King Magnar murmured something into her ear, but she shook him off and pointed her staff in my direction. “I’m tired of you making all the decisions! You’re no better than any of us, yet you have a King and the most powerful dragon in the world listening to you.”
I ground my teeth. “What does she want me to do? Sit back and be quiet?”
“Sounds like it,” muttered Fyrian.
“Enough of this dissension,” snarled Gladius. “I will deal with those cows. When I return, we will go to this island.”
He disappeared, leaving King Magnar and Astri to bicker quietly among themselves.
“Ignore her,” said Fyrian. “She just has a grudge from when we nearly set them on fire the time she tried to take the dragon eggs across the border.”
I glanced at the blonde witch from the corner of my eye. “I think there’s more to it than that. We’re the same age, and I suppose she wants to be the leader.”
“Or Magnar. I think she wants a man in charge.”
“Probably.” I blew out a breath. Disguising myself as a boy probably didn’t help things, either. By hiding my gender, I was adding proof to the belief that the only people who could save the day were men and witches, with the exception of Aunt Cendrilla. Perhaps the world needed enough female warriors who weren’t witches to prove that ogresses were capable of more than becoming broodmares.
Moments later, Gladius returned and growled something about charring the cows. Before I could give him a word of thanks, the world twisted, and the scenery changed. We stood at the shore of a beach with sand the color of charcoal. The scent of seawater mingled with the sweet odor of rotting vegetation and overripe fruit. The dawn sun filtered through pewter-colored clouds that thickened over the rainforest to our backs and thinned to invisibility over the sea. Waves crashed against black rocks, bringing pristine, white sea-foam that disappeared into the black sand.
AAAAAAAA!
A high-pitched sound made me twist in my saddle. An archelon turtle landed on the beach several feet away from us and waved its flipper as though telling us to get off its beach.
Gladius roared at the creature. It ducked its head and flippers into its shell, leaving behind what appeared to be a huge, round boulder, covered in white barnacles.
I turned to King Magnar. “What is this place?”
“Igneous beach. The black sand comes from a nearby underwater volcano.” He pointed east. “If we fly east by north-east, we should pass through the two islands and find the stretch of land we’re looking for.”
Gladius transformed into a dragon and leaped into the air. As we flew across the indigo waters of the Wretched Sea, a warm breeze blew across the sky. I glanced back at the green rainforests that stretched out to distant, tree-covered mountains and shook my head. Compared to even Mount Bluebeard, the country was a paradise of fertile land and jungles.
Why hadn’t King Calder been satisfied with living out his normal lifespan with his family? This entire business with the Forgotten King began when he imprisoned his wife for being a witch and forced her to bear six magical daughters for the alchemists to use to extend his life.
A shudder ran through my body at the thought of King Magnar’s sisters being drained of their life-forces to satisfy the ambitions of their greedy father. After everything those siblings had suffered, it was hard to blame King Magnar for some of his actions.
“Does that mean you forgive him?” asked Fyrian.
I glanced at Byrrus, avoiding eye contact with the blond monarch. “If we save the world unscathed, I might in time. I can see that King Magnar had been desperate.”
“He should not have tried to enslave the dragons,” said Gladius. “Why didn’t he ask Fosco for help?”
I nibbled on my bottom lip. “It’s hard to tell. Maybe he’d never had anyone to help him. Maybe he was arrogant and thought he could get away with taking advantage of the loyalty elixir.”
“Maybe he’s a typical human who sees dragons as ferocious beasts of burden,” said Gladius.
“It could be any of those reasons, but Byrrus might be a good influence on him.”
WOOOOOO!
Down below, a pair of cannon whales spouted water through their blowholes and disappeared into the sea.
“They mean to squirt us!” said Fyrian.
“Let’s take a closer look. I’m sure they’re just getting rid of excess water.”
Fyrian swooped down. “There’s a whole school of them.”
“Can you see the whales?” I asked Evolene.
She leaned to the side. “Where?”
One of them jumped out of the sea, twisted in mid-air and shot a stream of water at us. Salt-water drenched my hair, stung my eyes, and seeped into my uniform. By the time I shook it off my face, the whale dove back into the sea.
“I told you,” said Fyrian. “They did it on purpose.”
“Next time, I’ll put up a shield,” said Evolene.
“There won’t be a next time,” I said. “Let’s fly out of reach.”
Another cannon whale leaped up at us, positioned its blowhole and squirted out more liquid. Evolene erected a barrier, making the water splash back into the whale’s face.
WHOOO?
I snickered. “Serves it right!”
Up ahead, a whale leaped into Gladius’ path. Before it could strike, the iridescent dragon shot out a giant ball of fluid into the whale’s middle.
WHOOOOOO!
The whale dropped into the surface with a hard smack.
I winced at the whale floating above the sea. “Why did you have to hit it so hard? It was only playing.”
“I-is it dead?” asked Evolene.
Fyrian swooped down and gave it a nudge with her nose. The whale twisted and splashed her on the face. She let out a roar of outrage. “Stupid fish was only playing dead to trick us. The next time one of them comes close, I’ll flame them!”
The rest of the cannon whales disappeared deep into the water.
“If we had time, I would chase them down for you and teach them never to mess with dragons,” said Gladius.
“You can swim, too?” I asked.
“Of course,” replied Gladius. “The King Who Must Be Forgotten made me have every capability needed to murder the Queen of the Fairies.”
We continued flying over the expanse of sea. The water beneath us lightened to a bright turquoise, which I assumed was because we were no longer flying over the underground volcano. A pit of dread opened up in my stomach. Gladius was the strongest and most capable dragon I’d ever met, and he was determined to stop the spriggans, but what if that wasn’t enough? What if the spriggans had struck at the quadruplets’ naming ceremony because they had found the Forgotten King and needed the magic of his descendants to wake him?
“You’re going around in circles,” said Fyrian. “Just focus on what we have to do and try not to worry about disasters until they happen.”
“Don’t you think it’s strange, though?” I asked.
“What?”
“I thought the spriggans attacked Aunt Cendrilla so the witches in Mount Fornax would lower the fairy wards to let Prince Vanus in. But what if the true reason was to accelerate her pregnancy, so they could steal the blessing earlier?”
She didn’t reply for several moments and continued flying over the sea. The warm, saltwater breeze blew my hair off my face, and I closed my eyes, enjoying its scent. Eventually, Fyrian said, “I don’t know.”
“They didn’t need eggs that would take decades to hatch. Especially since they were making their own dragons.”
Fyrian snorted. “Those creatures weren’t even close to anything like us.”
Up ahead, Gladius swooped close to the water’s surface. “I tried to connect with their minds, but there was nothing there.”
“Remember, they got Asproceros to steal dragonets. I can see them using their foul magic to make them grow bigger.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “The incident with the dragon eggs might have been
an experiment to test Mount Fornax’s defenses.”
“You’ll never know until we find a spriggan willing to talk,” replied Fyrian.
Evolene turned around. “Are you all right?”
“I’m just trying to figure out the spriggans’ plan.”
“There were seven of them at first, right?”
I nodded.
Fyrian dipped her head and blew flames at something I couldn’t see. Perhaps one of the cannon whales had decided to return for a second round of squirting.
Evolene hummed. “What if they all had different ideas and gave King Magnar and his sisters different orders? The only reason we knew there were so many was that the alchemists told you. King Magnar always thought there was only one.”
“Actually, that makes sense.” I gazed into the distance and found a speck on the horizon. “Is that land ahead?”
“There are two huge islands. One of them is nearly all mountain,” said Fyrian. “I think the other has a volcano.”
We continued flying in formation for several more minutes with Gladius in the front and Byrrus to our right. Evolene opened up her basket and found a heaping bowl of chopped fruit. Eyepatch had probably heard from someone that Evolene and I had set off together and now added extra portions.
“Should we share it with King Magnar?” she asked.
I shrugged. “We might as well.”
After we’d taken our share, she levitated the bowl across the sky to the trio of siblings. King Magnar gave a wave of thanks and handed the bowl to Botilda, who sat in the front. I shook my head. He was so different with his sisters. Happier and less arrogant. Evolene leaned on my shoulder and closed her eyes.
“Gladius?” I asked into my bond with Fyrian.
“Yes?” The iridescent dragon turned his head.
“What was the Forgotten King like?”
“He was cunning, arrogant, and very inquisitive. He dissected his subjects, wanting to know how their magic worked, so he could use it for his experiments.”
“Did they die?”
“It is nearly impossible to kill a high fairy. The King Who Must Be Forgotten kept them under fairy iron in a secret lair, where they couldn’t escape or cry out for help.”
“What does he want apart from killing the Queen of the Fairies?”
Gladius opened his jaws and flew toward a school of flying fish. He scooped half their number into his mouth, making the others scatter to all sides. “He said he wanted an heir to take his throne, so he would be free to expand his knowledge.”
“Was that true?”
“I believe so. Most of his rantings were about his wife cheating him out of a son.”
“Because he had golden hair like her?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head. Mother and Father had dark hair and mine was platinum. That didn’t mean I wasn’t their daughter. “Why didn’t he just make an heir?”
“He must have tried and failed,” replied Gladius. “I never heard him talk about his attempts during his rantings.”
As we neared the mountain in the distance, a cold wind swept out of the sea, bringing with it mist as thick as a blanket.
“Everybody rise!” shouted Gladius.
Fyrian raised her chin and soared into the sky. I clung onto Evolene with one arm, making sure she didn’t roll off, and held onto Fyrian’s side with the other. The mist accelerated toward us.
“Faster!” snarled the wild dragon.
Fyrian sucked in a gust of air and sped up toward the sky. I glanced down to check the distance between us and the mist, only to find it swallowing a roaring Byrrus.
My eyes bulged. “No!”
Seconds later, the wind engulfed us, spinning us around and around like a sycamore seed in a cyclone. Evolene groaned. I clung onto her with all my strength, hoping she’d performed an enchantment on her clothes to make them stick to a dragon.
Then the wind swooped us down so fast, my stomach lurched. Fyrian crashed onto her side with a thud, and when the mist cleared, we were surrounded by merfolk.
Chapter 9
I scrambled off Fyrian’s back, pulled an unconscious Evolene to the side, and glanced around for signs of Gladius and Byrrus. We seemed to be in some kind of village square made of carved rock, surrounded by seaweed-covered houses. Clutching Evolene to my chest, I unsheathed my Parched Sword and readied it to defend our position.
The merfolk flinched at my movements but kept their distance. They consisted of a mix of human-sized beings with fish-like features, such as scales, bulging eyes, and gills. The aquatic version of ogres, I supposed. Most wore loincloths of several layers of seaweed, and some had fashioned the plant into robes.
“Fyri?” I said.
She didn’t even twitch.
“Gladius?”
There was no response. I closed my eyes and let out a shuddering breath. With Fyrian unconscious, I had no way to communicate with him.
“Fyri, wake up. We’re surrounded.”
The bond remained silent.
Evolene groaned, and a few of the merfolk stepped close. I glared up at them. “What are you doing?”
The crowd parted, and a man with skin as grey and glossy as a shark’s stepped through, staring down at me through solemn, watery eyes. His nose was flatter than that of a normal human, and his mouth was so wide, its corners stretched past the swell of his cheekbones. His loincloth reminded me of a pair of tight-fitting breeches with the legs cut-off. Instead of a sword, a curved horn hung off his hip. I cast my gaze up to the gills on the sides of his ribs that looked as though they’d been slashed in place by the Sword of Lightning.
The worst part of his appearance was the trident he carried. Its blades were transparent bones that looked sharp enough to slice off a human’s head. He parted his thin lips, revealing serrated teeth. In a voice that sounded like it was coming from underwater, he said, “Why do you bring death to our lands, human?”
My brows drew together. Had he never seen ogres before? “We were flying over the sea, minding our own business when the wind brought us here. And we’re not here to kill anyone.”
“Yet you bring draconic beasts to breathe fire upon our homes.”
“No!” I shook my head. “It’s nothing like that.”
He stepped closer, making the fine hairs on the back of my arms stand on end. If he thought I’d come to launch an attack with Fyrian, we were in trouble. I might be able to fight him off while protecting Evolene, but warriors usually came in packs, and enough of them would overwhelm me.
I resisted the urge to glance at Fyrian to check that she was still breathing. With this male and his trident so close, I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off him.
He crouched low, bringing his head close to mine. “Then tell me, human, what was your intention?”
The sharp scent of brine and fish guts filled my nostrils, and I jerked my head and clapped my hand over my nose and mouth. “We were flying to an island between Merfolkstone and Finmanland. And I’m only a quarter-human.”
“Isle of Iron?”
My eyes watered and my nose streamed in protest at the stench. I blinked hard, dislodging the tears and whatever else might have been lodged under my eyelids. “We don’t know its name. Only its location.”
“To what end?” He leaned forward, making his foul breath seep through my fingers.
I gagged. “Can you move back, please?” My mind scrambled for the least offensive way to tell him that he stank. “You’re very frightening.”
Grinning, he turned back to the crowd. “The Bringer-Of-Death says that I, Ko-ra-kenn Leviathan, am the most frightening being she has ever met!”
I bristled. How typical of him to believe the best about himself. He was the size of a quarter-ogre at best, and not even a fierce one. I glowered at his scrawny back and revised my estimation to an eighth-ogre. The next time he got too close, I would tell him the truth about his foul breath and see if he boasted about that.
Ko-ra-kenn turned around, eye
s bright with triumph. I sat up and cradled Evolene to my chest.
The merman… I shook my head. He didn’t have a tail or a human face, so I supposed he was a fin-man. The fin-man strutted toward me, teeth flashing in a shark-like grin. “Why did you come to our lands, Bringer-Of-Death?”
“As I said before, we were looking for a small island. A wicked fairy might be buried there, and we want to make sure he doesn’t wake up.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Are you a friend of the fairies?”
“Not really.”
“Because Ko-ra-kenn has sworn to kill every fairy who invades our land!”
The fin-men who formed the crowds around us let out clicking sounds of approval.
I blinked hard. Was he talking about himself or someone else with the same name? I glanced up at the sky for signs of Byrrus and Gladius, but neither of them were flying above. Then I looked around the village square for signs of someone with a little more sanity to converse with, but everyone seemed to admire this show off. “Ummm… That’s… very brave. But as you can see, I don’t have any wings and I can’t get anywhere without a dragon. My friend here is injured and needs help. Could you direct me to a healer, so we can see what kind of treatment my dragon needs?”
He thumped his gray chest. “Ko-ra-kenn is the only healer you will need.”
I seriously doubted that, but with all the fin-men standing around as though our misfortune was some kind of evening theater show, I couldn’t say something disparaging in case Ko-ra-kenn decided to stretch his vow to kill fairies to me. “Thank you.”
“You are a good female. Very polite.” The fin-man rubbed his chin. “Perhaps Ko-ra-kenn was too hasty to activate the fog-horn.”
A splutter caught in my throat, and I gaped up at Ko-ra-kenn. “You made the mist?”
He puffed out his chest. “Aye.”
My nostrils flared. If Fyrian’s injuries were serious, then I would give the wretched creature reason to believe I was the Bringer-Of-Death. His. With as much politeness as I could muster, I asked, “Can you heal my dragon and my friend?”
Dragon Mage Academy Box Set Page 134