"You'd think a dragon carve itself a larger tunnel," Ghyreian said dryly. She winced, hearing her words bounce off the frozen walls. She lowered her voice. "What good would this passage do it if it couldn't fit?"

She ducked her head and entered the tunnel.

_________________

"Dragons have magic and the power to shapesift, it is a simple diversion to think that no dragon could enter..."

Edwin said calmly as he continued walking.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian stopped, still pressed against the tiny confines of the tunnel. She thought she heard something. She heard it again, the steady drip-drip of water. But there was something else.... Half blinded by the brightness, Ghyreian strained her ears. It was not so much a noise, but a sense she was all too familiar with.

Dragonfear.

She craned her neck back at Edwin and scowled.

She hated when he was right.

_________________

Edwin sighed.

"Why must it come down to this?"

Edwin muttered quietly as he felt it too and looked at Ghyreian.

"Run or fight?"

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"Sneak past it if we can," Ghyreian muttered. "I don't know about you, but I'm not too intent on facing another dragon at this moment."

The tunnel opened up ahead of them. Ghyreian crept up to the entrance and pressed herself against the wall. She took a breath, then peered outside.

The next cavern was empty.

Letting go her breath, she stood motionless for a few moments more, then slipped out.

_________________

They walked out into the open sneaking in the shadows, there was no one there as they procceeded and they took a new tunnel that was the only one forward. The fear got slightly stronger, but for some reason this fear was not terrifying and yet it was a fear. Either that this dragon was different or it was calm not aware of them.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Emerging from the tunnel into yet another cavern, Ghyreian stumbled over something in the dark.

A human skull.

It was only then that she realized the entire cavern was a graveyard without graves. Her stumble had inadvertently sent the skull rolling across the cavern, clattering into another group of bones a few feet away. In trepidation she listened to the sound echo. Heavy bootsteps sounded from around a corner. Frantically she noted a small enclave branching off from the main cavern. Not stopping to question her fortunes, she darted inside the enclave trusting Edwin would follow. Inside the enclave was another surprise: barrels and sacks of frozen goods stacked neatly in rows.

"Hey, what are you doing in the storage room?" a gruff voice, heavily accented Common, issued from outside. Two enormous men wrapped in furs approached.

"Where's the dragon?" Ghyreian asked grimly.

The barbarians stopped, nonplussed. And then they did something utterly unexpected - they began to laugh. "The dragon! Hah! You needn't worry about that one." Shoulders heaving, they wiped away their tears of mirth. "We're the ones controlling it!"

_________________

"Oh really? And how are you supposed to do that?"

Edwin asked crossing his hands on his chest.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

The barbarians seemed to take amusement from Edwin's dubious tone. "Frostdeath be under tribe's control since my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather," the first said, stooping to enter the storage cave and making himself quite comfortable. Grinning at Ghyreian, he thumped himself on the chest. "Me Bruk. Me friend's Morgnar. Your clan?"

Ghyreian stood up, placing the sitting barbarians at a disadvantage they obviously didn't mind. "My companion and I," she gestured at Edwin, "are looking for a way out."

The barbarians laughed uproarously. "No doubt," Bruk chuckled. "You not from here. Long black dress? Tsk, tsk. No provisions, no furs. How you get here?"

_________________

"We have our ways..."

Edwin hmped with an amused smile since these barbarians coulfn`t possibly understand magic.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"Show us the way out and you won't ever see the likes of us again," Ghyreian added.

The smiles slid easily from their faces. "Bad idea," Morgnar observed. "You die on tundra in a day. Blizzards and monsters."

"Besides we can't let you go," Bruk said, folding his arms across his chest. He rose and placed his hand within reaching distance of his javelin. "He insists all newcomers brought before tribe."

_________________

"He?"

Edwin asked not quite sure, whom they meant and he doubted it would be the dragon, if these barbarians controlled it or as they claimed.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian exchanged a puzzled glance with Edwin as the barbarians exchanged frowns. Morgnar muttered something disparaging in his own tongue, which Bruk waved aside after a moment's contemplation.

"We take you before him, if you like," Bruk offered. "Otherwise we do hard way."

Not liking their tone, Ghyreian instinctively reached for her spell components - at which the barbarians hefted their javelins - before stopping herself. She was in their caverns, in the midst of a bleak tundra she knew little about. Perhaps diplomacy would assist them more here. She looked helplessly at Edwin.

_________________

Edwin slightly smiled as he saw her face and raised his hands as sign of surrender, they almost threw their javelins, but calmed themselves as they saw his hands not to mention the other one wasn`t a full hand.

"Please honourable men, violence will only bring a mess and that doesn`t look nice in your reputation before him, if we are to be brought before him am I not correct?"

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

The barbarians grinned. With some temerity Morgnar came up and clapped Edwin on the back in the manner of old friends. "You learn fast for a man in a dress," he laughed. "Maybe I be wrong about you." He held up a pair of blindfolds. "His orders."

Ghyreian swelled in outrage and bit back her caustic words. At her face, the barbarians seemed more amused than ever. "Spirited friend," Bruk told Edwin. "Like tundra yeti. But angrier."

"I don't suppose your inane brain capacities allow much thought for mages," Ghyreian sniffed. "I shall not allow myself to be blindfolded like a dumb beast."

Bruk and Morgnar exchanged glances for the second time. Morgnar shrugged. "Suit yourself." That was when his fist connected with her face and her world blacked out.

_________________

Edwin grinned, he didn`t really have a choice and they would meet him anyway here. With violence or without.

"Just give me the blindfold..."

Edwin said.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!