The party re-oriented themselves and fanned out as they made their way across the caveern. Several members of the party were obviously avoiding each other's gaze - namely Gramps, Rasor, and Bart. The three had had to make a triangle of butt-rubbing to get the spell to work. And trying to steer had been almost impossible. The rest of the party avoided looking at the three in an attempt to save their friends' vanity - what was left of it - and to keep from bursting into laughter.
From somewhere deep below, a rumble reverberated. A faint breeze blew across the cavern. The rumble grew in intensity.
"Now would be a good time to get going faster."
Torner ran his hand nervously across the pommel of his sword.
'I couldn't agree with you more." Danidar looked down thew pit. "That wouldn't happen to be one of the creature's you were saying was not in this story TymeKeeper ?"
The sound had grown loud enough now that they had to shout to be heard and the wind wiped their hair and cloaks about feverishly.
"Let's go!"
Lytra grabbed Torner's hands and placed them on her tush. The four teams sped up again, dipping and bobbing along. The heavy wind made it extremely difficult to navigate and the four started to separate despite their best attempts to stick together.
"Greeeat VE!!"
Everyone heard Danidar's curses over the noisy den and glanced in the direction he was looking. From below, two great orange lights rushed up from the black depths. The lights blinked, and everyone realized that those lights were eyes. Huge eyes! No one wanted to stick around to see what those eyes were attached to.
"Faster! We've got to get to the other side!" Lytra screamed over the wind.
Too late. The rumble had built into a bellow. Wind slapped them sideways, then lifted them up further into the cavern. Without warning, Ophyllia smacked her head into the side of a stalagmite. She felt blood pouring down the side of her face and felt woozy. TymeKeeper tried to ask her something from behind, but she couldn't make it out. They continued to fly upwards at an alarming rate. Torner and Lytra were flying almost upside down. Twice they had nearly smacked into a stalagmite but Lytra's powers managed to see them in time so she could push them away from the stone with her hands.
Something dark rushed up between the groups. A cold chill washed over the adventurers and they turned to see the head of a ancient black dragon. His orange eyes pierced the dark and lent a freakish glow to the cavern. He swooped between huge stalagmites with the grace and ease of an eagle. Screams and shouts were heard above the awful screech of the dragon. No one was sure who was screaming in the chaos that ensued, maybe themselves. The dragon's head swiveled to the nearest group, Gramps, Rasor and Bart, and lunged his snake-like neck forward.
With a frantic scramble, Bart managed to pull the two into a small crevice in the ceiling as the dragon's jaws snapped shut with a resounding click. In wedging themselves into the crevice though, they dislodged a large chunk of rock. The pieces tumbled onto the dragon's head.
With a bellow of frustration, the great wrym twisted in a sinuous circle and dove back to the other groups.
No one could tell if the fly spell was still activated. The wind was so incredibly strong that boulders could have flown.
"Look! An opening!" Someone shouted as loud as they could.
A small tunnel close to the ceiling, above and to the right, opened into the cavern. This was certainly not their original destination. The large tunnel they had left was 100's of yards below them. The only problem, other than the dragon and wind, was that the opening sat behind a group of uneven stalagmites. The raging wind would make it a tricky affair to maneuver to the tunnel. But this seemed like their only choice. Just as they headed in that direction, the dragon blasted between the three groups. A terrified scream tore from Morgan's throat. The dragon's wing had knocked the duo end over end. The other groups floated helplessly as they watched Danidar, one arm around Morgan's waist and the other outstretched with his staff of VE, tumble into the darkness below.
Gramps nearly released Bart from his grasp.
"Morgaaaan!"