Rib paced the sea serpent's crown.
It's been a week. How long does it take to get from Husk to Wystil?
Is Zheal already there?
"Rib," Damara said from the tip of the water beast's snout as he peered past the webbing at her. With a blanket bunched over her shoulders, she pointed to the horizon. "Iceberg?"
Rib glided down to join her. In the distance, a peak of white poked out of the ocean like a single, misplaced mountain. Squinting, he could just barely make out the bluish shadows of the sides not facing the sun.
Water.
"It is," he said.
Damara exhaled in relief. As the sea serpent approached the mound of floating ice, she turned to Rib and began untying all the empty gourds from his saddle.
"Would you fish for us?" she asked. "That biscuit was my last."
"Yes," Rib responded. "Of course."
When they reached the iceberg, he glided Damara down to it, where she immediately began chipping away pieces with her knife to cram into her gourds. Rib watched her put shavings of ice in her mouth before gnawing at the frozen mound himself.
How refreshing the slow trickle of melt water was down his throat. He relished it, glad to have the taste of salty ocean mist washed from his tongue.
Alright, he sighed. I should fish.
He left Damara to her work and caught a few fish for himself, then brought one back to her. She sat on the iceberg with her blanket under her, waiting for him.
"Thank you," she said, taking the freshly killed fish from his jaws. It impressed him how quickly she flayed it with her blade and picked out a bit of raw meat. She grimaced as she swallowed it, but continued eating, occasionally drawing a translucent bone from her mouth.
Humans eat so slow, Rib thought. Do they have to chew everything?
Watching her, he kneaded his claws into the ice and fought the urge to rush her.
"You're anxious to leave," Damara commented and tossed the half eaten fish to him, which he instinctively snapped up. She stood to stuff her gourds into his saddle. "You're right, we should go."
The serpent hovering right by them lowered its snout for Damara to climb up. Rib alighted on its dome, relieved as they headed on their way again.
"Rib." Damara came to sit in front of him, looking him in the eye. "I don't know what to expect when we get there. You have how many siblings? Six?"
"Yes."
"So that's five living in Wystil," Damara calculated, "with Tide, Lynx, and Rosefinch. There are seven dragons in the upper kingdom, then?"
He nodded, fear tightening over his guts.
"Damara, what if Zheal takes my whole family?" he whispered hoarsely. "What if he takes everyone?"
She looked down, fiddling with her knife as she thought. Rib looked at the crystal pendant, their precious torchstone, on her neck and remembered how Zheal had smiled as he put it on her.
Would he?Rib wondered, a thought occurring to him. If she?
"You have to tell him to stop."
Damara met his eyes. "He wouldn't."
"But he's in love with you!" Rib blurted. "He wants you to marry him."
The young woman snorted. "He's in love with a lie, Rib. We've made a fool out of him. As soon as he realizes that, he'll turn on us."
"How can you be so sure? What if he changed for you?"
Damara laughed bitterly. Rib's gaze fell on the glinting tip of her dagger, which she felt the sharp edge of with her thumb.
Right?She doesn't think people can change.
Rib lay down wearily, seeing no use in arguing.
"Then what are you going to do?"
Damara gave a sigh and sheathed her knife.
"I just want to heal Catherine," she murmured.
"You promised me?" Rib said. "Before we even left Wystil, you promised to help get my sister back."
Damara closed her eyes.
"I know. But it might not be just your sister anymore."
Rib stared at her, the downward turn of her lips, the remorse on her face.
She doesn't think she can help me.
And if it's true?If Zheal gets what he wants?
What can I even do?
. . .
"Why has it stopped? I didn't order it to stop."
Damara stood on the serpent's snout, glaring into its eyes. The water beast's head was still clouded with magic, Rib could tell, but it no longer looked at the young woman expectantly. Rather, it stared right through her, focusing on nothing at all. Rib flew a little ways away to gaze at it from a distance, just now realizing how gaunt its hunched body was.
"We've starved it!" he exclaimed. "It can't go any further. We have to feed it now."
"Feed it what?" Damara said. "It could eat a whale for every fish you catch."
"We have to try."
Rib circled over the waters until he spotted a fish, and dove for it. But when he brought it over, the sea serpent wouldn't open its mouth. Even when Damara tried to get it to, it just didn't seem to understand the command. Slowly, it slumped forward and Rib rushed to get Damara on his back.
The young woman cursed as the serpent began to fall forward, sinking head first.
No, no, no. Rib watched first its muzzle disappear, then its dulled eyes, followed by its withered frills. One by one, the spiny arches of its body relaxed completely, flattening out before slipping under. We drove it to death!
Rib stared at the place it had just been, horrified to be left with nowhere to land. His wings beat frantically at the thought of it.
"We'll have to fly the rest of the way," Damara growled. "We've been traveling for over two weeks. It can't be far now."
But what if it is? Rib feared. Will I be driven to death too?!
"Come on!" his rider urged.
Swallowing, he turned for Wystil's direction and flew at a steady pace, eyes straining for any sort of speck in the distance. The waves rolling below looked hungry to swallow him and Damara and everything they've worked for.
Please, he thought. Let us be close?
. . .
This is amazing.
Rib stared around at the thousands of stars spattered across the night sky as he flew. Mysterious light streams of green and pink swirled above him, distracting him from his monotonous labor.
Hours ago, when his vision was red with the setting sun, he'd been struggling to keep on, the idea of giving into exhaustion making rounds in his head. Then, it was as though his body had clicked into some sort of survival endurance, matching his actions to a natural rhythm.
Beat one, two, three, glide?Beat one, two, three, glide?
Every time he threw his wings down, the air was pushed from his lungs. And every time he lifted them up for another stroke, his lungs were filled. He could feel his heart pounding faithfully inside his chest, giving him a sense of wonder and gratitude.
I never knew I could fly for this long.
Rib gazed up at the pure white moon occasionally swept over by the strange colorful glow. It was so round and perfect, he thought. It inspired him.
This was the first time on this trip that he knew exactly what he was doing. On his back, he carried the highly anticipated cure, and in his head, he carried the knowledge of which way to go. Everyone was depending on him.
He felt like a hero.
All the while that he flew, Damara remained silent, but that was just as well. He was afraid that talking might break his pattern anyway.
She must be impressed, though, he took pride in himself.
Rib thought he should try and formulate a plan, except he had no idea what was happening in Wystil. All he knew was that he should first give Damon the torchstone and potion book, so he could craft the plague cure. Then he would find out what Tyrone was doing, if Zheal had already captured more dragons, how he should save them.
Despite the many things left unknown, Rib felt optimistic. Something in the crisp, night air gave him the hope that all would be well.
This spirited mood lasted him a while, u
ntil the winds picked up and Rib was able to simply soar in the direction he needed to go. With this change, he found himself growing drowsy, wings fixed open, breath slow and deep.
The mystical streams of light had gone from the sky and a fog rolled in to blot out all the stars and even the moon. Rib's eyes became half-hooded and unfocused as there was nothing left to engage them. He entered into a kind of trance, heading onward without thinking about it. He was barely aware of the black waves beneath him, the thick fog he sliced through, the sound of far-off thunder. He was, in fact, dozing on wing.
You've come a long way, Rib. In his open-eyed dream state, he saw Gavin running swiftly over the pitch dark water. Taking a casual, twisting leap whenever the waves sent up a spray before him, his friend spoke in a melodic voice. I hope you know that.
Gleaming celestial pink and green, an infinite number of monigon hounds raced with him in sailing bounds. They summersaulted over the furl of waves and sprung from transparent icebergs that rose to the surface.
They continued this for an indeterminate period of time, then dove under and disappeared, leaving Gavin alone to sprint his last stretch across the ocean.
I'm proud of you, old friend. With a fleeting wave, the young man took his own dive into the water.
Rib's bizarre hallucinations dimmed to form a shadowy tunnel around him, leaving nothing but a soft white opening for him to fly towards.
Only when the screech of a sea wyvern pierced through the thinning fog did Rib start awake and lose the tunnel vision.
I've been flying all this time? He stared around in wonder at himself. How long has it been?
Peering through the mist, he saw that the stars had paled and the sky was now lightening up.
Morning already! I flew through the night!
Another sea wyvern screeched nearby, followed by the squabbling of a gull.
Wait. Rib blinked as the two winged creatures went sparring past him, feather against scale. If they're here, then?we must be near land!
As the sun began to show its bright and burning dome, the last of the mist was cleared away and Rib gawked at the sight of Wystil ahead, hearteningly close.
"Damara!" he exclaimed. "We made it!"
She must have been asleep, for he felt her stir in the saddle before her legs grew tense against his sides.
"We did?" Her voice sounded disbelieving at first, then with a laugh, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Rib, you saved us."
Saved us? Rib was taken aback. Is she actually embracing me?
It was so unexpected, he didn't even know how to respond.
Above Wystil hung a massive storm that flickered with lightning bolts. Dark grey appeared to be smeared from the clouds to the land, a tell-tale sign of heavy rain.
Rib beat his wings hard when a strong wind suddenly assaulted him from the side, as if to throw him. The ocean below was licked into restless glassy waves, spitting up foam.
Whoa, Rib thought as he fought to stay on course for the very last stretch. It's a good thing this weather hit us so close to shore!
The more he had to wrestle with the wind, the more aware he became of the terrible aching in his muscle and bones. But at last he reached land, now subject to the impressive downpour of the storm. Immediately, he alighted on the edge of the sheer cliffs, which shook with the waves smashing against their bases.
The ache in his body was now almost unbearable. He collapsed on the sodden ground, watching through the rain while Damara leapt off his back and stood with head raised to the sky. The torchstone glowed a healthy orange around her neck. Her clothes and hair were already soaked through, but she didn't seem to care. She just laughed, teeth flashing white in the hefty shower.
To Rib's right were the mountains separating them from Cliffport and the rest of the kingdom. He'd decided to land here in case the Huskhns were by the docks. On the other side of him was a creek that flooded right off the cliff to descend in a waterfall, bent and swept up by the coastal wind.
I'm so sore, he groaned inwardly, letting his head roll on its side where he lay like a heavy piece of driftwood. How was I able to fly so far?
Damara came and crouched before him, her face now serious. Water dripped off her freckled nose and sharp chin. With blue eyes as pale as the rain, she studied him.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yes," he moaned. "But I could lie here for days?"
The young woman furrowed her brow.
"Rib, we need to get to Damon."
"In this weather?"
"We've been gone for months. If you want, I'll take the book and go. You need rest."
"No?" Rib's limbs trembled as he tried to lift himself up off the ground. He barely got halfway before a throbbing pang forced him back down. Crumpling into the mud, Rib felt almost as useless as he had when the muffle moths' dust crippled him. He looked up at Damara, who now took the potion book from his saddle and shielded it from the rain.
"Wait," he whimpered. "I don't want you to go alone. The Huskhns could be there."
"Which is why you should stay." She gave him a slight smile. "I'll be fine."
"Damara!" he called after her as she turned and began heading up along the surging creek. The unyielding ache of his body wouldn't even allow him to lift his head to watch her disappear into the downpour.
Soon she was gone and Rib turned his face into the puddled ground, angry at himself for not being able to follow her, fearful as he thought of Zheal somewhere out there.
Now I'm utterly alone, he cried into the mud and leaf litter. And too weak to do anything.
Chapter 28