The Ocean's Heart (The Dragons of Flareia Book 2)

Chapter 27 - Flae

The House of Lava, Ferno, Ignisia

26th Year of the Ocean

Fifth Moon

It had been hours, yet the Sea Dragon had still not stopped crying out in pain.

Flae sat, curled up against Ignotus, who had cuddled up into a ball, his head beneath his tail as if that would block out the screams of his brethren.

Is there really nothing we can do? she asked him, for the umpteenth time.

Unless you can save Slovenna... there is nothing.

Is Lymphario going to die?

There's a high possibility he will not survive losing his Familiar. No Familiar has died before. We do not know if he can survive that bond being broken.

What will happen if Lymphario dies?

That is a very good question.

Flae sighed, leaning her head back against the spiky scales that ran down Ignotus' spine. Will Olivier survive?

There was a pause.

I do not know.

She took a shuddering breath, and sat up. "I can't just sit around doing nothing."

Annalissa, who had been sitting on the red velvet lounge, turned and stared. "What can we do?"

"I don't know, but I can't just sit here while my best friend could be dying."

Wind began to swirl around the room, pulling at Flae's two braids down her back – the same as Olivier had done for her all those moons ago in Avalona. She spun to the large window at the other end of the room, but it was shut, the latch closed tightly. She was quite sure the window in this parlour was actually rusted closed, just as many windows in the House of Lava were. She wondered absent-mindedly if she should start taking inventory of these faults and let the monks know, but then the room began to turn dark. Soon the wind spiralling around the room was shadow.

"Kylan?" she cried out – for who else could it be?

Not quite, came the reply.

Then the shadows fell away. Flae had to blink three or four times before her eyes adjusted back to the light, and gasped.

Seraphi of the Shadow Dragon sat in the middle of the floor. At her side was Slovenna, her skin covered in lacerations to the point that Flae had to sit down before she fell down at the sight. She couldn't be sure, but she thought the seal was also missing a fin.

Annalissa sat up deathly straight, her hands clamped over her mouth. Quite a princess-like reaction.

There was a splash, then Lymphario was on the floor beside his Familiar. Flae wasn't sure she'd ever seen him look so incredibly small – despite his size, there was something about him that always made him seem larger; something that was missing now. If he was speaking to his Familiar, he was doing it in private.

"You saved Slovenna?" Flae asked Seraphi.

The cat nodded. There is an... issue in Umbrassé that Kylan needed to attend to. I suggest you prepare for visitors. I believe eight Venti and three Gaians will be arriving very soon. They will need to be treated for shock and kept safe from the aegrumbre.

"Of course," she replied. Part of her knew she should be surprised by this news, but after Seraphi appearing in the parlour with Lymphario's dying Familiar, there was no more room for surprises. "What... what can we do for Slovenna?"