Free The Dragon's Appraiser: Part One by Viola Rivard Page A

every muscle in her body ached in protest. It had been a long time since she’d had a drink and even longer since she’d eaten. Her energy was nearly depleted.
    She was just about to turn back when she heard the unmistakable sound of water in the distance. The promise of a cool drink reinvigorated her tired limbs and she was soon bounding down the passageway.
    The walls were grey, and in some areas, black. When the lamplight hit the black rock, it revealed a sleek sheen—obsidian. It was volcanic glass, formed when lava cooled. As there were several volcanoes to the north, it was commonly seen in Allonan artwork and Dvorian weaponry, but she’d never heard that Sevrrn’s mountain had once been a volcano. Perhaps it had been volcanic explosions that had led the ancient settlers to believe a dragon lurked in the depths of the mountain.
    As she moved toward the sound of water, Madja noticed the soft glow of sunlight. Her eyebrows furrowed and she slowed to a more cautious pace. Gradually, a room came into view.
    Light flooded the expansive cavern, pouring in from a massive hole in the ceiling. Madja recognized the oblong hole as the crater featured on many paintings and tapestries. It was where only the bravest of men were said to have ventured to pay their tribute. They would stand on the edge and throw their coins into the darkness, begging for Sevrrn’s favor.
    Madja had always considered it to be a ridiculous practice, but as she stood in the mouth of the passageway, staring across the cavern, it was clear that her ancestors didn’t share her convictions. There was gold as far as her eyes could see.
    She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and then blinked again.
    Sunlight reflected off what could only be millions of gold coins. They completely covered the floor, with scattered piles forming a golden landscape of hills and valleys. At the edge of the light, Madja could make out what looked like an underground lake. The surface of the water had a strange iridescence and seemed to glitter like diamonds.
    Madja had been expecting to find some gold, maybe even some artifacts, but this was staggering. For a moment, she stood frozen in place as she oscillated between a range of emotions—amazement at her discovery, euphoria at the riches that were hers for the taking, and then…bitterness.
    For centuries—no, millennia—humans had been throwing their gold into a hole in hopes that a dragon would grant their wishes. They could have used their gold to better their lives or the lives of those around them. Countless people had been born, lived, and died in poverty while a vast, untouched fortune lay strewn about in a mountain, presided over by nothing but an absurd superstition.
    Madja closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and allowed her indignation to pass. She couldn’t solve all the injustices of the world, but she could solve one—her own. The chancellor had left her down here to die. She could hardly wait until she made her way back to town. She would bring back a whole sack full of gold and shower it over lowtown. Every impoverished man, woman, and child in the district would all know about the ‘dragon’s lair’.
    Galvanized by anticipation, she began to make her way down to the gold. The passageway she’d come from emptied onto a steep cliff that overlooked the cavern. A narrow outcropping in the wall formed a natural, albeit perilous, walkway. She crept down, one foot in front of the other as her hands gripped the wall for purchase.
    When she made it to the ground, Madja jumped a little too eagerly. The floor gave way and she fell on her rear before sliding down a slope of gold. She found out the hard way that the piles weren’t merely comprised of coins. As she came to a stop at the foot of the slope, something hard bit into her back. Wincing, she reached behind her to find a large, clunky band of gold.
    She was prepared to toss it aside purely out of spite, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d seen it