Uncharted Land
Mist lay before them on the path. The trees were thick trunked and the air felt heavy. The crews looked at the path with great uneasiness.
"Come on boys, with me around nothing could possibly go wrong," Sarah said. Head held high with confidence she led the way. Her soft cartilaginous horns vibrated as she used her sonar to scan for hidden creatures. The crew all had their hands on their pistols especially the crew that was hauling the provisions.
"This place is racking my nerves," one sailor said.
"Sarah is using her sonar to detect any dangerous creatures that may be lurking ahead," Jack said.
"Provided that the creatures are not shrouded with some magic that will block my sonar. You know I actually never could detect Davy Jones' ship the Flying Dutchman. Many times he snuck up on me when I went out hunting on the sea," Sarah said. The crew shuddered at the mention of Davy Jones.
"Just be glad you're rid of him," Sarah said.
"How does she get all her information?" Mr. Gibbs asked with shock.
"It's not that hard to tap into the information and gossip highway," Sarah said.
Suddenly Sarah stopped. Her cartilaginous horns started vibrating fiercely. She turned her head one direction, then another and then she went completely still. All was quiet, or so it seemed. Sarah was picking up supersonic sounds in frequencies that only her dragon ears could hear and sonar receptors detect. After some time Jack broke the silence.
"What is it?" he whispered.
She lowered her head, fanned out her cartilaginous horns and closed her eyes. Images filled her mind, a Chinese dragon and in its mouth was some sort of talisman. Sarah opened her eyes and looked back over her shoulder at the crew.
"Stay here and keep quiet," Sarah said.
She bounded off through the jungle. Her cartilaginous horns vibrated vigorously, first the ones on the right side of her head, then the left, trying to pick up from which direction the supersonic sounds were coming from. The frequency took her off the main trail on down a much less blazed trail. The frequency was growing stronger. Finally she came out into a clearing. In the clearing was a statue of a Chinese Dragon. There in its mouth was the Key. Sarah approached with caution, moving toward it slowly sideways. It was the talisman that was giving off the frequency. It was circular, with two dragons twisting around each other, surrounding a stunning blue stone, the Talisman of Water.
Sarah placed her black paw on the stone, behind her and off to her right came a terrible hissing sound. Sarah turned to see a blue scaled Chinese Dragon, the Water Element Dragon, and Guardian of the Talisman of Water. The dragon roared at Sarah and lunged at her. Sarah yelled with fright, grabbed the talisman and ducked. The dragon crashed into the Water Shrine. Sarah put the talisman in her hip pannier and ran back the way she came. The Water Dragon gave her chase. Sarah ran screaming. A big ball of water flew over her head. She ran past her companions.
"Just like her father, a complete coward, running away from a fight," Barbossa said with much disapproval.
"Come on Sarah, you can take that thing on," Jack hollered at her. Sarah hit the brakes and looked back at him. The crew started battling the Water Dragon. Their weapons were useless against the beast's diamond hard scales.
"We need to be able to slip our blades under those scales," Teague said.
"If only Sarah would help us, the big coward," Barbossa said gesturing back at the curled up black lump behind them. Jack dodged the Water Dragons razor sharp claws and ran back to Sarah's curled up form.
He peeled Sarah's tailfins away from her face.
"Come on Sarah. You can take that thing on; you've got the fire power, the claws, the teeth, and the strength. You every bit as powerful as that dragon," Jack said. He pulled on her tail trying to get her up. Sarah yanked the tail away and covered her head with the tailfin.
"You're no coward, what's your problem?" Jack asked. There came a muffled reply from the curled up dragon.
"What?" Jack said. Another muffled reply.
"What? I can't hear you through your tail," Jack said. Sarah popped her head up.
"I said I can't bring myself to fight back," Sarah said.
"Why?" Jack asked.
"I don't want to be the Black Dragon of Death. I don't want to have the reputation of killing things, man or beast," Sarah said.
"Listen, if you don't help there could be a massacre on our hands. We can't hold up against that thing," Jack said. Sarah's head frill and cartilaginous horns drooped in obvious reluctance, her eyes filled with doubt. Jack gave up and giving a gesture like he was pushing an invisible object, he returned to the battle.
Sarah sat in misery. She wanted to help them battle the Water Dragon but she didn't want to kill another soul. She stood up and watched the fight go on. People were being hurtled through the air, water gushed in torrents from the beast's mouth and screams of pain and agony filled the air. Then Sarah became resolved.
'There comes a time in a dragon's life when a dragon's got to do what a dragon's got to do,' she thought. Inside her was a chamber that built the fire bolts. Fire, electricity and acid filled the chamber. She inhaled sharply, filling her lungs with air and when she exhaled, a massive negative charge filled the back of the fire bolt chamber, launching the fully charge fire bolt through her throat. She opened her mouth and let the bright white ball fly. It hit the water dragon square in the face. The dragon reared up and roared, its face was scorched. It shook its head and charged at Sarah. Sarah thrust out her head; opened her mouth and from her fire bolt chamber burst forth a bolt of lightning. Water and electricity not mixing with each other, the attack had a positive result. The Water Dragon slumped to the ground.
"Is it dead?" one exhausted sailor asked.
"No, just knocked out," Sarah said.
"Glad you could join the fight Sarah," Barbossa said, stressing the sarcasm of glad.
"Don't rub it in Barbossa," Sarah warned. Sarah stood up on her hind-legs, reached into her pannier bag and pulled out the Talisman of Water.
"What's that shiny little trinket you've got there Sarah?" Jack asked.
"The Talisman of Water, one of the nine keys to the Gate of Shangri-La," Sarah said. She held it up and let the sunlight shine through it. The sunlight going through the talisman's gemstone cast a blue pictogram on the ground.
"The talisman will show a different pictogram when moonlight goes through it," Sarah said.
"What does it show now?" Joseph asked. Sarah used her dragon vision to zoom in on the graph. She studied it carefully.
"Looks like a map of some sort," Jack said.
"One that needs decipherin' before we continue," Barbossa said.
"Leave it to the wielder of dragon magic," Sarah said. She handed the talisman to Marcus. She huffed out a plume of smoke that balled up and remained suspended. Then she lowered her head to the ground. She opened her mouth and hung her tongue out between her lower canines, green bolts of lightning sparked amid her sharp teeth. The blades of grass below her open mouth grew and twisted together forming a post. Sarah slowly raised her head, enticing the organic post to grow upward toward the ball of smoke over head. When her head broke the ball of smoke she stopped. The smoke curled around her teeth, extinguishing the green sparks and halting the growth. Sarah pulled her head back from the post. She held out her left hand for the talisman. Marcus handed it back to her and before placing it atop the post she raised her right hand close to her mouth, pursed her lips and through the small hole she formed with them burst a green bolt of sparks. The bolt was caught between her thumb and forefinger. She set the talisman atop the post and directed the growth of vines to form around the edges of the talisman and held it in place.
Sarah stepped back from her work. Her energy was drained a bit from conducting the magic, but she kept focused.
"Very nice," Caruso said.
The sunlight shone through the talisman, unhindered by the vines holding it in place. She got down into quadruped form. The pictogram showed the Water Dragon with what looked like a river flowing from its mouth, the river narrowed and divided asunder into small streams and creeks.
"The river is the main path to the Gate of Shangri-La. Those smaller streams and creeks are branches in the path, eight will lead to the other talismans, the rest will lead to perilous creatures," Sarah said.
"Does it give any hint as to which ones lead to what?" Barbossa asked.
"No, but the writing on the border, written in the ancient tongue long forgotten says, 'The winds blow your way, the tempest will rattle your nerves, but with the strength of courage you will persevere'," Sarah finished.
"Why are these things always written in riddles?" Jack said a bit frustrated.
"I hate riddles," Mr. Gibbs said.
The crew became lost and deep in thought. Sarah wrote the riddle in English on the ground with one of her claws. Now dragons are masters of riddles, they love to speak in them. So it was no surprise that Sarah had already figured it out.
"The path that has a strong wind blowing from it is the one we seek. Whatever lies ahead on the trail we'll need courage to face it," Sarah said.
"How did you figure that out so quickly?" Makita asked.
"I am a dragon, and dragons love riddles and as such we are very good at deciphering them," Sarah answered.