The World's Last Hope 20

“How is the inside of the mountain so much bigger than it looks on the outside?”Kate asked as she followed Bella into her keep with Rosalie, Beatrice and Angela trailing behind her. After everyone had breakfast Bella had transformed into her dragon and the group flew on her back to the mountain that contained Bella’s keep. From what Kate had seen flying up to it she thought Bella’s keep would be nothing more than a large cave. As she looked around the large cavern filled from wall to wall all the way to the ceiling with neatly organized items Kate couldn’t understand how it all fit into the mountain. It just didn’t make sense. Then again how they got inside the cavern was confusing as well. Kate had assumed that there was some kind of tunnel they would have to go through to get to the keep. That isn’t what happened though. Bella had simply walked up to a random bolder spoke some words in a language Kate didn’t understand and then a large metal door appeared out of nowhere. If that wasn’t surprising enough when Bella put the medallion in the key hole the door turned a bright red colored and disappeared leaving an opening where it used to be. Kate had never witness something like that happening before.

“The outside of the mountain is actually quite larger than it looks. When I decided to set up my keep here I preformed some spells to make it seem small and unimpressive to make anyone who saw it think it wouldn’t have anything of value in it. I also put enchantments on it that make it so if anyone comes close to it they get the overwhelming feeling of needing to leave the area right away.”Bella explained.

“That’s why there is no roads or houses out this way.”Rosalie concluded.

Bella nodded.”It doesn’t matter what species they won’t come near here. That includes animals.”

“That’s ingenious.”Beatrice had never heard of such spells before.

“During my time dragons hired mages to perform all kind of different spells on their keeps. I’m sure there are many abandoned ones all over the world that are still protected from society.”Bella said.

“You think there are still dragon keeps hidden around the world?”Kate hadn’t even thought of that being a possibility.

“Of course. Mine is still here and I was sealed away many millennia ago. I have no doubt that many of my kind had protected their keeps just as good if not better than I did.”Bella told her.

“Is there a way to find them?”Angela was very interested in knowing what other things dragons thought were valuable enough to hide in their keeps.

“As the last of my kind and the were queen I could easily find them.”Bella wouldn’t have a problem tracing the life force that each dragon used when sealing their keeps. Feeling life forces was a skill she learned when she became queen so that she would be able to find her people if they ever got in trouble. Something that had come in handy at the beginning of the war with the Romanians. They had targeted the dragons first and many times Bella led rescue mission to save kidnapped dragons and defend villages that were over run by the enemy.

“Could you gain entrance if you went to one?”Rosalie was thinking the same thing as her mate. She was very interested in learning what things other dragons thought were important enough to hide away.

“Easily.”Bella was a lot more powerful than the mages that were alive when her kind still roamed the earth. Even if she wasn’t she had a great many texts to reference that would have the information needed to undo any magic cast on a keep.

“Shit.”Kate mumbled.

“Would you be willing to take us to some of those as well?”Angela asked.

Bella thought about if it would be a good idea to visit them or not.”That might be something I should do actually. Some of the dragons may have keep important dragon artifacts that I would appreciate having.”

“I didn’t even think of that.”Rosalie was now even more excited to visit other keeps. She couldn’t imagine what dragon artifacts they would find. Heck she didn’t even know what a dragon artifact was.

“That will have to wait until we get through at least the war with the Romanians and I have built my own stronghold to have a place to display my belongings.”Bella wasn’t going to take on the endeavor of going to other keeps until she settled down. She didn’t feel comfortable storing her things at Kate’s house. It lacked security.

“I hate that we have to fight any war. Let alone one against the Romanians.”Kate wasn’t to worried about getting a stronghold built. She had already brought her plans of building Bella her own home fit to the dragons specifications to Charlie who was very enthusiastic about the idea. He promised to assign some of his people to work on it. Kate expected the house to be built quickly once they got started.

“What stuff do you want to get from here?”Angela didn’t know exactly what to look for. Bella had so much stuff she wasn’t sure were to focus.

Bella navigated through the shelves. Finding a chest she picked it up and set it in the middle of the floor.”This is what Melinda left for you.”

“What is it?”Beatrice was very excited to see what her ancestor left for them.

“It’s all the things she knew that you would need to help fight this threat.”Bella pointed to a crest that had a pin point sticking out.”You need to prick your finger. It will only open with the blood of one of her family line.”

Beatrice reached out and pricked her finger on the crest. She held her breath waiting for something to happen only to let it out in a gasp when the lock clicked and the top opened revealing a treasure trove of items. Some of them Beatrice couldn’t identify.”How does everything fit in this?”

“An extension charm.”Bella told her.

“Amazing.”Beatrice began pulling out the items and setting them on the ground. Flipping through one of the books she didn’t know the language it was written in.”I don’t know anyone who will be able to translate these.”

Bella leaned over to look at the book.”That is not surprising. That book is written in the first dialect witches created for their people. Based on the lack of knowledge the witches that have shown up have I wouldn’t expect any of them to be able to read it or speak it.”

“Witches had their own language?”Angela didn’t know that.

“They did. As a matter of fact most spells are based on that language.”Bella said.

“How did you learn it?”Kate asked.

“It was a requirement in the mage academy I went to. You couldn’t even attend class until you could not only speak it but read and write it fluently as well.”Bella explained.

“I would give anything to go to one of the mage academies that existed during your time.”Beatrice only learned about the academies in the books that had passed down to her and stories told to her by other witches but knew enough to know that she would have loved going to one. All that knowledge in one place.

“I have a kept all my books and assignments I did during my time there. You are more than welcome to look through it.”Bella offered.

“You kept everything?”Rosalie was very surprised to hear that.

“You aren’t that well versed on dragons. All dragons like to hoard treasure. However what that treasure is is based on the dragon’s preference. So where as one dragon liked to hoard jewels another would like to hoard art.”Bella explained.

Kate looked around and tried to figure out what Bella considered treasure.”What do you like to hoard?”

“I like to hoard knowledge. That’s why even though I have gold and jewels and other items the main bulk of my hoard is things that hold some type of knowledge or things that could be used in the pursuit of knowledge.”Bella told them.

“So this whole room is filled with things that could help us learn about happened before you were sealed away?”Angela couldn’t imagine all the things that they could learn from even a fraction of the books she could see in Bella’s keep.

“Like most dragons I started amassing my hoard as soon as I was able to fly. By the time I was sealed away I was an ancient and had been adding to it for many millennia. In this keep you would be able to learn about a time before humans roamed the earth. That’s how far back I have collected.”Bella was proud of her hoard. She put a lot of effort into acquiring it.

“Seriously?”When Bella nodded in reply Kate was even more flabbergasted. How did she of all people get mated to an ancient dragon who was obsessed with knowledge. Kate didn’t even like to read instructions to things let alone learn about anything significant. Bella had dedicated her whole life to learning. Their pairing made no sense. Not that Kate would trade Bella for anything. She just hoped Bella wouldn’t force her to watch documentaries and visit monuments and museums all the time.

“I bet when we visit the other keeps we will find collections of all kinds of random thing. I once knew a dragon who treasured rugs above everything else. When I visited his home he had them everywhere. Piles filing entire rooms stacked to the ceiling. He made furniture out them and even his clothes were made in the style that rugs were made. For a his baby’s birth I personally wove the child a rug that I enchanted to stay warm. The dragon sobbed when I presented it to him.”Bella smiled sadly thinking of that incident. That dragon and his wife were a good family that had died to young. Some of the first victims of the Romanians.

Noticing Bella’s mood shifting Rosalie decided to change the subject.”Other than that chest for Beatrice what else do you need to get?”

“I need to collect the robes and regalia for my advisors and my formal armor and battle crown. Plus the chest filled with the things that will be needed to complete the bonding ceremony with Kate. I also need to grab a couple other chests that will be needed for my soldiers.”Bella listed off.

“What do you mean robes and regalia for your advisors?”Angela asked.

“As advisors are such high ranking officials in my court they have their own uniform to reflect their station. There is also different regalia to show what rank each advisor holds.”Bella explained.

“So I will have to wear a uniform?”Rosalie wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“The uniform will allow others to know that you are to be respected and that any insult to you I will consider an insult to myself. It will let them know that your word is law and give you extra protection from my people. If you wear the robes they would stand against your enemies without you even having to ask for help.”Bella told her.

“That’s crazy.”Rosalie was now beginning to understand that being one of Bella’s advisors was a big deal. She hadn’t realized how much authority she would have. She thought that Bella would just ask her opinion on things and she wouldn’t be involved with the rest of her subjects. She didn’t think she would be able to tell anyone what to do.

“It you don’t feel comfortable being an advisor I won’t force you to.”Bella would prefer Rosalie be an advisor but wasn’t going to make her.

“No I want to do it.”Rosalie wasn’t going to miss the chance to have such an important role in Bella’s kingdom.

“Good then why don’t I collect the things I need and we can get back to the stronghold.”Bella suggested.

“Yeah I don’t like being away for tho much longer.”Kate didn’t like leaving her sisters alone with the witches and the were creatures without Bella there to run interference. Not that she thought they would do anything out of turn it was just Irina was such a wild card and when Irina was involved Tanya was extremely high strung. That meant if Irina insulted someone and they took offense Tanya would me be more likely to act instead of trying to talk the conflict into resolution. Kate made a metal note to ask Bella when she was going to officially claim Irina. It would make not only Kate but Tanya feel a lot better if Bella’s people knew that Irina was protected by the dragon. Especially because Kate had overheard Irina arguing with Tanya about approaching the witches. Kate didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if Irina pissed one of them off. Just thinking about it Kate decided to help Bella collect her things. That way they could leave as soon as Bella found everything.