Dragons do feel things.
Well, now that was interesting. “Like what?”
A pull. Toward our true half.
“And have you felt this pull since waking?”
The air shifted beneath me—just slightly.
We approach the Isle.
I looked ahead.
On the horizon, like a vision from another world, an island began to emerge.
A strike of black rock against a silver sea.
Storm waves crashed against massive boulders, jagged and knife-sharp. Near the peak, a red glow burned like a wound in the mountain, caves and hollows carved deep into the igneous stone.
The place looked untamed — wild as the ocean itself.
For a moment I just stared, open-mouthed, feeling like the first human ever to lay eyes on it.
The Isle of Draconis. Home of the dragons.
I leaned forward, squinting harder. There was no path. Nowhere for a human to land. The rocks were too jagged, too sharp. Every now and then a burst of molten fire erupted from the mountain’s peak, raining sparks and burning stone down the cliffs below.
“Why did you need me to come?”
Dragons, once stirred, may not return to the Isle until their time upon the earth is done. My role is not yet finished. Should I enter the sacred grounds, the great sleep would claim me.
And I would not return to Seph.
“So, I’m to be your proxy?”
Lightning flashed across the cliffs of Draconis. I swallowed.
Your bond with the winds will serve you well. You must persuade the storm to pass and enter the Cave of Eternal Knowledge and retrieve the volume I seek.
“What’s inside the caves? Anything I should worry about?”
The caves will admit you if your heart is true.
The book rests upon a stand in the central library of the cave.
The Dragon King sleeps beside it.
Move quietly. Keep your heart steady, and you will not be there long.
I shrugged. “Okay… and how exactly are we landing?”
You must ask the winds to help.
The storm cracked again, hitting the cliffs. Rocks tumbled to the ground in a landslide.
This was going to hurt.
“How important is this book?”
