The city shone just on the other side of the mountain peak as Celia and Xan looked down to the mountainside city below. Strangely, lights still pocketed the city other than the ray of light in the spire, but the lights were smaller and dimmer in comparison to the beauty of the real piece of sunlight. Thankfully the black dragon never appeared while they looped around the city and landed in the mountain range behind it.

"I think we can do this," Celia finally spoke slid back down the slope and pulled the ribbon from the depths of her pocket. When she reached Verbena, she somewhat loosely wrapped the ribbon around the base of the dragon's neck a couple of times. "We can definitely do this," Celia released a breathy exhalation as she tightly knotted and secured the ends of the strip of white fabric together.

'I believe in us,' Verbena raised her wings proudly with a draconic grin across her muzzle. 'This plan is foolproof.'

Irin nervously glanced up to the sky as he thought he saw something briefly fly across the stars. He shifted his wings as he looked up to the two humans from his position lower down on the slope. 'Do you think I should have the ribbon tied around me as well?" The blue dragon glanced to the white ribbon tied around Verbena's arm. "Verbena will fly faster if I carry Xan.'

'I can do it!' Verbena protested with a soft whine and a pout. 'I've gotten a lot better at flying! I can fly fast enough!'

"I think we should go with Irin's suggestion," Xan called down from the mountain peak, "just to be on the safe side."

Celia paused, then fumbled to untie her knot. "I am worried about how much space we will have for our escape." Celia's gloved fingers finally managed to separate a loop, so she tore the entangled ribbon apart. "Irin and Verbena would not fit very well in a tunnel like the ones the Ulven had, and I don't know what to expect out there. We have a rough plan, not a real well-defined one with a map."

"I... I guess...," Xan slowly admitted, "there are a lot of narrow hallways and streets, and I do not know if even Verbena could fit through some of the narrowest alleys." He paused.

"I'll tie half of the ribbon around Irin as well, just in case we need we need him." Celia pulled the ribbon from Verbena's neck. While the young dragoness pouted, Celia drew her knife from its sheath. The human neatly split the ribbon into two nearly identical pieces.

"You will still be my preferred choice." Celia soothed the green dragonet's ego as she tied one half of the ribbon back around the base of Verbena's neck. Once she finished securely knotting the strip of cloth, she scratched behind Verbena's ears. "You are my best friend, don't worry." Celia smiled, then wrapped her arms around the green dragon's neck to further assure her.

'Fine,' Verbena huffed and exhaled a small puff of smoke.

Celia smiled a bit as she released the hug. After she patted Verbena's ice-armored side, the human trudged down the hillside a few feet to Irin. "Here's your half," Celia looped the ribbon around Irin's neck.

However, the cloth strip did not quite reach all the way around the drake's neck as it had with Verbena. "Huh, the ends don't even meet," Celia pulled the ribbon from the blue dragon's shoulders, then stepped back and searched for a new place to fasten the magical fabric.

If she tied the ribbon higher, it may impede with his fire breath by blocking the expansion of the tube in a dragon's throat that carried the fire from the flame sacks in his chest to his mouth. The base of the neck was fine because it was protected by the collar bone and muscles protected the dragon's throat. However, the rest of a dragon's neck was not as protected and was rather sensitive.

Celia looked down to Irin's wide paws and his wrists. "I can tie it there," Celia stepped forward and kneeled at his left forepaw. The human female looped the ribbon around the male dragon's wrist above his two thumbs. Thankfully, there was a long stretch of leftover ribbon to tie the knot without tying the knot dangerously tight. Also, there was even a bit if excess cloth on one end.

"Hmmm," Celia mused, then swiftly sliced off the extra length with her knife. After a bit of hesitation, the human female wrapped and secured the ribbon around the hilt of her weapon. "Just in case," she whispered as she sheathed the blade, then stood and brushed the snow off of her pants.

Celia looked up to Xan as she began her slow climb up the mountain. "I think we are ready now. Both dragons have returning ribbon on them. My bag is packed with a few basic supplies, but I left most of my stuff with Verbena." 

Xan simply nodded as he watched the nighttime below. Because of the lights that lined everything, Xan saw the maze on f streets and compared them to his mental map of the settlement as he planned a route.

When Celia finally climbed up to the peak of the mountain, the male human looked to his female counterpart. "I think our best bet is the southern entrance. That's the one I used as a kid, and I don't think we should use the western entrance. It's heavily guarded because of its proximity to the palace. The city is most active during the day, so that's when we should go."

Celia looked up to the moon as it hung low to the horizon. "The night is almost over," she observed.

"Not necessarily," Xan interjected, "the moon has a mind of its own and rises and sets whenever it wants. Though I will agree that we do not need to wait much longer." He paused, "we can probably start heading down there. By the time we get to the South Gate, it will probably be morning."

Celia blinked, then swiftly nodded and stepped off of the peak on the city side of the mountain. "Then let's head out. We are losing moonlight, and the sooner we get down there the better." She flashed an excited grin.

The two humans slid a bit as they trekked down the side of the mountain. Despite their best efforts, the deep powder snow made it hard to gain any kind of speed. Small amounts of snow fell down the slope, but the snow was too dry and flakey for any avalanches to form.

After a while of walking, the two finally made it to the wall of the city. "The walls are taller than I thought they would be." Celia paused and gazed up to the top of the grey stone barrier. When she was finished looking up, she set her focus down to the extremely deep snow that buried the human female up to her waist. "The snow is also fat deeper than I ever thought possible."

"A lot of the precipitation from the Ulven lands builds up against this wall, and the light from the tower only melts the snow it directly hits, so any snow in the shadows does not melt as easily," Xan grunted slightly as he wrenched his foot out of the snow and used his knee to clear a bit of the path ahead of them. "But we are almost there. The gate is just around the corner."

Celia set her sights on the corner, then began to almost swim through the snow. Despite walking in Xan's path, the snow was still up to her waist. Despite the oncoming exhaustion, Celia continued to press forward as a light appeared on the other side of the wall and the stars faded by comparison.

"Dawn," Xan hummed as he finally reached the corner. "Almost there," he promised and continued with renewed vigor.

Likewise, Celia increased her pace a small bit. When she also reached the corner, an exhilarated but exhausted smile spread across her face as she gazed to the metal bars on the other side of one last large mound. "Almost there," the human female sighed in relief as her sore muscles screamed for her to stop.

Celia followed Xan and surmounted the final mound, then immediately fell off the packed snow cliff to the ground. "Ow," she winced as she rose off of her now-pained hands an knees.

"Sorry, I should have warned you about that," Xan weakly laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Halt!" A voice rang above them, "who goes there? State your names and business!" A guard in shiny black armor looked down from his position on the walkway atop the gate's arch.

"We are Celia and Xan Zyrai," Xan addressed the man above them before Celia could even open her mouth. "We are merchants, but a dragon attacked us on our way south from Hael and we lost everything but what is on our backs." Despite the fact that everything was a lie, Xan was still rather convincing. "We were lost in the mountains for a while, but then we saw the Light of Urre in the distance and followed it. We are hoping for shelter in the city while we resupply to head home."

The guard simply nodded, then turned to something to his right. "Open the gate," he ordered, and the metal bars slowly rose into the wall. He turned back to Xan and Celia and spoke over the loud gate, "on behalf of King Baron, welcome to Urre, the city of light and capital to the Roahla Empire."

"Thank you," Xan nodded to the guards, then motioned for Celia to follow him into the city. "Let's go look around the city and find an inn."

Celia nodded and followed him across the threshold to the city. The female human released a breath she did not realize she was holding. "We are finally here," she exhaled her words in a soft whisper.

Author Notes!

We made it!!! whooo!!

On a scale of one to ten, how easy do you think retrieving Urre's ray of light will be for our heroes?