“When did he become interesting?” Setsuna asked as she watched him.
“His mother was a spice-addict,” Athel shared. “She used it while she carried him. That’s why he is so sickly all the time.”
Athel walked away, and over to Alder. “And I’m not going to let him apologize to you,” she called over her shoulder.
“No, it’s okay, I deserved that one,” Setsuna mumbled, rubbing her cheek. She watched curiously as Athel sat down next to Alder. Her hand around his shoulder; they quietly spoke to one another. Setsuna strained to hear them with her long, pointed ears. She could not make out the words, but she could see the effect. He took strength from her, just as she took strength from him. She held him up, just as he held her up.
The others walked away, leaving Setsuna sitting by herself.
“I've been thinking about what you said,” Privet began from where he sat, cleaning his rifle.
“That’s very dangerous, I wouldn’t recommend it,” Setsuna teased.
“Maybe you are right,” he admitted. “Maybe with Athel, I would never be an equal.” Privet stood up and walked past her, stopping just as they were alongside each other. “But I would always have her loyalty. Tell me, Setsuna, have you ever been loyal to anyone but yourself?”
Setsuna didn’t answer.
“I thought so.” Privet slung his rifle over his shoulder and headed into the mist, leaving her alone. Rounding a rocky column, Privet leaned back and looked up. The morning sun was high in the sky now, but the mist still clung tenaciously to this cold place. Everything was so quiet here. No birds sang, and no insects chirped. It was like looking at a landscape painting. For all its beauty, it lacked life, everything in a deathly silence.
A shadow passed over him. Thinking it the longboat, he looked up and found only empty skies where something should have been. Scanning around him he saw the shadow, now looping back. Something in the back of his mind realized that whatever it was, it must be moving at incredible speed. With a shrug of the shoulder and a flick of the wrist, his rifle was in hand and ready to fire. Turning around, eyes trained aloft, he caught a glimpse of something as it rounded the pillar of purple smoke rising up from their bonfire.
“Dragon!” Privert yelled as he ran back towards the longboat. Everyones’ heads came up, like a colony of prairie dogs. They all had the same expression, a mix of “are you serious?” and “we are screwed.”
Looking skyward, they caught a glimpse of it. Enormous pumping wings, long tail and neck; every inch covered in scales that shimmered like polished sapphires.
“Look out!”
And then it was too late. A blast of fire blew up the burning crates, sending debris in all directions. Athel and Alder, who had been closest to the explosion, were thrown back, end over end, until they collided with the windward side of a hill and skipped across the earth like ragdolls.
Mina spun her arms around like a windmill, attempting to release a spell, but nothing came out. As the dragon came back around, Privet took a shot at it with his rifle. As if it sensed his intention, the great, glistening beast dipped its head down and the body followed, diving to within a dozen feet of the ground, then pulling up again. Despite its size, it was impossibly agile. It was larger than a house but moved like a hummingbird.
Now only a few feet above them, the downdraft from its great wings felt like a hurricane, knocking Margaret and Mina to the ground. Hanner fired his volley gun. The lead balls bounced off the dragon’s scales as if they were no more than grains of sand.
“Don’t shoot at it!” Setsuna called out. “This is the edge of their territory, its considered neutral ground!”
Landing before the longboat, the dragon turned to face Privet. Up this close, he could see the sapphire-like scales flex and slide along each other as it moved. Occasionally, a line of scales would separate enough to reveal a glimmer of the fire within. The creature had no eyes. Rather, it had eye sockets in its armored skin that revealed its molten innards. It was unlike any fire Privet had ever seen. It contained many colors. Blues, greens, purples, oranges, and yellows. The effect was prismatic as it escaped through the eye holes, giving the impression of long eyebrows made of flames. More fire escaped from the dragon’s nostrils, trailing away from its face like a long flowing mustache.
The dragon opened its mouth, allowing Privet to see down into its gullet, filled with that same multi-colored fire. It was as if the dragon’s body was an armored suit, worn atop the creature’s fiery true form. He felt he could almost see all the way though, to the tip of its tail; only the faintest outline of bones and organs existed among the internal flame.
Privet had never seen a dragon before, but he knew what was about to happen. The beast inhaled deeply, its broad muscular chest bulging out; prismatic fire building up in its maw. Privet willed his body to move, but it would not. As if in slow motion, he could see Athel and Captain Evere running towards him, calling out to him, with arms outstretched. Their voices felt distorted...distant.
Privet could not take his eyes away from the fire.
The beast’s head snapped forward and shifting flame beat out towards him and the longboat. One last time, he screamed at his body to move, but it would not move. All he could do was look into the flame. I was like witnessing pure beauty, as if all the varied and different kinds of brilliance were wrapped and folded up within one another.
Just as the flames reached him, he was tackled to one side. Privet hit the ground and rolled clear of the attack. His savior cried out in pain where the flame had scorched her back.
“Setsuna?” Privet wondered aloud as a green pigtail settled across his cheek. The dragon-fire hit the longboat. Rather than burning it, the boat simply came apart. Grain by grain, the metal, wood, and crystals dissolved and evaporated into nothing. When it ended, there was nothing left but a deep channel in the earth, as if the hand of a god had scooped it clear out of existence.
Privet tried to get up, but a jolt of pain shot through his body. A tendril of dragonfire had licked his ankle. The sensation of the skin melting away was indescribably bitter. The edges of his vision began to cloud. He could feel himself passing out. He tried to move, but Setsuna clung fast. He tried to move her, but when his hand touched her back it encountered something wet and bubbling. As she whimpered, he brought his hand up, and found it covered in green blood.
Privet tried to pick her up and come to his feet, but the pain in his leg made his vision go dark. Vaguely, he heard gunshots and screaming, but he could not guess where they were coming from.
Then all was dark.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Bubbles, rising around. Crushing weight. Relentless, constant, exhausting. Privet opened his eyes, but they were not his eyes. Or were they? All around him was a graveyard. Decayed buildings, ready to topple over. Carts and wagons stopped in the middle of decrepit roads. Spoiled food, the bones of children, and chains.
Glowing with a dark light, they held him fast. His wrists chafed and bled where they touched his ruined skin, but never to numbness. He opened his mouth, his lungs were filled with stinging seawater, but he did not drown. His feet and shoulders were anchored by the weight of the chains.
In vain, he looked up for relief, salvation, mercy, but he found none. Only the broiling and frothing surface of the ocean, far far above.
And yet, he was not completely helpless. Not completely defeated. Privet had been saving it, little by little, building it up over time, like winding string into a ball. Slowly, almost imperceptibly it had grown over time, until now it was ready.
He looked up and saw something. Just above the surface of his watery prison, a tiny ship was passing by. On it was a Nallorn tree, and a young couple caring for it. Privet could not believe his luck. Reaching inside himself, he took the gift and reached out. The chains had been lulled into complacency over time; they were slow to react. By the time they realized what he was doing, it was already too late. Privet handed the gift to the young couple, and all hi
s hopes and dreams along with it. The chains clamped down on him, angry at his defiance. They pinned him down against the sea floor, cutting into his wrists and ankles, strangling his neck and waist. Privet took it all and more with a smile, absorbing every wound in the knowledge that he had beaten them. They were not his arms, but he could feel them ache, they were not his legs, but he could feel them cramp. But somehow, it was his dream.
His gift had been planted.
Through the fog in his mind, Privet had the nebulous sensation that he was being carried. He opened his eyes, but all he could see were the sweaty folds in Hanner’s neck.
“In here,” came a voice, and Privet felt himself change directions. The level of light went down, and he was flipped onto his back, laid down on something cold and rocky.
His eyes trying to focus, he moved to speak, but a calloused hand was forced over his mouth, bidding him to silence. As his vision cleared, Privet realized they were in a shallow cave beneath one of the stone outcroppings. From the shadows outside, he could see that the sun was now at its midday peak. Hours must have passed.
After several breathless minutes, Athel worked her way to the opening of the cave and peered out. “I think we lost it,” she whispered. Everyone sighed in relief.
“Tenacious soul-sucking lizard,” Captain Evere swore as Mina checked the blood-soaked bandages around his neck.
“He’s still bleeding,” Mina said, worriedly. Dr. Griffin checked Setsuna’s bandages, which were also soaked all the way through.
“Something is preventing their blood from clotting,” he announced worriedly. “I've only seen a curse like this once before.”
Ryin shifted his weight from side to side. “That weird void barrier back on Thesda, the one that stripped all the skin off my feet.”
Dr. Griffin nodded.
Alder put down his pack and pulled out some fresh bandages. “Are we to understand, then, that dragons also use void magic?” he asked as he passed the bandages to Dr. Griffin.
“It certainly seems that way.”
“No, that was not void magic,” Privet groaned as he carefully pulled his blood-filled boot off. “When I was looking into it, I saw what it was made of.”
“Yeah, when you stood there waiting to be roasted like a brainless swamp grub,” Setsuna coughed, looking very pale. “Which basic principal of swordfighting was that one?”
“I...I couldn’t move. Privet admitted. “But it wasn’t from fear. It felt like...”
“Like what lad?”
“I dunno, like being born, I guess. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
“Regardless of what it is,” Dr. Griffin interrupted as he laid a new layer of bandages over Setsuna’s back. “If we don’t do something fast, they will all die.”
“But you were able to fix my feet,” Ryin said.
“Yes, but none of my healing potions and spells will work here,” Dr. Griffin explained, rather lucidly for him. “If we don’t get them off the island they will bleed to death.”
“How are we going to do that?” Ryin exclaimed. “That ‘neutral’ thing fried our transport, and it’s probably still out there. This moss-eater led us right into a trap.”
“No, I didn’t,” Setsuna coughed. “I've come here for years and it’s always been the same. They leave us alone, we leave them alone. Something must have happened to make them act this way.”
“We don’t even know which way the ship is,” Captain Evere pointed out. “We've been running in circles for hours, and by the time the sun moves far enough it might be too late.”
“What about your compass?” Mina asked.
“It was in the longboat, along with all of our emergency supplies.”
“And my locator spells won’t work here either.”
Athel reached out and touched a small tuft of grass growing near the entrance. “This is so weird,” she said, “I can’t speak to them at all.”
Alder perked up and took out a sewing needle from his kit. “Mr. Tamarack, may I borrow your edging stone for a moment?”
“Um, yeah, sure,” Privet said, pulling it out of his pocket and tossing it over. Alder tested it by holding it over the needle. The needle jumped up and stuck to it. Satisfied, Alder began running the sewing needle over the stone over and over again in the same direction.
“What are you doing, lad?”
Tossing the stone back to Privet, Alder pulled out a teacup and filled it with some water from his pouch.
“Holy anvils, he’s making tea,” Ryin complained.
Tearing a little piece of paper from his bag, Alder gently lowered the sewing needle onto the surface of the water. The paper flattened out, allowing the needle to float. Despite protests from the others, Alder kept his gaze fixed as the needle slowly oriented itself. “That is magnetic-north,” Alder said, pointing in the direction of the needle. “At this latitude, true north is thirteen degrees to the west of it.” Alder moved his finger correspondingly. “We approached the Isles from the south-west, so the airship is this way,” he said pointing with his other finger.
Everyone looked at Alder in amazement.
“When did you become so darn useful?” Ryin said, clucking his tongue.
“He’s always been useful,” Athel praised, slapping him on the back.
“Where did you learn how to do that?” Dr. Griffin asked, examining the teacup.
Alder blinked. “If I couldn’t do at least this much, what kind of house-husband would I be?”
Privet chuckled as he wrapped up his ankle. “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
“What does that mean?” Margaret asked as she looked up from her notebook.
“It means that Alder has had his whole life to learn to live without magic. Now that it’s gone, he’s the most useful person here.”
“Yeah, well knowing where the ship is only solves half the problem,” Captain Evere grunted as he sat down. “The ship is quite a ways off shore. Even if we hike there, there’s no way to get up to it without the longboat.”
“Maybe we could find a way to signal Odger,” Alder suggested.
Captain Evere snickered, a trickle of blood running down his chest. “Even an experienced sailor would have trouble guiding in the Dreadnaught in her current configuration. The winds have to be just right. Besides, Odger is crazier than an outhouse rat.”
Athel took Alder’s pack and pulled out several blankets.
“What are you doing, lass.”
“Time is against us,” Athel said. “Debating this only makes it worse. If we stay here we die, so our only choice is to move.”
“Those are long odds, lass.”
“Then we move and we also pray!” Athel snapped. “But we move nonetheless.”
Athel looked around to see if anyone objected. When no one did, she turned to Dr. Griffin. “What can we do to improve their chances?”
Dr. Griffin took off his multi-lensed glasses and rubbed his eyes. “The cold is the biggest concern. The more blood they lose, the more their body heat drops. If we strip them down and wrap them up tight they can share body heat. That should give them the most time.”
“Wait, strip them what?” Privet asked.
Setsuna raised up her hand and wiggled it around like a little kid. “I volunteer to be wrapped up with Pwivet.”
Dr. Griffin nodded. “Okay, so I'll wrap up Privet and Setsuna together...”
Athel smacked him on the back of the head. “You can’t wrap them up together!”
“Well, why not?”
Athel’s face blushed a bright red. “Well, because he’s a...I mean, she’s a...they're...”
“Because it wouldn’t be proper,” Alder clarified.
“Yeah, what he said.”
Dr. Griffin shrugged and put his glasses back on. “Fine, then I'll wrap up Captain Evere with Setsuna.”
“Awww,” Setsuna pouted, putting her arm back down.
Mina smacked Dr. Griffin on the back of the head, this time k
nocking his glasses off. “You are not wrapping up my husband with her.”
“Don’t trust him, eh?” Setsuna teased. “I don’t blame you. I am pretty cute, after all.”
Mina bent over, her lavender eyes gleaming cruelly. “I just don’t want him to get any diseases.”
Setsuna cackled. “Of the two of us, only one needs a flea bath.”
Mina growled, revealing sharp fangs.
“Hey, she does not have fleas,” Captain Evere protested, scratching the back of his head.
Dr. Griffin put his glasses back on. “Well, I suppose I could wrap Evere and Privet together...”
“Hey!” Privet and Captain Evere protested in unison.
“...but we would need someone to stay behind and be wrapped up with Setsuna. Preferably someone who doesn’t bring much to the table, so we'd be losing as little utility as possible. Normally I’d suggest Alder, but in this case...”
Everyone turned to look at Margaret, who was scribbling away in her notebook. She slowly looked up, and noticed everyone looking at her. “What?” she squeaked.
A few minutes later, Athel, Alder, Hanner, Strenner, Ryin, and Mina ran out from underneath the outcropping and began making their way towards the airship, while Dr. Griffin stayed behind with the wounded. At first, they darted quickly from rock to rock, their eyes constantly searching the skies for any sign of the dragon, but they did not see any. Either it was too high to discern in the mists, or it had moved on. Either way, they moved as quickly and softly as shadows, hoping to avoid drawing any attention to themselves.
After an hour or so, with no sign of their attacker, their guard came down and they focused on the task of walking. Athel couldn’t help but notice how slow Alder was moving. He seemed drained, paler than usual. Every time she offered to take his pack he'd politely refuse. Whenever she brought it up, he'd change the subject. He rarely complained about anything; it was one of the things that drew her to him. His inner strength. But, it also made it impossible to help him when he needed it, and right now he really seemed to need it.
Isle of Wysteria: The Reluctant Queen Page 36
