Night Furies: the Next Generation Chapter 9
On and on they flew. Their course took them into a stony wasteland where only a few hardy weeds grew here and there. They didn't have to swerve around human villages and towns because there weren't any. They crossed a trail that might be used by traders now and then, but there wasn't so much as a lizard on it now. They saw no animal life at all.
As the day wore on, they flew higher and higher to escape the heat rising from the rocky desert below them. Stopping for lunch for the human twins was out of the question – they needed to get out of this dry wasteland more than they needed a meal. They carried some water and had packed some dried food, just in case. Their water was gone before the afternoon was half done. Supper time came and went; still there was no sign of water below. They were all getting very thirsty.
"What do we do now?" Smallest-girl asked as the sun dipped below the horizon.
"We have to keep flying," Bang replied soberly. "All of us need water. We can't stop until we find some."
"What if the humans fall asleep on your backs and fall off?" Newest-boy asked anxiously.
"Six and I can try to balance them if they start sliding to one side or the other," Bang answered. "It might be good if you fly right under me, and Smallest-girl flies under her sister. That way, if one of our passengers does slip off, you can catch him."
"Are we big enough to catch a human and fly with him?" Smallest-girl sounded dubious.
"You'll have to be," Six said. "They aren't full-grown Vikings, and you aren't hatchlings. Hopefully, we won't have to find out the hard way." The small Night Furies solemnly took their positions about twenty feet underneath the larger ones. Several times, one of the humans nodded off and began sliding off his mount. Each time, the dragon lurched in the air to keep his or her passenger centered; the lurch would wake him up, and he would mutter his thanks. The young dragons' air-to-air rescue skills were not put to the test.
On and on they flew.
It was well past midnight when Newest-boy exclaimed, "I think there's a water hole down there!"
"I see it too!" Six shouted. They spiraled down and landed, then crouched and waited as the sleepy human twins slid off their backs and made their painful way to the water. Once they were sure Agnarr and Agmundr would make it, they joined them, and all six drank their fill from the tepid water.
"Set up your tent now?" Bang asked.
"Too sleepy," Agnarr mumbled. "Ground is sandy. We sleep here." They both slumped to the ground, already half-asleep. Their dragon friends lay down next to them and covered them with their wings, the small dragons curled up nearby, and the pile of black lizards, with two humans nearly invisible beneath them, were soon fast asleep.
Agmundr woke up next morning with no recollection of how he'd wound up at a desert water hole with a dragon's wing for a blanket and her tail for a pillow. All he knew was that his arm hurt so badly, he could barely move it. His brother was limping, but his leg didn't seem to be bothering him as badly as Agmundr's arm. "Am I that much of a crybaby when I'm in pain?" he asked.
"Your arm probably hurts more because you got more dragons' blood in you than I did," Agnarr replied. "Did you have any good ideas last night?"
"I think I know how the dragons can get our gear tied and untied," he replied. "But I don't think I can set it up anymore. I'll need two hands."
"I've got two hands. Tell me what I need to do." The brothers had been working as a team all their lives; they understood each other perfectly. Agmundr described a slipknot that could be held in place by the bitter end of the rope. A dragon merely had to pull that end out with his teeth, and the knot would slacken so they could remove the bag that it held in place. When it was time to load the dragons up again, they could slide the knot up the rope until it was tight, at which point Agnarr would replace the rope's end and fix it in place again. They tied all their gear with this method. The older dragons were able to work the ropes, just barely; it was a lot easier for the small dragons with their smaller mouths to do the sliding of the knots. Newest-boy also had to crouch next to Bang and allow Agnarr to use him as a stepstool; Agnarr's leg was starting to hurt badly, and he found it painful to climb onto his dragon's back. With their water skins refilled and their dried food supply somewhat depleted, they resumed flying. Was there no end to this wasteland?
On and on they flew.
Around lunch time, Smallest-girl had the temerity to ask, "Are we there yet?"
"NO!" the older dragons shouted, startling their drowsy riders. "Talk so they can understand you!" Six added.
"What if we fly to the sea and do not find our mountain?" Newest-boy asked.
"We not play what-if," Agnarr replied. "We worry when we find something to worry about. Bang and Six know the way. I am sure."
"I sure hope you're right," the young dragon muttered beneath his breath.
As the sun touched the horizon, it lit the peaks of some far-distant mountains. The dragons surged ahead, glad to leave that awful desert behind. It was dark by the time they reached the foothills; they found a hill with a nearby stream flowing from the mountains, and went no further that night. The fish in the stream were small, and there weren't many of them, but they tasted far better than dried fish. The humans struggled to set up their tent; it took them half an hour instead of their usual ten minutes. They slept restlessly.
The dragons usually slept in a square surrounding the tent. It was unusual for one of the Night Furies to stir once they'd gone to sleep, so when Six quietly got up and wandered some distance away, her brother awoke and followed her. He didn't say anything right away; he just sat down next to her in the darkness.
After a few seconds, she reared back and shot a small firebolt. It flew about a hundred yards straight up into the air, then burst, lighting up the landscape for a moment.
"Wonderful, but short-lived," she said sadly. "Just like some humans we know."
"You're worried about Agmundr," he said.
"He's dying," Six replied. "My blood is killing him."
Very quietly, Bang answered, "Don't you dare let yourself think that! He was wounded trying to help you when you got shot by the Outcasts. You had nothing to do with that, except you were the intended target."
"What am I going to do if I lose him?" she said. "I've known him for such a short time, and… it's like he's become a part of me."
"We're not going to lose him," her brother replied firmly. "Our destination is probably just a few days away; we'll find the Eastern dragons and they'll help him."
"But what good is that?" she burst out, loud enough that the young dragons stirred in their sleep. "Either I lose him now, or I'll lose him in forty years! I'm not ready to face either of those choices!"
"A dragon's life is an uncertain thing," Bang said softly. "We could have been killed by those crossbow bolts, or caught a lucky spear from those hunters… we have no guarantee that we'll live our full lifespans. We have two awesome parents, we've known each other, we've gone into battle and won, and we've even made friends with a human – that's something our ancestors never did. If we all got cut down tomorrow, we've already lived a better life than most dragons who live for centuries. Today, our friends are still alive, and we're doing everything we can to keep them that way. Can you live with that?"
"Bang, I've never felt so helpless in my life! We're Night Furies! We can fly anywhere, outfight anything, solve any problem in the nest… but now my friend is sick, and there is not one thing I can do for him!"
"I know that feeling," he said, and wrapped one wing around her. "But it's not true. We're taking our friends to someplace where they can get the help they need. No one else in the world could do that for them! We're doing the only thing we can do, and it is going to be enough!" He turned to look her in the eye. "Right?"
"I wish I was as certain as you are," she replied, very quietly. "I prefer to fight enemies I can see and shoot at."
"When this is all over, we'll fly back to that island where they shot us, and maybe you'll get your wish," her brother smiled. "That'll give you something to look forward to. Now let's go get some sleep. We've got some heavy flying to do when our friends wake up." He rose, but she swung her tail around his legs to hold him back.
"Do you really think it's going to work out okay?" she asked nervously. "I mean, we're staking our friends' lives on a dream!"
"If we don't find that volcano on the far side of this mountain range, I'll be very surprised," he answered. "I just have a feeling about this; I can't explain it." He paused. "Do you have any kind of feeling about this?"
"I have the same feeling, but I'm not as sure about it as you are," she answered. "I guess I'm so desperate to see things work out well for all of us… part of me is unwilling to believe it could happen, just so I won't be too disappointed if it doesn't happen"
"Six, you can be very weird sometimes. I'm going back to sleep. You should, too." They did, but she, too, slept restlessly.