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"The 'Dragons Den'" Futch watched from a distance as Marash and his brother were met at the entrance to the cave by one of the guards. An exchange ensued between the guard and Marash's brother, the latter seeming to lose his temper. Futch tensed his body in anticipation... if the guard was told of someone else asking the members for their passwords this whole escapade may yet turn ugly. Luckily, it seemed that Marash and his timidity once again came to Futch's rescue. After a moment of arm pulling, Marash evidently convinced his brother to drop the whole thing, and the two proceeded inside. Futch wiped the sweat from his brow and heaved a sigh of relief. Then he once more planted his spear into the ground next to the tree... he gathered that weapons weren't allowed inside so he'd just return for it later. Besides, if he was discovered a thousand spears wouldn't do him much good... The young man waited for another ten minutes or so before making his own way up the hill, after making certain that a good number of other robed members had entered between himself and the brothers. As he neared the cave entrance, Futch began to see why the townsfolk of Araya had named it the 'Green Cavern'. It seemed that for some reason, the walls and much of the floor of the cavern were covered in some sort of green moss, which Futch could see glistening moistly in the torchlight. Of course the current occupants of the cave no longer called it the 'Green Cavern', but the 'Dragons Den'. Futch was still quite upset at their presumptuousness at naming their headquarters after the home of the real Dragon Knights... it wasn't enough that they were using the name of the 'family' to which Futch had belonged, but they were using the name of his home as well! Of course this far from the Toran Republic, the former Dragon Knight doubted whether the names meant anything to the majority of the members. I doubt that many of them have actually seen a real Dragon Knight... much less a real Dragon! Still, at least one of them must have... how else could they have copied the sigil of the real Dragon Knights which Futch had seen on the note. That fact just proved that the plagiarism was not accidental, and thus made it all the more blatant. Futch put such thoughts aside as he came to the entrance of the cavern. Two guards, dressed in a weird patchwork of Highland and Matildan armor, moved to block his path. The guard on the right raised his sword in a purposeful but non-threatening manner. "You know the drill brother. The days password is...?" Futch nodded and answered, "Levintz." Again this was another sign of familiarity with Futch's homeland. Joshua Levintz was the leader of the Dragon Knights during Futch's time there, and had been for ages thanks to the power of the Dragon Rune. The guards nodded and stepped aside to let him pass. "'Ware the Dragon," they chorused, in what seemed to be a ritual greeting. Scared that there might be a proper, expected reply, Futch mumbled something incoherent and hurried inside the cave. Within the cave, Futch felt like he was in as close to his element as he had ever been since Black had died. He had grown up in the caverns of Goya and much of his childhood had been spent in caves such as these. When he became a Dragon Knight his element became the skies, but still most Dragons preferred to have high mountain caverns as their living quarters, and Black had been no different. Except for the moss and the smell it brought, it was almost like returning to the past... a better time, when Black was still... Futch broke of this line of thought sharply as he almost slipped on a particularly wet patch of moss. Have to focus, he thought to himself. He would do Blacks memory no good by permitting these wretches to defile the name of the Dragon Knights. It was easy to enough to get to where the meeting was going to be held. The cavern at times branched off into two or more tunnels but there was always only one path which was lighted by torches. Futch followed this path for quite some time into the hillside before he began to hear a low rumbling, like the voices of a multitude of people. From the sound of it there could have been thousands in there, but Futch knew how deceptive the echoes in such caverns could be. After a moment, he was able to see for himself. The cavern opened up into a sizeable natural amphitheater. From where Futch was standing, the floor of the cavern dropped a little then flattened and fanned out into a semi-circular formation. Above him, the cave roof curved into a deformed bowl, like the dented skull of some huge beast. A few dozen meters in front of Futch, the cave floor ascended again abruptly to form a makeshift stage that was lit by a mighty bonfire. In the center of the 'stage', flanked by four more guards was an ornate wooden chair, obviously an antique of some sort. Futch did a double take and realized that three of the four guard were wearing the attire of the Matildan Knights, if Humphrey's description of them was correct. Their white clothes contrasted sharply with the green cavern walls and the brown robed figures. What are White Knights pretending to be Dragon Knights for? This is getting way too strange... Stranger still, the noise that Futch had heard reverberating through the caverns seemed not to have come from the mass of brown robed people. Although they seemed to number well into the hundreds, most were silent, and those that spoke only did so in hushed whispers. Some stood as still as statues, while others moved around restlessly... around all of them there seemed to be an aura of... anticipation. Of waiting. Futch slowly made his way towards the ‘stage’, trying not to seem out of place. Yet he felt his heart beating faster and faster. The rumbling sound bothered him. The sound jabbed at the Dragon Knights brain... it sounded familiar yet he couldn’t quite place it. As Futch neared the elevated rock the sound seemed to get louder, and take on a richer tone, almost as if... There! Another opening in the cave wall was visible behind and to the right of the wooden ‘throne’, obscured by the shadows cast by the bon fire. It was a large opening, and unlike the others had been sealed off by stout iron bars. Two more guards stood by the opening, one of them another Matildan. The sound seemed to be emanating from deep within the recesses of the new cavern. What could be in there?, he thought, Some sort of underground river? No it sounds more like... But before Futch could speculate further he heard the sound of a gong, its echoes reverberating around the chamber, magnifying its sound tenfold. That got the attention of all the Brown Robes as they stiffened almost as one and turned to face the stage. From out of the shadows emerged another figure, one cloaked in a robe of bright shades of gold and crimson. But that was not the only thing that set the leader of this cult apart from his members. Unlike the brown robes who wore their garments closed at the front, the leaders robe was open. Beneath the robe he was armored... in the style of the Toran Dragon Knights. As Futch looked closer something else became apparent. Except for being gold and red to match his robe, the armor of the leader was an exact replica of the armor of Joshua Levintz, Commander of the Dragon Knights himself. What in the world...? The leader came forward and stood at the edge of the rock platform. Behind him one of the Knights of Matilda stepped up and announced in a loud voice: " All hail his Eternal Lordship, Scourge of Evil, Guardian of Truth, Keeper of Knowledge, Champion of humanity..." Futch blinked. Humphrey had said that the Knights were long-winded but the boy had thought that the old man considered everyone who uttered more than two sentences a day ‘long-winded’. Still, now he knew ONE reason why there were Matildan Knights in this cult... shaking himself, Futch caught the last words of the Knight before the litany ended. "...Light of the World, the Commander of the Holy Dragon Knights, the Lord Nerus, Dragon Slayer!" Dragon SLAYER?!? Futch thought. But this doesn’t make any sense... As the boy tried to sort his jumbled thoughts, Nerus raised his arms in an imperious gesture for silence. The ‘Dragon Slayer’ stood with his back to the fire, his clothing making him appear one with the flames as his shadow stretched out over the crowd before him. His face was hidden deep beneath his hood, yet Futch could almost feel a malevolent grin forming on the others face. "Greetings my Dragon Knights. Greetings my Dragon Killers... tonight is a special night, a night like no other in our history. For tonight we will finally have a chance to view the face of the servants of the beasts." This caused considerable commotion amongst the brown robes. Futch tried to join in, but he found it hard to concentrate. He stared at Nerus, feeling somehow uneasy. He had a feeling that the leaders grin was getting wider by the second. In a second he knew why. "Be vigilant my brothers. For tonight... we have an enemy in our midst..."
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