What's this?
Entering into the upper kingdom on his way home, Rib was amazed to see a woman of twenty-two or so crossing over the great Swaine Bridge.
A Wystilian?! Rib could hardly believe it.
What if I scare her away?
He was about to turn back and take a different route when he accidentally ran his shadow over her. He winced as she turned around and looked up at him.
Please don't panic!
To his surprise, the woman did not scream and run. Instead, she pulled at the scarf tied around her face and called to him, "Hey, come here!"
'Come here'? Rib obeyed, utterly baffled as he swooped to land on the stone bridge with her.
The woman looked about Gavin's age, with light brown hair cropped unusually short. She was of an average height and skinny at the waist. Her dress was simple, the bridge of her nose freckled, half her face covered with dark cloth to keep out harmful particles. She had a belt with a sheathed knife on it. Most uncomfortable of all to Rib was how she peered at him with her pale blue eyes, studying him with an expression of stern criticism.
No one's ever stared at me like this. Rib wasn't sure how to react. It's as though facing dragons is an everyday experience for her!
"Can you fly with a human on your back?" she demanded from behind her scarf, still scrutinizing him.
"Well yeah, I mean, I have," Rib stammered.
"Good. I need you to take me to the Wizard, Damon." The woman came to his side and reached to grab ahold of him. "This is urgent."
"What- I don't even have a saddle on!" Rib protested, baffled by her boldness as she hoisted herself up onto his back. He was used to Tyrone's children taking the same liberty of climbing all over him, but this was no five year old boy.
"Doesn't matter," she replied bluntly. "Just go."
How can she be so overbearing? This woman I could throw off in an instant?
I suppose it's better than if she were terrified of me like all the rest?
Well, alright then. Rib stopped hesitating and took off with a gentle bound, readying himself to catch her in his talons when she fell off.
But she didn't.
Who is this woman? Rib was confounded. He could feel her balancing herself with every transition of his flight, firm and steady. No one's ever ridden me without gear before!
Rib flew her all the way to Tyrone's lodge, where Damon's hut stood close by. Thankfully, not a single moth had ventured here, perhaps deterred by the rain or the woods. Landing in the grass clearing, Rib was about to tell his rider what housing was the Wizard's, but she was off his back and heading towards the hut before he could speak a word.
"Damon." The woman tugged her scarf down to hang around her neck, stepping into the crooked doorway. "I need your help."
"Damara," Rib heard the Wizard respond and drew nearer to see over the woman's shoulder. The old man had stood to meet her, knotted hair hanging in front of his eyes as always.
So that's her name.
"My brother's wife is plagued," the woman, Damara, told the Wizard. "I know you must have something to heal her-"
"No," the Wizard interrupted hoarsely.
"No?" Damara sounded incredulous. Rib saw her hand grip the doorframe tighter.
"I did until someone stole my potion book."
"Well," the woman said haltingly, "surely you can craft a cure without the book."
"No," he said again. "I don't have dragon fire."
"But Lynx?"
"No."
Damara's shoulders slackened a little.
How does she know Lynx too? Rib wondered.
"Those two dragons in the mountains," Damara pursued. "The ones that took me to you."
"Liah and Dare," the Wizard provided their names. "Both found dead."
Am I the only one who's never met this woman?!
"Could?the phoenixes have dragon fire somehow?"
"Yes, but not now."
"Then when?"
"Never again, unless a firebreather comes."
"So?there's nothing you can do."
The Wizard answered her with silence. Rib could see her narrow frame tremor with a shaky intake of breath.
"Catherine will die?"
Her voice sounds hollow, Rib thought, comparing it to how strong and commanding it was before.
"It'll be alright," he told her from behind. "I'm going to get the cure!"
Damara shifted in the doorway to see him, head turned downwards with pale eyes glaring from under her brow.
"How?" she growled.
"My captain friend has agreed to sail me to Crageria," Rib answered. "The King there has everything he would need to craft the cure for us!"
He beamed at her.
Damara sneered. "And why would he do that?"
"Well- because I'd ask him to!" Rib stammered, put off by her negative response. "We've met before and he's nice and-"
"And he stole my potion book," the Wizard grumbled.
At this, Damara straightened, looking to the Wizard.
"So?" she said. "The King of Crageria has your book and a firebreather?"
The Wizard nodded, his expression bleak.
Damara turned to face Rib.
"Other kingdoms won't even let Wystilian ships dock at their ports. What makes your friend's any exception?"
Rib was stalled for a moment, ignorant of this fact. Then, sudden realization restored his optimism and he answered, "Because it's Huskhn craft. No one on board looks Wystilian, so they won't suspect where we came from."
Damara was clearly considering this with the utmost seriousness now. Rib could feel her eyes run over his muscular shoulder wings and chest.
"Can you fight?"
Her question took him by surprise.
"Uh, yeah bu-" he began, and was promptly cut off.
"Then this is what we're going to do," she declared. "I will go with you to Crageria, we will bring back the book and the firebreather, and Damon will craft the cure for us."
"Yes," the Wizard agreed immediately. "Enough for the whole kingdom."
What?!
"But, wait!" Rib protested. "You're talking about stealing from a king. A wizard king!"
"People are dying here!" Damara said sharply. "And I don't trust some regal lunatic to do us a favor and give us the cure. All we have to do is slip in and disappear with what is rightfully ours."
"Yes," the Wizard agreed again.
"But-" Rib stuttered. "With a dragon?"
Damara's stare didn't falter. Rib felt intimidated by her eyes which flashed in the morning sun.
This?he slowly came to realize. This is who I need to help free Memory.
"Fine," Rib said, holding his head a little higher. "I will ask if you can come with us. But only if you agree to aid me in something else while we're there."
"And what is that?"
Rib took a deep breath. "My sister was taken by Huskhns when we were young," he explained. "But she's in Crageria now. Help me get her, and we can leave. All of us, with the book."
Damara's jaw tightened.
"This sister of yours?" she spoke. "Do the Huskhns still have her?"
Slowly, Rib nodded.
"And the boat we'll be in," she said. "Can it hold two additional dragons?"
Could it?
Rib tried to mimic her confident gaze. "Yes."
We'll make it work.
The woman took another moment assessing him before giving a curt nod. She turned back to the Wizard. "We'll get what you need, Damon."
"I can give you something!" he told her, and circled the inside of his hut, pushing aside heaps of dead plants, animal parts, random containers that clattered against each other. He mumbled to himself, pulling on a crusty curl of his beard as he glanced around him, shaking his head.
"Oh." His eyes focused in on the skull of a dog on his table and he picked it up, turning it over to Damara. "Here."
The young woman looked confused, her brow furrowed, until she peered inside the skull and r
apped it against the wall. Into the palm of her hand dropped a small vial, which she held up to her face.
Light caught on the little glass container. In the bottom rolled but a single drop of translucent orange liquid.
Damara studied it carefully. "Is this-"
"The last of the firesap fruit magic," the Wizard answered. "For if someone is mortally wounded. Just remember that if they aren't a dragon already?" He let his voice peter out.
They'll turn into one, Rib finished the man's sentence silently. He knew the stories.
The woman nodded and tucked the vial away in the folds of her dress. Clearly she knew, too.
Damon's really going to entrust that to her?
The Wizard came out of his hut, motioning for them to follow. Damara was quick to fall into step beside him, but Rib started off slower, gazing at the hunting lodge as they passed it. He couldn't hear anyone inside.
On his way over, he had been thinking of what he was going to tell the others. But now, with the change of plans, he wasn't even sure if he'd be able to say goodbye. The thought pained him.
Would Tyrone try to stop us from doing this or not?
No. He can't.
Rib bounded to catch up to the others, growing anxious to leave. When they reached the stablehouse, the Wizard went in and strained to lift the dragon saddle from a hook.
"What?" Rib backed away as the man, wheezing a little, lugged it over to him. "But that's Tyrone's."
"He'll be happy you made use of it," the Wizard replied dryly. "Here, you're doing this for the kingdom."
Reluctantly, the dragon stopped resisting and lowered himself so the saddle could be secured to him.
It is a nice reminder of home?
"Is that all?" Damara asked the Wizard, who thought a long time before shrugging.
Rib took a deep breath as he found himself holding eye contact with the woman yet again. At least this time she looked less than annoyed with him.
"We should leave now," she said. "We'll discuss details on the coast before dawn."
Leave?Emotions tied to that word charged at Rib. He imagined Theora's expression when she heard that he'd left, Tyrone's heavy-hearted sigh, and the children's sad whimpers. They would miss him far more than his siblings wandering in the distant woods, he was sure. Those dragons didn't seem to value family like he did.
Or like I used to, Rib miserably corrected himself. How can I say I care when I'm so willing to leave without a word?
Doubt assailed him to the point he thought of changing his mind, but he knew Gavin would be leaving either way and Damara was clearly growing impatient by his failure to respond.
This is for the kingdom, isn't it?
Rib opened his mouth to agree to leave.
"Damara?"
At the sound of a voice, he whipped around to see Tyrone walk out of the woods with a couple strung rabbits in his hand.
Oh no! Rib panicked, his claws penetrating the soggy ground beneath his feet as he stiffened. He'll see what we're up to! Running away, stealing his saddle?What will he think of me now?
Damara, apparently much calmer than Rib, stepped forward to greet the woodsman whose face broke into a warm smile.
"Hello, Tyrone," she murmured, dipping her head.
"Damara," Tyrone laughed lightly, his eyes shining as he looked at her. "Well, you're certainly not that child I worried about, years ago."
What is he talking about? Rib's fear turned to confusion as he saw the young woman smile a little, staring at the ground.
"I hope you can forgive me," she said, lifting her face. "But I'm off to run away with another dragon?Damon's already let us borrow things for the trip."
Another dragon? How often does she do this kind of thing? And with who?!
"Hmm." Tyrone turned his gaze to Rib, who shrunk, feeling guilty with the man's saddle strapped to his back. "It'd have been nice to have some warning."
"I'm sorry, Tyrone!" Rib blurted, but the woodsman held up his hand.
"You are welcome to it," he said. "Where you are headed?"
"Crageria," answered Damara.
"Crageria." Tyrone exhaled. "Well, I needn't ask why. I trust you'll be careful?"
Both Rib and Damara nodded.
Tyrone gave a solemn smile.
"Alright," he said. "I'm not one to stop you. When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow morning," Rib answered, still feeling guilty.
"Oh." Tyrone's smile grew warmer. "Then, please," he looked to Damara, "stay here with my family for tonight. I'm sure Theo would be glad to see you."
Damara nodded, with the quiet response, "I would like that. Thank you."
We don't have to leave just yet.
Rib was relieved.
I get to say goodbye.
Chapter 7
Dragon Fool Page 7