Rib peered around at the plagued Wystilian skeletons forming a cage around him. There was no escape. He was going to die in here.
But outside, out in the fog of his dream. There was Memory. Chained to rocks. So far away.
There would be no saving her now.
"Wake up."
Rib jerked his head away from the one that hissed in his ear and opened his eyes. It was Damara, crouching on the damp ground, now staring out towards the dungeon entrance. Rib followed her line of view to see Griffith come inside.
He's here.
Rib's heart stopped. This was their second day trapped in the dungeon, and the king had not made an appearance since the time he bewitched Rib.
What does he want? Is he going to execute us?!
The king spoke not a word, but beckoned for a line of gnomes to come forward with their load of strange items. He took something from one of them. A pair of antlers.
Gavin met Rib's uneasy gaze from across the stone chamber as the king held up the antlers and studied Rib from behind them.
What is he doing? Why is he looking at me like that?
Griffith's lip curled in distaste and he tossed the antlers aside, which clattered before a gnome retrieved them. A lion's mane, walrus tusks, tree branches. The king held each one up to Rib, clearly thinking about something. Rib didn't understand until the man gave a satisfied smile through what appeared to be the jaws of a shark.
He?wants to turn me into a freak!
The moment Rib realized this, he cowered away from Griffith, hiding his face in the corner of his cell.
"Please, no," he cried. "Don't make me an abomination."
"Turn around," the king ordered.
"No, you can't do this!" Rib protested.
"Give him those jaws," Damara said from behind bars. "He'll shred your innards with them."
"No he won't," Griffith growled. "I am the Master of Magics. There's no beast in my forest I haven't tamed."
What does that mean? Rib tried to make himself as small as possible. He has a potion that will make me like the rest of his creatures? Will it stop me from thinking?
"Soon, you'll all find," the king spoke, "that I can make anything a wonder to gawk at. Even traitorous scum like you."
No. Rib squeezed his eyes shut. He can't.
It was a while before he realized that Griffith had taken his leave. When silence ensued, he glanced back to see no one but Damara and Gavin in the dungeon, then slumped to the ground with a despairing groan.
What will become of us?
. . .
The ringing of glass being dragged across the floor roused Rib from his thoughts and he looked for the source. His first thought was of Griffith returning with some abominable potion, but that did not appear to be so. Damara, beside him, sat up from where she lay and also peered out the metal grate.
Where is that sound coming from? Rib was very confused, until he spotted a small creature walking down the stone corridor to stand before them. Spryte! She has our vial!
The tiny woman let the glass container fall on its side, setting one foot on it as she leaned forward to peer at him and Damara with a smirk. Her short blue hair clung to her forehead, damp from the mist, and her green hummingbird wings refused to lay flat against her back, sticking out in the places Griffith had broken them.
"Hey, fools," she said. "Look what I found." The fae woman rolled the vial back and forth under her foot, causing the drop of orange liquid to roll around inside.
What does she want with it? Rib was stunned into silence. What does she want with us?
Could she have some way to help us? Or would she even want to? Even now, she hardly seems friendly?
Behind Spryte, Gavin moved closer to the door of his cell, sitting down with a quizzical look on his face. Damara stared back at the fae woman with a calculating expression, eyes narrowed.
"I want to know what it does," Spryte declared, picking up one end of the vial and uncorking it. "You." She pointed at Damara. "Answer me."
"This is my first time seeing it," Damara lied.
"Really?" Spryte casually crossed her arms over the open lip and gazed at the woman. "Then how come I got it from your belt?"
She's good at this, Rib thought.
Damara answered with icy silence. The two women held each other's challenging stares for so long Rib thought they might never speak again.
Then, Spryte lifted the vial up off the ground, proving she still had her supernatural strength, and gave them a smug expression.
"I know what it does," she announced. "Griffith will regret having not taken your offer for it, when I pin him to the ground and crush his head between my jaws."
With that, she upturned the vial and downed the entire drop inside, tossing the glass aside and standing tall, an expectant look on her face.
She actually drank it!
Rib waited with bated breath.
At first nothing happened. Then, the fae woman cried out, seizures taking hold of her, pulling her down to her knees, to her hands, to her stomach. Writhing on the floor with dress flickering, it looked as though lightning bolted through her entire body.
Is it killing her?!
Rib gawked at the sight, alarm turning to amazement as the tiny woman's form began to change. Her spine extended, growing her a long arched neck and whip-like tail. The dress stretched over her until it tore off, revealing bright green scales underneath. Her arms and legs were sucked farther into her body and bent with new joints, while her wings were realigned and sharpened at the tips like feather daggers.
When the female turned her face upward with another gasp of pain, Rib saw that it too had changed. Her eyes, once human, where now solid blue, set among exquisitely detailed, turquoise scales. She had keen features about her dragonish muzzle, jaws lined with teeth, her long pointed ears.
The last alteration to happen was along the ridge of her curved back, where jagged fire-blue feathers grew out, starting at her head and finishing at the tip of her tail with a fan of quills.
As all changes came to an end, the newly formed fae dragon wheezed on the floor for a while. Rib met Gavin's shocked gaze with his own. Damara just leaned back with an expression of smug irritation on her face.
"I don't know about you being able to crush Griffith's head," the young woman said, "but you could give him a nasty bite on the nose."
Blinking, the fae dragon looked up at them, then stood bolt upright on her hind legs like a tiny bear. With a gasp, she stared down at her skinny, serpentine body.
"No!" she cried, taking to the air, twisting herself around to examine every inch of her shimmering hide. Pomegranate pink splashed her chest, crystal white blanched her stomach, metallic greens and blues took over the rest. "I'm supposed to be huge!"
"Why so distraught?" Damara ridiculed. "That tail makes you look quite long."
"You knew this would happen!" Spryte screamed accusations at her. "You didn't stop me!"
Damara laughed, wrapping her fingers around the metal bars locking her in. "And how could I?"
The fae dragon glowered, flashing her thin forked tongue and pearly sharp teeth. Rib could barely make out the shape of her wings, which created a faded color on either side of her body as they whirred. He saw her give him a short, perplexed look and realized she must see the true color of his hide now, but soon her expression harshened again.
Without another word, Spryte zipped out of the cavern.
What is she going to do now? Rib thought, staring after her.
"Rotten thief," Damara muttered, and lay back down again, her back turned to Rib.
Across the floor from them, Gavin gave a breathy laugh. "We had that with us?" he asked, looking at the empty glass vial. "Makes for one potent drink."
"That was the last of it," Rib murmured. "The firesap's extinct."
"Well, that's one less thing I have to worry about mixing with my prison food, I suppose."
To joke at a time like this?with no hope of escape.
&n
bsp; How can he laugh?
. . .
"I'm back!"
Rib was amazed to see Spryte come flying in.
"And this time, you won't be laughing at me." The fae dragon showed them a piece of metal in her talons.
Is that the dungeon key? Rib gaped at it.
Beside him, Damara moved closer to the bars. "How did you get that?" she asked, her voice calm and collected.
"Lifted it off His Lunacy's guards," Spryte answered smugly. "I have a proposal for you."
"And we have ears," Gavin spoke from behind her.
A proposal! Does it include getting us out?
The fae dragon grinned, still hovering in midair between their cells. "I just destroyed all the plants whose fragrance keeps His Lunacy's animals at peace with one another," she said. "By tonight, the forest will be in chaos. Beasts will turn on one another; the guards will fight for their lives. That is when we'll escape with the potion book."
She wants to help us, it's true! Rib's heart quickened in his chest. Even after Damara laughed at her.
"Why would you want that?" Damara questioned the fae dragon, seemingly unconvinced.
"Because you are going to take me to the Island," Spryte answered. "Where firebreathers once lived until I was sent to cure them."
The Island! Rib thought, his heart pounding even harder now. That's where Oriole thinks Memory went!
"There is a wizard there in debt to me for not making him known to His Lunacy," Spryte told them further. "We will have him craft the potions we want and sail back the way we came."
"The man has dragon fire?" Damara spoke in low tones.
"Kept alive in his hearth."
Perfect! Rib was convinced. We have to go.
"What is the potion you want?" Damara queried.
An evil smile spread across Spryte's face, but she did not answer.
This is really going to happen, Rib thought. We're actually going to escape!
But, wait?
"What about Oriole?" he asked. "She's being held prisoner, too. We can't leave without her."
"No, we must," Spryte responded. "She'd ruin our chances of escape."
"She wouldn't!" Rib protested.
"She would. First thing Griffith will do when his forest turns on itself is make sure the guards have Oriole protected. She's his only way of crafting potions. We try to break her free- we all get caught."
"But?" Rib couldn't imagine leaving without her. "She agreed to help us when we needed her."
"Rib," Damara looked him in the eye, "we have no choice."
It just isn't right?
"I swear," Spryte said, "by the time I'm through with Griffith, Oriole won't have anything to worry about."
Rib peered at the fae dragon to see if she was serious. She met his gaze with a vivacious, confident spark in the eye and he knew that she was.
"Alright," he agreed reluctantly.
"Who is he?" Gavin spoke up. "The wizard."
Spryte turned to him.
"Looks a lot like you," she said. "Lives with a group of people, all shipwrecked on the Island after Huskhns killed their captain and crew."
"Huskhns?" Gavin gripped the bars of his cell door. "What's the wizard's name?"
"Brock."
Gavin's face slackened in shock.
"Do you know him?" Damara inquired.
The young man blinked slowly. "Brock was?the name of my father."
"What?!" Rib exclaimed. "Could it be him?"
Gavin was quiet. Everyone, even Spryte, waited for his answer.
"I was just a child when my parents' lands were invaded," he spoke in a daze. "We all boarded a ship, us and a dozen other families. We thought we'd gotten away until the Huskhns took over our vessel and killed everyone who fought back. They took me away with the other children, onto a different boat to be sold as slaves."
"That's the story Oriole told me!" Rib said. "Huskhns fled the ship when she and the Colony landed on it. Gavin, your parents are on the Island!"
His friend looked like he could barely believe it.
"Good then," Spryte declared over the sound of falling water outside. "It's decided. We escape tonight!"
We're getting out of here! Rib got up and began to pace, his mind racing. Gavin will see his parents again, we'll get the cure?
And I might?just might, find Memory there.
. . .
Rib was alerted by a terrible screech outside.
"Is it starting?" he asked, but Damara shushed him. She was crouched by the door, listening. As was Gavin, on the other side.
Through the crashing waterfall, the night air was filled with a wolf's howl, followed by a dozen more. Some sort of braying was heard, a yelp, another screech.
Then total mayhem.
"It's happening!" Rib cried over the blood-curdling commotion of what must have been hundreds of animals. His ears rang with the sounds of unfathomable creatures fighting and killing one another. The clamor echoed inside the dungeon, bouncing off stone walls, overtaking the din of the waterfall.
Rib watched with wide eyes as Spryte flew in, laughing delightedly.
"I'll be back with the book!" she yelled, presenting Damara the key before zipping away again.
Hurriedly, the young woman reached through the metal grate, turning the key and pushing the heavy door open. Rib stepped out of the cell cautiously while Damara went on to unlock Gavin's door.
When all three of them were free, they gathered close together, watching the exit.
A few minutes passed.
Come on, come on, Rib begged Spryte silently. Where are you?
He could hear the yells of guards, guttural screams. A horned squirrel came scampering into the dungeon for refuge, but nothing followed it.
Finally, Spryte reappeared, gripping the oversized book in her claws. Damara rushed to grab it from her, but the fae dragon flew out of her reach with a glare.
"What are you doing?" Spryte demanded. "Get on the dragon and let's go!"
Rib crouched as Damara pulled Gavin by the hand to the saddle, urging them to go faster. The moment they were on his back, he stood and Spryte snapped at him to follow. As he moved to the open archway, he looked past the waterfall to see Oriole down below, cowering against the cliff with feathers trembling. Just as Spryte had predicted, twenty-some guards defended her against the pack of blue wolves he'd seen just the other night. Beyond them, the meadow was writhing with battling beasts and creatures of all kinds.
"Hey!" Spryte hissed at him and he turned to see her beckoning him the other way.
Heart pounding in his chest, he ran along the stone ledge until it ran out. He stared at Spryte moving up the cliff, a vertical ascent.
Can Gavin and Damara hold on for that?! Rib panicked, opening his wings.
Instead of flying headfirst for the top, he beat his wings heavily, keeping his body level for his riders. As he did, he was able to glance back at the forest. Animals flew from the trees, dark shapes in the night. Moonlight reflected off the pool underneath him, where the nymphs swam in agitated circles, touching each other, diving under.
Reaching the top of the cliff, he looked for Spryte, who hovered with the book still gripping in her talons. Now that they had escaped the walls, he knew exactly where to go and pointed his snout for the port.
With the weight of Gavin and Damara there on his back to assure him, he flew as fast as he could beside Spryte. The chaos could still be heard, despite the distance they rapidly put behind them. Soon Rib could see the beach, and the port where their boat was docked.
People with lanterns and torches stood on the outskirts of the town, peering in the direction of the clamoring Fairy Realm. Rib didn't pay them any attention as he soared over the rooftops and streets to find their boat. Alighting on the dock beside it, he felt Damara and Gavin dismount.
"Where's Mortaug?" he asked.
Gavin glanced at their boat, then put his hand to his mouth and gave an ear-piercing whistle, facing t
he town. He waited a minute, then whistled again.
Nothing's happening, Rib just began to think when a bark sounded across the waters. All of them looked towards the sound. The shape of a monigon appeared between houses.
Gavin's pet!
The animal began bounding towards them, and Rib opened his eyes wide in surprise.
Hesper?
"Hesp!" Gavin laughed, catching the monigon as she jumped into his arms.
From the same direction she had come, three more forms appeared, two human, one monigon.
It's them!
"What happened to you?" Jasper demanded, his and Mortaug's feet pounding on wooden planks as they came. "You've been gone for days! Hesper came and found us this morning. And what is this?"
The boy looked at Spryte, who sneered at him.
"Mortaug," Damara said. She scrounged around the back of the Merry May to retrieve the Captain's map. "We need to get out of here immediately. We'll explain later, but we need to go to an island somewhere on here?Spryte?"
The fae dragon went to where Damara and Mortaug had their heads bent over the map, but she clearly had trouble seeing it past the large book she was carrying.
"Give me that!" Damara snapped and took it from Spryte, though she snarled. "Just show us where we're going."
Does she know? Rib worried as Spryte alighted on Damara's shoulder to look.
"There," the fae dragon said, pointing at a place on the map with the tip of her tail. "That's where the wizard is."
Chapter 16