There was no answer.
I leaned back in my seat and turned to Phoenix. “I can’t reach Fyrian.”
He closed his eyes. “She’s locked in her stall behind runes and strong wards.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“Yes. The runes are keeping you out. She’s unhurt and feeling very proud of herself.”
I nodded. This was just like that time I contracted her clearscale symptoms, and General Thornicroft ordered runes on our walls, blaming my inability to obscure my bond with Fyrian. “Is Niger all right?”
After a pause, Phoenix answered. “He was unhurt the last time Fyrian saw him.”
A breath of relief slipped out of my lungs. Since the witches had caught Bluford before he got a chance to escape the wards, the punishment would be lenient. Especially with Mother and Father still around. The dwellings we passed thinned, and soon, clouds of dust from the mammoths’ running reached up to our howdah.
Squinting, I fanned the air. “What’s going on?”
“The Occasus Cliffs have been eroding for decades. It’s not dangerous, but geomancers estimate that they’ll crumble into the sea within the next millennium.”
“Right.” I squinted ahead, wondering if Fyrian would still be alive by then. Humans and lower fairies were mortal and didn’t live for centuries like ogres, so I doubted that I would last that long.
Soon, the mammoths stopped, and we climbed down from our howdahs onto a craggy surface of sand-covered rocks. When the dust settled, a rugged view of pale cliffs and a sea that glinted like turquoise stretched out into the distance. Beneath its surface, a massive school of fish undulated toward us. My breath caught. I’d seen the Cursed Sea a number of times from flying ships, but it had never looked so beautiful.
Stafford jumped down from his howdah, landing in a low crouch. “How are we getting there?”
“All in good time.” Master Jesper handed our riders a tip of a silver shilling each and thanked them for the journey.
The twin half-giants bade us goodbye and rode their mammoths back toward their farm, forming a cloud of dust. A frisson of excitement tinged with cold trepidation fizzled through my insides.
Master Jesper sighed. “Part one of the plan is complete. Now for part two.”
Stafford hopped from foot to foot. “Are we swimming?”
“Where’s the balloon fish?” I asked.
“Pisces Pila is right where I left it.” Master Jesper turned to Stafford. “Sack, please.”
Stafford held open the sack, and Master Jesper pointed the staff into its depths. With a huge splat, the balloon fish plopped out the sack and landed on the dry ground. Its body now took the shape of a bouldermelon-sized ball, eyes bulging from the sides of its face.
Gasping, Stafford let go of the sack, spilling water everywhere.
I jumped back, avoiding the spout of water streaming out of the fish’s mouth. Phoenix, who stood a few feet away didn’t react to Pisces Pila. He kept staring down at an approaching school of fish with his brow furrowed.
“Stand back.” Master Jesper pulled out both pouches of frozen dragon flames and stuffed them into the fish’s mouth.
Phoenix walked toward the edge of the cliff, still staring into the water. Stafford and I took several steps backward, and with a flash of magic, the balloon fish expanded to the size of a mammoth.
“Ah,” cried Master Jesper. “Our underwater transportation is complete!”
After a moment of silence, Phoenix turned around, his face grave. “That’s all very well, but will your Pisces Pila get past that great big sea serpent patrolling the water?”
I peered down into the sea. What I had originally thought was a school of fish was actually a single creature, and it was far too big, too thick, too deadly to be an ordinary sea serpent.
Chapter 19
I took a step back, gaze still fixed on the water. Phoenix had to be wrong about the creature being a serpent. Whatever swam down there moved in a figure-eight pattern and didn’t have a head or a tail. I squinted, looking out for a gap to indicate it was a single entity and not a tightly packed school of fish, but the sun disappeared behind a cloud, obscuring my view.
Stafford stood by my shoulder. “Did you see it? All I can make out is a shadow.”
“I saw something.” I glanced at Phoenix. “Are you sure it was a giant snake?”
He bristled. “Serpent. There’s a difference. And yes, I’m certain.”
Master Jesper pointed its staff into the water and streamed magic down to the surface. “A diagnostic spell should identify the creature.” After several moments, the troll’s face twisted. “I sense several small fishes, crustaceans, and a pair of mating cephalopods, but no snakes, serpents, or eel-like creatures.”
The balloon fish rocked from side to side, flapping its fins. I raised my head and met its panicked, bulging eyes. By now, it had expelled all the water, and tiny drops drizzled down from the vicinity of its blowhole. The creature seemed to be inching toward the edge of the cliff, but its spikes kept getting caught on the uneven ground.
I bit my bottom lip. “Do you think the fish is suffocating? It’s been a long time since it left the sack of water.”
“You can’t let that fish in the sea so close to the serpent,” said Phoenix.
“My magic says there’s nothing down there.” Master Jesper placed a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder. “Are you sure it wasn’t an illusion?”
The sun peeped out from behind a cloud, illuminating the water at the base of the cliff. Stafford hummed. “It’s a pretty convincing illusion. Do you think the Magical Militia put it there to stop people from stumbling across the prison?”
I glanced at the loose rocks on the ground. “There’s only one way to tell if this serpent is real.” A few feet away lay a rock as large as a cabbage. I picked it up, raised it above my head, and threw it in the water.
It fell with a tiny splash, and the serpent continued swimming in its figure-eight pattern. “Nothing’s happening.”
“That’s because the serpent is too big and probably has too thick a covering of scales to notice such a small stone.” Phoenix walked to a square, sixteen-foot-tall boulder. He wrapped his arms around one edge, lifted it off the ground, and threw it into the water.
SPLASH!
Seawater rose several feet, making giant ripples appear on the surface. When they settled, there was no sign of the dark figure.
“Wonderful!” Master Jesper pointed its staff at the balloon fish, making the creature open its mouth to the size of a platter.
I tilted my head up, brows furrowing. “How are we going to reach the mouth? Will you levitate us?”
“Pisces Pila will create an entrance large en—”
“ARGH!” Stafford staggered back, eyes wide, finger pointing at the sea. “The serpent. The serpent!”
My stomach flip-flopped. “Where?”
I rushed to the edge of the cliff, heart thrashing in my chest, admonishing me for running the wrong way. Poking out of the water was a creature with a head the size of a dragon. Instead of breathing fire, it exposed long, saber-like teeth and a forked tongue that could wrap around my middle and crush my insides. I clapped my hand over my mouth and cried out.
Phoenix folded his arms across his chest. “Illusions don’t react to having boulders thrown on them. I suspect the sea serpent is magically resistant or too powerful to be affected by a single spell. How are we getting around it?”
Master Jesper placed a wrinkled hand on its chest and peered down. “What a conundrum. We have no weapons powerful enough to affect such a creature, yet it stands in the way of rescuing Evolene.”
“Can dragon fire hurt it?” I asked.
“It’s a possibility,” replied Master Jesper. “But if anyone catches a glimpse of a dragon here around the time of Evolene’s escape, they will know exactly where to start their witch-hunt.”
“What about the power of a sleeping dragon?” asked Stafford.
I tilted my head to the s
ide and frowned. “That would be worse. Even if we could wake one, the entire capital would notice a giant dragon flying toward Occasus Cliff.”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Stafford. “You filled your Lightning Rod with power. Why not see if you can scare the sea serpent away?”
I stared down into the water and found only clear turquoise. “It’s gone.”
“A creature like that won’t be deterred by a boulder,” said Phoenix.
“I agree,” added Master Jesper.
“What should we do?” I glanced at the balloon fish. Its mouth now formed the size and shape of a narrow door. “Get into the water and fire if it comes near?”
Master Jesper shook its head. “Pisces Pila’s skin won’t withstand an attack from those teeth. You’ll have to go into the water.”
I huffed out a laugh. Had Master Jesper’s brain been addled by the mammoth ride? The sea serpent was so large, it could change the current and spin me round and round until I became too dizzy to point the rod between its eyes.
Stafford shook his head and said. “Not a chance.”
“Be reasonable, children. I can’t enter the water because trolls can’t swim. But with the help of a dragon—”
“Wait,” said Phoenix. “I can’t go in there.”
“Dragons are perfectly capable of swimming,” said Master Jesper. “Your third and fourth lungs fill with buoyant air, keeping you afloat.”
Phoenix mentioned something about having been held underwater by spriggans when he was a dragonet. I sighed and turned away from his argument with Master Jesper. It was hard to imagine being tortured at such a young age, and I could sympathize with Phoenix’s fear, but Master Jesper was right. If I held onto the dragon’s leg, I’d remain steady enough to blast the serpent.
I turned to the arguing pair. “Phoenix. I’m sorry that happened to you. If you were still a dragonet, I would never ask you to go into the water, but you’re a master now.”
He gulped. “I’ve never swum as a man, either.”
“But you’ve been to the baths?”
“That’s different.”
I nodded. “What if you jumped in as a man, transformed as soon as you got under water and teleported away if things got bad?”
He stared down into the Cursed Sea. “I wouldn’t be in the water for long, then.”
Stafford gave him an encouraging nod. “At the first sign of trouble, you can go somewhere safe.”
Phoenix stared at his feet, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. I held my breath and hoped he would see the safety in my proposal. He had to know he wasn’t powerless anymore. While not a water-loving blue dragon, his teleportation abilities meant he wouldn’t even need to worry about being stuck underwater.
A breeze blew through his tidy, chin-length hair, and he let out a long breath. I did the same. If he didn’t agree, Master Jesper would have to devise a way to strengthen the balloon fish’s skin.
“All right,” said Phoenix. “I’ll do it.”
My entire body sagged, and I exhaled.
Stafford clapped Phoenix on the back. “I knew you’d say yes.”
Phoenix gave him a weak smile before turning to me. “How does this Lightning Rod work?”
I pulled it off my sword belt and held its bulbous end. The rod pulsed in the palm of my hand as though eager to be put to use. “It comes from the Lightning Tree. I’ve charged it up with frozen flames to give my attacks an extra kick.”
Phoenix pursed his lips but didn’t comment on my theft of dragon magic. “Have you used it before?”
I pointed it into the turquoise water and pushed my power into the wood. A jet of silvery magic shot out of its tip and pierced the water. A second later, the serpent’s black tail emerged from the sea.
My heart somersaulted, breath caught, and reflexes kicked into action. I flicked the rod to the left and sliced off the tip of its tail. Both parts of the serpent disappeared under the water.
“Y-yes.” I turned to Phoenix, now able to answer his question. “I’ve used it at least once.”
His features hardened into an unreadable mask. “Right. Let’s go.”
“N-now?”
He extended an arm and beckoned for me to come close. I glanced at Stafford, who gazed back, face pale. My heart thrummed a hard, steady beat that quickened with each step.
When I reached grabbing distance, Phoenix wrapped his arm around my middle. “Hold on to my shoulder and slide down my foreleg when I transform.”
“A-all right.”
Master Jesper placed something on my head. From the cool dampness seeping through my hair and skull, and from the appendages wriggling down my face, it was a breathing parasol.
The troll beamed. “I’ve filled the bladder with extra air, so you need not worry about breathing underwater.”
“Than—” A tentacle slipped between my lips, over my tongue, and down my throat. I closed my eyes and shuddered. There was no point in shooting Master Jesper a filthy look. The troll had taken a precaution, albeit a disgusting one, to save my life.
Phoenix’s arm tightened around my middle, and his rapid heartbeat reverberated through my bones and heated my entire body. If my own insides weren’t trembling, and my throat constricted by the breathing parasol’s appendage, I would have offered him a word of reassurance.
We both sidled to the edge of the cliff. Phoenix pressed his lips together and breathed hard, letting out hot, humid breaths.
“Good luck,” said Stafford.
Before I could reply, Phoenix jumped.
Falling off the side of a cliff, clinging onto a frightened man with the knowledge that he would transform into a purple dragon, wasn’t as harrowing as I had imagined. Largely because we were only in the air for a few seconds.
We plunged into the water. Cold flashed through my being, making my limbs stiffen, my lungs shrink, and my mind blank. Phoenix transformed, and I found myself clinging onto the shoulder of his foreleg. Despite every membrane in my body constricting toward my heart, I forced my eyes open and loosened my grip on Phoenix enough to slide down and perch myself beside his ankle.
Wrapping my arms around the dragon’s foreleg, I craned my neck, turning my head from side to side. To our left stood the cliff, complete with a number of underground caves. Beneath us lay the seafloor which stretched down into an indigo slope.
A crocodile-green head, about the same size of a dragon’s, rose from its depths. Glowing eyes glared at us from a serpentine face covered in smooth scales. It undulated toward us, opening jaws that revealed hooked teeth even longer than they had appeared from above.
I aimed my rod between the serpent’s eyes and shot out my magic. A thin jet of power lanced the monster’s head. Its mouth spasmed even wider, and another set of jaws emerged from the back of the eel’s throat. A thrill of triumph raced through my insides. A few more strikes and it would be dead.
No sooner had I aimed for the serpent’s gullet than Phoenix teleported us into a deep valley with an unmoving river of silt.
I stepped off his paw and glanced up, panting like I’d sprinted all the way to this new destination. “W-what are you doing?”
He transformed back into a man. “I needed air. Once I’ve filled all four lungs, we’ll go back.”
“All right.” I gave him a pat on the back. “Thanks for holding steady. Did you see me get the serpent between the eyes?”
“Good shot. Next time, try to slice off its head.” He turned back into a dragon, raised his head and let out two long streams of fire from his nostrils. Then he opened his jaws, presumably to suck in mouthfuls of air.
I glanced around the valley, resisting the urge to cup my hands around my mouth and shout out my name just to hear the echo. Like most places in Steppe, it was covered in dried grasses and shrubs, looking like it hadn’t seen a spot of rain in over a year. From the tiny traces of silt between the stones, it probably hadn’t.
Phoenix flicked his head, indicating it was time to leave, and I
climbed onto his paw. A heartbeat later, we were in the water again. The serpent swam around in circles, lifting and lowering its head in a strange pattern. We locked eyes, and it raced toward us. This time, when it exposed its pale underbelly, I pushed out a continuous stream of magic and swiped my rod in a wide arc.
Blood streamed from the serpent’s neck, and I swiped again, this time pushing every ounce of power I could muster. The stream of magic lengthened, widened, and cleaved the monster into two. Both pieces of the dead serpent floated to the surface.
I clung to Phoenix’s foreleg, breathing damp air through the tentacle in my throat. If the serpent I’d killed had a mate or was part of a nest, we were in trouble.
Moments later, a huge sphere dropped down beside us. It was the expanded balloon fish. I peered into its eyes to find Stafford pointing to the sky. The huge fish floated upward, and Phoenix followed.
Just before we broke the surface, he transformed into a man and thrashed his arms about. I reached out to grab him, but an inflated bladder landed in front of Phoenix and towed him to the balloon fish.
Stafford poked his head out of its open mouth. “Well done!”
He retreated, letting Phoenix crawl through the opening. I trod water, glancing around for signs of sea serpents, and the second his feet disappeared into the fish’s mouth, I clambered inside.
Only the faintest scent of fish hung in the air. I crawled through the creature’s rubbery lips into a vaulted interior of pink, fleshy walls held together by curved, white bones. After a short drop, I landed on a walkway made of toughened hessian. Master Jesper sat in the middle of the fish, steering the creature with its upside-down staff embedded in the fabric floor. Behind him, Stafford and Phoenix rested on cushions made of the same material.
“What next?” I chewed my lip. “And was there any reason we didn’t use an underwater ship?”
“We couldn’t risk its magic being detected,” replied Master Jesper. “Pisces Pila’s body provides us with all the cloaking we need. Anyone looking out for magical activity will just see a creature typical of the Cursed Sea.”
I retreated to the cushion next to Stafford and pulled off the breathing parasol. Master Jesper drove the fish down into the sea and into the indigo slope where we had first found the sea serpent, and we dropped several feet into the darkness.
Dragon Mage Academy Box Set Page 103
