The Search for the Eoz Potion

21. River Crossing

In awe, Zack walked closer to the dragon slowly, taking in every inch of the magnificent beast. Once Josef told him what it was, any fear he had of it as a result of its appearance disappeared completely.

"I've heard of these," he said as he reached his hand out to touch its bumpy leg. "I had no idea how scary looking they really were though."

"One of the kindest and gentlest animals in the Garden as long as you leave them alone," Josef said. "But you'd never know it to look at them. That's how they survive. They basically just scare away their predators. They eat mostly seaweed and leaves, but if another animal is foolish enough to attack, those claws," he said pointing to the dragon's toes, "along with those teeth and that tail are enough of a defense for her."

"Don't tell me this is how we're getting across the river," Claire said, half relieved that Hailey wasn't there to complain about the idea.

"I can't think of any better way," Zack said walking around the animal like it was a museum exhibit. "Josef's right, most animals, people included, wouldn't dare try to hurt one of these things. And if they do, well, let's just say I've never heard any stories from someone who tried."

With both of them insisting there was nothing to be afraid of, and with her having given Hailey a lecture not long ago about how much she trusted them, Claire felt like she had no other choice but to ride this beast across the Yllop River. Josef grabbed some leaves and made a pile on the ground. He called out to the dragon again to get her attention and she lowered her head to eat. While she did, Zack climbed up onto her neck and then scooted down to her back. Claire followed behind him and then Josef so that he was in front once they were all in position on the dragon's back.

Josef tugged on her neck in the direction of the river, and the dragon turned to head back into the water. Claire wrapped her arms tightly around Josef as they started moving, and Zack held onto Claire. The water was a dark turquoise color and the River Dragon blended in with it almost perfectly. The three of them were sitting just in front of her wings which sank below the surface of the river and began paddling them forward. The dragon's entire neck remained above the surface and her head was far above them. The wings moved slowly through the water but with a great force that propelled them forward fast enough that Zack had to dodge Claire's hair as it blew behind her.

As they started off across the river, the dragon jerked suddenly forward and Claire fell back into Zack. He was able to steady himself, but she started to slide to the side toward the water before Zack grabbed her. When she was steady on the dragon's back again, she looked down into the water and saw a long black fish approaching them. It was nothing in size compared to the River Dragon, but it was still a fairly large animal. It had a huge fan of a tail that spread out gracefully behind it as it swam. Its head was a perfect circle with two large white eyes fixed on the dragon as it slowly approached. Claire reminded herself that both Zack and Josef assured her animals did not attack Yllopian River Dragons, but the small, sharp spikes along the fish's back worried her. They looked as if they could do significant damage to the dragon or to them. Their legs were close enough to the water that the fish could jump out to attack them. While it may not have dared to go after the dragon, Claire thought to herself, there was nothing stopping it from coming after them. She looked over her shoulder and pointed out the fish to Zack who then shouted up to Josef.

"A sawfish!" he shouted as it prepared to jump out at them.

Just then, two brightly colored fish approached the sawfish on either side. One was pink and one was purple. They had large, fat heads with bodies that curled down into a spiraled tail with tiny legs all along the inside. Two large antennae came out from their heads with little yellow balls on the ends. It was from those balls that they shocked the sawfish on both sides of its body. The fish was lifelessly whipped away by the current as the two electric fish swam after it for their meal.

Josef did not have time to react to their narrow escape as he quickly returned his focus to steering the dragon across the river. Claire could not tell what it was, but Josef seemed nervous about something. As far as she noticed, after they escaped the sawfish the trip across the river seemed to be going smoothly. She saw lots of other fish including a school of tiny ones that nibbled at the dragon's scales as if they were eating off of her skin. The fish seemed to be more of an annoyance to the dragon than anything else as she swatted at them occasionally with her feet. Finally they became enough of a problem that she opened her mouth to roar as she had done before when she first came up on to the surface and spit a stream of water at the side of her body to get the fish away. The water splashed up and soaked Josef, Claire, and Zack, but once the fish were gone, the dragon was able to swim much faster without the distraction.

As the other side of the river came into view, Claire noticed that Josef was becoming more concerned. She couldn't figure out what it was until she noticed him repeatedly looking up at the sky and trying to hurry the dragon across the river. When she followed his quick glances upward, she noticed a few small pink clouds starting to form above them. Strangely, the river dragon seemed to be aware of the clouds as well. She angled her head more forward and Claire could tell she was putting extra force behind her wings as she paddled them forward. She was using her feet with more energy as well, and Claire felt the ride become bumpier and bumpier.

As they got closer to the northern bank of the river, more of the pink clouds were spreading across the sky and the wind was beginning to pick up. The dragon was now swimming as hard as she could as waves crashed against her body. Claire tried to ask Josef and Zack what it was all about, but with the noise of the water rushing past them it was too difficult for her to understand any details.

The rain started far enough down the river from them that they didn't notice it at first. Soon enough, they could see the tiny splashes on the surface coming closer and closer. Claire saw that the drops were almost yellow in color. She looked up at Josef who was nervously looking at the river dragon who also seemed to have an instinctive fear of the rain. She put her head down and started swimming faster than she had at any point on the ride.

They reached land just in time and Josef sent Zack and Claire running for cover under the first tree they could find. He hung behind in order to quickly send the dragon on her way, but as he did, he felt drops begin to fall on his head. He and the dragon shared a look of fear, hers was almost human in its realization that he had risked his life to see her safely back into the water.

"What's going on?" Claire asked Zack once they were safe under the shelter of the tree.

"It's poison rain," Zack explained. "When they tore down the Garden to build Capital City, it messed up the ecosystem. This happens every so often now. He better hurry up and get under here," he said and then shouted out for Josef.

Back at the banks of the river, the rain had not yet begun to fall in full force, but Josef knew the damage had been done. He hugged the river dragon around its long neck and held the embrace for longer than Zack thought was typical for him. When he let go, the dragon bowed her head and swam down into the water. She knew she would be okay, that she was a large enough animal that the small amount of rain that had fallen on her was not enough to hurt her too badly. Josef, however, took a deep breath, then turned to run toward the shelter of the tree and his friends.