by Jeanna Kunce
Amani had to raise his voice considerably to be heard. “Aunt Gallia, calm down! She’s just a young girl. I’ll explain,” he said, still keeping himself between Darien and his enraged aunt. “We need to talk, but I don’t have much time.” Amani led Aunt Gallia aside, and he told her briefly of his parents’ capture and how Darien had come to save Tabo’s life.
Meanwhile, Darien made her way on quivering legs to where Tabo was laying. She marveled at the way Tabo’s skin was hardening and cracking into small shapes that were even now starting to resemble scales. It was amazing how fast the little dragon was beginning to look like a miniature of her brother, although Tabo had more of a russet color to her shimmery scales rather than brown. Also, she appeared to have dark markings around her eyes that turned up at the outer corners, and similarly dark swashes on her sides, giving her a much more exotic look than either Amani or Aunt Gallia.
Darien found herself again with Tabo’s head in her lap. The little one seemed to like the way she scratched the sensitive spot in front of her ears where her horns would one day grow. Darien also noticed that occasionally little nickel-size round bugs would fly over and land on Tabo’s back, biting and irritating her skin. They seemed harmless to Darien, so she carefully flicked them away with a short stick whenever she saw them.
From across the clearing, Aunt Gallia kept a wary eye on Darien. As she listened to Amani’s story and saw how caring and affectionate Darien seemed to be with Tabo, her eyes gradually softened. Amani finished relating what had happened, and they headed over to where Darien and Tabo sat. Darien removed Tabo’s head from her lap and jumped to her feet in front of the towering female, hoping to avoid arousing any further anger from the dragon. Aunt Gallia lowered her head and scrutinized Darien briefly.
“It seems as though I owe you an apology, child,” she said in her wavering voice. “I’m sorry for giving little Tabo’s friend and rescuer such a rude welcome.”
“Oh, um, that’s okay, ma’am,” Darien stammered. “Amani told me what happened—I understand why you would be angry. I hope you know that I would never want to hurt any dragon.” She paused, then laughed. “Not like I could anyway. I’m just a kid, you know.”
Amani snorted softly at this, amused, but Aunt Gallia looked very seriously into Darien’s eyes. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Sometimes the smallest creature can make the biggest impact. Look at those fire-fleas,” she said, eyeing the bugs near Tabo’s back. “They’re small and usually quite harmless. But if a mature one stings just right, underneath the scales, it can actually paralyze a full-grown dragon for a whole day. So don’t underestimate yourself.”
Amani gave Darien a thoughtful look, then cleared his throat. “Ahem. . . . Aunt, time is growing short if I hope to reach Mount Garddrock tonight. I assumed I could leave Tabo with you, but we’ll have to figure out what to do with Darien. I wondered if the elves might agree to take her into their care, but neither of us can take her to find them right now—if they’re even still around.” Amani began to pace nervously through the clearing.
“Did you say elves?” Darien asked, barely containing her excitement.
“Shush, girl,” Amani cut her off. “There’s no time now. I must leave as soon as possible.”
“Not before you get something to eat,” Aunt Gallia insisted. “You have no idea when you’ll have another chance, and you’ll need your energy.” (Inside, Darien cringed to think what in the world a dragon would eat.) “I know you’re in a hurry, but at least go to the KuaKua trees and get some nuts.” Amani seemed to consider arguing, saw his aunt’s stern face, then grunted and turned away.
Aunt Gallia watched him disappear through the trees. Then she turned to Darien. “And what about you, child? We should find you some food too, yes?”
Darien began to answer, “No, ma’am. I’m all right.” But her stomach betrayed her by gurgling loudly. “Well, maybe I could have something. Is there anything around here that I can eat?” She began to think about how the characters in all her books always managed to find fruits or berries to eat just when they needed them; or even better, they would be fed magical foods by kind elves or fairies. Unfortunately, Darien had only her non-magical dragon friends, and all the surrounding vegetation suddenly seemed unfamiliar and suspicious.
Aunt Gallia saw Darien look skeptically around the clearing. “I’m sure we can find something for you. To start with, there is fresh water from a spring inside our cave. What else? . . . Oh, these leaves over here,” she said, pointing to some weedy-looking plants sprouting up from the ground. To Darien they looked a lot like dandelion leaves, but they didn’t have either the cheery yellow flower or the puffy seed flower. She grabbed a handful of leaves and followed Aunt Gallia toward their cave home. Before they reached the opening, the large dragon bent over and smelled along the ground. “Hmm . . . over here. Yes. Would you eat mushrooms?” she asked.
Darien crinkled her nose slightly but replied, “I guess. Are they safe for me to eat? Where I come from, wild mushrooms can sometimes make you sick, I think.”
“It’s the same here,” Aunt Gallia replied. “But I’ve seen humans eat this kind, so I’m sure you will be fine.”
Darien busied herself by carefully picking through the small patch of fungi. Some of the mushrooms were clearly no good, but enough were smooth and firm and without blemishes so that she quickly had more than she could carry back to the dragons’ cave.
5
Detour to the Volcano
After eating enough of the bitter greens and mushrooms to take the edge off her hunger and drinking deeply from the fresh-water spring, Darien left the cave while Aunt Gallia and her daughter, Mala, prepared to get Tabo settled down for another nap. She squinted as she emerged from the darkness into the tree-filtered sunlight and walked back to the middle of the clearing where Amani had just finished crunching up the last of his food, leaving large rust-colored shells around him on the ground. Darien turned a curious eye their way, but Amani warned her not to eat them or touch them, explaining that they were extremely spicy and hot. He swept them aside into a pile with a brisk swipe of his tail.
Darien walked with Amani toward the outer edge of the clearing. They were met by Aunt Gallia, who explained that Tabo had fallen asleep and Gallia’s daughter, Mala, was watching over her.
Amani looked from Darien to Aunt Gallia and sighed deeply. “Well, it appears the time is upon me. I must go to find my parents and any who I can convince to join me along the way.”
“Oh, Amani,” Aunt Gallia said, slowly shaking her head. “Do you really think this is the best way? What are the chances you’ll be able to find other dragons willing to help, especially when you have no time to spare seeking them out? I have a bad feeling about this.”
A look of intense frustration screwed up Amani’s face. “I don’t know, Aunt! But there is no other choice, no other way I can see. Trust me, the thought of leaving Tabo with no direct family left is tearing me apart.”
“You know that if anything happened to you, I would take care of Tabo like my own daughter,” Aunt Gallia reassured softly.
“Thank you, Aunt,” Amani replied. “But you know what I’m saying. It’s not the same.”
Aunt Gallia nodded. Amani looked at her with a mixture of sadness and gratefulness, then readied himself to spring into the air.
“Wait!” Darien said. Amani stopped in mid-crouch and looked at her impatiently. “I might have an idea. You need more dragons to go with you, right? Okay, so what if we go to the pure dragons and ask them to help you? You said they stayed behind at the dragon homeland, so you must know where they are, and there must be at least some who would join you. Then you wouldn’t have to spend a bunch of time trying to find the other exiles scattered all over the place.”
“I wish it were that simple,” Amani told her gently, noticing the look of hope on Darien’s face. “But I’m afraid that wouldn’t work. I�
��d have to go through the high elder Grisha, and there is little chance he would agree to meet with me, much less listen and help me.”
“But you said your father was so well respected and in the king’s guard.”
“And so his was an even worse act of betrayal to the elders,” Amani replied. “As my father’s son, I would not be listened to or even admitted into Grisha’s presence. Now I really must go.”
“I will go,” Darien firmly stated.
“Now, wait just a minute—”
“I will go,” Darien said again. “What’s happening here is wrong, no matter what colors you are, no matter what kind of thing you are. I am only a human child, as you’ve pointed out, but even I can see that this is not right. So if there’s a chance that this old dragon will let me talk to him, you have to take me with you. You have to give me a chance to convince him to send help with you. If there’s anything I’ve learned from all the books I’ve read it’s that you can’t let the bullies win; you have to stand up to them or they keep doing bad stuff until everyone is afraid of them. Please, Amani, please let me try. If there’s even a tiny chance he’ll listen to me . . .”
Amani shook his head and frowned at Aunt Gallia. “No, no I don’t like this at all.”
Aunt Gallia looked intently at Darien for a moment, then back at Amani. “It is against all hope that you can succeed alone, Amani,” she said. “Let the girl try. If even one dragon joins you, maybe you’ll have a chance. It won’t even take you very far out of your way.” She paused and shrugged, “If nothing else, perhaps they will at least have information about the humans that will help you. Either way, you must decide now and be on your way, even though I hate your leaving on this terrible quest.”
Amani stood silently and closed his eyes for a tense minute. When he finally looked down at Darien, she returned his gaze anxiously.
“Let it be,” he said, “that the human child will take on the great elder Grisha himself, all luck to her. Climb on my back once again, and we will do what we must do, as much as I hate to waste any time with those thick-skulled stubborn fools.”
* * *
Gray majestic peaks flowed past on Darien’s left side as she and Amani sliced through the air. With the weight of Tabo gone, Amani had whisked Darien away and was now swiftly approaching the most unusual part of the mountain range. Standing boldly between two lesser cliffs was the largest mountain. It had no peak, just a steep crater at the top. It was covered in lush vegetation, yet Darien could see that the ground underneath was of the deepest black.
“It looks like a volcano!” she said with surprise.
“Yes, you’re partly right,” Amani answered. “It used to be a volcano long before the humans lived here. That is why it makes the perfect home for dragons: there is a fire that, even now, heats the earth far below the surface, keeping the home caves comfortably close to our natural body temperature. I have no memory of living there, so this cold doesn’t bother me much.” (Darien noticed she was warm even though the wind was rushing past her.) “But my father says his bones ache nearly all the time, now that he doesn’t have the heat to rejuvenate him.”
“So . . . is that where we’re going?” Darien asked with trepidation.
Amani noticed her anxiety and reassured her. “Yes, but I don’t think the main meeting chambers are as hot since they’re up higher, and you won’t be terribly uncomfortable. Also, there is a good chance that we won’t be admitted into the caves at all, and we’ll be forced to continue our rescue alone. Try not to be too disappointed; we’ll figure something out either way. . . . We have to,” he added quietly.
Darien closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, but nervousness was sinking in. She forced herself to breathe deeply and focus on the anger she felt when she thought about Tabo not having parents to love her and protect her. She wanted to be strong and convincing when she confronted the elder dragons, though Darien feared she would only appear pleading and desperate.
Amani seemed to spot the place he had been searching for and took a steep dive directly toward the mountainside. Before they reached the cave opening, he turned his head briefly. “Don’t worry, just do your best and be quick so we can get on our way,” he told her.
Now Darien felt hotter inside, burning with a determination to prove Amani wrong. She pressed her body flat against his back as they approached the cave. With a casual snap of his wings, Amani ducked into a large opening and landed without a sound. Darien dismounted with more confidence this time, although it still took a few moments to get her land-legs back.
“Do you know where this cave leads?” Darien whispered.
“Yes, I have a pretty good idea we’re in the right place, if my father’s description of it was correct,” he answered. “And there’s no need to whisper. We have nothing to hide. Besides, they already know we’re here.”
Darien squinted into the dim depths of the tunnel and barely saw two large yellowish eyes peering back. A dusty-gray dragon approached and eyed the two newcomers with a bold glare. He glanced at Darien, then turned his attention toward Amani.
“I never thought I’d see the day when a dragon would turn into a mule, even one so . . . colorful as yourself,” he said haughtily. “I mean, really, carrying a human around like baggage? It’s just not dignified. Or was the little thing riding you like a pet?”
The normally proud and quick-tempered Amani managed to ignore this mockery, since getting into an argument at this point would waste precious time. Instead, he replied, “When you’re all done insulting us, we have urgent business to attend to. We must speak with the Elder Council at once.”
“Really?” the gray asked, condescension thick in his voice. “And what makes you think they will agree to see the likes of you? Go away, they’re much too busy to deal with a pathetic eyesore of a dragon and whatever this scrap of bones is that you’ve dragged in with you.” He turned to saunter away, but it was Darien’s temper that flared at him.
“Hey!” she shouted. “We came a long way to see your old council, and we’re not leaving until they hear what we have to say. Now, please tell them that Darien of the Blue Lake and Amani, son of—” Darien looked at Amani for help.
“Audric,” Amani said.
“Son of Audric,” she continued, “are here, and we respectfully insist on meeting with them.” Darien stood alongside Amani with her tightly fisted hands on her hips, but the gray dragon taunted her with his laughter. However, he did retreat deeper into the tunnel, speaking to himself intentionally loud enough for both Amani and Darien to hear.
“It seems the little one has more fire than the big one. I wonder if she’ll be as bold in the council chamber. We shall see, eh? We shall see. . . .”
When the gray was out of sight, Amani rolled his eyes toward the ceiling of the cave. “So you’re Darien of the Blue Lake now?” he teased.
“Well, it sounds better than Darien of Cherry Blossom Drive.” Amani didn’t respond. After a minute, Darien asked, “What do you think he meant about the council chamber? Should I be worried?”
“I don’t know anything about the chamber except that it’s where the elders meet. He probably just meant for you to feel nervous and intimidated.”
“It’s working,” Darien admitted.
“We can leave anytime, you know. You don’t have to do this,” Amani said.
“I do,” said Darien emphatically. “We’re here already, so it would be stupid to just leave. Anyway, it was my idea to come, and I mean to follow through with it.” Darien spoke firmly, yet her hands felt shaky and her stomach was queasy. I wish they’d hurry up so I can get this over with, she thought.
They waited in silence except for the impatient scratching of Amani’s claws against the rocky floor. Just when Darien was about to snap at Amani to quit making his annoying sounds and when Amani was on the verge of telling Darien they couldn’t afford to waste any more tim
e, they heard the steady thump of heavy footsteps approaching. The gray came without stealth this time and lazily returned to the two anxious friends.
“So, the full council is absolutely not going to bother gathering for you; I could’ve told you that before,” the gray scoffed. “I spoke with Grisha himself, and he refuses to speak with you, son of . . . Whomever.” Amani moved as if to leave without another word for this fool’s errand, but the gray continued. “But he is curious about this small human. He ordered you to attend him in the chamber at once, or else go and leave him to his rest.”
Darien flashed a hopeful smile at Amani, and they started to follow the gray until he pointed toward Amani.
“No!” he exclaimed. “You won’t be stepping one multicolored toe into the council chamber. Only the girl is permitted into Grisha’s presence.”
With wide eyes, Darien looked to Amani for direction. “It’s up to you,” he shrugged. “I will wait if you still want to go. But please remember our urgency.”
6
The Chamber and the Charlots
Few humans in recent history had ever seen the great council chamber of the dragons. Technically speaking, Darien wasn’t seeing it either; it was so dark she couldn’t make out any sort of detail. After a long, uncomfortable walk through the dim tunnel, with a tentative hold on the gray dragon’s foreleg for guidance, Darien was left to experience the chamber alone. The darkness seemed oppressive, made worse by the stifling heat. The air was very stuffy, even though it moved across Darien’s skin in waves of alternating warm and hot. No sound originated from the cave, but she could almost feel echoes in the wind and in her bones. I’d be shivering for sure right now if it weren’t so hot! Amani’s smart, but I’m not trusting his judgment about temperature ever again, she thought. It was impossible for Darien to gauge just how long she waited; in reality, it was only about five minutes, yet the lack of light and companionship made the time stretch ever so much longer.
