by Melody Rose
“Eva, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m sorry, go back to sleep.” I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the forehead. But as I leaned over him, I realized that my suggestion was a mistake. “Wait a second, nevermind. You’ve got to get up. Monte says he solved the riddle.”
“The new riddle?” Hannan said, bleary-eyed.
“The new riddle, right?” I checked mentally with the dragon. “That’s what you meant?”
“Yes,” Monte replied. “I debated whether or not to tell you all night.”
“You sat on the answer all night and didn’t tell anyone?” I exclaimed in my head, outraged.
“It was not easy for me, alright?” Monte said defensively. “The answer is not a place I have any interest in revisiting.”
“Revisiting?” I picked up on his very specific word choice. “It’s someplace you’ve been before.”
“Many times,” my djer said with a hint of malice. “It is the Coast of Teine. My homeland.”
19
“I didn’t think your home existed anymore,” I said.
We were now back with the entire group, the seven of us in the clearing where the dragons had spent the night. Monte revealed the solution to the riddle to all of us, and we were debating whether or not to go.
The sides were in a pretty predictable split. All the humans thought we should have left at daybreak that morning for the Coast of Teine, but the dragons refused to fly there. I was left in the middle, torn between my duty to my djer and his memories and the need to find the missing key to Rictorus. I tried to listen to both sides, but unfortunately, their arguments only muddled my thoughts further.
“It does not,” Monte answered with a definitive gruffness. “The true Coast of Teine was destroyed long ago.”
“Hold on.” Freja held up a hand. “The true coast may be gone, but there is still a coastline. If that’s what the riddle is referring to, then we can still go there.”
“The whole area is contaminated,” Gideonia repeated her main point. “It is not safe for any of us to go there.”
“We have a healer,” Freja said as she gestured to me. “Eva can protect us.”
“To their point, I have seen what happens when Eva has tried to heal an entire land, and it wipes her out cold.” Hannan gazed at me and mumbled, “Sorry.”
“He’s right,” I agreed with a simple shrug. “I don’t know what good it’s going to do us if we can’t land there.”
“I cannot believe I am hearing this,” Freja said as she threw her hands up in the air, exasperation overcoming her. “If what Monte says is true and the answer to the riddle is this coast place--”
“The Coast of Teine,” Monte interrupted.
“Yes, that,” Freja continued, “and the piece is indeed there, then we have to go there. It is as simple as that.”
“We need the key,” I reasoned, reaching out to the dragons, imploring them to hear us out. “Monte, if you’re sure about this--”
“I am,” the dragon concluded. “There is no other place it could be.”
“Then we have to go,” I said, albeit sympathetically.
Then I sent a message privately to Monte. “I recognize that this is hard for you, really I do. But we won’t get any further without that piece. I trust you to know what you are talking about when it comes to that riddle.”
“Eva,” Monte said, “you saw it. I showed it to you back when bonded.”
“I remember,” I said. The images of the charred palm trees and tainted water surfaced in my mind’s eye. It looked like all of the natural disasters rolled into one and attacked that once beautiful, precious coastal region.
“It is uninhabitable,” the dragon argued. “There is no way that anything survived there. If the piece was taken there before the contamination struck, it is lost.”
“But we don’t know that for sure,” I pressed, “not until we go look.”
“Hey,” said a voice outside of our mental conversation.
Monte and I shifted our heads so that we both turned to look at Freja, who had interrupted us.
“We all have mental links with our djers, but this is a conversation that needs to be had with the entire group,” Freja reminded us.
“She has a point,” Julei agreed as she stroked the top of her cat’s head.
“Right, sorry,” I apologized to the group. I held out my hands and made a sweeping motion as if to clear the table. “We need to look at this logically. The piece is on the Coast of Teine, and we need the piece. I say we head in that direction and do a fly-over. If it’s too dangerous to land, we will find a place we can camp out and figure out what to do next from there.” I looked up into everyone’s eyes, taking a moment to connect with each of them in turn. “How does that sound?”
Zulu nodded her heavy antler-like horns. Gideonia grunted, which I took as a yes, because she didn’t say no outright. Hannan bit his lip and shot me a worried glance.
“I just do not want you passing out again,” he warned.
“I already promised you that I wouldn’t do that,” I assured him. “I intend to keep that promise.”
“You know I am all for it,” Freja said affirmatively.
Julei gave a little shrug. “I wish I could tell you more, but I have not had any visions about the Coast of Teine. I have not had a vision since… the Library.”
She spoke the last two words quietly, like a curse. As if saying its name would suck us back down into the depths of the underground maze.
“They have always been random,” I assured Julei. “Don’t beat yourself too hard, okay? Just let us know if you do see something.”
“Always,” Julei piped up with a smile.
My gaze slid over to the green dragon standing directly across the clearing from me. While we had the majority, it was his opinion that mattered most. It was always him who mattered most.
I said nothing to him over our private connection. I simply let the dragon be in his own mind, in his own space to come to terms with this decision. It would not be easy to face the place that had once been him home. I couldn’t imagine going back to Main Street before they renovated it.
Every time I walked down the sidewalks, looked into the same shop windows, all I could think about was my parents and the other victims that experienced such unimaginable levels of terror. Luckily, the city dumped a ton of money into changing the entire look, feel, and vibe of Main Street. The whole thing had glimpses of the original, but it was different enough to help limit the memories and flashbacks.
I wanted to tell him that I understood, that I emphasized wholly with what he was going through. However, knowing the dragon as I did, I gave him his space. I let it be his decision.
The dragon lifted his head to the sky as if praying for guidance. We waited with baited breaths for his response. Birds chirped overhead, counting down the minutes for us.
It was a clear day, chilly but without the added layer of wind. The sun shone bright in the sky though it occasionally ducked behind a thick cloud, dousing us in cold. Winter continued to plague the land, though unlike the contamination, it was a natural progression. Everyone knew that the land would regrow in the spring after even the heaviest and coldest of winters. However, after the destruction of the contamination, hardly anything ever came back to life.
That was where I came in. I didn’t say it aloud to anyone, but ever since I discovered I could cure the contamination, I made a vow to come back and heal Monte’s homeland. I didn’t even know if that level of destruction could be restored to its former glory, but I was sure as hell going to try.
I didn’t want to tell anyone, especially Hannan and Monte, because I knew their responses. They would tell me not to do it, to not put myself in that much danger. I knew they were right, but I also knew I was stronger now. I knew that I didn’t have to heal the coast in one go. I could take time to cure the land. Maybe it would be after this war with Reon was completely over, but I would do it. Somehow, someway, the
Coast of Teine would be filled with white sands and glowing blue waters once more.
Monte lowered his head to face us all. “We should leave as soon as possible if we want to get there with enough time to assess the land.”
“Great!” Freja said, practically leaping into the air as she headed for Gideonia.
The soldier approached the dragon and asked permission to ride her, which Gideonia granted. It seemed like a nuisance to have to ask this each time they mounted their dragons. However, being as that none of the other humans were bonded to the dragons, riding them was a privilege. One that the dragon granted, not one that the human took.
Hannan extended the same courtesy to Zulu, who allowed him on her back. Julei approached Monte, with her cat tucked into the front of her shirt.
“Montgomery,” Julei said. She always used Monte’s proper name when asking for a ride. “Will you permit me to ride?”
“Not this time, Julei,” Monte said solemnly.
The girl took a step back, and tears welled in her eyes.
“Monte,” I breathed, shocked by his answer.
“Julei, my dear, I promise it has nothing to do with you,” the dragon assured the child. “I fear I will be distracted, and the ride may not be a pleasant one.”
“He is right, Julei,” Gideonia said from across the clearing. “Do not take it as a personal insult.”
“I would rather ride alone right now if I could,” Monte explained, “but I cannot refuse Eva because I am bonded to her.”
“Hey!” I cried, slightly offended.
“Come ride with us, child,” Gideonia offered, her voice the softest I had ever heard it.
Julei quickly swiped at her eye with the back of her hand. “Alright,” she said with a gulp.
“When this is all over,” Monte said, “I will give you a private ride. Just you and me in the skies, yes?”
Julei nodded and clutched her cat tighter. Freja offered the girl her hand and helped her up onto the dark blue dragon’s back. They lifted off first, with Hannan and Zulu not far behind. Monte gestured his head to his back and then looked forward with narrow eyes.
“Go ahead, get on.”
“No,” I said as I crossed my arms.
“No?” Monte retaliated. “Do you expect to fly there on your own?”
“No,” I repeated, changing my tone to be more deliberate. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what your deal is.”
“My deal?” Monte repeated the word, slightly confused.
“You know what I mean,” I said. “Your beef, your problem, your issue.”
“I thought you would understand my deal.” Monte put all his emphasis on the final word. “If anyone did, I thought it would be you.”
“Yeah, I get it,” I said sharply. “But what is this whole moody act? Where do you get off rejecting Julei?”
“It is my right,” Monte argued.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “but it’s a right you have never exercised, especially not with Julei Mason. You adore her so much, I swear you would rather be bonded to her than me.”
“That is not true, and you know it,” the dragon huffed. He paced around the clearing nervously. I followed him with my body, spinning in a smaller circle so that I never had to take my eyes off him.
“I know it’s not true,” I confirmed, “but you get my point.”
Monte snorted and shook his head, reminding me of an irritated horse, especially when his hair fell down in front of his eyes. I would never tell him that to his face, though.
“I did not expect to have to tell you this story until many years later,” Monte grumbled, more to the ground than to me directly.
“What story?” I wondered.
“The story as to why I am the only surviving dragon of the Teine clan,” Monte said. He stopped his pacing and pawed at the ground with his front left claw. “It is not an honorable tale.”
“Monte,” I said his name slowly, almost like a hymn, “I don’t care about what you’ve done in the past, you know that, right?”
“You say it, but you have not heard the full story,” the dragon said as his eyes gazed upward towards the sky. “I have lived many more years than you.”
“So, you’ve lived a lot of life,” I said with a shrug. “I don’t expect all of that to be perfect.”
“It is shameful,” Monte spat.
“You’re only making me more interested in the story, so you might as well tell it now,” I prompted.
“I am trying, but it is difficult,” Monte said through a clenched jaw.
I took a step back and looked at my djer. His shoulders were hunched, and his back legs were bent like he could take off into the skies at any minute. His wings continued to unfurl and clench with little movements, not reaching out to their full length. And he never looked me in the eye the entire time we were alone on the forest floor.
“Would it be easier,” I said, thinking aloud, “if you told me while we were flying?”
“Yes.” The word burst from Monte with an obvious sense of relief. “It would clear my thoughts and help me get the timeline in order.”
“Okay,” I said as I took a step forward. “I am sorry I threatened to keep you grounded. I should have considered the fact that being in the air would ease you more than staying here.”
“No, you were right to give me a minute,” Monte confirmed. “Otherwise, I might have flown off ahead of everyone in the wrong direction.”
I mounted him in one fluid motion, my muscles reacting from memory. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t do that. You ready now?”
“No,” Monte replied honestly. He took a big breath in, and I felt his lungs expand. “But we will go all the same, and I will tell you the story I should have told you went we met. Maybe then you would not have chosen to bond with me.”
“That can’t possibly be true,” I said while I shook my head. “I don’t believe anything you could have done could be that terrible.”
“How about getting my previous djer killed?” Monte said ominously.
Before I had the chance to react properly, the dragon extended his wings to their full reach and bolted up into the air. I steadied myself for the familiar ride but nearly slipped off because I was too busy repeating Monte’s words in my head. They were so monumental, I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly, but as my mind scrambled to come up with another possible phrase, nothing clicked into place.
We ascended into the skies, leveling out among the scattered clouds. Monte kindly avoided the clouds, knowing how much I hated going through them. I always came out wet and shivering on the other side. I learned the hard way that clouds were not as fluffy and picturesque as cartoons made them out to be.
I continued to spin with the truth bomb Monte dropped when the dragon decided to begin his story.
“The Teine clan lived with a group of humans long before Queen Irena visited our realm,” Monte started.
“Wait, hold on,” I stopped him right then. “That’s too many changes in one go. Give me a minute. You’re saying that animals can have more than one human djer? And that Queen Irena wasn’t the first human to bond with an animal?”
“She was the first in Andsdyer,” Monte explained. “The Coast of Teine is not a part of Andsdyer. It is an inlet off the eastern coast, technically with its own government, ecosystem, and way of life.”
“This world is way vaster than I ever considered,” I whispered as Reon’s warning came back to me.
The false king told me how little I knew of the world I dropped into. It was as though I judged Earth by only ever visiting one country. I had no idea what existed beyond the realm of Andsdyer, and now, here I was, discovering a whole new set of rules and histories that I never considered before.
It was both terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time.
“We did not call them djers,” Monte continued, “but the concept is the same. The races were small enough that each dragon could bond with each human. A one-to-one ratio.”
“Wow,” I considered the possibility of humans and dragons living in harmony with one another like that. “The whole island was inhabited by dragons and humans.”
“Yes,” Monte remembered. The dragon’s belly expanded and then fell as he heaved out a hefty sigh. “It was one of the reasons that Teine was attacked with the contamination first. We had one of the most condensed populations of dragons in the world.”
A deep sense of loss hit my heart. “I am so sorry, Monte.”
“I never thought I would go back there,” Monte said as he shook his head. “After everything was destroyed, it was no longer the coast I knew.”
“Where were you?” I asked gently. “I mean, why weren’t you there when everything was contaminated?”
“I was at Rictorus,” Monte said slowly, his voice stuff and stunted. “There was a meeting for all the representatives of all of the clans, and I had recently been selected to represent the Teine clan.”
“You came back to nothing,” I said, filling in the gaps. “Like Kehn and Hannan.”
“Our stories mirror one another, yes,” Monte said. “It would seem it is a habit of Reon’s. To leave only a few survivors to carry the guilt and despair.”
“Or to carry on the memory,” I supplied unthinkingly.
“What do you mean?” Monte asked with a curious lilt.
I cringed at the question. It had been something my therapist said, after the Main Street tragedy with my parents. I had gone to see someone for a while, but after the support money ran out, I couldn’t keep up with the appointments. Plus, it grew harder to talk about everything, not easier and that felt counterproductive.
“Eva?” Monte checked that I had heard him.
“Yeah, it’s just...” I cleared my throat, trying to ward off my embarrassment. “It’s another way of looking at it, you see. You are also the only one of the Teine clan left so you can carry on the memory. If you had died with them, so would have the whole clan. There would be no one to carry on the legacy.”
“It is a nice thought,” Monte offered, “but after so many years of living with the guilt, it is a small comfort.”
