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twenty-two

Morai

M orai crawled through the tunnel, gritting her teeth as her knees scraped on the hard floor. When they’d crossed the mirage, finding a place to camp was not as hard as she’d anticipated. Caves had dotted the place, and the only thing they had to do was find one that was unoccupied. Most of the caves were since most of the dragons lived in close proximity to each other and had lived more in a clearing. It was one of such caves that Morai was crawling through.

Getting in through the mouth of the cave was not an option since there was almost always a dragon sunbathing there, so Morai had to get in through the back which wasn’t easy because she first had to find a hole large enough to crawl through. Thankfully, Fida, who was acting as backup, had helped her up. Morai paused when she reached the end of the tunnel that opened to the rest of the cave, inching forward, she leaned over it, and frowned. This one was just like the last two. A large dragon nest that took the entirety of the cave, but no white peacock. Stifling a groan, she reversed her crawl back the way she’d come.

So far, she hadn’t seen any of the peacocks that were supposed to be leaving with the dragons. She’d assumed they could be frolicking with the dragons, but so far, had seen nothing. Making her way back to the other side of the tunnel, she slowly turned around in a tight circle, cursing when she bumped her head against the ceiling of the cave. She now knelt with her head facing the entrance to the tunnel, chewing on her bottom lip. She paused, trying to catch her breath, then proceeded to sit on her heels, then forced her left foot forward, gritting her teeth again when her knee bumped into the wall. Satisfied, she did the same thing with her right leg, then scooted forward until her feet dangled at the opening. She paused again, breathing hard, Morai was just grateful no dragons had happened to pass by while she struggled. Now, all she needed to do was jump and hope she landed safely. The distance from the tunnel to the ground wasn’t too high, but from her distance it looked like it. She inched forward until she was sitting on her rump. Fida, who was pacing back and forth like a guard, looked up and waved. Morai waved back, taking a deep breath, she braced her hands on the edge so she could jump. A dragon roared in the distance, and Fida darted towards a tree, pulled her sword out before waving to Morai again. Morai didn’t think twice before jumping down to the ground and rolled before springing up and going behind the tree with Fida.

“Did you find it?” Fida whispered looking up at the sky. Morai held up a hand as she took in gulps of air, watching a dragon fly overhead and over the cave. It was huge but too far away to see what color it was. She squinted at the setting sun and sighed.

“No, it was another dead end.” Fida scowled.

“Where could it possibly be?” she asked. “Do you think the dragons knew we were coming and hid it?” Morai frowned then shook her head.

“No, I don’t think so. Let’s go back.” She just hoped Luka and the others were having it just as bad, but there had to be a more efficient way to look for the peacock, like working together with Luka. A dragon's roar sounded again, and both Morai and Fida looked up at the sky, frowning.

“Isn’t that where we’re camped?” Fida asked.

“Maybe it just happened to be flying in that direction,” Morai said. Fida gave her a dubious look. The dragon kept flying towards their camp, another dragon roared, and they flatted themselves against the tree as a different dragon flew over them and towards the camp. Morai swallowed.

“This can’t be good.” Fida responded by unsheathing another sword; together, they ran towards camp.