by Marc Secchia
She said, “Chime, I think I know what’s happening to your children here on Fiuriel.”
Chardal gasped, “No. Shioni–”
“We must tell the truth! Hasn’t there been enough bloodshed already? Chime, I don’t know how to express this.” Shioni shook her head miserably, trying to summon her courage. “We’ve nothing to hide, and I want to show you …”
Only the rasp of the dragon’s breath broke the terrible, trembling stillness.
“The Fiuri call your children Cave-Crawlers,” she explained. Her eyes welled up; she dabbed them with her fingertips, but the tears would not stop flowing. “I know this, because I’ve heard them chiming like you do. When they burrow into Fiuriel, they destroy Fiuri lives and homes and leave behind a toxic trail that takes many orbits to repair. So the Fiuri began to set magical wards to protect themselves. There’s a great civilisation underground, Chime. Tens and hundreds of thousands of Fiuri and many tunnels–and all of their protective wards are designed to destroy your children.”
Shioni bit her knuckles, sobbing, “I’m so sorry, Chime. We’re killers, unknowingly–”
The great muzzle jerked toward her, drawing breath. Helplessly, Shioni found herself sucked into a maelstrom of air that entered the Crystal Inferno Dragon’s cavernous nostrils. Lifting its head, the great dragon bellowed its grief to the skies. Light and flame detonated around the Fiuri, blasting them aside; Shioni shot skyward on the wings of a fireball so enormous, it lit the hills around them despite the sun’s full daylight radiance.
Again, the Crystal Inferno Dragon’s roar thundered over the lush green hills, echoing to the still-distant purple mountains. Then, it raced away. This time, Shioni sensed, it was truly gone.
Fluttering like a falling leaf, she returned to her friends.
With a violent shiver, Viridelle said, “You should not have told the dragon that, Shioni.”
Shioni sighed. “Don’t you see, my friend? Someone has to break the cycle of hate. If your people only knew what they were doing …”
“To their ancient enemies?” asked Chardal. “Not all Fiuri are good larvae, Shioni, despite what you think. Lord Tazaka least of all. What do you expect to happen now? Are you planning to change the way that all Fiuri protect themselves against a hostile world?”
Shioni told them the rest of what Chime had said, ending with, “We must do the right thing.”
“Ooh, sit on your noble pedestal, Shioni–its fine for you,” sniped Viridelle. “That monster isn’t out to kill you.”
Iri pulled her twin into an irresistible hug. “What Shioni did, she did for us, Viri. That’s the whole point. And I agree. What if the dragon killed us just because she can’t remember? How could she live with that? Pollens and nectars, Viri, Shioni’s a whole new kind of Fiuri! Probably all this light and dark business happened before she was born, or someone hid her on Earth so that she’d survive and find her way back home and fix everything.”
Iridelle’s beaming smile lit up her face. Shioni only wished the solution was that simple. Could she truly be a Storm Fiuri? Surely, being able to understand a chiming, musical language spoken by dragons on a world unimaginably far from Earth, meant something? She had no idea what link existed between Fiuri and Humans, but there must be one. Iridelle could be right. Was she Human, Fiuri, or both? How did Kalcha know Tazaka? How could they swap power and help each other over a distance that must span the gulf between the stars?
Shioni chuckled to herself. At least she was finding some answers about her past, even if she did not understand either the answers, or the questions she was supposed to be asking!
Right. She must do what she could to defeat Tazaka, save Azurelle and put all this to rights. She apparently had wild magic. Could she possibly dream up something wild to destroy Tazaka’s power? Glumly, Shioni eyed her friends stuck in their bubbles. She had no strength left. How was she supposed to help them to escape?
It was two days of fruitless escape attempts and helpless waiting before Chime returned. By then, Shioni had a glimmer of a crazy plan in her mind.
She watched as the Crystal Inferno Dragon raised a talon, and the bubbles vanished. Char, Viri and Iri tumbled free with startled exclamations, buzzing about in an impromptu celebratory dance before they remembered that a dragon watched them.
Heavily, Chime said, “You were right, little Storm Fiuri. I am wounded within, and am unable to return to Crysturiel. The dragons despise my weakness. They leave me behind to guard their eggs for orbit after orbit. What do you want of me, Storm Fiuri? Know that if you stay here on the surface, the wild magic Elementals will sniff you out and destroy you as surely as I might have destroyed you.”
“What changed your mind, Chime?” asked Chardal.
“Hope,” she replied, with a sigh that washed over the Fiuri like storm winds. “Sorry.” She cut off the airstream, before pointing delicately at Shioni with a claw-tip. “That one dared to speak of hope. Hope is better than death. So, what shall we do?”
Shioni said, “We need to return to the Fiuri realms and defeat Tazaka, Chime. We need to convince the Fiuri that there’s a better way, a way that will allow your children to survive and thrive. With more Crystal Inferno Dragons surviving their childhood here on Fiuriel, you will not die out. And for that, we need your trust and your help.”
“What can I do?” asked Chime.
“Well, we need to understand what happened between the Fiuri and the dragons,” said Shioni. “And then we’ll need to borrow one of your children.”
Chapter 21: Tunnelling
Promises could be so fragile.
That evening, as Altair vanished beneath the horizon, but Crysturiel continued to burn overhead, giving her the curious sensation of falling upward into those everlasting fires, Shioni found herself unable to sleep. Iri and Viri had curled up together in a grassy spot, while nearby, Char drooled on his notebook. Reaching out, Shioni moved his precious notebook–bulging with the weird doings and sayings of a certain Storm Fiuri–to a safer place. Even Chime rested, but in her case, that meant hovering above the waterfall, her wings undulating even while she slept. Shioni could feel the dragon’s warmth right across the dell. She truly was an inferno.
Once, most Fiuri had lived on Fiuriel’s surface in gardens around the mountains, like the one they rested in now. But some Fiuri had lived on Crysturiel–her kin, the Storm Fiuri. They had lived and worked in partnership with the Crystal Inferno Dragons, riding the storms and using their wild magic to fight the Black Ice Dragons and their allies. Then, everything had changed. Traitors arose among the Storm Fiuri. The different family clans clashed, growing distrustful of each other. Some Fiuri sided with the Black Ice Dragons, drawn to the power and ways of darkness.
One night the Storm Fiuri simply disappeared. Thousands vanished as if they had never been, leaving the Crystal Inferno Dragons to campaign against the Black Ice Dragons and their Elementals on their own. The dark powers rose, changing the face of Crysturiel forever. Determined to punish the Fiuri for abandoning them, great numbers of Crystal Inferno Dragons flew to Fiuriel to reason with the Blue Fiuri and all their kind, but did not find the Storm Fiuri among them. No-one knew who cast the first spell, or loosed the first fireball, but an all-out war erupted. The Elementals of wild magic appeared on Fiuriel’s surface, chasing the remaining Fiuri into the cracks and tunnels, and driving off the Crystal Inferno Dragons.
“The Elementals became more powerful than ever, here on Fiuriel,” Chime had said. “We were sorely defeated. From that day on, we Crystal Inferno Dragons cursed all Fiuri and vowed to see them dead. And we have been dying out, too.”
Shioni stirred restlessly. Crysturiel’s fires burned like no flame she had ever seen. They were opalescent, similar to a pearl necklace the King of West Sheba had given Annakiya for her tenth birthday. The colours flickered and changed shape constantly, teasing her eyes. They were like Chime’s eyes, a living flame, growing and breathing and bursting with life.
Ch
ime watched her.
Shioni could not help the trickle of cold fear that crept into her gut. She had promised to return to help the Crystal Inferno Dragons. She must seek the other Storm Fiuri. But how could she make any promises, knowing how great Tazaka’s power had become? Could she wrest the green stone from him? Would Chief Arandal have succeeded in smuggling enough nectar beneath Tazaka’s nose that the Greens would be immune to his control? And Azurelle, most especially?
Rising from the soft grass, she flew–crazy as that sounded to a Human–over to the great dragon.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Shioni asked.
“No. There’s a storm brewing over the mountains. The Elementals have been roused.”
Shioni saw lightning playing among the peaks, and dark clouds threatening to obscure the starry night sky. “Do they know we’re here? They must.”
She found it hard to think in chime-words, so Shioni answered aloud, “Thank you, Chime. I wish you could have told me where to find my people–if they are my people.”
Chime said,
Shioni knew her smile was a fragile flower. “Chime …”
said the Crystal Inferno Dragon.
“Chime, do you long to go home?”
The dragon’s sigh stirred the grass across the dell.
“Will you willingly give one of your children, knowing they might die?”
she said.
Shioni’s eyes blurred. This from a dragon who just a few days before had been willing to kill her friends? Chime touched deep things in her life, secrets and hurts she had never wanted to see exposed.
Then, the Crystal Inferno Dragon said,
She stared at her slowly healing shoulder. Oh, flying hyenas … what now? For the flesh around her wound had begun to show a hint of Fiuri patterning. She was not sure what to make of the colours, for they were very faint, especially in the dim light–but the swirls and curlicues shimmered in the moonlight with the airy translucence of a dragonfly’s wings. Maybe Azurelle would have cause to be jealous after all?
Shioni admitted.
With the storm closing in, the dragon woke the Fiuri just after midnight. Tucking them first into a bubble of magic, and then into a pouch on her belly, she zipped off over the lush, forested hills, away from the mountains and toward the great plain of blood-red gravel and turquoise mounds.
“We will outrun the storm,” she told them, above the roar of the wind. “When you reach the Fiuri Realms, tell those who will hear that we dragons are sorry for the harm we caused.”
Shioni considered what she had discussed with Chime in the dark of the night, things she had not told her friends. She did not dare. For if her plans for Tazaka fell flat, there was one more risk she might have to take …
Chime covered in less than a day the distance it had taken the Fiuri three days to fly. A wild and windy morning greeted the travellers as they raced at the same indefatigable speed over the plain. The storm had almost kept pace with the Dragon’s flight. Peeking out of Chime’s belly-pouch, the Fiuri wondered where she would bring them. What would it mean to stare one of their mortal enemies right in the eye?
At length, the Dragon’s speed slackened. She seemed to be searching for something, flying in long swoops over the occasional mound. The frantic rippling of her wings slowed.
“Here,” said Chime. “This youngling is ready to journey. Forgive me as I speak to the little one.”
She called,
Shioni gasped. Viri elbowed her sharply. “You understand them?”
“Yes.”
“Well, little petal. A translation would be perfect.”
Instead, Shioni turned to Chardal. “Are you sure you can protect this one from the wards? I just don’t want–”
“For the fifteenth time, yes,” said Viridelle waspishly. “The bigger issue is the poison trail it’ll leave behind–we shouldn’t follow too closely.”
Just beside the Hunter, Char shrugged apologetically.
Shioni translated steadily as Chime told her larva in minute and incredibly long-winded detail, all about their need. To her surprise, the male Dragon larva was more than willing to help.
After some hours, the Crystal Inferno Dragon said,
Indicating the monstrous stone pile–which looked considerably smaller beside the mother Dragon–Shioni said, “Friends, this is Jinnzi. Like this,
Char chuckled,
“Now, I’ll teach you to give directions,” said Chime. “I assume a Green Hunter can find her way to the Green Central cavern you told me about?” Viri put on her best miffed expression. “Good. That storm’s bearing down quickly. Shioni, listen closely.”
Shortly, they were saying their farewells. Chime had barely finished wishing them fresh fires and fierce travel-worthy storms, when the ground began to shake. Shioni might have suspected an earthquake had she not known that the Jinnzi was warming up what Chime called his ‘rotating crusher teeth’. She was very glad to be at the back end of such a beast! Then, as the roar rose to a deafening pitch, the pile suddenly began to cascade inward. The four Fiuri watched wide-eyed as a great depression developed in the ground, slowly sinking away until they found themselves hovering above the entrance of a tunnel the width of many Fiuri flying side-by-side.
“Don’t get too close in case of a collapse,” the Crystal Inferno Dragon advised. “You can call Jinnzi back to tidy up.”
“As long as he doesn’t tidy us up,” Iri worried.
Cautiously, the Fiuri followed the Cave-Crawler down into the dark, fresh tunnel. A deep-throated roar preceded them as the tunnel lengthened at the speed of a Fiuri walking. All they could see was a departing tail.
“That’s the last I ever want to see of the surface,” Viridelle declared. “Nasty place–full of storms, crazy fire-breathing Dragons and wild magic.”
“Not to mention awfully open tunnel roofs,” said Iri.
“Sky,” Viri corrected her twin.
“Ah, but the stars are enough to set a Fiuri’s heart aflame,” sighed Chardal. “They sparkle like tiny fires in that great wilderness of dark space. So romantic.”
Shioni jabbe
d Viri with her elbow. “Wouldn’t you say, Viri?”
“Huh?” said the Hunter. “I think Jinnzi needs to tunnel a little more Spinward, Shioni. Can you tell him?”
Chardal rolled his eyes. “I can see all the gorgeous poetry I’ve been composing, inspired by the wonders of Crysturiel and Fiuriel’s exotic surface, is wasted on some Green Hunters!”
“Huh?” Viri repeated. “What was that about Hunters? Are you being rude, scholar Char? Because I warn you, I’ll wrestle you until I’ve tied your toes to your wingtips and braided your hair into a Shaggy Spider’s nest–”
“Would he like that?” asked Iri, a little worriedly.
“Why don’t you disorganise his pens and notebooks?” Shioni suggested.
“No …” The scholar backed off, but the cunning Hunter had snagged his belt. “Get your thieving paws off my pens! Viri, I swear … now just you listen here. That’s a valuable notebook. Viri! Don’t you dare touch my ink supplies–you pest, now I’m really getting mad.”
Viridelle mussed his hair fondly. “Ooh, scary.”
Shioni laughed at their rambunctious play. Her Fiuri friends were visibly relieved to be back underground. But her thoughts sped further ahead, beyond the tunnel Jinnzi quarried for them which aimed arrow-straight for the heart of Green Central. Tazaka would be most displeased by their plan to disrupt his forthcoming marriage to the new Queen, Azurelle. Would Chief Arandal have had enough time to stir up his nectars and potions?
Shioni said, forming the unfamiliar words carefully.
Three days’ tunnelling to Green Central, Viri had estimated. Shioni knew that their return from exile meant certain death, should they fail. She looked back over her shoulder. Nothing had followed them down the tunnel–yet.
Chapter 22: Tazaka
WHEN Shioni, Chardal, Viridelle and Iridelle broke through to Green Central, even the upheaval of a Cave-Crawler’s demolition job on the tunnel walls went unnoticed. The four Fiuri looked about in astonishment.