Tiger's Voyage

  Drowsily, I pointed to my cheek. He pushed my hair back and kissed me a dozen times across my forehead and cheeks. His lips trailed down to my ear as he stroked my hair. He whispered, “I love you, Kelsey.”

  I was just about to answer him when I fell asleep.

  I slept for a long, long time. Kishan was gone when I awoke. The hot water of the shower hurt as it hit my bumped and bruised skin. I briefly wondered why I wasn’t healing as fast here as I did in the other realms. I suspected that powering up that star drained me so completely that it was difficult for my body to catch up. I made a mental note to ask Mr. Kadam about it later.

  Starving, I entered the wheelhouse, and a kind Nilima made me breakfast even though it was way past dinnertime. I sipped apple juice and carried my plate to the desk where everyone was working. The boys looked well-rested, but Mr. Kadam didn’t.

  I had the Golden Fruit make Mr. Kadam a cup of his favorite orange blossom tea before I sat in a chair to eat my cream-cheese-and-strawberry-stuffed french toast. He winked at me gratefully and sipped from the cup before stretching out his bent back.

  I accused, “You’ve been working all night, er, day, haven’t you?”

  Mr. Kadam nodded and picked up his tea.

  “When did you last eat?”

  He shrugged, so I asked the Golden Fruit to make a hot blueberry scone with butter and honey to go with his tea. He smiled appreciatively and took a seat next to me. Ren and Kishan moved closer to the chart they’d been staring at, bumped heads, and growled at each other. I smiled and turned to Mr. Kadam.

  “So what have you discovered? We’re moving again, aren’t we?”

  “Yes.”

  “How is that possible? Are we moving under our own power?”

  “The satellite and some of our other instruments are still not functional but the engine has come back on, though that doesn’t help us much if we don’t know where we are. That’s where this comes in.”

  He reached over and handed me a small book from the table. I flipped through the pages and saw columns of Chinese writing. “What’s this?”

  “It’s, for lack of a better term, a dragon almanac.”

  “Where did you get it?”

  “I found it in a hidden compartment under the sextant. I’ve been translating it.”

  Kishan moved to the wheel and made some adjustments.

  “We now know the latitude and longitude of the next dragon. This very unusual sextant allows me to plot our course. All I have to do is look through the eyepiece and find the star of the next dragon. Our next scaly friend is the blue one. Once the star is in view, the sextant whirs and clicks, almost like a compass. It shifts and gives a longitude and latitude. It also tells how many hours it will take us to arrive, depending on our speed.”

  “Then what do you use the almanac for?”

  “The almanac tells where to find the star.”

  “I see. So when do you expect to arrive at the blue dragon’s lair?”

  “At our present speed and if the weather holds … around 8:00 a.m.”

  Mr. Kadam picked up a notebook and a pen, and we spent an hour talking about the red dragon and its diamond palace. He’d already gleaned the details from Kishan and Ren but he wanted my version too. He asked me dozens of questions, including an awkward one about the golden light I’d used to rekindle the star. I hesitated and said, “Didn’t Ren tell you?”

  “He only told me about pulling the star close using the trident and the Scarf. He said it was up to you to tell me the rest.”

  “Oh.”

  I bit my bottom lip and turned to see Ren had raised his head. He looked at me with an unfathomable expression, and then bent over the chart again, but I could tell he was still listening to the conversation. Kishan finished whatever he was doing at the wheel, sneaked his arm behind my shoulders, and kissed me on the top of my head.

  I cleared my throat. “I, umm … must have hit a deep lava tube or something. I don’t know why the golden light came. Maybe it’s from being in this realm,” I lied.

  Mr. Kadam nodded and scribbled some notes on a pad. Kishan squeezed my shoulders and began massaging them. I risked sneaking a peek at Ren, but he had quietly disappeared. I sighed guiltily. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to keep what happened between Ren and me a secret. I knew it would likely hurt Kishan, but that’s not why I didn’t share. I just couldn’t. The experience was very … intimate between the two of us, and it seemed wrong to talk about it.

  Kishan, Mr. Kadam, and I spent several hours together in the wheelhouse while a tired Nilima napped. They showed me all they’d discovered while I was sleeping. Mr. Kadam began to teach me the fundamentals of the boat’s instruments, but I could tell he was exhausted. Kishan noticed my look of concern and told Mr. Kadam he’d take over and finish instructing me. After some denial and protesting, we finally convinced him to go take a long nap. We told him we’d wake him if something went wrong.

  Kishan spent the next few hours patiently teaching me how the ship worked. He didn’t have as much experience as Mr. Kadam or Nilima, but he seemed to have learned quickly. To pass the time, we played a couple of games of Parcheesi and shared another meal. While he played captain, I wrote in my journal and read for a while.

  During a break, I joined Kishan at the helm. He seemed quiet as he stood watching the water. I bumped him with my hip. “Penny for your thoughts.”

  Kishan turned and smiled, and then pulled me to stand in front of him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on the top of my head. “I’m not thinking of anything much except that I’m content. For the first time in … centuries, I feel happy.”

  I laughed. “So you have a thing for fighting demons and monsters, then?”

  “No. I have a thing for you. You make me happy.”

  “Oh.” I turned in his arms to face him. “You make me happy too.”

  He smiled and trailed his fingers down my cheek. His eyes drifted to my lips as he leaned closer. I thought he was going to kiss my mouth, but he seemed to change his mind at the last second and kissed my cheek instead. He trailed kisses over to my ear and whispered, “Soon.” He held me close and as I pressed my cheek to his chest I wondered why he’d stopped.

  Maybe it was something I did. I was pretty sure I wanted him to kiss me and that I wouldn’t cry this time. I care for him. No … I love him. I want to make him happy. I bit my lip. Maybe he knows I lied about Ren. Maybe he notices we are acting strangely. No. He would say something, wouldn’t he?

  I smothered the guilt as we separated and walked over to look at the kimono. The first stitched line of the star, the one going from the Shore Temple to the Star Temple, was complete. I turned the fabric over to take a good look at the blue dragon. I thought I heard a tinkling bell, and I could have sworn the red dragon winked at me. I frowned at him and folded the sleeve over to hide him from view.

  The blue dragon was resting on gray clouds and had steam coming from his nostrils. I traced a cloud and heard a snort. A wispy puff rolled across my knuckles. I blew it away and looked up.

  We were heading south into the starry night. The sun would be coming up soon. Ahead I noticed thick fog rolling out across the water. The stars began to disappear, captured and snuffed out by cloudy puffs. I leaned out an open door and felt wind whip across my face. The ship bounced on a wave.

  I looked at my watch. Only seven hours had passed. “Kishan? I think it’s time to wake up Mr. Kadam.”

  He left and returned with a sleepy Mr. Kadam, who joined me at the window.

  “I’m here. What is it, Miss Kelsey?”

  “I think the blue dragon’s a fog maker. Can we sail through that?”

  Mr. Kadam sent Kishan to wake Nilima, and then replied, “We should be fairly safe. There are not likely to be other boats around here to crash into and most of our instruments appear to be operating. Though our satellite feed can’t seem to gauge our position, our depth equipment is functioning, so if we suddenly come upon a
n island, we will be alerted. The water is too warm for icebergs, so we don’t need to worry about hitting one of those. If it will make you feel better, I could have Ren or Kishan stand watch. They have excellent vision, even in the fog.”

  “No,” I said with a sigh, “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  Mr. Kadam must have seen my worried expression because he sought to distract me. As he checked some instruments, he asked, “Did you know the Vikings used special sunstones to navigate in the fog so they could better surprise their enemies?”

  It worked. My lip twitched up in a grin. “No, I did not know that.”

  “The height of the time of the Vikings was in the eighth century. As you likely know, they were famous for pillaging, and in that part of the world they’d frequently encounter fog on raids. They’d board their ships, called drakkars, and invade and plunder villages from Iceland to Greenland, Europe to the British Isles, and even North America.”

  “How did they use the sunstones?”

  “Sunstones have an unusual property. They have embedded birefringent crystals that can polarize and show the position of the sun. Any Viking worth his salt could navigate by the sun, and the sunstone worked well for them in all but the worst of storms. Researchers believe the sunstone was likely a member of the feldspar family, though there is some debate about that. We have other means now of ascertaining our location but still, I think we’ll slow our speed a bit.”

  I nodded. When Kishan and Nilima appeared, Mr. Kadam sent Kishan and me to our rooms to sleep. He wanted us to get some rest before we reached the next dragon. I went to my room and quickly fell asleep.

  It turned out our reprieve was a brief one. I’d been asleep for only a couple of hours when I sat up in bed with a start. I woke confused as if from a nightmare. Ren was standing at my open door, and he stared at the bed with a stunned expression.

  He quickly averted his gaze and said stiffly, “You’re needed in the wheelhouse.” With that, he turned and left, closing the door softly behind him.

  I was just wondering what his problem was when I felt a hand rub my back. I jumped out of the bed as if it was on fire. A bare-chested Kishan leaned up on an elbow. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m … fine,” I stammered.

  “Why’d you jump up like that?”

  “I was … confused. Usually, I only sleep next to a tiger.”

  “Oh.”

  “Umm … you’re not … that is … you are … wearing something under there … right?”

  Kishan grinned and threw off the covers. I squeaked and then breathed a sigh of relief. “You could have just answered the question instead of being all dramatic.”

  “That’s not nearly as much fun. But yes, I’m dressed.”

  “Huh, barely.”

  All Kishan had on was a pair of shorts. Ren must have thought … it doesn’t really matter what Ren thinks now, does it?

  “Well, get dressed. Ren said—”

  “I heard what Ren said.” Kishan hugged me briefly and kissed my forehead. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

  In no time at all, we were headed to the wheelhouse. I thought about what had happened that morning. Even though it was technically only a nap, and I’d slept near or next to either Ren or Kishan as tigers many times before, I felt … uncomfortable sleeping with Kishan as a man. Ren had never pushed me in that area, and was, in fact, adamant about us not being physical.

  I’d assumed Kishan wouldn’t either, but despite the similarities between them, they were very different men, and I had to remember that. I’d need to speak with him about it soon. Would I feel the same way if it had been Ren and not Kishan? I shoved that thought aside and refused to consider the answer.

  The Deschen was anchored in a dense cloud cover. Mr. Kadam pulled us aside as we entered the wheelhouse.

  “The island came up out of nowhere,” he said. “I guess the depth perceptor isn’t working. The only reason I was able to stop the ship in time is because Ren had been on the lookout.”

  Kishan and I stared out the window into the cold nothingness.

  “How are we supposed to know what to do?” I mumbled out loud. Nobody answered me—not that I’d expect anyone would have an answer.

  Mr. Kadam stood next to us. “According to my notes, we are in the right place.”

  Ren peered into the sky. “Then where’s our scaly friend?”

  He and Kishan began debating the idea of taking a small boat to get closer to the island when I got an idea. I put my hand on Mr. Kadam’s arm.

  “What is it, Miss Kelsey?”

  “Let’s use the winds.”

  “The winds?”

  “I mean the Scarf. Fjin’s bag.”

  He stroked his short beard. “Yes. That just might work. Let’s give it a try.” He opened a cupboard and took out the Scarf. It shifted to orange and green in his hand, but when he passed it to me the Scarf turned a solid cobalt blue. I blushed, hid the Scarf behind my back, and asked all of them to climb to the top of the wheelhouse to try an experiment.

  After the others climbed the ladder, I chastised the Scarf, “Can’t you turn red or black or something? Just ignore my thoughts, okay? I’m trying to focus, but it’s hard.” The Scarf shifted colors but stubbornly remained cobalt blue in the center. I sighed. “That’ll have to be good enough.” With a final warning to the silky object, I headed up the ladder.

  When everyone was assembled on top, I said, “Fjin’s bag, please.” The Scarf twisted in my hands and doubled over on itself, creating long finely stitched seams down its sides. “Now everyone grab on.”

  We all took a section of the wide opening, and I shouted, “Divine Scarf, gather the winds!”

  I was immediately hit in the face with a strong gust of wind that blew my hair back and whipped it so fiercely that it stung my neck. The bag quickly filled and expanded. The winds bucked inside as the bag grew like a hot air balloon. It tore at my arms. I twisted the edge around my wrists to keep hold. Even Ren and Kishan were straining.

  Finally we held a very full bag and could feel not the slightest wisp of a breeze against our faces.

  “Get ready,” I shouted. “Aim it toward the island.”

  I let Kishan and Ren take the lead in aiming because they could see the island and the rest of us couldn’t.

  Kishan hollered over the shrieking bag, “One! Two! Three!”

  We opened the bag and held on for dear life. It bounced and howled as the wind screamed through the opening like a cyclone. The noise level was incredible. It was worse than skydiving, worse than riding dragonback. It was concentrated, pummeling every nerve ending, and pounding in my eardrums. Ren and Kishan were squinting. If the sound was bad for my ears, I imagined it would be much worse for the tigers. As the fog blew away from us, we turned as a unit to drive the mists and vapors as far away from the island as possible.

  By the time the bag had completely exhausted itself, the fog had been driven far enough away that it was just a vague haze on the horizon. I combed my fingers through my hair and transformed the Scarf back to its normal appearance. Kishan stared over my head. He put his hands on my shoulders and twisted me around to look at the island. It was really more of a large jutting rock than an island. It rose straight up out of the water and there were no beaches. Apparently, the only way to access the top would be by rock climbing.

  I bit my lip, imagining climbing that sheer face. Then I heard the noise—a deep rhythmic whoosh. In … out. In … out. The sun was just over the island, and it was too bright for me to see the peak. In … out. In … out. I shaded my eyes and blinked several times. “Is … is that a—”

  Kishan answered, “Yeah. It’s a tail.”

  Our blue dragon was wrapped around a castle ruin on top of the island, snoring. Puffs of fog streamed out of its nostrils as it slept. We all stood there in silence, staring at the snuffling blue dragon.

  “What are we supposed to do?” I asked.

  Kishan shrugged. “I don’t kn
ow. Should we wake it?”

  “I guess we have to. Otherwise, who knows how long it’ll sleep.”

  I shouted up at the creature, “Great dragon! Please awake!”

  Nothing happened. Ren shouted, “Wake, dragon!”

  Kishan cupped his hands and hollered, bellowing in a deep voice. He switched to a tiger and roared so loudly, I pressed my hands to my ears. We tried shouting together. We tried both Ren and Kishan roaring. Finally, Mr. Kadam went below and rang the ship’s foghorn. The blast of noise was loud enough that rocks tumbled from the top of the mountain.

  A great, rumbling bass voice echoed the foghorn as it reverberated in our heads.

  What … do you want? it said grumpily. Can’t you see you’re disturbing my res-s-st?

  The mountain vibrated, causing the water at the bottom to ripple.

  Ren shouted, “Your brother, Lóngjn, has sent us. He said we must seek your aid in retrieving Durga’s Necklace.”

  I don’t care what you seek. I’m tired. Go away, and bother me no more.

  Kishan stepped forward. “We cannot turn back. We need your help, dragon.”

  Yes. You do. But I don’t need you. Leave me now, or suffer the wrath of Qnglóng.

  I answered, “Then we must risk your wrath, Qnglóng, for we can’t leave. But perhaps, there is something we can do for you, something to make helping us worth your time.”

  And what could you do for me, little girl?

  The mountain rumbled as the blue dragon unwound its upper body from the tower and dropped down closer to us. Though similar in size to its brother, this blue dragon looked different. Its head was longer, narrowing more at the nose. Instead of a black beard, its cheeks and brow were covered with feathers that swept away from its face and shimmered like fish scales in brilliant blues and purples.

  Similar feathers flowed down the spine of its back and fanned out at its tail and limbs like the hair around a Clydesdale horse’s hoof. Sharp golden talons gripped the air, opening and closing while it swayed back and forth above us like the tail of a kite caught in a tree. Its scaly skin was brilliant blue, and as it hissed in vexation, the feathers along its back and the top of its head stood up like a crested cockatoo’s.