Chapter Nine:
The City of Water

"Hey guys, someone's following us," pointed out Cyrus.

"It's her," Mekae said. "She's been following us for days. Probably looking for our help. She stopped dead in her tracks after hearing where we were from."

"Who wouldn't? She thought we were with Reno," Richard added. "To learn that we're from the city that stopped his advance would have made her think about her haste."

"Well, lets see what she wants. There's an island over there," Cyrus said.

"Don't forget, Cyrus," replied Ryan. "Reno could be anywhere."

Richard nodded. "He's right. Let's stop here and let her on."

They waited, and in five minutes, she had come onboard.

"I'm terribly sorry for attacking you, I had no idea you were from Anegon, and I need to go to the elders of your city, and…" she said, very quickly.

"Man, and I thought I could rant. You don't have to be sorry. If I was you, I would have attacked me too if I had just shown up like I did," interrupted Allen.

That response made everyone look at him like he was crazier than he was normally.

"Thanks, and my name is Brooke, and I come from Hydrolonia, the city of water. I was sent to ask for your help in our battle."

"Could you take us there?" Richard asked.

"Sure, you mind if I drive the boat?"

"Sure, but you don't really drive a boat," Mekae whispered to Allen, who burst out laughing.

"I heard that," said Brooke, whacking Mekae across the head with her staff.

About a week passed without anything happening. By the end of the tenth day, even Allen didn't have anything to say that he hadn't said ten times already.

"This is boring," he said. "When will we get there?"

"In about two days," Brooke replied.

Brooke had a strange routine. Whenever she wasn't piloting the boat, she was shut up in her cabin playing a wooden flute, or writing some strange story.

"There's something strange about that girl," Mekae said to Cyrus on the twelfth day.

"I know. She's never really talked much since she came onboard. Are you sure this isn't some sort of hoax?"

"I don't think it is. I actually found the city on a map, so it does exist," said Richard, coming upstairs.

"That makes me feel a bit better," said Mekae.

At that moment, Brooke came up.

"We should be there at any moment. You should get a warm welcome here."

"That would be a first," said Mekae. He still found bits of charred hair every so often, compliments of Cody's welcoming committee.

Just then, however, a large city appeared over the water. It looked like something out of legends, nearly five hundred feet tall and with towers as spectacular as the lighthouses built by the ancients long ago.

"That," said Brooke, smiling at the looks of awe on the faces of the others, "is Hydrolonia, the city of water."