Page 53 of Sapphire Seas

“I just had a killer idea,” Odem said. “As in mega lethal, but it’s a tool we could potentially store and have at the ready for all of us to carry, even our allies. Kinda plays off the whole baking the mud to turn it into clay thing we talked about earlier.”

“The floor is yours,” Ionus replied, gesturing for him to come forward.

“Clay venom balls,” Odem said. “We craft them to a size and thickness that would allow them to be hurled by dragon claws and arm as many dragons as we can with them. In a way, it would allow you to be everywhere at once, Quint, as you’re the one who would have to fill them.”

“One errant strike and they would shatter and potentially kill the dragon who carried them,” Quint pointed out.

“I’ve been thinking about that too and had Ronan start drawing up the kind of carrier we’d need to use in order to protect them with our bodies while still being able to hurl them at a rapid rate,” Caro declared.

“Have him continue to work on it while you guys craft a few test bombs,” Ionus said. “The idea has a great deal of merit and would allow us another option for distance warfare, especially if we were to craft some sort of catapult to hurl them from.”

“Well, the other idea I had wasn’t a catapult, but close,” Odem said, “and like Mattias’ it was inspired by something I saw on television, though in this case it was a movie and it was an actual dragon they were attempting to bring down. What are your thoughts on a heavy ballista with venom tipped arrows?”

“I think bringing back medieval weapons of warfare is an excellent idea,” Ionus declared. “We have more than enough ore for Kaelith and the rest of the Blackburn’s to forge bolts strong enough to pierce a dragons hide. We will need to set up a range and see who our most accurate archers are. It will be safer for all of us that way.”

Caro clapped, looking extremely excited for a dragon who’d been groaning earlier about us being out here this morning if we weren’t going to fight. This strategy session was just what we’d needed to truly forge us into the team we were meant to be.

And to think that one of our newest weapons had been inspired by a cartoon sponge.

Chapter Seventeen

Kes

“Mmm where did you get these?” I asked as I popped a handful of crispy squid and shrimp chips into my mouth, which my egg certainly seemed to approve of with the way it tickled my insides today.

“Kaika makes them,” Caspian replied.

“I love her,” I said around a mouthful as I munched on them.

“Me too.”

“I swear I’ve had something like this before,” I murmured as I took another bite.

Sometimes I hated that so much of my past was still a mystery. The only one who truly understood what that felt like was Ronan. It was something we only discussed when we were alone. Little ears didn’t need to hear about worries, fears, or bad memories. His dragon had protected him and got him safely to Dragon City, keeping his memories hidden from him until trust had formed between him and his mate. The block that had existed between my dragon and I was both the same, and yet different too. The separation had been forced upon us. Now that it was gone, my dragon and I were finally able to sort through fractured timelines, attempting to piece together the past.

The reason was simple enough.

As we’d shifted between forms the block had prevented us from experiencing the moments through each other’s eyes. Removing the block was like there was a giant reboot happening at a time where there were so many new experiences that sometimes I forgot to pay attention to the old ones my dragon attempted to share. Especially when I had something this good in my mouth.

The twins giggled and there it was, a little jiggle in my belly. This was the first time I’d actually felt anything besides the waistband of my jeans growing tighter. It had given me an excuse to buy more furry sleep pants with cartoon faces all over them. Caspian had giggled at me when I’d been picking them out, because I’d bypassed every plain and striped pair I’d come across and gone straight for the fun ones.

“Why the fuzzy ones when you never get cold?” Caspian asked.

“I just like them better.”

That really was the only reason I’d gone that route. The fluff beneath my fingers reminded me of something I couldn’t fully put my finger on yet, but each time I stroked the legs of a pair, I felt more old memories come tumbling back.

Moss. Thick. Covered in tiny mushrooms. I’d lie there with my cheek pressed to it.

Warm. Summer. Sunshine.

Crumbling stones, ruins of an old watchtower of some kind.

The scent of the ocean carried along by a gentle breeze. In the distance I could see it shimmering, but the sound I heard wasn’t the waves lapping against the rocks below us. It was heartbeats throbbing from deep within the earth.

“Kes! Kes! Did you hear anything I said?”

“Uh-huh, you said, Kaika made the chips.”