by Katie Cherry
Finishing repeating the words of the prophecy in my mind, my eyes turn to my watch. I jump up and turn to Nathan, communicating a sense of urgency through my body language. He catches on so quickly I don’t even have time to say the words lingering on my lips- We’re running late, we have to run to catch Drake before he leaves to dive with his friends without us.
“Thank you!” I manage to call back to the strange witch as I follow Nathan back through the fabric covering the entrance to the tent. I don’t hear her reply, but I can feel her eyes on me as I plunge through the dense purple fabric. I get the feeling she’s smiling.
I burst back into the light with a slight frown on my face as I wonder about the woman. Nathan grabs my hand and begins leading me through the street of people. Once we emerge onto a street with much less traffic, we slow and wind our way towards Drake’s house.
We don’t talk much as we walk, but as we get closer, Nathan says once, out of nowhere, “I trust you.” I thank him, although I’m unsure of what he means for a while. Eventually, I just decide that he didn’t mean anything specific. Drake is leaning against his door as we approach. Pulled out of his thoughts when he sees us, he beams at me and jogs to meet us. “Hey, Crystal! Nathan! So glad you made it. The guys are totally psyched to have you both join us! It’s not just because you’re a gorgeous girl,” he adds quietly to me. I smile and nod in return, unsure of what other response I should give to his compliment. Nathan stares at him stormily as he does so, but eventually swallows it and steps forward.
“We’re glad they’re willing to meet us,” he states diplomatically. “Lead the way,” he continues, gesturing at Drake.
He smiles and nods before trying to take my hand. I subtly slip it out. I’m really not looking to date right now, and I didn’t want him to get the feeling that I was open to such moves. He just smiles and continues, undeterred by my lack of response. His face does fall a little as we continue to walk, though, and I know that he took the clue and won’t be chasing after me. I feel a warm rush of gratitude. No one just accepts it like that, respecting my choice. It almost makes me want to take it back. When I glance back at Nathan, though, he looks so happy that I didn’t take his hand I know that I could never return Drake’s flirting. Not with Nathan looking so thrilled that I rejected him.
Drake leads us to a dock near the other end of the city. For the first time, I see the castle of the rumored King. It rises above the rest of the buildings and is the only thing in Davenport with living things. There were a few trees and flowers- a lot of them, actually, considering how little land was on Quagon. At my questioning glance to Drake, he smiles and tells me that the King a few generations back had transferred some soil to his land and started to grow trees and things. A few birds made nests there, and it was easily the most exotic place in Davenport. Everyone loved to go and stand at the gates and watch the birds and look at the flowers. There weren’t so many people in the winter, but in the summer when everything was thriving… you’d be hard-pressed to find a spot at the gate.
As we approach the group, I notice there are five tall, lean men laughing together as they wait for us. That’s when I realize Drake’s joke about them being excited to have a girl with them wasn’t a joke after all. Their eyes all turn to me and they fall silent as we approach. I want to hide from their stares. “Hi,” I say shyly, giving a little wave. “I’m Crystal.”
“Drake! You said she was pretty, but you didn’t do it justice!” the closest guy crows, his long legs taking him over to me in just a couple of steps. He bends and kisses my hand, which I find strange but a little endearing. “You are seriously gorgeous, Crystal. It’s a real pleasure to meet you. I’m Aren.”
“Pleasure to meet you too,” I softly reply. The other guys all greet me in a similar manner. I’m a little overwhelmed at how good-looking they all are, especially with their attention riveted on me. Only one guy introduces himself to Nathan, introducing himself as Kenyan. That automatically makes me like him more than the rest, and I find myself standing closer to him than the others. He looked like a sweet boy with brown hair and brown eyes, surprisingly both plain. …Except when I look closer, I realize that he has that extra clear cover over his eyes to protect them while underwater. It’s much less weird than what everyone else on Quagon does, though, and sensible as well, so I’m not too put off by it. He has a smattering of freckles on his face and he’s a little paler than the rest of the group, more like Nathan and I.
“Alright, everybody ready to go?” Drake asks as he steps toward the small boat tied nearby. He turns to me with an apologetic look on his face. “It’s going to be a little tight… We honestly only had room for one more. But I’m sure we can squeeze you both in!” he adds cheerily, stepping onto the boat. It rocks, but he doesn’t even sway as he makes his way across it.
“Crystal, you could sit on someone’s lap,” one guy suggests. I smile a little out of duty, but shake my head.
“I’m sure we’ll be alright.”
We weren’t. I really did need to sit in someone’s lap. I hesitate, standing at the edge of the boat and looking at them nervously. “Come on, none of them are going to bite,” Drake says with a smile, noticing my hesitation. Giving a smile, I try to appear nonchalant as I step forward and slowly lower myself into Kenyan’s lap, who beams at being the one chosen to be my seat. Guys can be so odd. I’m glad he doesn’t mind, though. I would feel much worse about it if he was bothered by my presence.
“Don’t worry,” he murmurs, my ear close to his mouth, giving me a sudden sense of us being alone on the boat as the wind began to toss my hair back as Drake pulls the boat out into the ocean. “I know these guys can all be pretty intense, but there’s nothing to be afraid of with them- or otherwise. We’ll keep you safe.”
“You act like I’ve never been in the ocean before,” I reply, remembering to keep up my cover of being from Quagon.
He chuckles kindly in response and his arm goes around my waist automatically as we begin to crash through the waves, steadying me. “I’m sure you have, but each area has its own dangers… and somehow I doubt Drake warned you about our adventure today.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re not diving in our regular locations. We’re heading out further, to a more dangerous area. They say there’s something big down there… something that no one’s ever seen. But they’ve seen evidence that whatever it is, it hunts some of the biggest, scariest things in the ocean.”
“And you’re looking for it, aren’t you?” I ask, my voice mixed with both teasing and trepidation.
He nods slowly, his eyes focusing past me to the dark waves. “We are. I didn’t want you going in without knowing that first.”
“Thank you,” I whisper in reply, worry building for myself and Nathan. This was supposed to be a simple diving trip where we could get to know the guys and figure out if any of them could be Rex… this whole trip on Quagon seems to be quickly building to a much more dangerous adventure than I was betting on.
I suppose I should get used to it, though. Everything in my life seemed to be following that pattern. Letting loose a small sigh, I turn to look at the waves as they sparkle innocently around the boat as we continue forward, Davenport shrinking behind us. Soon I would be willingly diving into that deep darkness, with only my ScubaSpec and some strangers to keep me safe and help me to navigate and avoid whatever creature they were stupidly searching for.
I’m going to die in this crazy chase after a brother I’ve never known, I decide, groaning to myself when I realize that even that thought isn’t going to keep me from following through. Curse my stubbornness. If I had any luck at all, Rex would be one of the guys here on this boat, and we could just leave with him right now and have all this madness end.
But I seem to only have the worst of luck. Gazing out at the endless horizon of blue, I feel another sigh escape my lips. At least my life isn’t boring.
<<
Alyssa’s throat feels as t
hough she had tried to swallow a rock as the red dragon she’s riding touches down far too close to the vast, intimidating golden dragon. She watches in terror as his head slowly turns to face her. Her heart begins to beat faster and faster as the dragon advances with the few long steps it takes to reach them until she’s not sure if her heart gave out, or was pumping so fast she could no longer feel it.
I guess a heart attack is one way to go out… she muses, feeling faint as she forces herself to slide off the back of the red dragon, though she sticks close to his side, now feeling safer with him than ever before. The gold dragon stops before them and lowers his head. Alyssa can’t help but shudder as it stops before her, mere inches away. His head twisted to the side, his great, golden eye catches hers before she can stop herself. Staring into it, now frozen from the dragon’s magic, Alyssa feels as though she’s falling in a dream until he finally breaks his gaze.
“Alyssa Greenston,” the dragon begins, startling her once more by touching her mind with his own. “Welcome. My name is Gale the Gold. Would you walk with me a moment?” he asks, turning away from her as he does so. Panting from the effort to not have a full-blown anxiety attack, Alyssa forces her feet to take her to the side of the living mountain of gold. Glancing back at her three dragon guards, she wishes she had been more grateful for her situation than she had been.
After a few moments of walking quickly by his side- careful to avoid his massive claws- she dares to speak up. “A… are you… going to kill me?” she chokes out, feeling her own fear radiate from her in waves of heat.
There’s a pause before he answers. “I cannot guarantee what the council will decide to do with you, but I sincerely hope that more death is not the conclusion they reach.”
Alyssa didn’t think she could have been more surprised by his response. “You… you do?” she says, daring to join him in the mind speak. “Why? You just looked into my heart- I’ve been a loyal Dragon Hunter for as long as I care to remember. Why would you spare me when I would not do the same for you?”
He lowers his head to look at her once more, causing her to trip over a rock and her heart to stop for a moment once more. “I believe in life. But even more than that, I believe in the ability for humans to change. It always surprises me how easy it is for humans to change. Dragons are far more set in our ways. But humans, even with their tiny lifespans, can complete the change from each end of a spectrum of good and evil to the other in what seems to us like the blink of an eye.”
Nothing is said as they continue to walk, giving Alyssa time to internalize what he said as they approached the mountain teeming with the glittering scales of thousands of dragons. Eying them, her gut only clenches further.
“You likely don’t know this,” Gale finally continues, “but I have also looked into Hunter’s heart. And I believe him redeemable as well.” Alyssa can’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. The leader of the Dragon Hunters? Please.
“You doubt me,” he chuckles. “As do many others among the dragons. They are sore afraid because of this war that our people are in, and have closed themselves off to thinking of anything other than day-to-day survival. I only hope that Crystal and I can prove them wrong… as well as your own people. This war is completely unnecessary; bred of fear and hatred. But I hope you will come to see how similar our two races are, and understand that peace is not only achievable, but logical.”
“Why? Why is it so important that I reach that conclusion?” Alyssa replies, relaxing a little as she begins to understand that he truly didn’t mean her any harm. “I’m a nobody. Crystal is at least a princess. Me? I was recruited from Zelon while I was still learning to talk. I was a homeless child, about to be eaten by the wolves. Now, I’m a nobody among the Dragon Hunters’ ranks. Even if I did go back, preaching about love and dragon friendship, no one would listen to me beyond exiling or beheading me. The least you could do is spare me the embarrassment of returning in such a way and kill me yourself,” she finishes with a resigned sigh.
She’s surprised to hear a draconic chuckle in response. “You remind me of Crystal,” is all he says before leading her into a tunnel dug into the mountain. Gulping and steeling her resolve, she follows him in, staying a few paces behind his mighty tail. They pass many injured dragons. Most of those conscious either stare at her or shoot her murderous looks. She’s suddenly certain that if she wasn’t here with Gale the Gold, she would have been ripped apart before even stepping foot into the mountain.
Gulping, she walks faster and stays close to his side, trying to avoid the gaze of the other dragons. Finally, the tunnel opens up into a spacious cave. Lounging toward the back of the room, are five dragons; the only ones she’s ever seen begin to compare to Gale’s enormity. The sapphire one lands a heavy gaze on her, already trying to get a read on her. Shuddering, she slows and finally stops as Gale joins the other dragons. Turning back to her, he has what she could have sworn was a sympathetic look on his face before he begins.
“We welcome Alyssa Greenston before the dragon council, where she may be judged. Council, I have looked upon her heart and have already made my decision, but it is for each of you to decide the best course of action to take with her. …I would like to propose that we help her to change.”
“A Dragon Hunter? Become a dragon friend- a Soho? Gale the Gold, I’m afraid your brain has begun to rot in your old age,” one of the dragons comments, huffing up small clouds of smoke as he laughs.
“It has been done before,” the sapphire dragon muses, never lifting her gaze from Alyssa. “With Zeke.”
“That doesn’t mean it will happen again. If all Dragon Hunters were as open-minded as Zeke, there would have never been a war in the first place.” Alyssa couldn’t help but agree with him there.
There’s a sudden silence as the weight of the dragons’ stares all fall on her. She can feel the strain on her heart from the magic of five dragons blasting her at once, poking and prodding around her memories. After a few seconds, she grunts and falls to her knees, though she’s unable to break their gazes. Her heart skips a beat, then another… it starts to fall out of rhythm, seeming to stutter in her chest. Her lungs constrict, cutting off her air. Gasping and wheezing, she’s suddenly released from their magic and collapses fully, drawing in huge lungful’s of air. Putting a hand over her heart, she’s relieved to feel it slowing and returning to normal.
“Seriously?” she couldn’t help but scream, jumping back to her feet. “You couldn’t at least judge me one at a time? You nearly killed me!”
“My apologies,” the green dragon replies, looking a little bashful. “We forgot about the toll it can take on a human.”
“If it had killed her, at least we’d be free from having to make a decision,” the same grumpy dragon comments quietly. The others ignore him and turn to each other, beginning their discussion.
Light-headed, Alyssa sits on the uneven rock and focuses on evening out her breathing as they talk, leaving her out of their discussion. After a few minutes, they finally turn back to her. She pushes herself back onto her feet, trying to be respectful as fear suddenly assaults her once more. What did they decide?…
“Alyssa Greenston,” the Sapphire dragon begins, “The council is split between two options. The first, is as Gale the Gold suggested; to help you forge a new identity as a Soho- a dragon friend.” Alyssa nods her understanding when she pauses. “The other… is to be done with the threat you pose, even if that means just handing you over to the werewolves for them to do with as they please.”
Alyssa pales at that. The only thing worse than the dragons was the werewolves- especially for a girl.
“Given that we are split and neither side willing to change their mind, we have settled on a compromise.” Her breathing hitches as she waits for the verdict. “We are going to try both. We will first show you that you have nothing to fear from the dragons… and then we will send you to remain among the werewolves until we can reach another decision based on the progress you make.”
/>
Alyssa stares back at the dragons as they wait for her response. Choking, she finally manages to give a small nod. “I… I will try my best.” The whisper slides out of her clenched throat, feeling like sandpaper. This is so much worse than I ever thought it would be… I’m doomed.
<<
Hunter can’t help but watch with sadness as his friend flounders on the training field, his left hand holding his sword awkwardly while his right dangles at his side, still covered in bandages. Those stupid savages, he rages to himself, pacing back and forth as he oversees the training of his soldiers. They have no idea what they’ve gotten into this time. Werewolves have never been welcome, but they have grown far too brazen, coming so close to our territory. I wish I could turn and slaughter them all, but… His steps slow and his gaze turns to the sky, looking in the direction he last saw Alyssa as she was carried off by a red dragon. Alyssa is my priority. I have to keep up the ruse for Dexter to believe that I am focused on conquering Zilferia, allowing the Higher Power unlimited access to all of the realms. I can only imagine what would happen should he find out that my focus is elsewhere, like Patrick’s was. He would likely become a permanent resident here and take over the Dragon Hunter branch himself. I can’t allow that to happen… not with Alyssa still in danger… still needing rescuing.
His frown deepens as he observes his friend, Scourge, struggling on the field, losing again and again, his sword getting bashed from his one good hand. A heat burns beneath Hunter’s skin. I may need to stay focused on the takeover of Zilferia, but that doesn’t mean I can’t start pushing Dexter to support something that may not seem directly correlated. …Like the werewolves. They grow more brazen daily. Attacking one of our own… They need to be put down. I’m sure Dexter could get behind that.