The dragons, p.32
The Dragons, page 32
part #2 of The Onis Chronicles Series
Laughing, he shook his head at her. “Yes, it is rather terrible, isn’t it? I don’t think any of us should make plans to become shipwrights once this is all over with.”
Looking back at their handiwork, Laila frowned disappointedly. She had nothing to compare it against but still thought they had done rather well. Although, thinking back to the great cities she had seen and all the beautiful things that man had created, she supposed that Nikolean was probably right.
Recognizing the disappointment in her eyes, Nikolean wrapped his arm around Laila and kissed her softly on the cheek. “It should hold up, my love. That is the most important thing.”
“We will need to cast off first thing in the morning,” Salyaman stated to the group. “Davion, let us prepare a fire.”
Once everyone had settled and their bellies contented, the sun began its slow descent toward the horizon, lighting up the waters captivatingly as the orange and red hues of its rays reflected on the sea.
Laila trekked down to the narrow beach beyond a low-set rock ledge while the others conversed around the fire and readied their mounts and packs for the night ahead. After taking off her boots and some of her armor, she went and stood at the water’s edge, its cool crisp surf kissing her feet each time it brushed against the shore. Standing there in reverence of it all, she couldn’t help but feel at ease. She wrapped her cloak around her dreamily and took several steps further into the water until it had reached her bare shins.
“Breathtaking.” She heard Nikolean say as he approached behind her, admiring the way the sunset was painting her face and hair.
“It is,” she replied, gazing out at the water while he continued to smile at her.
“Have you never seen the ocean before?” he asked.
Laila shook her head slowly. She couldn’t help but wonder what lay beyond its expanse or if it just went on forever.
“And you’re not worried of what lies under the surface?” he queried.
As Laila gaped down at her feet in the water, her eyes grew a bit wider while she turned her attention back to the darkening sea. “What lies under the surface?” she asked warily.
Nikolean chuckled at her and shook his head. “You mean aside from the water dragons?” He laughed again as if that weren’t enough to be afraid of and then added, “Oh, I’m sure there are plenty of things to fear under those beautiful waves.”
“Well, NOW I’m worried!” she said, backing up hurriedly out of the lapping water.
Nikolean joined Laila further up the shore and lovingly put his arm around her. He kissed the side of her head comfortingly with a big grin while she wrapped her arms around him. Enjoying the moment with her as they both looked out over the now-mysterious ocean, he only wished that they were alone. He had noticed that she would still irritatingly refrain from being overly affectionate with him whenever others were around, particularly Davion. While he understood her restraint, it didn’t make it any easier to be with her when others were always around.
While they stood there watching the sun slowly set beyond the horizon, everyone was startled when large blue fireflies darted out of the darkening forest and shot out over the water, blinking and sparkling brilliantly. None of them had ever seen such sizable fireflies before and thought them beautiful as at least a couple dozen of them twinkled over the ocean waters, the sea shimmering reflectively in their light.
“So,” Nikolean said, breaking the silence, “when we were preparing to face Ignisar, you seemed confident that the Red monarch was not going to stay true to the legends by killing us the moment we arrived. I don’t suppose you have any foresight about the Blue monarch now?”
Sighing softly, Laila truly wished she did. It was unnerving to think that it really could go either way when she was to come face-to-face with Fonzar. Laila had known in her heart that Ignisar was not the enemy but had no idea what to expect of the Blues or the Golds. She only hoped that they were as wise as the Mighty Ignisar and not hell-bent on hatred and destruction like Aeris. Turathyl couldn’t offer her much guidance in the way of the Blues. The Silver explained that they primarily stayed amongst themselves within their waters. When it came to the war, the Blues approach was more territorial in that so long as the two-leggeds stayed out of the waters, they would stay away from their land. Yet, here they all were, preparing to invade their waters. It didn’t instill a lot of confidence in Laila and her cohorts for their impending negotiations.
“I wish I were going alone,” Laila said, turning to him. She still couldn’t shake the notion inside her that something was terribly wrong. “I hate the thought of putting you all in danger again.”
Seeing the sadness in her crystal-blue eyes, he smiled at her gently, saying earnestly, “I understand. Though, I like to think we’re not completely helpless.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Laila said, flustered.
“I know,” Nikolean said as he pulled her closer. Holding her tightly with his chin hovering just over her head, he stared out at the sea and its dancing fireflies. “Regardless, we need to show a united front before the dragons, remember?”
Laila nodded, following his gaze, and replied, “Yes, I know.”
Brushing a renegade lock of hair out of her face that had been swept over it by the ocean breeze, Nikolean grinned when she turned back to look at him, and he kissed her lips tenderly. After their kiss, Laila smiled blissfully and took a deep breath before opening her eyes again, gazing at him for a moment. She leaned further into Nikolean’s embrace while turning her head back toward the ocean, captivated by the romance of the mesmerizing lights shining on the dazzling sea. She believed this couldn’t be a more perfect moment to be sharing with him.
They were both startled in the next instant when a large silver fish the size of Laila’s arm and thrice as thick suddenly jumped out of the water at one of the fireflies. Just before it ate up the large bug, they watched in astonishment as all the fireflies darted towards the fish in a frenzy. The romance gone, Laila covered her mouth, shocked while the fish was then torn viciously apart into several pieces in mid-air by the blue bugs within a matter of seconds. Shreds of its flesh dangled from several of the little glowing lights, not a piece of it wasted back to the water.
Nikolean hissed and swiftly let go of Laila, grabbing his dagger. Then he placed himself between her and the fiendish bugs.
“What just happened?!” she asked him, aghast.
“What be goin’ on?” Hort called to them, alarmed by Nikolean and the blue firefly frenzy.
Before he could answer, the little lights came swooping back toward the shore, right at the group. Most of the ones with fish portions went darting back into the forest, but several of the others buzzed around the two-leggeds and even harassed the dragons. They zipped around them rapidly, emitting a soft, high-pitched humming noise as they did, and the group tried swatting them away.
Guarding Laila, Nikolean kept several at bay with a stick in one hand, ready with his dagger in the other. The dragons snapped at the air, annoyed, but were too slow. Gothäzer then spewed a long flame into the air around himself back and forth to catch some of the nasty bugs in his wake, unsuccessfully.
Sensing they were not as they appeared, Laila concentrated on one buzzing around near her, determined to find out what they were.
“Ow!” Hort yelled. “The blastit thing bit me!”
The dwarf continued swatting at the pests before they would have a chance to nip at him again. Glondora was casting her freeze spell at them but was also unsuccessful due to their agility.
Swinging his staff around, Davion swatted at the fireflies and grinned when he knocked one. Unfortunately, it recovered before hitting the ground and charged at him. Nikolean had also managed to thwack one of the bugs with his stick, matching their speed with his own.
“STOP!” Laila shouted abruptly, and everyone froze, looking at her alarmed. Even the fireflies stopped assaulting the group and hovered calmly out of their reach. The one Laila had been studying was still near her, and she carefully held out her hand to the dancing light, sending out non-threatening thoughts toward it, while the others observed her mindfully.
“Be careful, my lady,” Nikolean warned.
The bug slowly descended toward Laila and neared her hand. Only about as tall as one of her fingers, it landed in her palm gracefully. She observed as its wings began to slow and its light began to flicker, extinguishing while the being came to a rest. To her delight, it wasn’t a bug at all.
Standing there with its head cocked to the side, its large and solid cobalt-blue eyes fixated on her as they examined each other. It was like a tiny person with two legs and arms, tiny feet and hands, each with five digits, but it had a long tail and aqua-blue skin with decorative pink lines over its body. It didn’t wear any clothes but was concealed modestly with white, pink-streaked fur. Atop both its head and at the tip of its tail were more white and pink tufts of fur shaped like raindrops. Beautiful translucent blue and gold wings fluttered upon its back. Laila thought the creature to be quite exquisite.
‘They’re called pex,’ Turathyl told her two-leggeds. ‘Troublesome little miscreants.’
Upon closer inspection, Laila was surprised to see an itty-bitty dagger within the pex’s grasp. Then it smiled at her, parting its deep-blue lips, and revealed a mouthful of sharp-fanged teeth.
Smiling back warily at the enchanting tricksy creature in her palm, Laila said in the ancient tongue, “Halvah.” Hello.
The little creature put its hand over its mouth as though to hide a giggle, and it made a twinkling sound as it did. Then, it bowed its miniature body to her humbly and made more of the high-pitched twinkling noises. Believing it to be communicating with her, Laila ever-so-gently touched on its thoughts to see if it was. She was enthused at how receptive the tiny creature’s mind was and heard the pex speak to her in the ancient tongue with a delicate, child-like voice.
“Halvah, Omi Méa,” the pex said, giggling again.
“How do you know me?” Laila inquired, continuing in the ancient tongue.
“We know all that Onis knows.”
‘They are tied to the earth spirit,’ Turathyl clarified, able to hear it as well.
Laila asked, “Why were you attacking my friends?”
The other pex darted around in the sky again, whirring wildly.
“No attack. We play.”
“My friends thought you were attacking them,” Laila said. “I’m sorry if they hurt you.”
The pex’s smile faded as it shook its head and said with sad eyes, “We not hurt. Onis hurt.”
Suddenly, Laila was hearing from all of the surrounding pex conjointly. They spoke in their sweet voices in near whispers as they repeated whimsically with varying pitches, “Onis… Onis… Hurt... Hurt…”
The little pex continued, “Great Spirit running out of time.”
“Time… Out of time…”
“Balance must be restored.”
“Balance… Balance… Restored… Restored…”
“Firstborn fire gone to air. The dragons…”
“The dragons… The dragons…”
“Hurry.”
“Hurry… Hurry…”
Before Laila could respond, the pex leaped out of her hand and flew back into the forest, whirring enchantingly. All the others zipped away behind it until every one of the little lights had disappeared into the mist beyond.
“What in Ignisar’s lair was all that ‘bout?” Hort huffed, checking on his tiny prick of a wound from where he believed the pex had bitten him.
Eying Hort, Gothäzer let out a low growl in the back of his throat, telling Laila and Davion, ‘I’m pretty certain my father had nothing to do with any of that.’
Davion chuckled at his dragon. ‘It’s just an expression.’
Glaring down at the human, the dragon scoffed, ‘Well, your expression makes no sense to me.’
Pondering the words of the tiny creatures, Laila was feeling queasy and panicked. She hadn’t been surprised by the overall warning of running out of time as it was not news to her but wasn’t clear on the part about fire and air. She wondered if it was related to the sinking feeling she’d been having all day.
Since only the dragons had followed the pex’s dialog, she told the rest of the group what had transpired between her and the tiny creatures.
“What do you think it means?” Salyaman asked. “Should we still be heading to the Blues?”
“Aye, we might wanna’ be figurin’ that out ‘fore we ‘ead ta the middle o’ the ocean,” Hort added, troubled.
Speaking aloud on behalf of the Red, Davion relayed, “Gothäzer believes the pex may have been speaking of his brother, Kainüs. ‘Firstborn fire gone to air.’ Kainüs is the eldest son of Ignisar and was not happy about their father’s decision to aid us.”
“You think Kainüs went to Aeris?” Laila asked Gothäzer, and he nodded solemnly. Laila felt her stomach twisting into knots with anxiety. “Are you able to communicate with Ignisar or others to see if they know anything about it?”
‘I will need to gain some altitude, but I should be able to reach my clan from nearby,’ Gothäzer responded while spreading his wings, preparing his mighty mass to leap into the air.
“Thank you,” she told him.
Gothäzer plunged his wings forcefully down several times, slowly ascending as he stirred up the debris surrounding him.
Hastily striding over to her dragon, Laila asked, “Tury? What about you? Does your clan at Lochlann know anything?”
Shaking her head drearily, she replied, ‘We have been much too far for me to reach them for some time.’
On edge about the repeated warnings, Laila felt herself becoming panicked. She embraced Turathyl’s muzzle and mind-sent, ‘Then we will need to hope that Gothäzer can find out what’s happened before sunrise when we leave for Syrpa Island.’
Nikolean joined them, stroking the Silver’s neck, and Laila said quietly to the two of them, “What if it's already too late?”
Closing her eyes, the great dragon sent back her warm affections, replying to both of them, ‘We are already here. We should at least try to get the Blues and Golds on our side if we are to go against Aeris again.’
“Lady Laila,” Salyaman interrupted, approaching. “What do you think is happening?”
Shaking her head, Laila looked at him and then around at the others while they gathered near, anxious of her sudden increased concern. Laila’s heart was racing from the pex’s warning. She had sensed all day in the pit of her stomach that something was awry.
“I’m not sure,” she replied, “but if Kainüs has gone to Aeris as Gothäzer believes, then I fear we truly are running out of time.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Blue Sea
Nuzzling Merimer as she stroked her neck lovingly, Laila took deep breaths, preparing herself for what was to come while the others readied the raft for their embarkment. Gothäzer returned late last night with the news they had been dreading; Kainüs has joined with Aeris, taking several other Reds with him in his rebellion against his father’s wishes. Like Aeris and her followers, Kainüs had no desire to relinquish the Reign of the Ancients. They viewed two-leggeds as feeble insignificant pests that should be purged from Onis.
While she couldn’t be sure about what Aeris planned to do next, Laila was confident that it wasn’t going to be good. The Great Aeris and her Silvers had already posed enough of a threat, and she dreaded how much more powerful she would become with the aid of multiple Reds. She had received enough warnings from Ignisar and other spirits to know that everything had just been propelled into fast forward. They must move with great haste if they are to achieve their objective.
‘We will meet you at Syrpa Island,’ Turathyl told them. ‘I will stay here with your mounts until you are near.’
Sighing, Laila nodded her understanding. She didn’t like the idea of leaving the mounts behind but hoped that Merimer could keep them safe from predators whenever Turathyl would have to join them.
Relaying her hopes, Laila sent the unicorn hybrid mental visualizations and emotions to convey the message, feeling fairly confident that she understood as Merimer nickered and nodded to her.
Laila considered having the Red stay, but it had been brought to her attention that if they wanted all of the mounts to survive, it would not be a good idea to leave Gothäzer in charge of their keep. She still wasn’t quite sure what to think of the Red dragon. He didn’t speak much to her unless she spoke directly to him, but she observed the bond between the Red and Davion growing and was grateful for that.
“Are you ready to depart, my lady?” Nikolean asked, approaching her.
Laila was relieved he hadn’t asked if she was prepared again. Her head was too full of anxiety over what must be happening on Silvers’ Mountain right now, and she was having trouble focusing on much else. But, yes, she could manage to sit on a raft. How hard could that be?
Attempting to appear optimistic, she smiled at Nikolean and took his hand while he led her down to the water’s edge, where everyone else was already waiting.
“Go ahead, my lady,” Nikolean said, holding the raft steady for her while she stepped aboard.
Hort and Glondora made their way on as well; Hort sitting himself down right in the center of the raft, holding tightly to the mast while Glondora stayed near the edge, the water calling to her intriguingly. Davion sat near Hort, quietly taking his place.
Salyaman and Nikolean stayed in the water and began to ease the raft out into the expansive ocean while everyone got settled. Once they had cleared the banks, the high elf and dark elf cooperatively assisted one another onto the raft, causing Laila to smile warmly at the sight. It amazed her how much they had all changed since they first met—how much she’d changed.
With everyone aboard, Laila waved “goodbye” to Turathyl as the great dragon stood grandly, adjacent to the sea. Bowing her head sovereignly to the Omi Méa, she sent her warm affections and told her, ‘I will be watching over you if you need me. May Jayenne and Kyrash be on your side, Great Spirit.’
