I took a deep breath and spoke up to Maular:
"Let's make a deal, what do you say?"
Maular continued to stare until the blink came. I hoped that meant he was ready to listen to the deal.
"I am lishening!"
Maybe we can find a way out of here. If we break the Dragon's chains and it starts flying around, that can trigger the alarm, if there is one. The Mage should be able to sit on the back of the Dragon, and if there is a Daemon, it takes barely any space, Rieven should also fit. I am maybe too big for the Dragon to carry on its back.
"I came here with a Mage, a short one, and a Daemon. We are here to free a prisoner. We need your help to escape the Dungeon. In this area, there is an exit at the top, and I wish you to wait at the top for us to rescue the prisoner and then dive down and get us."
Maular had closed his eyes, and it looked like the golden goose was thinking.
"Come on! It is a good deal, we will break the chains." I added.
"I agree, if you leave Princess Rieven in prison."
Wait!... What! Why does it think I would agree with that? I need volleyball on the journey as a weapon.
"No deal!"
"Mhm, I agree! I will wait at the top until you give the signal." Maular uttered.
"The agreement is for all of us, right?" I asked to make sure.
"Yes!" Maular responded.
I put Rieven down on the ground and guided her out of the cell to the side.
The chain caught fire, and I slammed my fist down on the locked area of the chain and did the same as the Dragon stood up on its legs, looking much bigger than I thought it was.
"Mhov," Maular uttered as the yellow spark inside the body got as big as a ball, and I ran out from the cell, grabbed Rieven, and waited a couple of meters away. The whole cell blew open with the bars all melting on the edge as the Dragon went up on the edge. I heard a sound behind me and noticed the Mage was there. Maular made a hissing sound towards her, but I intervened instantly.
"She is with me, Maular. That is the Mage. An idea popped into my head: Can you give us a ride three floors down?"
The Mage walked up to the edge, and the Daemon pointed where we needed to dive.
"I see ehnemy, many," Maular uttered.
"Well, if we walk there, wouldn't it be much harder than landing close to the cells?" I asked
"The Daemon has informed me it is best to avoid the bridges, because it is not certain how many guards are in this area." The Mage spoke up, which surprised me as she was scared earlier.
"I hope this is okay for you, Maular?"
"Yes! I responsible not you die." He responded.
The Dragon isn't the first to tell me about death. Maular descended from the edge, and the Mage jumped up on the back and held tight. It jumped over the edge, and I went up to look as it spread its wings as quietly as possible and disappeared under a bridge. It was much darker below, so I didn't know where they landed.
After a minute, Maular flapped his wings, approached us from the top, and landed perfectly with its feet on the edge. I put the chain around one of the legs and ensured it was tight.
"Maular! I need you to fly up so I can hang with Rieven in the air, and then you slowly drop down, and my chain will release itself from your leg. Then you can fly to the top and wait for my signal. I will probably be screaming, so pay attention."
It went up in the air and slowly descended into the darkness, and there was not much light down below, but I saw a light not far away. I felt the ground and snapped with my hand as the chain got loose from Maular, and the Dragon started to ascend and went under the bridges before it kept going up.
"Rieven! Fire!" I said, and she fired a big blue ball as it flew past the Mage in the dark, barely missing her.
Damn baby Dragon, she almost killed the Mage. We were on flat ground without bridges, so it was a good idea to light our way forward.
We moved to the light as there was a door, strangely, it didn't look like there was any guard here. I slowly opened the door, thinking I was discreet, but the screeching sounded throughout the area. Hm, strange. I put my hand up, signaling the Mage not to move, looking at her and pointing to a couple of boxes on the side. She went behind them, and I saw a weak blue light on the other side. It didn't shine up everything clearly, but at least it was possible to see a little inside the cages lined up after each other. I relaxed as the coast looked clear.
When I walked past a couple of cages of corpses from different creatures, the smell was terrible, like an animal that has been lying way too long unmanaged, and the meat was starting to rot. I tried to cover my nose, but my blazer had blood on it, so it didn't matter which smell I got. A hand was sticking out from one of the cages, and I closed in to check and saw a toddler with red skin and crystal blue eyes trying to reach something on the ground. It even had two small horns on its head with any hair. I thought it was diapers on it, but it looked like pants.
"I think I found the prisoner. Luckily, it seems to be still alive." I uttered as the Mage came out behind the boxes and joined up.
When the caged Daemon immediately saw the other one, it tried to escape the cage, looking stressed. I broke the lock, and it ran out from the cell to the dying Daemon.
"KILLAH! KILLAH! KILL! KILLAH!" It uttered, and I hoped it was not the only thing it could say.
It looked stressed out, and the dying Daemon started to speak jidderish as the stressed one just nodded and then pointed at me.
"Uh! What is going on?" I asked the Mage.
"The old one is the father of the younger one. It wants it to pledge its life to serve you as its master for saving the children and a couple of Daemons. The son has agreed to fulfill his destiny to serve you until death."
"Aha! Well, that is not such a good idea, as I could be dead in a couple of hours. What can a toddler do?" I asked.
"They may be tiny, but have great jumping abilities and can land from great heights without problem."
Oh waow! A jumping toddler, that should be a great asset...Not.
"Okay! Well, can we go now? It is not like we have all the time in the world in enemy territory." I tried explaining so we could get the Hell out of here.
"We can not! The young Daemon's grandfather will die any moment, and it wants you to connect the bond between master and follower." She said.
Oh my god! We dont have time for this bullshit. I will try to get this over with so we can move on.
"Fine! What do you want me to do?" I asked
"Sit down, grab one sharp stone, cut your palm, and hold hands with the young Daemon."
So much work for nothing.
"How long does this take?" I asked to be sure that we didnt spend to much time on this crap.
"It will just be a moment here, but it can feel like days pass by." She answered.
I put a sharp stone, cut my palm, and gave it to the young Daemon, who also cut his palm on his tiny hands. Rieven jumped down from my shoulder, thought it was a game, and wanted to join in.
"MEH MEH MEH!"
I took a deep breath because I was so tired of this shit.
"Fine! You can also bind a bond baby." I said.
We cut the small palm the Rieven had, and all three held hands in a circle. The chanting started, and a red circle appeared from nowhere around the three of us, and I noticed that the Mage looked nervous.
"What is it?" I asked here.
"From the chanting, the Daemon says you can not return until you return your comrades. If you die while the bonding stage is ongoing, you will die here. So be careful not to die."
"WH..." That was all I managed to muster out before everything went dark.