CH 84

Dragons’ Melancholic Song (Part 18)

“How can I get out of here? And how can I bring Dragon Mom along with me? First and foremost, though, I need to pinpoint my location and Mom’s before I can devise a plan,” I reasoned.

There was nobody in the cave. Camille and Irina kept their word and wouldn’t concoct some scheme to kill me after promising me freedom, apparently. Although the two of them had basically put the entire mountain – all their assets included – in my hands, I had no interest in the gold. If I couldn’t get out of there, all of the gold in the world was meaningless.

I followed the path to arrive at the stairs and then headed up. The number of decorations in the corridor upstairs had been reduced substantially. The rooms seemed to also be missing. There were only two or three rooms. It appeared that they were Irina and Camille’s bedrooms. I had no interest in Camille’s room. I only wanted to check Irina’s room. However, the rooms weren’t labelled; therefore, I had no idea which room belonged to Irina.

I gave the door to the room closest to me a push. The door didn’t open. It appeared to be locked. The doors were made from ordinary timber, but I was worried something would jump out and bite my hand.

I warily gave the room by the edge a try, but none of the doors opened. Ostensibly, Camille always kept the doors locked. I couldn’t open any door nor did I dare to smash them down. If I smashed them down and provoked Camille, I might lose my only hope at escape.

I stood in front of a door after having reached my wits’ end. I intended to thoroughly investigate the place and prepare for an escape, but the idea was shot down before it could take off. I couldn’t even open the doors, so there was no way of confirming Dragon Mom’s location. If I couldn’t confirm her location, I couldn’t rescue her.

I began to think: “How can I enter the rooms? I presume I need a key to unlock the doors here. I’ve seen the lock holes, but how do I find the keys? Logically speaking, Irina wouldn’t have anywhere to hide the key on her body, right? She’s naked, after all. Her so-called clothing is merely her scales. Can scales hide objects?”

I checked my own body.  I sure couldn’t see it being possible for myself. My scales were attached to my flesh. Forget hiding things, trying to remove them hurt plenty. I still remembered the pain of ripping my scales off to revive Luna. It was as painful as ripping your fingernails out.

I tried thinking again: “In that case, where would Irina have hidden the keys? Could she have hid them in… No way. I rub her boobs into all different shapes every day, so there’s no way she could hide things in between them, which means that she can’t hide the keys on her, unless she swallowed them and spits them out when she needs them? I imagine regurgitating things isn’t very hard for dragons. In other words, Irina may indeed have the keys on her. I can’t open locks. Movies are fake. I definitely can’t open the locks with two tiny bits of wood.”

I went up on my toes and tried to check the top of the doorframe. I remember my roommate in university had a bad habit, which was putting a spare key on top of the doorframe. I strongly advise against doing that, as it doesn’t convenience us but the thief.

I touched something. See!! I told you so! Putting a spare key on top of your door frame was the same as warming a snake in your bosom! I knocked the small, golden key onto the ground. I swiftly picked it up. I was almost moved to tears. My mistake, my mistake, it’s a good habit. It’s the light that guides a homeless man to home. Boy, I was glad.

I unlocked the door. The interior of the room was plain and simple. In essence, there was a bed and a bookshelf that had been fully stocked up with books. There was nothing written on the back of the books. The books didn’t seem to be intended for sale but for the owner to record things. I assumed Camille wrote in them.

I went over to the bookshelf and picked a book out at random. The handwriting was very rough, so it was unlikely intended to be for others to read, but solely for the writer, themself.  I didn’t know what the ink was made from, but it seemed to be somewhat blue. It wasn’t Camille’s diary but a picture of an herb. By the looks of it, she must’ve once been a pharmacist as Mera was.

I flipped through the book. Most of the information pertained to herbs and their accompaniments. Nonetheless, it seemed to be mostly herbs that were enhanced or, otherwise, impacted by dragons adding a component from them. Assuming Camille was a pharmacist, she had to be the scary type who went Frankenstein on human corpses. I’d hazard a guess that was the reason she could use so many drugs so proficiently.

“This place is quite spectacular, is it not?”

The voice that suddenly entered my ears frightened me. I quickly shut the book and spun around to see Irina standing at the door. She wore a calm expression. She wasn’t angry, and she didn’t reproach me for sneaking in and touching things. Instead, she walked up to me to look at the book in my hand. She smiled” “All of this is Mom’s work. Mom was a pharmacist while living in the elven lands. She once treated elves. She was very dutiful. Without her, we may not be where we are now. Mom is rightfully the leader of the dragon race.”

Though Camille harmed me, I had to admit she was indeed dutiful to the dragon race, for what she did was for the race. Furthermore, I couldn’t deny her method was effective. It benefited her family, and it resolved her race’s affixation on the future.

“Are you looking for Queen Dowager Sylvanas?”

When Irina suddenly asked the question, I nearly dropped to my knees. However, her expression remained the same. As a matter of fact, she revealed a smile, indicating she understood me. She continued, “If you want to see Queen Dowager Sylvanas, you just need to tell me. You won’t be able to get in without the key.”

“Can I?” Colour me surprised.

Irina revealed a puzzled expression: “Why not? You are her son. Is it not normal for you to see your mother? Plus, we do not want to imprison her or killed her. We just wanted to make a deal with you and her.”

I rushed over to Irina. I excitedly replied, “I want to go, then!”

Irina nodded and then went to the room at the end of the corridor. She took out a key from underneath the doormat.

“I never thought that they key could be somewhere so obvious. How stupid of me,” I silently cursed.

Irina opened the door. Inside was a large bed. The bed curtains were down. I could see a dark figure silently sleeping, nevertheless. I saw Mom’s body gently jolt. I whimpered due to a desire to cry. Honestly, I missed Dragon Mom; still, I never expected myself to be so emotional upon seeing her again. Irina tapped me on my shoulder and whispered, “It is all right. We will not do anything that would offend Queen Dowager Sylvanas. Further, her life will not be endangered. She is merely asleep.”

I knelt down at the bedside and gently held Mom’s hand. Her expression was that of a grimace. She looked as though she was deep asleep. I took in a deep breath to suppress my urge to cry. Her hand was still warm, which was proof that she was still alive and that all was still well.

Camille didn’t deceive me me. She didn’t want to be hostile to Sylvanas. Consequently, she wouldn’t harm Sylvanas. To the contrary, she’d protect Sylvanas, my Dragon Mom.

I softly said to Mom, “I will take you home, Mom, I promise.”

Then, I stood up and turned around to look at Irina. She gave me a light nod: “You will. You will. You can tell, right? We will not hurt you or Queen Dowager Sylvanas. While we brought you here, we will not offend you. I hope you can give me a child. Just one child is good enough. It is for our dragon race’s sake in addition to your sake. After all, you are a pure-blooded dragon.”

I couldn’t see any traces of deceit in Irina’s gaze. It was just as my first impression was. Irina’s gaze was void of any ulterior motives.

I tried to sort everything out in my mind: “As she said, everything will be fine if I give her a child. Once the child is born, I’ll definitely leave this place. So, do I need to escape, then? Should I escape or not? If I don’t want to escape, will I be able to leave? How long will I have to wait? Until when can I wait? I can’t wait. There’s no way I can wait. I have my children and wives. I must go home. I must go home as soon as possible; therefore, I can’t wait.”