There she was, standing majestically and proud, sitting on her water throne with all her glory illuminating her. The face of a dragon glared threateningly at them, the horns rimmed and twisted on the head, like those of a goat. The neck thickened in moistness, while the wings engulfed the enormous body, only to end in the powerful wideness of its tail. Sails of pure white glimmered in the night, illuminated by the sparkling of stars. There was no distinct flag signally any alignment, hence the people standing on deck were dressed in the most picturesque way.
"Ahoy captain!" Izzy called loudly, placing his hand around his mouth to boost his voice.
A woman leaned over the deck's railing. She was definitely beautiful, her hair was a golden glimmer, highlighted with silver. Features of the finest traces formed her face, sharp and thin, with a slightly tan skin, coloured by hours under the sun. Her eyes were the colour of ocean, hence varied in colour as the seas did.
"Blaze? Tis' ye' old wind scavenger?" the woman said tidying a strand of hair that had fallen off its place.
"Sure I am, Fenalian!" Izzy nodded with a happy voice, and a rather pleased smile.
"Come aboard, come aboard!" Fenalian said with a blooming glee in her voice, while motioning towards a rope ladder.
The three friends climbed up the ladder, and hopped with astounding agility onto the wooden back of the dragon.
"Welcome aboard of the Sea Dragon!" Fenalian said opening her arms in pride, while approaching the trio with secure steps.
"Impressive!" Matt mustered, while staring with unexplainable joy at the colossus that engulfed him.
"Hi Fen." Izzy said with a slight blush, "This are my friends, Matt and Kari." The boy introduced with the serious manners that characterised him.
"A pleasure." The woman said flirting with Izzy, yet her eyes were paying close attention to the wolf boy's movements.
"We need your help, Fen." Izzy snapped abruptly, staring around and lowering his voice considerably.
"Ya', I didn't think ye' were 'ere to see me." Fen mumbled, making her displeasure very obvious.
"I'm sorry, I promise one of this days I will come only to see you." Izzy said blushing slightly, his words urgent.
"Ya', if I got a galleon fer each time ye' told me dis', I'd have stopped stealing a year ago!" Fen snarled sarcastic, placing a lost strand of hair behind a pointy ear.
"Please, Fen, this last time." Izzy begged, almost kneeling on the floor.
"All right, all right. But only so ye' stop shaming me!" Fen said casually, looking away and placing her palm facing the copper dragon's black eyes.
"You are one in a million, Fen!" Izzy said with a bright smile.
"Stop it before I decide to get a swimming suit of dragon scales!" Fen snarled viciously, yet her lips were curled in a smile. "What do you want?" she finally inquired.
"Take us to the continent of Elves, please." Izzy said seriously, "It's rather urgent."
"I don't care what ye' have done this time. Set sails lot of lazy walruses!" the elven woman yelled, hurrying towards the steering wheel.
Men of all ages, colours and sizes were climbing up the deck, appearing from holes that were simply not there before. It was like kicking the mouth of an anthill, and watching the warriors rise to defend the colony. Matt looked up when a flapping sound alerted his acute senses. A flag ha risen and was swaying gloriously, and proudly. It was a piece of cloth that scared him slightly, yet comforted him like the arms of a mother, a mother he never knew. A black flag with a dragon skull, and two bones crossed right under it.
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
The cloaked figure entered the thick darkness of the inn's room. Eyes scanned around, and even the sound of a sniffing nose could be heard. Yet the darkness didn't move, nor did the shadows, who were still and patient, waiting for the outcome.
"PYROS!" a female's yell was heard.
The cloaked figure turned around rapidly, yet not fast enough. The room exploded in a flaming white and orange, mixed with the licking of red. The darkness was pushed away by the luminous brilliance, as the whole room was devoured by magical flames.
"Lets go!" Silven commanded, tugging at Yolei's hand, and pulling her away.
The two figured had been hidden right behind the opening door. Yolei's new trick had come in handy, as she demonstrated having an instinctive mastery with magic. The stranger had vanished into the ocean of fire, and the elf had motioned for the girl to escape. The two friends raced towards the stables without loosing time.
"Get on your mare, I'll get a fine one for myself!" Silven said, the urgency and a slight fear seemed to be stuttering in his voice.
"But that's stealing!" Yolei protested, placing her hands on the mare's face.
"Oh, this it not the time for moral lessons! Get on the horse!" Silven commanded more severely.
"But… there is no saddle!" Yolei protested again.
"Yolei!" Silven yelled angrily, riding on his horse, a smaller, reddish stallion.
The elven boy trotted past the woman's stall, as Yolei kicked the mare on the sides and started off after him. The boy's horse neighed and reared, stopping his advance rather abruptly. A cloaked figure had appeared right before the stall's doors, and was standing defiantly, arms extended, legs open. Silven snarled lightly, narrowing his eyebrows, yet kicked the horse's sides so hard the animal gasped airless. The red fury began galloping, being followed by the black storm with passion.
"Lean as tight as you can against your horse!" the elf shouted at Yolei, leaning forward until his chest was pressed against the red's back.
Yolei obeyed and followed bravely. The red snorted angrily, as he was urged forward again by the boy's feet. The horse leapt forward, not high enough as to collide against the ceiling, yet still being able to pass over the figure. The horse's hands hit the man on the face. A pained scream echoed in the night, as amber eyes flashed with hatred, fixed on the elven boy. Yolei's mare imitated the red, yet her jump was lower, being the obstacle laying on the ground. Both horses galloped off into the night.
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
The two animals snorted displeased. They had been tied with the same rope that had served as reins, and the two animals were not too glad of being together. The darkness still reigned the world, yet inside a cave flickered a flame. Silven was very pale and shaky, as if the whole commotion had affected him more than he would have desired.
"Silven, are you all right?" Yolei asked worriedly, staring at the man while heating her hands on the fire.
"Yes, I'm fine." SIlven said with a stutter, "Just a little cold." The boy commented casually.
"Yeah, sure." Yolei mumbled angrily.
"Why don't you name the horses? Looks like they will spend a lot of time with us!" Silven said trying to appear excited.
"Why would I want to name them? They are not mine in the first place!" Yolei said slightly exasperated.
"Well, they are now. It's not like you can give them back. My people believe that, by naming the horses with names of things, they get the quality of those things." Silven said with a shrug, as if the whole thing lacked any importance at all.
"Well, my people don't…" Yolei began, yet her words died in the darkness.
Silven mustered a whisper and extinguished the flames. Rapidly the boy pressed Yolei against the rocky wall and covered her with his slender body. The boy looked back, expectant, his whole body stiff with tension. Yolei was breathing heavily, the nerves of not knowing was making her more worried than what she should. The horses were silent, deadly silent. A shadow, an enormous winged shadow flew right before the cave's entrance. The whooshing sound of thick leader flapping boomed into the cave. As quickly as it came, it left.
"It's gone!" said Silven with a sigh of relief, turning his face to look at the woman.
Suddenly the two encountered themselves inches from each other. Yolei tilted her head slightly, her eyes glancing deeply into the elf's violet blue ones. Their breathings quickened, specially Silven's breath, which became a heaving panting. Suddenly, the elf pushed himself away from her, his whole muscles were trembling with a furious vibration.
"I'm going for a walk…" the boy said abruptly, nervously, "Don't light a fire." He commanded more severely.
The elf raced outside the cave, leaving Yolei alone in the darkness, and with a terrible sensation of loss. Izzy was blooming in her mind this time, stronger than ever, yet somehow the dragon's eyes had suddenly lightened to a violet shade, remembering the confused eyes that stared so gently at her.
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Silven walked into the night, pacing as silent and invisible as all elves were capable of. His eyes glanced into the sky. Stars were glimmering accusingly, furious were their chatter as pointing hands seemed to glare angrily at him. The boy felt his legs wobbly, weak. Loosing all the strength he had remaining, the youth fell on his knees. His head looked at the sky passionately, and his arms extended in offering before the heavens.
"What is happening to me? Why am I aching so badly? Have I sinned Mother? Why this punishment?" Silven yelled at the sky with clarity.
Shutting his eyes tightly, warmth and humidity began to fill his cheeks. The boy allowed his heart pouring comfortingly with his tears, fluent like the course of a river. He clenched his jaws and tried to maintain the silence that engulfed him.
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
The ship sailed calmly across the oceans. The dragon head cutting the water, such that the enormous body could float rapidly across it. The sun began to rise, a gentle glimmer of a pure gold started to sparkle in the always moving water. Matt inhaled one deep breath, absorbing the fresh morning, and the salty scent. He smiled sighing pleasantly, and opened his eyes to stare at the beauty before him.
"Wonderful, isn't it Mathew?" a gentle, melodious voice inquired behind him.
"Oh… Hi!" Matt said turning around to find Fenalian standing right behind him.
"I adore this life, but this vision… I would have given all my gold only to see this dawn one more time." Fenalian commented casually, leaning on the railing and resting on it.
"It is very pretty." Matt commented passively.
"Captured your heart, hasn't she?" Fen inquired staring at the boy distractedly.
"Somehow being in this ship, watching this dawn, everything… fills me with a strange calm and safety." Matt responded shrugging, his eyes focused on the rippling water.
"It is no doubt." Fen said with a shrug, as if it was very obvious.
"Why?" Matt inquired rather urgently, turning abruptly to stare at her, inquiringly, sharply.
"It is obvious, the blood in your veins." Fen smiled at Matt rather funny.
"The blood in my veins? What has my lycanthrope blood got to do with ships, and the sea?" Matt narrowed his eyebrows confused, as he gesticulated irritated.
"Lycanthrope blood? No, I meant pirate blood. You are a werewolf?" This time it was Fen's turn to be surprised.
"Pirate blood? Wait a minute, I'm not getting much of this." Matt was confused, and was becoming frustrated by the second.
"I don't understand it… you are a lycanthrope!" Fen exclaimed rather interested, staring at the boy as if he had suddenly appeared.
"Yes!" Matt growled irritated, "But what were you talking about pirate blood?" the youth was starting to mutate his irritation into anger.
"You are my brother!" Fen snapped suddenly.
"You are crazy!" Matt growled shaking his head, turning around angrily and retreating from Fen's company.
"Your father was my father!" Fen snapped rapidly, "Naruk the Fierce, a great pirate. Mother was called Fenrir the Wolf, a strong warrior of a tribe of lycanthropes. I haven't seen them in more than 20 years." Fen said calmly.
"You knew them?" Matt stared at Fen with clear eyes.
"Yes, you are a pirate, just like your father was." Fen's eyes glimmered lightly, "how are they?" she inquired hopefully.
"Divorced, but fine." Matt grinned lightly, "I live with my dad, but it seems like I am the one who has inherited the wolf gene." The boy shrugged, lacking importance to his words.
"Not completely, these…" Fen pointed at her ears, "are not elven ears, I am not an elf. I can't shapeshift, or anything, but I have werewolf traces, these ears, or sharper fangs." The girl smiled lightly.
"Why were you so surprised that I was a werewolf?" Matt inquired taking one hesitant step towards the woman.
"Since I didn't inherit mother's genes, I didn't believe one of her children with a human pirate could become a full time lycanthrope." Fen explained shrugging.
Matt opened his lips to comment on Fen's last words. Suddenly the ship wobbled and shook violently. Matt let his body fall on four legs, such that his balance was kept easily. Fen turned around and gripped on the railing, leaning over to glance at the sea with seriousness. The sea was calm, so that abrupt movement must have been something external, something large, strong, or arcane at least.
"For the glory of Gynaro!" Fen took a step back, as the surface of the water exploded into a column of salty fluid and millions of raindrops which showered the wooden dragon.
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
To Be Continued…
AN: There comes another chapter. How are you liking it? More interesting as it proceeds? I have some interesting ideas for the ending. Anyways, I hope you are enjoying it, and suggestions of all kinds are accepted.