The land below me was feral, patches of scrub brush, thickets of cane briars with small grassy clearings between. The grass was brown and in hummocks which told me it was probably marshy. I did see marsh marigolds, Jerusalem artichokes and bull reeds among the small ponds. It was early summer here, there were small berries on the bushes but not yet ripe. Or at least, not red or dark blue like my own varieties. I recognized cranberries and blueberries.
Kicking in my infrared sense didn’t work in the smaller version but my eyesight and hearing were just as acute. I did use my hearing more–to depend on my eyes when I had no depth perception was tricky. There’d been a few times I’d overshot the mark and landed on the ground instead of lunch’s back.
I caught sight of something like pronghorns but more robust, too large for the mini Dragon. There were marsh deer but the same problem–I was big enough to kill one but not carry a whole one back and I wasn’t sure if multiple trips was such a good idea. Slowly, I spiraled closer to the ground and sat down. Checked the area around but I hadn’t seen any habitations while in flight and nothing else once I was grounded.
I found a sandy wash that other animals had made use of to roll and squatted down in the center where I uttered the lines to make me the normal sized Dragon.
Rolling, I scoured my scales and every inch of me, the sand getting into cracks and crevices to make me drool in an ecstasy of itch relief.
I stood up, shook and blasted into the sky spooking two bucks that were just coming down for water. It took only seconds to dispatch them and I ate both right then and there. Twenty minutes later, I had set fire to the brush near a small pond and spooked out a dozen marsh deer, taking six in my claws before I used my wings to put out the fire. With all that water, I wasn’t really worried about setting off a wildfire but I couldn’t see the sense in killing or destroying more than I needed.
On the way back, I passed a small valley and saw the first signs of occupation. An old silo and windmill creaked in my passing, its water wheel still filling and dipping. It looked deserted as did the rest of the land. I flew on towards the cove and saw them waiting for me. Several started to wave. Just as I dropped from the land to over the water, I flew headfirst into something. Knocked myself silly and tumbled ass over tea kettle till I hit the ground, carcasses flying in every direction. My wings slapped the sand and I blinked, seeing doubles and triples of everything. Stood up, shook and walked forward. Just before my feet reached the water, I hit the same invisible barrier. No matter how far up or down the beach I walked, I could find no break. Nor as high as I could fly. I even tried to dig under but was thwarted there. Flames didn’t affect it either when I blasted full strength at it.
By now, all those on board the ship knew something was wrong and yelled across the water to me. I yelled back and they could hear me a great deal better than I, them. Finally, Gordy launched a smaller rowboat with Lyndseye, Tegan and Mallei. I watched them come with anxiety, worried that I wouldn’t be able to protect them if something happened.
Tegan climbed out first, stopped to extend his sword and had no problem stepping through the barrier. Nor did the ladies or the boat. In fact, they marched back and forth several times with no ill effects yet when I tried, instant wall.
“What if you’re smaller?” Mallei asked as Lyndseye tested the air. I slipped back into my smaller size with the same results. Even when I changed to the mule, I wasn’t able to step off the land or into the water. “What do we do, Raitt?” She asked. I looked at Linz.
“Any ideas?”
“There’s a spell governing this but I’m not sure if it’s Jasra’s or really old one that was put up to protect the borders. It has the flavor of really old magic, my Lord. Older even than dragons,” the Princess explained.
“Tegan, take the deer on board and feed everyone,” I suggested. “I already ate. Will the rope stretch out to a hundred feet?”
“If we undo the harness, maybe,” he said slowly.
“Tie a big knot in my end and I’ll fly the coastline as long as I can and pull you,” I said.
“What happens if you can’t–like over a mountain or the water’s too shallow?” She asked.
“Then, we’ll go inland. It’s a river barge, it can go up the river if we have to. I wish we had a map of this world or at least, this coastline,” I grumped.
“Gordy probably does,” Tegan said. “You think if we carried you, it might allow you to exit?”
“I don’t know. It’s weird it let me in the first time. I don’t think it’s Jasra’s doing, she thinks I’m dead.”
“I don’t like leaving you alone,” Linz said. I laughed.
“I’m a Dragon, Princess. What could hurt me?”
Mallei’s eyes rounded. “Princess? Princess of what?”
“Whoops. I wasn’t supposed to let that slip. Sorry. Princess, Mistress Mallifer of Alameth, the best animal doctor in the Realm. Mistress Mallifer, this is Princess Lyndseye, Crown Princess of Minsk, and Caldor’s daughter.”
Mallei curtsied in shock and Linz pulled her up. “Don’t bother and it’s Crown Prince. They never change the title over when the sex is female. My father kept me in the background and male to confuse his enemies.”
“How old are you, just out of curiosity?” I asked.
She smiled at me mysteriously. “Old enough. How old are you?”
“In real years or dog years?” I quipped and she looked puzzled. Mallei laughed. “I was seventeen when I died,” I said finally, to their astonishment. “I became the Dragon and I’ve been this way for two years. Does that make me nineteen? I don’t know. Sometimes, I feel ancient.”
“If you solve the riddle, Raven,” Lyndseye said softly. “You can have your heart’s desire.”
“Yeah, but first we have to get to Topaz.” I watched Tegan and Mallei throw the deer meat into the rowboat and then he came back for me. I let him pull me inside his cloak and straight forward through the barrier but I was torn out of his grip as if I were greased. It didn’t matter who held me, nothing they did would let me pass the barrier. So I watched them all retreat to the barge and I remained on the beach where I converted back to the larger size because I felt safer. Not much would challenge something like me. I fell asleep to the smells of roasting venison and children’s laughter.
In the morning, Tegan rowed back over with the guts and parts that no one else wanted. I wasn’t so picky. I devoured them and picked at my teeth with a claw while he dragged the rope ashore. Instead of a knot, they had knotted a spar through so that I could grasp and pull it like a water skier. I waited until he returned to the barge and they sent me a shout and wave. I drew the bar between my front legs, took off parallel to the land and flew just about ten feet above the sand dunes and sparse trees. I had to judge the line carefully, too close and my wings hit the barrier and stung. Too far and I dragged the barge into the shallows and because the angle was different, it was both harder for me to pull and for them to steer. Several times I pulled them into shallow sandbars and got them stuck which necessitated Tegan changing the direction of the tow rope and me flying back towards Alameth. It was frustrating and twice as tiring. There was a definite limit to what my Dragon body could take.
We kept going until they called a halt, not me. This time, Gordy and Mallei came ashore with lanterns and maps. He laid them out on the rowboat’s seat and showed me where he thought we were. It was still some thousand miles to Khafra’s borders, a distance that would often take months in a ship. He thought the small cove we’d anchored in had been Blackbird’s Bay which told us we were nearly halfway there.
As long as I paid attention to what I was doing, everything was fine. I didn’t hit the barrier or dragged the barge in too far. I was able to fly for six hours at a stretch before hunger and fatigue dictated I rest.
When I sat down, I gently pulled the barge in until Gordy sounded the depths at 2 feet which gave the sturdy Wompas a clearing of 12 inches. She was one of the lowest draft vehicles I’d ever s
een, needing only 6 inches of water under her flat bottom. This way, they were able to step ashore and stretch their legs without having to swim for it.
Once ashore, the ladies set up a cooking pot using driftwood that had washed ashore. The kids went nuts running up and down the beach, digging for clams and crabs, shells and whatever else tickles their fancy.
While in flight, I’d checked out the area and hadn’t seen any signs of people; no homes, and no smoke from campfires or old camp rings. This land was desolate–dunes, sparse grass and little woods. I hadn’t seen any large grazing animals only rabbits, foxes and birds.
I took a short nap and when I woke, I smelled something good. Mallei was stirring the big pot and dishing out bowls of fish chowder. It smelled great but I’d have had to consume the entire kettle three times over to satisfy my raging appetite.
“I need to hunt,” I announced. “Do you need more meat?”
Tegan shook his head. “No. There’s plenty of venison left. We need to use it up before it goes bad.”
“I’ll eat it,” I said and he frowned. “Well, my taste buds are different than a humans,” I shrugged. “It won’t go to waste.”
“Take me with you.” It was more a question than an order. Linz looked up, interested.
“You’re the best swordsman here,” I returned. “You should stay with them.”
“Linz is as good as I am, with bow and blade.”
“And I’m skilled at defensive spells which Tegan is not,” she said calmly. “Go. We’ll be fine.” I nodded, showed him how to hold on and took off.
Chapter 32
Tegan screamed in exhilaration, his legs clamped tightly around my ribs just behind the front legs and before the wing buds. He couldn’t stop chattering about the pure joy of flying. We passed over endless flats of dunes with tough bunches of salt grass. I rose high enough so that I caught thermals, soaring so that it was nearly effortless. As a result, everything looked flat and tiny. We could still see the cove and the barge but they were like toys for an ant.
“Look,” Tegan said, pointing over to the left. I did and saw the land drop away into huge cliffs. On the headlands were giant trees cut through by a massive river that was as wide as the Mississippi but flowing faster with whitewater as it roared over rocks and tumbled down to the sea in a spectacular waterfall.
“That’s the Mouth of Niagara,” he yelled into my ear. “The border between Khafra and Tethys.”
At least, here we could find game and I angled into the land away from the shore feeling the faint brush of the invisible wall against my wingtip. Slammed to a stop by back flapping and hovering as I explored the barrier. I turned sideways, raking my clawed back feet on the wall for a long way before I gave up and turned around. Tegan pointed out a small clearing where he wanted me to set him down. I did and it was just barely big enough for my body.
“I’m going hunting,” he told me. “I can track better in these woods than you. Unless you shrink.”
“I can do that,” I agreed. “I can scent out deer and herd them your way.”
“I won’t take anything too big, we still have enough for a day or so. Mostly, I wanted to see how far you can go and where we were. The barrier extends around this whole district, right up to the Sentinels which divide the East Kingdoms from the West.”
“I can’t go further than this,” I worried. “If I can’t cross, how will I get you all to safety?”
“I don’t know, Raitt,” he said slowly. “If we can’t get you to your friends, we’ll just have to go and bring your friends back to you.”
“They could be anywhere,” I said. “This is a big Realm. I don’t know if they stayed in Topaz or went on trying to find me. I don’t even know if they came on after me. For all I know, they could still be in Loest at her dad’s house.” I shook and spread my wings, flying slowly through the close packed trunks of pine trees. The scent was heavy of resin and molds, earthy and very little underbrush so Tegan had no trouble following me. I smelled deer and wolf, even bears and warned him away from the big brown beast that was busily uprooting tree stumps in search of grubs. It stared at me curiously, seemingly unafraid but I couldn’t say the same for the small button buck that bolted as he saw me.
“Raitt, let me!” Tegan yelled and I chased the buck towards him, dashing aside at the last minute so that he had a clean shot. His arrow took the little buck in the side, right behind the front leg and such was the power of the bow that the arrow came out the other side embedding itself in a tree. I landed on it as he went after the stag and it managed to run a dozen yards before its heart stopped beating.
He butchered it swiftly, giving me the heart, liver and guts. Then, he quartered it, tying the pieces together through the hamstrings and forearms with a bit of leather so he could carry one forequarter over a shoulder. The meat steamed in the cool air of the woods and I heard the cries of jackdaws and crows attracted to the scent of blood.
He whistled as he worked, his eyes never still but scanning constantly around him.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “I can see and smell anyone long before they know I’m here.”
“This is the Woods of the Raven,” he told me. “A land that is rich in folklore and horror stories. Of murders and massacres. Not many who have journeyed here have come back to tell of it. There are legends of unnatural beasts that roam here.”
“Oh? Like what? Dragons?” I mocked. “Harpies, wyverns and unicorns? In my world, those are all unnatural beasts.”
“Really? What world do you come from, Raitt?” He set the haunch down and went to retrieve his arrow. It took the both of us to pull it out of the tree trunk.
“A Shadow Realm called Earth. The same one that Ryan came from. I’m curious how he reached here, he said he was a physicist so somehow, he manipulated the energy to bring him and his soldiers over.”
“They fight like demons even without their weapons,” he admitted.
“You fought them?”
“They tried to take Minsk several times but we were always able to repel them.”
“Until I showed up.”
“We had no defense against such a creature as you, Raitt. You’ve killed many of the King’s villagers and he wanted no more blood on his hands.”
“I know,” I whispered, despair sitting heavy on my soul. Although I wasn’t sure if I still had one. I did know how many people I had murdered for Jasra and it was another burden I would have to live with.
“Ready to go back?” He asked sensing my mood. He pointed towards the sunlight just barely seen through the trees. “The clearing is that way.”
“Hold on. I smell something,” I said and flew off to the west. I hadn’t gone more than twenty feet when he was no longer visible but what had drawn me was the smell of firestone and irresistible.
I landed on a small rocky outcrop and dug with my claws into a deposit of the blue stone that I craved. Ate until my crop was full. By that time, Tegan had tracked and followed me. “Hello,” he called laughing as I looked up, my face covered in dirt. “You look like a hog wallowing in the sty.”
“Hey,” I complained. “This is the stuff that lets me make my fire. Without it I’m useless.”
“Hardly.” He puttered around the hole, digging out chunks of hard blue crystals that were hexagonal in shape and glittered as he turned them. “Pretty stones. What are they?”
“Looks like star sapphires,” I burped and snorted which resulted in a thin stream of fire that licked at the base of a blue pine. I accidently set it on fire and hastily knocked it out before the whole place went up.
“Shall we go?” He asked placing a few of the larger ones in his pockets.
“How are we going to do this? If I change down here, I’ll knock over trees and might hit you. Can you find the clearing again?”
“Of course. Follow me.” I let him lead me back to the clearing and once inside, had him wait at the perimeter as I chanted the spell to make me big. Once there, he climbed on settl
ing the meat on my neck like two oversized earrings and we returned to the barge.
The ladies were glad to see us, the kids each wanted a ride but Lyndseye and Mallei both vetoed the idea as they were afraid that one might fall off. So, they went swimming instead which made me even more nervous as I couldn’t reach them if one got into trouble.
The firewood the kids had collected was all wet so I used my newly recharged flames to set it alight. Wished I could roast marshmallows over it instead of chunks of venison.
They wanted to spend the night on land and the men wanted to go on. They left it up to me and Tegan didn’t mention my discovery of the barriers. I was afraid that none of them would go on to safety without me and would want to remain behind to seek another route.
“There are no people around this area,” I shrugged. “We’re safe enough unless another ship passes and they’d have to actually enter the cove to spot the barge. Besides, I could use the rest.” I rubbed it at my neck, the collar was itchy and seemed to be getting tighter. I must be putting on more muscle with all the flying.
“See what I found, Linz,” Tegan held out the blue crystals and both Mallei and the Princess exclaimed as they saw the stones. Pure blue with a white star in the center, they were pretty and at least 20 carats each.
“Stars tears, they’re called,” Lyndseye said. “Rare. Found only where ancient stars are said to have wept from the sky.” She knotted one in a cord and tied it to my neck and the irritating pinch of Jasra’s collar stopped annoying me. I scratched at it one more time and no one was more surprised than me when the thing popped open and rolled across the sand where it disappeared in a puff of smoke. I went after it, stopping with my feet in the surf and couldn’t find any trace of the silver circlet.
“What’s that all about?” I said and then realized I was standing beyond the invisible barrier. “Hey!”
“It must be the jewel,” Lyndseye said. “It influenced or negated the effect of Jasra’s spell. Let’s leave now before it can revert or something worse.”
“Good idea.” They gathered up the kids, our food and gear and I was hauling them out to sea faster than a New York cabbie on a Sunday night.
Half a day went by before I had to stop and I was afraid to chance the land so I hovered over the barge converting in midair to drop onto the deck where I lay panting. As I didn’t get up immediately, the two women gathered around me in agitation, their faces creased in worry. I stared at them. Mallei was burned brown by the sun and wrinkles gathered her eyes in their midst. Her lips were chapped, stained with salt brine and her golden hair had faded in the harsh sunlight. She looked years older. Linz’ had the sunburn of fair complexion of a red head even though her short hair was blonde. She too had chapped lips and salt stained clothes. To my nose, they smelled interesting but to one another they must reek.