Chapter 2
1557 Words
2
Tillit and I met the ship at the dock where Xander grinned at me and my companion. “That is an unusual fish you have caught, but I suggest we throw him back.”
I released Tillit and shook my head. “This fish is too valuable. He’s going to read this-” I held up the book, “-to us.”
Xander arched an eyebrow before he looked to Tillit. “You know how to read?”
The sus frowned and snorted. “After all this time and you know so little about me, My Lord? Tillit is hurt.”
I shoved the book against his chest and he instinctively wrapped his arms around the cover. “Now’s the time to prove your stuff. Read us a couple of pages.”
Tillit opened to a few pages in and cleared his throat. “Chapter One. The beginning.” He wrinkled his nose. “Crates wasn’t much for exciting poetry, was he?”
I rolled my eyes. “What else does it say?”
He flipped to the beginning and browsed over a list of the unusual letters. “There’s just a bunch of chapters on the supposed origins of dragons and their cousin species, like the naga.” His eyes stopped roaming and he smiled. “This might be worth a look.”
“What’s worth a look?” I asked him.
“A compendium of legends and mysteries related to the dragons,” Tillit told him as he flipped through the pages to the very back. His eyes searched the ancient words and we caught the gist of the entries through his mumbling. “The Great Bear of Bruin Bay. The Lost Legion of the Great War. The-” he paused and furrowed his brow.
“Is something the matter?” Xander wondered.
Tillit shook his head as he flipped to the very last pages. “There seems to be an entry on the Ealand of Reod Fyr.”
I blinked at him. “You sounded like something got stuck in your throat.”
“There is no mistake in his speech. It is the old name for the Island of Red Fire, a damned place,” Xander told me. I looked up at him and my eyes widened. His face was twisted with a scowl and his eyes had a faraway look in them. “What about that place?”
Tillit browsed the pages and frowned. “It says here something about Sæ, the water, that’s hidden on the island. It’s supposed to be able to grant dragons enormous power, making them as powerful as the ancients of the Great War.”
The color drained from Xander’s face. “Where exactly is it located?”
Tillit pursed his lips and shook his head. “I don’t know. It says something here about within the dragon’s mouth, but I have no idea what that means. Then again-” he lifted his head and shrugged, “-that island isn’t exactly my stomping ground.”
Xander half-turned and swept his eyes over the ship with its crew. “Then we shall have to ask someone who is familiar with the island.”
He moved toward the ship, but I grabbed his arm. “Wait a sec.” He glanced over his shoulder at me with that dark look on his face. “What’s going on? What’s this island that sounds like someone choking on hairballs?
He wrenched himself from my grasp and shook his head. “We do not have time for explanations.” He marched off
I balled my hands into fists at my sides and glared at his retreating back. “Don’t you-” A heavy hand settled on my shoulder. I looked behind me to find the hand belonged to Tillit.
The sus closed his eyes and shook his head. “I wouldn’t follow him too close.”
“But what’s his problem?” I snapped.
Tillit looked past me at Xander as my dragon lord hurried up the plank. “You know him. He always gets this way when someone talks about the Red Dragons, and especially that place.”
I arched an eyebrow. “What about them and that place?”
“That island is where they banished the Red Dragons that survived the War of the Lords fifty years ago,” he told me. He pursed his lips and turned his attention to me. “Xander wanted all of the army to be executed, but the other dragon lords made a deal. The survivors told them where the Red Dragon’s gold was in exchange for letting them live. They were all banished to the Island of Red Fire.”
I frowned. “Seriously? The lords accepted blood money so they’d live?”
He grinned. “What’s a dragon without his loot, and even a lord might think he doesn’t have enough.”
“So the Red Dragons are still there? What about the one I saw at Ui Breasail and Hadia?”
“It was a permanent banishment, so he wasn’t supposed to be there,” Tillit told me. He looked past me at where Xander had gone and pursed his lips. “I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that Xander killed the guy, even against King Colin’s orders.”
I grabbed Tillit’s hand and dragged him toward the plank. “Then let’s make sure he doesn’t do anything that stupid with what you told him.”
We followed my stomping dragon lord up the plank and to the wheel where Captain Magnus stood with the pale Nimeni at the helm. The captain shook his head. “I’ve been all over that island, but it beats me what the dragon’s mouth is supposed to be.”
“There is the Dragoi Haitzuloa,” Nimeni spoke up.
All eyes turned to him and Magnus frowned. “Don’t be speaking with yer strange tongue, sailor. Spit it out.”
“That is what my kind calls the Cave of the Dragon,” he explained.
I arched an eyebrow. “Your kind?”
He nodded. “Yes. I am what humans refer to as ‘vampire.’”
I felt the color drain from my face. “Seriously?” I glanced at Xander. “There are vampires in this world, too?”
“Whatever tales they tell of vampires in yer old world, My Lady, Nimeni’s isn’t anything to be worried about. He’s got himself cured of the worst of their habits,” Magnus assured me.
“And what are those habits?” I asked him.
“That’s neither here nor there, My Lady, but His Lordship was asking us about this place,” Magnus reminded me.
Xander’s full attention lay on Nimeni. “Where on the island is this cave?”
“Near the mountains that skirt the sea,” Nimeni told him.
Magnus stepped between Xander and his first mate, and stared the dragon lord in the eyes. “What are ya thinking, Yer Lordship? Ya can’t be thinking of going there.” Xander turned his face away and narrowed his eyes. The captain’s bushy gray eyebrows crashed down. “Ya know they want yer head there, Yer Lordship. They’d kill ya as soon as they saw ya, and dump yer body into the seas without a thought.”
Tillit held up the book. “We don’t know if this legend is true. If that Crates thought there was something more than he would have put it in the history section.”
Xander lifted his head and glared at Tillit. “But we cannot risk them finding such a power, if such a power exists.”
Magnus stepped forward. “Then let me and my men go in yer stead, Yer Lordship. None would care if they saw me for Ah’ve not been there in such a time Ah probably wouldn’t recognized meself.”
Xander shook his head. “I would rather do this task myself, but I will have you take me across the Pilvien and land me at Begeondan.”
I frowned and grabbed his arm. “You’re not going without me. We’re partners, remember?”
He turned to me and grasped my upper arms. His eyes caught mine in their unwavering gaze. “I cannot allow my partner to follow me to what may be a horrible end.”
“And that’s why I need to go with you, so you don’t get yourself killed,” I insisted.
“If something were to happen to you, I could not live with myself,” he argued.
“And if something happened to you I’d lose my job as a Maiden. No dragon, no Maiden,” I countered.
His eyebrows crashed down and he dropped his hands from my arms. “I will hear no more of this argument. You will remain here.”
I half-turned away from him and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m going.”
“I forbid it.”
“I don’t care.”
A chuckle interrupted our tense standoff. Everyone looked to Tillit. His large belly jiggled as he quietly made known his amusement. Xander arched an eyebrow. “What do you find so amusing?”
“That you’re making a fuss when you know you’re going to lose,” he explained. “You should just kiss and let bygones be bygones.”
Xander frowned. “I will not-”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I spoke up. I grabbed Xander’s chin and pulled him down to my level so I could press our lips together. He was stiff for a moment before he softened to my touch. I pulled away and left him still puckered. “Well? Are we going now or later?”
Xander drew back and pursed his lips as his bright eyes studied me. He sighed and his expression softened. A crooked smile slipped onto his lips. “Now, or as soon as Captain Magnus can outfit the Blå Engel.”
Magnus grinned. “She’s always ready to sail, Yer Lordship. How many will we be taking on this voyage?”
“You will take only as many men as you need, and Miriam and I will be your only passengers,” Xander told him.
Tillit raised one hand with his finger extended. “Don’t forget Tillit, My Lord. I might not know the island, but a port is always a sus’s home and I’m sure I can scrounge up some more information on this cave before you sprint into another bunch of trouble.”
Magnus grinned as he looked over our group. “Then it’s agreed. We sail tomorrow.”
- Writer
