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“It’s done, it’s all over now. I watched him die,” Thomas said. I nodded, and then looked over at William. We held hands as we walked over to him and knelt by his side. Thomas nudged William and the green dragon opened his eyes, although they were just slits. He closed them again, and then nothing happened.
“He’ll have to stay as a dragon for the time being. We heal faster when we’re in that form,” Thomas said, although he sounded concerned. He touched his brother’s burns and cursed. “Our uncle couldn’t help but hurt us,” he spat.
“Do you think everything he said was true?”
“I don’t think he had a reason to lie to us,” Thomas said. “But he’s never going to have the chance to hurt us, or anyone else, again. But there are more like him out there, and we’re going to have to expose them.”
“What do you intend to do?”
Thomas turned to me a grinned. After the intensity and the heat of battle I was glad to see him smile again, and it reassured me that everything could return to some semblance of normality. “You’re the leader of the expedition, you tell me.”
Amazement flickered across my face. “Well, I mean, I’d love to share these findings with the world, but I don’t want to encroach upon your secrecy. I know that you and your people have been hiding for a long time, and for good reason. I wouldn’t want to make you vulnerable to greedy people or people who would seek to take advantage of you. Really, the only person that knows the truth now is me, and I promise you, I won’t say anything.” I looked at to the horizon, at the storm that roiled around the island. “It seems that it’s going to be difficult for anyone to get to the island anyway. So far both planes that
have tried to come here have fallen victim to the storm, maybe it’s better that this place remain a secret. We can fly away, like you said, and pretend that we’ve washed up on a distant shore, and we don’t have to ever tell anyone about this place.”
Thomas considered my words for a few moments. He breathed deeply and looked in the same direction as I did. “When we came to this island, I thought that’s exactly what was going to happen. William and I were always afraid that at least one of you would discover the truth, and we didn’t know how we were going to cope with it when you did. We wanted to keep the secret, just as we had always been told to do, wanted to keep the knowledge between our own people, but after everything we’ve learned on this expedition, I’m not sure that’s the best option. The dragons here, they wanted to keep to themselves, and the ones who left killed them because of it. Our past is littered with secrecy and shame, and I don’t want that to be the legacy we leave behind. It seems to me they were ruled by fear, but I’ve seen people risk everything to help us. Not just you and the others that came with us, but your parents too. My father trusted them. He would have had to have told them at least something of the truth, and they wanted to help us. They paid for it with their lives, and that reflected much sorrow upon you. I think it’s time we stopped keeping this place a secret. I don’t think we need to tell everyone about us, but they should know this place existed, they should know that once dragons really did walk the earth and if that happens to change dragon society for the better, then so be it. I think we could all use a reminder of where we came from.”
“Are you sure? Because once you tell people about this place there’s no going back. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
“I’m sure Amber, and I know that William would be too. This is what our father wanted, otherwise he wouldn’t have sent your parents here. And it means that you can finally do what you came here to do and finish their legacy. You can prove that they found this place first, that they weren’t just following a myth.”
“Thank you Thomas,” I said, my voice cracking with emotion. The thought of presenting these findings to the academic and archeological community filled me with a feeling of triumph. For so long, I’d had to endure the scorn of people who claimed that my parents never should have gone off following a fairytale, and now I could offer vindication for them. But there was one more problem that remained. “What about the storm though? I don’t want to risk bringing other people here. I can’t have this place claiming any more lives.”
“I have a theory about that, but we’ll need to wait for William to wake up.”
While we waited for William to regain his consciousness, Thomas and I relaxed in each others’ arms, and breathed deeply, trying to process everything that had happened. My mind was in such turmoil that I couldn’t think straight. Revealing this place to the world was so huge. When I came to Dragon Island, I never thought I’d find what I had found here, and yet all of that seemed to pale in comparison with the fact that I had fallen in love with the two most wonderful men in the world. Although calling them mere men didn’t seem to fully encompass their souls. They were more than men, they were dragons.
19
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before William stirred. I had fallen asleep on Thomas’ chest, but I awoke as he nudged me and pointed to William. The green dragon shifted back into his masculine form and he looked dazed and groggy. He touched his side, and I was amazed to see that it was almost fully healed. I ran up to him and hugged him, being careful not to squeeze him too tightly.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I’m just glad I got there in time, although I wish I had avoided the flames. I take it you ended it?” William said, looking to Thomas.
“I did,” Thomas said. We explained our thoughts on how to return to the world and how much information we should disclose, and as Thomas anticipated, William was in complete agreement with us. I went on to talk about the storm and William agreed that he didn’t want to bring anyone here if there was a risk.
“But I think there is a way to make a path, if you’re up for it,” Thomas said. “It is going to involve a lot of strength.”
“You know I can handle anything,” William said, smiling at the good-natured teasing. It pleased me to see that they were back to our old selves, although there was still an edge to their words.
“Do you two have anything you’d like to talk about? I know he wasn’t a very nice man, but he was still your uncle. It must have been difficult for you to fight him,” I said.
The brothers glanced at each other. “It would if we were men,” William said, “but we’re dragons, and this is what dragons do. He has betrayed our people. He killed our father, and he sought to sabotage our efforts our entire life. He may have been family by blood, but not in spirit, and the world is a better place by his absence. Besides, he sought to hurt you. In a choice between him and you, or indeed you and anyone, there is no choice. You are the final link that completes us.”
As William said this, he reached out and cupped his hand on my cheek. I was filled with a warm glow and smiled at him. I knew it was true as well. I completed them and they completed me.
“So how exactly are you going to stop the storm?” I asked.
***
We ended up flying away from the mountains and back to the beach where we had initially set up camp. It felt strange being here, as even though only a few days had passed, so much had happened that it felt like such a long time since we had washed up on the shore. I looked back to the cavern where Vincent had been sitting, and I mourned his absence. I looked to the water and thought about how Daniel and Duncan were settled at the bottom, having been swallowed by the whorls. This expedition had costed us so much, but I reminded myself that everyone on this mission had known the risk. When I looked out to the horizon, I thought about the others out there who were searching for us, who were worried and I was filled with anxiety about seeing Bobby again.
We had promised to pick up where we left off but after being with the dragon brothers, I realized that what I’d felt for Bobby was nothing in comparison with real, deep love. I knew I wouldn’t be able to lie to him about it either. I had seen firsthand how devastating secrets could be, but I hated the thought of breaking his heart.
Of course, to do that we had to open a path to the island in the first place, and I wasn’t sure what Thomas had in mind. He was keeping it a surprise. Although we didn’t know exactly what caused the storms it seemed as though they had been formed by the dragons who had left to prevent anyone from finding out the truth of what they had done. Somehow this meant that only dragons could undo it, but I wasn’t sure how because neither Thomas nor William had mentioned anything about them having access to magic.
I stood on the beach and watched as they shifted into dragons and took to the air, flying out to meet the storm. I had to squint to make out what they were doing, but they were just about close enough that they were still within my sights. I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the sun and watched as they flew into the storm. I thought it was madness to want to get that close to such tempestuous nature, but they seemed to know what they were doing, working in tandem as always as they beat their wings powerfully and caused gusts of air to blow into the storm. It took me a while to figure out what exactly they were doing, but then it became clear to me. They were actually seeking to disrupt the storm using their own strength, creating enough force to dispel the swirling mass of clouds. I gaped at the impossibility of it all, and immediately dismissed the idea, but I should have known better than to think these men were incapable of the impossible because, slowly but surely, the storm began to thin.
