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It was one of the great things about having a dragon for his closest friend. They didn’t tend to be daunted by requests that humans would have found unreasonable, or even impossible. There wasn’t a whole lot that was impossible for dragons.
Reka crouched, preparing to take to the air, but he paused at Heath’s sigh, angling his head inquiringly.
“Sorry,” said Heath. “It’s just that it’ll be hours of flying, probably several hours without pause, by the time we have to turn around and head straight back. It’s quite a long shot that we find any land out there. My shoulders are going to be in agony.”
A rippling shrug passed down Rekavidur’s body. “That is the cost of your exploration,” he said, no trace of sympathy in his voice. “If you’re trying to ask me to let you ride on my back, then don’t.”
Heath rolled his eyes at his friend’s flat tone. “I wasn’t going to ask that, so there’s no need to get high and mighty with me. I know dragons don’t let people ride them.”
“I should think not,” said Reka indignantly. “We are not horses.”
“All right, all right,” sighed Heath. “Let’s do this.”
He barely had time to brace himself before he felt Reka’s talons on his shoulders, the dragon moving with the lightning speed of his kind. In seconds, they were ascending with such rapidity that moisture streamed from Heath’s eyes. As always, Reka somehow managed to avoid piercing Heath’s shoulders with his razor-sharp talons, but Heath nevertheless resigned himself to an uncomfortable journey.
Reka streamed due east, toward the morning sun, and the coast of Valoria soon fell away. By the time Heath glanced behind him, Bexley Manor was once again a toy cottage, barely visible even to his eyes. He looked forward, much more interested in what might lie ahead.
Rekavidur rose incredibly high before leveling out. Heath tried to keep his eyes on the horizon rather than on the water far, far below him. He knew that Reka would never drop him, but it was still incredibly unnerving to look down and see the distance between his dangling legs and the choppy surface of the ocean. There was no circumstance in which a human could survive that fall.
The sun continued to rise in the sky as they flew toward it, the sea sparkling incessantly in the light. Although summer was over, the day was warm, and Heath was soon wishing that the sun was high enough for him to be in Reka’s shadow.
They covered the distance quickly. Absurdly quickly. Heath knew that if they were traveling over land, the scenery would be nothing but a blur at the impossible speed Reka was moving. But with endless ocean beneath them, there wasn’t much to see. The water looked the same in every direction, and Heath had no difficulty scanning the expanse for any signs of land. He saw the occasional rocky outcrop, and even more rarely a sandy spot of land barely big enough to be called an island.
Time moved slowly, and as predicted, Heath’s shoulders began to ache. After about an hour of flight, he noticed that some of the miniature islands appearing from time to time had palm trees on them. He’d seen trees like those a number of times, further along the coast of Valoria. Apparently they grew everywhere in distant Thorania, where the air was supposedly thick and heavy. In fact, now that he thought about it, he realized the air he was currently flying through was becoming increasingly heavier.
He was just pondering this change when he caught sight of something away in the distance on his right that made him startle so strongly that Reka dipped his giant head to look.
“Are you all right, Heath?” The dragon spoke effortlessly, his voice somehow clear and loud in Heath’s ears despite the wind rushing past in an endless torrent.
“Look at that!” Heath shouted, pointing south. “Is that…is that a maelstrom?”
Reka glanced at the spot in the distance, where the waters surged with sudden violence, and a hole could be seen in the ocean. “Looks like it,” he said, his voice unconcerned. “Perhaps that’s what makes the area impassable for human ships.”
“I guess they’re real, then,” said Heath, dazed. “Not just sailors’ tales.”
After another half an hour, Heath was feeling extremely tired and sore, his eyes stinging from the wind, and his limbs starting to go numb. He was thinking with dread of the reality that whenever they did finally turn around, they would only be halfway through their journey. It was probably time to call this venture the wild goose chase it was. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to ask Reka to change course. They’d come so far already. Further than any Valorian had in living memory, he was sure of it. What if it was just a little bit further? It would be a shame to lose the ground—or water—they’d covered.
He kept his mouth shut, reasoning that they could rest on one of the tiny islands on the way home.
And then, suddenly, he felt a ripple pass over him from head to toe, sending something powerful jolting through his body.
“What was that?” he shouted, but before Reka could answer, Heath’s attention was captured by the sight before him, and he forgot all about his question.
At the speed they were traveling, his gasp was of course lost, flung violently away the moment it left his mouth. But there was no need to call out—Reka had clearly seen the island as well, judging by the sudden slowing of his flight.
Because island it was. The land before Heath was no barren outcrop of rock, or random circle of sand. It was a proper island, a hundred times the size of anything he’d seen so far. It was half ringed by a semicircle of white sand, but the ground rose up from the beach into jungle covered slopes, with cliffs on one side. The sun was as fierce as ever, and the island was an explosion of bright color against the sparkling turquoise of the shallower water around it. Most of the land was covered in green foliage, and viewed from above, it looked like an unevenly cut emerald. From his aerial view, he could see the reef just below the surface of the water, creating a natural ring around the island.
It was beautiful.
“Vazula,” Heath whispered, the word once again stolen by the wind.
He had no proof of course, but he was certain he had found the island kingdom. His excitement mounted, along with a shot of nerves. What if the people of Vazula weren’t friendly? Perhaps they would resent his intrusion into their hidden paradise.
Reka didn’t need any instructions from Heath to realize they had reached their destination. He had already slowed his pace significantly, and he began to descend toward the island. Within moments, he had set Heath down gently on the white sand at the water’s edge, alighting beside him.
“Well,” said the dragon, shaking out his wings before folding them against his sides. “It seems that there is land out here after all.” He glanced back toward the west. “And not far from Valoria’s shores at all. Apparently you were right.”
Heath nodded absently, not bothering to point out that in human terms, they had traveled a substantial distance. “Do you hear any sign of inhabitants?” he asked instead. “I couldn’t see anyone from the air.”
