Daybreak - Dragon Embarks! [Hayate, Dragon]

[Hayate_Amatsukami]

As the Shinobi inched forward toward the sliver of a passageway he noted that Erik had a good head on his shoulders. While these mines were owned by the Assembly and its resources were principal in the restoration of the country, the men working this vast network all work privately for the Hedged Foundation. Those sneaky bastards have had their hand in the pockets of everyone who came to town for the last few years and he wouldn’t put it past them to have taken up petty theft as well. The boy soldier hugged as he crouched and shimmied through the narrow opening before signaling his newfound companion to follow suit.
The air was stagnant, thick with dust and soot, choking the pair of them as the two pressed forward in the darkness. Without a word Hayate tore two equal strips from his cloak, offering one to Erik and fastening the other around his mouth as a mask.

“You’ve come to town at a strange time you know,” he said, breaking the silence. “Since the explosion of Lorinus and the assault on the capital most folks have been leavening, not coming. I’m sure you’ve noticed the mass exodus from the country, there isn’t enough to go around right now.”

“That’s not a good reason to steal my-...” Hayate put his hand up hushing Erik before he could finish.

Ahead there was another small opening only barely visible by a faint glow coming from the other side. The two of them had walked for over half an hour by this point and Hayate figures they to be about a kilometer under the earth and about at the end of this particular corridor. Assuming it had been blocked off for the lack of mineral found in this direction, The Foundation wouldn’t have allocated anymore time or materials to continue without results. But why would there be light all the way down here if the tunnel was supposed to be abandoned.

Hesitantly the Shinobi as if the shadows himself skilled towards the mouth of the opening, peering over his left shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of what may be beyond. With only a very small fraction of his face showing he leaned in to see a number of torches hanging from either side of a large hollowed our room about fifteen meters in every direction. Throughout a number of barrels and crates littered the floor and among them sacks packed to the brim with assorted goods and other valuables. Hayate was shocked to see such a stockpile and ushered his friend to take a look for himself. While he was alert and ready for anything there wasn’t a sign of anyone slurring around in the room.

“What do you make of this?” The boy soldier asked the scholar.

[Dragon]

“Anger is one letter short from danger” - Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)


Erik looked around the dimly lit cave with labored breath through the cloth taken earlier from his companion. He examined the contents and storage containment's themselves, it was hard to judge exactly what they were trying to accomplish with all the varying materials gathered so far as they could be used for a variety of products and items. He scratched his head as he thought momentarily and looked back at the soldier by his side. “Well, the sulfur could be used for black gunpowder and acid… the sodium can be used in the exchange of heat.. The iron could be anything. Perhaps some kind of mechanical contraption with explosive properties. Those barrels are also quite common for boat transport, so whatever it is, it's going overseas. We also can’t rule out the possibility that these common products could be a front for something bigger, they did steal my dragon afterall.”

The gravel shifted beneath Erik’s feet as he shuffled his way further ahead, the path they were on lead to what appeared to be a main hallway of sorts that broke into multiple mining branches. Erik could overhear two miners talking, so he stepped closer to get an ear into their conversation. “How long do ya reckon until they come for the next shipment?” A stout miner spoke. “Probably not for another three days.” The slender miner replied. “Hmm three days, that means my dragon is definitely still here.” Erik whispered to himself.

“That long huh.” The stout miner continued “It might get dangerous, stealing that dragon earlier definitely caught some attention.” “Nah. The owner was just some snobby kid. Probably wouldn’t even know what to do with the thing.” The slender retorted. “So where did you put it?” “Obviously with the rest of the illegal crap in the 7th level.”

Erik had now heard all he needed to proceed. With a strangely unfamiliar anger, Erik stood from his stealthy crouching and charged the two, having now found the one responsible from the dragon napping. With his large heavy steps however, it wasn’t a surprise that they heard him coming. The stout was slow to react. Erik threw his fist, carrying his whole body weight through and hit the slender miner straight in the jaw. “This is what you get!” The crack of bone could be heard as the miners jaw dislocated before shattering and carried the force of the swing through by being tossed head first into the dirt. In response the stout miner swung his pick directly at Erik’s back, luckily hitting the scales on his spine. The force however was still enough to flatten Erik onto the ground next to his opposing counterpart, eating a mouth full of gravel and dirt and knocking him out of his angered state.

Second time lucky for Erik, he had brought a friend, allowing his hide to be saved before the stout miner had a chance to bring down the pick a second time on him. Erik opened his eyes slowly with some effort before unpleasantly spitting out a mouth full of dirt and picking himself up. He stretched his back and turned his gaze down towards the man who had allegedly stolen his Dragon. “Did I do that?” Erik turned his head towards his companion as he pointed to the now unconscious and severely injured body. “I really wasn’t thinking, now how am I supposed to find my girl with this guy unconscious like this.” Erik rubbed the back of his neck and took notice of his surroundings wondering if anyone had heard the brawl that had occurred. Two empty barrels conveniently appeared in his peripheral before giving his companion another knowing look.

With the two unconscious bodies now stuffed inside barrels they could comfortably continue searching the labyrinth before them without worrying about other people coming across the bodies. “Onto the seventh level, wind man. We’ve got a baby to rescue.”