“Oh, and you expect me to help those freaks!?” Red bellowed. “No, not on my orders.”
“Had it not been for Nadir and the elves, we would’ve been overwhelmed under Merglan’s fortress. You owe them a debt of gratitude. Gather your warriors and sail for Southland.”
Red’s complexion turned a dark red as he stomped across the wooden floor to face Anders. Anders thought he might strike him. Zahara must have thought the same thing because when he drew close, she lifted her upper lip and growled low, warning him not to move any closer to Anders.
Red stopped when he heard Zahara’s snarl and saw her exposed fangs. He stuck an accusing finger toward the two of them and said harshly, “I’ll never help those bastard freaks and I’ll never let these islands fall prey to some pompous sorcerer who thinks shining a flash of light will scare me away from my kingdom. I owe no allegiance to Southland or Westland either. We’re our own independent nation and don’t answer the calls of the elves or any of the other kingdoms.”
“Red, you must be reasonable. We can’t defeat Merglan alone.”
“You’ll have to. I’m not involved in this fight anymore, and my word is final.” He strode back across the lodge to the chest he’d been digging through. Before returning to his search, he said, “I want you and your dragon gone by nightfall. You’re not welcome here.”
Anders had had enough of trying to reason with the childish chieftain. He turned and hastily exited the building. Zahara withdrew her neck and Anders slammed the door behind them. Come on, he said to Zahara. Let’s get out of here.
Anders, we must try harder. He needs to see that he can’t best Merglan on his own. I’m sure if he can see that it will be best for his people, he might agree to help us.
It’s like reasoning with a spoiled child. He’s never going to help us as long as we’re working with the elves.
We should give him some time to clear his head and try to talk with him again, she suggested.
Alright, but for now I need to clear my own head. Let’s see if we can find Britt. Perhaps she can speak reason to him, Anders hopped on Zahara’s back and she took flight, rising high above the island.
Zahara could feel that Anders’ mind was a jumble of anger and frustration, so she did something that she knew he loved. Flying freely through the open sky, she rose high into the air above the islands. Flapping her wings to slow her climb and then coming to a halt, she hovered for a moment, then dove down head first. She tucked her wings against her sides and they sped straight down toward the ocean. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body as they plummeted toward the blue water, coming closer as they dropped.
Zahara felt the fear building in Anders as they rapidly neared the sandy shoreline. Just as he began to panic, she spread her wings and pulled up. The gravity of the world pulled down on them hard as she banked out of her dive. The force was almost too much for her to keep her head upright; she had to fight hard to be able to look ahead. She could feel Anders being pressed tightly onto her neck as he gripped the saddle handles, working to hold on. The force pushed him down hard against her scales, but the magic lashing him to the leather saddle kept him in his seat. Soaring low along the main island’s shoreline, Anders sat upright again, letting out a cry of pure joy.
“Yew!” he shouted as he let go of the handles, pumping his fists into the air.
Zahara smiled and angled herself up and to the right. She climbed, this time making herself corkscrew twice as she rose. When she was several hundred feet up, she angled backward and let herself fall, spiraling and folding as they dropped. She could sense, even with the saddle’s connection, it was all that Anders could do to hold on. He dug his heels hard into the pits of her wings and clutched the handles. She spread her wings when they neared the ocean and dipped out of their tumble just as she’d done the dive before. Anders again shouted with joy.
Zahara, I want to try something, Anders said to her. He showed her a mental image of what he wanted to do and Zahara smiled.
She climbed again, higher than they’d gone before. When she reached the point at which they were going to fall once more, Anders broke the connection with his saddle and lifted himself out of his seated position. Balancing awkwardly, he rested his feet on her shoulders where her wings came out of her back, he crouched. Still holding onto the saddle, he was standing almost unassisted. He signaled to her to fall and he let go.
Zahara angled herself so she wasn’t dropping straight down at first. Anders stood on her back as they flew, he leaned hard into the rushing wind almost floating as they fell. He leaned harder forward as Zahara tilted more aggressively downward. Soon Zahara was pointing straight down and she could feel Anders’ feet leaving her body. Anders shouted with joy as he came unglued from her back. He fell freely through the air. Zahara rolled herself to face him. Anders mirrored Zahara as they plunged head first toward the ocean. For what seemed like a minute Zahara watched as Anders rolled and spun himself, giggling as he fell through the sky.
When they drew near the point where Anders had to remount Zahara to avoid crashing into the ocean below, she dipped lightly under him. She angled slightly so when Anders caught her neck, he could place himself properly in the saddle and re-establish the bond with the saddle before she pulled up. After they’d finished their little stunt, they soared peacefully over the islands. Zahara could sense that the frustration and anger had left him entirely. He emanated pure joy and happiness at being with her in the sky. She purred as they flew and Anders hugged her tightly around the neck.
Anders looked on in awe as Zahara flew him around each of the eleven islands that made up the Rollo chain. Thatched houses were scattered throughout the tranquil forests below. People in boats paddled between the islands, some fishing, some just paddling for the fun of it. Anders imagined what it would be like to live there. Other than having Red as your leader, it seemed that it would be a happy life. The ocean would provide much of your needs and the tropical forest on the islands would supply the rest. Since it rained often and heavily, fresh water was plentiful. He wondered why their culture felt the need to venture away from that place and raid other nations.
After Zahara had helped Anders clear his head and find his sanity once more, he opened his mind to search for Britt. Anders wasn’t the most experienced sorcerer, but he’d been polishing his ability to use his mind to find signatures of people, animals and plants. Each living being had its own signature. The signatures between species varied; each species had its own similar feel, but each signature was unique. Anders recalled Britt’s as being interesting. She expelled certain confidence that he rarely found in others.
Anders searched each island individually as they flew over. As island after island came and went, Anders began to worry when he didn’t sense her presence. She’d been on the same ship as Max and his cousins. He hoped they’d made it back to Grandwood.
Surely Red would have told us if Britt’s ship didn’t make it to Grandwood, Zahara comforted him, sensing this fear.
Yes, you would think he would’ve mentioned it if something terrible had happened to them.
After Anders and Zahara had searched each of the eleven islands and found no trace of Britt or Max, the possibilities of what might have become of her began to overwhelm Anders.
Let’s see if we can find anyone from her crew and ask them where she is, Anders suggested.
Zahara agreed and they flew back to the beaches of Argon. Landing softly on the white sand, the once bustling crowd that had gathered for their arrival had gone. People had returned to their work, though several younger Rolloans remained huddled together grinning at Anders and Zahara.
The young islanders rushed up to Anders before he had a chance to search the area for any of Britt’s crew. The youngsters pawed at him, jumping with joy while speaking in Rolloan. Anders couldn’t understand them, but from their joy at seeing him return, he assumed they’d been watching when he and Zahara had been flying.
Anders shook his head and shrugged, “I don’t speak Rolloan. I can’t understand you.”
One of the little girls among them spoke some Landish. She said, “We watched when you and dragon flying. Amazing!” She mimicked their free-falling with her hand and made several whooshing noises as she did so.
Anders laughed, “Oh you did, did you? Well, flying isn’t always that much fun. Sometimes it’s hard work and we must focus hard to accomplish our task.”
“I wish I can fly. You go again? Please, please, please,” she pleaded, clutching her hands together and hopping up and down excitedly.
“I can’t,” he said and watched the girl’s expression sour. “I need to speak with someone. You might know her. Will you help me?”
A glimmer of hope returned to the girl’s face. Anders felt she wasn’t quite convinced, so he said, “You can sit on Zahara if you want.”
Her face lit up and she began hopping up and down again, clapping her hands. “Can we?” she asked excitedly.
Anders didn’t need to look at Zahara to know she wasn’t thrilled about the idea of a bunch of little kids climbing all over her. He brought his hand to his chin, rubbing it in thought, then said, “If you help me find who I’m looking for, each one of you can sit on Zahara.” The little girl squealed with joy. “But you have to go one at a time, and if Zahara says you must get off, then you must listen to her. I’m not responsible if she decides to eat you for a snack.” The girl’s face went ghostly white and she stopped looking at Zahara with loving eyes. Realizing he’d frightened her to death, Anders said, “I’m joking! It was only a joke. I promise she won’t eat you. She doesn’t eat people; I promise.”
The girl looked at him with kind eyes again. She cracked a smile and nodded vigorously. “Okay. Deal, deal.” She held out her hand and Anders shook it.
The other children were unaware of the deal she’d struck so when they saw her actions turn from excited to scared then back to joyful once more, they shouted and pleaded with her in Rolloan. Anders couldn’t understand what they said but the girl spoke quickly in their native tongue. The children’s attention was all hers for a matter of moments. Then they erupted in screams and cries of happiness.
Once Anders figured she’d finished relaying the deal, he asked her, “Okay, will you help me now?”
