The Lost City continues the journey of Astra, respected Head Librarian of the Tiered Library in the renown monastery Qordashi deep in the Balashilar mountains, after an attack on her home destroyed everything she knew and took the lives of people she loved. Her childhood companion, Traz, has returned after 25 years for mysterious reasons, and along with the Am’Ayat warrior Xavai they are on the run from the attackers: snow dragons and the dreaded tribe of Yosoi warriors.
Previously: Astra ran out of plans…
“Wait, the dragon…wait! Wait!” Xavai yelled out, but he wasn’t looking up. He was staring wide-eyed at the shore. “It’s coming closer!”
“No, no! Traz! Xavai says the fire dragon is approaching us!”
Traz twisted a little, cried out in pain and fell back on his blankets. “I don’t think…I don’t think it can swim?”
Astra turned to look where, she supposed, the dragon was coming from. At least, Xavai was looking that way.
There was an odd moment where water off to the side of the boat seemed to move around something but yet appeared undisturbed, and the buzzing feeling of active magic prickled along Astra’s skin. The dogs chose that moment to leap to their feet and bark happily at nothing, bouncing around just enough to make the boat unsteady. “Stop!” Astra shouted at them.
Then there was a clunking noise and the boat shuddered, leaning over to dip down on one side. Astra stumbled at the jostling under her feet and slipped forward, landing with one hand on the dragon. The fire dragon simply appeared next to her, one wing slung down so its wing talon and lower wing span was hanging in the boat. It seemed to be floating fine on the water, although from the way it moved Astra thought it was kicking its legs.
“Grav Astra!” Xavai called out, looking her way but not seeing her.
“Grab my brother’s hand! Quickly!”
He was confused by the orders but got down and sat next to Traz, snatching his hand in his. Traz wrinkled his nose, but Astra grabbed his other hand before he could complain, and then he was distracted by the dragon hanging off the boat.
“What a mighty fine duck we have,” Traz said, his eyes bright with pain and possibly delirium.
There was a loud, screeching roar from the snow dragons who were bearing down on them. They split up and swirled around in a spiral pattern before some broke away to do wide loops out and around the river.
“We share the dragon’s invisibility!” Xavai called out in excitement, looking up in awe as the dragons scattered in rage and fury.
Astra looked around as the dogs took that moment to jump around the dragon’s wing, onto its back, and then onto the boat again excitedly.
“Stop that!” She hissed at them.
They clambered back to the middle of the boat with their tails tucked between their legs, but still smiling with their tongues lolling out of their mouths, very clearly thrilled to be reunited with their dragon.
The snow dragons flew over them, knowing people had been on the boat a moment before. They circled the boat several times, crying out in obvious frustration, but unable to land in the water to investigate it. Astra wondered if the water would freeze and trap them if they tried, or if they were just naturally scared of “melted ice.”
It took a while, but eventually the boat floated down stream far enough that the snow dragons could barely be seen behind them. They had abandoned tracking the “empty” boat but were still flying over the whole expanse of the river, with a few smaller groups flying up and down its course, so it was not safe to let go of the dragon. Who, Astra realized, was panting.
“We cannot steer well like this,” Xavai commented as the boat bumped its way around a slow curve.
“Nor can the dragon keep swimming forever.” She said, tilting her head its way. Xavai glared at the beast, but did not disagree.
Traz had fallen back asleep and was looking fitful and flushed, probably from a low fever. Astra hoped it would not get worse.
Finally, the dragon started pulling them to shore. It did not land them, though, opting to just walk once the water was shallow enough that its feet could reach the bottom. The boat bumped along until Astra put Traz’s hand on the bottom of the boat, wrapping her hand around his wrist, allowing Xavai to angle his way closer to the edge and use his freed up hand to poke at the water with the oar. It was enough resistance to keep the boat from wobbling too much, and they traveled along that way until the dragon was rested enough to push them out into the current and speed up their pace. This continued until evening, when the dragon pulled the boat all the way up on shore and flopped down gracelessly with a loud huff. It kept its wing in place, so that Astra could maintain her hold on it.
“We need food,” Xavai said, holding up Traz’s limp hand. “I cannot hunt tied to your brother this way.”
Astra shook her head. “The dragons are looking for three humans and two dogs. They will think nothing of a single man walking through the grass.” She nodded at the shore, which edged a vast grassland. “Perhaps you can find us a different kind bird.” She smiled and motioned toward the dragon, whose head was propped on its front leg, and its eyes closed.
Xavai chucked, and with a nod climbed out of the boat before releasing Traz’s hand. He looked around. “I know the dragon is here, that I just stepped out of the boat, but I cannot see anything in it.” He sighed, then piled up a few rocks in a strange little altar before taking off his pack to get his small crossbow out. He returned later with a tiny deer like creature, and after hissing in pain as he prepared it and a fire for cooking it, he stumbled over to the little rock altar and then walked straight ahead until he ran into the dragon. Their whole night was spent trading off duties as they kept hold of the dragon and Traz, who though mostly asleep, held down the job of keeping his hand connected to the boat. The dragon, for its part, just snored loudly.
A few snow dragons swooped down but left quickly. The speed of traveling by the river’s current had gotten the boat much farther north, much faster, than walking ever would have, and the dragons did not want to fly so far upland. Astra was hoping to double that distance the next day.
Settling down to sleep was by far more awkward than Astra had considered. She curled around Traz, much as they had done when they were novices in the crowded bunk rooms. She held his hand in hers, his other hand resting on the floor of the boat, her bare feet nestled up against the dragon’s wing. Then, she was unexpectedly enveloped by Xavai’s strong arm, curling over her and taking her free hand in his. Astra felt his chest all along her back, a warm, comforting sensation. She laid there, tense, trying to convince herself that it was no different from how she was holding Traz—until Xavai, falling into slumber, nuzzled at her hair, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear. She shuddered, and slammed her eyes closed, and repeated the Prayer of the Four Winds in the entirety of its many stanzas. It did not, unfortunately, help her fall asleep, but eventually exhaustion won out.
The following day was more of the same, coasting between the dragon swimming in the current where it pushed the boat along, and walking in shallows where it dragged the boat with its wing talon. Just when Astra was going to suggest that they pull up onshore along a rocky edge for a late afternoon break to possibly fish for dinner, the river took a sharp bend and they were suddenly faced with a huge, yawning river filled with boats. It was so wide it made the river they had been on seem like a quaint stream. Astra could see the other shore across from where they were entering the massive river, but just barely.
Traz finally awoke and pushed himself up on the hand braced on the boat, his other arm slung back behind him so Xavai could continue to hold his hand. “Ah,” he said with a great, gusty, sigh. “We’ve arrived here, then.”
“Here? Where is here?” Astra squeezed his wrist.
“The grand trunk road of the Balashilar: the Hoshikwazu River. The gateway to the world.”
It was a waterway that Astra had assumed she would never see in person. The Hoshikwazu traversed the whole of the world, it seemed, and so some old texts claimed. It flowed mostly east to west, from the interior of the mountains to the Infinite Sea, ending at the legendary port city of Tox. Astra had always known it was massive from her examinations of the poorly drawn maps she had in her library back at the monastery, but the scene in front of her dwarfed her imagination. Even Xavai looked awed as their boat and swimming dragon awkwardly joined the sacred river, seeing the number of boats and even large ships traveling along. Astra knew, despite how spread out they all were, that there had to be dozens of watercraft laid out in front of her. Maybe hundreds.
Traz sighed. “A few weeks on the Hoshikwazu will get us to its most northern point, the city of Arjaat. From there we can travel by road to Parthikapum.” He laid back down again, the sweat on his brow shining in the afternoon sun.
Astra moved to reach over to the dragon and place her hand on the grail. The dragon glared at her but did not push her away.
“You can let go now. The snow dragons are not coming this far north, and we will be lost among all these boats.”
:YOU SINK:
“No, no, we will not sink. I appreciate your worry, but this is a big, easy river and we will not sink.”
She got a clear image of Traz, far sicker than he currently was. She nodded. “Yes, he is sick, and if you let go, we can find a way to trade for medicine.”
It huffed at her.
“Now you listen to me, dragon: we need to get medicines and food, and we cannot do that if no one can see us!”
:SAFE:
“Yes, but also hungry and possibly run over by bigger boats!” She waved her free hand at the swollen river, covered in watercraft that would not put much concern into an “empty” small boat.
It glared at her again, but then pushed away, disappearing over the water.
Xavai sighed. “Wise decision. We need to travel easy, and be open to trade. We need food and supplies.”
She nodded, but then paused and shook her head. “How, I don’t know. My pack carries no riches. Yours?”
Xavai shook his head in turn. They were, for all intents and purposes, penniless and drifting aimlessly.
Astra thought that was an apt metaphor for all the twists and turns her life had taken.
Thank you for reading The Lost City, the second arc in the Dragon’s Grail saga! This serial will continue soon with the third arc, The Dukes of Odwego!!!
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