I started to shake. Three soturi were dead, burned alive. And Ramia started her song again. Her voice louder, yet somehow still soothing and calm. Haunting.
“The old Gods have returned. The Goddesses, too. Calm down now, water creature. We honor you.”
Ramia snapped her head to the soturi—what remained of them—only a few yards away from us. And she gestured for the dragon to come forward.
“Come to me, come. I seek of thee. Come to me, come and see.”
Auriel stood up, moving protectively in front of me. His feet were already widened, and his knees bent into a protective stance. Then he looked back, his eyes moving slowly up my body before stopping at my face. “Guessing you’ve never seen a water dragon in this life,Meka?”
“No!” I barely remembered they existed. Not once in my life had they come this close to the shore. I didn’t even know of anyone seeing one. In fact, they were so uncommon, they were mostly referred to by their common name: water dragon. “They’re supposed to be farther out in the ocean,” I said, “past Lethea.”
“Most are. Not all. Some are closer. But him? Him you disturb,” Ramia said. “Your little storm draw him out.”
Its enormous body sparkled as it came closer and closer until two large paws hit the sand. Water sluiced from its body, and its wings were raised like hackles.
Dairen started yelling again, his arms up directing his soturi back into formation, commanding them to brandish their weapons and prepare to attack.
Ramia ran forward, placing herself between the dragon and the soturi. Then she held up her hand, another dome of protection.
“I not hold for long. I do this as favor for Mercurial. Get on!”
“What?” I asked, eyeing the dragon. Its eyes were turning to flames again. It was getting ready to strike.
“Now!” Ramia yelled. “Climb!”
“Come on!” Auriel yelled, already lifting me into his arms.
He raced forward. “Good boy,” he cooed. “Good boy.”
Auriel hoisted me onto his back. The dragon’s scales reminded me of the nahashim, surprisingly warm.
“Get closer to its head,” Auriel said. I did, realizing there was a dip between the shoulder blades that made for a more comfortable seat.
“Did we ride on these?” I asked.
He settled behind me, one arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me against his torso. “We did,” he said, his mouth close to my ear.
A small shiver ran down my spine, my stomach tightening.
“Ramia, get on!” Auriel yelled, shifting over to give the half-Afeyan a hand. She was on his back a second later, tiptoeing with an incredible amount of balance before us, before she settled down and patted the water dragon’s head.
Auriel tightened his hold on me. “Ready? The dragon’s going to move—it will be quick.”
Our dragon rose to his feet at once, wings flapping, blood dripping onto the beach and then we lifted, soaring into the sky.
“Where the hell are we going?” I asked.
“I hear you need ride to Khemet,” Ramia said, shaking her head. She replaced her stave in a belt, and used one hand to fix her long red hair.
“How did you know?” I asked. Then I scoffed. “Mercurial?”
Ramia winked. “He said you find trouble at beach. So I come.” She laughed, and leaned forward, steering the water dragon. We’d been soaring east over the water, away from land, heading toward Lethea. But now we were moving south. She looked back at us again, and seeing we were flying steady, she twisted completely around. “At last. I waiting for you to figure out.” She eyed the scroll, still held tight and safe in Auriel’s hand. Auriel’s Valya. She knew. She knew exactly what it was. She was a librarian who specialized in ancient artifacts and scrolls alongwith Afeyan writings. But something in the way she looked at the case made think she knew more than she was revealing.
“Figure what out?” I asked, suspicious.
Ramia made a tutting sound and shook her head. “She not pleased to see scroll again. Not after rest destroyed. But good you bring it. You need scroll to work things out.”
“Work what out?” I seethed.
