Dawn's Light

Chapter 58

'There it is,' Irin spoke after a few hours of flight and motioned to the domed mountain ahead of them with a bob of his head. 'The large mountain with the rounded peak is Jakol's shoulder.'

'Let's go then!' Verbena shot forward with a hard flap of her wings that shook a bit of frost off of her green feathers. She quickly overtook Irin and gained the lead as she speeded towards the mountain.

Celia steadied herself after her draconic companion's sudden movement gazed forward and scanned the horizon to locate their destination. It took a few moments, but she finally focused on the rounded shape in the distance taller than the rest of the dynamic mountains around it.

Jakol's Shoulder defied expectations. Celia had imagined something more impressive, like a jagged spire of ancient rock with a precipice unconquered by snow or a part of an ancient caldera.

In actuality, the mountain stood more like a mound of dirt and snow. The seemingly perfect unblemished dome of snow stood surrounded by somewhat more typical mountains, but even they showed signs of a near hemispherical shape. However, none of the other peaks were quite as smooth as the massive mountain in the center of the stone menagerie.

Now, she understood why Irin referred to the mountain as a shoulder rather than a horn. Though definitely the tallest of the mountain in the region, the rounded peak barely deserved the title, as it was much more like the crest of a hill.

"I hope that is the right mountaintop." Celia breathed as they continued to approach. Tiredness wrecked her body, especially since the last sleep had been leaning against a wall in a cell. Despite her weakness, she felt a sense of urgency and excitement that had prevented her from sleeping during the flight.

Celia used her gloved fist to rub the sleep out of her eyes as Verbena descended towards the top of Jakol's Shoulder. The female human's heart fluttered in nervousness at the prospect of finally achieving her goal of restoring her homeland from the curse of darkness. Generations of dragon riders had failed, and now she, a simple girl that had broken so many rules, was the one on the cup of succeeding.

Celia should not be there, but she was, despite the odds. Somehow, she had made it this far.

Now the hope was for nothing to go wrong.

Verbena gently landed on the snow atop the mountain, her footprints and landing wingbeats the first disturbances the mountain has seen in a long time. 'This place... feels strange,' the young dragoness shuttered as she lowered her wings.

'I guess this is it.' Celia slid off of Verbena, then gazed in all directions at the distant horizon as she breathed in the high-altitude air. 'I can feel it, or at least I think that is what I am feeling. I could also just be that I have feathers in my stomach." She emitted a pathetic laugh.

A cold haze hung over the land and limited sight distance. The setting moon's diluted glow shimmered through the fog close to the horizon. Though the mist limited her view, Celia was still mesmerized by the mountains that blanketed the landscape. Though she had spent a lot of time in the west, she still could not believe the beauty in being surrounded in mountains instead of a flat wasteland.

Irin landed nearby in a flurry of snow and settled his wings to his sides. As his rider dismounted, he gazed out to the dark shadowed landscape. Irin hummed slightly as he watched the bright full moon dip behind the distant mountain range. 'I think we are safe for now, I do not smell any other dragons nearby, and most of them will probably be attempting to sleep with moonset.'

Xan nodded in agreement as he dusted a bit of frost off of his shoulder. "All right, showtime. The faster we do this, the sooner we can try something other than this." He looked at Celia through his goggles.

"Right," Celia exhaled a plume of air through her scarf and turned towards the saddlebags currently concealed under Verbena's wing. Celia gently used her arm to raise the dragon's feathered appendage, then opened the saddlebags.

The human drew the black bag from the saddlebags and carefully set the bag down as she tore it open. Her gloves gripped the cloth bundle that contained the four rays of light. She hauled out the cloth and gingerly places

Both her hands and her breath trembled as she kneeled down and unraveled the dark opaque cloth and uncovered the four perfect spheres.

Xan watched her move but didn't approach.

This was Celia's moment.

The wind fell silent.

Time felt slowed.

With a shaking breath, Celia gently gripped two of the spheres in each hand and faced the western horizon where the sun was said to have set. After a deep inhalation, she straightened and held the four magical spheres aloft. The female human stood on her toes to raise the objects as high above her head as she could.

Celia held her breath.

However, once again, nothing happened.

Author Notes:

Any ideas why it won't work?

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!