~~~

  Wyrmwood had dug what he considered to be a good stretch of tunnel in a diagonal downward slope before stopping for a moment to look through Veronica’s pair of temporary eyes.

  With him so big again, she had stopped using her wings entirely and just crossed her arms and glared at Gloriosa and Bixxy in irritation. She wasn’t angry at them, of course, just annoyed that her time as the primary owner of her shared body with Wyrmwood was over already.

  As Wyrmwood looked over and saw his two friends were doing fine and weren't hurt he could hear Veronica muttering things like, “I need to learn one of these transformation spells.” And all the things she’d use it for. (Most of them were just about showing off her own ‘glorious majesty’ for once.) Wyrmwood decided to just ignore that for now.

  It was pitch dark in the hastily dug tunnel now that he’d dug so far, yet he could see just fine thanks to his keen draconic senses. Gloriosa was completely blind and being led by Bixxy who was holding her hand. Surprisingly, Bixxy could see just fine as well. Gnomes could apparently see in the dark.

  Speaking of Bixxy, the monotony of following behind him as he furiously dug through the earth had gotten to her as she had started to chatter away comments and questions to pass the time.

  “How long do you think we’re gonna be stuck like this? Look at this pretty rock in the wall! My dad once said the air underground can go bad. Does the air here seem evil to you? Why’d you stop digging? Shouldn’t we start going up soon?”

  Wyrmwood hadn’t paid too much attention to her chatter until that last question. Turning around in the cramped tunnel was difficult, being so long like he was, but he managed just fine since he was quite flexible to begin with. He was about to speak before realizing he had never stopped his invisibility spell and she couldn’t actually see him.

  Bixxy let out a yelp of surprise as a giant dragon head about half the size of the tunnel suddenly just popped back into existence in front of her.

  Ignoring her moment of surprise, Wyrmwood asked “If I start digging upward now, do you think we would come up outside the fort?”

  Bixxy put on a face as she thought as hard as she could about that before answering with a shrug.

  “Maybe, but daddy will be inside the fort. So it will be better if we don’t!” She replied cheerfully.

  “...”

  Not saying anymore, Wyrmwood turned back around and started to dig at an upward angle, all the while giving Veronica a mental glare for tricking one of their first friends.

  Veronica scoffed back at him in her mind. You seemed to be okay with it while we were still trapped in the dome. She accused.

  I glared at you then too, you just weren’t listening. He replied.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Fine then, you want honesty? Gloriosa hissed in their head before speaking aloud. “Bixxy, we aren’t going to help you find your dad.” Veronica said in a deadpan tone.

  Bixxy froze on the spot, causing the still blind Gloriosa to accidentally bump into her from behind.

  “W-what?” Bixxy asked in nervous shock.

  “When we get out of here, we aren’t going to go back into the fort. And if we are still in the fort’s walls then we’ll be breaking out and getting away.”

  “B-but you said you’d help me.”

  “Yeah, well it isn’t like you actually helped us.” Veronica pointed out as venomously as always. With a flick of his tail, Wyrmwood slammed Veronica into the side of the tunnel once. After re-growing to a certain size, Veronica’s legs had fused back into the tail, making her look like some kind of strange fairy/naga hybrid, so she was slammed face first into the tunnel wall.

  “OW!!! What was that for! I was telling her the truth like you wanted!”

  No, right now you’re just being mean. Wyrmwood replied harshly without actually stopping his digging.

  Anger. You didn’t have to be so harsh! Hesitance. Self-derision. We are your friends. But we want to live freely.

  Bixxy sniffed, getting close to crying. “What do you mean?”

  Hope. We both like you, but everyone else at the fort was… being mean to us. Gloriosa tried to explain. Hope. They wanted to make us grow up and fight others for them. We want to go and live freely like other smart dragons.

  “We’ll still be your friends even after we leave,” Wyrmwood’s voice seemed to both boom in the cramped tunnel and be muffled by all the noises his digging produced. “But we can’t stay here. We have to find somewhere to live on our own.”

  Bixxy was still sniffling sadly, but managed to hold back her tears. “Okay.” She said quietly.

  Just then, the tunnel shook violently around them! Dirt and stone raining down as Bixxy let out a scream of fear! The nonstop rumbling was followed by a massive BOOM!!!

  In those desperate few seconds, Wyrmwood managed to wrap his coils around his companions as the hastily carved tunnel collapsed on top of him!

  ~~~

  Princess Fluffy stared in abject dread from the top of the fort’s walls, as the distant mountains, once specks on the horizon, seemed to practically vaporize and collapse on themselves altogether. In what had felt like mere moments, the skyline in that direction had been filled with ash and molten rock. And the most horrifying part? It was quickly heading their way.

  “Lord have mercy.” Someone whispered. It could’ve even been her, she was too shellshocked to tell. Everyone was just standing there numbly at what looked like the end of the world approaching.

  Well, not everyone.

  “AUXILIARY MAGES!!! START CHANTING NOW! BE AT THE READY TO STEP IN THE MOMENT SOMEONE RUNS OUT OF MANA!!!” Smith’s voice boomed out over the fort with the help of a ‘loud speaking’ spell he’d learned in the military.

  “Incoming!” Someone shouted in fear right before a red hot boulder the size of a horse fell through the clouds and impacted the magic barrier with the force of a meteorite! A loud BANG resounded as it bounced off of the barrier and into the woods somewhere on the other side of the stronghold.

  Ash had begun to rain down like little flakes of snow now.

  “Your highness!” Maximus said as he ran up the Fluffy. “You need to put on a mask! This ash can be deadly to breath!” He told her, handing her a clean, white wet piece of cloth. “You need to get underground with the other civilians. It will be safer there.”

  “I can’t just leave the troops when-”

  “Princess!” Maximus interrupted her immediately. “You have already done all you could to help us prepare for this.” He told her earnestly. “Leave the rest to us. Please go and keep the villagers calm. They are your people.”

  “...” Princess Fluffy hesitated, before finally nodding. “You are right, as always, Sir Maximus. Thank you.”

  Maximus bowed in deference to his princess. “It's an honor, your highness.

  “And while you’re down there, could you please find and protect my daughter? No one has seen her since the siege.”

  Fluffy stopped in her retreat for a heartbeat as her mind quickly jumped to the ‘fey youngling’ situation going on. “I will do my best.” She said earnestly, moving for the nearest stairway off the ramparts without looking back.

  ~~~

  SHOULD be done by tuesday at the latest.