Fate of Dragons

Chapter Six - Part II

They city twinkled on the horizon, a sea of lights against the deep blue-gray of the dusk sky. They curled in an arc around the dark bay, cradling it like a bowl studded with multi-hued stars. Further from the bay, the lights were more spread out. Closer, they congregated in geometric groupings, the darker lines cutting through them seeming to be streets. It was just like the city she, Eriya, and Fenn had seen from the cliff. She let her eyes drift from the mesmerizing lights to the darkness behind them, and the suspicion she'd formed was confirmed. Four tall rock spires jabbed up out of a cliff that loomed over the bay across from the twinkling city.

We're here, she sent to Orrie, and conjured up a picture of the rock spires from her memory.

Orrie's flight faltered for a moment as he turned his head to look at the rocks in the distance.

I have to follow Gira, he said, renewing his focus on his descent from the flight.

Tesa patted his shoulder in agreement, though she smirked a bit. Even her dragon was chiding her now.

Orrie's vision nudged its way into her own, and Tesa let herself merge to his view. Ahead of him, the silhouette of Malía's dragon Gira banked to the left and began to soar downward. Orrie followed, his eyes focused on the long stretch of sandy beach outside a large building that towered over the bay. The pale sand glowed the colors of the lights cast on it from the buildings nearby. One by one, the dragons began their descent.

When they landed, Orrie withdrew his sight from Tesa and her perception shifted back to the back of his neck and his wings surrounding her. He lowered himself on his front legs and Tesa slid out of the saddle.

The sound of the waves crashing on the beach reminded Tesa of the sound the wind made high in the pine trees in the forests of Enval, her home. For a brief moment, her thoughts went to her parents, no doubt safely in their beds, never dreaming that their daughter might be flying by dragon to another country.

Everything else about the beach was different from Enval. The breeze that tickled her arms was warm, the sand shifted under her feet, and the air smelled salty. Tesa trudged through the sand toward Malía, unused to the feeling of the ground shifting away beneath her feet with each step she took. She waited while the others clambered down and came over to join them.

Malía finished unstrapping her pack from Gira's back and shouldered it, then she surveyed the city buildings along the shoreline. Lights glowed on empty balconies and in windows, spilling golden out onto the beach. They'd landed nearby a large building with a long balcony whose roof was supported by a long row of pillars. Light shone from the ceiling, one light between each two pillars. A line of silhouetted figures now moved across the balcony and down the stairs to the beach in a single file line. Tesa pointed as they began to cross the sand toward their group.

It was difficult to make out anything about the people who approached them, for the light shone behind them, making them appear only as shadows. Tesa felt exposed, realizing that the light shone on her and her friends, making her clearly visible to the ones she could not see.

Malía stepped to the front of the group as the figures approached. Tesa was glad not to have to be the one to speak to them. As the figures approached, they became easier to see. There were at least ten of them, and they wore flowing robes in a light fabric that drifted in the breeze off the water. Jewelry glittered at their necks and on their hands. Their eyes shone against the backdrop of skin as dark as Orema's, some darker. They stopped a short distance away from the riders and their dragons.

A man stepped forward from the group and raised his hand in greeting. Flashing jewels jingled at his wrist. Malía stepped toward him and returned the greeting.