Darkness. Faint voices. He was laying on the ground. He could feel the heat of a fire to his right.

  What happened?

  The last thing he remembered was picking up a torch, one of the explosive cacti, and running towards a dragon...

  The dragon!

  Maple's eyes shot open and abruptly sat up. He looked around.

  Lake and Copperhead were talking next to a campfire, who paused their conversation at Maple's sudden movement. Alpine was cooking some kind of animal, and Granite was watching the surroundings.

  "Ah, you're finally awake!" Lake exclaimed.

  "The dragon." Maple breathed. "What happened with the dragon?"

  "The dragon flew away after what happened." Alpine responded. "Maple, that was the bravest thing I've ever seen. Running towards a dragon with an unproven weapon?"

  "The Invincible Lord is very interested in acquiring people like you." Copperhead added. "I could put in a good word for you."

  "That was, err... spur of the moment. I wasn't even sure it'd work." Maple stammered.

  "Either way, we now keep a cactus near the person on watch in case it happens again." Lake said, looking at the plant by Granite's feet. "I hope it doesn't come back."

  Me neither. Encountering an ice dragon... hell, any dragon... is a nightmare I don't want to live through.

  Maple thought back to the ice dragon. How it flew down, its odd behavior... how they've seen it before...

  Wait.

  "Oh no..." Maple uttered,

  "What is it?" Alpine asked.

  Maple looked up. "It's following us."

  Everyone's heads sharply turned towards him. Some had skeptical expressions, others fearful.

  "It's the same dragon we saw hunting before." Maple barreled on. "Think about it - it leaves the Indestructible City at the same time we do, we see it along the journey, and end up in the same place? That's not a coincidence."

  "By the stars, you're right." Granite gasped. Everyone started scanning the surroundings - seeking for a glint of shiny white scales. "What should we do? We can't do this with a dragon hunting us."

  "We keep moving forward." Copperhead reprimanded. "We do not want to fail the Invincible Lord."

  "Even if it costs our lives?" Lake demanded.

  "The dragon is following us anyways." Copperhead countered. "Whether we cut the expedition short or stick it out doesn't matter. We're still being hunted."

  "But wait." Alpine intervened, they turned their heads to her. "What if it's not hunting us?"

  Maple stared at her filled with surprise by such an incongruous claim, yet, she looked surprisingly confident in her statement.

  "What do you mean 'not hunting us'?" Copperhead spat. "It's a dragon."

  "But if we're being hunted and it knows where we are, wouldn't we be dead already?"

  Silence fell upon the group, Lake looked at the Lord's subordinate. "She has a point. For all I can praise Maple's actions, I don't think a single piece of cacti would defeat a savage enough dragon. It still has its breath after all."

  "It's a dragon, a mindless beast." Copperhead said. "If it's stupid enough to approach the city, it's stupid enough to get blown up by a plant."

  "Well visibly it isn't." Alpine countered. "Since that dragon looked pretty fearful of the cactus, scared enough to flee at least."

  Is she saying what I think she is?

  "Don't speak nonsense." The subordinate countered with a hiss. "Dragons aren't intelligent. If they were, they'd stop eating us because they'd recognize that we are too."

  "True that." Granite concurred. "They're savage beasts. Nothing else."

  "But the cactus clearly had some effect, didn't it?" Alpine argued.

  Lake opened his mouth and closed it, he huffed out, signifying he was done arguing. He turned to the guards. "Keep that fire going through the night and that cactus close. And keep a sharp eye out." He looked at Alpine. "I hope you're right." He turned back to Copperhead. "We'll be able to finish experimenting in the morning. we can leave then."

  "I hope so. I do not want to get stuck in the rain. The low smoke is warning of the weather to come."

  *****

  "So why didn't it explode?" Copperhead leaned above the metal plate with remains of burnt cactus.

  "I have a theory that explains it." Lake responded. "The cactus is divided into sections. This..." He pointed at the plant's skin laying beside them. "...is the outer layer, the shell that protects the insides. It also holds the seeds for the cactus to reproduce."

  Copperhead examined the greenish remains. "So what explodes?"

  "When Maple and I cut one open, we saw how the inside had another layer. This looked like any other plant, and acted as such during tests." Lake explained, talking about the shell.

  "So then what actually explodes?" Copperhead demanded impatiently. "The Invincible Lord won't tolerate meandering explanations - he only wants the important information."

  "It's the core that explodes." Lake turned toward the empty and burnt metal plate in front of them. "We noticed how it wasn't plant-like - it didn't show any apparent purpose."

  He walked toward the plate and leaned above.

  "Do you smell that scent?" He asked.

  "Not going to be my favorite smell, I can tell you that." Granite said.

  "It seems the cactus has some sort of volatile material, which explodes when exposed to heat." Lake held a hand to his chin. "I'm not sure exactly how it produces that material."

  "It vaporizes." Maple walked in. "Look." He pointed at it. "There's nothing left on the plate. We noticed the plant was very wet inside earlier - it might be to avoid exploding earlier than prefered."

  Lake tilted his head at him with an interested look on his face.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Go on. He thought.

  "It burned extremely quickly and easily, like oil, but it disappeared in an instant. I think it has a low heat resistance, and vaporizes into a gas when it burns. The water might be drained out towards the end of its life cycle, and it likely tries to accumulate heat from the sun to explode and spread its seeds." Maple stood there as the people around him looked at him with bewildered eyes. "Oh, and I wouldn't advise to smell it too much after it burned - we don't know if the gas is safe, so breathing it into our body may not be the best idea."

  His advice was echoed only by silence, Lake watched his apprentice with a blinking eye.

  How did he learn that?

  "How did you learn about gas? I never taught you this." Lake finally said. His apprentice suddenly looked a bit less comfortable.

  "I've read it." He scratched the back of his head. "In a chemistry book."

  "We don't have such books in the town's library, and I would know if it was one of my shelves." Lake frowned at his apprentice.

  You went to the forbidden library and searched into shelves no one is allowed to even approach. This is almost treacherous.

  Maple looked down under the furious glance of his master.

  "You know very well you are not allowed in this part of the library yet." Lake accused.

  "But it's so tempting! So much knowledge-"

  "Forbidden knowledge." Lake shut his apprentice down. "And there are very good reasons for that."

  "I understand but-"

  Maple couldn't finish his response as Lake held an imperious finger to stop him.

  "It comes to us from older times, which is both fragile and cursed. I already told you what fate the old world suffered." Maple closed his mouth and stopped arguing. Lake sighed. "We will have to talk about it once we come back."

  "I'm sorry, forbidden knowledge? Old world? I think I'm a bit lost," Alpine said, looking at Lake and his apprentice with confusion.

  "It doesn't matter; we don't have time for such things." Copperhead said sharply. "You have a new weapon to make, and there is a dragon on the hunt. It's not the moment to squabble about whatever happened in the past."

  "Just some history." Lake turned back to Copperhead and continued. "Maple theorized that it's a way the cactus spreads - up on the mountain, their height - which is almost as much as a dragon's - is enough for it to attract lightning, which would ignite the core-"

  "I don't care about how it spreads, and neither will the lord." Lake's explanation was interrupted. "He only cares that it does what was described and that we can use it to kill dragons. Understand?"

  Lake glanced at Copperhead, a neutral expression plastered on his face. "Understood." he replied, with a barely audible spite in his voice.

  "Good, Then we need to start moving. Pack it up and let's go." Copperhead ordered as small water droplets began to fall.

  *****

  PSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!

  "We need to find shelter!" Lake yelled over the torrent. The light rain that started a few hours ago had grown into a raging storm. Wind threw stinging droplets all over, leaving each member feeling like needles were being jabbed into their skin. The rocks they were marching on were slick and left each person prone to slipping. Maple's foot slipped to the side, almost sending him tumbling down the slope if Alpine hadn't caught his arm.

  "Thanks!" he shouted over the downpour. The howling wind almost completely drowned out each voice - even when yelling right next to each other they had to strain to catch the words. The only upside was that a dragon wouldn't be able to hear them either.

  "Maintain three points of contact at all times!" Alpine shouted back. "You'll be more likely to catch yourself if you slip!"

  "Got it!"

  "Does anyone see any place where we could stop and get out of this downpour!?" Copperhead yelled. The group was practically blind - one could barely see a few feet in front of them, let alone scan for some kind of place to hide from nature's wrath. Only outlines of mountains were visible through the rain,

  "No!" Granite responded. "I don't see anything!"

  "Keep moving forward!" Lake called out. "We'll find something eventually!"

  PSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!

  Onwards the group trudged, Granite taking the lead through the rocky landscape. The wind fought every step they took. The constant howling in their ears never ceased. Everyone slipped more than once - thankfully none slipped too far before catching themselves.

  Maple was focused on what immediately had to be done - he only cared about making it somewhere - anywhere - where he could escape this rain. His eyes were locked on the uneven ground, scanning for anything to avoid - if he slipped and injured himself, they'd never make it back to the city.

  One foot in front of the other.

  Hold onto that rock.

  Don't go there - that boulder looks loose.

  Keep going. Don't stop.

  The group was moving down the mountain they were on when Granite called out.

  "I think I see something!" Granite shouted.

  "Where!?" Lake came up next to him, looking in the same direction.

  "On that slope over there! I think I see a cave!"

  Maple followed Granite's finger as he pointed. He could scarcely make out a valley below, another mountain slope rising again, and a dark hole on the mountainside. He thought it was flanked by a boulder - one that should shield most of the rain and wind.

  "No better options, are there!?" Copperhead prompted. "Let's go! Any place where I can get out of this rain even partially is better than here!" He started down the slope, soon joined by the other four. They took extra care moving down the slick rocks - Granite slipped and almost cracked his skull when he jumped down from a boulder.

  Maple was barely holding up - he had never encountered weather like this before. Even when he traveled with Lake before, the weather wouldn't be so harsh.

  Just keep going. Make it to the cave. You can make it to the cave.

  The ground had now bottomed out. The climb upward renewed once more. Rain pounded into them as if trying to end their progress. Maple was cold, soaked, and miserable. He speculated the night will be too - all of his gear was drenched in cold rain. There would be nothing warm to put on or sleep in. No way they'd find any dry wood to start a fire either to dry their clothes - or themselves, for that matter. He broke his train of thoughts as he clambered over a large rock. He turned around and offered his hand to Alpine behind him.

  She looked up and clasped his offered hand. He helped pull her up over the slippery rocks. She gave a nod of thanks as they turned and faced the opening ahead of them. Granite was already walking in with Lake and Copperhead following closely behind. Maple and Alpine rushed to join them in the cave.

  PSSSSSSsssshhhhh!

  Maple's ears felt like they had finally opened up after the noise of gushing water finally faded into the background. For once his exposed skin wasn't stinging from high-speed water droplets.

  Granite and Lake were trying to get an oil lamp to light with flint and steel. The duo managed to get it working and a soft glow spread around the cave. Copperhead was hugging himself and holding his own shoulders - he was shivering uncontrollably. Everyone else was faring no better - the cold had seeped into their bones.

  "I'll explore the cave." Granite declared, sauntering off into the depths. Everyone else just sat down and caught their breaths. No one spoke a word - the trek through the storm was exhausting. They all stayed like that - sitting, breathing, resting - until Granite returned.

  "The cave is pretty shallow - we can move further in around this corner and escape the rest of the wind." He explained, showing a darker side of the cave. No one protested or voiced agreement, They just stood up and followed him a little deeper into the cave. It was a surprisingly long tunnel - it meandered from left to right; they even saw darker spots on the sides where the cave was branching out into more rooms.

  Eventually, they arrived in a small humid room with a tiny hole near its ceiling that was the only source of natural light. A small stream dripped through it and ran down to a hole in the wall. Once at the spot, everyone took out some rations for a meager dinner and set up what they could for a comfortable sleep. They struggled to light a small campfire to heat the place up. There was no dry wood outside - they were lucky some sticks were out of reach from the rain, letting them start a flame. They laid other wood Granite collected (much to his dislike, going back out into the rain) next to it, in hopes that it'll dry and they could extend the flame's lifespan. Maple was finalizing his arrangement with Alpine next to him. He was lost in thought when her voice brought him back to reality.

  "Tough hike, huh?"

  "Oh? Uh, yeah." Maple responded.

  "Is something on your mind?" Alpine asked.

  "The dragon yesterday." Maple answered. He sat down on his wet sleeping arrangement and face Alpine,

  "What about it?" She prompted.

  "It's just... its behavior was weird." Maple explained. "It didn't act like what dragons should act like."

  "What do you mean?"

  "When it first appeared," Maple began. "It landed in front of Lake and I, instead of snatching one of us up and flying away. It also held its position for a few seconds - did you not notice that?"

  "I mostly noticed the fact that there was a dragon right there." Alpine admitted. She had finished setting up her space too and sat down.

  "It didn't immediately attack Lake, even though he didn't run. And what you argued a few hours ago - that it recognized the cactus - how did it know that it was dangerous?" Maple continued. "A lot of what it did went against what I was taught about dragon behavior."

  "It was probably just different - it's already an ice dragon in the mountains anyways." Alpine suggeste. "Copperhead and Lake said it too, they are weird beasts. Maybe interestingly weird, but still beasts."

  "Yes... yes, you're probably right." Maple said. He thought back to what happened - how he ran up, its reaction, how it lowered its head and looked him in the eyes and growled - it was almost like it was trying to send a message through everything it did. Looking back, he did not feel any malicious intent coming from the dragon, but maybe it was just him imagining things again.

  "I just hope we don't see it again." Alpine said. Maple depressed a little at that - dangerous or not, that was the most exciting moment of his life. But he'd also rather keep his life.

  "Yeah, me too." He agreed, just as a dragon's head came around the corner.