He heard it again and moved closer. When he saw what it was, he dropped down out of sight. It wasn’t the dragon. It was Ivan.
I knew there was something weird about him being up in the middle of the night, he thought.
Surely if he was going to the bathroom, as Max suggested he was doing the night before, he would have stayed closer to camp. Anders made sure to keep his distance, but kept a visual on where Ivan was going. He followed him as he continued away from camp. Anders hoped that the number of people in the camp would be too overwhelming for Ivan to sense Anders trailing behind him. From a distance, Anders watched as Ivan walked to a pile of boulders scattered on a small hill.
Ivan crouched down behind a rock and pulled something small from his coat pocket. A bright light shone, illuminating his silhouette against the darkened night. Ivan began to talk to it. He was too far away for Anders to hear what he was saying, and after the last time he spied on Ivan having a secret conversation, Anders decided it was best not to listen in on whatever he was doing.
Instead, Anders decided to take a different route back to camp. He didn’t want Ivan to catch him out of bed again on his way back to camp. He made sure to stay low out of sight, creeping toward the beach through the tall grass. He wondered if he should continue to look for the dragon. Anders decided to find a place to sit and watch the waves. The last time the dragon found him, he was enjoying his natural surroundings. Solomon told him dragons could sense things in people and thought if he did it again, perhaps the dragon would return.
He walked until he could no longer see the glow of the campfires still burning along the beach. The sound of the crashing waves reminded him of being back at home at Highborn Bay. He found the repetition of the waves relaxing. He sat down on a log to enjoy the peacefulness of the coast. Looking down, he noticed baby sea turtles on the other side of the log crawling out of the sand. He smiled as he watched them use their paddle-like flippers to push themselves through the sand to the ocean’s breaking waves. Anders had never seen this phenomenon before. He felt happy seeing the baby turtles make it from their nest all the way to the water, where they could begin their life’s journey.
As he watched the last of the hatchlings crawl out from behind the log, he heard a swooshing noise behind him. He swiveled around to see the dragon gliding just above the ground, coming straight for him. He ducked behind the log, but the dragon made a soft landing next him instead of swooping over his head. Anders peeked out from behind the log and saw the majestic creature sitting back on its hindquarters and looking down at him with purple eyes.
Feeling a little bit foolish, he propped himself back up on the log. He looked over to the dragon. It watched him intently. Anders reached his arm out slowly toward the dragon. It bowed its head to meet his hand. He rubbed its forehead and the dragon purred. He felt the warmth of the dragon coursing like liquid fire into his veins. The feeling was electrifying and charged his body in a way he’d never known possible. It brought a newfound sense of rejuvenation to him, making him feel as full of energy as he’d ever felt in his entire life. Then he heard a voice come from the dragon. It was feminine, gentle and kind-hearted.
I followed you from the edge of the forest all the way to this beach, she said. Anders could hear the voice in his ears yet the dragon’s mouth didn’t move.
“How are you doing that?” Anders asked.
Well, I made sure not to leave until your group was far out of sight… she began.
Anders interrupted, “No, I mean talking to me. I can hear your voice, but I don’t see your lips moving.”
Oh, said the dragon. I can’t use my mouth to make words like you humans, but I can use my mind to make you hear what I have to say.
“That’s amazing,” Anders said.
Thank you, the dragon said, and purred.
“Why did you follow me?” Anders asked.
When I first saw you walking along the edge of the trees, I noticed something within you that I have not seen before. You were completely in love with what was around you. I could feel your love for the earth and nature, so I followed you. I was so drawn to you that something within me made me show myself to you, the dragon said. When my body did that, I got a little scared. Your love for nature seemed to disappear when you first saw me. I wasn’t quite sure, but I trusted my instincts and when we touched it was like nothing I’ve ever felt before, almost electrifying, but filling me with a strength I’ve never had.”
“You felt that too?” Anders exclaimed! The dragon nodded.
When I heard the other members of your group trying to reach you, I decided to leave. I haven’t had any close encounters with humans before. The humans I have seen were different. They did not exhibit the same love for nature that I felt when I saw you. Anyway, I was so curious about the warm feeling I felt when we touched that I had to follow you. When I saw you come down here to the beach, I decided that I would come and properly introduce myself. The dragon sat up tall and said, My name is Zahara. What’s yours?
“I am Anders,” he said looking up the dragon. “Judging by the sound of your voice, you’re female?” Anders said, hoping this wouldn’t offend her.
That is correct. I am a girl, Zahara said.
“I don’t mean to pry, but there’s so much I’d like to ask you. From what I was told as a child, I thought dragons would be much bigger,” Anders said.
Zahara laughed, That’s true that members of my species can grow to enormous sizes, but I’m not yet fully grown. I’m only two years old.
Anders was surprised to find out that such a young creature could be so intelligent. “What are you doing this far from Nagano? That is what your homeland is called, isn’t it?” he asked.
Yes, Nagano is home to us dragons, she said. I got separated from my group. I’ve been searching for them, but this land is all new to me and actually I’m very lost.
“How did you happen to become separated?”
We were flying away from our home because a human my elders called ‘the destroyer’ came to Nagano on the back of a black dragon. The destroyer summoned forth anyone who’d aligned with him several decades ago. When nobody answered his summoning, he began killing and torturing those who wouldn’t answer his call to action. It wasn’t safe for us to live there so we left to find the elves and stay in their realm, but a storm arose out of nowhere. My wings weren’t strong enough to keep up with the group. I have never met an elf, so I didn’t know where to look. I just began to wander, trying to keep out of sight while I searched for my family, she said.
“How terrible. I think I might know someone who could help you. He has stayed with the elves before.”
You mean the man you were following through the tall grass? she asked.
“Yes, his name is Ivan.”
I have a funny feeling about him. He’s hiding something and I don’t want to put my life in the hands of a stranger who’s keeping secrets. I trust you. I have felt you and seen you with my mind, Anders could hear the fear growing in her tone. I don’t want to go with that man. Zahara shifted her weight uncomfortably from one side to the other. Ruffling her wings she said, I have to go now. Spreading her wings, she took several steps back and took flight. Meet me tomorrow night, Anders heard her voice in his head as she flew off into the night. Just make sure you’re alone, I’ll find you. With that she was gone.
Anders shook his head to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Then he stood up and walked back to camp. He crawled back into his blankets and fell asleep, eager for their next encounter.
The next morning, the Rollo Island warriors’ leaders announced their plan to continue sailing east along the coast and around the Bareback Peninsula. From there, they would enter the Marauder Sea and begin to search each bay, cove, and inlet for any sign of the enemy’s ships. Once word of their decision spread, Anders was surprised to see how efficient the warriors, as a collective group, were at taking down their camp. They were ready to sail within an hour.
Anders and Max found the group of warriors they’d eaten dinner with the night before and climbed aboard their ship. They didn’t want to travel under Red’s command again, after he’d sailed them into a storm that wrecked their ship. To his surprise, Britt, the woman he’d spoken with by the fire was their crew’s captain.
“You two,” she said, pointing a dark finger at them when she saw the two on the deck of her ship. Anders worried that she planned to send them away to another ship given the tone she used to address them. “Grab an oar and help us paddle out to open water, then you can help out with the rigging and sail work,” she instructed. Anders and Max seemed surprised that she’d given them working orders instead of sending them away. Seeing their hesitation, she added, “If you’re going to sail under my command, you’re going to work just like the rest of us. Now get to it.”
Anders and Max did as they were told and rowed alongside the others as Britt barked out the rowing cadence. They stayed in time with the others rowing on each count. If the crew didn’t all row in sync, they wouldn’t gain enough speed to make it past the breaking waves just offshore. Anders pulled against the oar as their ship plowed through the six-foot-tall waves, sending the bow of their small ship careening over and out into the open ocean. Anders watched as the other remaining ships did the same. They had to time their launches just right or a wave would crash over the bow and easily turn the whole vessel sideways in the surf. If that happened, it would be hard to stop the boat from flipping. He was impressed that all of the other warships made it out of the break.
These people clearly know how to sail, Anders thought to himself.
Anders and Max were happy to be in new company. They had begun to grow tired of Red’s bullheadedness and Anders didn’t know if he wanted to be around Ivan after seeing him sneak away from camp for a secret conversation in the middle of the night. It had seemed as though Ivan was beginning to open up to him and he thought Ivan could be trusted, but after seeing what he was up to last night and noting the apprehensiveness Zahara felt toward him, Anders was no longer sure whether Ivan could be trusted.
Being on the new boat with new faces felt different, in a good way. It wasn’t long before they broke from rowing and dropped their sail. Britt took control of the ship from the stern. Her black skin beaded with sweat as she stoically looked ahead, gripping the ship’s tiller.
“Where exactly are we heading?” Anders asked her.
