by Kyrja
“The Emperor’s army is headed this way. There are hundreds of men and women with him.” Aidena announced.
“He lives?” Rhian asked, surprised.
“I don’t know. They have that damned box I found him in, mounted on a wagon and they’re bringing it with them. Maybe they’re coming in his name, or maybe this is just a distraction, or maybe a dozen different things. The point is that we are at war.”
Chapter Twenty – Water Dragon
Sina had been right, Denit decided, feeling her foot crunch through yet another rind; the stench of the overripe melons was sickening. She figured she would have melon slime up to her knees before they were done, and didn’t know how Sina could stand it. She knew if she was a human, with normal senses, she would already be heaving her guts out. When she had been growing up, she had eaten during mealtimes because she was told to, although she’d never truly been what she would guess was called “hungry.” Giya and her teachers had taught her to eat and drink at regular intervals, but she had never known it was because she was a god and they hadn’t wanted her to know. There were so many things she had taken for granted. So many things she had never known. Well, she sighed, she was learning some of them now. She had thought of simply traveling to Giya without walking, but she already knew there were many things in this place she didn’t understand, and despite the fact that she was, indeed, a god, it was obviously still possible to be harmed here. Giya’s terrible condition when she’d last seen her was proof of that.
“Why is that hawk still here?” she asked. She’d seen it out of the corner of her eye since Sina had first run from her near the “statue” of the beast. She hadn’t had the time to consider it until now, though, and since it seemed like everything else was trying to kill them, there was no reason not to think there was some sinister intent behind it following them around. Besides, she had neither seen nor heard any other birds since she’d set fire to the grass around them. Why was this one still overhead?
“That’s Youni,” Sina answered without looking up.
“Youni? But I thought you said that was the rooster’s name,” she countered.
“Yes,” Sina replied simply, still moving carefully through and around the melon vines sprawled out before them. The vines were over-large, stiff, and seemed to be overlapping each other, making it likely one of them would twist an ankle or two before they made it through. It looked to Denit like there was a lake at the other end of the field. No doubt where the water dragon Sina had been worried about lived.
“What does that mean?” she asked, letting the frustration she felt fill her voice. “Is Youni a rooster or a hawk?”
“She’s both,” Sina called out, not bothering to turn her head back toward Denit to make sure she heard her.
“How can she be both? That doesn’t make any sense!” she paused. “And how can you call a rooster a “she?””
“It’s going to be getting dark soon, so Youni has turned into a hawk. When it gets dark, she will be an owl. And it’s not my fault she doesn’t know how to tell one kind of chicken from another,” she groused.
“A rooster that turns into a hawk and an owl,” Denit mused out loud. “You have some very strange things here, you know.”
“That’s hardly my fault,” Sina pointed out, still struggling over the vines.
“Does the night last as long as the day does?” Denit asked, thinking about how much more difficult this would be in the dark.
“Mostly,” Sina replied with a marked lack of concern. “It’s not like it’s easy to figure out time, you know, but since it seems like there are seasons here, then the daylight probably lasts longer in the summer than it does in the winter. But I don’t know what season it is. Do you?”
“Not in this part of the world, no,” Denit had to be honest, no matter how disconcerting the truth might be. Not to mention that the seasons seemed to be off ever since Sov left. And there was the annoying little detail that he had changed the climate all over the planet by coming too close to it. Plus, it was very possible the fact that one sun had been replaced by another could have changed the seasons on the planet permanently, and Raito’s presence in orbit as its only moon was completely different than Lumas’ had been.
“Before, you said the rooster talked to you. Does … she … talk to you when she’s a hawk or an owl, or just when she’s a rooster?” Denit was genuinely interested. Maybe they could use the talking … bird … in whatever form it was in to help them get through these stupid melons with their nasty smell.
“Hush!” Sina suddenly said in a loud whisper, hunkering down closer to the vines, as if to make herself smaller. Denit followed her lead, not even sure what she should hope it was, or wasn’t. Whatever “it” might be. She marveled again at how well her companion had adapted to a place so utterly foreign from her own home.
“Whatever you do,” Sina whispered so quietly Denit almost couldn’t hear her, “don’t move. Don’t make a sound. Stay still.” Even though she had a hard time hearing the words the girl said, Denit clearly heard her swallow. The sound of fear in that swallow sent a chill up Denit’s back, making her head tingle. In the next moment, everything within her was tingling with the desire to kill the monster she saw rising in front of her, or to run for her life. Since she could do neither, she stood completely still as she watched the strange creature moving towards them, devouring the melons in its path.
Sina had told her the creature was called a water dragon, but to Denit, with its long muzzle and strange body, it looked more like a cross between a gigantic horse, and some kind of lizard. With sharp teeth. And claws. She’d never heard of a “dragon” before, so hadn’t been prepared for the reality of it right in front of her, nor the size of it either. The longer she looked it, the more she thought it might be some kind of distant relative to her own Firebird form, then wondered if it, too, was a god, or maybe a being from another part of the cosmos that had ended up trapped here. It really didn’t look all that different from Amphedia when she’d been in her natural form, so she thought it was a distinct possibility. That thought made her wonder if this “creature” was like the others they’d encountered, so that when it wasn’t eating during “harvest time,” did it end up looking like a statue too, or did it turn into a different form altogether? She was fascinated by the possibilities.
She wasn’t sure whether the fact that it appeared to be covered in some kind of vegetation, as if there were branches sticking out of it, meant that it was just a sloppy eater and those were the vines from the melons all over it, or if it was just made to look like it was covered in weeds of some sort so that when it was under water, it was camouflaged. Whatever the case might be, the damned thing was getting closer and closer, and it didn’t seem like Sina had a plan for avoiding it. She was frozen in place, staring at it. Denit wondered if it was very fast, given its bulk, then realized that when she was in her Firebird form, she was capable of speeds faster than any other beast she’d encountered. She sighed, realizing that she was probably going to have to transform if she was going to keep Sina safe. Setting the field of rotted melons on fire probably wouldn’t be enough to make this beast leave them alone.
Without moving her head, she looked around as best as she could, trying to determine how she was going to be able to keep Sina safe while she took on the water dragon. The last thing she wanted to do was to let her get hurt while she was trying to protect her. Hopefully just changing into her Firebird form would be enough to scare the water dragon away. Just then the hawk screeched, flying right at the water dragon. The creature reared up on its back legs, snapping at the bird as it flew easily out of reach. What made that crazy bird do that? she wondered.
She stood up, opening her mouth to tell Sina to run, when she noticed all of the vines around her were turning to … ash. Or something very much like it. They were literally falling apart all around her, like death moving in a circle past her. Sina! She was using her magic as a Fire Tender to kill the melons and their vines.
Looking up quickly at the water dragon, she wondered if taking its food away would be enough to make the water dragon leave. No, no such luck. It roared like nothing she’d ever heard before, running right at her.
“Run Sina!” Denit yelled, then began the transformation that would turn her into her Firebird form, even as the water dragon rushed towards her. It surprised her how quickly the creature barreled across the field, now empty of all vegetation. She wasn’t prepared when it slammed into her, knocking her onto her back before she had completed the transformation. She felt its full weight on top of her, as it dug its claws into her belly, reaching for her neck with its elongated snout and sharp teeth. She could feel the water dragon ripping through her skin, the stench of its horrific breath polluting the air between them. She was pinned to the ground, unable to gain enough purchase to shove it off of her while she finished her transformation.
Raising her arms to push it off her, she watched with horror as it sank its teeth into her left forearm, ripping it off. She screamed, shocked at the sight of her arm being torn from her body. And then the transformation was complete, and Denit ignited herself, using her wings to easily push herself up from the ground. The water dragon screeched in pain as it pulled away from her, tumbling over itself to move away as quickly as it could, flopping and stumbling as it sought to extinguish the flames and soothe the burns she’d inflicted on it.
Stretching her wings, Denit screeched loudly, reveling in the feel of being in this strange and wonderful body. She took a moment to stretch the talons of what would be her left hand in her human form, relieved to see it intact. Nor had she suffered any permanent damage from the water dragon’s efforts to gut her. Anywhere else on the planet, she would have known the arm and hand would regenerate, given the nature of her shifting physical form, but here, in Jikangai, she hadn’t been sure.
Watching it cry out, she felt sorry for the creature, truth be told, but was sure it wouldn’t let her get near in her Firebird form, and it was still likely to try to eat her if she approached it in her human form. She watched it writhing and screaming, wishing she could give it comfort. Then she felt her jaw drop as she watched Giya walking beside Sina as the two of them emerged from the other side of the barren field. The night was falling quickly now, so it was hard to see what the two of them were up to. She held her breath, knowing that Sina would have told Giya she was here, so would have called to her if she wanted her to help.
Giya held her hands and arms spread out in front of her as she walked closer to the water dragon, her steps sure and determined. The beast responded by laying itself down on the earth, still flinching, but no longer screaming, or writhing on the ground. By Sov’s eye, Denit swore to herself, pleased beyond measure that Giya was actually going to heal the creature!
Denit heard the hawk screech again before she saw it, a small speck in the darkening sky, then noticed that Sina had stopped while Giya continued closer to the water dragon. Giya was no more than ten paces from the complacent creature when she saw the hawk swooping in towards Sina. Now what? she wondered. Was this a new threat? Was the bird going to hurt Sina? She knew the only way to get to the girl before the hawk did would be to fly there, but if she did that, she might disturb Giya’s work on the water dragon. Nor did Sina seem concerned. Still, it made her uncomfortable and more than a little worried that a magical creature was so close to her. She relaxed a little when she saw Sina lift her arm, as if to invite the bird to land there. Without a brace of some sort, though, the hawk’s talons would be sure to hurt her, she knew. But it didn’t land on Sina’s arm. Instead, it flew in a tight circle above her, screeching again. Now Denit knew something was wrong. But it wasn’t the hawk that was the danger, it was something else. The bird had done the same thing before the vines and melons had started turning to ash. Were the hawk and the girl working together?
* * * * * * * *
When the ground started vibrating beneath her feet, Sina knew what was coming. Nor was she surprised when Youni flew right towards her. The hawk was trying to warn her, Sina knew that, but there was nothing she could do. She’d held her arm out for the hawk to land, knowing she wouldn’t. Of course not. There was only so much she would do. Or could do. She couldn’t really blame Youni for not wanting to get too close. Ozahm was coming, and he would be very angry with her. She should have been with him long ago, so she could give him all the life force energy he needed to help in stopping the turtle. That’s what she was supposed to do during harvest time. That was the reason he’d brought her here, to help him stop the turtle. She’d meant to be there, she told herself, knowing the lie for what it was. No, the truth was that she had hoped she would find out Denit was stronger than Ozahm and would help her to escape Jikangai. That’s why she had followed her to the beast place, even though it was way too close to harvest time to even think of going there. It was their harvest time too; the only time they were “alive,” so they could eat. It had been just plain stupid of her to do that, but she’d done it anyway. And had nearly paid for it with her life. If Denit hadn’t been a god and hadn’t been able to set the grass on fire, then she would have died. After that, she had simply kept going, leading Denit to Giya, instead of getting somewhere safe. She knew how stupid she’d been.
But when Denit had turned into … whatever kind of beast she was, that was the moment Sina knew she had to find a way to make Denit get her out of here. So she had run to get Giya. Denit had said Giya was her mother. Sina couldn’t help but to wonder if it was really true. It just seemed too strange to be. Giya was the Earth Goddess, but Denit was made of amazing fire. How was that even possible? And why did Giya go to help the water dragon? If she was Denit’s mother, shouldn’t she be helping her, instead of the very creature who had tried to kill her? That’s what she would have done. That’s what she wanted to do to all the people who had killed her mother. No matter what Denit said about her mother already being dead. That just didn’t make sense. Denit must have been lying. And it didn’t matter if she wasn’t, the strangers had come to Nohoyo and changed everything. And that wasn’t fair!
She felt herself start to tremble again, even more frightened than she’d been the day the strangers had come. They hadn’t known she was there because she had disappeared by ghosting herself. Ozahm though, he knew how to find her even when she disappeared. There was no way to hide from him. From the Lord of Death. He’d made that very clear to her when he’d first brought her here. If she helped him, he would help her. If not, then he would make sure she never left Jikangai. In fact, if she didn’t help him, nobody would ever leave this terrible place. She shouldn’t have followed Denit. She should have let Ozahm deal with her in his own way. But now it was too late, and she was afraid he was going to … do something terrible. She wasn’t sure what, but she knew it was possible he might even kill her. He was coming. She could feel him. She thought she might scream. When Denit bellowed in her creature form, she did scream. Ozahm was here!
* * * * * * * *
It was easy to see that whatever Giya was doing to the water dragon was working. It was breathing easier too. Denit considered transforming back into her human form, but wanted to be sure the creature wasn’t going to attack once it was healed. Animals sometimes did that, she knew, it was just in their nature. Especially when confronted by something it perceived as a threat, and it was injured. Sometimes people did that too. Better to wait until Giya gave her some kind of sign that it was all right.
Wait! What was happening? The water dragon was squirming again, moaning, and slapping its tail against the ground. Not waiting to find out what else it would do, Denit bellowed while spreading her wings to fly the short distance to where Giya was now backing away from the creature. Suddenly it raised its snout to the sky and screamed as if it was in terrible pain. Towering over her, Denit grabbed Giya carefully with both of her claws, moving her away from the water dragon.
“No Denit! Something’s wrong!” Giya shouted at her, struggling to make Denit release her.
“Let me down, Denit,” Giya told her, calmly, and with such conviction, she had no choice but to do as she asked. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Giya shouted “Show yourself Ozahm!”
“He’s killing the water dragon!” Sina screamed, nearly hysterical.
“Coward!” Denit shouted, then knelt on the ground slamming her fists into the earth, sending her awareness seeking through the soil. Nor did she need to reach very far. When she found him, she started squeezing that part of him he had invested in this endeavor. It wasn’t his physical form that she’d found, only his essence. But it was enough. His ethereal form wasn’t nearly strong enough to fight her, let alone best her, so he fled, leaving a clear path of rot and decay in his wake.
It was enough that he’d retreated. For now. She would find him again, and when she did, she would put an end to his nonsense. Allowing her consciousness to return to her Firebird form, she transformed once more into her human form, nodding to Giya, saying, “He’s gone.”
“For now,” she agreed. “Poor thing,” Giya cooed, turning her attention to the water dragon. Placing both of her hands against its side, she said, “He will lose a portion of his tail, but you stopped him from being killed. Thank you.”
“But why did you heal him?” Sina shouted from where she was still standing with her arms wrapped around herself. “He tried to kill Denit. Why save him? He’ll just do it again!” she warned.