Chapter 16: Wyvern's egg and one little girl

I balanced carefully on the small ledge and kept moving. I was still thinking of the four mages Silver had brought into my kitchen. I was rocking Ash as Melody and Princess played with jacks across the room. I glanced at Silver and then at the king’s brother before looking at the others, “Not today. Jasmine is out and will not be back until this afternoon.”

They smiled as Silver sat and accepted his granddaughter onto his lap, “We can watch them.”

I smiled, “Yeah right. The last time Melody turned your beard blue, the walls pink and had the whole floor growing fur.”

He gave her a hug, “But we had fun and did not break anything.”

I looked at Ash in her cradle, “What do you need?”

Edmond or mage Gelsipie as he had been known cleared his throat, “We found a scroll. It described a hidden complex of rooms in the old palace keep.”

I shrugged, “That would not surprise me.”

Another spoke up, “But there is a Wyvern egg as well as treasure and artifacts.”

I looked at him and them Silver, “The egg would have hatched.”

He snorted, “We might not be able to enspell the egg but the room it is in would be different.”

He set Melody down as she wiggled, “And it is decades or even centuries before a wyvern egg hatches.”

I shrugged, “So get the egg yourself.”

Edmond shook his head, “We can not. Besides being hard to reach it has protections against a mage.”

It took them all to convince me and they had to stay and watch Melody and Ash while I went. I reached for the rune covered stone in the wall and pushed. There was a click as I moved away on the ledge and then the wall pushed out. I looked at the doorway that appeared before moving towards it.

I looked at the glowing strand strands as I pulled silver pen knives encrusted with salt. It took a couple of minutes to slide the strands to one side and then I carefully stepped through and into a small room. I knelt to look at the floor and then each wall and Jewel patted my ear and pointed to the ceiling.

I looked at the strands of magic before reaching for more silver knives. My way across the room was not a straight line, it was twisted and curved. When I reached the other doorway I knelt to look at it as I pulled a chemical lantern instead of my normal mage lantern. I looked at the spiral stairs before I slowly began moving down.

There were no traps on the stairs as they went down and down until I knew I was underground. The stairs ended in the corner of a large sparkling room. In the center was a large pile of gold coins with a huge egg on top. The whole room was almost a blanket of magic strands. Around the walls was more coins and chests with shelves above them.

I sat on the stairs, “Would you look at this. There is no way into the room let alone to the egg.”

Jewel rubbed against my neck and then pointed to the right. I snort, “Okay I could take that chest...”

I blinked and then grinned, “And move the strands out as I circle the room.”

I smiled and reached up to pet the tiny dragon, “Thanks.”

I moved off the stair and used two silver pen knives to shift the strands further into the room. I pulled the heavy chest to me and lifted it before turning to start back up. When I finally reached the ledge I glanced down at Daniel and Tami. They had a strong ladder in place and grinned as two guards stood behind them.

I knelt and set the chest down before catching the rope Tami tossed, “Do not open it. I have not checked it for traps.”

They nodded as I tied the chest and then lowered it with the rope, “We are going to need a lot of empty chests. One of you run to the chamberlain and let him know. Tell him we will need the king’s accounting clerk when we are done.”

Daniel nodded, “So does it look like we will make enough?”

I smiled, “Aye.”

I went back down and stepped off the stair and into the space where the chest had been. I removed my pack before using knives to lift the spell strands up. I took the jew encrusted boxes and small chests from the shelves before carrying them up. It took a lot of trips and I lowered the strands on the walls as I moved further into the room.