Chapter 17-4

Imlloen was surprisingly willing to let Almonihah go, enough that the half-dragon was suspicious of what he’d been told. However, he was too glad to leave and go north to press the issue.

It felt good to be outside on his own again. He’d been getting restless the past couple days. Almonihah had never really liked being cooped up inside, especially not after the whole episode with Galindakherithan. Being so close to the Madlands had just made it worse. Overall, he was quite happy to be headed north.

Almonihah took his time, not really having any particular goal in mind other than getting away from the Line. He really looked around as he traveled, enjoying the little details of life in the Lost Sea Valley. He’d never really paid close attention to the variety of plants and animals here—just enough to not get eaten by any of them. Now that he really paid attention, he was surprised by how many different things lived here. The changes in elevation meant that many different types of plants could grow fairly close to each other, which in turn meant different kinds of animals.

Even as he enjoyed the diversity, however, he made sure to not be eaten by any of them. Not much tried, but he was careful all the same.

In time, he reached the other side of the valley. It was getting colder, and some of the trees’ leaves were starting to change colors on the higher parts of the mountains. Almonihah still wasn’t headed anywhere in particular, so he started exploring the slopes of the mountains, climbing up into canyons and then back down.

Then he found something odd. As far as Almonihah knew, the most permanent structures that had been built in the Lost Sea Valley were the cabins of Ranger Headquarters… and yet here was a door carved in a cliff face, with elaborate decorations carved in the stone around it. Curious, he approached to inspect it.

There was no immediately obvious way of opening the door. It was a large door, almost twice as tall as the half-dragon. He tried pushing it, but it didn’t budge. He started to wonder if it was really a door, or just carved to look like one. Then one of the patterns caught his eye. The center of it looked slightly separated from the rest. He pressed it, and it settled back a bit with a soft click. Then the door slowly started to swing inward. With a grunt of satisfaction, Almonihah walked through the doorway.

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Sorry it’s been so long since I posted. I kept planning to add on to this before I posted it, and then never did.