Better than nothing. The Dragon of Water seemed to hesitate at her next words. I apologize for how harshly I spoke to you. I was merely trying to get you to forget...
You don’t need to explain, Riptide. I know why you did it. Relief washed through my mind from the dragon. I smiled and sought fresh clothes.
◆◆◆
I found Shazza, Kitfox and Thera at one of the larger, corner tables on the main floor of the Widwe Wiccan. Thera was so busy with working on the translation of the riddle that she did not react when I sat beside her. Kitfox, on the other hand, poured me a glass of whatever wine had been ordered. Kkorian joined us just as a wench appeared with a large tray of food. She skillfully set it on the table before striding away.
“Sorry I’m late, mates.” The Pirate smiled roguishly.
“And here I thought the smell of the wine would have had you running to join us about an hour ago.” Kitfox smirked when Kkorian made a face.
“Finally!” Exclaimed Thera as she dropped her quill on the table and leaned back in her seat.
“The translation is done?” Kitfox leaned forward to sneak a peek and frowned at the words. “‘Kúskú of Illusion now sleeps; On isle hidden in Mysty deep.’”
“The ‘Mysty deep’ part has me worried.” Thera said with a sigh. “If this next dragon is hidden in the Myst, we’re in for heaps of trouble.”
“I’ll say.” Kkorian paused to take a long draft of wine. “Magnathor patrols those waters. She’ll sink any ship that even thinks about sailing close to her Myst.”
“So we don’t sail there.” I smirked. “We fly.”
“I’m not so sure you can see through the Myst from the air.” Muttered Shazza. “No one has ever flown over it before to know.”
“The big question is, how does Xy direct us to Kúskú’s island? We might not be able to see it if it’s hidden like the other islands.” Thera chuckled at Kitfox’s question and dropped five strange-looking wands on the table.
“I made the communicators.”
“How do they work?” I asked as I picked one up to look it over. It was a simple wooden shaft with a raw, uncut crystal at one end and a smooth, round crystal at the other. Given the shape of the crystal at the bottom, I suspected both were made of quartz. The whole thing was held together with intricately detailed, metal filigree.
“Simply say the words ‘Dasum meo...’ and the name of the person you want to speak to. If you want to speak to everyone at once, say ‘Dasum meo nishi.’ An image of whom you want to speak to will appear in the orb after the citation.”
“When did you have time to make these?” Asked Shazza as she looked over the one she chose. Thera simply shrugged in response and took a swig of wine.
“Okay, so we have the communication problem taken care of.” I said as I tucked the wand into my hip sack. “Now the important question is...” I paused to meet the gaze of each of my teammates. “How do we deal with Magnathor?”
I had asked the dragon what he saw; how the battle would play out tomorrow. Zenith just looked at me and said, “Even if you knew the world would fall to pieces tomorrow, would you still fight? Do not dwell in the past and do not dream of the future. Concentrate instead on the present moment. Plant your jávi tree.”
– FROM “CONVERSATIONS WITH DRAGONS” BY DJURDAK ZA’CAR
Crimson eyes gazed out over the moonlit water of the bay. Waves gently lapped at the soft sand of the beach. Birds chirped as they settled in for the summer night. Stars flickered to life in the growing darkness overhead. There was once a time when Dimitri would have stopped everything and enjoyed the beauty of the world around him. Now his mind, it seemed, was far too occupied to allow even a moment’s respite.
His major concern, apart from finding the Dragons’ Gate, was convincing Godilai he was, in fact, a worthy mate. Wooing a Dákun Daju female was not something he had learned before his mother was murdered. And everything he hoped would work was proving to be nothing more than a disappointing waste of time and energy.
There was only one person he knew he could turn to. But he was in Monrai, all the way on the other side of the planet. There was no way he could go to him for advice without earning suspicion from his teammates.
He sighed and turned away from the serene view in time to see his newest lackey dragged out of the woods by Godilai. A frown quickly spread over Dimitri’s features as the blonde was dropped unceremoniously at his feet.
“What’s the deal, mate? That bloody hurts!.”
“You should have thought about that before that wretched Xyleena got the better of us in that last fight!” Godilai hissed.
Kkorian growled and quickly got to his feet. “What the blinkin’ hell did you want me to do about it?” He shouted, waving his arms in frustration. “If I had warned you that they knew of your ambush, they would have killed me!”
“How did they know about it?”
Godilai grabbed the pirate’s arm and jerked him so hard he was sure she’d break it. “You told them we were there?!”
“No!” Kkorian tried to fight her grip, only to fail. “That stupid, bloody mongrel picked up your scent!”
“Impossible.” Dimitri muttered and crossed his arms. “I had Pox clear the area.”
Kkorian gave up fighting Godilai’s grip to glare at Dimitri. “Apparently not or Kitfox wouldn’t’ve smelled ya!”
Godilai threw Kkorian into the sand and faced Dimitri. “You are losing your grip on her. You should kill her and be done with it.”
“What’re you talking about? I thought she was on your side.” Kkorian said as he rubbed his sore arm. Dimitri chose to ignore him.
“Don’t worry about it, Godilai. It will be taken care of.”
“Yeah, right.” She muttered and strode away. Dimitri scoffed and watched her vanish into the forest.
“Do you still want the next clue or should I just keep it to meself?” Kkorian got to his feet and dusted himself off. He didn’t really need to ask; he already knew the Hume-aju wanted the clue. Still, it was fun annoying him.
“What is it, already?”
“‘Kúskú of Illusion now sleeps; On isle hidden in Mysty deep.’” Kkorian watched as Dimitri’s expression changed from annoyance to curiosity. “They’re headin’ into the Myst of Mekora Lesca. My advice; stay away unless you want to take on Magnathor.”
Dimitri grinned. The perfect opportunity to visit his old friend had just arrived. He tossed Kkorian a bag of coin. “That’s for the clues to the two dragons beneath the bay. I trust you will get the runes found on the black dragon statue while you are in the Myst?”
“Sure thing.” Kkorian said as he tied the pouch to his belt. “Where do you plan to meet up next?”
“Get them to rest in Monrai once you’ve made it out of the Myst. I will expect you at The Sign Out Front.”
“The Sign Out Front in Monrai. Got it.” The pirate nodded and turned to leave. After only a few paces, Dimitri called his name. Kkorian glanced over his shoulder.
“I’ll triple your current price if you survive Magnathor!”
The pirate grinned and walked away with a wave.
The first crack woke me out of a stone dead sleep. The second had me running to the eggs as fast as I could while screaming for the others. After what felt like a lifetime, all of our hard work was finally paying off; the dragons were hatching.
– FROM “THE DIARY OF AMOREZ” BY AMOREZ RENOAN
“I had the weirdest dream last night.” I heard Kitfox’s cheerful laugh all the way across the bustling room. I paused at the foot of the stairs to listen. “We were all in this underground cave and these fuzzy, little things swarmed all over us like we were the strangest things they ever saw. Then they took us to this place and forced us to worship a big rock.”
“Yup. You’re one weird puppy.” Thera jested. I couldn’t help but smile as I finally made my way over to them.
“Kahs gözandí, Xy-sortim.” Shazza dipped her head in greeting. I returned the greeting a
nd took a seat next to her.
“You’re just in time for breakfast.” Kitfox grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. I couldn’t help but laugh at him.
“Why are you weirder than normal today?”
He shrugged. “Why shouldn’t I be?”
“Because we are about to face a big, ugly sea monster and brave the Myst of Mekora Lesca to find a dragon while defending ourselves from whatever plan Dimitri has next.”
His ears drooped along with his expression. “There goes the good mood.” He muttered. “Party pooper.”
I shrugged. “Sorry, but it’s true.”
“I don’t suppose anyone has actually come up with a plan to defeat Magnathor.” Shazza said in between bites.
“There’s only been one person in history to beat that monster; Amorez herself. And even she barely managed to pull it off.” Thera sighed.
“Does my mother say how she did it in Dragon Diary?” The Feykin shrugged and removed the ancient, leather diary from her bag. With a quiet spell, the diary opened and flipped through pages of its own accord.
“Has anyone seen the Magnathor since Amorez beat it?”
“She nearly sunk me ship while I was en route to Fisherman’s City to restock.” Kkorian said, dropping like a lead weight into a char. I quirked an eyebrow as I took a good look at him. There were bags under his eyes and scrapes and bruises were clearly visible all over him.
“What happened to you?”
He flushed. “I... uh... I fell outta bed.”
“Moron.” Kitfox muttered and rolled his eyes.
“Mutt.”
“Bastard.”
“Inbreed.”
“Shut-up, both of you.” I sighed. “Kkorian, can you tell us anything more about Magnathor?”
He shrugged. “All I know is she’s bloody hard to see coming through the Myst and she likes to hit ships just right to make them roll. Nearly sent mine to the bottom doin’ that.”
“Good thing we’re not going by sea, then.” Shazza muttered.
“The only thing Amorez says about Magnathor in her diary is that she barely got a fang from the beast.” Announced Thera as the book closed.
You do not need to worry about Magnathor. The voice of Riptide echoed in my mind. I frowned at her tone and lack of worry.
What do you mean?
Mother will not attack daughter.
“Magnathor has a daughter?” I thought aloud. The inquiry earned several surprised and confused expressions.
“I don’t think anyone can know that for sure.” Replied Shazza.
“Riptide said ‘Mother will not attack daughter’ and told me not to worry about Magnathor.”
“That makes about as much sense as a lizard drinkin’.” Kkorian mumbled.
“Actually, it makes perfect sense.” Thera chuckled. “Riptide was born from Magnathor’s fang. That makes her the daughter.”
“How did you deduce that?” Kitfox quirked an eyebrow at the young Feykin.
“My mother was the one who brought the Dragons of Light to life. I remember her mentioning a huge fang used to make water, which didn’t make much sense at the time. Now it does.”
Magnathor is your mother, Riptide?
Yes. I could hear the pride in her voice. And she will not attack so long as I am present.
Good to know. I smiled. “So Riptide has Magnathor covered. Now all we need to do is locate Kúskú’s island.”
“That, in itself, is going to be rough.” Muttered Kitfox. “You are the only one that can actually see the dragons’ islands, so...”
Not true! I flinched at Wildfire’s shout and rubbed my ear.
Kitfox quirked an eyebrow at me. “What did the dragons say?”
“I think they can see the islands, too.”
It is true! We all have dragon eyes.
You don’t need to shout it, Wildfire. The others can’t hear you, but I can just fine.
Sorry. I forgot about that.
She’s so easily excited. Vortex made a sound like a laugh.
“Well, that helps immensely. With seven pairs of eyes that can see the hidden islands, finding Kúskú should be easy.”
Thera nodded in agreement. “So the question remaining is, how do we want to approach the Myst?”
“The mountain range known as the Eyes of the Ages lie directly east of the Myst. They are so tall I doubt the dragons could fly over or between them.” Kitfox glanced at me for confirmation. Hearing nothing from the dragons, I could only shrug in answer. “I think our best bet is to overnight in either Monrai or Fisherman’s City before sweeping out over the Myst.”
“If we go to Monrai, I can get a mate to give us a discount at his inn.” Kkorian flashed a crooked smirk.
“Sounds like a plan to me.” I nodded.
“We need to gear up for this one, I think.” Thera muttered, staring at the hand drawn map in Dragon Diary. “Monrai is a long ways away from Nemlex.”
Shazza nodded. “We should stop in Pletíxa for a night before going out over the ocean. I’ll buy the supplies there.”
“Even Pletíxa to Monrai’s not within cooee.” Kkorian added with a whistle after glancing at the map. “Hope the dragons can handle flying that far without landing.”
We dragons can fly a few days on end without tiring. Kkaia said brazenly. We would be more worried about the five of you.
About how long would it take for you guys to fly that far?
Helios chuckled. No idea.
We are not familiar enough with your cities to estimate a time table for you, Hatchling. Added Vortex.
“They can fly it, but they don’t know how long it would take.” I announced. “They are more worried about us holding up against the flight.”
“Since we won’t be able to land, we should probably get some sort of straps to lash ourselves to the saddles so we don’t fall off when we fall asleep adragonback.” Thera suggested. Shazza nodded in agreement and wrote down the suggestion on a napkin.
“Food. Water. Warm clothes. Medicinal herbs. Anything else we need?”
“Muzzle.” Kkorian chuckled as he looked Kitfox in the eye. The Fox Demon growled.
“Blunt object.”
“How about you two torture and kill each other after we’ve beaten Dimitri?” They both shot me innocent looks.
“Alright. Let’s get out of here. The sooner we collect the rest of the dragons, the better.” Shazza stuffed the napkin in her pocket and stood.
Minutes later, the five of us had collected our belongings from our rooms. We made our way to the outskirts of Nemlex where I summoned all six of my dragons. With a fond farewell to the villagers who had gathered to see us off, the dragons took a few bounding steps and launched skywards in a close formation.
They circled the town once... twice... thrice… before turning eastward, towards the rising suns and Kúskú.
It took the wretched alchemist so many attempts to get the correct formula that I had lost count. He never gave up though; he was bound and determined to earn the money I had promised him, and to make a name for himself in the world. Little does he know that I have had every alchemist hunted down and killed lest they too discover the secrets to what I am about to see born.
– FROM “THE DIARY OF AGASEI” BY AGASEI DÉDOS
It was the third time the suns had set since we left Pletíxa, and the dragons still flew on. Land had yet to be spotted on the horizon and the orange and violet ocean spread out beneath us, stretching as far as the eye could see. Stars flickered to life in the quickly darkening zenith above. Their sparkle reflected off the mirrored surface of the ocean like diamonds nestled in velvet.
Usually I could appreciate the beauty of a sunset such as this one, but I had quickly become too irritated with this portion of the quest to care. My legs were stiff. My back ached. And my head wouldn’t stop pounding. I couldn’t wait to set foot on solid land and enjoy a nice, long rest.
With a weary sigh, I resigned to lean against Helios’ neck. I let my eyes
drift shut and slowly breathed the salty, ocean air. I felt Helios’ neck constrict and knew he was checking to see if I was alright. I gently thumped his shoulder in reassurance and smiled. He looked away. I let sleep claim me.
◆◆◆
“Xy! Xy, wake up!”
I groaned and ignored the voice calling to me. A moment later, someone was shaking me. I bolted upright in the saddle, narrowly avoiding smashing Kitfox’s face. He blinked in surprise and smiled sheepishly.
“She sleeps like the dead.” Helios chuckled. Kitfox agreed wholeheartedly. I frowned at the Dragon of Light and noticed we were still flying.
“How did you end up on Helios?”
Kitfox quirked an eyebrow. “I jumped. How else?”
“Are you insane?” I shouted, suddenly furious that he would do such a thing. “A stunt like that could kill you!”
“Sheesh! Will you relax?” He shook his head. “Look, I jumped over here to wake you up because you weren’t answering the communicator. I thought you would want to know that I spotted land on the horizon.” I eagerly looked beyond Helios in hopes to see it myself. The world was too dark now for Hume vision to discern anything. “There’s a... small problem.”
I frowned and met Kitfox’s dimly-glowing gaze with my own. “What problem?”
“We’ve flown too far east. Monrai is about a half a day’s flight northwest of here.”
“What?!”
He flinched and rubbed his ears.
“How did we end up so far off course?”
“I can’t say for sure.” He shrugged. “But the dragons are landing to give us all a much needed break from the flying. I don’t know about you, but my legs could really use a stretch.”
As much as I was eager to be on land, I didn’t like the idea of having to back track our steps by half a day. I sighed and tried to find my teammates in the dark. Thera was easy to find as she had lit an orb to continue her work on the translation of the Riddle of the Twelve. I found Wildfire by the perpetual flame that engulfed the tip of her tail; Kkorian would be riding her. Shazza, on the other hand, was too faint to see in the night.
Culmination Page 5