Dimitri returned his attention to the black-haired girl. Indeed, she was turning pages in the ancient book until she got to one in particular. A moment later, her face lit up with delight.
“I think that sculpture is a clue to another dragon.”
“What’s the plan, Dimitri?” Vincent asked, watching as the Dragon Keeper excitedly pointed to something in the book she held.
“We keep following them. They will lead us to the next clue.”
“Same rules apply. Steal the diary if there is an opening,” Godilai added.
“It looks like they’re heading north. There’s nothing up there except an ocean.”
“Have you forgotten already, Vincent?” Dimitri rolled his eyes as he led his team after Xyleena’s. “Their first two dragons were hidden on islands that only the Dragon Keeper could see. I’m thinking the third dragon was hidden in the same manner.”
“Be quiet or the Demon will hear you,” Godilai hissed.
Dimitri’s team continued to follow Xyleena out of the city of Zadún and beyond. Though it was summer, the ground and trees were still covered in a thick layer of snow and ice. It made trailing Xyleena’s team tricky and cold. Still, they managed to trek a few leagues without being noticed.
By nightfall, the temperature had dropped well below freezing. Xyleena’s team finally stopped. While the girls set up a rudimentary camp, Kitfox wandered off into the woods. Dimitri held his breath, worried that the Demon might have gotten scent of his presence. He breathed a sigh of relief when Kitfox returned minutes later with a few freshly killed hares.
Dimitri’s team slipped away to set up their own camp. Godilai elected to keep watch over Xyleena’s team in case they snuck away in the middle of the night. Some hours later Dimitri returned to Godilai’s side with hot drinks. They sat in silence, watching their enemies as they slept.
“What did I learn from this ordeal?” There was a hint of laughter in Artemista’s tone. After a contemplative moment, she said, “I learned that all of the races – Hume, Dákun Daju, Feykin, and Demon – can get along; especially when the world is depending on them.”
– FROM “THE UNSUNG” BY J’VAC TAIG (TRANSLATED BY B’REG KUNGA)
I barely got any sleep. The night was too cold, and no matter how many times I wrapped the blanket around me, I could not stop shivering. Too frustrated to try to sleep any longer, I got up and quietly left the tent I was sharing with Thera and Teka.
It was not even dawn yet, I realized when I stepped outside. Not only that, but our camp was void of our guard, Kitfox. I surveyed the forest around our camp, looking for the Fox Demon. He was nowhere to be seen, and I felt a wave of panic wash over me.
Where could he be? I asked my dragons. Could he have gone to report our location to Dimitri?
They did not answer.
“You okay?”
I instantly swirled around, swinging my fist at the head of whoever snuck up behind me.
Kitfox caught it easily and frowned at me. “I knew you didn’t like me, but that was a little extreme. Don’t you think?” He released my arm and walked over to what was left of the fire.
“I’m sorry, Kitfox. You surprised me is all.” I sighed and moved to sit beside the glowing embers.
He scoffed. “You should look up more.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was in the tree.” He pointed at the one that loomed over our tent. I studied it to realize a branch almost half-way up the tree was void of snow and icicles. The others around it were leaden with the signs of winter. Suddenly I felt guilty about thinking all those bad things about him. “You would have seen me if you had bothered to look up.”
“Oh.”
We lapsed into an awkward silence. I watched as Kitfox laid some wood on the embers and coaxed a fire from them. He then sat down in the snow and looked anywhere except in my direction.
“I don’t mean to be rude to you.”
His ear turned toward me. “Something about me bothers you.”
I sighed and looked away from him. “What gave you that idea?”
“The ‘Come on, boy! I’ll get you a bone later’ comment burned me. Just because I’m part fox doesn’t mean you have to treat me like I’m your dog.”
I closed my eyes. I had not even realized I had done that. With a sad sigh, I opened my eyes again. Kitfox’s beautiful amber gaze was fixed on me.
“I don’t know what to say apart from sorry. Yet it doesn’t feel adequate enough for the insults I paid you.”
He blinked in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Hmm?”
“I had a feeling you would apologize. You seem like the type. I just didn’t know you’d do it so…nicely.” Kitfox scratched his cheek and tried to explain. “Most Humes I have come across wouldn’t give half a mud lump about my people. In fact, many Humes prefer to hunt us or oppress us. You are…different.”
“I hear that a lot.” I flashed a small smile. “I have a Dákun Daju friend who is like you. The students at the Temple beat me up because I refused to treat her like dirt.”
“I’m impressed.”
“What about?”
“You befriended a Dákun Daju. You are now traveling with a Demon. You have a half-Feykin sailing you around the world free of charge. And you have a pureblooded Feykin willing to protect you even at the cost of losing her sister. You are a very rare person, Xy.”
I could feel the heat rush to my face. “Thank you.”
“So who is this Dákun Daju friend of yours?”
“Zhealocera. She’s from Katalania where her cousin is queen.”
“No kidding?”
I nodded. “I met Zhealocera in my battle class the same day I first met Freya. Freya assigned me as her sparring partner because I had chosen dual wielding weapons, just like her. Anyway, Zhealocera obviously already knew how to fight, but battle classes are required to become an Enforcer. So she would spend the class period teaching me how to fight.”
“See, Freya taught me almost everything I know about fighting. I would have listened to her.” Kitfox chuckled. “Then again, I am sort of biased to my own people.”
“Well…with Zhealocera’s teaching, I was able to fend off two Dákun Daju and even send them running.”
“Really?”
I nodded.
“Not bad for a Hume.”
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you know more about me then I know about you. So…”
“Oh.” He chuckled. “Well, my name is Kitfox Latreyon. Freya took me in as a cub after she found me abandoned in a back-alley dumpster in Gesa. During my thirteenth year, I was officially adopted into the Tahda’varett Demon guild. Now that I am in my twentieth year, I am eligible to lead a small order of the younger members of the guild. Should I prove to be a worthy pack leader, I could be chosen to join the Alphas.”
“That sounds exciting.”
“What are you two doing up so early?” a sleepy voice muttered.
Kitfox and I looked at the tent to see Teka step out.
“Did we wake you?”
“No, the cold did.” She plopped down next to the fire with a shiver. “I can’t wait to find this dragon. Afterward, I’m going to the bar to have me a hot butter ale or…six.”
Kitfox licked his lips. “Good idea.”
“How long until we reach the northern coast anyway?”
“We should be there by noon today if we break camp soon.” Kitfox’s ears twitched, and he quickly looked over his shoulder. A moment later, he sniffed the air.
A feeling of dread washed over me at his reaction, and I hoped I was just over reacting. “What is it?”
“The wind carries the smell of old blood.” Kitfox stood suddenly, his back to Teka and me. “Tell me something. What does this Dimitri guy following you look like?”
“He’s tall with messy black hair and crimson eyes and– ”
“He’s Hume-aju?”
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I nodded slowly in answer.
“Crap. Wish I had known that sooner.”
I got to my feet. “What’s wrong?”
“I think he’s been following us since yesterday.” Kitfox looked over his shoulder at me. “I smelled him before we reached the ice sculpture. I think he was hidden by some kind of magic field. I told him not to follow us, but it smells like he did anyway.”
“Wait a minute. You told him to stop following us? Why not just attack him?” I asked as I watched Teka duck into the tent to rouse Thera.
“I thought he was just some sick stalker. I didn’t know he was your enemy.” Kitfox faced me when I sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s my fault anyway because I didn’t tell you beforehand.”
Kitfox smiled and shook his head. Together he and I put the fire out and cleaned up while Thera and Teka packed up the tent. Minutes later, we were back on the trail northward.
While we trekked through the snow, I kept an eye on Kitfox to gauge his reaction to various sounds and smells he might have picked up. If he did detect anything, he certainly was not giving it away. Both of his ears suddenly perked up, and my hands immediately found their way to the tessens on my belt.
“We’ve reached the coast,” Kitfox announced and pointed ahead of us.
The evergreens thinned out, revealing an icy gravel beach and sapphire water.
“There it is. Atoka’s island.” About a league away from the coast was an island I knew the others could not see.
“I wonder how we can get there,” Thera said as she looked up and down the coast.
“Swimming is out of the question. The water will freeze you to death in under three minutes,” Kitfox replied. “You could fly over there if you could see it. What about a spell?”
Thera looked at me. “How far away do you think the island is?”
“About a league. Maybe more.”
“Too far for me to cast anything that would help. And I can’t warp us there, because no one has seen”– she paused to look at me– “or can remember the island in detail.”
“We’ll just build a raft, then,” Teka said, retreating to the trees.
Minutes later, she returned with a large trunk floating behind her. She muttered something, and the trunk dropped to the ground with a thud.
“I need at least two more trunks like this. Want to see if you can find them?”
“Sure.”
Kitfox led me into the forest to hunt for trunks while Thera and Teka started on the raft. Several minutes passed in silence before we found a trunk buried in the snow.
“This one looks good.”
“It’s under, what, two meters of snow?”
Kitfox chuckled. “This is how you solve that problem.”
He dug his claws into the wood and gave a rough yank. The tree gave out and sent him flailing into the snow. I burst out laughing, while he dug himself out.
“That didn’t work as I had planned.”
I offered my hand to help him to his feet. “Want to try it my way?”
Kitfox sighed and took it. “What is your way?” he asked as he shook himself from snow.
“Levítum!” I waved my hand, and the giant log shook then floated off the ground.
Kitfox’s jaw dropped. I laughed.
“You know magic, too?”
I smiled proudly. “I was recently graduated to Mage.”
“Nice.”
Kitfox and I returned to Teka and Thera with the log and were promptly put to work on piecing the raft together. After a good two hours’ steady work, the raft was ready. Teka set it adrift in the water and tested it before she deemed it worthy of travel.
I caught Kitfox staring over his shoulder, ears perked in opposite directions and a frown on his lips. “What do you hear?”
“I think we had better get a move on. The Hume-aju is making quite a bit of noise. I think he, too, is building a raft to get to the island.” Kitfox looked at me.
“We should get the drop on him before he does the same to us.”
Thera nodded. “I agree with Teka.”
I glanced at Kitfox. “Get ready to see some of the greatest creatures in history.”
He smirked coyly.
I brought my hand up and gently brushed my fingers against the jewels of the dragon eye. Instead of the usual tingly feeling that signaled the start of the summoning, I felt nothing. I sent Thera a look of panic over my shoulder, and tried again. Still, the summoning did not activate. Thera frowned in a mix of worry and bewilderment. Teka reflected the Feykin’s unease at the situation. Kitfox, however, was at a loss.
I turned away to focus my thoughts inwards. Kkaia? Vortex?
Nothing.
Where are you guys? Still they did not answer my calls. “What in Havel is going on?”
“What indeed?” I ignored Kitfox’s question and tried calling my dragons again.
Silence was my only response.
“Forget it!” I seethed, silently hoping that nothing bad happened to my dragons. “I’ll figure it out later.”
“Let’s hurry and get across,” said Kitfox, moving towards the raft. “We can mount a defensive on the beach over there if we have to. But while we’re en route, keep working on your necklace thing.”
I nodded and stepped onto the raft.
Once Thera, Teka, and I were aboard, Kitfox gave the raft a push out to open water then hopped on. He shivered and shook the water from his shoeless feet. Teka took the oar she had fabricated and sliced the water with it while I directed her to the island.
About a quarter of the way to the island, a biting wind picked up. Kitfox sniffed the air and growled. A heartbeat later Thera summoned her ribbon staff. She looked through the jewel atop and frowned. She shook her head, muttered a spell, and waved her arm. Another raft appeared in the water not too far behind us.
“Is that the bad guy?” Kitfox pointed his clawed thumb at the other raft.
I nodded.
“Yeah. He is the person I smelled yesterday. He also came into the tavern the night before. He looked miserable.”
“Incoming!” shouted Teka.
I glanced up to see a fireball headed straight for us. Before anyone could react, the ball of fire froze in midair and splashed into the water not far away. Thera and I looked at each other then got to our feet. While she summoned her spell, I launched mine.
“Hydor esso!”
“Hydor sibatín!”
Both of our spells struck Dimitri’s raft simultaneously and froze solid in moments.
“Nice shot.” Kitfox clapped me on the shoulder.
“Teka, try to get us to land quickly. We cannot make a stand on open water like this.”
A heartbeat after Thera spoke, another of Pox’s spells was inbound.
“Nagaré!” I waved my hand at the ball of slowly freezing water.
It vanished and reappeared a moment later, headed in the opposite direction. Pox managed to catch it and send it back.
“Aero bíraw!” Thera clapped her hands behind us, and a sudden gust of wind formed a wave that propelled us forward just enough to miss the frozen water ball.
“We’ve breeched the field!” Teka exclaimed.
I turned away from Dimitri’s raft to check out the island up close. It was nothing more than a frozen wasteland. No trees. No life. Just rocks and snow.
“How in the world could someone hide an island this big?” Kitfox asked.
“That’s nothing compared to Vortex’s island.” I suddenly felt two presences touch the back of my mind. Kkaia? Vortex? Is that you?
We are here, hatchling.
Kkaia’s soft voice echoed in my mind a heartbeat later. What is wrong?
Where in Havel have you two been? I frowned. We have trouble!
We slept.
I could tell they were hiding something. Tell me later. Dimitri is close and I have been trying to summon you.
We are ready, hatchling.
Be c
areful.
“Kkaia and Vortex are finally ready,” I said. I brushed my fingers across both jewels of the amulet, and they tingled with power. “As soon as we land on the island, I’m summoning them. I’m tired of Dimitri’s attempts to gang up on me.”
Kitfox grinned. “I can’t wait to see these dragons.”
I grinned back. “They won’t disappoint.
When I followed in my father’s footsteps by joining the military, I had at least expected him to give a nod of approval. Instead, all I got was his cold stare before he turned his back to me. It made me so angry that I vowed to one day out-rank him.
– FROM “THE DIARY OF AGASEI” BY AGASEI DÉDOS
We were still several meters from the icy shore of Atoka’s island when Thera suddenly took flight. I watched as moments later she landed on the bank and held her staff aloft to cast a string of spells. By the time our raft was beached in the icy gravel, she had set up several wards in hopes of deterring Dimitri and his team.
The instant my feet were on the island, I threw my hand in the air and shouted the names of my dragons. Wind and earth erupted from the dragon eye amulet in spectacular flashes of light. A heartbeat later, the separate elements solidified into their respective dragons. Their roars echoed off the barren landscape.
Kitfox covered his ears and winced as he gawked at Vortex and Kkaia. “You were right, Xy. They don’t disappoint.”
I smiled at him before returning my attention to our pursuers. They were still several minutes out and too far beyond my spell range to use magic. They were, however, well within Thera’s range. She wasted no time summoning another water spear and hurling it at them. Pox was not quick enough to counter the spell, and the water pierced their raft and froze solid.
Another two water spears were sent their way. These froze solid before striking their raft, damaging it enough to cause it to start sinking. Thera hurled another spell. It struck the fat judge and knocked him into the freezing water. He tried to get back on the raft but only succeeded in flipping it. The rest of his teammates went under, and their raft sunk shortly afterward.
“That was almost too easy,” Vortex remarked and sat on his haunches.
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