Journey Across the Hidden Islands

by Sarah Beth Durst

  “Master Shai is a match for anyone!” Alejan said. But Seika heard the uncertainty in his voice. The dragon was larger than the scylla had been, equal to the size of both ships. The shadow beneath her covered the waves.

  “We don’t want anyone to fight at all!” Seika said.

  Seika watched the dragon fly closer to the ships. Wind battered her face, and she had to squint. She held on tight as Alejan dipped and rose with the air currents.

  From the emperor’s ship, a winged lion with white fur rose into the air. Seika heard Ji-Lin’s gasp. “Master Vanya!”

  “Two lions!” Alejan trumpeted.

  “Still won’t be enough!” Kirro said.

  “They are our two greatest warriors,” Alejan objected.

  “Alejan, about Master Shai . . .” Seika began. If Uncle Balez was responsible . . . then chances were that Master Shai knew what he’d done, perhaps had even helped.

  “He knows,” Ji-Lin said. “I told him.”

  “We don’t know for certain,” Seika said. “Uncle Balez only talked about himself. It’s possible Master Shai didn’t know.” But she wasn’t sure she believed that. In fact, she was almost certain Uncle Balez had used the word we at least once. I’m sorry, Alejan, she thought.

  “I still love her stories, no matter what,” Alejan said. “And I will still save her. We will reach them in time!” He pumped his wings harder, grunting with each wing beat.

  Kirro leaned forward. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Do you see the size of that thing? I mean, I knew it was big when we were in the tunnel. But seeing it in the air . . . It could eat the lions as appetizers and swallow the ships for dinner. We’ll be dessert!”

  “No one hurt your egg!” Seika screamed to the dragon. “You don’t have to fight! Stop! Don’t fight!” But the wind swallowed her shout.

  Ahead, above the ships, Master Vanya and Master Shai flew at the dragon. The dragon twisted in the air and slashed with her claws. Her tail struck fast as a whip. The two lions darted through the air. Working together, they herded the dragon higher, away from the ships, and she twisted into an S trying to snap at them. Her roar echoed across the sky.

  But even the two greatest warriors in Himitsu couldn’t stop her.

  The dragon whipped through the sky, flying toward the morning sun, and then she dove between the lions, toward the emperor’s ship.

  The Zemylan ship pulled past the emperor’s ship, and Seika saw the sailors scurrying over the deck. They were running for the weapon. A cannon, Kirro had called it. They were aiming it toward the clouds, toward . . .

  Oh no, Seika thought. They’re going to—​

  Boom!

  “No!” Seika yelled. Suddenly, she wasn’t worried about her father or the lions anymore. She was worried about the dragon.

  The air shook with the blast of the cannon. With a cry, the dragon flipped sideways, and the cannonball ripped past her. Seika didn’t know who she was yelling for: the dragon, the Zemylans, or Father. All of them. All of Himitsu.

  “The dragon can’t evade Master Shai, Master Vanya, and that weapon,” Ji-Lin said.

  “Wait!” Kirro cried. “You’re worried about the dragon? I thought . . . Just tell me: Whose side are we on? Who do we want to win?”

  “Everyone!” Seika cried.

  Ji-Lin urged Alejan faster. “We have to save Father, the dragon, the lions, the barrier . . . Everyone must live, or we lose! All of Himitsu will lose!”

  The dragon was diving again—​toward the emperor’s ship. Master Shai blocked her, and the dragon’s teeth latched on to the lion’s wing. Uncle Balez struck with his sword, and the dragon released, rearing back. Master Shai fell through the air. Seika gasped, and then the lioness righted herself and flew upward.

  Seika saw the Zemylan sailors preparing their weapon to fire again.

  “Drop me on my father’s ship!” Kirro said. “I’ll stop them!”

  “How?” Seika asked.

  “I’ll tell them the truth,” he said. “I’ll tell them your story.”

  “Alejan, do it,” Ji-Lin said.

  Spray from the waves spattered them as Alejan dipped lower. He aimed for the Zemylan ship. Kirro waved his arms. “Don’t shoot!” he shouted. “It’s me! Kirro! They cured me!” As Alejan swooped toward the deck, Seika saw the Zemylans shouting to one another in confusion. “Father, it’s me!”

  Kirro jumped off as they neared the deck. His father, the captain, rushed forward and caught him. Looking up, Kirro waved at Seika, Ji-Lin, and Alejan as Alejan soared away.

  In the air, the fight was continuing.

  And it was getting worse. The dragon’s scales were stained with blood where the lion’s claws had raked her. Master Vanya’s back leg hung limp behind her, and Uncle Balez was crouched on Master Shai’s back. “We have to fly between them,” Ji-Lin said. “Force the lions to stop! There’s no winning this fight.”

  “The second the lions stop attacking, the dragon will attack Father,” Seika said.

  “Then we have to force the dragon to stop too. Simul­taneously.”

  Seika took a deep breath and reminded herself that princesses were brave. “Drop me on Father’s ship. You two stop the lions, and I’ll keep the dragon from hurting Father. I’ll make her listen.” She held the egg tighter. The shell felt warm and seemed, oddly, to be vibrating.

  “If you can’t—​”

  “I can,” Seika said.

  “All right,” Ji-Lin said. “Be careful.”

  Seika almost laughed. She was about to put herself between Father and a dragon. There was nothing “careful” about this. But it was what she had to do.

  Alejan shot past Master Shai and Uncle Balez. Dipping down, he flew toward the deck of the emperor’s ship. With the egg in her arms, Seika dropped onto the ship.

  “Seika!” Father shouted. “What is happening? Why are you here? Why is the dragon attacking?” He was dressed in rich golden robes that pooled on the floor. His face had been painted with lightning bolts on each cheek, and he wore golden bands up his arms and around his neck. He’d dressed for a ritual—​their ritual, the end of the Emperor’s Journey, which would never have an end if the dragon died.

  Above, the dragon roared.

  Seika turned to see Ji-Lin and Alejan fly toward the dragon and the other lions. Behind them, in the distance, she saw the island. Smoke was billowing out of the mouth of the volcano. No! she thought.

  Force the lions to stop.

  Easy to say. Very hard to do. Stop them? Stop Master Vanya and Master Shai, two of the most famous warriors in the history of Himitsu? They were heroes! Or the stories said they were. Anyway, who was she to try to stop them from doing anything?

  I’m Princess Ji-Lin, second-born daughter of Emperor Yu-Senbi, many times descendant of Emperor Himitsu, and the rider of Alejan of the Temple of the Sun. I crossed the islands with my sister. I fought a scylla and a valraven. And I can do this.

  “Be swift, be bold, be unexpected, Alejan!” she shouted. “Go between the lions and the dragon!”

  “That will indeed be unexpected,” Alejan said. But he obeyed. He pumped his wings and surged forward. Above, the dragon twisted, a snake in the sky. Sunlight flashed on her scales. Closer, Ji-Lin could see that her wings had gashes—​the lions’ claws had struck her.

  Ji-Lin raised her voice. “Dragon of Himitsu, your egg is safe! Look to the ship! My sister has it, safe, for you!”

  The dragon wasn’t listening. She roared. Curling her body, the dragon shot her neck forward, her jaws open, toward Ji-Lin. “Betrayers!”

  Alejan dropped, and the dragon’s teeth snapped shut just above the lion’s head. Ji-Lin ducked fast. The two lionesses dove toward the dragon, but the dragon jackknifed, evading them. She whipped through the air, her tail flicking the clouds.

  Behind the dragon, on the island, lava flowed down the mountainside, spreading over the rocks, killing trees as it touched them. Fire spread up the branches. The air tasted like ash and smok
e.

  Oh no! Ji-Lin thought. An eruption had created the islands. And an eruption could destroy them.

  “Stop!” Ji-Lin called. “Dragon, you must stop this!”

  But the dragon wasn’t listening. Writhing against the sky, she cried, “My child! For two hundred years, I protected him! I kept him safe from the world, safe within his shell, safe from all, but I didn’t protect him from my protectors! We made a bargain! You keep us safe, and I let you stay. Betrayers!” The dragon roared, and behind her, fire spurted from the mountain.

  Master Vanya yelled at Ji-Lin. “Move aside, child!”

  “Seika has the egg!” Ji-Lin shouted to the lionesses. “She’ll talk to the dragon. You need to stop fighting!”

  They didn’t stop.

  Diving toward the dragon, Master Shai swiped at her wing. Her claw tips scratched along the scales, and the dragon howled.

  “If we stop, she will kill the emperor,” Master Vanya said, dodging the dragon’s claw and then swooping past the dragon’s jaws as they closed just behind her. “You and your sister must flee to safety. This is no place for children!”

  Ji-Lin leaned over Alejan’s side to see Seika running across the deck toward the prow of the ship. “Seika can do it! You need to give her a chance. She’ll know what to say!”

  “The dragon will not listen to a child,” Master Vanya said. “She won’t listen to anyone. She’s lost in her anger.”

  Master Shai commanded Alejan, “Fly away. This is not your fight.”

  Alejan shuddered beneath her. Ji-Lin knew he never thought he’d be in this position, facing Master Shai. She wondered if he was going to be able to say no to his hero. “Show her we’re staying, Alejan. You can do it.”

  “You’re wrong,” Alejan said to his hero. “It is our fight. Your rider made it our fight when he interfered with the Emperor’s Journey—​two hundred years of tradition that kept us safe and he tossed it aside like . . . like . . . like it was rotten fish!”

  The dragon roared and dove at the lions again. Master Vanya was right—​the dragon was pure rage. She gave no sign of hearing them argue around her. But Seika would be able to catch her attention, if the lions would stop! Ji-Lin was sure of it.

  Uncle Balez shouted, “We want the same as you: to keep Himitsu safe!” He leaned sideways as the dragon swiped at them. Master Shai spiraled through the air, coming up above the dragon.

  We? He was admitting this was Master Shai’s fault too. Poor Alejan, Ji-Lin thought. “You picked a bad way to do it. Monsters are on the islands!”

  As she dove toward the dragon, Master Shai shouted, “The monsters must come! The barrier must fall!” Arching backward away from Master Shai’s claws, the dragon whipped her tail toward Master Vanya.

  Alejan gasped. “Then it’s true. You betrayed us!”

  Master Shai snapped her jaws at the dragon’s back leg. Her teeth grazed the dragon’s ankle but did no damage. “You do not understand,” the lioness said.

  “You were my hero! How could you?” His voice was so broken that Ji-Lin wrapped her arms around his neck. The dragon swiped at Master Shai with her tail, and the lioness flew higher.

  “The emperor refuses to believe the truth: the barrier must fall, or we are all doomed!” The lioness’s voice was like a trumpet ringing across the sky. “Since he would not act, we did!”

  The dragon struck at Master Vanya.

  Evading the dragon’s jaws, Master Vanya flew toward the other lioness. “What are you saying? Shai, what have you done? Prince Balez, explain this!”

  “We have done what we must,” Master Shai said. Her lips curled back into a snarl, showing all her teeth. “And if the barrier will not fall peacefully, then it will fall by force! Balez, you must use your sword. Strike for the throat!”

  The dragon heard that. She shrieked her fury. “Betrayers!”

  “We can’t!” Uncle Balez cried to the lioness. “No one was to be hurt! That was what we agreed. That was what you promised. We cannot—​”

  “We must do this!” Master Shai said. “Do not falter now, Balez! The future of Himitsu depends on us! All the islanders’ lives depend on us! Full attack!”

  Alejan roared. “No!” He flew at Master Shai and Uncle Balez.

  At the same time, Master Shai flew toward them, and Uncle Balez raised his sword. At Ji-Lin. No, not at her. At the dragon!

  Rising up, Ji-Lin blocked the lord’s sword as he swung for the dragon’s wing. Metal hit metal with an echoing clang. “Out of our way, child!” Uncle Balez cried. He rose in the saddle and bore down on her. “Forgive me, but Master Shai is right. If we cannot stop the dragon, we must destroy her! It is not what I want, but it is what must be! My brother must be protected, and the islands must be saved!”

  Two hands on her sword hilt, Ji-Lin held him back. Below them, she heard shouting, but it felt distant. The world compressed to just this moment: she and Alejan against the lioness and her uncle, and the lord and lioness had many years’ more experience. But Ji-Lin didn’t think about that. She just had to block this sword in this moment, right now—​

  Ji-Lin saw a flicker of movement, and the dragon’s tail snapped the air with so much force that Alejan was blown backward. Knocked by the wind, Master Shai flew back, with Uncle Balez, away from the dragon. Recovering, Master Shai beat her wings, holding steady in the air. She readied for another attack.

  “You had better be right about your sister’s ability to stop the dragon’s attack,” Master Vanya said to Ji-Lin. “I am trusting you.” And then she flew at Master Shai and Uncle Balez, blocking them, holding them back.

  Seizing the opportunity, the dragon flew toward the emperor’s ship. As she roared, fire shot higher from the mouth of the volcano.

  And from the prow of the emperor’s ship, Seika’s voice rang out: “Stop!”

  Chapter

  Twenty-Three

  CRADLING THE EGG in her arms, Seika ran to the prow of the ship. “Stop!” Her voice carried over the waves and was caught in the wind.

  “Seika! No!” Father shouted. “It’s too dangerous!”

  Diving toward the ship, the dragon looked even more massive. In the east, the sun had risen, and its light caught her blood-red scales. They glowed. Seika felt fear course through her body. She locked her knees to keep from shaking, but she stayed on the prow, alone and exposed.

  “Your egg is unharmed!” Seika yelled. “The bargain is unbroken! See!” She knew every eye was on her and every ear was listening to her. But she didn’t let that silence her. She knew exactly what she needed to say, and she knew that she was the one who had to say it. “If you attack, you will destroy it! But if you stop, then I swear to you, on my honor as heir, on my honor as a princess, and on behalf of my people, that I will return your egg to you unharmed.”

  The dragon circled the ship, her tail flicking the mast. The ship rocked. “For two hundred years, my child has been safe! For two hundred years, my magic has kept him from hatching, and our bargain has kept him unharmed. But my trust has been broken. I have been betrayed by one who swore to protect me and my unborn child.” Her knife-sharp claws glittered in the sun.

  “The bargain can be repaired!” Seika shouted.

  Joining her, the emperor said, “We are your protectors, now and always. Our fates are the same. Our home is the same.”

  “Don’t punish everyone for the mistakes of a few!” Seika pleaded. “Don’t throw away two centuries of peace for a moment of revenge!”

  “Please, Dragon, listen to my daughter!” the emperor said. “Stop the eruption and look to your unborn child!”

  Seika glanced at the island. Smoke was pluming from the crater. Lava was creeping down the face of the rocks, inching toward the village below it. “Please, Dragon, stop, and I will bargain with you anew!” Seika said. “We can have peace again, and safety, for your child and my people!”

  The dragon fixed her gaze on Seika. It felt as if the dragon’s fiery eyes were burning into her. Seika shrank
back. All her instincts were screaming at her to run. But she didn’t. She kept her balance on the prow as the ship rocked from side to side.

  “I have felt fear,” the dragon said.

  “I have too,” Seika confessed.

  “I did not like it. The fear felt like fire, consuming me.”

  “But it won’t consume you,” Seika said. “You can live through it. You can see a new day, fresh, with no mistakes and no betrayals. Your egg is safe now! Promise you will bargain again, in good faith, as is tradition, and you may take it!” She held the egg aloft with both arms, high over her head.

  The dragon considered this. Beyond her, Seika saw Ji-Lin and Alejan, with the lionesses, watching from above. She knew the Zemylan ship was nearby, also waiting, their cannon ready. Seika’s arms began to shake.

  “And you can guarantee this?” the dragon asked. “How can you be so certain this fear will not destroy me?”

  “Because I am a princess who has made her own mistakes. I’ve been afraid too. And I’ve lived through it and grown stronger because of it. Bargain with me, Dragon of Himitsu, and you’ll see!”

  Seika held the dragon’s glare, feeling the sweat rolling down her neck.

  “Very well, Princess,” the dragon said at last. “I promise we will bargain.”

  Behind the dragon, on the island, the fire died and the lava cooled, dimming to gray and solidifying into rock, frozen on the slopes. The unnatural eruption cooled just as unnaturally, dying fast on the mountainside. The lava was immobilized outside the village.

  The emperor bowed deep and low. “Thank you, O Mighty Dragon.” Seika had never seen her father bow to anyone. The emperor did not bow. He seemed rusty at it, his motion stiff.

  Ash fell around them onto the ship, coating everything in gray.

  “Know that I do not forgive what has been done,” the dragon said to the emperor. “I will not speak with you again, Emperor Yu-Senbi. Send your daughters to me. I will parlay with them alone.”

  “As you wish.” The emperor bowed again.

  “As I have promised,” the dragon corrected him.