Page 17 of Serving my Dragon (The Dragocracy Chronicles #2)

Chapter Thirteen

As I stood on the rocky cliff encircling a lake fed by a waterfall, I admired the beauty and noted the amenities: an abundance of fruit trees, fresh water, coverage from the trees from drones that might fly overhead. A place this lush would have animals to snare. Most likely fish, too.

“What a beautiful spot,” Kayleigh exclaimed, clapping her hands.

“It’s more than pretty,” Juan grunted. “Take a look.” He pointed and it took me a moment to make out the chiseled stairs carpeted in foliage that led downwards from where we stood before flattening into a ledge that disappeared through the waterfall.

The little boy in me that used to love to explore wondered what I’d discover if I followed them.

Apparently, I’d soon find out as my uncle began descending with Pollita perched on his shoulder craning eagerly ahead.

“What is this place?” Kayleigh asked, hugging the wall as she carefully followed. I kept close to it as well, given I didn’t trust the eroding steps with their missing chunks.

“Some kind of ancient temple,” Juan replied, tromping without a care, seemingly unbothered by his heavy pack, unlike me who couldn’t wait to drop it.

“How did you find it?” I queried next.

“By accident,” my uncle admitted. “When I was a young man, I used to hunt these parts when Papa used his paycheck to drink. I literally fell into the lake when being chased by a jaguar. While swimming to find a place to climb out, I discovered the steps.” He cast me a grin over his shoulder. “Of course I followed them.”

“A temple, you say? Built by who?” Kayleigh’s hand scrabbled for the wall as her foot slid on a slick spot. The spray from the falling water misted the area.

“No idea.” Juan shrugged. “By the time I came across it, it had been emptied of everything. All that’s left is a series of hallways and chambers, most of them huge.

There is a chasm as well that looks to have once had a bridge.

Pity it fell because there appears to be a heated pool on the other side. You can see the steam rising from it.”

“I’m surprised the government hasn’t made this place a protected site.” The usual for ancient structures.

“They would if they knew about it.” Juan chuckled. “But they don’t and never will. I sought out the owner when I was in my twenties, asking if he would sever this section so I could buy it. He refused, but being an avid gambler, he offered it up as ante in a card game. He lost.”

“You own it?” I exclaimed. “How come this is the first I’ve heard of it?”

Juan rolled his shoulders. “Didn’t seem important since I never ended up doing anything with it. I’d always planned to build myself a place to retire but the money for that never happened.”

Spraying droplets soaked us as we neared the waterfall, the falling sheet of it dense. Passing through would soak us for sure and I grimaced at the thought of being in a dank cave with wet clothes.

Without hesitation, Juan—who still carried Pollita—stepped past the curtain of water. Kayleigh stayed close on his heels.

I took in a breath before passing through. The water drenched me as expected, but to my surprise, the air on the other side proved warm. “It’s not cold.”

“Yeah, kind of nice, eh? Hold on, I’ve got a lantern here.” Juan’s voice echoed and a moment later a soft light bathed the space.

The very large space. Despite my uncle holding up the lantern, I couldn’t see the ceiling or the walls, just the dusty stone floor.

“There’s brackets for torches on the walls,” Juan stated. “A few tree limbs are all it takes to illuminate the space.”

“Burning wood means smoke. Wouldn’t we choke?” Kayleigh asked.

“It manages to seep out somehow. Never had an issue the times I used to camp here, and even better, wherever it goes can’t be seen from outside,” my uncle informed us.

“I’ve got a fire pit with a trivet for cooking set up over by the wall.

For sleeping, you can either stay in this chamber or choose one of the smaller ones. ”

“What about wild animals?” I’d hate to wake to my flesh being gnawed because we’d invaded some creature’s den.

“Nothing of concern the times I stayed here. A lack of food means no rats. Mostly spiders and bugs.”

“Ugh. Creepy crawlies.” Kayleigh’s grimace couldn’t have been cuter.

“This place is perfect,” Pollita declared as Juan set her on the ground. “Spacious and well hidden. Excellent choice.” My dragon waddled off to explore as I dropped my heavy pack to the floor.

“Why don’t you and Kayleigh check it out while I gather some branches and fruit.” Juan headed back through the waterfall.

“I wonder why he called this place a temple?” Kayleigh mused aloud. “Seems like just a cave to me.”

Knowing my uncle, he had a reason. “Let’s take a peek.” I toted the lantern, holding it aloft. We first made our way left, the cavern actually wider than the opening screened by the waterfall.

The first sight of the wall had Kayleigh exclaiming, “There’s carvings.”

Indeed, the walls had been smoothed from the floor to about ten feet, and on that flat surface were etchings that resembled writing.

“I wonder what it says,” I murmured.

“It’s old, whatever it is. Do you think it was the Incas?”

“Most likely.” They’d been rather advanced as a society but historians claimed they didn’t have a written language. Instead, they relied on intricately knotted ropes known as quipu. But if not them who’d carved the inscriptions, then who?

Following the wall led to the first of five openings. Three of them turned into corridors, while the other two led to the chambers Juan spoke of. A bedroom-sized one had Kayleigh waving her hands. “This one seems nice for setting up our bedding. The niches in the walls can hold our personal items.”

The other room must have been a kitchen, judging by the large hearth and the stone counters ringing the space. It also held a huge block of petrified wood in the center.

A pointing Kayleigh remarked, “They must have hung herbs and stuff from the ceiling. There are still a few hooks embedded.” Rusted by time, the curve only remaining on a few and the jagged nubs of the ones that had snapped off.

We kept exploring, following a tunnel that led to more chambers. Carvings abounded, some more of the unreadable language, others more decorative in nature. Who used to live here and how had this place been forgotten?

The longest hall ended in a wide ledge and the chasm my uncle had mentioned. Pollita stood at the edge, staring across at the rising steam.

“What do you think of the place, Polly?” Kayleigh asked, crouching beside the small lizard.

“It’s perfect,” she declared. “No surprise, since this citadel used to belong to my kind.”

The statement startled. “Wait, you’re saying a dragon lived here?”

“Oh yes. Two, at least, according to the writings but not at the same time, obviously. We don’t like to share territory.”

“You can read it?” Kayleigh’s query held a note of excitement.

“But of course.” A disdainful reply. “This place was once home to the dragons named Boitatá and Amaru. ”

I couldn’t help but react. “I’ve heard of them. They’re considered to be myths.”

“Humans.” Polly snorted. “Never stopping to think myths and legends were born from the truth.”

“What happened to them?” Kayleigh asked.

Polly rolled her wee shoulders. “Nothing I’ve read indicates the method of their demise but one would assume old age or hunters.”

“Or another dragon,” I added.

“Also possible.” Polly didn’t deny it happened. “But rare. It takes great strife for a dragon to relocate to another territory for it usually means abandoning their hoard, not to mention the shame and cowardice of failure.”

A glance across the chasm and the moist mist had me murmuring, “I wonder what is over there.”

“Can you not smell the hint of sulfur? It’s a geothermal pool. Lovely for bathing. I shall quite enjoy soaking in it once I get my wings.”

“You don’t mind staying here?” I ventured.

“Mind? This habitat is much more suitable for one of my stature, and it is large enough to accommodate the servants I shall acquire.”

I didn’t mention the fact I didn’t plan to live in a cave forever.

“Do you think whoever emptied this place found the previous owners’ hoard?” Kayleigh posed the question as we returned to the main entrance.

“Doubtful.” Polly perched on my shoulder, her little legs tired, not that she’d admit it. She’d held up her arms and imperiously demanded I carry her as befitted her station. “Dragons keep their treasures in locations usually inaccessible to humans.”

“Perhaps true long ago, but with today’s tools, there isn’t much we can explore,” I stated.

“We’ll soon see, I guess. It would be a great start to my dragocracy if I could locate the wealth accumulated by the previous occupants.”

A part of me wondered how much wealth, but laughter instead burst out as I repeated, “Dragocracy? That’s not a word.”

“It is now. Given your English language didn’t seem to have the proper translation for the term that used to indicate humans governed by dragons, I created one. Fear not, once I attain my proper size and begin claiming my stake, those taken under my wing will start using it.”

Should I point out people weren’t likely to accept Polly being their unelected ruler? Time enough for me to explain humans would be more likely to try to kill her than simply obey and worship.

By the time we got back to the main cavern, Juan had also returned.

He’d already placed and lit the torches in the brackets, and wow.

The cavern proved even more impressive now that we could see it, the etchings running the circumference, the ceiling vaulted.

At the peak, I spotted a large alcove that went who knew where.

“So? What did you think?” my uncle asked.

“This place is insane,” Kayleigh gushed. “So much space, and the carvings are really impressive.”

“I took a rubbing of a few of the inscriptions to a friend at a university who knows ancient languages but he didn’t recognize it.”

“Because only dragons and their closest servants can read it,” Polly announced.

“This was a dragon’s home?” Juan’s eyes widened.

“Yes. You have served me well by bringing me here,” Polly stated before waddling to the pile of fruit my uncle had also brought back.

Juan inclined his head. “We should return to the truck and bring the rest of the supplies.”

I nodded. “Kayleigh, you stay here with Polly while I go give him a hand.”

It took two trips back and forth to bring everything Mama loaded us with. By the time we finished, Kayleigh had prepared the chamber we’d found, sweeping out dust and webs, laying out the bedding—in a single bed I noticed—stacking our clothes in the niches.

My uncle took his leave of us, promising to return in a few days with more supplies.

I bit my tongue lest I complain once more about the life I’d been forced to leave.

This would only be temporary. For me at least. Polly would most likely remain as this would be the safest spot for her.

Only… who would take care of her once Kayleigh and I left?

Or would Polly be able to care for herself? Would weekly visits suffice?

Once Juan departed, I fetched some wood for the hearth so we could cook our dinner, a stew that Kayleigh cobbled together using the pot that I’d thought Mama crazy to pack. Kayleigh dangled it from a hook within the fireplace that had survived when others hadn’t.

By the time I’d finished my chores, I was a dusty, sweaty mess.

“I’m going for a swim,” I declared.

Kayleigh’s expression brightened. “Oh, that sounds nice. Me too.”

“I’m going for a nap. I’m tired.” A yawning Polly waddled off, leaving us alone.

We stripped inside the cave, me averting my gaze from Kayleigh despite my desire to look.

I kept my underpants on despite not being someone who usually cared much about nudity.

I dunked my dirty clothes under the falling water, rinsing them best I could before I draped them on some protrusions that Polly had earlier declared used to be a rack for holding weapons.

As Kayleigh hung her own garments, she laughed. “Been a while since I skinny dipped.”

Her words had me glancing at her and ogling because she’d removed every stitch.

I stared. I couldn’t help myself at the sight of her perfect curves. Flaring hips, indented waist, and heavy breasts made for fondling.

“Goodness, you’ll catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that,” she teased with a wink. “Last one in is a rotten egg,” she declared before stepping through the watery curtain.

It took me a second to shuck my underpants and give them a quick rinse before I joined her.

Naked.

Knowing what that would lead to.