Here Be Dragons

Triston blinks and pales. "You're right! And Tide's saddle, I left that - " He stops talking when he hears both dragons abruptly leave their meal and head out of the hut. Then he chuckles, gently nudging Lambi's arm and pointing. "Don't worry, though. I think our dragons are taking care of it."

"Good on them," Capper says cheerfully. He peers outside at the ongoing storm, thoughtfully stroking his beard. "Mm. Ye know, lads, that storm's going to be tricky to fly through. Even for you and yer Tide Glider, Triston."

"Yeah . . .?" Triston asks slowly.

"Well, it's just - I know Lambi's got to be gettin' home to Lady Bluebell. I just want to get him there safe, is all. Are you two goin' to brave the storm? Because if ye are . . . I just might know a safe route."
 
Lambi was trying hard not to be upset at the thought of losing luna's saddle. He was just about ready to force himself to get up and walk out there to find it. But luckily he didn't have to when the duo's dragons booked it out of the hut. Luna checked to make sure tide was not too far behind before she continued running. Feeling his arm nudged Lambi looked to Triston before to the missing dragons and laughed a little. "I think they could sense we were panicking," he laughed but was extremely grateful for Luna right now. As he was thinking about his saddle he heard capper and frowned as he realized he was right. "It does look like it'll be really tricky..."he figured he could push through the storm and get above it, but he knew Triston and his tide glider wouldn't be able to follow. Just as he was about to suggest he bravw the storm alone he heard capper. "A safe route? Without going through the storm?" he was immediately curious and hopeful. Meanwhile on the beach, Luna had found her saddle still there. She chirped happily as she picked it up, waiting for tide to find his.
 
Capper smiles when the boys' demeanor seems to change at once. "Well, it's safer than the storm, aye. But ye'd have to brave a few miles of underground caverns an' be on the lookout for cave ins."

Triston's eyes go wide. "There are underground tunnels connecting our islands?!" he bursts out.

Capper chuckles and pats his shoulder, nodding. "Aye. Couldn't tell ye all the secrets at once, eh? I'll give ye some copies of the map. One for you two, an' one for Lady Bluebell. I'm sure she'll be very interested in it."

Tide's saddle has already started drifting slightly, but it's in view and floating. Tide rumbles and dives into the water after it. Then he grabs the edge in his mouth and chuffs, bobbing his head as he resurfaces. For him, finding his saddle is something he often does as a game or training with Triston; Triston keeps really important things on his own person.
 
Lambi felt a little nervous when he said it involved being underground. Once you were there you can't just pop back out if something happens, you have to deal with it. "H-how many islands are connected through this system?" immediately he could tell his mom would be nervous about this. Like where did the tunnel come up on his island and what if villagers found it, etc. "I imagine the tunnel has to be extremely long..."even flying it took him a few fair but to get here, even letting Luna go full speed. Walking he imagined would be longer, an immediately he thought about his ankle... Luna saw the other's saddle was worried for a second before the dragon easily went and grabbed it. She laughed before starting to make the run back to the hut now that she had her saddle and everything was alright. Once she was back Lambi knew they should probably get going. He looked to Triston, "You sure you want to come with me? You can always spend the night at my place or stay here otherwise you'll be making the trip twice..." If it was as long as he thought it was going to be he didn't want to put the other through that. He also knew he was royally screwed walking the entire way there so it would be even longer the first go.
 
"Well, I've only explored the main tunnel, but as far as I can tell . . . just two," Capper says, nodding. "This one an' the mainland. Now, don't you worry. It's a few hours on foot, but still far safer than flyin' in this weather."

Triston grabs a chunk of bread from a basket and takes a bite. "I would like to come with you, Lambi," he says slowly, "And I'd love to spend the night. I'm just not sure if your mother would let me. That's all." He smiles and shrugs. "I'm coming either way - just a matter of whether I sleep in a building or in the tunnel. Either one's fine."

When Tide slithers in with his saddle, Triston chuckles and walks over to ruffle the dragon's fins. "Good boy," he murmurs. He carefully puts the saddle on and glances at Capper. "You said you had some maps for us?" he asks.

"Aye. One for you, and one for Lady Bluebell. But ye don't really need 'em. Just walk straight, and you'll find the way," Capper explains. He pulls out two maps and hands them to Lambi. "Anything else I can get you boys for the night?"
 
Lambi made a mental note to explore the tunnel further when they had time. His mother would probably take on that job, she wouldn't rest until she knew it only connected these two islands. "Got a point...it is safer than flying in this storm," he was definitely dreading the long walk though. He tried not to show it as he grabbed a bit of bread and some berries so that they would have something to snack on in the tunnel if needed. Hearing Triston was determined to come with him made him smile, he was glad to have his company. "I'm sure I can convince my mom to let you stay in the house," if he told her how Triston quite literally saved his life she would probably be more accepting to him.

Luna came over to him and he carefully stood up to put the saddle on, putting most his weight on his other leg. He double checked his books and everything were alright and thankfully they were. Seeing the maps capper handed him he nodded as he went to put then away in the saddle for now. "Thank you capper, this tunnel is definitely a much safer bet. How do we get to it?" he knew there was already a tunnel system below the island. But he hadn't seen anything that major. His mother surely would have seen a massive tunnel going that far, so he figure it's entrance was somewhere else.
 
Capper grins, his one hitting out tooth shining in the firelight. "Thought ye'd never ask." He kicks aside a nearby rug, revealing a heavy wooden trap door. "This here's the dead end of the tunnel. Built me house right over it. And ye know, this way one end of the tunnel is guarded."

"Whoa!" Triston squeals, dropping to his knees and yanking the door open. "This is great! Big enough for dragons to walk in, even! Lambi, we can ride our dragons home!" He gives a sharp whistle, and without hesitation, Tide slips into the large dirt tunnel below.

Triston smiles and nods to Lambi. "Okay. You tell Luna to go down, and then I'll lower you onto her, okay?"

Tide gives a yelp in protest. Then he rests his head on the edge of the floor with a huff.

Triston giggles. "Or, Tide will lower you onto her."
 
Lambi watched him, curious why he was excited before seeing him revealed the tunnel. "Oh,that's smart to build it over it so you know it's safe from people," he stayed back while Triston opened it. The tunnel looked big enough for them to walk, hopefully it stayed that size. "OK...Luna head on down," she looked wary but did as she was told, hopping down into the hole. He had moved over to Triston when he heard tide huffing and laughed. "Guess tide doesn't like that plan then?" he laughed and was curious why tide wanted to lower him down but he had no problem. Walking, more like limping, over to the big water dragon.
 
Tide delicately takes Lambi's shirt collar in his jaws, and then carefully lowers him onto Luna's saddle. Then he chuffs and bobs his head victoriously.

"I would not have dropped him!" Triston protests. "Is that why you wanted to carry him? Come on."

Tide sticks his tongue out before grabbing Triston and setting him into the saddle as well.

"Oh, for - I can jump! My leg's not hurt," Triston bursts out, now laughing. He gazes up at Capper and waves. "Bye, Capper! Have a good night! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Safe travels, lads! Tell Lady Bluebell I wish her well," Capper adds, looking on as the pair moves off.
 
Lambi stayed still as tide took him by the collar and carefully lowered him onto Luna. Once he was on Luna laughed at the comment before moving to be out of the way. Lambi laughed,"If it makes you feel better I don't think you would've dropped me." He smiled at the other as tide hopped down into the tunnel with them. "Goodnight capper," he smiled,"I'll tell you you said hi." Once they were in the tunnel Luna lit up her mouth like she was going to like off a shot but didn't shoot. Just using the light from the plasma to light up the tunnel. "Looks like the joinery begins," he laughed before Luna started walking.
 
Triston raises an eyebrow as the group sets off. "Is, uh . . . is she going to do that the whole way?" he asks. "Seems like a long time to hold her mouth open."

Tide tilts his head. Then he gives a few grunts and growls, telling Luna to close her mouth. The instant the cave grows dark, Tide's scales begin to emanate a soft, aqua glow that illuminates the part of the tunnel they're in.

Triston stares in shock. "E - excuse me?!" he stammers at last. "How long could you do that for?"

His dragon only gives a soft, rumbling laugh in response before he starts wandering down the long cavern.
 
Lambi looked down at Luna, who seemed fine with what she was doing. "Ah...well she seems OK for now but he did say this would be a long walk..."he was trying to figure out the lighting situation. When tide grunting at Luna to close her mouth, which she did. When tide suddenly glowed Lambi was immediately confused. "I-what?? I only know of one dragon species that can glow like that...I've never seen one of tide's species do that," he was still in shock as they started walking. He was still thoroughly confused how tide was able to glow like that. He yawned as they got farther down the tunnel, realizing it must be getting later and he got worried his mom would be upset.
 
"You think you're confused?" Triston stammers. "Tide, are you even a full Tide Glider dragon?"

Tide tilts his head and blinks. Then he carries on slithering down the tunnel, chirping from time to time or sticking his tongue out to smell the cavern. His fins and spines stay relaxed through the tunnel, so Triston knows it's safe.

But he's too distracted by his dragon to notice his surroundings much anyway. "Lambi, do you think maybe his parents were two different species of dragon?" he asks slowly. "Or maybe he's . . . I don't know . . . mutated or something?"

After a few hours of walking and passing several side tunnels, the group arrives at the exit. Tide slithers up above the ground and stops glowing. They're arrived in an old part of the forest with tall trees and lots of moss; it seems like no one's been here in years.

"Where . . . where are we?" Triston asks, glancing around in awe.
 
Lambi was pretty much broken as he tried to figure out why tide was glowing like that. Luna kept walking, also confused by the situation but happy for some light. At the other's question he furrowed his brow and shook his head. "I don't really think that's possible...I've only heard a few very very very very rare cases of hybrids or more like subspecies or a species. Not many of them involve tide gliders or the species I know that glows. Usually dragons have to be really similar for it to happen,"he made a mental note to ask his mom if she knew anything about tide gliders glowing. "Did he eat any glowing algae? Could be possible that maybe eating those has something to do with making him glow," he was so engrossed in talking that he didn't notice where they were.

When they did reach the area he immediately tried to get a sense of his surroundings. "Hm... I don't know let me see if Luna can get me higher," with that the light fury climbed into a tree getting high enough to see where they were. When he saw he immediately cursed quietly before she headed back down. "Alright um, tiny weeny problem, we are on the other side of the island. We can't fly around to get to my house...well our dragons probably could but not with us on them. So our options are walk through the middle of the island, and through the village or walk around the entire edge which will take longer..." The middle would be the best bet but they would have to send tide and Luna to go another route to avoid the village.
 
"Oh! Yeah, he did," Triston says, eyes going wide. "And if that's what made him glow, I've gotta get some more of that stuff!"

While Luna and Lambi climb up a tree to get a better view, Triston watches intently. He pales when Lambi describes where they are. "Seriously?" he asks faintly. He glances at the town and heaves a long, deep sigh, blowing hair out of his eyes. "We're already late getting home as it is. Tell you what. Why don't we have Tide and Luna go around the long way, and we'll cut through town to get to your house faster?"

Tide growls low in his throat and narrows his eyes at Triston.

Triston crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. "It's not that dangerous. I'm sure we'll be fine. Right, Lambi?" he asks, turning towards the boy.
 
Lambi was examining tide's skin as they walked. "His scales also may be a bit thinner than other dragons, I've noticed water dragons tend to have different scales and maybe that let's the algae grow better?" he really did need to remember to add this to his journal. Lambi immediately felt bad at where they were, even if it wasn't his fault he knew it wasn't fun. "I'm afraid that's probably the best way to go about this..."he turned to Luna who was frowning but he smiled," We will be fine you two, just meet us at the house ok?" Luna licked him playfully before waiting for tide.

Once the dragons lefts he turned to Triston," This is going to be interesting..."he laughed nervously. He started leading the way to the village, trying to conceal his limping. "Just um...if we bump into anyone follow my lead ok?" He stuck close to the other as they made it into town. It was fine until another young viking, but buffer than he noticed him.

"Ooooh the recluse is out late tonight," he snorted as he moved to walk on the other side of Lambi,"And you've got a little friend this time, whose this? Another weirdo for the family?"

Lambi rolled his eyes,"Don't you have more important things to do Sam?"
 
Triston nods and straightens his shoulders at Lambi's advice. "Follow your lead. Got it," he says with a nod. Everything seems fine at first; the village is fairly quiet, and Lambi's swollen ankle doesn't seem to be giving him too much trouble.

Then Sam arrives.

Triston can tell right away he doesn't like the Viking. Something about his tone and the way he paces around the pair like a hunting dragon makes him tense. And while he doesn't say anything at the moment, his hands curl into fists, and he locks his gaze on the boy. Mainly he's watching for any movement that might mean Sam is going to try attacking Lambi.

Triston isn't going to let anyone hurt Lambi.
 
Lambi tried extremely hard not to show any discomfort at walking. It definitely hurt but he just winced internally, not wanting to attract anyone's attention. Which had worked fine until Sam, the biggest bully in the village spotted him. It was still pretty stormy out and late so no one else was really out. The other viking only seems spurred on but Lambi's annoyance.

"Awe does the wittle weird viking want some alone time with his weird friend?" he sneered smugly only making Lambi more annoyed.

"I'm literally just walking through the village, should you be closing some storm shutters or something?" that seemed to piss Sam off. Not liking that he wasn't get a rise out of him. In a huff he moved to walk off but not before roughly bumping his shoulder into Lambi's. The unexpected move had him stumbling, his ankle turning weirdly as he crashed to the ground. Sam stood there for a second before laughing and running back off to his house before either of them could react. Lambi managed to move to sit but the pain in his ankle was tenfold now, making his eyes water. "I freaking hate Sam..."he mumbled miserably.
 
When Sam shoves Lambi's shoulder, Triston very nearly runs after him to shove him back, but he realizes that's not going to help at this point. He huffs and carefully helps Lambi to his feet, glaring at Sam as he runs away. "That makes two of us," he mutters. "Listen. The next time that dirtbag shows his face, keep me between you and him. He won't get close enough to touch you again."

He lets out a deep breath and starts walking, making sure Lambi keeps his weight off his injured ankle. "Tell me if you see anyone else coming towards us, okay? I'll keep a lookout, but my eyes can't be everywhere. And if Sam comes over here, he's dead meat."
 
Lambi winces as Triston helps him to his feet, but can't put much weight on the ankle. "He's hated me since we were kids...I never really understood why," he mumbled as they started walking again. Now Lambi was limping more heavily than before as he tried to keep weight off his foot. He nodded when Triston told him to stay behind him if Sam showed up again, and kept his eyes peeled for anyone else coming. "I don't think he will come back...he's kind of one of those people to get a cheap shot in and then run away," he commented, leaning into the other a little as they walked,"He's definitely too chicken to give the other person a fair chance that's for sure..."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back