Imperial

Chapter 53

Turns out, we barely stayed two days before Kronx deemed us ready to leave.

Hovering above the small mountain, he would occasionally glance across the sky before turning his attention towards us. Watching as we gathered around him. Waiting for us, to hurry up, so that we could finally leave.

Finally satisfied, Kronx snorted. Without saying so much as a word, he lead the way away from the continent we'd lived in; back out to the vast, dark blue sea.

How long would we be out at sea? Whilst I was confident that I was able to travel that far, I couldn't help but worry for Soriak. Her wing had only just healed, and was still strengthening. And while she would undoubtedly last a while... there would be no way we'd be able to land should she need to. There'd be nothing but sea.

Hopefully, Kronx was right - we'd be able to make the distance together.

Rutilus pulled in beside me, his molten gold eyes bright - excited. No traces of worry at all. Did he trust Kronx, thinking we'd be able to make the journey easily, or had he not thought it through?

Smoke coiled from my jaws. There was no point in worrying. After all, there was little that could be done now. And, perhaps, there was no reason to worry. Perhaps Kronx was right; we would be able to make it to the other continent with little problems.

Forcing myself to relax, I tilted my head towards Rutilus. "Excited to leave?"

"Aren't you?" the red and gold drake glanced back at me quizzically, seemingly surprised by my question. "Finally able to leave the humans behind!"

"Not necessarily," I reminded him. They were bound to come searching for us in neighbouring continents. After all, neither Master or Thanatos seemed to like giving up.

But Rutilus did not seem bothered. Instead, he flicked his tail delicately, staring into the distance as though searching for this new continent. "Mother says that humans avoid the one that we're going to... I don't know why."

"Herei Utang," a sonorous voice murmured, and with a jolt, I realised that it was Kronx. Whipping my head towards the dark blue drake in front of me, I stared at him. He'd barely spoken since he'd revealed his mate was dead - and even then, it had more often than not been instructions. Telling us to hunt or sleep, or reminding us that we'd be leaving soon.

For him to join in our conversation was odd - but I was glad he did. I'd started to grow worried for him. So much so that I had wished numerous times that we hadn't forced him to reveal that Veira, his mate, was dead.

But his words were still odd. Strange. Another language. Blinking in confusion, I glanced at him. Waiting for him to continue.

"Herei Utang; Land of Fire," he rumbled, his silver eyes glazed for a split second. "Famous for its many volcanoes. Perfect living conditions for dragons; plentiful prey in the forests and very warm weather. But indeed, few humans live there. Perhaps a result of the erupting volcanoes, or simply because of the sheer masses of dragons."

Was that where he had lived when living in a wing? From the sound of it, he seemed to have known it quite well. Seemed to have enjoyed living there. Perhaps that was one of the reasons as to why he was so eager to leave the mountain; he'd been impatient to go back to the continent - Herei Utang, as he'd called it.

"There ain't much more exhilarating then flying in the sky whilst a volcano erupts," the dark blue dragon continued, staring into the distance longingly. "Perhaps you might have the chance to do that, while we stay there."