The sapphire blue ocean
whizzed past Zoltar as he soared out of the mist. The golden sun danced on his
obsidian scales, driving away the damp, cold vapour from the maze and replacing
it with excited anticipation. He was on his way.
“I never want to do that
again. Please tell me we don’t have to go through that again?” Emerald
shivered, shaking her wings and tail. Her scales were slowly fading from grey
to vibrant emerald green.
“Only when we come back to
the island, which will be in a while and it won’t be as bad as this time since
Shiraku will be under close supervision.” Zoltar shot Shiraku a look and she
smiled sheepishly.
“Sorry about that. I don’t
know what came over me.”
“I don’t know what came
over you either,” Zoltar arched his eye brows and grinned. He couldn’t stay mad
at her. Besides, it was kind of hard to talk to a dragon that kept twitching
and scratching from no apparent reason.
“Are you okay?” Zoltar
asked, cocking his head.
“Oh I’m fine. Just waiting
for you to finish talking so that I can start swimming,” Shiraku replied as she
gave her head another good itch.
“Oh for scales sake, just
go. You’re enough to drive a dragon to madness,” Zoltar roared, rolling his
eyes.
There was a loud splash
from below as Shiraku dived into the sea. A few seconds later she leapt out of
the crystal clear water, her scales gleaming like polished turquoise as the
diamond drops of water slid down her wings.
“Feel better?” Zoltar
asked, peering behind him at Shiraku, who was smiling happily as she shook the
water off her snout and tail.
“Oh, the sea feels so good
after all these months. I had to swim in the lakes on the island, but they just
weren’t the same. There’s something about the way the salt water tickles your
gills and the currents pull at your tail. Oh, I have missed it,” she smiled
again and tilted her wings to catch the sunlight, so that her whole body looked
like the bluest abalone shell.
Zoltar sighed. The way
Shiraku had described the sea had made him remember that she still had the
choice of leaving for the Sea Talon Kingdom at any time. Felistia too
could go back to the Ice Talon Kingdom. Zoltar had known that they'd probably
go back to their own tribes, but the thought of them really going just felt
surreal. They'd been with him the whole time he'd been on the island and he'd
kind of gotten used to seeing them every day. He'd got to know them pretty
well and didn't really want to say goodbye to them. Still he had to bite the
bone sometime.
"F-Felistia?"
Zoltar started shakily, dreading the answer he was going to get, "Have you
decided whether you want to go back to the Ice Kingdom?" He flinched as
Felistia's wings faltered for a second, "Not that I'm rushing you or
anything. I just wanted to know if you've made a decision."
"I haven't really made
a decision yet, Zoltar," Felistia spat with surprising anger.
"I didn't mean to
upset you. It's just that I need to go to the Ice Kingdom for...something
and I was wondering if you could stay a little while since we're going that way
anyway?"
Felistia didn't answer him and
instead gazed off into the distance as though she were staring across the
frozen tundra’s of the Ice Kingdom.
Zoltar sank a few wing
beats away from Felistia. He hadn't meant to come off rude or pushy. He wasn't
even sure how'd he'd upset her. Why had she gotten so angery? Zoltar just
couldn't get his head around it. He was almost relieved when Emerald brushed
her wing tip up against his.
"What was that all
about?" Emerald asked, a confused and yet sympathetic look on
her snout.
"I actually don't
know. It just came out of nowhere. I was just asking her if she'd decided to go
home," Zoltar murmured, confusion still clouding his head.
"Maybe she's just a
bit stressed after going through the maze. I am, thanks to Shiraku,"
Emerald gave the Sea Talon a significant look, "Just give her some time.
She'll come around."
“Look. There’s the
continent,” Shiraku called, pointing a silver claw at the dark line on the
horizon.
Zoltar looked up, his heart
fluttering like a small bird. The shore line of the Moon Talon Kingdom was fast
approaching. Dark forest outlined the coast line. Zoltar could see small silver
lizards springing from tree to tree as they hurried back to their
hollows.
The sun was slowly dropping
lower in the sky and as the band of dragons neared the shore, streaks of bright
pinks and marigold were starting to stream across the sky.
Zoltar swooped in and
landed on the thin strip of beach, spraying pebbles in all direction. He heard
the others touchdown close be. He looked around to see Felistia walk past him
and up a sand dune towards the forest. Her tail was lashing and her wings were
hunched over. She curled up without a word.
‘Something's wrong with her,’ Zoltar worried, staring at the silent ice
talon. Had she just been hiding who she was on the island to take advantage of
him or was something else going one? He'd have to keep a close eye on her and
hope that it was just a faze.
“I have never seen a sunset
over the ocean,” Emerald gazed out onto the ocean, the sun's dyeing light
reflecting off her golden eyes, “It’s so beautiful.”.
“Yes it is the best place
to see the sun go down,” Shiraku sighed, sitting down and staring over the
miles of sea before her.
“It is beautiful,” Zoltar
admitted, think back to the Shadow Lands sunsets; they were never as good
as this.
Emerald curled up next
to Zoltar, her tail draped over her talons. She smiled at him as she watched
the spectacle silently. Zoltar felt a rush of content brush over him. Emerald
was safe and Shiraku and Felistia were close by. He was on the contentment and
soon would be on his way to the Ice Talon Kingdom, but fear still clawed at him
deep down. There was something wrong with Felistia and Shiraku could still
leave at any second. He'd just have to wait and see what tomorrow brought.
The sun, like a fiery
yellow orb splashed into the ocean sending a spray of glowing orange coals
scattering across the sky. The pebbles on the beach sparkled a golden brown as
the sun cast its amber rays over the seashore. The lapping waves shone in the
dying light as the sky slowly shifted from bright pink and scarlet to violet
and indigo. Soon the stars sparked into sight and the moons’ glittering silver
light gleamed down on the four sleeping dragons, curled up on the beach.
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