Draygon Inferno | Book 2 | ✔️

Chapter Five

Ross raised a hand. "Spare me the history lesson, Elias. I couldn't stop them from taking you, I tried, but there were too many of them. I have no idea where they're taking us! We traveled for days with you in the box of water until we came upon this oasis and nobody has said a damn word. They built this over the water and put you in it. We've been here for a day."

"They're harmless. While I've never met one before, all books suggest they're peaceful which is why they align themselves with the Caracal head, the God of Sacrifice. Unlike the main island which follows the snake head, the God of War."

"But they don't say a word! That's unnatural."

Elias chuckled. "I'm sure they'd say the same about you wanting to change how you were born on a regular basis."

"That's different."

"Why?"

"Because I don't feel as though this is who I'm supposed to be. I'm not just Ross, son of a farmer who worked himself to death, and I'm not just Rosie, the owner of the finest entertainers in all the lowlands. I'm both, and I'm more. Being trapped as one person for my entire life?" Ross shuddered. "I couldn't do it. I'd rather die!"

"And nobody will argue with you that that's who you are, they accept you." Elias grabbed Ross' shoulder. "The same is with The Silent. They truly believe speaking is a luxury and they will pay that sacrifice in the name of their God. It isn't a choice to them any more than it's a choice to you to use a Changeling potion to balance your life between Ross, Rosie, and all the other identities you live as. It's who you are, it's who they are."

Ross grunted and shook his head. "I hate when you make sense."

Elias smiled. "Let's go see if we can figure out what it is our new friends want with us."

He pushed aside the blanket and stepped into the moonlight reflecting off the grains of sand. Little heat remained from the daylight, mixing with the rising chill of the night. A larger pool of water surrounded by tall palm trees and swaying tufts of green grass created a barrier from the rising sand dunes. A group of camels sat by the water's edge. Elias' eyes drifted from the camels to the circle of people shrouded in white robes sitting around a bonfire.

The only noise was the crackling of flame as it consumed the wood. Men and women sat with their legs crossed, arms tucked into their sleeves, and heads bowed.

Ross tapped Elias' shoulder before pointing toward a woman sitting on a stool slightly higher than the rest of the circle. "The one in the golden robe is the leader . . . I think."

"If I remember my books properly, they don't have leaders per say but they have patriarchs and matriarchs. They're usually the oldest." Elias walked around the ring of The Silent, none of them looked up. His brain worked in overdrive, trying to pull up all his limited knowledge on The Silent. At the time he left to follow after Siobhan when she fled Draygon, he left all his books behind. This was the first time he could remember cursing himself for that decision, even though he knew there was no way he'd be able to carry an entire library.

He pressed his palms together, bowing when he reached the side of the matriarch. She glanced up, using her wrinkled hands to pull back her hood. The first time he read about their condition, he thought it was impossible, but now looking into the pale hazel eyes of the women before him his fascination renewed. She had the same square jaw standard in Ardornian people, the wide nose and thick lips, everything on her face screamed Ardornian. Except for her skin and hair.

Neither eyebrow stood out from her skin. From a distance he was sure it looked as though she had none. An orange tint to her hair separated it from the paleness of her skin; the tight curls were twisted in several small buns on her head. It took all of Elias' willpower not to act like Wren did the first time he saw magic. The matriarch was as beautiful as she was mystifying and there were so many questions about her condition Elias wanted to ask. He was dying to release his inner scholar.

Instead, he said, "Thank you for getting me to water. It saved my life."

The matriarch moved her hands, her fingers bending and shifting in graceful sweeps. Elias' eyes followed her movements, hoping the sea would translate her silent words. No translation came. To him they were nothing but meaningless gestures.

"I'm afraid neither I nor my companion can understand the language of your hands." He glanced to the other members of The Silent, their heads still bowed to conceal their faces. "Is there anyone who hasn't yet taken the vow of silence?"

Though he suspected he knew the answer. According to his books, a child took a vow of silence the moment their parents sent them to join The Silent. Elias just hoped they kept one person around to translate for them.

The matriarch clapped her hands in three rapid successions. One of The Silent stood up, grabbing a book to his side. He pulled it close to his white robes, his padded feet silently shuffled through the sand. When he reached Elias' side, he held the book out, nodding toward it. The boy was young, his Ardornian features less prominent than the matriarch. He bowed and returned to his seat in the circle.

Elias opened the book, flipping through the pages. Pictures of hands gestures filled every page, words scrawled in script beside them. Air crossing between a squeal and a gasp escaped his lips as he flipped through the pages.

"Is this your language?" He glanced to the matriarch who nodded. "You'll have to gesture slowly so I can follow, but I'll learn as quickly as I can."

The matriarch nodded and motioned for him to sit beside her. Elias shifted through each page until he found the word she formed with her hands.

"My name is Sister Yaseen," she signed. "You're welcome by our flame any time, Elias."

"How do you know my name?"

"We were told to watch for an Aquantian who walks on land and were instructed to guide him to Terra Gale."

"Who told you? The High Mages?"

"That is not important. We will be your guides and ensure safe passage to the future king. The whole of our world depends on your success."

"So you know of Garrith?"

Sister Yaseen nodded, her hands moving slow to allow Elias to keep up. "The sands speak to us in many ways. It drifts on the winds and rides on the oceans waves. Though the King of the Wyverns has never reached Ardornian shores, the world trembles at his force and screams out in the silence. The young future king won't be easy to sway into the fight, but you must convince him."

"I've known Eloy since he was a boy. I think that's why the High Mages asked me to come here to meet with him. They knew the heir of Draygon couldn't."

"Do not overestimate the bond that once stood between Ardorn and Draygon for it is not as it used to be."

"The High Mages mentioned that. Why? Because of Cions death?"

Sister Yaseen closed her eyes and released a breath. "Many lies have come from Draygon and they too are not as they once were. Ardorn and Draygon are on the brink of war and the one who calls herself Queen of the Draygon is at the center of it all."