Alys soon came to find out that the dragon-youth; Telonge was just as hard to get answers from as Selendrile. He would always answer her inquiries but did it in a way that confused her even more.
"When are we going to arrive in the Imperial City?" she would ask.
"The time that takes us to get there," he replied.
She asked the same question the next day.
"If not a month, a few days," was his answer that time.
"Why did he go there in the first place?" Alys kicked a small pebble that was visible above the snow. It arced and landed behind Telonge.
"You should ask him," he replied. He then looked at the pebble curiously.
"Do you know?"
"Perhaps."
"Why won't you tell me?"
"I did," he nodded and continued forward, seeming to think of new ways to entertain himself.
Alys sighed. She had one more question for the day before she could go completely insane from his uninformative answers.
"Why did he tell me to go to you?"
"Because I was the closest and he promised he would come home if I agreed to protect you in case anything happened to him." Telonge said and then stopped walking, opened his mouth and breathed into the air. The vapor was a wispy white on the cold breeze. His cheeks were rosy and he turned his head to smile at Alys.
Home? He actually had a home? Alys was a bit embittered—she did not have one. She even wondered how Selendrile managed to give Telonge a message, she never recalled them meeting before.
"What do I need protection from? If something happened to Selendrile, then how could he return to your home?"
"Well," Telonge stopped blowing vapor into the air above him and paused. He looked as if he were thinking too hard. "He's alive. So we're going to go rescue him. Then he will come home. You need protection from wolves and other beasties in the woods, because you are quite a small human."
"How do you know he is alive?" she ignored his comment about beasties and her humanity. Of course dragons thought humans were 'little.'
"I would know if he was destroyed. He isn't though. That's why he is alive."
"If Selendrile were alive, then wouldn't he be able to handle himself and escape wherever he was being held captive?"
"Not unless he is in iron." Telonge's ever-present smile was suddenly wiped away and he shivered a little at the thought.
Alys shivered a little too. It was cold and she remembered Selendrile's body and how it reacted once it was bound with iron last spring. He could barely breathe let alone walk.
"How can we rescue him?" She realized she was asking more questions than she intended, but it was nice that Telonge was giving coherent answers for once.
"I don't know what you can do but I can be a dragon. I can breathe flame and fly and crush humans in my jaw, and I shall…to save the prince." He listed off his magnificent deadly abilities on his fingers. "I told the others yesterday and they will be there to help. All we need to do is to get him home or else…"
He stopped talking and walking and smiled big at the figure approaching at the fork in the road. Alys looked at them surprised because she hadn't heard any sign of them previously. No crunching snow beneath weight, or snapping twigs in the forest.
There was a man, about as tall as Telonge but looking eighteen instead of twenty. He had floppy bark colored hair and was dressed in huntsmen boots and a long, brown leather jacket.
"I forgot about your message until this morning, figured you were nearby by the smell of you." He said to Telonge. Alys stood away from them, suspicious. Did dragons have human friends? Well, she did consider Selendrile somewhat of a friend, and she was a human. She had been traveling with the Dragon of the Stars for nearly three days and never noticed an odd stench or whatever the stranger spoke of. She then stole a glance at the strange, new man and then realized what he was.
She held her breath amazed, for his eyes were as green and as sparkling as emeralds because they were emeralds.
"Sweetcake, this is Thalen." Telonge pointed at the man. His introductions were quite to the point.
"That her?" he nodded. She saw a familiar flick in the emeralds. It reminded her all the world of Selendrile.
"Yes."
Thalen nodded, accepting. "You're a regular stick," he looked her over.
"Excuse me?" Alys was offended. Her body had become the image of her constant hunger.
"Just saying so," he shrugged, not looking back.
Telonge was chuckling.
"Don't laugh!"
"I was chuckling. There is a difference. There are many kinds of laughs…" Telonge announced. Alys had a feeling he was about to start a long, nonsensical speech.
"You just said that chuckling is a kind of laugh!" She managed to deter him.
Now Telonge really did laugh, "At least I do laugh. Thalen never does."
"There's nothing to laugh about in the first place," Thalen defended himself but in a nonchalant way.
"I should laugh at you. How could you forget the message? Was it because you were busying yourself with human lasses and ale last night?"
Alys ears perked at Telonge's words. What was he implying? That Dragons really could love humans?
"None of your business. Leave me be. In fact I'd rather you not talk to me the rest of the way to the Imperial City." Thalen was very sour in his words. They didn't daunt Telonge any, who treated Thalen's mood as if it were a joke.
He didn't talk anymore to Thalen but continued to blow his warm breath into the air and laugh out amused-like when it was no longer visible. Alys could see that Thalen, however quiet, was immensely annoyed at the other dragon-youth.
She restrained herself from interrogating the new stranger. She was somewhat daunted by his presence. Granted, he was of the same kind as Telonge—but Telonge was as a scary as strawberry. Alys didn't dislike Telonge for his constant jolliness and nonsensical humor; she just grew tired of it after so many hours. She felt he didn't take Selendrile's situation seriously—especially if he wanted him back home so urgently. Home, it rang as a far away word in Alys head, Where ever that is.
The trio walked silently through the snowy forest--the only sound was Telonge's chuckle whenever he found himself amused.
Thalen moved steadily, with a sort of swagger that a human man would. He must have thought himself important. She realized it was how Gower walked through St. Toby's. Ugh, Alys thought.
She looked to the side of her and saw something through the trees…a path!
"Hey look!" she said, and then ran towards it. It wasn't just a path, but a road! She sighed happily, glad to be out of the blasted wilderness and tired of the two dragon-youths being the only assurance they were heading in the right direction.
Telonge and Thalen eventually caught up to her.
"Wonder where we are?" Telonge asked out loud.
Alys hoped he was joking. If he wasn't, she had to be rightfully angry that she had followed him all this way when he didn't know where they were going.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"On the road," Thalen said, which wasn't a helpful answer.
The continued in the direction they were headed, but on the road this time.
Telonge soon started whistling tunes that Alys didn't recognize—it was his newest way to pass the time.
Telonge and Thalen hadn't spoken since earlier that day when they first met, but Alys could see a twitch in Thalen's eye at the whistling and guessed the silence would end soon.
It had been gray all day, no sun to even warm their skin—so Alys only grumbled when snow began to languidly fall. Such a gloomy day, which didn't begin to match Telonge's upbeat whistling.
"Enough!" Thalen spun around. His scowl was something to take seriously. Telonge paused mid whistle with a raised eyebrow. She watched the two stare at each other as snowflakes gathered in their hair and on their shoulders. Telonge's lips cracked into a smile and then reformed to blow a single note.
Thalen grabbed Telonge by the shirt and shoved him backwards. Telonge lost footing in the snow and fell onto his back and that's When Thalen made a move to leap on him.
"Stop!" Alys demanded but of course no dragon ever did as she said. Almost immediately she saw a mass of bronze scales, talons, and teeth emerge from what had just been the human skin of Telonge. Since Thalen was in mid-air when Telonge transformed, he very well couldn't do any damage in his current skin. To Alys's amazement, he changed to dragon just before the two giant bodies collided and skidded across the road, and into the forest. Snow and upturned earth were piled on either side of them from the deep path they carved.
Thalen was a large green dragon—she saw as they stopped rolling—but they became a blur again. They were clawing and biting at one another. She hoped they wouldn't kill each other. If that, then how was she going to find Selendrile?
Suddenly, Telonge seemed to disappear. The green dragon twisted around wildly in confusion. Alys was startled when a yellow cat silently approached her, jumped into her arms, and started purring loudly.
The green dragon noticed this and let out a roar of anger. He turned fully and transformed back to human.
Alys tried to divert her gaze as best as she could as Thalen stood in front of her.
"You…" he growled and forcefully grabbed the cat out of her hands by its neck, "…are a coward."
"What did I do?" she squeaked, fearing his wrath.
"Not you."
She realized that the cat was Telonge. He dropped Telonge into the snow and Telonge meowed, which was probably the feline equivalent to a laugh.
Alys sighed when she noticed the pile of cloth pieces in the road—how were they going to find clothes now that they were done with their spat?
She ran her remark by Thalen who shrugged and also transformed into a cat. Although, he was fluffy and brown. She was completely puzzled. The two dragon-youth-as-felines began to continue down the same road on their paws. Was she to follow? At least Telonge had stopped his annoying whistling. Dragons were strange, and why were they cats all of a sudden? A fierce wind blew and Alys tightened her cloak. It didn't even seem to bother the furry ones. Ah, since they ruined their clothes, they're warmer that way, Alys understood.
Further down the road, they came to a city. It wasn't the Imperial City, for it was too small and Alys couldn't see the tower Selendrile had spoke of before.
She cast a glance at her furry companions, who had been every so often, pouncing on each other and then hissing. There was only one guard posted at the gate and he looked absolutely shaken.
"Hello," Alys greeted and approached him.
"Good day," he tipped his head, but his eyes were scanning the horizon.
"What city is this?"
The guard finally glanced at her, looked at her suspiciously as if whether or not he should answer.
He must have thought her somewhat safe because he did answer.
"Wendburry."