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No one answered her question right away, although the princess’ voice drifted into the room: “Gav?! Could you give me a hand? I found something!”

“I, I dunno,” Dancrow stuttered in reply. Riure smiled in his direction as Prince Gavril’s heavier footsteps exited the room, wondering why he was so nervous. Oh. He probably was having trouble talking to a blind person. A lot of people did.

A moment later his footsteps – slow, indicating a stride – faded as he followed the princess.

“Are we all leaving?” Riure asked Master Ziess, struggling not to laugh as he took to the air, his wings tickling her cheek.

A shriek, faint but clear, lilted into the cave. Feminine. Riure tensed, and Sadiq growled softly. Footsteps, too many for Riure to pick out, stampeded in the direction the others had gone.

“Yes,” Master Ziess replied with a chuckle.

“Follow the crowd,” Riure murmured to Sadiq, gripping her dog’s scruff as they began to move. Sadiq walked with a slight limp, but Riure could tell she was holding her head high.

Follow the crowd. Sadiq was trained to lead Riure safely along with a moving crowd, keeping people alert to her blindness and yet making sure Riure went fast enough so as to not be trampled. It was a skill they’d only recently worked on, so she was a bit nervous about it, but Sadiq knew what she was doing.

As walls closed in, as far as Riure could tell, the footsteps had spread out into single file, indicating narrowness. Sadiq kept Riure on the right, letting her mistress run her fingers across the wall for extra guidance.

A moment later, Riure was clustered in a small area with a lot of people. Like, a lot. She couldn’t tell where they were, but she knew that someone, Konyar, she thought, was working.

“Next,” he grunted, and someone scrabbled against scales with a lot of ‘ouching’ on Konyar’s part. Riure wasn’t sure, but she thought the female dragon – what was her name?! – was laughing. The blind girl smiled, feeling the contagious bubbles in her stomach.

Sadiq led her forward, so Riure assumed someone was behind them. When they stopped, Riure put her back to the wall and waited for someone to tell her what to do.

It was Konyar. “Riure,” he called. “Come over here. There’s a hole thing in the ceiling that we’re all going into. It’s pretty high up, though, so I’ll give you a boost.”

“Speaker,” Riure murmured to Sadiq, and as they walked she asked, “How short is it? Will we have to crawl?”

“No,” Konyar rumbled. She felt his breath on her face as Sadiq came to a halt, trembling. Her dog might be brave, but Konyar was big. Very big. “It’s an archway you should be able to stand up in.”

“What’s past it?” Riure asked, nervousness rising in her throat. The idea of going through the arch, probably without Sadiq, was wearing on her already exhausted mind.

There was a moment of murmured words as Konyar held a conversation with someone apparently already inside. “A ledge,” he replied, seeming to turn back to Riure. His warm, sweet-smelling breath blew past her shoulder. “There’s a chasm, though, so you might want to keep close to the wall.”

Remember the scream, Riure told herself. Someone’s probably in trouble.

That settled it. “Alright, I’ll go.”

A long, curved talon encircled her waist, and Riure’s breath caught in her throat as she released Sadiq’s scruff and ascended into the air. She lived a year in every second, imagining a hundred awful thing surrounding her until Konyar gently set her down on a stone outcropping. Her legs dangled over the edge. Sadiq was barking angrily somwhere below her, and to her left. “Easy, girl,” Riure soothed, then turned around and felt the floor with both hands. It felt smooth enough, so she slid her legs inside the opening and crawled forward a few feet.

Startled yelps and barking and Konyar’s, “Calm down, doggy. I’m not going to hurt you!” indicated that Sadiq was being transported. Not long after, a furry body slammed into Riure, then promptly pressed her against the wall. “Hi, Sadiq,” Riure laughed, already feeling much better. “Did you enjoy the ride?”

Standing, she felt for Sadiq’s scruff. The dog was making various offended noises, but Riure clucked her tongue in the pattern for “forward” and walked along the wall. The floor was smooth, thank goodness, and the wall ran straight for a good ways before curving forward. Riure thought the curve was a good spot, so she released Sadiq and stood with her hands behind her back against the wall, humming as she analyzed the voices.

Rosario. Ehud. King Kami. Gwen. The prince and princess, thank goodness. Dancrow, she thought. Konyar, talking to the female – RILYN!! That was her name! – just outside. Riure breathed a sigh of relief as she checked more voices off her mental list. It seemed that everyone was here – wherever ‘here’ was.

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@everyone Heh heh. That was really controlling, sorry!! If it’s too much I can always edit it out. 😉