Outcasts of Aquila (Aquila's Originals 2)

Chapter 18: Worries, Part 2

 "WHERE'S RHIDDYL? DOES anyone know?" Back in their shared room, Taryn and Orla headed straight for the damaged window overlooking the lake. The other three joined them pensively.

"There's been no sign of her," Vhen said, feeling like a failure for not knowing where his dragon was and for not even noticing when she had needed their help. He'd been sleeping, utterly unaware that his friends had yet to return to their room, knowing nothing of what had been happening on the lakeshore. Until the lightning shattered half their windowpanes, filling their room with glass and the after-echoes of an explosion.

"What happened to you all anyway?" Caelo asked, while Vhen ran his fingers across the wooden boards he and Zett had hammered into place to keep the worst of the drafts out. It was mostly the central section of the window that had smashed, with a few cracked panes still clinging near the top. The bottom quarter and the panels at the edges remained in tact, letting in light and letting them view the silent lake below.

It looked harmless this morning, if uninvitingly grey, reflecting the clouds above; iron dark and gravid with yet more snow to come. Little rafts of ice had collected around the edge of the falls, but as yet the water flowed freely. There was nothing on the surface to hint of the dramas concealed within its hidden depths.

Vhen picked at a few glass fragments still embedded in the boarded up frames, listening to Taryn's tale with a frown. Thirty-four people shouldn't vanish just like that, even in Aquila's lake. Perhaps it would have been possible with the old river and falls, but the new falls were weak by comparison, more akin to a badly-built dam spilling excess water over the top than a roaring wall of water. It would have been hard for one body to wash over it without being noticed, let alone thirty-four. And yet no bodies had been recovered either. Not a single one. All thirty-four had disappeared without trace.

Rhiddyl was the same. No matter what shape she had been in when she'd hit the water and set off her impressive explosion, something should have washed up, feathers, scales, something. But there was nothing.

No sign of the people, no sign of the dragon, and definitely no sign of the monster that had lured them all to... whatever this was. Were they dead? It was the obvious conclusion to draw, but Vhen remembered his own lake encounter, when a thick frond of weed had wrapped around his face and helped him to breathe. It might not be the same monster, since one had wielded lashing weed fronds and the other had lashed about with muscular tentacles, but what if it was? What if the monster was capable of keeping its captives alive? What if instead of dredging the waters for sunken bodies they should instead be launching a rescue mission?

What if Rhiddyl was alive and needed help?

And what if she wasn't? What if Rhiddyl was dead, blown to destruction by her own final, fatal rescue attempt?

Vhen didn't like that option, so he didn't think about it. Although the alternative was hardly any better. How was he supposed to rescue his dragon when he didn't have the slightest idea where she might be?

"Oh, it's so typical of Dhori to have left us at a time like this." Caelo stomped around the room, cursing and shaking her fist at the sky. Which might not have been useful in the general scheme of things, but it did draw their brooding attention from the grey lake and make most of them smile a little.

"I don't think even Dhori could help us with this," Taryn said, flopping onto her bed with a weary sigh. "He wasn't much use the first time."

"Or with Healer Morri's problem," Orla added, rubbing her head and wincing as she brushed her impressive forehead bump. "We're all equally in the dark."

"Morri?" Caelo paused, frowning as if she'd forgotten who that was. "Ha, Morri!" She clapped her hands. "That's it, that's what we need. Orla, you're a genius."

The redhead pounced on the Ihran, planted a smacking kiss on her cheek before she could dodge and bounced out of the door.

Vhen looked at the others, who seemed equally baffled.

"She'll be back when she realises none of us have followed her," Zett said.

True enough. Vhen hardly had time to lean against the wall before the door flew open again.

"What are you all doing?" Caelo demanded. "Come on, no time to waste. We have to go."

"Go where?" Vhen asked.

"To fetch Morri back," Caelo said impatiently, rolling her eyes as if the answer was obvious and he was too dim-witted to bother with.

"But he's sleeping," Orla pointed out. "He hasn't woken in months. Healer Haelle is doing all she can to keep him alive, but there's nothing else to be done. That's why Gedanon came back to teach us, while Destevon and Derneon alternate in helping her. They would have moved him themselves if it could be done, for convenience as much as anything."

Caelo waved a dismissive hand. "I'll sort him out. They should have asked me sooner. Now come on!" She vanished out of the door again.

Vhen looked at Zett, who was rubbing his head. "She means it," the Havian said. "We'd best follow along. Saves the nagging and arguments for later."

Vhen snorted and pushed off the wall, while Taryn and Orla dragged themselves reluctantly off their beds. "I don't think Caelo's running so low on either of those things to ration any for later. There's always plenty to go round."

"Will you lot hurry up?" Caelo's voice drifted back through the open door, proving both boys right in different ways. "You're slower than adders after a late-spring freeze."

Vhen rolled his eyes and fell in at the back as his friends left their room, surrendering to the irresistible pull of Caelo's incessant will.