The Death of Addor 3 (special preview)

Odd nods his head. “Hydras, dragons in the water,” he replies. “I’ve met one once. Very sweet guy, but still a dragon.” He motions to the water. “Like you said, there has to be a way for fresh water to get in and out of Grattertock, but did you even consider that there might be dragons that actually live in the water?”

Darius’ face says it all. He looks mortified and dumbstruck by the concept.

“I guess that’s my answer,” Odd shrugs. 

“Perhaps we should go back and contact your Hydra friends,” Chiyo says.

Od shakes his head. “I wouldn’t. He’s never even seen another dragon before. He’s much too timid to come to this hell of all places.”

“We have Maeve with us,” Chiyo says with confidence. If we stay with her, perhaps we won’t get seen.”

“Or we’ll be taken as guppies and swallowed whole,” Darius whimpers under his breath.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t even consider water dragons,” Odd smirks.

“Enough of your salt in my wound,” Darius snaps at him.

Chiyo steps between them, as he eyes narrow on the water. She points out. “Look, do you see what I see?”

“What?” Darius stands beside her.

“I see a path,” Chiyo whispers.

The closer I look at the surface of the water, the clearer I see it. There’s a barely visible stream the flows inwards. As we follow it, we come to a part of beach that has no sand, only rock.

“This could be the entrance,” Darius whispers.

“That must be the flow of fresh water moving in,” Odd replies. “Which means there must be another channel where it’s flowing out. We could have a back door and a front door situation.”

“We could have a direct line in and out,” Chiyo replies.

“And if a ship were to get caught in this current, it would be taken directly in,” Darius whispers. He then claps his hands together in excitement. “We’ve found the path!” He exclaims with excitement.

We wait until dark when the tide moves out. As it does, a small opening becomes revealed just under the rocky patch of beach. We take the row boats and use them to get inside. The cave opens up more the further we go in and as we do.

The deeper we go, the hotter it gets and soon, we come into a room that is glowing as lava flows down from the walls.

“My god,”  Heinrik whispers.