To Tesa's great relief, one of the riders on the dragon she had rescued was Glenna's mother. She called out to Siora as Orrie and Aerix winged nearer the beach. To her surprise, Glenna and her dragon were some of the only ones on the beach awaiting their arrival. Tesa had thought that by now, Malía would have organized all of the able dragons and riders into a fighting force, ready to meet the approaching mages.
"Where is everybody?" Tesa asked as she slid down from Orrie's back. She scanned the horizon over her shoulder, noting that the mage ships were not visible yet, but the oncoming rain clouds darkened the sky on the horizon.
"They're in the camp. They opened a door," Glenna said. She was helping her mother and the other rider climb down off of the exhausted dragon, who lay limp, eyes closed, on the sand. His wings folded and flopped as Glenna and Neela helped to move them out of the way so the riders could dismount.
It took a moment for Glenna's words to sink in. "A door?" Tesa asked. "Already?"
Glenna's face lit up, almost with glee. "You'll never guess where it leads to," she said.
Tesa's eyebrows drew together. "Where?"
Glenna shook her head. "You have to see."
With a frown, Tesa glanced toward the horizon, where the dark clouds advanced toward the island. Her clothes were drenched and cold from the flight, as were Neela's, Glenna's mother's, and the other rider's.
"I could just ask the dragons, you know," Tesa said, tempted to do just that. She was about to call ahead to the dragons in the camp, when Glenna grabbed her hand.
"Just come. We have to get you all in dry clothes anyway, and get the healer mages to come back to help this dragon."
Tesa allowed Glenna to lead her up the beach, while Neela and the others followed behind.
Though Tesa itched to get out of her sopping clothes, all of her urgency was lost when they came through the trees into camp and encountered the crowd. It seemed like every rider, dragon, mage, and every other soul were gathered in the camp. Except, there didn't seem to be as many people as there had been. The whole camp couldn't be accounted for in this crowd. Had they gone through this door already?
The plan had been to open doors to many places, one for each place they would hide an egg. Tesa knew that there hadn't been time to decide on locations, much less begin opening doors to all of them.
As if she had been following Tesa's thoughts, Glenna piped up beside her. "They opened one door so we could move to safety before trying to open others. Emric said we couldn't have fought off the mages of Yennar Lei."
They skirted the circle of people and dragons to get a better view. The crowd was gathered around something in the open space in the center. Tesa broke away from Glenna and wove her way through the crowd.
Malía stood with Emric beside a circle of large stones on the ground. At first, the ground inside the circle of stones looked normal, but as Tesa got closer she could see the movement that gave it away as a door. The browns and greens that she saw were not earth and grass, but trees and brush. Nobody stopped Tesa as she approached the door. She drew up next to Malía and Emric and peered down.
Other magic doors she'd passed through had been created upright on cave walls, so that passing through them hardly seemed like magic at all, simply going from one place to another. This door, however, disoriented her. It was as if she were looking up into the forest from below, as if the ground inside the circle of stones were a mirror, yet it reflected a different place than the one in which she stood.
Due to the odd perspective, Tesa did not at first recognize the forest through the door. A wind sighed through the pines and their tops swayed. Tesa scanned the trees, then down their trunks to the brush beneath. The plants looked familiar. She spotted herbs that she'd used to collect for her healing basket, several that were common in all of Arethia. So somewhere in Arethia, then. Then she saw it, dragon's tongue, a flower that she'd only seen in the mountain forests of her home.
"It goes to Enval?" she breathed. She looked away from the door to find Malía smiling at her.
"Your friend, Derol, thought of it. He said he knew the forests well enough to hide all of us while we make the other doors."
Tesa only nodded, uncertain what to say. A rush of excitement swept over her at the thought that she'd be going home for the first time since she'd left with the dragon riders what seemed like ages ago. But threading through the excitement was a vein of fear. Her heart beat quickly and she closed her eyes against suddenly blurred vision.
At a wave from Malía, a rider and dragon moved toward the door. The dragon lowered itself to the ground so its rider could climb on, and then together they dove into the door as if it were a pool of water. Tesa watched as they rolled onto the ground on the other side of the portal, and stood, now appearing to look down on her from the world above.
"Do you want to go through now?" Malía asked.
Tesa shook her head. "I'll come back. I've got to get my things." With a wave, she loped away from the door into the camp, where many still worked at dismantling tents and packing up supplies.
Her hands shook as she gathered the items in her tent into her pack. She scowled at her reaction to news that she would be returning home. Why was she afraid? The Karume were there, of course, like the rest of Arethia. But it was more than that. She thought of her parents, and her stomach soured. That was it. She hadn't seen her parents since she left with the dragon riders, on what was supposed to be a temporary trip. She feared what might have become of them under the Karume.
Derol was right. They had to help the people of Enval, if they could. Tesa closed her pack and tied it. When she emerged from the tent, a slight drizzle fell from the sky. She looked toward the beach, though she couldn't see it from here.
We're going to Enval, she sent to Orrie. Wanna meet my ma and da?
In response, she felt Orrie's flutter of excitement tickle her mind.
The Yennar Lei ships are on the horizon, came another dragon's voice, Gira's. Tesa could sense that Gira had sent the thought to her and to Malía at the same time.
Drizzle began to spatter her skin as she disassembled her tent. The rain was arriving ahead of the mages. She would have to be sure to air out the canvas of her tent if she didn't pitch it again soon, Tesa thought as she rolled it up and lashed it tight with its braided leather ties. Orrie appeared on the path just as she stood, and she tied the tent and her pack to his saddle. They walked toward the door. The crowd of riders, dragons, and scattered mages had shrunk, though not because they had gone through the door. Riders streamed away from the door towards another path through the woods. Tesa knew right away where they were headed: the eggs.
Malía stood close to Maira and Kiana, conversing in low tones. They cast grim glances in the direction of the water. Orrie skirted the edge of the crowd until he reached them.
Tell them we'll take as many as they can tie to my saddle, Orrie said.
Tesa passed on the message. Maira nodded and broke away from the group to accompany the dragons to the nest.
At the edge of the trees, in an area that transitioned from forest to sandy beach, the dragons had dug a hollow in the sand. All of the eggs had been removed from the canvas sacks they'd traveled in. Maira said that Torun had insisted that the eggs get some fresh air after so many weeks wrapped in wool. Now, a few riders worked to return each egg to a bag so that they could be transported.
Tesa and Maira took hefted three bags up and tied them to Orrie's saddle. They debated tying on a fourth, but Tesa's tent took up much of the space. Orrie shifted under the weight.
I'm glad I'm not a pack dragon, he said.
It might be a bit more peaceful, being a pack dragon, Tesa answered.
Boring. And heavy, Orrie sniffed.
Tesa chuckled at Orrie's waddle as he shuffled away from the nest. Then a movement caught her eye and she swung around toward the water. From here she could not see the beach or the sea, for it was blocked by the last stand of trees before the terrain turned fully to beach. But over that stand of trees, she saw the tips of masts and sails. The Yennar Lei ships were closer than she had thought. Tesa swore and urged Orrie to go as fast as he could without bothering the eggs.
They're almost here, Tesa called to any and every dragon that could hear her. She began to run and almost immediately tripped when her foot slid in the shifting sand. She shoved herself up and continued on by Orrie's side. They joined the ranks of dragons slithering over the sand with their unaccustomed burdens.
By the time they reached the door, the dragons had broken into a run, their riders jogging beside them. Now shouts could be heard from the few people who had been keeping watch on the beach. Tesa noticed a small knot of the Yennar Leian healer mages clustered at the edge of the camp looking uncomfortable, but she didn't have time to think over it too much.
Tesa and Orrie reached the door and she gulped as the dragon and rider pair ahead of them dove into the door as if it were a pool of water. Unlike a pool, they did not resurface. She continued at a run, and gripped the strap on Orrie's saddle as he loped toward the circle of rocks on the ground. With a small hop, he dove, and Tesa leapt to keep up with him.
The world seemed to spin around her as she passed through the door, as up became down and her mind and body struggled to keep up with the change of orientation. Then she tumbled onto the forest floor, rolling on a soft carpet of pine needles. She pushed herself up and looked around for Orrie. Like her, he staggered upright, appearing disoriented from the leap.
Tesa rushed to untie the bags bags from Orrie's saddle, trying not to let herself take in the forest around her. She could already smell it - the moss, the earth, the pines. Glenna and Eriyah appeared at her side and took hold of the eggs. Tesa thanked them, then mounted Orrie.
Glenna looked at her, eyes wide.
"I have to go back," Tesa said.
Other riders had the same idea, it seemed. Neela and Orema, who had apparently come through the door with their rescued dragon from the sea still slung in its net, now rode toward the door on their dragons.
"We'll make sure everyone makes it through," Orema said to nobody in particular. "Then we'll come right back."
"I'll hold the door until you do," Emric said. He stood next to a ring of stones that mirrored the one back on the island.
Tesa took a deep breath as Orrie approached the door again, then closed her eyes. With another leap, they once again passed through to the other side of the world.