The Secret World of Dragons

by Sandra Harvey

  ‘It’s not like that,’ snapped Mystic, ‘and if I were you, I’d keep your mouth shut. If you want to save your sister –’

  ‘Who told you that?’ demanded Flynn, rounding on the cat.

  ‘We all know it by now,’ said Mystic, irritated, ‘and if you want to save her, you’ll need our help.’

  ‘And how can a girl without a weapon and a talking cat help me?’ said Flynn darkly. ‘Your teammates are lost. I doubt you’ll ever find them again.’

  ‘Then you underestimate them,’ said Mystic shortly.

  Emma felt a rush of gratitude towards Mystic. He believed – as much as she did – that Simon and Matt were alive.

  ‘Fine, but even with the two other idiots, how can you possibly –’

  Flynn cut his sentence short, a smile spreading over his face. He held up a hand, which Emma took as a signal for them all to halt (which Mystic did not like one bit), and hurried off through a thick patch of bushes on his own. Lanai gave a sigh and placed a hand on her hip, but she did not speak. Emma felt oddly out of place standing between Mystic and the taller girl.

  The undergrowth rustled and Flynn emerged again, this time leading Copper out. The auburn dragon seemed to have a limp to his step and his proud head drooped in weariness, but he was more than happy to see his master once more.

  ‘I told you he was alive,’ said Flynn to Lanai, who smiled and touched Copper’s head.

  ‘Wonderful,’ said Mystic scathingly. ‘Now can we go back the way we came and get out of these woods?’

  Flynn frowned. ‘Are you giving up on your companions?’ he asked, amazement filling his voice, though he did not look surprised.

  ‘They’ll have enough sense to get out of here on their own, I’m thinking,’ said Mystic, already turning around. ‘Come on, Emma.’

  She was more than happy to obey this time around. The trail they were following not only took them out of the forest, but it also led them to Simon. With Copper found, Flynn did not disagree with the plan either. He followed the cat with all willingness, Lanai walking just beside him. Emma kept pace with Mystic, just as eager as he was to escape the dark reaches of the woods.

  It suddenly occurred to her that a place grimmer than this awaited them on the other side, and Emma wondered why she was so happy to rid herself of the forest. Vanyir had killed her ancestor and he would not be too pleased to see that there was a descendant of Lucian roaming around right under his nose. What could she do against him, though? She didn’t know how to fight, wield a weapon, or even ride a dragon. The thought of going up against someone with a thousand years of fighting experience behind their back seemed like suicide to her. Then again, marching up to his tower with half of the Dragon’s Tear was not exactly smart either.

  As the path grew wider, Mystic concluded that the two dragons had raced side-by-side. A forked route ahead showed that one of two had branched off, but then rejoined several dozen metres later. Torched trees were still warm to the touch, but all was quiet.

  ‘Dragon’s fire is very hot,’ said Mystic. ‘Permanent burns if you’re hit. Dozens have died at the breath of –’

  ‘Oh please, save us the melodramatics,’ cut in Flynn. ‘I’ve been burnt by dragon’s fire many times. I’m not dead.’

  Mystic snorted. ‘I’d say your hair is the only thing that got burned,’ he retorted.

  ‘Quit making jokes about my hair colour!’ warned Flynn. ‘Do I have to remind you of who I am?’

  ‘No thank you, I’m not absent-minded,’ muttered Mystic, and ran a few feet down the trail. His pace slowed though, and – while raising his nose up to sniff – he said, ‘Does anyone else smell that? It – AHH!’

  Before Emma had even caught up to the trouble-seeking cat, she saw him scamper quickly out of a pool of water that he had stepped into. The water had risen to his chest and his fur hung wet around his legs, giving him a rather pitiful look.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Emma asked him, taking off her sweater. ‘Here, I’ll –’

  ‘Dragon’s blood,’ said Mystic, his voice weak. ‘I stepped into dragon’s blood, not water.’ He trembled at the discovery and backed even further away from the dark pool. ‘I knew I smelt something, but I was unfamiliar to its scent for so long that I couldn’t recognize it.’

  Emma pulled her sweater back on. ‘Is it Redfyre?’ she questioned anxiously. ‘I mean, is there a difference between the scents of blood?’

  ‘It – I don’t know.’ Mystic grimaced and sniffed the air again. ‘We need to find water so I can clean this blood off or else something unwanted might track us out of the forest. I don’t want anything other than those drayskuls chasing us.’

  ‘And none of those if we can help it,’ muttered Flynn, drawing his sword.

  It had taken them the better part of an hour to find a small river alongside the burned and beaten path. Mystic had dove into the waist-high water – a rather unnatural thing to see a cat do, Flynn had said to Emma – and then pulled himself out, shaking his brilliant, black fur until it seemed no more wet than it was to begin with. Then the four of them continued on their way.

  The blood had troubled Emma, but she was glad that Mystic had not named it Simon’s blood. Emma was sure that a dragon could last for days with a wound – they were so huge with thick scales – but a human would not last long with a puddle of blood as deep as that lost. They might have already died.

  ‘The stench grows stronger,’ said Mystic, now leaping from charred branch to branch instead of walking on the ground. ‘There are faint blood markings everywhere here. They must have finally fought.’

  Emma swallowed anxiously and hurried along the path. Before she knew it, they were all running, eager to find out if Simon and Redfyre were still alive. Flynn was quite possibly thinking about slaying another drayskul and Lanai had the look of revenge in her eyes. Mystic revealed nothing, hiding beyond his layers of secrecy like a door without a window or a way of opening it. He showed no concern, no fear and not even anger. But Emma made up for his lack of emotion. She felt as though her head would burst from all the random thoughts that began to circulate.

  Was Simon dead? What about Matt? Did Titus come this way too? Were the dragons all right as well? Will this path take us out of the woods – and if so, will everyone be there?

  ‘Over there!’ shouted Mystic, jumping to the ground and breaking into a fast run.

  Emma nearly tripped, startled by his outburst, and followed him quickly. They came upon the body of a fallen drayskul, its wings torn to shreds and its throat lined with deep holes. The rider of the beast lay only a few feet away from its steed, the same hollows dug into his body. Emma kept her distance from the horrid scene, her knees suddenly growing weak. She sat down on a fallen tree and watched as Mystic studied the area.

  ‘Seems like Redfyre took care of them,’ he said. ‘I don’t think he was alone, though. Drayskuls are hard to bring down on your own.’

  ‘Very hard,’ added Flynn, picking up the dead rider’s weapon. It was the same kind of swordstick the Wheeler brothers used. ‘I’d say his brother came to his rescue, or Titus. Hard to figure out which it was.’

  ‘We’ll know when we find them,’ said Mystic. He gave Emma a quick glance. ‘Are you tired?’

  She shook her head and stood up. ‘No, I –’

  ‘Unaccustomed to death, she is,’ said Lanai slowly, her strange, clear accent rich in every word. That was the first time Emma had heard the strange woman speak in front of her – excluding the time when she and Mystic had been spying on the two thieves around the campfire. The voice startled her. ‘The fears I sense in you ... do you deem it wise to continue this way?’

  ‘Lanai,’ murmured Flynn, as he touched his partner on the shoulder. She lowered her head, speaking no more.

  Emma was still wildly shocked and confused when Mystic cleared his throat. ‘Shall we go on?’ he asked, though not at ease.

  The trail became less wide now that the drayskul had fallen. If another drago
n had came to Red-Fang’s aid, then it had followed behind and not side-by-side. Mystic continued to point out evidence along the way, and when the trees became thin, he announced that the end of the woods was very close. Indeed, it seemed brighter than it was twenty minutes ago. Where there was sunlight, there was a way out. The forest was so dark that day and night had been muddled in Emma’s mind.

  Up ahead the mossy ground of the woods suddenly turned to barren ground, rocks replacing trees and bushes. The river that ran alongside the trail was dried bare, corpses of fish lying at the bottom along with the black strands of what Emma believed to have once been plants. She stood there for a moment, staring at the river in dread, until all the others were far ahead of her. Not only the stream was faded into existence; the remaining trees looked more grey and lifeless the farther they walked. The ground felt like it held the hard chill of winter, but it was warm to the touch.

  ‘The sky,’ murmured Emma, pointing up. ‘How ...?’

  Instead of the blue sky they left behind in the Outlands, there was a dark shadow looming overhead. The clouds had turned a deep shade of grey, while the atmosphere itself was almost black. The light, Emma realized, came from behind, from the skies beyond the forest from which they came. They had entered into the dark lands now.

  ‘A storm’s coming,’ said Flynn uneasily. ‘It looks big.’

  ‘No,’ whispered Lanai, her eyes full of terror. ‘This is dark magic to its full extent.’

  ‘Vanyir doesn’t have such power,’ said Mystic quickly. ‘Dark magic doesn’t exist.’

  Lanai gave him a harsh stare. ‘So says you,’ she said, ‘but who are you? Not a dragon, not a magic wielder. How should you know of dark magic?’

  Mystic narrowed his eyes. ‘I could ask you the same question, thief ... if that’s what you really are.’

  Lanai inclined her head, and then turned it slightly, saying nothing else. The cat sighed and then shook his head. ‘Whatever. This isn’t important. I’m guessing by the look of things, it’s pouring down rain in Vashgal right –’

  ‘EMMA!’

  The shout came so suddenly that even Mystic started. The loud sound of a running dragon was heard, and Emma glanced across the barren land until it sloped upwards, hiding the rest from her sight. But scampering down over the steep hill was Redfyre and upon his back sat Simon, his face a mix between wonder and joy. He halted his dragon to a stop beside the small group of four and clambered down in such a hurry that his foot caught on the saddle’s stirrups.

  ‘Mystic!’ he exclaimed, pulling himself free of his self-made trap. He stumbled over to the cat, who took a cautious step back. ‘Am I glad to see you!’

  Mystic gave Simon a rather inquiring look. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked. ‘Did you hit your head?’

  ‘Huh – what? No, I –’ Simon scowled. ‘Very funny, cat. Listen, I –’

  ‘Where’s Matt?’ interrupted Mystic.

  ‘Or Titus,’ said Flynn quickly. ‘Did you see Titus?’

  ‘No,’ replied Simon impatiently. ‘Can you listen to me?’ He gave an irritated sigh. ‘Red and I haven’t seen anyone out here since the raid ... except one.’

  ‘How is one not anyone?’ said Mystic, smirking.

  Simon gave the cat another scowl. ‘Can you just shut up for a minute? Is that so hard to do?’ When the cat did not answer, Simon continued. ‘The Dark Rider that was chasing us –’

  ‘Dead,’ said Emma quickly. ‘We passed him and his steed.’

  ‘I thought so,’ said Simon. ‘A dragon killed them both.’

  ‘Which dragon? Shartaug or ...?’ Emma was unsure of what Titus’s dragon was called.

  ‘Neither,’ answered Simon. ‘This one was silver.’

  Mystic gave a startled gasp, which made Emma jump. She glanced down to see a bewildered expression working its way over the cat’s face.

  ‘Mystic,’ she asked, ‘what’s wrong?’

  ‘Silver ...’ he murmured, shaking his head. ‘That’s ... that isn’t ... it’s not possible!’

  ‘It is possible,’ said Simon. ‘I saw silver, and that means only one thing ... the dragon I saw was Ghalgaun. He’s back, Mystic.’

  ‘No.’ The cat refused to believe what Simon was saying.

  ‘Wasn’t Ghalgaun the dragon who made the pack with Lucian?’ questioned Emma, thinking back to her lesson in the history of Dragonis. ‘Why has he shown himself again ... and why here?’

  ‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’ said Simon, slightly smiling. ‘It’s because of you!’

  ‘Me?’ Emma pointed to herself. ‘What do I have to do with anything? I’m not Lucian.’

  ‘You’re his descendant, so what’s the difference? None really. Same blood.’

  With the excitement of the new information, the two of them had forgotten about the thieves – who had been listening quite intently to the conversation while it lasted.

  ‘Let me get this straight,’ said Flynn slowly, looking from Emma to Simon and back again. ‘You –’ he pointed to Emma ‘– are the descendant of the legendary Lucian Reeve, who was the first and only Chosen One. Is that correct?’

  ‘How do you know about Lucian Reeve?’ asked Simon, ignoring Flynn’s question.

  ‘History records, stolen from the Grand Dragonis Hall,’ answered Flynn irrelevantly. ‘Now – are you or aren’t you the descendant?’

  ‘I am,’ replied Emma.

  ‘Fool,’ muttered Mystic, glaring up at Simon. The cat seemed to have come back from his thoughts. ‘Why did you mention any of that?’

  ‘I didn’t –’

  ‘Listen here, thief,’ said Mystic sharply, diverting his gaze now to Flynn. ‘You are to never speak of this. If I possessed the magic to seal your mouth together, I would, but sadly, I don’t have that kind of power. So,’ he looked from Flynn to Lanai, ‘I trust you and your companion here to keep this information to yourselves. I can’t stop you from telling or swear you to secrecy, but I beg you ... please ... do not speak of this to anyone. Our futures ... no, the entire world ... rests with this girl ... Emma.’ Mystic gave her a swift glace. ‘Therefore, be prepared to cut off your tongues if captured and forced to speak through magic.’

  Flynn was speechless, but Lanai bent her head and said, ‘I will keep this secret. Guard it with my life, I shall.’

  Emma blinked, unsure of what she had just heard. Guard it with her life? She did not want anyone dying on her account, and judging by what Lanai had said upon seeing the dead Dark Rider, the girl was not unfamiliar to death.

  ‘I - I’ll make sure it doesn’t slip out,’ said Flynn uneasily, which was just about as much of an oath as Mystic would get.

  ‘I fear your psychic has already learned about this secret of ours,’ said Mystic. ‘I think he saw it when he looked into Matt’s eyes while we were staying in Gunclove. I can’t be sure, but when we find him, you must warn him of this.’

  ‘Agreed,’ murmured Flynn, and his eyes slowly drifted over towards Emma. ‘The world’s fate is in her hands ...’ He gave a quick, sharp exhale and shook his head. ‘How absurd. I suppose she has the Sapphire Stone with her too?’

  ‘That’s where your inquiring reaches its end,’ warned Mystic.

  ‘If she doesn’t have it, then our futures doesn’t rest with her,’ said Flynn shrewdly.

  Mystic snorted. ‘A thief through and through ... but don’t get too proud because you managed to read between the lines.’

  ‘So she does have it,’ concluded Flynn, ‘and that’s the reason of your ... errand at Vashgal. What are you planning?’

  ‘That’s none of your concern,’ snapped Mystic.

  ‘We’re part of the group whether you like it or not,’ said Flynn. ‘I need to know what you’re going to do once you get there. How else can I trust you?’

  ‘He can’t tell you because he doesn’t know,’ said Simon, crossing his arms. ‘Our plans aren’t made yet.’

  ‘Very unwise,’ said Lanai quietly. She tilted her head in Simon
’s direction. ‘Entering the Dragon Lord’s land without a purpose is reckless ... you may as well submit yourself over to him.’

  ‘Now, Lanai,’ said Flynn, tugging at one end of his scarf. ‘Half the fun is figuring out the puzzle while you’re going.’ He shrugged half-heartedly. ‘That’s not saying that she isn’t right, though. I don’t like the look of this place ... and we’re not even on its front step yet.’

  ‘Don’t expect a warm welcome,’ muttered Mystic. His violet eyes searched the forest behind them. ‘I hear faint voices.’

  ‘Is it Matt?’ questioned Simon anxiously. He took a few steps towards the woods, but Mystic was quick to cut him off.

  ‘Wait here,’ said the cat warily. ‘I’ll take a look.’

  ‘What if it’s the Dark Riders?’ said Emma hurriedly, not wanting Mystic to head back inside. What if he never came back out?

  ‘No matter,’ said Mystic. ‘I’m the only one small enough to hide if it is them. Besides, we can’t go any farther than this without the other two.’

  Before anyone else could object, the cat vanished back into the dark woods. Emma was unsure of how long they waited, but it was long enough for Simon to pace the forest’s edge, and long enough for Flynn to grow more than impatient. Soon though, Mystic emerged with the two missing riders, one bent over in his saddle as though he was sick.

  ‘Matt!’ cried Simon, alarmed.

  ‘I found him with a pack of Sabres,’ said Titus, riding over towards Flynn and Lanai. Copper thumped his head against the icy blue dragon’s neck in welcome. ‘Nasty creatures, they are.’ He glanced around the area and then turned to Lanai. ‘Where’s Shiva?’

  Lanai inclined her head until her gaze met with Titus’s and he quickly turned away, closing his grey eyes, a look of anguish crossing his face. He held a hand to his forehead and murmured, ‘I see.’

  Matt shifted on his dragon, caught himself from nearly falling over, and then laid his head against Shartaug’s neck. ‘I’m tired,’ he mumbled, his voice drained.