Chapter 5

Arishka

When I woke up the next morning, the fire had been extinguished and Ky was gone. Moku, however, was still snoring loudly, with his thumb in his mouth. After laughing silently for a little while, I woke up Ultimatra, who was in a surprisingly good mood. Why are you so happy?

I was talking to Tartea last night while you were speaking with Ky. He seems to think that there may be a deeper connection between you two.

What do you mean by that?

I mean that there is a prophesy predicting two Dragons and how they save the species.

I choked a little, and Moku tossed a bit.

That's not what I meant, though you may do whatever you want.

Then what did you mean?

I meant that there is another Dragon War brewing. It will begin soon, and you will need as many allies as you can get. I don't know the Black Dragon or his companion. I only know that they are powerful. In the past, the Black Dragon has been able to control the living. How they move, how they speak, how they feel. It is said that only Dragons are impervious to his power, but it has never been proven.

So you mean that I may not be able to stay clear of his magic?

Yes.

Thanks. I woke up in a good mood...Wait. Why are you so happy? This is very depressing news.

That's simple. Tartea said...

"Good morning, Alya." It appeared Moku had woken up.

"You have the worst timing in the world."

"Thanks. That's something I always wanted to hear from a woman after she wakes up in the morning." Ky walked into the cave with a grin on his face.

"Whoa. Time out. You," I poked his leg, "are supposed to be the grim and moody one. Moku is the clown."

"Hey!"

"Sorry."

"Well, it just so happens that I went to see Arishka this morning, and she is already done laying her egg. She's in a surprisingly good mood, and so am I."

He got some good news last night.

I blushed, knowing exactly which good news Ultimatra was talking about. Why would he be so happy unless he loved me, too? Unless there was a messenger last night after I fell asleep. I am so confused.

"Well, since we're all awake, we can go see Arishka."

"Not until I get a shower, and a change of clothes. I'm filthy from running through the jungle." I looked pointedly at the both of them, daring them to argue with me, in Ky's case, or make a crack on my hygiene, in Moku's.

"Fine. There's a hot spring about thirty feet from the cave. Take a left at the tree, and go straight. You should fall right in."

"Thanks. See you lizards later."

I followed Ky's directions and found a beautiful waterfall. "Wow."

There were birds galore and all of them were singing their greetings to the rising sun. I am not meant to wake up this early. I shook the sleep from my eyes, and shed my clothes. I dipped a foot into the water to find it the perfect temperature. I slipped in carefully, and sighed. It was so perfect, I couldn't help it.

After about twenty minutes of soaking, and cleaning, there were a bunch of snapping twigs coming from the direction of the cave. I sunk low in the water, and Ky popped out of the forest, his hand shielding his eyes.

"It's all right. You won't see anything."

He slowly lifted his hands from his eyes, his cheeks the color of an apple. His mouth hung open, and his eyes bulged from his head. "What?" I looked down, and instead of seeing my usual body, there were pink feathers and wings protruding from my flesh. "I'm a-''

"You're a flamingo!" He laughed and I wanted to punch him, but I didn't have a hand, so I bird slapped him.

"Why am I a freaking flamingo?"

"I guess we've found your special power. You're a shape shifter."

"Okay. Turn around, I'm changing back and getting out. Hand me my towel."

"Give me a second to adjust. It's really strange to see a flamingo talking to you."

"Just hand me the damn towel."

He handed me the blue towel I had brought along, and the cloak the woman had given to me. As he turned, I pictured my human body, and wrapped the towel around myself. "Now that I'm human again, why did you disturb my bath?"

He cursed. "In all the chaos, I forgot. There were Zarbor. Moku and I took care of the ones that found us, but more will be on the way. We need to get away from here and up to Arishka's now."

"Okay. Go get my bedroll rolled up and get ready to leave. I'll meet you there in about five minutes."

"Okay, and one more thing."

"What?"

Before I could even process what was happening, he was kissing me. I mean, really kissing me. He stepped back, and smiled. "Good morning." He turned around and walked out of the woods, and I was left alone, my hand on my lips and my brain completely scrambled.

After I had changed and returned to camp, Ky and Moku were all ready to go. I grabbed my pack, my bedroll inside, and began walking to the South, where Arishka's cave was visible on a large hill.

Once we got the cave, we could hear laughter in the back. As we got closer, the laughter stopped and there was silence. We hadn't even gotten to the back of the cave when there was a bright red Dragon blocking the entrance to the Resting Place. "Moku?"

"Good morning, my love. You look beautiful as always."

"Thank you. Ky said that you were along with him, but he hadn't mentioned a girl."

"I'm Alya."

"Nice to meet you. Is she a Dragon? If she isn't, you do know I have to kill her, right?"

Ky stepped in front of me, but I pushed him aside lightly and transformed. Arishka's giant maw dropped open, and she turned human again. I followed suit.

"I'm sorry, Alya. I had no idea you were a Blue Dragon. Please accept my apologies."

"Of course. At least you didn't ask me to take your life, as the last two did. Then I would have had to accept." I laughed, and she joined me. Moku scowled and Ky grinned. It was really nice to see him smile. I got a good look at her human form. She truly was beautiful. Her blue-black hair reached all the way down to her ankles, and her face held the promise of a beautiful smile. I could see why Moku had fallen in love with her.

Moku wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a gentle squeeze. "May we see the beauty that is our offspring?"

"Not right now. It's still hardening, and I know how clumsy you can be. I wouldn't want you to kill our son."

"So it's definitely a boy?" Ky asked.

"The mother always knows."

She led us back to the end of the cave and her Resting Place. In a corner was a fire-red orb, quite like Ultimatra's egg. Arishka sat fairly close to the egg, and motioned for us to sit on a grouping of flat rocks near her bed. I wish for once there were chairs. My back was starting to hurt from constantly sitting on rocks.

"So you'll be moving this one up the third floor once it hardens, right?" Ky asked gently.

"Of course. The fourth floor is where the first egg is resting. Until there comes a time when I pass on, the egg will stay there. Of course, they will have to find out whether the next Red Dragon is male or female."

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you use the second floor for?"

"That is where my handmaiden sleeps. She has her own floor on request by her parents."

"She gets a handmaiden, too." Ky mumbled.

"They're not likely to send a virgin to a male dragon, are they?" I mumbled back at him.

He snorted and smoke curled out of his nostrils.

"What can I help you guys with? You know I'm happy to see you, Ky, but it's not likely that you come here with no reason."

"There are Zarbor on your lands. We were attacked this morning. They are lucky that one of us was away, or they would have been ripped to shreds. Tartea seems to think there is a Dragon War beginning, and I trust his judgement."

"Ultimatra agrees with Tartea and thinks that we could use your help once the fighting breaks loose." I spoke cautiously having heard of her temper and berserker style of fighting.

"Your dragon speaks to you already? I couldn't get Moonily to speak with me for two weeks, and I would have heard of a new Blue Dragon in that amount of time."

"Alya has been connected for about fourteen hours, and Ultimatra hatched after about forty-five minutes." Ky explained.

"Prodigy, are you?"

"Desperate is probably closer." I replied.

"Then let's get started." Moku clapped and rubbed his hands together.

I looked at Ky, and he caught my eye. I looked away and blushed. The boy could kiss. "Excuse me, mistress and guests, but there is a villager at the entrance asking to see you." The handmaiden poked her head into the Resting Place and stepped inside on Arishka's command. Her kimono was shorter than its blue counterpart, but its edges were embroidered in gold instead of the silver of the blue handmaiden's.

"Excuse me, guys. I have to take care of this." Arishka pushed herself off of the floor, and began walking to the entrance of the cave.

"I'll come with you. I'm sure the poor man would like the blessing of two Dragons if it came upon him." Moku stated.

"Fine, but hurry up. We can't keep him waiting." They walked off hand in hand.

And then there were two. Why does this always happen to me? Talk to him! He'll think you're ignoring him!

And why can't I do that again?

Because you love him.

Oh right, that. Why can't you just leave me in my misery?

Because I love shoving it in your face, and I value my friendship with Tartea.

So happy to know I got the kind dragon.

You did and you're lucky to have me. My brother, the last Blue Dragon, was an irritating hatchling, and an obstinate full-grown.

Goody for his human.

His human was as much of an ass as he was. I laughed, this time inside my mind, not wanting Ky to hear.

"So." I started.

"So."

"Are we going to do this for the rest of the time we're together?"

"Probably."

"Well, I can't take it, and neither can Ultimatra. We value your friendship and I couldn't stand to lose that."

"Spoken like a true Dragon."

"Well, I am a true Dragon, whether I like it or not. The flamingo incident proves it."

"That was really funny."

"Good. Now we're getting somewhere."

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did."

"And I don't want you to. The truth is, you kiss better than all of my last boyfriends put together."

He laughed. "They must have really sucked."

"Most of them did."

"I still want to be your friend."

"Why wouldn't you be?"

"Well..."

"Ky. Please just spit it out. I can't take much more of this."

"I can't. It's too soon."

"What can't you do?"

He was silent, and I knew.

"I'm not sorry either. I never want you to be sorry about anything you say or do around me. You've seen the real me these last few days, and I wouldn't want to change that."

"Just to let you know, I'm not sorry about this either."

"Not sorry about wh..."

Before I could even finish my sentence, he had captured my lips and kissing me again. I just let go of all caution, and tried to tell him how I felt without actually saying it.

Welcome to our life, Alya. I hope you stay awhile.

Tartea?

Don't break his heart.

I may be the one having to worry about that.

No.

Suddenly, there were footsteps coming from the entrance of the caves, and we broke apart. Just as we stopped breathing heavily, Moku and Arishka walked into the Resting Place. Ky covered my hand with his, and tried to make it look like an accident. "So, what happened?"

"A villager just wanted my approval in the marriage of his daughter to the local butcher. They're really deeply in love."

"And?" Ky asked.

"What do you think?"

He quieted, and looked at his feet. He looked hurt, but you could tell he was chuckling under his breath. I punched him on the arm and looked back up at the other two. Moku sat next to Arishka near the egg, and lifted it up. In the light, you could see golden veins in the egg like Ultimatra's egg hadn't had. When I asked about it, the two laughed.

"Ultimatra was probably a half-dragon. Her mother was probably involved with a mortal. The veins are the father's dragon color. The full-blood eggs are worth more than the half-blood, except in Ultimatra's case. The half-bloods are no less powerful than the full-bloods are, but they are safer, as robbers usually go for the veined eggs. That's why my two will be in safes." Arishka explained.

"Don't mind me saying, but I've always heard that you were foul tempered. You seem like a genuinely good person to me."

"I've heard a lot about that. I'm only nasty to the people that try to harm my family, or the people that try to harm me. My family includes all the Dragons but the Traitor. How I'd like to get my hands on him!" Her red eyes flashed and sparkled. "But off of that subject. You guys must stay here for the night. My handmaiden will arrange for you to sleep on the fourth floor, Alya, and Ky to sleep on the third."

Noone asked where Moku would sleep. We didn't need to. "So. I heard you two were married. When were you planning on telling me this?" Ky asked.

"We sent an invitation to your mother, but you must have already been in training. Sorry, we didn't know that you were gone. We would have stopped by to tell you. We thought you were angry when you didn't show up for the ceremony."

"Never."

"Well, I need to go for a walk. Ky, would you like to join me?" I asked, sensing the couple would like to be alone for awhile.

He nodded, and we left the cave. We walked downhill toward the cave where we had slept, and walked to the waterfall. "What do they call this place?"

"Crescent Waterfall. I've heard a legend, but there is no fact behind it. Would you like to find out?"

"What's the legend?"

"That there is a stash of blue eggs inside the stones of the waterfall."

"And why would noone be able to find out?"

"Because only a Blue Dragon can open the entrance."

"Makes sense, and it would save me a lot of egg-laying."

"Okay. So you want to try it?"

"What do I do?"

"Think of the waterfall, and the cracks in the surface of the stone. Then, use you magic to exploit those cracks and make them wider. That should open up the Cave of the Lost Eggs."

I sat down on the edge of the water, and stuck my bare feet inside. Then, I closed my eyes and did as Ky had instructed. There was a mighty crack, and I opened my eyes. Nothing had happened. I looked to Ky who shrugged. "It was worth a shot. Want to go for a swim?"

"In our c lothes?"

"Arishka will have some for us in the temple." I nodded at this.

We were about to dive in, when there was another crack, and a small mountain of rubble crashed into the water. In the center of the running waterfall, was the symbol tattooed on my ankle, Water.