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“Yes, we have, and we’re sorry for lying to you,” Thomas said. I wasn’t sure if I believed him.
“I don’t like it when people are dishonest with me.”
“Can you really blame us for not telling the truth? It’s not like you would have believed us.”
I had to concede that he was probably right. I hung my head and tried to figure out what to do next. I supposed that the first thing I needed to do was understand what their agenda was and try not to lose my mind at the fact I was standing in front of two magical men. Believe me, keeping myself from freaking out was one of the more difficult things I had to do, but it was necessary for me to function.
“You have to tell me what you’re really doing here, what’s really going on,” I said. Thomas glanced at his brother and William shrugged.
“The cat’s kinda out of the bag now, so to speak,” he said.
Thomas nodded and gestured for me to join him and sit down. I warily left my tree and sat down on the ground, assuming that this was going to be quite a long story. Thomas crossed his legs. William excused himself and said that he was going to find a place to wash off the blood. He was swallowed by the trees and I wondered if he had killed the boar as a man or a dragon, and if he was about to shift into a dragon now and fly to a clean pool. I turned to Thomas and looked at him expectantly.
“You have to understand that this is difficult for me to talk about as usually we never discuss these things with an outsider,” he began.
“It’s okay Thomas. We’re on a deserted island and from the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like anyone is going to rescue us anytime soon. You can be assured that your secret is safe with me.”
“The line of dragons is a long and powerful one that stretches back centuries, but the exact nature of our origin has been lost in the mists of time. Some believe that we were born by magic, others believe that we are simply a better version of humans, and others believe that we’re the last breed of a subspecies of humans that could change into animals, which would mean there’s truth in the werewolf stories. All I know is that we are a proud people and we have taken to secrecy because humanity spread over the world relentlessly and it was impossible to hide from it. Our dynasty is a long one and we set up companies a long time ago that accumulated great wealth so that we are assured of a good life. Most dragons in our lineage have been content to live their lives, pass on the secret knowledge, and then die. The cycle continues and the secrets remain, but over the last couple of generations there is obviously more information readily available and some of us have been more curious about our origins.”
“So you’re here to find out where you came from? But I don’t understand why you’d think you came from here. Is it just because it’s called Dragon Island? Because I’m pretty sure the
re are other places in the world that have the word ‘dragon’ in their names.”
“It’s not just because of that. Amber, you remember how your parents first heard wind of this place, yes?”
“Yes…well, they never gave me any details, but they told me that they had definite evidence. They wouldn’t have come out here on a hunch.”
“And where do you think they got that information from?”
“I always just assumed it was from some old book they researched. They did love pouring over old documents.”
“They got the information from my father. He had done a lot of research and he wanted to hire explorers to search the island and find the origin of our species. He swore them to secrecy, but he was the reason they came here.”
“But why didn’t he just look for it himself? Presumably he could fly, was it not easier just to come here if he was that determined to find it?”
“It was not that simple. Flying over such great distances means there is more chance of us revealing ourselves to the world. We are taught from a young age that the most important thing we can ever do is keep our secret, that it must be kept at any cost. Father was…something of a radical. He thought that some traditions should be cast aside in the name of truth and honesty with ourselves. He thought that we should look to the past so that we could truly know where we came from and learn about our ancestors. He liked to say that we had been walking through darkness, that we had lost some element of ourselves as we had been living in the human world for so long. It was his hope that your parents would find some clue and it would force the dragons to come out into the world. Sadly, they never returned.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat and reminded myself that I had to remain focused on the subject at hand, not get distracted by my emotion. It helped that I was fully intrigued by the topic.
“And he couldn’t hire others?”
“There was another obstacle in his way,” Thomas said, a dark cloud coming over his face. His voice took on a terse edge. “As I said, my father was something of a radical. Not everyone shared his views, and some actually believed he was a threat to our people. Twins are something of a common occurrence in our race, but not all of them get on as well as William and I. My uncle never shared my father’s views, and when he learned what father had done, he was furious and vowed that he would do anything to prevent anyone from discovering this place. That’s why nobody was ever able to come here, and why nobody would fund your expedition either. Our uncle has…many powerful friends, friends who would do anything for a price.”
“Your father is he…” I said, recognizing the tone of voice and the look in his eyes of a child that had lost a parent. Thomas looked at me and gulped.
“Uncle told us that it was an accident, but I think we always knew better even when we were younger. You’re not the only one to have lost parents Amber. I think it’s perhaps why we were drawn to you in the first place. Father kept journals and told us as much as he could; so we knew of your parents and of his efforts to explore this island, and we took it upon ourselves to finish what he started.”
I was astounded by this revelation because it meant that we had all been working towards the same quest from the beginning. Our histories had been linked, and so was our present.
“You’re doing exactly the same thing I am,” I said, amazed.
“Yes. We have spent our whole lives trying to find the right person to lead this expedition, and when we found out that you were actually planning one yourself, we used what money father left us to fund it, despite our uncle’s protestations. We had to remain quiet and wait until the last moment to appear to you because we were afraid, he’d kill us just as he killed our father, and that’s why we came here as well. We were afraid that either he would try and sabotage the expedition, or that he would simply kill us before we had a chance to see what you had found.”
“He sounds like a horrible man.”
Thomas gave a dry snort and a grim smile. “He thinks he’s doing what he needs to do to keep our people safe. He’s the most dangerous kind of man, because he thinks he’s right.”
“What do you hope to do with the information, if we find any?”
