“I will have to carry you,” Chedra said.
“Absolutely not!” Saieke glared at her.
Chedra giggled. That was one sound Saieke thought she would never hear from a Darkan.
“The cave is more than a thousand miles away. If you flash it will take longer than if I simply shiktre with you.”
“You are with child and I am grown,” Saieke said.
“I am ten times stronger that you, Princess. It would be no hardship.”
“I would still be more comfortable flashing,” Saieke laughingly said. “It will give me the chance to see where I am going. When I travel with Drac, it is as if we simply disappear to appear again.”
Chedra nodded. “Follow, yes?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Cullen crowed triumphantly.
Saieke laughed and followed. She whipped the wind beneath her feet and propelled herself with speed.
“Look,” Cullen shouted, “Princess Saieke is flying!”
They limited themselves to her speed, and he appeared before her with his face a mask of amazement and curiosity. “Are you flying?”
“No, I harness both wind and water. I generate a rush of wind to propel me forward. It is somewhat faster that flashing.”
“Oh” he said then gave her a mischievous smile, “watch me.” He ran before her, stopped and launched himself into the air like a great cat. He jumped more than ten feet to perch on a limb. He jumped from trees to trees travelling overhead.
“That’s amazing,” Saieke said to Chedra, who was keeping pace beside her.
“He can spring that high due to the Lyon in him. Even though the young ones cannot yet start drawing on the powers of their beasts, they have several characteristics from birth.”
“There is so much about Darkans that is unknown to me.”
“Many of us are ignorant about the other kingdoms as well. Theoretically we know that there are persons who manipulate the Shenkiri water, fire, wind, sound, light and earth, but we do not know how or the extent of their powers,” Chedra said. “Most of the ignorance belongs to the civilians of our world however, as Darkans have met other Amagarians on the battlefield.”
“Why is it so?” Saieke asked.
“We are reviled. In the past our ventures into other kingdom were met with revulsion. When we are encountered, people react defensively and when we counter-attack and eliminate threats to ourselves, our savagery inspires more fear. We tend to keep within our kingdom.”
“Are you saying that Darkans do not live in other kingdoms at all?
“It’s very rare.”
She had only flashed for about ten minutes when they came to a stop at a cave entrance that was covered in vines.
“This is the cave of dragon,” Chedra said. “It was discovered by my ancestors hundreds of years ago.”
She parted the vines that hung like curtains and stepped inside. Saieke followed her absorbing the essence of the cave. Chedra lit several other torches in the mouth of the cave that created a chain reaction and many others lit in rows and rows in the cave. They flashed inside and Saieke lips parted at the beauty of the cave. The main area had a waterfall gushing from the rock into a deep and wide body of water. The walls of the caves had several drawings depicting man and beasts struggling for dominion. It was fierce and riveting.
There were six tunnels that branched off, and Saieke reached out with her senses to feel the waters. The tunnels ran for miles with water at the end of each tunnel. There were several steps that led to a ground floor in the cave. Some sort of vine ran on the walls with flowers of gold and scarlet colors adorning it. At the center, was a pool of heated water that had gold glistening on the floor of the pool that created a shimmering effect on the surface.
“This is very beautiful.” She flashed up the steps, testing the energy of the waters. “Are we to explore any of these tunnels?”
“We can. Let’s go down this one. It is mine and Tehdra’s favorite. At the end of this tunnel, there the three waterfalls converge into a great pool.”
They flashed into the tunnel and covered several miles before they came to a wide open area. They put their torches into the holders on the cave wall, and Saieke flashed from point to point exploring this inner sanctum.
They came to a wide open area where water gushed from the rocks from three separate places, and gathered in a wide pool. Saieke waved her hand and started to shape the water to Cullen squeals. She enveloped him in a bubble of water and lifted him high in the air, then dumped him into the water.