Chapter Twelve

Chiara saw a flash of fur. She flattened her ears in disappointment. The deer leaped away, her having spoked it. It had been a waste of her time to go searching there. Maybe if she had tried somewhere else she would’ve found at least one of them. Instead, Chiara had gone in some random direction with no plan. She let out a groan of frustration that ended in a snarl.

          A snarl greeted her.

          Chiara jumped ten feet into the air. Well, not ten feet. Most likely two feet - three at most - but it *felt* like ten. The throaty growl turned into a roar and slowly Chiara looked over her shoulder to see large, snake like eyes staring at her. She stood petrified in awe as she took in the golden scales that glinted in the light from the rising sun. The sharp, curled teeth and the huge, magnificent white horns. The cliff from before wasn’t a cliff. It moved, its piercing gaze having not left her.

          “H-hello there, d-dragon,” Chiara breathed out, taking a step away.

          It narrowed its eyes at her and lunged forwards. Chiara’s eyes widened and she jumped into the air, pushing down her wings to take flight before it could catch her. She whipped around, banking sideways to avoid hitting a tree head on. Chiara flapped her wings furiously to get away from the monstrously sized dragon behind her.

          Terrified, Chiara surged up towards the sky. She cleared the trees and flew as high as she could away from the dragon. The sun heated the back of her fur and wings as the dragon burst from the jungle, still following her. She glanced back to see that it was covered in jagged spikes, and that it was rearing its gray and golden head back.

          Chiara saw its neck begin to glow, a warning that it was preparing a blast of hot fire. She closed her eyes and clung her wings to her body. With a sickening feeling, she plummeted back to the ground. Chiara felt a rush of heat above her and she opened her wings up.

          Chiara winced as the wind snapped her wings upwards before they completely stopped her fall. She rightened herself to avoid tumbling backwards and dove between some branches. The dragon had been able to gain on her in the air with its larger wingspan despite its size. Her only chance would be to flee from it while forcing it to dodge the obstacles of the jungle as well.

          She swerved under some vines and pushed herself up and over a clump of brush in the bog. The dragon crashed into it behind her and Chiara could hear the snapping of tree limbs and the creaking of timbering trees. She didn’t dare look behind her but she could tell by the sound of the bulldozing dragon that she was gaining speed.

          The sounds of destruction stopped. The abruptness of it caught Chiara off guard and she looked behind her. She saw that there was no dragon behind her as she slammed full speed into a tangle of thick vines. They wrapped in painfully tight loops around her wings and she struggled to get out of the mess. Chiara grew frantic and used her fangs to bite away at it, her claws to tear at the vines and let her go.

          She cut herself loose and fell to the floor before she could open her wings. Chiara wasted no time to get back up when she realized that the dragon was over head. Crackling and roaring came from above and she looked up to see fire and smoke coming from the trees above her. They flamed like torches, slowly yet steadily the fire reaching itself to where she stood.

          Chiara flew upwards, continuing on her path back to the cave. She didn’t risk going back above the tree line, as now it was engulfed in flames. The flames licked towards the leafy, muddy ground.

          *BOOM!*

          Chiara was blown forwards by a tidal wave of heat and roaring energy. The explosion smelled of Titan arum, which she recognized the be the same stench she had smelled while investigating the Leothra tracks in the swamp. More, smaller explosions went off as the fire spread throughout the marsh behind her.

          Chiara flew through the jungle as fast as she could without looking back. She could not only hear but feel the wing beats of the dragon.

          Chiara bCephase into a small clearing, and up ahead she could spy the clump of trees that hid the cavern. She dove in for a hard landing, tumbling and crashing to the ground as her extra momentum from the chase carried her. Chiara looked up for a split second, under the trees. There wasn’t just one dragon anymore. Not only was there the gray and gold one, but now there were two more. One was the shade of aquamarine, spotted with her black scales, its nostrils pouring smoke. The other was a dark, blood red.

          Chiara wasted no time to head into the entrance, figuring that low thats he was back with the rest of the Leothra that she would be safe.

          Aeolus met her. “What’s that noise? Where have you been?” he demanded. More Leothra lifted their heads curiously in her direction.

          Chiara stared at him. “You’re alive!”

          “Yeah, so?” Aeolus growled, “I asked you a question.”

          “I was looking for you and Rega-,” Chiara began.

           A blast of rock interrupted her. It rained soil from underground as the ground shook repeatedly with the dragons smashing themselves into where Chiara had hid. *Oh no ... Did I really just lead three if not more dragons to the secret layer of the Leothra? What was I* thinking*!*

          “What in Aeroo-,” Aeolus started to wonder, but was cut off as one of the dragons found the entrance. It stuck its giant, lizard scaled head into where they were and opened its jaws wide. Chiara let out a yelp of terror and jumped back as the dragon tried to lunge itself forward, deeper into the cavern. It couldn’t. The horns around the blood red dragon’s head were too thick and jutted outwards at odd angles, which collided with the top of the entrance.

          It growled menacingly, its beady eyes now tracing the Leothra, who most if not all of them had woken up. They let out roars and bellows of confusion and fear. Chiara stared at the dragon, with the roof above them slowly heating up which signaled other dragons were drenching it in flames. *How do we escape?*

          “This way!” a familiar voice shouted.

          Chiara was lost for ideas so she followed it. It had come from a black Leothra with lime green wings. “Ames!” she shouted, glad he was alive. It was drowned out by the screeching of the Leothra and the angry roaring of the dragons. Not only that, but the noise reverberated and echoed off the cave walls, repeating itself countless times. Viorel had told her he was alive but she hadn’t quite registered it until then.

          She tried to squeeze past the Leothra but it was hard. Everyone was struggling to be the first to reach Ames, for him to tell them all how to get free from their trap. Chiara kept pressing on along with the others, feeling the hot breath of the dragon at the front of the cave getting ready to shoot out a plume of fire.

          Before she knew it, the few Leothra behind her were shoving her through a cramped, dark tunnel. The air was dank. She assumed it had never made contact with the sun or the fresh breeze from the quality of it.

          She ran through the darkness, attempting to not be trampled. Chiara grew nervous as she felt the walls press against her. *What even is this? Did Ames know about it beforehand like the cave or did he just spot a gap in the wall and figure it was the only way out? What if we get suck?* she worried. Her breath tightened in her throat and it was not just from exhaustion of trying to escape the dragons, but also fear.