, she could see that many draconians had passed by there, their footprints still visible in the snow.

Dalit nodded, then blinked, ‘you DO have wings then!’ He smiled, walking behind Lei to tug at one of them.

Jing froze as she saw the footprints, heart pounding a little but she shook her head, they must have been from before that other cave collapsed! She continued searching for Silver quietly, desiding just incase Draconian’s were around she wouldn’t call out the Jerboa’s name.

Lei chuckled a little and nodded “You were right. They came out when it was the only way to get out of the city.” He said, letting the little dragon tug on them. “Though now I don’t know how to put them away… if I can.”

Dalit smiled brightly, ‘So you flew us out!?’ He said excitedly.

Lei nodded, smiling happily at Lei. “I did. Though I don’t know how I was able to fly like that. It kinda just… happened.”

As Jing rounded a corner of a building, she saw a large group of fifty draconians sitting and standing around a group of fires. At the edge of the group, hidden behind a snowdrift… was Silver.

Dalit giggled, ‘That’s amazing!”

Jing froze in shock as she saw the Draconians, slowly backing up. She did notice Silver though. What was he doing there?! He should have come back to the temple as soon as he saw these things!

Lei smiled more as he heard Dalit “Thank you.”

Silver was moving around the snowdrift quietly, moving towards a group of draconians who had their backs to the small jerboa.

Jing watched Silver confused, keeping hidden from now. What was he doing?! There were way to many Draconians around!

Silver crept right up behind one draconian and bega to grab something from it’s belt.

Jing’s eyes widened in shock. What was he doing?! She moved carefully around the buildings and snowdrifts to get closer to him. Planning to grab the jerboa once he came back over.

Silver grabbed what he’d aimed for, then scampered back light-footed towards his hiding place, then began to weave his way back to the city, close to where Jing was.

Jing watched Silver quietly, moving slowly to keep the Draconian’s from seeing her and getting back to Silver.

Silver spotted her and grinned, walking over to her. “Better get back to the others and get out of here before they see us.” He whispered.

Jing nodded, looking at Silver worried. “What were you doing there?” She whispered back.

“Listening to their conversations.” He explained, “They plan on attacking Brigthvale and Meridell, I heard they hae the support of Darigan Citadel!”

Jing looked at Silver in shock “What?!” She hissed quietly. This was not good at all! “Come on lets go.”

Silver nodded, and ran back to the temple. The others had already packed up and were ready to go, waiting at the doors. Bast frowned as he saw them. “Where WERE you two?” He asked.

Jing looked at Bast, tail twtching nervously behind her. “Looking for him.” She muttered “Bast… We have to be careful leaving. There are Draconians out there…”

Bast sighed as he frowned, “Okay, which way?” He asked, glancing around at the city. Silver bounced up and down, “This way!” He said pointing down one alley. Bast glanced at Jing for confirmation. She hadn’t gone that way but it was away from where the Draconians were.

Jing was silent for a moment before nodding “The draconians are over that way.” She said, pointing off, just so Bast knew.

Bast nodded, “Oaky then, let’s go.” He said, and one by one the group left the protection of the temple, heading off after SIlver.

Lei followed behind all the others, carrying Dalit in his arms and looking around worried. How many draconian’s did you see?” He asked, looking forward at Jing.

“A lot…” The Rakune answered. “Maybe… fifty?”

Bast frowned, “Where are we anyways? I’ve never heard of his ruined city before.” He said as they ran quietly through the snow away from the city.

“No clue.” Lei answered Bast, looking a lookout for any Draconians. “I’ve lived on the mountian for years and never heard or seen it.”

Silver looked back from the head of the group, where he walked on top of the snow the rest trudged through. “We’re on the other side of Terror Mountain.” He explained, “Not many people come here cus it’s too hard.”

“How do you know all that?” Jing asked Silver confused.

Silver grinned, “I heard the draconians talking.”

Jing sighed a little and shook her head “Do you not realize how close you were to them? What if you had been seen?”

Silver shrugged, “Was I?” He said, then took out a slender tube, “And I got this from one of them!”

Jing walked over, looking at the tube confused “What is it?” She asked.

Silver popped one end and took out a parchment which he unfurled to show a map. “I heard them talking about it and decided we could use it.” He said, as Bast moved over to see it.

Jing looked at the map curiously, wondering what it lead to. “What were they saying about it Silver?”

“It’s a map of this side of the mountain.” Silver explained, as Bast looked it over, he nodded, “Silver’s right, it also has some marks where they plan to attack next.”

Jing bit her lip as she heard that, looking at Bast. “Should we warn the towns they are planning to attack?”

Lei went over to them as well, looking at the map to see exactly what towns there were, worried about the people.

Bast sighed, “Meridell and Brightvale, but I see other dragon armies raiding the southern towns, there’s no way we can warn them in time…” He frowned, “I’m not even sure what our small group can do…”

Lei listened sadly, sighing quietly. “They are taking over this whole mountian…”
Jing nodded as she heard Bast. “Then I guess we just head back to the ship the fastest way possible and head to Altador like planned. There is nothing else we can really do right now.”

Bast nodded, rolling up the map and giving it to Silver. “Let’s go.” He said, and the group once more headed down the trail along the side of the mountain.

Jing just followed quietly now, feeling sorry for all the people they couldn’t help at all right now.

Lei kept following behind the rest of the group, once in a while streaching his wings a little. These things got stiff so quickly. How did other flyers deal with it 24/7?

The group advanced slowly as the snow got thicker, by nightfall they had left the ruined city and it’s temple behind. There seeemed to be no trace of the draconians but they could not be sure, so that night they huddled with no fire in a crack in the mountain, everyone pressing together for warmth.

Lei looked at the others worried, hoping they would be alright through the night. The cold didn’t both him at all and he just sat with Dalit, looking down at the dragon. “You alright?” He asked quietly.

Jing was already asleep, her fluffy tail wrapped around her tightly for extra warmth.

Dalit nodded, ‘Silver dragons like the cold.’ He explained, “But the rest…” Bast had made sure to have the smaller of them in the center, himself and Iris circling Silver, Rena and Jing for warmth, all their cloaks and blankets over the group.

Lei nodded, looking at the others then around where they were all huddled up. He wished they had been able to find better shelter for the others.

Dalit glanced at the huddled group, ‘I think they’ll be okay, as long as they keep together.’

Lei nodded again “I hope so Dalit… Lets get some sleep to alright?”

Dalit nodded, curling up in Lei’s lap, and closing his eyes.

Lei’s arms wrappde around Dalit a little, wings folding forward and around the two as well somewhat, Lei soon falling asleep.