A grunt escaped me as I hit the tunnel floor, taking most of the impact on my shoulder. Hands grabbed my feet and started pulling me back through the fake wall before I could get a good look around me.

  I slid back into the clutch chamber on my back and grinned up at my friends. “Other than the bruise on my shoulder, that was fun,” I said. Jerseil and Harper helped me to my feet, and I brushed myself off.

  “This is the second time you’ve found a Finn-centric barrier in these caverns. Just once I’d like to find one that only lets bards named Jerseil through.” Jerseil muttered.

  Harper snorted. “Whatever. Did you see anything in there, Finn?”

  “Not really, but it was kind of a shock. I’d swear I touched or leaned against that spot five to six times already,” I said.

  “We are going to have to hold on to you again, I guess,” Harper said thoughtfully. “Just so you’re not alone.”

  Jerseil glanced over at the still sleeping Druzzik. “Should we wake our kobold friend?”

  “Let him sleep. Finding all those broken eggs was pretty hard for him. Like, really hard,” Harper replied. “Let’s just surprise him when we actually have something.”

  I held out my arms. “There’s no time like the present. Latch on,” I said.

  They both grabbed on, and we walked through the illusory rock face. The tunnel beyond it was enormous and much larger than the dragon was, by my estimation. I looked down and saw the small, glowing tracks reaching out into the distance of what was a really long tunnel. We cautiously walked down the passageway, coming upon intersections where the little dragon did not even stop to look down. Instead, it continued to go straight. It knew exactly where to go.

  On both sides of the hall, arched doorways opened up into rooms full of items of wonder and beauty. From furniture and art to weapons and armor. We stopped to look at the riches that were within easy reach.

  “This looks like a trap to me,” Harper muttered. “I don’t know what type, but it would be better to touch nothing.”

  “But look at it all! I see some stuff that Finn could use, stuff that could really kick up his overall power!” Jerseil exclaimed. “Can’t we just… you know, borrow some of it?”

  I was not sure if he was serious or not, but if I could get stronger equipment, it might be worth the danger.

  “No,” Harper said firmly. “For all we know, this is a magic cave issue. Like if you take even the smallest thing and you’re fucked? We are not going to chance it.”

  Moving on, Jerseil somewhat dejected, we looked at the walls with interest as the decoration increased with a variety of art and wall hangings. Some tapestries looked quite old, but were still intact. I wondered at the number of things that could burn in the halls of a dragon and how they still were not soot on the walls and floor.

  As we passed another doorway, movement in my periphery caused me to stop and look. The room was filled with chests of all sizes. Some were fanciful, with gold and jewels worked into ebony inlaid with red and white woods. Others were so plain that I wondered why they were even in the same room.

  “What is it? Did the hatchling go in there?” asked Jerseil.

  “No, I thought I saw something move in there,” I said. My hand raised before I noticed. One of the plain chests had moved! “Holy shit, did you see that?” As I watched, Harper and Jerseil joined me at the doorway. The plain chest opened its lid and front further than should be possible. The opening was lined with thousands of teeth. A long tongue shot out and wrapped itself around the richly decorated chest it had snuck up on, pulling the now monstrous plain chest toward its heavier prey.

  The fancy chest opened its lid and mouth and a horrible scream escaped, but it was unable to flee. As the plain one’s jaws snapped shut on its prey, a grinding, crunching sound competed with the screams of the fancy chest being devoured. It was soon over, the plain one bloated with its meal, slowly showing signs of better decoration.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Fucking mimics. Get enough of them together, and they cannibalize each other for the inherent riches each has,” Harper spat. “Obviously, something is keeping them in there, and we do not want to be in a closed room with even three mimics.”

  “It looks like at least fifty in there,” Jerseil said incredulously.

  “How often do these things show up? Like in the world?” I asked. The mimics were fascinating, but in a horrifying fashion. I wondered what kind of loot they’d have.

  I followed Harper and Jerseil as they walked away from the mimic room. Whatever was keeping them in there, I couldn’t see or suss out what it was, but I was grateful for it. If only I could see magic itself, then I would be able to do such things, I thought ruefully.

  A suspicion grew in me that the items or treasure we saw in the rooms were a trap for any who would cross the door’s threshold. A baited trap. I glanced down the next intersection, seeing more rooms off in the distance. I remembered something about dragons being hoarders, but unlike the reality TV show, this seemed very organized.

  We passed two more intersections of tunnels, marveling at the straight, clean walls that had never seen a chisel. We were like mice in a cathedral, trying not to be noticed. As we came to the end of the hall, there was an old smell of decay, like something had decomposed and the odor itself was facing the grim reaper.

  The end of the hall was just a rounded-out cave chamber, similar to the clutch chamber. But in this one, there was a massive skeletal form of a dragon curled up as if to sleep. And curled up next to it was the baby dragon.

  “Oh no, is it still alive?” I said, stepping forward to check. I knelt down in front of the tiny, sinuous form and what I assumed were the remains of its mother. When I touched its neck, it was warm to the touch, and it moved against my hand before opening an eye to look at me.

  There was a tentative brush against my mind, which startled me, and I pulled my hand back. It got onto its feet and, with forelegs splayed out in front, it stretched like a cat before stretching its small wings and tail. The baby dragon yawned wide before turning toward me. Its eyes widened as it looked sharply to the right of me and let out what could only be a baby roar.

  Jerseil was there almost impossibly fast, his sword drawn and swinging toward the small creature. Without thinking, I cast Phantom Wing, deployed my magical buckler, and blocked Jerseil’s blow. My arm ached from the surprising force of the attack.

  “What the hell is wrong with you, man? It’s just a baby!” I yelled at him.

  “It was about to attack you! Fucking look at it,” Jerseil said, straining against me. My high strength stat made it much more difficult than he likely expected.

  “Back the fuck off, Jerseil! I’m not going to let you kill it,” I snapped, getting angry. “Not only is it wrong to kill something so young, but we need it for the quest!”

  I hazarded a glance at the small dragon, and the way it was standing with its head down and teeth out, hissing, was full of hostility. Directed not at me, but at Jerseil.

  Harper stepped closer. “Jerseil, knock this off! Finn’s right!”

  Still straining against me, Jerseil glowered. “Damn it, Finn! With the dragon dead, we will have our pick of gear and loot! I’ll bet that there is a trove of Mage spellbooks lying in a library or in one of those rooms. You’ll be the most powerful Mage this world has ever seen!”

  With the last, he pulled back, moving a couple of steps away. “You should kill it yourself, you know. The amount of experience you would get from killing even a hatchling dragon would kick you up several levels. Think of the power,” he said, sword still in hand.

  The brush against my mind came again, stronger. The mental touch was awash with fear. Fear and anger. I stood up and stepped between the baby dragon and the others. “No one is going to kill this dragon. Not you, not me. I don’t need power if it means killing an innocent,” I said coldly. At that moment, I was ready to kill my friend if I had to. Or at least die trying. Some actions were just too wrong, too evil.

  “Hells, Finn. It’s dangerous. Look at this place,” Jerseil said, gesturing widely to the tunnels. “It is massive, filled with all kinds of treasures. How do you think the mother gathered all this? Did she work for years to afford it? Maybe she received donations from the kobold tribes? Fuck no, she killed for it! That’s what dragons do, Finn. They kill and pillage and hoard their wealth! They are a menace to the world that needs to be expunged.”

  Harper looked strained by the exchange, gripping the hilt of her undrawn rapier. “Jerseil, let it go, will ya? Finn’s not going to back down. And I agree with him. Killing a hatchling that we need, just because of the stories of dragon atrocities, is like locking up or killing Finn for being a Mage. We don’t know that this baby will grow up to do that.”

  Jerseil sneered angrily and slammed his sword back into its sheath. “Fine. This is a fucking bad idea,” he said, before pointing a finger at me. “And it’s all on your head, Finn! You need all the power you can get if you want to survive everything coming at you. People have died protecting you. Hells, Finn, Juan died protecting you!”

  He turned and stormed off back down the tunnel.

  I glared at his retreating back. “Go fuck yourself, Jerseil!”

  Instead, say hello to NAME REDACTED, the downright cute and delightful baby dragon! The first actual dragon, not dragonkin, seen in centuries. If I had the money, I'd get plushy merch made. If this story does well enough, maybe I'll do a Kickstarter. I'll have to come up with some designs....

  And just FYI, all the chapters of this first book are on my Patreon. Later this week or next, I'll be putting the first chapters of book 2 up there too. After I finish rewriting/editing them, that is.

  Thank you all for reading! Please give this story a rating if you are enjoying the story so far. Don't feel shy about commenting, as I welcome feedback (as long as you aren't attacking me personally or each other, remember the Golden Rules!). And if you want to support my writing, beyond reading it/following the story/rating it/reviewing it, you can become a patron.