Chapter 8: Onward and Upward

After Warren had given his little demonstration of the Sapphazure, Seth went back inside the house to dry himself off and change into some fresh clothes. Shortly after that, everyone sat down to a lunch that Grandma had prepared, which consisted of various sandwiches and a crisp garden salad.

Not long after lunch was over, the doorbell had rung. Dale proceeded to make his way to the front door and opened it. Kendra and Seth, who were waiting around in the living room at the time, looked into the entry hall and smiled as Bracken entered the room.

"Hey, guys!" said Bracken, flashing a beautiful smile at everybody in the room.

"Bracken!" exclaimed Kendra, as she bolted up from her seat, dashed over to the human unicorn, and threw her arms around his body.

"Hey, Kendra," said Bracken, hugging her back. "How are you?"

"Great! Just great!"

"Thank you for agreeing to come, Bracken," said Grandpa. "And on such short notice, too."

"Well, Bright sent word to the Fairy Kingdom about the discovery that she and Seth made in the Demon Domain almost immediately. Between the disappearance of my mother, and my duty of restoring the Fairy Realm, I thought I could use a change of pace. Besides, it gives me a chance to be with Kendra, here."

"I'm glad you can come," said Warren. "We can always use the extra help."

"There's one thing I didn't quite get," said Bracken. "And forgive me, but my geographical knowledge of this world isn't that great. But... where exactly is Cloud Canyon?"

"It's an island that floats in the sky," replied Grandma. "Apparently, it's located somewhere over Scotland."

"Scotland?" asked Ingrid. "How are you even going to get there?"

"The Translocator," replied Warren. "You see, Kendra and I have been to Scotland before. More specifically, the Stony Veil preserve is located there."

"But the Translocator will only serve as a shortcut to Scotland," said Seth. "However, we have the coordinates to Cloud Canyon's exact location, and it doesn't seem too far from Stony Veil, from what we can tell."

"Yeah, and once we explore Cloud Canyon, enter Storm Sanctum and retrieve the Diavolt, we can travel straight back here," said Clover.

"That's if the Diavolt even is in Storm Sanctum," said Mrs. Sorenson. "The other parchment was wrong about the Necromaster being in the Floodmaze."

"Well, the Floodmaze was underwater," said Bracken. "And the Sapphazure is water-based, so maybe it was an error."

"Storm Sanctum sounds like it promises electricity," said Bright. "But that doesn't guarantee that we'll find the Diavolt there. It could be another relic, or nothing at all."

"Whatever it is," said Warren, "we should at least try to find out. Is everybody ready?"

Kendra, Seth and their allies all responded by shouting positively.

"Great, then let's round up the dragons and we'll be on our way!"

Everybody made their way out through the back door of the house and continued through the garden until they had arrived at the entrance to Raxtus and Geminus' cave. As if on cue, the two fairy dragons stepped out of the cave, along with Vanessa, who was currently being held in Raxtus' arms.

"I guess it's that time," said Geminus, looking over at Raxtus and nodding.

"I had a feeling that this solitude wouldn't last forever," said Raxtus.

"So, who here is going on this trip?"

Kendra, Seth, Warren, Bracken and Clover all raised their hands.

"What about you, Bright?" asked Raxtus.

"As much as I'd like to come," replied Bright, "this trip isn't a huge priority, and it's best if a fairy angel like myself stays behind here at Fablehaven."

"We'll try not to be gone too long," said Clover with a grin, as she winked at Bright.

"We'll be back later, sweetie," said Geminus, as she bent forward and kissed Vanessa. "Be good!"

Vanessa giggled as Raxtus then proceeded to give his daughter a kiss.

"You guys don't mind looking after Vanessa, right?" asked Raxtus.

"Can I look after Vanessa?" asked Ingrid, looking up at Raxtus and Geminus.

"Well, uh..." muttered Geminus.

"Ingrid, do you even know how to look after a baby dragon?" asked Raxtus.

"But, I..."

"I'll look after Vanessa," said Dale, raising his hand. "And Ingrid, you can help me."

"Really?" asked Ingrid. "Great!"

Raxtus nodded at Geminus. "Okay," he said. "As long as Dale's working with you, we don't have any objections."

Raxtus then bent down and handed Vanessa over to Ingrid, who accepted the hatchling into her arms.

"Okay," said Warren as he held out the Translocator. "Next stop, Stony Veil!"

Kendra, Seth, Bracken, Clover, Raxtus and Geminus all gathered around Warren, and turned to face the rest of the family.

"Good luck on your trip!" said Mr. Sorenson.

"Hope you all manage to find another relic!" said Grandpa. "Whichever one it's supposed to be."

Everyone then bid farewell to each other as the group all made contact with the Translocator. Warren then twisted it again, and it pulled all of them through space. One moment, the group was standing in the yard at Fablehaven. The next, they were standing in an unfamiliar clearing.

"What is this place?" asked Seth, as he let go of the Translocator. He looked around and saw that they were in a field of some nature, with trees scattered around them. The sky above was full of grey clouds.

"Are we at Stony Veil?" asked Kendra. "I don't... recognize anything."

"Not quite," said Warren. "We're near it, though. See, we're trying to keep this mission low-key. And, since we don't have to pass through Stony Veil, there was little reason to get the workers there involved."

"So, where are we supposed to go from here?" asked Raxtus.

Warren pulled out and unfolded a map of Great Britain, which he went over with the dragons.

"So, we're here?" asked Geminus, as Warren pointed to a spot on the map, then moved his finger to a nearby position. "That's nothing! We can get to Cloud Canyon in almost no time at all."

"Climb aboard," said Raxtus, as he bent down, followed by Geminus.

Kendra proceeded to climb up onto Raxtus' back, followed by Bracken, who sat behind her.

"Aww," said Seth. " I wanted to ride Bracken again! Nothing personal, Geminus."

"I get it," said Geminus. "Boys don't want to ride a pink dragon. It'll hurt their image."

"I'm not complaining," said Warren, as he hopped onto Geminus' back. "And don't take this the wrong way, Geminus, but pink is really not my color."

"Can't I ride with Kendra?" asked Seth.

"I kinda want to be with Bracken for a while," said Kendra, as the unicorn prince placed his comforting hand on her shoulder.

"But Bracken, you can fly!" muttered Seth.

"Come on, Seth," said Warren. "Don't be such a baby."

"All right," said Seth, as he climbed up onto Geminus, sitting himself behind Warren.

"See you guys at the top," said Clover, as she disappeared in a cloud of green sparkles.

"You folks all ready?" asked Geminus.

"Ditto?" chimed Raxtus.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Seth. "Let's get going already!"

Raxtus and Geminus proceeded to flap their wings, and the two dragons suddenly launched their bodies into the air. As they flew up towards the sky, Seth looked down at the world beneath him. He could see miles upon miles of lush greenery, dotted with hills, cliffs and several bodies of water.

Once they rose high enough, the two dragons flew up and through the storm clouds that were spanning across the sky. To Seth and Kendra, passing through the the clouds felt as though they were soaring through a thick field of fog.

Eventually, the dragons had made their way through the layer of storm clouds, rising up past the top. Above them now was a blue sky, along with scattered, whiter clouds.

"Wow!" exclaimed Kendra. "If it weren't for those rain clouds, the weather here would be beautiful!"

"Okay," said Warren, looking over the map that he was holding. "Now we need to go north from here."

"North is that-a-way," said Raxtus, pointing off in another direction.

"Got it!" said Geminus, as she and Raxtus proceeded to fly off in the direction in which he had pointed.

"I keep forgetting," said Seth. "You dragons have an excellent sense of direction. You don't even need a compass!"

"Call it intuition," said Raxtus.

"I'd still be lost, though," said Geminus. "I wasn't born a dragon like Raxtus."

"Well, I've got a compass on me anyway," said Warren. "Just in case. It never hurts to be prepared."

The dragons continued to fly onwards, swerving around several giant bluffs composed out of clouds, other times charging directly through them.

After a rather short ride, Seth and Kendra could both see a large landmass seemingly just floating in the distance ahead of them.

"Is that it?" asked Bracken.

"It's gotta be!" replied Raxtus. "No way that book could be wrong."

"It was wrong was about the Necromaster," said Warren. "It could be that this place is not Cloud Canyon, but somewhere else altogether."

The dragons came in closer towards the landmass, which appeared to be as wide as a small town, and tall as a mountain. Also, it did not appear to be but one single island, but rather several smaller islands, not all of which were level, that were connected by stone bridges.

"This place is huge!" said Seth.

"Pileus Palace has nothing on this place," said Kendra. "It was just a large, floating building compared to all of this!"

"So, this is Cloud Canyon, then," said Raxtus. "Whereabouts is Storm Sanctum?"

"I have absolutely no idea," said Warren. "All the book told us was that Storm Sanctum is somewhere within Cloud Canyon."

"I guess our only option now is to land somewhere and start exploring the place," said Geminus.

"Agreed," said Raxtus, as he flew up towards the closest ledge, followed by Geminus. The two dragons descended down towards the ground, where they came to a full stop.

"Where do we go from here?" asked Kendra, as she climbed down from off of Raxtus. It was as her boots came down towards the ground that she noticed just how long and unruly the grass was; some of the blades came up past her waist.

"Man, this place sure is unkempt," said Seth, as he got down from off of Geminus, followed by Warren. "I guess I'm spoiled by living at Fablehaven."

"Hey, I'm sure if this place had Dale, Hugo, Mendigo, eight reindeer and too many fairies to count, it would look nicer too," said Warren.

"Well, here's one fairy to help the cause," said Clover, as she reappeared next to Warren.

"No need to flatter us, Clover," said Bracken. "This place is not our home."

"Somebody might live here," said Kendra.

"Yeah," said Seth. "Monsters. Mean, nasty ones."

"You think any fairies might live here, Bracken?"

"Not by choice," replied the unicorn. "They wouldn't want to stray too far from any shrines."

"Great," said Warren. "That means if we run into anybody here, don't expect them to greet us with open arms."

"Some of them might not even have arms," said Seth.

Seth slowly walked over towards the edge of the island, then bent down onto his knees between several blades of the untamed grass. Peering down, he could see nothing but a layer of clouds that were a presumably a few hundred feet beneath him.

"It sure is a long way down," said Seth. "What do you suppose is the purpose of a floating island such as this?"

"Protection," replied Bracken. "While we know very little about Cloud Canyon, it was no doubt created to isolate either somebody and/or something from the rest of the world. And they've done a good job, because even man-made aircraft or technology has yet to discover it."

"Seth, get away from the edge," said Kendra. "The last thing we need is for you to fall."

"Relax," said Raxtus. "We've got your backs in case one of you were to take a plunge."

"I guess we should just start exploring this place," said Geminus, gazing over at the other islands that Cloud Canyon was composed of.

Everybody then got back onto the dragons of which they had previously arrived on, while Clover disappeared again.

"Why doesn't Clover just ride with us?" asked Seth.

"The less weight Raxtus or myself have to carry on our backs, the better," replied Geminus. "Besides, going into stasis only conserves Clover's power."

Raxtus and Geminus proceeded to march towards the other side of the island on foot. The section they were on at the moment appeared to be rather flat, while in the distance, more mountainous islands could be seen.

After a few minutes of walking, the dragons had reached a bridge that linked the island they were currently on to another. The bridge, which appeared to be over one-hundred feet long, had been constructed out of white marble. While it was sufficiently wide enough with ample space for both dragons to walk across simultaneously, it lacked barriers on its sides.

As the dragons walked across the bridge, something suddenly caught Kendra's attention. There appeared to be a loud, whooshing noise coming from beneath the bridge.

"Hold it," said Kendra. "I hear something."

"What is it?" asked Bracken, once Raxtus and Geminus came to a stop.

"I hear it too!" cried Seth, as he too heard the same noise that had intrigued Kendra.

"What is it?" asked Bracken.

"I want to say its the wind blowing between the islands below us," replied Warren. "But, I can't quite put my finger on it."

The noise then passed beneath the group again.

"I want to check this out," said Seth, as he leapt down off of Geminus and scurried over to one side of the bridge. Gripping the bridge with his hands, Seth peered down at the abyss beneath him.

"Careful," said Kendra, as she got down off of Raxtus.

"I'm being careful," said Seth, gazing down at the sky. A moment later, Seth witnessed a large, silvery dragon soaring beneath the bridge. "Whoa!"

The sight of the dragon startled Seth, causing him to lose the grip he had on the bridge. He quickly bolted back from the edge.

"What was that about?" asked Kendra.

"There's a dragon flying beneath us!" gasped Seth. "A really big one! I'm talking Navarog big!"

"Did it see you?" asked Raxtus.

"I don't think so."

"Good. Because this place is probably its territory. If we're spotted it'll no doubt try to attack us. Not good."

"What did it look like?" asked Kendra.

"It was hard to tell," said Seth. "I mean, it whizzed by really quickly. Raxtus, why don't you turn invisible and see if we can get a closer look? I've got the gloves, remember?"

Seth proceeded to hold up the aforementioned invisibility gloves.

"I'd rather not get involved with that dragon you saw," said Raxtus. "Anyway, the sound it was making has stopped, so I have reason to assume that it's gone now."

"I see," said Seth, as he slipped the gloves back into his bag.

"Look, if there's a dragon here, we should be fortunate that we didn't draw its attention," said Geminus. "Hopefully."

"We'll need to be careful," said Bracken. "If we had been flying around the place, we would've been a much more obvious target for that dragon."

"But this place is huge," said Raxtus. "We're going to have to fly around at some point, I can just tell."

"Well, let's try to keep the flying to a minimum. Keep low and only fly around if it's its absolutely necessary."

Everybody got back onto Raxtus and Geminus, and the dragons proceeded to continue crossing the bridge. Before long, they had reached the island that lay on the other side. Unlike the island they had initially landed on, this one consisted of many hills and knolls.

"Look at this place," said Seth. "We could be here for weeks trying to figure out where Storm Sanctum is."

"If that's what it takes," said Warren. "The good news is we have the Translocator, and we've been here. So at least we have to ability to travel between here and Fablehaven whenever we want."

"I know. But I'm concerned. How long is it going to take for us to even find the relic that's here?"

"Couldn't tell you," replied Bracken. "With no further clues to work with, our only real option would be to keep exploring. Hopefully, we can find out where it is without too much trouble."

"I just hope that dragon doesn't spot us," said Kendra. "If it's as big as Navarog, like Seth claimed, it's not something I really want to be confronted with. And the more time we spend running around this place, the more opportunity it'll have to try and find us."

"Look, there's a little tunnel in that hill up ahead," said Bracken. The direction he was pointing in drew everyone's attention over towards a small opening leading into a cave up ahead.

"You think that's the entrance to Storm Sanctum?" asked Seth, as the dragons bolted over towards the cave entrance.

"Doubt it," said Raxtus as he stopped in front of the cave and peered inside. "This cave goes nowhere. It's a dead end."

Seth started into the cave. Barely large enough for a human to enter, it appeared to be no more than ten feet deep.

"I think we're going to be here awhile," said Kendra.

"I say that we need to come up with a better strategy regarding this whole thing," said Warren.