by B C Penling
She reached the end of the cove, marked obviously by the jagged cliffs that extended a length into the ocean. The waves rolled in with more force, crashing loudly like thunder against the sheer rock wall. The white churning waves foamed and swirled over black waters. Lana indulged in the wonder of it all. The rugged beauty of the cliff and the waves brutally crashing against the rock was pleasant to witness.
The waves pounded the pebbles, mercilessly slamming them into each other and repeating a cycle that has happened for thousands of years. The ocean spray swirled upon the breeze that the waves created and landed gently on Lana’s exposed skin. Each wave receding was the most amazing sound Lana had ever heard. The sound of the stones as the water drained around each individual one was as if thousands of water faeries were playing earthen chimes. The music of the draining water was hypnotic. Lana felt like the ocean invited her to have swim in its undulating waters. As if the water itself was calling to her.
She considered it but thought it better if she waited for day. Without warning, a large wave surged ashore and impacted the boulder she sat on. It smashed against it with such ferocity that she felt the boulder shudder violently. She closed her eyes and shielded her face as a geyser of water exploded around her then rained down a slurry of sand, rocks and sea kelp. She was soaked from head to toe and an unhappy Caeda squirmed inside her tunic; cranky about the sudden rude awakening.
Lana took a string of kelp off her head and tossed it aside. She flicked another from her shoulder and removed strands from her lap that mingled with rocks and sand. She picked up the rocks and tossed them back into the sea. The last and largest one she picked up surprised her. It was flat, about the size of her hand and a lazy teardrop, almost oval, in shape. It resembled the obsidian that Zen was able to make and, intriguingly, it was quite warm.
The heat was what grabbed her attention and kept her from throwing it back. She turned it over in her hands which caused parts of it to catch the moonlight. Thin strands of silver snaked their way along the surface, some even ended in small, round nodes. Lana traced the silvery paths with her fingertips. She thought they grew brighter wherever she touched them. It was mesmerizing. It pulled her in. It entranced her. She wanted to know more about it. Where did it come from? What was it? Why was it warm?
What is that? Caeda’s voice startled her.
“I’m not sure. Let’s go ask Zen. Maybe he’ll know.” She eyed the ocean as she descended the boulders, watching for any more enormous waves that could slam her into the rocks. Oddly enough, the waves seemed calmer so, deeming it safe, she raced up the beach and back to where Zen was.
“Zen, look what I found,” Lana began.
“There’s something in the water,” Zen interrupted. He rose off his haunches and craned his neck. “I can’t make it out.”
Lana climbed the rock and stood beside her companion. She was unable to see what he did. She heard stories about the creatures that resided in the depths of the ocean and the ships that were destroyed by them.
“Do you want to go have a look?” she asked.
He nodded, eyes transfixed on a certain spot in the waters. Something was bobbing up and down with the rolling waves.
Lana walked to his tail, which had finally ceased its repetitively abusive motion, and began climbing where his posterior wings were drawn against him. They were unlike his flying wings in that they assisted with keeping his tail aloft. They weren’t capable of flapping to any degree but were able to be tucked in, much like the wings of the gliding lizards that lived in Arborwoods. He used them, in addition with assisting lift, as a means to maneuver more effectively. Being able to tuck each side individually, and rotate his tail, permitted him to turn swiftly.
Caeda climbed out of her tunic’s inside pocket. She shook off. May I stay here Miss Lana? I’d like to climb into a dry bag.
Of course you can. We’re only flying out there to investigate. We won’t be long.
Thank you! Caeda leapt from Lana’s shoulder and glided onto one of the bags and shook herself again before slithering inside.
She tucked the rock into her tunic pocket and buttoned it closed before sliding into the saddle and placing her feet in the stirrups. Zen spread his wings and heaved himself into the coastal winds. They rose quickly toward the starry sky. He was cautious not to get too close to whatever it was in the water below until they had figured out what it was. Lana peered over his side searching for the object. The waters were black, slick and undulating smoothly; the depths unknown beyond the polished surface.
“There,” Zen said as he pointed. “Can you see it?”
“Yes,” she replied. “But I can’t make out what it is.”
“It looks like a small boat,” Zen said curiously. “I can smell man.”
“You want to go…” Her question caught in her throat as he suddenly dived. Her firm seat in the saddle was loosened, making her thankful for the stirrups.
He leveled out and circled the object. They could make out three figures clinging onto what appeared to be half of a dingy. Shouts, filled with fright, filtered through the air and reached their ears.
“What are we going to do?” Lana asked.
“I don’t think they like me much,” Zen said over his shoulder with a chuckle.
“We can’t leave them here,” Lana said compassionately. Although she didn’t know them, she felt it wasn’t right to leave them to whatever fate awaited them.
“We’re going to help,” Zen boomed. He slowly circled over them, sinking lower with each revolution. He slowed, flapping vigorously to keep aloft.
“It’s alright, we’re going to help you,” Lana yelled.
Zen went over the top of the broken dingy. He gently plucked one man from the water using his hind leg. He passed him to his front hands and then picked up the other two, who gladly welcomed the help. Zen increased his flapping and slowly moved forward with his burden. He gained a little altitude and turned toward the beach.
An explosive water spout erupted from beside them and with it was a serpent of enormous proportions. Its head reared up level with Zen. The serpent’s eyes were green in the moonlight and glared with scrutiny upon the five of them. Zen watched it with wary eyes as he flapped harder to gain distance, unsure if it was friend or foe.
“Where’s the Septum?” the serpent roared.
“What?” Zen asked.
“Where is the Septum?” it repeated loudly.
“I know not of any Septum that you ask for! I have nothing but the scales upon me, an elf and these humans,” Zen replied.
“Liar!” the serpent barked. “You have it! I sense that it is with you!”
“I don’t have anything you seek!” Zen replied. Knowing he likely faced a foe, began to climb steeply. With the added weight of three men, his speed was hindered.
The serpent growled menacingly and slightly retreated into the sea water. Lana released a sigh of relief but it was all too soon.
From the ocean beneath them came the serpent once more, exploding from the water like a cannonball. Zen tried to dodge the attack but it came too quickly. Without another choice, he tossed the men away from the serpent’s onslaught in the nick of time. As soon as they hit the water, they began swimming frantically to shore.
The serpent’s massive jaws clamped shut on Zen’s body. He roared in agony as they descended to the sea. He defended himself by raking his talons across the hostile creature’s face. His chest rumbled ominously before his bright, white flame hit the serpent’s throat. Lana had seen the destructive force it had on the Warisai but with the serpent, it only singed its scales.
He grappled at his attacker with his talons and flogged it with the spade upon the tip of his tail. He breathed the intensely hot, white flame again, this time striking it in the eye. The serpent shook Zen from side to side which dislodge Lana from the saddle. She hadn’t slid her arms through the shoulder loops, something she regretted as her left foot became stuck in the stirrup. She was uncomfortably flung aro
und with each slow headshake as she struggled to loosen her foot.
With one final shake, a few things happened at once. It released Zen and he tumbled head-over-tail in an unrecoverable fall. Lana was flung over Zen’s back and struck her head on the side of one of his spikes. The stirrup released its hold on her foot and she fell several feet toward the water and plunged into the creature’s dark realm, joining Zen.
“Where is the Septum!” the serpent yelled again.
“I don’t have anything!” Zen gasped. “I don’t even know what it is you’re asking for!”
Lana swam as fast as she could, trying to reach Zen. She shouted at the serpent, trying to reiterate what Zen had already said but she went unheard. They didn’t have anything with them and the only thing they had on shore was nothing a large creature could use. What was so important to warrant that kind of aggression?
“You lie! I feel that it’s close!” his voice boomed.
“I don’t know what it is!” Zen yelled. "Explain it to me!"
The serpent lifted its long tail out of the water and let it fall. Zen's wing took the full impact and was pinned against his side, bones cracking beneath the force of the hit. His painful roar was drowned out as he was pushed below the surface.
Terror rose inside Lana. Zen, her Zen, was being hurt and she was helpless to stop it. She had to reach him before…
Zen appeared at the surface. He stared at the creature, bewilderment on his face. “I don’t know what you’re asking for!” he sputtered. “I don’t know what the Septum is!”
The serpent glared for a while before narrowing his eyes. Its mouth twisted into a more pronounced snarl. The serpent drew back its head then lunged at Zen; its mouth was agape. He felt his end upon him.
Please don’t let him find Lana, he thought. Please let her stay safe.
Lana saw it as if it were slowed down to a quarter of the speed. The life of her friend, her brother, the only family she had left, was about to end and she could do nothing but watch his demise unfold. Helplessness swelled within her heart. She knew there would be no rescue from anyone this time. The serpent reached halfway to Zen.
No!
Despair hijacked her emotions as her heart sunk like a rock to the seafloor. Her heart, mind and soul abandoned hope. Nobody could help him now. She screamed Zen’s name.
A sharp pain sliced into Lana’s chest, searing like a fire brand, molten and acute. Her eyes rolled back into her head as the intense heat coursed through her veins. Her body convulsed madly as her body was tormented with pain. Her breath stuck in her throat as she sank beneath the surface.
Darkness overtook her; a deep, freezing darkness, like death. Figures swam around her; shadows of the past. She couldn’t see their faces but knew what they were.
Dragons…
The words they spoke were foreign to her but she realized they were repeating them with each thump of her slowing heartbeat. She was still beneath the surface yet felt no need to breathe. The moon was growing more distant as darkness consumed its light the further she sank.
The shadowy dragons began to brighten. From their murky black forms came an emerald spark that grew into a radiance. The swarm blurred into a sole dragon that flew around her before morphing into a sphere.
Upon it Lana could see there were people and many creatures floating on and beneath the surface. It solidified to become a perfect, miniature Dagan. She reached out her hand, wanting to touch it. Her fingers brushed the surface, creating ripples. The globe shuttered before returning to its perfect form.
As she withdrew her hand, the globe followed, glowing brighter the closer it got to her. Slowly, vapor by vapor, the orb trickled into her chest. The miniature Dagan before her slowly shrank.
Her eyes went wide. A patch of skin over her heart began to glow with an otherworldly light. Her body tingled and jolts of energy, originating from beneath her skin, surged through her.
The darkness around her was pinpricked by light. She focused on it, minute at first but steadily growing. Her body began to normalize; it’s natural warmth returning and a feeling of water washing over her skin. She fluttered her eyelids rapidly as she forced her eyes to focus.
The moon was straight above her. Stars beyond it twinkled like miniscule beacons. Ocean waves lapped lazily at the shore. With the sudden inclination to breathe, she inhaled the cooled night air.
Lana could hear nightbirds calling in the distance and, much closer, the sound of a broken heart. She looked around for the source of the sound. Beside her was Zen. He was crooning sorrowfully. His broken wing was lying pathetically at his side, his wounds from the serpent’s teeth were bleeding and he looked like he had lost everything. He was curled around her with his neck arched and his face buried in his arms.
“Zen,” she whispered softly.
Zen jerked his head from the crook of his arm and looked around with a bemused expression. “Lana?” he gasped. “You’re… okay? You weren’t breathing,” he said grief-stricken. “Seeing you like that...”
“I felt that way when that thing was attacking you. I couldn’t do anything.” Using her legs, Lana pushed herself over to Zen and propped herself against his leg. Her body felt heavier than usual, as if clad in body armor. “Are you okay, Zen?” she asked concernedly.
“Better, now that you’re back with me. I feel like I can fly even without my wing.” He laid his head in her lap and she wrapped her arms around his face and neck.
“Next time I think we should leave curious things alone.”
“I’ll agree with you,” Zen smiled pensively.
Her chest began tingling slightly. She reached up and caressed the spot that was bothersome. There were ridges upon her skin that were leathery like a burn. She felt along the thick area of transformed flesh. She closed her eyes as an upsurge of icy heat went through her body. It was neither painful nor uncomfortable but more of a recognition as her body accepted whatever had happened. She shivered and hugged Zen again, resting her head on his.
Zen tilted his head and leaned into Lana’s embrace. When he did a spark of silver emanated from the spot where his head contacted her skin by her collar bone. Lana’s life flooded into his mind. He saw her life moving backwards and felt every emotion, starting with the attack from the serpent and her distress of watching him die. A teardrop shaped obsidian object; her excitement and curiosity. They were soaring over Meridsani in an aerial ballet; she trusted his judgment and abilities. The moment Zen caught her; from sorrow to relief and security in her savior’s hands. Then she was in Bledsoe Keep and the Elders painfully rejected her. Back it continued, to her admiration of him and his crafting of the obsidian sarcophagus. Then, horrifically, it was the Warisai attack on Arbortown, when her mother was struck down. The gut-wrenching pain…
Her life continued backwards into the streets of a beautiful city, Arbortown, and the feeling that she didn’t belong. Then, it was into the woods running barefoot among the flowering understory. Farther back, she was toddling around the palace in elvin silk of her favorite colors. All the way back until she was a baby in a cradle, asleep on white linens…
Moonlight shown in through a pair of double doors and brightened the marble floored room. A massive white bird, as beautiful as any stretch of the imagination could conceive softly landed upon the balcony railing. Its plumage was that of royalty with an extensive tail, like that of peacock, and a long, flowing crest extending from its head. The feet of a hunter it had as it softly stepped down from the railing.
As the avian stepped from its perch, it transformed into a gorgeous woman robed in white. Her lengthy, blue hair flowed regally behind her. She walked silently to the crib and picked up baby Lana. She briefly touched her forehead with her thumb, it glowed soft blue, before returning Lana to her crib. She stroked her cheek lovingly and muttered unheard words. She returned to the moon-bathed balcony and feathers sprouted over her body as she changed into the white bird once more. She turned and looked at the baby lying in the crib befo
re she leapt into the night.
Zen pulled away from Lana and looked into her eyes. He had been inside her mind. Had she been inside his? He knew every piece of her life. It was frightening and fascinating and curious. He had never before seen a giant white bird like that anywhere in Ancienta and wondered if she had. His wing shifted at his side just then, sending pain bolting throughout his body. He winced and barred his teeth.
His low growl alarmed Lana and she looked around. There she spotted it, a looming mass at the water’s edge. “Go away!” she yelled, clambering out from beneath Zen's head and onto her feet. “We don’t have your Septum!”
It smiled at her.
Is he amused? Perhaps he thought it funny that a diminutive creature, such as herself, would dare to challenge him.
“I regret hurting your friend,” it said.
“He’s more like my brother,” Lana said rudely. She began picking up rocks and throwing them at him. “Go away!”
“I regret hurting your brother. I believed it was he who had the Septum when all along it was you.”
“Are you going to break me too?” Lana asked, brazenly. She threw a large rock that splashed into the waves around his webbed feet.
“Again, I regret hurting your brother.”
“You were going to kill him!” Another rock whizzed through the air and hit the serpent’s scales.
“It’s been a difficult day, forgive me please.” Its voice was low and kind.
“Prove you’re worth forgiving!” Lana spat.
“I brought depthkelp. It’ll help some but not cure him enough for a miracle, I’m afraid. You can place it within his wounds. It hastens the healing process and staves infection.”
“I believe I require a lot more treatment than you can offer,” Zen replied. “And I can neither walk, because my wing will drag, nor fly to where that can be done. I just hope it’s not perminent. I need to fly like you need to swim, sea monster.”
“It would be entirely your fault if he can never fly again!” Lana yelled. She kicked rocks at the enormous beast then collapsed on Zen and hugged his neck when the gravity of his broken wing weighed down her heart.
