10-13: The Dragon’s Lair

It was a rather short carriage ride, but it felt longer with nervousness and anxiety filling it. But, when the carriage finally arrived, a handful of Fontaine soldiers gathered nearby, greeting the lady of the house, the princess, and the Queen's Consort.

"Has there been any recent developments in the dragon?"

"No, my lady. We saw fly into the hills just over there. It hasn't come out yet, and since it keeps returning to the spot, we assuming that's where it is nesting."

"I see. Thank you for your service. We'll handle it from here."

The soldier nodded and the men let the girls go through. The hills just west of the checkpoint was going to be a long walk.

"I'd say... maybe a few days to get there on foot?" Veronica said, trying to mentally measure the distance.

"We'll be taking the horses." Sable said, walking towards the makeshift stables.

"H-Horses? I don't know how to ride one."

"And there's only a handful we can take. Hence, that's why we'll pair up. Those who know how to ride will take a horse, and the ones who don't will hold on tight." Seraph said, picking a horse.

Seraph, Sable, Eleanora and Aviris were the horse riders in this group of nine. Though, since Lilith can just... float, she doesn't need a horse.

"Ver, who are you going to ride with?"

"Sable, since she's the closest one. Why?"

"No reason~"

"O...kay?"

Thanks to Sable's help, Veronica got up on the horse just fine. Cassidy rode with Seraph, though she struggled getting up, but eventually got it. Sirtia and Aviris shared their horse, but Sirtia needed to be picked up like a child, embarrassing her. And Kazue  obviously rode with Eleanora.

"Make sure to hold on. Wrap your arms around my hips like this." Sable instructed Veronica, taking a gentle hold of Veronica's hands.

Veroninca hummed in agreement, but there was this small little feeling in her core, a feeling that told her that she liked holding onto Sable's hips. They were wide, fit for childbearing. Veronica had to shake such thoughts from her head, considering this wasn't the time to be lustful.

Once everyone was secure, the group rode off, as fast as they could without taking too much energy out of the horses. To conserve extra stamina, they slowed down here and there, letting their steeds catch their breath before continuing on.

"So, these hills, is there anything special about them?"

"Not particularly. Just an old mine that we had collapsed after we mined everything out of it."

"Why did you collapse it?" Cassidy asked, gripping tightly to Seraph, scared to death of falling off.

"Safety. We'd rather collapse mines as soon as we're done with them instead of letting the supports rot and have some teenage idiots waltz in before it collapses on it's own."

"So, if the mine has already been collapsed, why would a dragon want to be there? Lilith, got any ideas?"

"No. Dragons are typically rather civilized, but there are some who prefer living in caves and forests on their own. So, I wouldn't particularly know why this ine decided to nest there."

"So, we're practically going in blind. Against something that could potentially rip us to shreds. My first duty as Consort ended so soon..." Veronica tried to joke, which got a couple of laughs, breaking some underlying tension.

Thanks to the horses, the girls got to the edge of a crevasse, too tight for the horses to safely traverse.

"Seems like there was a rockslide. We'll have to continue on foot from here. The mine is located in a large, flat area, so hopefully we'll have some space to maneuver there."

Dismounting from their steeds and tieing them up to the nearby trees, the girls proceeded into the path, slipping on the loose rocks.

The path wasn't too long, but the it was afternoon by the time the path opened up into the clearing that Sable talked about.

And in that clearing, the sleeping form of the scaled creature they were attempting to find...