Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Egg in distress

When the elf emerged from the second tunnel, she was bruised, disheveled, and covered in dust. The first thing was treated with a Basic Healing. One of her assistants took care of the second. For the third, she put the clothes in the inventory, cast Wind Shower, and put them back on.

Wind Shower wasn't a spell learned during the game, but something she had developed herself. It hadn't been overly difficult for her, as it was just manipulating her wind control in a slightly different way, as an adaptation of her other spells. Not only had she had many years to achieve it, but her daughters were often a good practice.

While it wasn't as effective as a normal shower, it was more than enough to wash off a lot of the dust. The spell also made the work of the mini Goldmi who was doing her hair more difficult for a few moments.

She did all of this while Hovering to reach the ground. She canceled the spell to get down faster, thus letting herself fall, and using Mattress to soften her landing.

"Sister, I need you," she called then.

The lynx, which had already stretched after being warned by the elf, disappeared.

"It seems that Goldmi has called her," the high human stated the obvious.

"I hope she's okay," the vampiress said, slightly nervous.

She could face an army. However, being there without being able to do anything, and without knowing what was happening to her friend, was overwhelming.

When Goldmi emerged from the second tunnel between the rocks, she found the egg being harassed by some strange bugs. They were surrounding it and climbing on it, and were trying to penetrate the hard shell.

They were eight-legged, about twenty centimeters long, and were the so-called draconic ticks, a parasite of dragons. Since these hadn't appeared for days, and there was an oval object with a similar aura, the parasites were trying to feed on it. It wasn't something they could achieve immediately, but over time, they would break it.

Goldmi could have shot arrows, or approached and cast her wind power or her weapons. However, she feared damaging the egg. Although very hard, it wasn't at all unbreakable.

What it did possess was practically absolute resistance to fire. In fact, it was even beneficial. If at any time a similar scene occurred, a dragon would simply cast their Fire Breath on the egg, which would strike down the daring mites.

So, the lynx approached wrapped in fire, and let her area burn the ticks. Meanwhile, the elf looked with apprehension the sloughing that had taken place days before. The nearest rocks had fallen just a few meters from the egg, and some had even rolled further. With worse luck, it could have been crushed.

Once the ticks were burned, Goldmi approached the egg, afraid that it was too late. To her relief, she noticed vitality surging from it, even though it might have been weaker than normal.

She then opened a Gate to where her companions were, where she had inscribed an Exit Gate. As feared, it was impossible to carry the two and a half meters egg through it. She couldn't make a living being pass through a Gate without their approval. Of course, she couldn't keep it in the inventory either.

The archer let her sister stay next to it, warming it. It was a little cold after just a week, although that was all they could do for it. The necessary draconic aura was something they couldn't provide.

After finding a place to set up an Exit Gate, which she left guarded by her sisters, she created a Gate again to where her companions were.

They looked at her intrigued when she appeared, but they weren't the only ones looking at her. Without daring to ask, the parents were waiting for news, as was the Old dragoness.

"It's fine. There were some eight-legged bugs, but we've burned them. The problem will be getting it out. We have to widen the pass," she informed.

The dragons were relieved, but also worried. There was still hope, but it was nowhere near done.

"Take us there," Eldi asked, agreeing with Gjaki.

Then, they said goodbye to the anxious dragons, and crossed a new Gate. Unfortunately, the dragons were too big to get through.

"Old one, can they do it?" the mother asked after watching them leave, anxiously.

"If fate has brought them, it must be for a reason," she answered mysteriously.

In fact, the old dragoness herself had doubts. Nonetheless, by saying it like that, she could calm the parents down a bit. If it didn't turn out well, there would be time to regret. It would be a great loss, since not many dragons were born every millennium.

"What if we move it deeper? If we find a solid place, the dragons could break through," Gjaki suggested.

"My sister has already explored it. There're sloughings throughout the cave. Less than here, but everything could end up falling if they force it," Goldmi denied.

"Well, we'll have to make a path," Eldi sighed, while looking at the mountain of rocks.

"How do we do it? Under the bottom, it must be impossible and much wider. From above, we have to remove the stones and lower them, which will take a long time. We can't just throw them away," the elf worried.

"I guess we can only increase our stock of rocks," Gjaki smiled.

"Oh, that's true!" Goldmi exclaimed. She then remembered that they could simply store them once they were able to pick them up.

"Shall we leave your sisters watching the egg?" Eldi proposed.

"Yeah. We can also put a wall to protect it, just in case," the elf suggested.

"Good idea!"

Thus, they took several rocks from their inventories to surround the egg to act as a wall. After that, the elf Hovered to the pass she had crossed before, and threw them a rope, which they climbed carefully. They didn't know how fragile that pile of stones was, whether it could move or collapse.

Once they got to the top, they began to pick up rocks and put them in the inventory. Little by little, with great care. The rocks were lifted by two or three of them if they were big. If a rock was too big, they just let it be.

They were careful, so that the ones below didn't come loose when they lost the pressure of the ones above them. Just in case, the vampiress had arranged her threads as if they were a metal net used to prevent landslides.

The biggest problem was encountered when trying to move a rock that was embedded in the ceiling. It not only touched the ceiling, but it held it. If they removed it, that ceiling would fall on them. It wasn't the first time it had happened to them, but now they couldn't just detour. On the other side of the tunnel there was another similar one. They had to remove one of the two.