Dragon's Wings

Chapter 25

There's definitely a section where the forest is dead—the plants, at least, Vera reported to Rashmi the next day. She relayed it to the group. Aside from Vera, they were all outside the forest rather then trying to find everything by the ground. This was, by far, the quickest method.

"Could just be a diseased section of the forest," Shui said doubtfully. "It is a rainforest. Trees get diseased. It'd be pretty obvious if the plants around there were dying. It's probably natural."

"But what if it's not?" Tadeo asked. "We can't afford to make assumptions here."

"True," Shui said. "Alright, let's head there. Rashmi, can you call Vera back to give us directions?"

Rashmi reached out to Vera. "Done," she said, a minute later. "Shiori, you're all good if I ride with you again?"

"Yeah, it's no problem," Shiori said. "But how about you take the reins and I'll sit behind this time since you know where we're going."

"It'd be a bit tricky with two reins," Rashmi said, and waved off Shiori's quick apology. She took the offered hand and mounted, sitting behind the saddle on the saddlebags once again. "Vera will be flying overhead."

"Good thing that Kensho doesn't spook easy," Shiori replied, looking off to her left at Tadeo and Shui on Amor.

"We're golden," Tadeo confirmed.

Kensho took the first step into the forest, and then they were swallowed by shadows and leaves. "Okay, head straight for now," Rashmi began.

***

"You know what, I take back my words, this doesn't look natural," Shui said when they reached the edges of the dead area that Vera had spotted.

It was definitely more eerie than Rashmi had expected. Most of the trees didn't have leaves, reminding her of trees during winter, but those that did simply had dead leaves, browned and curled over, crumbling at the slightest touch. Beneath their feet, the ground was littered with broken leaves and limp plants. There didn't look to be a reason for them all to be dead either. It didn't look like they'd died of thirst or nutrition or even disease—they just weren't living.

Hey, you'll want to see this up ahead, Vera said suddenly.

Rashmi glanced up from the forest floor, looking ahead to where she could see Vera's purple bulk through the dead trees. "There's something up ahead," she said, voice soft in respect for the silence that they had found themselves in. "Nothing dangerous, I don't think."

"We really need to stop jinxing ourselves like that," Tadeo said, good-naturedly. Shui snorted.

"What do you mean by that?" Shiori asked, and Rashmi realised that the older being hadn't been with them last time.

"We first met in Randoakademī before Tadeo moved to Tiānkōng Xuéyuán," Rashmi said in explanation, "and there was a spirit attack then as well. None of us were prepared for it, though everyone managed to escape in the end relatively unharmed."

Shiori hummed. "Would that be about a year ago?"

"Yeah," Shui said. "Why?"

"Nothing much," Shiori answered, urging Kensho into a faster walk as they got closer to Vera. "Just heard that something was happening around then, though no one really seemed to know what until later. Didn't realise you lot had been involved in that."

Oh good, you're here, Vera said, interrupting Rashmi before she could respond. The dragon stepped aside, squishing her bulk against some trees that gave way with loud groaning complaints. Take a look at this.