By the time the sunset on the horizon, they were settled in the new cave. As Kael told her the place was huge and a lot colder. She found a smaller chamber, not far from the entrance, but a bit more protected from the cold. There was even a small spring of fresh water, they would be able to use to drink and cook, not far from the chamber she had chosen.
Kael had brought everything from the other cave, even the branches he had used to make her a more comfortable bed. After that, he had gone hunting, returning with another rabbit.
She cooked some vegetables she had taken to accompany the rabbit, and once more he praised her for her cooking.
That night, she slept in his arms, feeling at home.
She knew she shouldn’t be indulging herself with such feelings, but she just couldn’t help it. She decided to live in the present and worry about the future when faced with it.
Yes, she would get hurt, she knew she would, but at this point, she was sure it was a price worth paying. Being in his arms, making love to him and living these days together seemed worth anything, and she wasn’t going to let common sense get in her way. Not this time.
They woke up the following morning still in each other’s arms. Rhiannon prepared a quick breakfast, and soon they were walking towards the core of the mountain.
The deeper they went, the better were the readings, and by lunchtime, Kael was sure they would soon find what they were looking for.
“We can’t go any further,” he warned her. “We wouldn’t be able to return today.”
“We’ll have to move the camp with us. This way we won’t be limited each day,” she suggested, looking around, anxious to continue their exploration.
“Yes, but we’ll need to find more food. We won’t find any here,” he pointed out.
“Yes, you’re right,” she agreed, furrowing her eyebrows. “Perhaps you could hunt a deer, and we would smoke it for a day and a night. That way we would have meat to proceed with our journey.”
“That sounds like a good idea. I’m sure we’re on to something. My readings show more and more traces of gold, so we shouldn’t be far from a nugget.”
“Yes, I can feel it too.”
They returned to their base and spent the following couple of days preparing themselves to go deeper into the mountain. With all the food they could carry, they finally left the cave’s entrance and headed towards the interior of the cave. It took them another couple of days to eventually find what they were looking for, a gold vein.
Rhiannon was so excited she couldn’t believe it.
“We’re rich, this is awesome,” she assured him.
He smiled at her excitement. Being from Zuvrak, he had never been poor, no one in his planet was poor. Everybody worked for the good of the people, and everybody got the appropriate reward. Laziness wasn’t allowed.
“Do you think this will be enough to take me where I want to go?” he asked, looking at the shining metal.
“Of course, it will,” she assured him. “What I don’t know is how we’ll get it out of here.”
“We’ll find a way, don’t worry about that.”
They started to hit the rock to get the gold and that same day, they were able to mine out a nice amount. A few days later they had more than enough, and Kael started to think of a way to transport the metal out of the cave.
“We can use your blanket to form a bundle I would fly out of here. I’m sure I could get halfway out the first time.”
“How many trips do you think you’ll have to make?” she asked, a bit worried. Perhaps they had mined too much gold.
“Two or three, not more than that,” he calculated.
“Perhaps, we shouldn’t take it all, you’ll be exhausted by the time we leave this mountain,” she suggested, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Not at all, I’m stronger than you think. Don’t worry about that.”
Still not convinced, she nodded.
They did as he suggested, and he left the following morning with the first of the cargo.
Rhiannon had lost track of the days they had been away, but she wasn’t too eager to go back to the village. Once they got there, Kael wouldn’t have any reason to stay any longer, and she wasn’t ready to tell him goodbye. She was starting to think she would never be, but right now the idea was too dreadful.
It took them four days to get the gold to the cave entrance. It was quite a pile, and Rhiannon couldn’t wait to show it to Gwendolyn. They would be able to do a lot of things with that gold.
“What now? How are we taking this back to the village?” she asked, looking at the woods beneath them.
“The same way I brought it here. I’ll take you first, and then I’ll take the gold.”
“It took us several days to get here,” she reminded him.
“Yes, because we walked through the woods. It wouldn’t take me more than a few hours to fly you there.”
She snorted. “You should have told me you could fly and spared us the walk,” she scolded him.
He cradled her face a stole a kiss from her lips.
“I didn’t want to scare you. Besides, I loved spending time with you,” he assured her, kissing her again.
She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, deepening the kiss.
Kael felt so good in her arms he couldn’t understand how it was possible she hadn't awakened his instinct. He had felt the urge of the drogon inside him, but nothing like what he was supposed to feel, according to his father and the other members of his family.
Never the less, he wasn’t ready to leave her behind. He wasn't prepared to be without her, and that was tearing him in two. He needed to leave and go find his friends, but he didn’t want to leave her behind.
He knew it wouldn’t be fair to ask her to leave her whole life and her family to follow him when he wasn’t sure he could offer her a future. He knew no person from his species was able to ignore the call of their instinct.
That night, he made love to her as if there was no tomorrow, worshiping every inch of her, kissing and nibbling it, making sure to take her to paradise as many times as possible, making the trip with her each time, until they collapsed in each other’s arms, completely drained.
He flew her to the outskirts of the village the next morning.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to Gwendolyn’s cabin?” he asked, not happy to leave her so far from it.
“Yes, I am. We’ve discussed this. I don’t want people seeing you with your wings displayed. They would jump to conclusions, and we don’t want that,” she assured him.
“Promise me you’ll be careful,” he asked, pulling her into his arms and hugging her.
“It’s still early, I’ll be fine. Now, go, I don’t want you taking any unnecessary risks,” she asked him.
“I’ll be back tomorrow early in the morning. Be here with the carriage,” he reminded her.
“I will be. Just be careful. I don’t want you to run into the demons.”
“Don’t worry about them, I’ll be fine.”
He finally left, and she ran to her grandmother’s cabin. Gwendolyn was there, and she was more than happy to see Rhiannon.
“I’m so happy to see you. How did it go?” the older woman asked, hugging her tight.
“It was amazing.” She pulled a gold nugget the size of her hand out of her pocket. “This is a small sample of what we got,” she explained.
Gwendolyn picked it from her hand and examined thoroughly. “Oh, this is amazing. This nugget is worth a small fortune.”
“I know, and there’s a lot more. Kael will bring it here in several lots,” she explained, with a bright smile.
“How much did you get?” she asked, amazed.
“More than you can imagine. It will take him a few days to bring it all.”
“Why aren’t you helping him?” she asked, a bit surprised.
“This way is faster. I would only slow him down.”
Gwendolyn nodded. She suspected Kael was more special than eyes could see.
“I’m happy you’re back. Your father was becoming more and more grumpy.”
“He should find himself a wife. I won’t be around forever,” she said, with a sigh.
“I know, and I guess he’s starting to realize that, and he’s not happy with it,” Gwendolyn stated. “But he knows that’s the law of life, so he’ll end up understanding it.”
“Yes, I guess you’re right.”
“You must be tired. Why don’t you get a long shower while I get you something to eat?” Gwendolyn suggested.
“Yes, I would love that.”
Once she came out of the shower, she took a seat at the table to enjoy the soup Gwendolyn had prepared for her.
“Tell me, what happened in our absence,” she asked her grandmother.
“Well, the demons came to visit us a few times, but they seemed to be looking for something or someone, because they only flew over the villages, without attacking them,” she explained. “They were acting very strange, and that has unsettled the villagers.”
“Yes, that’s odd, what do you think they were looking for?”
“I don’t know, last time they attacked, no one saw or heard them fly away. In the nearest village, people found some strange ashes near a wall, that no one was able to explain and they started acting weird ever since then,” she replied. “It’s as if someone had turned them into ashes and now the others are seeking for revenge, but if that’s true, why haven’t this man or men come out and tell us how he managed to get rid of the demons?”
Rhiannon remained in silence, reminding Kael’s words when he assured her he was a creature of fire. Could it be possible he had vanquished the demons by turning them into ash? That would explain the silence. He hadn't been there to tell anyone anything.
“Perhaps whoever it has left the village,” she suggested, in a cautious tone, not sure how her grandmother would take it.
“Yes, I thought of that too,” the shine in her eyes told Rhiannon she was thinking of Kael as well.
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,”
“When will he be back?” she asked, confirming Rhiannon’s suspicions. Her grandmother was a very perceptive woman.
“Tomorrow morning, with the first part of the gold. We have to go meet him with the carriage where he left me this morning,” she replied, finishing her soup.
“Will you stay here tonight?”
“Yes, I won’t go back home until he’s back with the last lot of the gold,” she explained. “It would be too hard to explain to my father my constant exits.”
“Yes, you’re right about that. I’ll be more than happy to have you here with me,” her grandmother assured her.