Chapter 13. "Dark waters"
Dragons quickly left Dante's Freezer without any problems. In next two days, they reached the coast of the Great Lake, the biggest lake within hundreds of kilometers. Seven dragons stopped at its coast and watched the surface of lake. It was already sunset. They couldn't see the second end, there were only endless waters. Sable sighed deeply.
"So, here we are. Flying through it isn't a safe idea, since there often are rapid, eastern winds. Lake goes for two hundreds kilometers from west to east and fifty kilometers from south to north. Walking around, we'll lose a day or two. Most likely two, the rapid winds will slow us down." Sable declaimed. All dragons watched him surprised, no one really expected him to know such details.
"What? As a wyvern, I used to travel around it with father." Then, he turned to Crag. "You said you know how to get through this lake. So?"
"Well, there's a cheetah village near." He pointed several lights near coast about one kilometer from them."They have boats, they can take us on the other side in the night. If the wind keeps like this, at the next morning, we'll wake up already at the second coast." Crag explained. "I hope it's fine?"
Dragons didn't fly, but took a walk to cheetah's village, which took them about quarter an hour. Villagers watched carefully the newcomers who headed straight to the house nearest the coast. Crag asked others to stay outside and got in without knocking at door. Before he entered, Vixen noticed about twenty boats moored to the bridge, moving slightly, pushed by gentle waves. Then, she leaned against wall. It looked casually, but what she planned, was eavesdropping. Her power of wind didn't fail her, through the thin wall she could hear everything.
"It's been a while, Alistair." Crag smiled friendly as he welcomed cheetah sitting at desk at writing something. The cheetah stood up quickly and watched him carefully.
"Crag? Are you alive?" He asked with disbelief.
"Isn't that obvious?" Crag asked rhetorically. The cheetah shook his head with disbelief.
"What were you doing all this time? Everyone thought that you were dead, I've even seen your grave." He said resentfully.
"It's a long story. And don't tell anyone from Gorge that you saw me. It would be the best, if you didn't tell anyone." Crag pleased. "Anyway, I'm here not for chit-chat, I have to ask you for a favor." Alistair sighed deeply.
"You're here not for chit-chat, but to ask for favor? You've been gone for five years and that's all what you've got to say? No explanation or anything?" The cheetah said with annoyed voice. "You've brought me lots of problems. I protected you when everyone from the Gorge blamed you for Lisanna's..."
"No one asked you for that." Crag interrupted him. "You owe me a favor. It's time to pay the debt." The earth dragon demanded. He obviously didn't want to talk about that. Cheetah just snorted resentfully.
"You appear from nowhere after five years and the first thing you tell your best friend is that it's time to pay. You're just like villagers say. And Lissana... I guess they're right." Then, all dragons staying outside, heard powerful blow of fist against wooden desk and Crag's shout.
"It was none of my fault!" He was so mad that he screamed loudly. No one of his friend had ever heard him so angry, even Ivory, when she broke inside his house. "Now, quit this and let me tell what I need from you!"
"Tell it then." The cheetah said with cold voice.
"I need you to take me and six other dragons at the opposite coast of the Great Lake. This night. You have strong north-western wind, we'll get to there before the morning if we leave right now." Crag spoke tersely.
"You've become very demanding, haven't you?" Alistair noticed.
"I ask you for a favor, not opinion. Two Omegas will be just enough, am I wrong?" Vixen, who heard whole dialogue, guessed that Crag meant boats.
"I'll take three men and we'll leave in hour." Alistair decided. "Satisfied?"
"Thanks." Crag turned around, about to leave. "We'll be waiting for you at the bridge." The earth dragon said and left. He stood before all his friends. All sights turned at him. "We have transport." He declared. "Let's go at the bridge, they have to do several things and we'll be going." All dragons walked slowly at the wooden bridge. It was quite wide, three dragons could walk next to each other without any problem. Vixen sat right next to Crag.
"Can we talk face to face?" The black dragoness pleased with cold voice. Her friend nodded and both of them stood up. Sable jerked his head and watched them curiously. "We'll be right back." Vixen answered Sable's question even before he asked. Two dragons walked about fifty meters behind some building where no one could see or hear them.
"What is it?" Crag asked, even if he already knew the answer.
"You've been avoiding me." The black dragoness noticed coldly.
"Yes." Crag didn't even try to disagree. "I wanted you to spare me your sermon."
"Oh, here it comes." Vixen warned. "What have you done, you moron? What were you thinking when you kissed her?" She started. "That time I didn't follow you, but it's simply too obvious!" Vixen forestalled his question with answer, before he interrupted her. "You've been building trust, friendship for five years just to ruin it for one second of pleasure! I warned you. But who would listen to that little black dragoness?! You and your cursed male pride are always right aren't you?! I hate this in you, you never ever use this little organ of yours called brain. No, you have another organ to make choices like that and I don't mean heart, but your..." She coughed meaningfully and took deep breath. Crag could swear she blushed slightly. "Males." She said angrily. "Try listening to me next time, before you screw up another five years of relationship. Why am I even helping you? At every step, I try to help you. And what do I achieve? Nothing! Total ignorance of yours! You know, just deal with it for yourself. It's over. I'm done helping you." The black dragoness turned around and started walking away. She told him all that she wanted to say.
"Vixen, wait." Crag pleased, but young dragoness ignored him. "Vixen...I need your help more than before. Right now." He said with begging voice. Vixen turned around slowly. She sighed deeply.
"Fine. I'll help you." She agreed. She knew that Crag was completely helpless without her. "But there's one condition. Stop thinking of her as your beloved. I don't know how you'll do it, but I give you two days. If I notice one loving sight after this time passes, you're on your own." Crag sighed deeply. He most likely had no choice.
"Fine." He agreed.
In less than an hour, Alistair packed all the equipment they needed and gathered crew of four cheetahs, counting him. Cheetahs were ready to sail when Alistair stood before dragons.
"Four of you will sail King, the three others take Cougar." He said. Both boats he pointed had about ten meters of length.
"Viola, Dante, Tris, we'll take King." Sable declared. Both mentioned dragonesses wanted to refuse, but the lightning dragon didn't let them do that, interrupting them with paws. Cheetah nodded with admiration.
"Your three, go at Cougar."He pointed at Ivory, Crag and Vixen. The ice dragoness was obviously annoyed because of that, but she couldn't help it. "Before you get in, several words of explanation, you should know several names." Alistair said and all dragons watched him curiously. "The body of sailboat is called hull. The front of it is called bow. It has just two meters of length and in time of cruise no one can be there. It's easy to fall into water or scratch deck. Besides, there's also jib..." Alistair pointed white triangular sail laying on bow. "...which will go from one side to the other sometimes, so remaining there is absolutely impossible. The rear of hull is called a stern and only helmsman can sit there. Left and right sides of boat are called respectively port and starboard." Then, Alistair jumped on the bow of one of Omegas and kept balance even without catching anything. "This is mast." The wooden mast of each boat had about seven meters of height. "Mainsail..." He pointed the biggest sail of boat, laying on the deck."...holds on it and boom." All dragons, not counting Crag, sent the cheetah asking sights. "Boom is this pole." He pointed another wooden pole around which mainsail was rolled. It was almost perpendicular to the mast, its end was leaning against desks of deck." And those desks..." Aistair walked inside the hull and landed on long desks between which, there were openings and free space beneath them. "Those are called grating, if anyone was curious. Ropes which we use to control sails are called sheets." Alistair finished explaining the built of boat.
"So, here are several rules." The cheetah started speaking again after about a second of pause. "Firstly, no one sits on bow and stern. Secondly, the places for you are on grating, port and starboard, but, you sit before the crew. You could cause problems with sheet, if you didn't. Thirdly, keep your heads low. We're going to sail by the wind, so we'll have to tack..." All dragons, not counting Crag again, watched him curiously. "Sail slalom crossing the line of wind, I mean." Cheetah explained. "Jib will change the side and so will mainsail and boom together with it. And if somebody's head will be too high, you'll realize that boom deserves its name. It can have quite a momentum."
"How will end up being hit in head with that?" Vixen asked.
"If wind keeps like this? If lucky, just a terrible headache. But if it starts blowing strongly, you'll lose consciousness and there'll be man overboard for sure. And even perfect swimmer drowns in three to five minutes, if he's unconscious. I'll try to get you out from water, but I don't know if I'll make it in the time." Alistair smiled in very unpleasant way. "Every time I shout: tack!, your heads are going down, understood?" All dragons nodded slightly. Alistair smiled with admiration. "Good. Now, the cruise shall begin."
Ivory sat on the grating next to starboard and watched the beautiful sky. It wasn't midnight and yet, darkness had already surrounded her. Above, on the dark firmament, there were floating thousands stars, some of them extremely intensively glowing, other ones barely lighting, as if they'd disappear any second. Though there was no simple cloud, neither of moons could be seen. They were still hiding under the line of horizon, only shyly peeking out from beneath the surface of endless dark waters. On the opposite side of the sky, there could be seen subtle orange glow of last sunrays, desperately fighting to remain above the line of horizon, even if this night, just like millions before, they would fall eventually. Ivory leaned against starboard and watched deeply the dark waters. There was something mysterious within it, fascinating with its unacquaintance. It seemed like soft fabric, being waved by gentle breeze, which pushed "King" through the endless waters. At first, the white dragoness wanted to touch this mysterious phenomenon of shadows, but she stopped her temptation, afraid, if the spell wouldn't be broken, if this gentle, dark fabric wouldn't break, letting their little boat be consumed by the endless darkness beneath them. Ivory smiled to herself and shook her head with disbelief.
"I allowed my imagination run wild a little, didn't I?" The ice dragoness asked herself silently.
"I knew you'd love it." Crag, who was standing just behind her, smiled slightly. Ivory turned around and watched him angrily, deeply in her eyes, there appeared azure glow, much more intensive than the ordinary one. The spell had been broken.
"You dare speak to me after what you've done?" She asked, filling her voice with anger.
"I'm sorry, Ivory. I made a great mistake." The earth dragon apologized.
"You did. And if there was the slightest voice of reason in your head, you wouldn't talk to me now." The ice dragoness said. Her friend noticed threat hidden within those words.
"Ivory..."
"We're done talking." The ice dragoness turned around so Crag had no chance to see her face, not speaking of looking into her eyes. Conversation was definitely finished. The earth dragon hung his head sadly and sighed deeply. Ivory watched the dark waters in silence. If she could fully control herself, she'd never be this mad at Crag. But it worked exactly like after discovering Flush's death; it felt as if her own magic overfilled with hatred tried to control her. It was beyond her. She had to leash this fury of her heart as fast as possible for everyone's goodness.
Meanwhile, on the Cougar, behind bow of the ship were sitting Sable and Viola. They were cuddling each other, completely forgetting about everyone else and enjoying their company in such romantic place.
"You took Tris with us on purpose, didn't you?" The ice dragoness noticed.
"This boat or this journey?" Her mate asked.
"The boat." Viola specified. "You know that I hate her." She said with note of blame.
"It's never too late to start getting along well." Sable replied, smiling slightly. Then, he nuzzled azure dragoness's cheek. "Are you at least trying?" He asked skeptically.
"I gave up on it years ago." The ice dragoness admitted and smiled slightly. "Don't you have anyone, who, though he should be your friend, you hate from the bottom of heart?"
"There used to be one." Sable agreed. "My cousin, Cobro."
"Used to be?" Viola watched her mate curiously."I thought you said that he lives."
"He does. He was just... promoted."
"Promoted?" The azure dragoness had no idea what Sable could mean.
"Now, he's my deadly enemy." The lightning dragon explained. "You know, personal reasons."
"Why from all the tribes of north, the one to ask you for help was Celeste Tribu?" Viola asked sadly. Then she sighed deeply. "Life would be much easier if it was any other."
"World never bothered itself to make our life any easier, did it?" Sable noticed. Viola laughed silently.
"No, it definitely didn't." She just couldn't disagree. "Don't you think that..."
"Wait." Sable interrupted her. He started watching sky behind them.
"What is it?" The ice dragoness asked curiously.
"The weather is changing. Storm's coming. And it's definitely not weak one."The lightning dragon foretold. Then, all dragons heard some disturbing sough.
"What is it?" Dante asked everyone.
"Wall of rain." The cheetah holding steer, Azimuth, replied. "Storm is just about to hit us, so heads down, hang on and pray that we make it through it." Tris laughed silently. "I'm not joking." The cheetah said and, to Viola's amusement, smile disappeared from fire breather's face.
"Captain Alistair, the winds are changing." Vixen warned the captain of their boat.
"Don't call me captain, but just use my name. And wind changes a little sometimes, kid." The cheetah assured her, not worrying at all. Vixen electrified the cheetah with sight.
"Don't call me a kid. And by the change of wind I mean it is a powerful storm." The black dragoness riposted, but she heard no reaction. "But if you think it's nothing serious you can ignore me." She added after several seconds with annoyance.
"You're right, youngster. Wind changes." The cheetah agreed after several seconds. The changes in the air were already notice able for everyone. The wind was getting weaker. "Azimuth!" Alistair shouted.
"I know!" The captain of Cougar replied. Then, the wind stopped completely. Dragons heard noise of enclosing wall of rain. Because of darkness lit only by lanterns at the tops of masts, it was practically invisible.
"The wind is going to hit our stern." Vixen warned. The cheetah nodded.
"I know. Let the jib fly." Alistair ordered. His friend nodded slightly and let sheet of jib loose. Smaller of sails stopped working at all. Meanwhile, the cheetah let the mainsail fly as well. The crew of Cougar did exactly this same.
"What happened if we stood with side turned to the wind?" Vixen asked curiously
"It could roll us over without any problem." Cheetah explained. "And at this wind, there's an extremely small difference between rolling over and death sentence." Two boats were waiting motionlessly for the coming of the storm. Silent second when all they heard were their breaths and noise of wind and enclosing rain were passing unbearably slowly. And then, everything happened too fast.
Powerful blow of wind picked up the droplets of water from lake's surface, creating dense mist behind the boat, the phenomenon called by sailors white squall. The powerful wind reached the boats pushing them strongly forward."King" immediately accelerated, Alistair slowly sheeted in their mainsail. Meanwhile, mast cracked in very disturbing way, but because of howling wind, the only one to hear that was Ivory, sitting right before it. She didn't even notice when big wave poured inside the boat soaking her completely. Alistair somehow controlled the boat, but winds were getting stronger.
"Let jib fly and strike it, we have to reduce the surface of sails." The captain ordered. The second cheetah nodded and walked quickly to mast, unfastened some line and took smaller sail down.
"Why won't we take the mainsail down?!" Vixen shouted so anyone could hear her.
"It's very easy to turn the boat over sailing with just jib, much easier than with the mainsail!" Crag explained, shouting as well.
The second boat, "Cougar", had much less luck. Strong wind pushed not their rear, but the back side of port, the side which helmsman simply couldn't expect. Just a moment earlier, Azimuth had loosened mainsail leaving it on the right side. This appeared to be the great mistake. Now, pushed by that unpredicted blow, hard, wooden boom flew rapidly on the other side, almost breaking the mast. Cougar tilted, so starboard enclosed to water's surface in just a second. Because of that, Tris, trying to catch her balance, had to raise her head. In effect, boom, with its maximum speed, hit the fire breather right in her forehead, knocking her out and literary throwing her out from the boat.
"What the…"Dante didn't even notice when did that happen.
"Damn it." Azimuth cursed silently."Man overboard! Keep an eye on her! Don't lose her for even a second!" He shouted very loudly, so even Alistair, barely, but heard it. Then, he rapidly changed his direction, sailing perpendicularly to line of wind. "We have to make it in the first try. We have just three minutes before she drowns." Then, he tacked, mainsail and jib flew on the other side of boat. Now, they were sailing in direction of place, where they have lost Tris.
"Prepare to catch her on the left side." Azimuth ordered. "Where exactly is she?"
"Where is she?!" Dante asked, full of worries. Then, Sable took sword and raised his paw. He created a great stream of electricity, lightening area around them. But still, they couldn't see anything through the dense mist. "I can't see her!" The earth dragon shouted. Cougar swam for about hundred meters. Azimuth cursed silently. He repeated maneuver, even if he couldn't see the red dragoness. They sailed to the place where Azimuth expected to find her and Alistair checked area behind them. And still, they found nothing.
"It's pointless!" He shouted. "This wind..." Then, he moved tiller rapidly. "Tack!" The mainsail went on the other side of boat. "There's no chance to find her!" And then, the wind rapidly weakened, all that remained was gentle breeze. Both boats slowed down rapidly. The rain stopped soaking them and they were lit by not really intensive azure aura.
"What the..." Viola raised her head. Above them all there was a great, high for at least ten meters, shelter of azure energy, shielding both boats and sphere of about one hundred meters of diameter around them. It let in only a gentle breeze.
"Ivory." Crag whispered with disbelief. The ice dragoness was releasing great amounts of magic, around her, there appeared a gentle azure circle of energy. Her eyes were glowing intensively, just like when she got mad at the earth dragon several days earlier. But this time, the power she used was dozen times stronger, the earth dragon could swear that air around her had become ticker. "Ivory." He repeated slowly with asking voice.
"She will not die." She whispered with voice doubled by magic. "No more death." She said, rather to herself than Crag. Then, something appeared at the water's surface. It was Tris, being lifted by not very big magical wall. Cougar swam quickly to her, Dante grabbed her and took her inside boat. Then, he laid her on the grating gently. After several silent seconds, the fire dragoness coughed up hardly with water and regained consciousness. Dante sighed with relief and kissed his mate.
"On the brink of death dancing. Will you ever stop such reckless acting?" He asked half-jokingly. The fire dragoness smiled slightly.
"It's stronger than me." She replied and kissed her mate's cheek. Then, magical shelter rapidly disappeared. Wind, still strong, pushed sailboats strongly. Ivory, who spent whole her magical power fainted and would fall on the grating, but Crag caught her just in time and put her at the ground gently. Then, he covered her from rain with a waterproof cloak from Alistair. He watched her carefully and estimated her state. She had exhausted herself completely in just several seconds. She was extremely weak, but nothing endangered her life. Two sailboats continued cruise through the storm, which in about an hour started weakening and rain stopped, so dragons could sleep, even if only for less than four hours. They reached the shore without any other accidents, welcomed by a beautiful, rising sun.