Authors: Rain Oxford
Emrys used magic to treat Deona’s hand, then she left
to prepare dinner for us. When Mayra tried to get personal with Emrys, he
hurriedly explained that he had to do something and left. Mayra looked from me
to Dylan.
“He already has a permanent companion,” I told her
when she stared too long at him. Of course, she couldn’t understand me.
Then Sammy said something obviously in the water
tribe’s language. This was going to cause problems.
The woman made a scoffing sound and smirked. She took
step closer to him, but before I could put up a defense for him, Sammy beat me
to it. I felt the draw of energy in him as water was pulled out of thin air.
Faster than she could react, the baby had the water wrapped around her, and he
used it to slam her against the wall. The ice wall cracked.
“My dada!” he screamed in English. The woman slid to
the floor, unconscious. “Dada, wake up!” he demanded.
Dylan’s eyes opened, but he looked more confused than
anything.
“What did Tiamat say?” I asked.
“It started out normal enough. She said that Edward
was alive, found, and safe on Duran. Sounds like he’s been through the ringer
and needs a break, but the gods have apparently turned their ire off of him.
Now Tiamat and I are the only ones they are arguing about. But when it was time
to wake up, it became more like a dream. It was really scattered and I saw
discussions we had a long time ago. I had glimpses of living back on Earth,
some on Duran… I also saw a teenager who seemed really important. I have no
idea, because I never saw him before, but I think it was Sammy as a teenager,”
he said.
Sammy looked at Dylan with wide eyes as if he had
said he saw Sammy as a purple draxuni.
“Then I heard Sammy yelling and that woke me up. What
upset him so badly?” he asked. I pointed to Mayra. He glanced at her and
shrugged. “Whatever she did, I bet she deserved it. Hey, do we get dinner? I’m
starving.”
We found Emrys and Deona, who said that dinner was
ready and we could eat. The dinner table was made of wood, but it was frozen
over like it had been there a long time. Trays of fish were set out, all of it
raw. Other men and women milled about the table, all who were barefoot and wore
clothes of blue in shades from nearly white to nearly black. The most conservative
attire included dresses that went nearly to the knees and had no sleeves. Emrys
was the exception, as he wore boots and his clothes covered him conservatively.
We sat down and were served plates of raw fish. I
didn’t hesitate to use my fire to cook my fish. When I reached for Dylan’s, he
brushed my hand away.
“I can cook my own fish. I don’t know what
dragon-fried fish tastes like and don’t want to know.”
“We are not calling it that,” I demanded, turning
away. I remembered how quickly Sammy learned to control water. “Wait!” He
stopped and waited for me to explain, but Emrys didn’t. Emrys used his energy
to create fire, which he used to cook his fish.
My fire was different than the fire normal wizards
used, but the magic that Dylan and Emrys used could be learned. Sammy giggled
as Emrys’s fish blackened. As quickly as if it were natural, Dylan’s fish
caught on fire. All the people of the water tribe froze in fright, but the fire
on the fish instantly went out.
“Sammy, you burned my fish,” Dylan scolded. Sammy
reached over and tried to take it, but Dylan blocked him. “I’m still going to
eat it. I’m hungry.” Even as he said it, he had taken a set of chopsticks out
of his bag and was breaking off a small portion for Sammy. Someone passed the
baby a plate. Dylan handed me another set of chopsticks so that we could both
give him some of our food. However, he wanted his own chopsticks. Dylan tried
to teach him, but the tiny child did not have enough motor control to handle
them. “If you eat that with your hands, then I will get you your own chopsticks
when we go to Earth.”
“Why are we going back to Earth?” I asked.
“Because I haven’t healed it. Maybe this time we can
land in Japan. They have training chopsticks that are shorter so babies can use
them.”
“So does Duran.”
“Of course it does; Duran is second cousin to Japan.”
I noticed how everyone was trying
not
to stare
at us as they all ate their raw fish with their hands… bones and all. After we
were done eating, Emrys told them we were moving on. The people, thankful that
Dylan healed their magic, offered us a basket of fish in ice. I told Dylan that
it was against their religion to reject gifts, so we accepted it.
The trip back to land on the flying disk was made
worse by the knowledge that if we fell in the water, we would immediately be
eaten. I breathed easier when we finally made it to land.
“We can make it to the land tribe before the sun goes
down and sleep there,” Emyrs said.
The sun was getting very low in the sky, so I figured
either we were close, or the sunset lasted longer here than on Duran. “Is there
a fire tribe?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Can we sleep there tomorrow?” I nagged. Dylan rolled
his eyes. “What?”
“Some of us aren’t part dragon and don’t want to
sleep in a hundred and fifteen degrees,” he argued. I had to think back to when
he was talking about temperatures. I gave up.
Humans had three different degree systems and Dylan
alternated between two of them. It was too hard to keep up with. On Duran,
temperature was used in science and cooking. Outside of that, things were hot,
warm, cool, cold, or freezing.
“I’m not part dragon,” I argued.
“Where’s your little dragon tattoo today?” he asked.
I ignored him, as I already knew it was on my left wrist.
It took more than two hours of hiking to make it to
the other tribe. I was huffing and puffing and finally knew what Dylan had felt
when he first came to Duran. It didn’t help that I was carrying Sammy. Dylan was
faring no better.
Dylan suddenly remembered something he had in the
baby bag, and pulled out a bottle of water. “This has to last us until we get
back to Earth or Duran, so drink sparingly,” he said. The plastic bottle had
English written all over it.
I drank a sip and made a face. “That’s not clean.”
“Because Vivian only ever buys mineral water. I know
it’s gross, but it’s safe. Normally I could filter the minerals out, but you
know my powers aren’t working right and I don’t want to tempt fate by tampering
with it using my god-magic.” Dylan filled a cup with a lid and handed it to
Sammy, but the baby pouted pathetically.
“Apple, Dada.”
“I don’t have any apple-juice, honey, only water,”
Dylan said.
He looked at me and held up the cup.
“Apple-goose, Mama?”
“I don’t even know what it is. I don’t have
anything.” Normally when a baby was denied, he cried, but Sammy understood. He
didn’t look happy, but he drank his water without crying.
We came to an end of the regular forest, where the
ground gave way to swamp, but out of the murky water grew huge trees.
Everywhere, there were wooden bridges and decks. Deep into the majestic trees
were simple buildings; what looked like homes and stores and everything in
between.
“Motto, onegai,” Sammy said, holding up his empty
cup.
I looked at Emrys, but the Guardian shrugged. “I know
not what he said.”
Sammy frowned. “No…” He held it back up with a smile
as he remembered the words. “More, please.”
Dylan’s eyes were wide, but he handed me the water
bottle. I refilled the cup, emptying the bottle.
“Say,
xièxiè
,” Dylan said.
The word was completely foreign to me. This time I
was looking directly at Sammy. When Dylan said the foreign word, Sammy’s eyes
glowed with a bright purple light for just a moment before they returned to
normal.
Sammy smiled. “
Xièxiè nǐ, māmā
,”
the child said.
“What does that mean?” I asked Dylan.
“Arigato!” Sammy declared.
“It means that we’d better watch what we say because
he can learn any language magically,” Dylan said. He looked like he needed to
sit down. “Vivian’s going to kill us. He couldn’t even talk before and know he
can fluently speak six languages. I don’t even know how he learned Japanese,
and ‘
xièxiè
’ is the only Chinese word I know.”
“How does someone learn a language magically?” I
asked.
Let alone a baby.
“Dragon!” the baby screamed with delight.
We looked ahead to the city, where a crowd had formed
in one particular tree. They were waving a burning statue of a creature that
did actually resemble
Blood
. I wondered what had happened to our poor
dragon after the demon attack.
“They are calling to the fire tribe for assistance.
Every month or so, they need more fire.”
“How do they run out of fire?” Dylan asked.
Emrys gave him a look. “They use it all up.”
“Can’t they just spread the fire?”
“Of course not. Only a fire-user can create or spread
fire,” he said, as if that made any sense. Dylan and I both sighed; this was
going to be weirder than the water tribe. “They will continue this ritual until
a fire-user answers by sending a ball of fire into the air.”
I pulled the fire from inside and shot it over the
swamp, making sure that it would go out before burning anything. We could hear
the people cheer and they stopped waving the statue. The trek was an easy one
with the network of bridges and wooden steps. Unlike in the water tribe, the
air was very pleasant.
The people greeted us warmly as we passed, on our way
to the platform that Emrys said was the tribe’s meeting place. A young man, a
few years older than Dylan in appearance, stepped forward. He had green eyes
and medium brown hair that matched the forest. His clothes were a mixture of
browns and greens, as were those of everyone else here, and he wore brown fur
boots. Despite their friendliness, parents held the many children back.
“This is my only son of the land tribe, Yaden.”
Yaden gave us a short bow. “Welcome to the land
tribe. You are from Duran?”
“Yes,” Dylan answered.
“Which one of you is a fire-user?” He asked.
“We both are, actually. Wizards on Duran learn more
than one type of magic. But he knows fire better than I,” Dylan said.
“Then please let us make your stay comfortable. We
have very little fire to offer comfort, but we have water and shelter.”
“Yaden is too shy to directly ask for help,” Emrys
said to his son’s embarrassment.
“I already volunteered it. Where do you need fire?” I
asked.
People brought lanterns forward, but on every one,
the fire was miniscule and just about dead. I took one of the metal lanterns
and found that while it had a hollow container underneath the flame, it was
empty.
“This is a kerosene lantern. An Earth invention. It
needs fuel,” Dylan said. I had never heard of that particular kind of lantern,
but I got the idea.
“Yes, they are. I brought one to Malta. The land
tribe was able to re-create it, and the fire tribe was able to light it, but we
did not know what goes inside.”
“How did you keep the wick lit without fuel?” Dylan
asked.
“Fire here is not like yours on Duran or Earth; it
doesn’t naturally go out until it is all used up.” Emrys said.
“But what about my fire? Will it go out?”
“Only if that is your intention. Dragon fire could
last for months here.”
I lit the wick, just like I had so many times in my
life, but this time I made sure to will it to last as long as possible. There
was another cheer when the lamp instantly burned brightly. Others brought their
lamps forward and I spent a long time lighting them; there were so many.
When all of the lamps were lit, Emrys led us to a
small cabin for the night. Inside was little more than two beds and some
storage cabinets. Still, it was warm and felt sturdy enough that it wouldn’t
collapse.
I was settling a blanket in a wicker basket when
Yaden came in with a wooden tray of fruit and bread. “I thought you might be
hungry,” he said.
Sammy’s eyes lit up with joy.
Dylan held up the basket of fish, in which the ice
hadn’t even begun to melt. “We have some fish, but more than we could ever eat.
You can have it, if you like fish,” he said.
Yaden looked at the basket like it was full of gold.
“We have no fish here; we only eat what our land grows and what we hunt. Fish
is a great treat that the water tribe sometimes brings with them.”
“Well, share it among the people here. Sammy doesn’t like
fish anyway.” Dylan passed over the basket and took the tray.
I knew that it wasn’t just about Sammy, though Dylan
might not have realized why he was doing it. Dylan had naturally and
instinctually found a way to befriend the tribe. Trading or sharing food was a
very primal tradition in alliances.
“If it isn’t rude to ask, what magic can you do in
the land tribe?”
“All of our people can make plants grow and create a
basic telepathic link with the animals that live here. Most of us have
additional abilities. I can send out my senses through the plants and animals.
I can sense movement through the trees and grass and see through the eyes of
weaker-minded animals.”
“That sounds very useful. Does everyone in this world
rely on magic? There is no technology at all? No electricity? Do you know what
electricity is?”
“Yes, we have all heard stories of other worlds, but
it is a bit out of the range of our understanding. We have lightning and know
how to harness it, but why would we? The tribes get along well as we are. The
water tribe is a little too independent, but they have never done anyone else
wrong. When we need fire we ask and when they need to grow more food they come
to us. The water tribe provides water. If there is sickness we ask the mend
tribe for help.”