I should probably mention now that time isn't always going to follow
its normal course in this story. I have many, many years that I have to
cover, and I'm not going to write a detailed account of each year. So if
you suddenly find that around chapter 24 Ark's talking about the seventh
moon child and I've only actually written in three actual chapters with
moon children, it's just because those fights or whatever were relatively
uneventful and that they only really need to be noted in passing.
**Dream sequence**
Ragnarok's POV:
Sometimes it amazes me how time runs. Sometimes it seems to fly past, leaving little or no time to do anything but respond to whatever may happen, while other times it seems to just creep along. In Ulara, one can never tell what course time has chosen to take, simply because one day blends smoothly into the next without change or extraordinary circumstances. And so it is that decades, even centuries may pass without one noticing. However, unfortunately for Dart, we routinely receive a rather rude awakening from this timelessness every one hundred and eight years or so.
** The sun was just beginning to rise over the thatched rooftops of the city of Bale, its pale gold rays bathing the upper windows of the houses facing east in a warm light. On the western side of the buildings the streets still lay in shadow, but even here the cool air of the spring morning was beginning to warm, a silent promise of the day to come. Here and there the shopkeepers began to open their doors, inviting whatever early customers in who might be out wandering the streets. And sure enough, before the sun had fully risen to steal away the shadows, people began to roam the streets, moving and talking quietly to avoid waking those households still slumbering as they went about their business.
However, there was one in the streets who did not have any reason to deal with the merchants, nor did he have any wish to. Marrak strode through the streets with a lofty expression on his face, straightening his long green and white robes as he did so. Pausing before a low building, hardly larger than a large shed, he pushed open the heavy plank door and stepped through.
The room inside was low beamed the ceiling hardly more than six feet high in some spots. A fire burned brightly in the far corner, filling the crowded room with a sweltering heat and more than a little smoke. And the room was crowded; three other men, dressed in a similar fashion to Marrak stood along the walls or sat on the rickety furniture. At the far end of the room was a second plank door, this one leading to the small bedroom where a midwife helped with the laboring women who owned the house. At least, that was what Marrak hoped was happening. The house had been eerily silent since he entered.
When the cries of an infant finally broke the silence, Marrak breathed a sigh of relief. The woman to whom the child belonged was not robust, and there had been debate over whether or not she was strong enough to bear the child when the cult's astrologers had named her the mother of the Moon Child. Rosalyn, the child's mother, had been a widow since six months ago and with the loss of her husband, had lost the will to live. It was only because of the sometimes forceful care of cult members like Marrak that Rosalyn was still alive and strong enough to give birth to the infant
Marrak was snapped out of his reverie when the bedroom door opened to reveal the tired face of the midwife Dessa. Her hair was in disarray and her clothes stained, but in her arms she held a small, cloth wrapped bundle that cried weakly as she held it gently to her. Wordlessly Donovan, the high priest of the cult in Bale, held out his arms to take the child from her.
"She was too weak," Dessa told him as she gave up the child. "Rosalyn couldn't survive the stress of labor."
"She sacrificed herself to bring the Moon Child into the world, midwife Dessa." Donovan proclaimed in his quavering voice. "Know this and be comforted, for someday soon the fruit of her sacrifice shall bring a Utopia to those of us who are truly faithful." Turning to Marrak, the high priest lowered his voice. "We shall bring the child to the temple. Go and alert Zen. We will need him on his guard."
"Zen?" Marrak asked, startled. "Are you sure he's ready?"
Donovan glared at Marrak. "He will have to be. We cannot bring enough of our forces into Bale to guard the child, so we are depending on him as our protection."
"Are you sure that's really wise?"
"It is all we can do." Donovan said simply. "Anymore would attract the attention of the King."
"But he is not opposed to us, is he?"
"But he is not with us either. Go, Marrak. You have much to do 'ere darkness falls."**
"Dart! Dart, get up!"
Dart groaned as Garren jabbed him sharply in his side, but didn't bother moving. /Would it be okay if I just slept through the next few weeks?/ He asked, his thought sounding slightly plaintive in my mind.
//Of course, if you don't mind letting me handle this child. I can't guarantee that Bale will still be in one piece when I'm done, but you can't have everything in life//
Dart made a disgusted sound, then rolled off of the bench he had been dozing on and got to his feet. "What do you want, Garren?" He asked, even though we both already knew what the answer would be. Sometimes Dart's need to question the obvious gets on my nerves at times, but I get the feeling that he did it more to set others at ease when he knew things that from their point of view he shouldn't.
"Charle says a Moon Child was born," he said, his red eyes glittering in the pale light, "In Bale, I think. Anyway, she said to meet her out by the portals."
Dart glanced up at the sky above. It looked to be about midnight, although I couldn't be sure. With the birth of the Moon Child the moon burned with a dusky red light, and the glow did strange things to the night sky; in its light some stars seemed unnaturally bright while others disappeared entirely. The alien sky would make any sort of navigation or time estimates nearly impossible while we traveled. //Let's get moving Dart. Don't keep the woman waiting//
Garren tagged along after us as Dart made his way across the maze of walkways towards the portals, but disappeared into the living quarters without a word as we passed by. I guessed that Charle must have spoken to him rather firmly before she sent him, because not once did he mention coming with us, which was something I considered a serious lapse of character. After listening to just about every story Dart and I could come up with over the past years, it seemed that he couldn't open his mouth without another question about the outside world. Lately these outbursts had settled into bouts of thoughtful musing about the different ways he might try to sneak past Charle's security measures. For the most part Tygris and Dart had laughed these musings off, but we had told the wingly leader to keep an eye on him. Charle hadn't spoken directly to Garren up until now, but the guard around the portals had been noticeably tightened. //He's up to something// I muttered, half to my self.
/Probably, but there's nothing we can really do about it/
//I know. That's what bothers me// I growled. I didn't care personally about
Ulara's taboos and whatnot, but if Garren did manage to somehow follow us, then he could become a serious hindrance. Garren had never been outside of Ulara before and aside from practicing with his magic from time to time, I was fairly sure that he would have very little idea of how to fight one on one, much less in a melee.
Charle stood waiting for us once more at the portals, talking earnestly to Caron and the second gatekeeper Roan. She had dropped out of her customary mode of speech and now spoke with more normal phrasing, although she still continued to add the unnecessary 'ie' ending to words from time to time. When she noticed our approach, she turned to meet us with a large smile on her face. Inwardly, I groaned. She could be normal around everyone else under circumstances like this, but the moment we came into the conversation she automatically tried to make things seem happy and cheerful. Never mind that her 'cheerfulness' made me feel sick to my non-existent stomach.
"Dart, sweetie! Are you already to go?" She asked in a bright tone of voice. "Will you need anything? Those dears down at the shops have agreed that you can take whatever you need free of charge."
Dart's hand dipped into the pockets of his jacket as he took a quick inventory. By custom he always kept a good stock of items on him at all times, just incase he had to leave on short notice. "I think we'll be fine," he said finally. "I could use a few spirit potions, but we'll probably pick up a few off monsters on the way."
//Move over//
/You want to talk to her?/ Dart sounded surprised.
//Yes// I shoved his mind rather unceremoniously to one side and took over. "Charle, did you talk to Garren? I don't want to get out there and suddenly find him trailing along behind us."
"Yes. The poor dear didn't seem too pleased by it though." Charle sighed. "He gets too bored of Ulara, I fear. Can you believe that the darling actually asked if I could make it snow?" Charle shook her head. "Can you imagine that? All of Ulara smothered under a blanket of cold, wet, white fluff?" She shuddered, then paused. "Although it would look rather pretty."
Pushing me back again, Dart stepped past Caron and onto the green portal tile, tightening his sword belt. "Where will this drop me off?" He asked, tugging on the leather strap.
"On the outskirts of the Death Frontier. We don't have enough collective strength right now to send you any farther, I'm afraid." Caron sighed. "There have been so few births lately. I guess the prospect of bringing a child into a world of eternal life in containment is starting to seem rather hollow. Garren and his friend Nova were among the last to be born, and you can see how dissatisfied they are with their lives spent in one place."
The portal below us began to hum, the faint green glow slowly growing into a light so bright that Dart was forced to close his eyes as the magic reached its peak. Dart flinched slightly as the wingly magic stung the back of his mind, but otherwise he did nothing. The world suddenly turned to a fluorescent green, and the sound of rushing air began to obliterate all other noise, but not fast enough to block out Charle's rather degrading farewell.
"Tootle-loo Arkie!"
Garren's POV:
Getting out of Ulara was easier than I had thought it would be. After several days of pondering, it finally came to me that my ticket out of Ulara lay not with the portals, but with a certain bird-dragon that made his home behind one of Ulara's many waterfalls.
Dart had introduced me to Tygris shortly after I met him. After I got over my initial qualms of being so close to such a monster, I actually found that I liked him. I couldn't speak or understand much of the draconic language, but he understood more than enough of the common tongues, even if he couldn't speak them. So when I left Dart and Ragnarok that night, instead of going back up to my room, I slipped back out into the courtyard. Stopping only long enough to retrieve my bag from where I'd tossed it near the fountains, I slung it across my shoulders and jumped up onto the railing. I wobbled for a moment, trying to balance myself on the narrow stone rail, then let myself fall backwards into empty space. I let myself fall until I was sure that I'd be out of sight, then flipped upright and ghosted across the treetops towards the waterfalls.
It took me a moment to locate the cave opening in the darkness, half covered by a screen of falling water. Landing on a narrow shelf of rock just outside of the opening, I edged along it until I stood inside the cave itself. Over the course of thousands of years water dripping down the walls of the cave had worn them smooth; here and there veins of quartz as thick as my arm broke through the walls, letting in the light reflecting through it from the sky above. A sort of soft, damp moss covered the floor, muffling the sounds of my footsteps as I strode cautiously towards the back of the cave. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a rumpled blanket lying on a ledge; Dart occasionally came up here to sleep when he needed quiet or the bedrooms became too hot to rest in comfort.
There was a rustle of wings, and a low, tired voice rumbled out of the darkness in the back of the cave. Most of what the voice said was unintelligible jumble, but I managed to pick out 'go away' and 'sleep'. Tygris seemed to be half asleep; when I strained my eyes I could see him sprawled across the mossy stones next to a pool of water, the tip of his tail twitching slightly in the shallows.
"Tygris, it's me, Garren. Would it hurt for you to wake up a minute?"
"Yes," he growled back, but he did lift up his head. "What'dya want?"
Wordlessly I pointed up at the sky, a patch of it visible where some of the cave's ceiling had fallen in. Hardly visible through the gap could be seen the Moon, it's red glow staining the sky around it.
Tygris followed my gaze. "That's very pretty," he yawned, "But what does it mean?"
Sometimes I find it hard to believe Dart that this is the same dragon that challenged Ragnarok in the Forgotten Lands in the East. Somehow I couldn't picture this sleepy, bluish creature delivering a formal challenge to the dragon lord the way Dart had told me. Maybe to a sleeping contest, but definitely not to one on one combat. "The Moon looks like that," I explained with exaggerated patience, "because a Moon Child was just born. Dart just left to hunt it."
" 'sat all?" Tygris dropped his head back onto the moss. "Why didn't you wait until morning to tell me that?"
Gritting my teeth, I strode over and seated myself on the bird-dragon's ribcage. Tygris lifted his head to look at me, his eyes confused. "Listen, Tygris. Don't you ever get bored of always having to stay here in Ulara?"
"Well-"
"You used to live outside. Don't you miss it?"
"I guess-"
"Right. Now Dart's going after the Moon Child, but don't you think he'd be better off if someone were there to watch his back for him? I know he's the Divine Dragoon and has Ragnarok on his side and all that, but even with that it sounds like he ran into some problems last time." Grinning at the look on Tygris' face, I pushed my hair back out of my face. "What if we were to follow along behind him? He doesn't have to know we're there; we'll just keep an eye on him and if it looks like he needs help, we'll help him."
"I'm supposed to be guarding the cygnet though!" Tygris protested.
"With Dart going after their Moon Child, do you really think that the cult is going to go after the cygnet? They have bigger problems right now. Anyhow, they'd still have to get past the winglies, and I know some of my friends can be pretty nasty when they're annoyed." I slid off the dragon's side and onto the mossy ground. "I can't get outside of the barrier on my own, but if you carried me, no one would ask any questions. You're allowed to come and go as you please, so as long as no one saw me we'd be fine."
"Charle'll be mad when she finds out." Tygris said dubiously, but I could see that he'd already made up his mind on the matter.
"We won't be around when she does though." I moved out of the way as Tygris got to his feet. He stretched, then lowered his neck so that I could climb aboard. It took me a moment to figure out a way I could sit without falling off, but I finally settled myself just in front of his wing joints, holding tightly to the crest of feathers at the base of his neck to balance myself. The dragon took a few cautious steps forward, then when he was sure I wasn't about to fall off, launched himself forward into a loping run towards the mouth of the cave. Leaping straight through the watery screen, he soared noiselessly out over the forests and buildings of Ulara, angling steadily upward towards the top of the dome. I didn't realize that we'd reached the top until the illusion of sky broke, revealing a shimmering wall of magic before us just seconds before we plunged through.
For the first time, I saw the world as it really was. Tygris turned westward, wings beating steadily as we passed over seemingly endless acres of red sand, the color accented by the ruddy light of the Moon. The stars seemed farther away then they had in Ulara, but they shone more brightly in the chill night air of the desert. I shuddered as a cold wind suddenly kicked up behind us, then quite suddenly began to laugh. I'd done it. I had left Ulara behind for the rest of the world, the one thing that the elders of the town didn't have the courage to do.
Still smiling broadly I leaned back slightly, enjoying the feel of the wind through my hair as we rode the air currents eastward. From the height we were at I could see the edge of the horizon beginning to glow with the coming of dawn, although it wouldn't reach us for hours yet. That was okay. I was patient. And so I was, my stomach still fluttering with the excitement of my newfound freedom, perched precariously on the narrow back of a dragon, awaiting the first true sunrise of my life.
Dart's POV:
I twisted my body to one side, bringing my sword down in a vicious arc across the armored back of my opponent. The keen blade bit through the normally resistant shell, drawing a thin line of greenish blood from the body of the oversized bug. Jumping into the air to avoid a counterstrike from the monster's pincers, I flipped over and used my momentum to help drive the blade deep into the body of the insect. It gave a shrill scream, a sound somewhat akin to a whistle, then dropped to the ground, its segmented body parts twitching as the last of its life drained away.
Heaving the sword from the cracked exoskeleton, I wiped the greenish blood from the blade with a dirty rag. /How's that?/
//Good enough// Ragnarok said critically. //We can work on it some more later on, but you should be able to fly to Bale on this with no problem//
We stood at the edge of the Death Frontier, not far from where the portal had dumped us a couple of hours ago. It was quite a distance to Bale from here still, but Ark figured we could make it there by sometime late tonight - if I could fly straight through the day with no stops. After pondering the problem for a while, Ark had finally came up with what he thought might be a solution. It was more in the nature of an experiment, but it definitely had some possibilities. He reasoned that if reserves of magic power could be held in my human form until I became a dragoon, then why shouldn't I be able to do the same thing with spirit power? If I could manage to keep a second reserve of spiritual power held back until I really needed it as a dragoon, then I could be able to double or even triple the time I could spend in dragoon form. Ark thought that he may be able to hold the reserves for me, at least until my body adapted enough that it could hold it on its own. So for the past several hours I had wandered along the outskirts of the Death Frontier, hunting the various species of animals and insects so that I might gain enough spiritual energy to satisfy Ark.
/What now?/ I asked, letting myself slump to the ground for a brief rest.
//Once you get your breath back, we can head out. The sooner we get to Bale the better//
/Good enough/ I flopped onto my back, staring up at the fading stars in the predawn sky. The Moon still carried its reddish glow, although it had faded noticeably since last night. Closing my eyes, I tried to make the best of my brief resting period. After this, things were only going to get more difficult.
I think that I had actually begun to drift off to sleep when I heard the rustle and click of mandibles somewhere above me. I came fully awake as something sharp pierced the skin of my left leg; the flesh around the wound burned for a moment, then went dead with paralysis. Slowly opening my eyes, I let my hand inch over to where my sword lay on the sand.
It was a sand scorpion. I'd killed three or four earlier, but evidently there were still a few around. This particular one was perched on my chest, it's barbed tail darkened with fresh blood. That explained my deadened leg, at least. My fingers brushed the hilt of my sword, but before I could get a grip on it the scorpion, seeing the movement of my hand, raised its tail once again, preparing to strike. Needless to say, I froze. The scorpion also froze, not seeming to want to strike until I made a move to.
The sun slowly climbed higher into the sky, it's rays beginning to heat up the sand. /A little help here?/ I asked Ark, rather desperately.
Ragnarok, however, was unsympathetic. //You shouldn't have dozed off like that// he told me flatly. //This is your problem, not mine//
I called him a few names, but this did nothing to change his mind. Still grumbling, I turned my attention back to the huge scorpion settled on my chest. And still the sun rose higher. Under my black shirt and jacket, I began to perspire heavily.
Relief finally came about an hour later, although not in any form that I would have expected. I was just starting to gather myself to make a quick reach and slash with the sword, when a fireball came sizzling out of seeming nowhere to collide with the scorpion, blasting it off my chest. Sitting up quickly and grabbing my sword, I prepared to finish the thing off, but there was no need. Whoever had shot it had killed the creature with the first blow. Hearing the sound of footsteps in the sand behind me, I twisted around to look.
"See? I told you that he'd need our help." Garren hopped down from Tygris's back. "'Lo, Dart. How're you doing?"
^-^ March break! Dude! One week of moderate freedom before getting dragged back into that thing that they insist on calling school. **performs happy dance**
So Garren found a way out of Ulara without Charle finding out. All those who think Ark is gonna be pissed off say "Aye!"
**Dream sequence**
Ragnarok's POV:
Sometimes it amazes me how time runs. Sometimes it seems to fly past, leaving little or no time to do anything but respond to whatever may happen, while other times it seems to just creep along. In Ulara, one can never tell what course time has chosen to take, simply because one day blends smoothly into the next without change or extraordinary circumstances. And so it is that decades, even centuries may pass without one noticing. However, unfortunately for Dart, we routinely receive a rather rude awakening from this timelessness every one hundred and eight years or so.
** The sun was just beginning to rise over the thatched rooftops of the city of Bale, its pale gold rays bathing the upper windows of the houses facing east in a warm light. On the western side of the buildings the streets still lay in shadow, but even here the cool air of the spring morning was beginning to warm, a silent promise of the day to come. Here and there the shopkeepers began to open their doors, inviting whatever early customers in who might be out wandering the streets. And sure enough, before the sun had fully risen to steal away the shadows, people began to roam the streets, moving and talking quietly to avoid waking those households still slumbering as they went about their business.
However, there was one in the streets who did not have any reason to deal with the merchants, nor did he have any wish to. Marrak strode through the streets with a lofty expression on his face, straightening his long green and white robes as he did so. Pausing before a low building, hardly larger than a large shed, he pushed open the heavy plank door and stepped through.
The room inside was low beamed the ceiling hardly more than six feet high in some spots. A fire burned brightly in the far corner, filling the crowded room with a sweltering heat and more than a little smoke. And the room was crowded; three other men, dressed in a similar fashion to Marrak stood along the walls or sat on the rickety furniture. At the far end of the room was a second plank door, this one leading to the small bedroom where a midwife helped with the laboring women who owned the house. At least, that was what Marrak hoped was happening. The house had been eerily silent since he entered.
When the cries of an infant finally broke the silence, Marrak breathed a sigh of relief. The woman to whom the child belonged was not robust, and there had been debate over whether or not she was strong enough to bear the child when the cult's astrologers had named her the mother of the Moon Child. Rosalyn, the child's mother, had been a widow since six months ago and with the loss of her husband, had lost the will to live. It was only because of the sometimes forceful care of cult members like Marrak that Rosalyn was still alive and strong enough to give birth to the infant
Marrak was snapped out of his reverie when the bedroom door opened to reveal the tired face of the midwife Dessa. Her hair was in disarray and her clothes stained, but in her arms she held a small, cloth wrapped bundle that cried weakly as she held it gently to her. Wordlessly Donovan, the high priest of the cult in Bale, held out his arms to take the child from her.
"She was too weak," Dessa told him as she gave up the child. "Rosalyn couldn't survive the stress of labor."
"She sacrificed herself to bring the Moon Child into the world, midwife Dessa." Donovan proclaimed in his quavering voice. "Know this and be comforted, for someday soon the fruit of her sacrifice shall bring a Utopia to those of us who are truly faithful." Turning to Marrak, the high priest lowered his voice. "We shall bring the child to the temple. Go and alert Zen. We will need him on his guard."
"Zen?" Marrak asked, startled. "Are you sure he's ready?"
Donovan glared at Marrak. "He will have to be. We cannot bring enough of our forces into Bale to guard the child, so we are depending on him as our protection."
"Are you sure that's really wise?"
"It is all we can do." Donovan said simply. "Anymore would attract the attention of the King."
"But he is not opposed to us, is he?"
"But he is not with us either. Go, Marrak. You have much to do 'ere darkness falls."**
"Dart! Dart, get up!"
Dart groaned as Garren jabbed him sharply in his side, but didn't bother moving. /Would it be okay if I just slept through the next few weeks?/ He asked, his thought sounding slightly plaintive in my mind.
//Of course, if you don't mind letting me handle this child. I can't guarantee that Bale will still be in one piece when I'm done, but you can't have everything in life//
Dart made a disgusted sound, then rolled off of the bench he had been dozing on and got to his feet. "What do you want, Garren?" He asked, even though we both already knew what the answer would be. Sometimes Dart's need to question the obvious gets on my nerves at times, but I get the feeling that he did it more to set others at ease when he knew things that from their point of view he shouldn't.
"Charle says a Moon Child was born," he said, his red eyes glittering in the pale light, "In Bale, I think. Anyway, she said to meet her out by the portals."
Dart glanced up at the sky above. It looked to be about midnight, although I couldn't be sure. With the birth of the Moon Child the moon burned with a dusky red light, and the glow did strange things to the night sky; in its light some stars seemed unnaturally bright while others disappeared entirely. The alien sky would make any sort of navigation or time estimates nearly impossible while we traveled. //Let's get moving Dart. Don't keep the woman waiting//
Garren tagged along after us as Dart made his way across the maze of walkways towards the portals, but disappeared into the living quarters without a word as we passed by. I guessed that Charle must have spoken to him rather firmly before she sent him, because not once did he mention coming with us, which was something I considered a serious lapse of character. After listening to just about every story Dart and I could come up with over the past years, it seemed that he couldn't open his mouth without another question about the outside world. Lately these outbursts had settled into bouts of thoughtful musing about the different ways he might try to sneak past Charle's security measures. For the most part Tygris and Dart had laughed these musings off, but we had told the wingly leader to keep an eye on him. Charle hadn't spoken directly to Garren up until now, but the guard around the portals had been noticeably tightened. //He's up to something// I muttered, half to my self.
/Probably, but there's nothing we can really do about it/
//I know. That's what bothers me// I growled. I didn't care personally about
Ulara's taboos and whatnot, but if Garren did manage to somehow follow us, then he could become a serious hindrance. Garren had never been outside of Ulara before and aside from practicing with his magic from time to time, I was fairly sure that he would have very little idea of how to fight one on one, much less in a melee.
Charle stood waiting for us once more at the portals, talking earnestly to Caron and the second gatekeeper Roan. She had dropped out of her customary mode of speech and now spoke with more normal phrasing, although she still continued to add the unnecessary 'ie' ending to words from time to time. When she noticed our approach, she turned to meet us with a large smile on her face. Inwardly, I groaned. She could be normal around everyone else under circumstances like this, but the moment we came into the conversation she automatically tried to make things seem happy and cheerful. Never mind that her 'cheerfulness' made me feel sick to my non-existent stomach.
"Dart, sweetie! Are you already to go?" She asked in a bright tone of voice. "Will you need anything? Those dears down at the shops have agreed that you can take whatever you need free of charge."
Dart's hand dipped into the pockets of his jacket as he took a quick inventory. By custom he always kept a good stock of items on him at all times, just incase he had to leave on short notice. "I think we'll be fine," he said finally. "I could use a few spirit potions, but we'll probably pick up a few off monsters on the way."
//Move over//
/You want to talk to her?/ Dart sounded surprised.
//Yes// I shoved his mind rather unceremoniously to one side and took over. "Charle, did you talk to Garren? I don't want to get out there and suddenly find him trailing along behind us."
"Yes. The poor dear didn't seem too pleased by it though." Charle sighed. "He gets too bored of Ulara, I fear. Can you believe that the darling actually asked if I could make it snow?" Charle shook her head. "Can you imagine that? All of Ulara smothered under a blanket of cold, wet, white fluff?" She shuddered, then paused. "Although it would look rather pretty."
Pushing me back again, Dart stepped past Caron and onto the green portal tile, tightening his sword belt. "Where will this drop me off?" He asked, tugging on the leather strap.
"On the outskirts of the Death Frontier. We don't have enough collective strength right now to send you any farther, I'm afraid." Caron sighed. "There have been so few births lately. I guess the prospect of bringing a child into a world of eternal life in containment is starting to seem rather hollow. Garren and his friend Nova were among the last to be born, and you can see how dissatisfied they are with their lives spent in one place."
The portal below us began to hum, the faint green glow slowly growing into a light so bright that Dart was forced to close his eyes as the magic reached its peak. Dart flinched slightly as the wingly magic stung the back of his mind, but otherwise he did nothing. The world suddenly turned to a fluorescent green, and the sound of rushing air began to obliterate all other noise, but not fast enough to block out Charle's rather degrading farewell.
"Tootle-loo Arkie!"
Garren's POV:
Getting out of Ulara was easier than I had thought it would be. After several days of pondering, it finally came to me that my ticket out of Ulara lay not with the portals, but with a certain bird-dragon that made his home behind one of Ulara's many waterfalls.
Dart had introduced me to Tygris shortly after I met him. After I got over my initial qualms of being so close to such a monster, I actually found that I liked him. I couldn't speak or understand much of the draconic language, but he understood more than enough of the common tongues, even if he couldn't speak them. So when I left Dart and Ragnarok that night, instead of going back up to my room, I slipped back out into the courtyard. Stopping only long enough to retrieve my bag from where I'd tossed it near the fountains, I slung it across my shoulders and jumped up onto the railing. I wobbled for a moment, trying to balance myself on the narrow stone rail, then let myself fall backwards into empty space. I let myself fall until I was sure that I'd be out of sight, then flipped upright and ghosted across the treetops towards the waterfalls.
It took me a moment to locate the cave opening in the darkness, half covered by a screen of falling water. Landing on a narrow shelf of rock just outside of the opening, I edged along it until I stood inside the cave itself. Over the course of thousands of years water dripping down the walls of the cave had worn them smooth; here and there veins of quartz as thick as my arm broke through the walls, letting in the light reflecting through it from the sky above. A sort of soft, damp moss covered the floor, muffling the sounds of my footsteps as I strode cautiously towards the back of the cave. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a rumpled blanket lying on a ledge; Dart occasionally came up here to sleep when he needed quiet or the bedrooms became too hot to rest in comfort.
There was a rustle of wings, and a low, tired voice rumbled out of the darkness in the back of the cave. Most of what the voice said was unintelligible jumble, but I managed to pick out 'go away' and 'sleep'. Tygris seemed to be half asleep; when I strained my eyes I could see him sprawled across the mossy stones next to a pool of water, the tip of his tail twitching slightly in the shallows.
"Tygris, it's me, Garren. Would it hurt for you to wake up a minute?"
"Yes," he growled back, but he did lift up his head. "What'dya want?"
Wordlessly I pointed up at the sky, a patch of it visible where some of the cave's ceiling had fallen in. Hardly visible through the gap could be seen the Moon, it's red glow staining the sky around it.
Tygris followed my gaze. "That's very pretty," he yawned, "But what does it mean?"
Sometimes I find it hard to believe Dart that this is the same dragon that challenged Ragnarok in the Forgotten Lands in the East. Somehow I couldn't picture this sleepy, bluish creature delivering a formal challenge to the dragon lord the way Dart had told me. Maybe to a sleeping contest, but definitely not to one on one combat. "The Moon looks like that," I explained with exaggerated patience, "because a Moon Child was just born. Dart just left to hunt it."
" 'sat all?" Tygris dropped his head back onto the moss. "Why didn't you wait until morning to tell me that?"
Gritting my teeth, I strode over and seated myself on the bird-dragon's ribcage. Tygris lifted his head to look at me, his eyes confused. "Listen, Tygris. Don't you ever get bored of always having to stay here in Ulara?"
"Well-"
"You used to live outside. Don't you miss it?"
"I guess-"
"Right. Now Dart's going after the Moon Child, but don't you think he'd be better off if someone were there to watch his back for him? I know he's the Divine Dragoon and has Ragnarok on his side and all that, but even with that it sounds like he ran into some problems last time." Grinning at the look on Tygris' face, I pushed my hair back out of my face. "What if we were to follow along behind him? He doesn't have to know we're there; we'll just keep an eye on him and if it looks like he needs help, we'll help him."
"I'm supposed to be guarding the cygnet though!" Tygris protested.
"With Dart going after their Moon Child, do you really think that the cult is going to go after the cygnet? They have bigger problems right now. Anyhow, they'd still have to get past the winglies, and I know some of my friends can be pretty nasty when they're annoyed." I slid off the dragon's side and onto the mossy ground. "I can't get outside of the barrier on my own, but if you carried me, no one would ask any questions. You're allowed to come and go as you please, so as long as no one saw me we'd be fine."
"Charle'll be mad when she finds out." Tygris said dubiously, but I could see that he'd already made up his mind on the matter.
"We won't be around when she does though." I moved out of the way as Tygris got to his feet. He stretched, then lowered his neck so that I could climb aboard. It took me a moment to figure out a way I could sit without falling off, but I finally settled myself just in front of his wing joints, holding tightly to the crest of feathers at the base of his neck to balance myself. The dragon took a few cautious steps forward, then when he was sure I wasn't about to fall off, launched himself forward into a loping run towards the mouth of the cave. Leaping straight through the watery screen, he soared noiselessly out over the forests and buildings of Ulara, angling steadily upward towards the top of the dome. I didn't realize that we'd reached the top until the illusion of sky broke, revealing a shimmering wall of magic before us just seconds before we plunged through.
For the first time, I saw the world as it really was. Tygris turned westward, wings beating steadily as we passed over seemingly endless acres of red sand, the color accented by the ruddy light of the Moon. The stars seemed farther away then they had in Ulara, but they shone more brightly in the chill night air of the desert. I shuddered as a cold wind suddenly kicked up behind us, then quite suddenly began to laugh. I'd done it. I had left Ulara behind for the rest of the world, the one thing that the elders of the town didn't have the courage to do.
Still smiling broadly I leaned back slightly, enjoying the feel of the wind through my hair as we rode the air currents eastward. From the height we were at I could see the edge of the horizon beginning to glow with the coming of dawn, although it wouldn't reach us for hours yet. That was okay. I was patient. And so I was, my stomach still fluttering with the excitement of my newfound freedom, perched precariously on the narrow back of a dragon, awaiting the first true sunrise of my life.
Dart's POV:
I twisted my body to one side, bringing my sword down in a vicious arc across the armored back of my opponent. The keen blade bit through the normally resistant shell, drawing a thin line of greenish blood from the body of the oversized bug. Jumping into the air to avoid a counterstrike from the monster's pincers, I flipped over and used my momentum to help drive the blade deep into the body of the insect. It gave a shrill scream, a sound somewhat akin to a whistle, then dropped to the ground, its segmented body parts twitching as the last of its life drained away.
Heaving the sword from the cracked exoskeleton, I wiped the greenish blood from the blade with a dirty rag. /How's that?/
//Good enough// Ragnarok said critically. //We can work on it some more later on, but you should be able to fly to Bale on this with no problem//
We stood at the edge of the Death Frontier, not far from where the portal had dumped us a couple of hours ago. It was quite a distance to Bale from here still, but Ark figured we could make it there by sometime late tonight - if I could fly straight through the day with no stops. After pondering the problem for a while, Ark had finally came up with what he thought might be a solution. It was more in the nature of an experiment, but it definitely had some possibilities. He reasoned that if reserves of magic power could be held in my human form until I became a dragoon, then why shouldn't I be able to do the same thing with spirit power? If I could manage to keep a second reserve of spiritual power held back until I really needed it as a dragoon, then I could be able to double or even triple the time I could spend in dragoon form. Ark thought that he may be able to hold the reserves for me, at least until my body adapted enough that it could hold it on its own. So for the past several hours I had wandered along the outskirts of the Death Frontier, hunting the various species of animals and insects so that I might gain enough spiritual energy to satisfy Ark.
/What now?/ I asked, letting myself slump to the ground for a brief rest.
//Once you get your breath back, we can head out. The sooner we get to Bale the better//
/Good enough/ I flopped onto my back, staring up at the fading stars in the predawn sky. The Moon still carried its reddish glow, although it had faded noticeably since last night. Closing my eyes, I tried to make the best of my brief resting period. After this, things were only going to get more difficult.
I think that I had actually begun to drift off to sleep when I heard the rustle and click of mandibles somewhere above me. I came fully awake as something sharp pierced the skin of my left leg; the flesh around the wound burned for a moment, then went dead with paralysis. Slowly opening my eyes, I let my hand inch over to where my sword lay on the sand.
It was a sand scorpion. I'd killed three or four earlier, but evidently there were still a few around. This particular one was perched on my chest, it's barbed tail darkened with fresh blood. That explained my deadened leg, at least. My fingers brushed the hilt of my sword, but before I could get a grip on it the scorpion, seeing the movement of my hand, raised its tail once again, preparing to strike. Needless to say, I froze. The scorpion also froze, not seeming to want to strike until I made a move to.
The sun slowly climbed higher into the sky, it's rays beginning to heat up the sand. /A little help here?/ I asked Ark, rather desperately.
Ragnarok, however, was unsympathetic. //You shouldn't have dozed off like that// he told me flatly. //This is your problem, not mine//
I called him a few names, but this did nothing to change his mind. Still grumbling, I turned my attention back to the huge scorpion settled on my chest. And still the sun rose higher. Under my black shirt and jacket, I began to perspire heavily.
Relief finally came about an hour later, although not in any form that I would have expected. I was just starting to gather myself to make a quick reach and slash with the sword, when a fireball came sizzling out of seeming nowhere to collide with the scorpion, blasting it off my chest. Sitting up quickly and grabbing my sword, I prepared to finish the thing off, but there was no need. Whoever had shot it had killed the creature with the first blow. Hearing the sound of footsteps in the sand behind me, I twisted around to look.
"See? I told you that he'd need our help." Garren hopped down from Tygris's back. "'Lo, Dart. How're you doing?"
^-^ March break! Dude! One week of moderate freedom before getting dragged back into that thing that they insist on calling school. **performs happy dance**
So Garren found a way out of Ulara without Charle finding out. All those who think Ark is gonna be pissed off say "Aye!"