Dragons' Onyx (8 page)

“I shall,” Alex nodded. “That news is a bit of a relief to me. At least he can handle a sword without cutting himself. I was worried that Niki would not be capable of performing when called upon.”

“Me, too,” admitted the king. “Well, I have a ship to catch.”

“Have a safe voyage, Arik,” smiled Alex.

“I worry more about the three of you,” frowned the king. “Tanya must be mad at me.”

“I don’t think she is angry,” replied Alex as movement off to one side of him distracted him. “Her skills match the task, and she knows it.”

Prince Midge and a blue, female fairy hovered in the corridor alongside Alex.

“I am glad that I caught you before you left, Alex,” chirped Prince Midge. “I have been assigning fairy guides to each departing group. I have a special fairy for your team. Her name is Bantam.”

The female fairy separated from Prince Midge and did an acrobatic bow in front of Alex’s face. “Prince Midge saved the best for you,” she giggled. “I look forward to helping you teach the ogres some manners.”

“She does tend to get a bit aggressive at times,” grinned Prince Midge. “I have to hurry to catch the other groups. Take good care of Bantam.”

Prince Midge darted towards the ceiling and soared away.

“Good bye to you, too, Prince Midge,” Bantam said sarcastically as the fairy prince left. “Somebody needs to teach the prince some manners.”

“And I think I know who is willing to take that job,” laughed Alex as he winked at King Arik. “Come, Bantam. We have people waiting on us.”

The inhuman screech tore through King Arik’s head as he gazed upward into the fog. It wasn’t light enough to see anything, but he was sure that something large and dark had just passed a few paces over the top of the mast of the Barnacle. Arik shook his head and looked to see if anyone else had noticed it. Prince Darok’s eyes were large orbs gazing upward. He held throwing axes in each hand, and his wide-open mouth showed a large set of clenched teeth. His huge nostrils were flared, and he appeared to be ready to attack anything that came into view.

Prince Garong, Eltar, and Pioti had arrows nocked and pointing upward. The faces of Prince Garong and Eltar were impassive, but Pioti’s expression was one of fear. King Arik wondered what his own face looked like. He certainly was fearful of whatever was screaming above them. Captain Hill, as he preferred to be called, was not even looking up. His eyes were constantly scanning the fog from port to starboard. He seemed oblivious to the creature overhead.

King Arik lowered his bow and headed towards the helm. He noticed that the crew of the Barnacle was also trying to ignore the commotion, although they were less successful at it than the captain was. They constantly stole glances upward as they lowered lead lines overboard to test the depth of the sea.

“Shouldn’t it be getting light soon?” King Arik asked Captain Hill when he reached the helm.

“This is about as light as it is going to get until this fog burns off,” answered the captain. “You won’t see any sun this far south. We passed under the Darkness during the night. Can’t you feel it?”

“Feel it?” questioned the king.

“Aye, feel it,” repeated Captain Hill. “It is a foul feeling, akin to being in a smoke-filled room. It is not so much an irritation of the eyes as it is an irritation of the spirit. It weighs heavy on me. I guess not everyone can feel it.”

“I guess I never thought about it,” mused the king. “I never experienced life that wasn’t under the Darkness until just recently. I truly enjoy the sun and the stars, but I thought my feelings about it were jubilation at banishing the Darkness.”

“Well, that is something for you to feel jubilant about,” nodded Captain Hill. “You bring up a good point, though. Those that were born under the Darkness have little to compare their feelings to. Quiet. Here it comes again.”

King Arik swiftly nocked an arrow and raised his bow skyward. Captain Hill shook his head and gently put his hand on Arik’s arm, forcing the king to lower his bow. The wind blew through the stern of the ship like a small gale. Arik could feel the wind slapping his face as the creature soared overhead, even lower than on the last pass. Once again, the inhuman screech coursed though Arik’s body. In seconds it was dead calm again.

“Why did you lower my arm?” King Arik asked after the creature was gone.

“Why in the world would you want to antagonize it?” chuckled the captain. “Do you think your arrow is going to fell a dragon when you can’t even see it?”

“So it is a dragon?” questioned the king.

“Of course it is,” replied Captain Hill. “Nothing else can create a wind like that. The wingspan on some of them is huge.”

“Aren’t you afraid of them?” inquired Arik.

“Sort of,” shrugged the captain. “Being on a ship is one of the safest places to be, though. Oh, I’ve lost a mast to one of them once, but mostly they just like to terrorize us. See, they can’t get to us with all that rigging up above. I used to think the dragons were fairly stupid because they always fly over us and yet they never get to eat one of us. Over the years I have realized that they just want to scare us. To be sure, they would love for one of us to fall overboard so they could swoop down and grab a quick snack, but mostly they are just having fun. The one that snapped my mast probably miscalculated in the fog.”

“So you think they are harmless?” an astonished king asked.

“I didn’t say that,” chuckled the captain. “I would be quaking to have one of them above me on land. They could swoop down and snare you like an eagle grabs a rabbit. I guess I just like having all this rigging between me and them.”

“Couldn’t they pick up the whole ship?” asked Arik.

“Not a ship as large as the Barnacle,” the captain shook his head. “Whatever they tried to grab would break off in their claws before they could lift it. Don’t worry about the dragons until you get on land. The real danger here is this fog. It’s pretty hard to navigate through. One false move and we will all end up on rocks. If we are lucky that is. We could end up in the sea and then it would be time to worry about the dragons.”

“I’ve done a bit of sailing myself,” nodded Arik. “I used to fish every day. Of course, I never sailed anything as large as the Barnacle, nor did I normally venture far from port, but I understand what you mean when you talk about running aground in waters that you are not familiar with. Have you sailed these waters much?”

“Not too often,” answered the captain, “but I have been here a few times before. I normally keep farther offshore than we are today because I was not looking to make landfall. We used to hug the coast of the Isle of Grakus during the wars. It was the only way to make the Sordoans think that we were coming from Grakus instead of Targa. Not many sailors are willing to sail these waters. The barely submerged rocks will rip your hull out from beneath you. Plus, it is where the dragons like to play.”

King Arik placed his bow on the deck and pulled the Sword of Heavens clear of its sheath. He rotated while holding the sword out before him. Finally, he sheathed the Sword of Heavens and retrieved his bow.

“It’s abeam now,” reported the king. “Have we changed course any?”

“Nothing worth mentioning,” replied the captain as he pulled a knife from his belt and tapped its handle on the wooden wheel.

The noise was not loud, but it was distinctive. The crewmen immediately turned to look towards the helm, and the captain held his arm outstretched to port. Each crewman duplicated the signal so that the captain knew that he was understood. As the crew returned to their duties, the captain began turning the wheel slowly to port.

“The bottom comes up real quick in these parts,” announced Captain Hill. “Have you figured out what you are going to do when you get ashore?”

“Not entirely,” sighed the king. “I have to follow the Sword of Heavens to the Dragons’ Onyx. I assume that there will be dragons where the gem is. My goal is to get the gem and return to Tagaret. You are going to have to stay until I can accomplish that.”

“This is your ship, lad,” chuckled the captain. “You tell me where to wait, and I will be there when you get back.”

“Hopefully there will be a town along the coast so you can stay at an inn or something,” suggested King Arik.

“I am happy enough on the ship,” shrugged Captain Hill. “Besides, all of the towns near the tip of Grakus have been abandoned. That is where the dragons like to play the most. You reckon to kill the dragons and steal the gem?”

“I would prefer not to,” frowned the king. “I have not had to resort to any such things so far. If I get a chance to talk to them, I will try to explain what I am doing.”

“You are going to talk to a dragon?” the captain asked incredulously. “What makes you think they will understand you?”

“The Sword of Heavens showed us a vision,” explained King Arik. “The dragons were talking in the vision. They are expecting a human to try to get the Dragons’ Onyx.”

“Well, I’ll be,” the captain shook his head. “I would wager that there are quite a few skippers who would be embarrassed to know that the dragons understand speech.”

“I can imagine,” chuckled the king.

“Bottom coming up quick,” shouted one of the crewmen.

“Stern anchor away now,” ordered the captain. “Drop all sails, save the jib. Trim it tight. Be quick about it, lads.”

The crew moved quickly and efficiently, as if they had been expecting those very orders. Arik realized that they probably had been.

“Sorry for the shouting,” apologized the captain, “but like I said earlier, the rocks are more of a threat than the dragons. Of course, I will be singing a different tune when we lower you into a dingy for the ride to shore. There’ll be no rigging above you then.”

Arik gulped at the thought of a dragon swooping down on him and his friends in an open dingy.

“There’s land afore you, lad,” pointed Captain Hill. “It’s a land long ago abandoned. Nobody lives here anymore. Not since a little after the Collapse anyways.”

King Arik looked forward and saw the hazy outline of small hills in front of the ship. He scanned the coast looking for any hint of life. He saw a small run-down fishing shack and nothing more.

“Do you think your men can get us into that shack?” inquired Arik. “It might be a safe place to avoid the dragons while I figure out what to do next.”

“If that is where you want to go,” nodded the captain, “then that is where we will get you. It does make a good landmark for when you want to return to the ship. I am going to try to inch the ship as close to shore as possible so we can get the horses off in a sane manner. With any luck at all, we won’t need to use a dingy.”

“I hadn’t even thought about that,” admitted King Arik. “I expected to unload onto a dock. How will we get the horses off?”

“A sling and a windlass,” answered the captain. “Not much different than lowering cargo into the hold, except the animals might spook.”

Arik watch the crewman paying out the stern anchor line as the Barnacle inched towards shore. The man stood ready to tie the line off as soon as the captain gave the order. Another man stood in the bow ready to drop one of the forward anchors. Arik admired the efficiency that could only be obtained by a crew that was used to sailing with one another. The Barnacle shuddered and came to a halt.

“We’ve run aground?” asked the king.

“Nope,” smiled the captain. “We’re beached. These lads are good. Anything visible other than sand and they would have sounded off without hesitation. In these parts, the water is clearer than the sky. Let’s get you and your men ashore before the fog lifts. We don’t want the dragons to see us unloading.”

King Arik nodded and hurried to Chaco. He informed the rest of the group about the shack, and they got their horses ready for the unloading. The whole procedure was performed as efficiently as the beaching, and the group was ashore quickly.

“We will move the Barnacle off the beach and anchor out a ways,” a crewman informed the king. “One of us will always be watching the shack. If you need to be picked up at night, light a small fire. It doesn’t have to be big. We will spot even a small one.”

“Thank you,” responded King Arik. “I am proud to have such a crew associated with Alcea.”

The crewman beamed with pride as he bowed and returned to the ship. The Knights moved swiftly into the shack. King Arik removed the Sword of Heavens and tested for the direction. He peeked his head out of the door and looked across the road that ran along the coast. He saw large trees, barely visible in the fog, on the other side of a large field. He closed the door and turned to his fellow travelers.

“There is a forest not too far from here,” he announced. “We could stay here until nightfall and then enter the forest, or we can try it under the cover of this fog. I have been in a forest under a dragon before. It is not a pleasant feeling, but if we avoid clearings, we should be all right. I have no idea what is going to happen from here on out, but let me set your expectations. We are not here to kill dragons. We are here to retrieve the Dragons’ Onyx. These creatures are intelligent and can talk. If I have a choice, that is the weapon that I will choose to use.”

“Are the dragons likely to be friendly?” asked Pioti.

“I really don’t know,” admitted King Arik. “The only dragon that I have seen so far is the one that was trying to eat me in the forest. We should assume that they are friendly, but be prepared for them to be hostile. I also don’t know anything about the land that we are in. Prince Oscar told me some pretty horrifying stories about all sorts of creatures down here, but he did not know if there was any truth to the rumors.”

“Do you want me to go up and check for dragons,” chirped Prince Midge as he stuck his head out of Arik’s pocket.

“No,” replied the Bringer. “I do not want to alert the dragons to your presence. Who knows when that secrecy might come in handy.”

“In Aquina, the dragons would hunt at night as well as in daytime,” offered Prince Garong. “I assume that these are probably the same dragons. If that is so, we are better off using the fog for cover.”