Hidden Wings

Chapter 4

   Maria closed her eyes briefly, feeling the wind rushing around her. I'll never have this when I get back. she thought. Humans can't fly.
  Spry drifted up on her left, beating his wings lazily with effortless ease. "How are you doing?" he asked her, speaking above the wind.
  Maria shrugged. She would never admit it, but her muscles ached with each wingbeat, and all she really wanted to do was rest. They had been flying for Pike's Peak, or, as the dragons called it, Blue Mountian, since daybreak. It was near noon, and non-stop flying was tough on Maria's new wings.
  Spry seemed to read her mind. "We're almost there. It won't take much longer."
  Maria nodded, saving her breath for flying. They traveled for a few minutes in silence.
  "Here it is!" called Spryvern. He dipped and circled in a tight spiral downward. Maria mimicked his motions. After a few loops, the ground was close enough to land on.
  Maria folded her tired wings. They had touched down in the foothills of Blue Mountain, in the middle of a forest. The trees were mostly pine, so the ground was thickly carpeted with fallen needles. Maria glanced at Spry and realized how well he blended in with the vegetation. His green scales looked more than ever like moss on a stone.
  "So what did Nyphadora say to look for?" she asked. "Some kind if symbol?"
  Spry opened the satchel Ember had given him and withdrew a wrinkled piece of paper. He closed the bag and gestured to the emblem Nymphadora had sketched on the paper with charcoal. "We're looking for this, burned into a tree or something."
  Maria looked around. "And then?"
  "Anything out of the ordinary. Like, I don't know, a trail of pine cones."
  Maria rolled her eyes, smiling in spite of herself. "A trail of pine cones?"
  "I don't know!" Spry exclaimed, flustered. "It could be anything!"
  Maria laughed.
  "Oh, just look, will you?" Spry grumbled, stalking off to examine a fallen tree.
  Maria giggled. Annoying Spry was becoming one of her favorite pastimes.
  Still laughing, the small purple dragon meandered over toward a moss covered boulder. Nothing out of the ordinary. Maria was about to turn away when something caught her eye. She squatted down in the shade cast by the boulder and attempted to look under it. Her eyes had not deceived her. Long gouges had been carved by huge claws along the underside of the stone. Not fresh, but a little moss had grown back over the scratches. What could be strong enough to cut rock? Maria wondered. There was only one answer. A dragon.
  Frowning, she turned around to glanced at Spry, only to find he was not there. After a brief moment of panic, she located him. He had flown up to a branch in a tall alder tree and was making his way further out towards the tip of the limb. Uh-oh. Maria though. This isn't going to be good. Suddenly, the branch snapped, Spry yelped, and they both crashed down into a patch of sorrel.
  Maria shook her head and turned back to the boulder. Funny. She thought. One of the scratches looks almost like an arrow. The arrow-shaped gouge was pointed straight at her. Or maybe not at me, but behind me?
   Slowly, cautiously, Maria turned around. She gasped. "Spry," she breathed, barely loud enough for him to hear. "Stop playing in the dirt and come look at this."
   Spry snorted and mumbled something indignant. Maria barely heard him. The green dragon lept up beside her and finally saw what she saw. A beautiful symbol was etched into the light-colored wood of a pine tree right at Maria's eye level. It looked like an emerald with a series of runes all around it. As Maria gazed at it, it almost seemed to be moving or glowing, spinning and radiating some kind of sparkling aura. Spry seemed to be saying something, but his voice was muffled and muted. Maria doubted she would even see him if she turned her head, but she didn't want to do anything but keep looking at the strange hypnotic symbol. Ancient voices were speaking and chanting in a different language Maria didn't understand. The words grew louder and seemed pound the insides of her brain. Then something hit her hard on the head and she was lost in a torrent of darkness.

                                * * *
  Someone was shaking her. Maria groaned sleepily and rolled over. "Mom, it's summer. I haven't _got_ school."
  "Maria? Maria, wake up!" said a voice that was definitely not her mom. Maria lifted her heavy eyelids to see Spry's blurry, concerned face. "Ah!" Maria threw herself backward and crashed into a tree trunk. "Ow..."
  "Maria? Are... you okay?" Spryvern asked, standing up on his hind legs and cocking his head in a worried manner.
  "I'm fine," she mumbled, embarrassed. "What happened?"
  "I think you got hypnotized. The symbol is radiating magic, so staring at it for as long as you did is generally not a good idea."
  "No kidding." Maria snorted.
  "So I knocked you out. As gently as I could. Then I waited until you woke up."
  "How long was I asleep?"
  "Not long. I'd guess half an hour. While you were napping, I've been trying to figure out some of these runes." Spry grinned and waved his wing at the tree behind her.
  "Really?" Maria asked, impressed. "What do they say?"
  "Well, one says mountian, one says hills, another says jade, and one seems to say west."
  "Mountian and hills could be foothills, which is where we are now. I'm pretty sure Nymphadora said he was called the Jade Hermit, so that explains jade. Maybe we're supposed to go west the find him?"
  "Yeah! I bet that's it." Spry looked around.
  "West is toward the mountains." Maria reminded him.
  Spry snorted. "I knew that."

                                                                                          * * *

   A few hours and several emerald-symbols later, Maria and Spry came across a stone-lined path that ambled on in a somewhat straight line for a short distance and disappeared over a hill.
  "I guess this is it." Spry stepped onto the path. "Well, it's not magic if that's what you're wondering. This is just an ordinary path."
  "Okay," said Maria, trusting him. She set off at a manageable pace and Spry followed her, glancing around like he thought there were invisible enemies in every tree.
  After a short walk, the path ended abruptly and dumped them in front of an average sized cottage.
  "An old hermit built this?" Maria wondered aloud.
  "Well, my guess is that he wasn't as old at the time. Still, he would have been retired, so he must be a pretty strong dragon."
  Maria nodded. There was silence for a minute as neither of them moved. "Well, we should go knock."
  Spry nodded but didn't move.
  "Oh, for Pete's sake." Maria rolled her eyes and grabbed Spry's wrist, leading him firmly to the door. The door was made out if dark wood and carved with elaborate designs. She raised a fist and knocked. The sound seemed to echo.
   A second later, the door opened and revealed a tall, slim, turquoise dragon wearing a pair of glasses made of bent wire. His scales faded into milky white on his underbelly. He raised his eye-rides questioningly.
  "Hello," said Maria with more confidence than she felt. "Are you the Jade Hermit?"
  The dragon nodded once. "I am he." His voice reminded Maria of her librarian back at home. The dragon stepped to the side of the door and motioned with a papery green wing for them to come inside.
  Spry stepped in first, following the hermit's long, slender tail. The hall was wide enough for two dragons to walk side by side and it was lined with strange looking canvas paintings and drawings sketched on curling, yellowed paper. On the floor was a long woven rug with threads of purple, blue, red, and black. It was old, but soft on Maria's worn talons.
  The hall branched off to more rooms, but the hermit led them on. Eventually, it emptied out into a sort of living space. The walls were studded with bookcases, and there was not an empty space in one of them. Another carpet lay across the floor, this one woven in orange, scarlet, and gold. The turquoise dragon settled himself onto the rug, his body half-curled like a dog and his front talons crossed. "Now," he said, as Maria and Spry sat down across from him. "Why have you come?"
  Maria and Spry exchanged a look. "We need an audience with Her Majesty Queen Angelica," Spryvern explained. "But neither of us have a position of importance and we're not sure she'll humor us. A friend said that if we brought you to the palace with us, she would be sure to listen."
  "Oh?" said the hermit, raising his eye-rides.
  "Please, sir, it's very important." Maria insisted.
  "And what is this cause of yours?"
  Maria and Spry looked at each other again. Spry was the one who nodded, tell him. Maria took a deep breath. "I haven't always been a dragon."

                                                                                       * * *

  "Rest here," said the hermit, showing them to a comfortably furnished room with two beds and a nightstand. "And I'll think about what you have said." He nodded as the two smaller dragons entered the room, and left, closing the door softly.
  Spry flopped himself across one of the beds and let out a contented sigh. Maria walked over to the room's small window and gazed out.
  Well, there's a lovely view. If you really like staring at trees. Twin pines grew almost touching a few yards away from the window, and Maria could see a grove of aspens off in the distance. A bird fluttered by, and a small noise came through the glass.
   So it isn't completely soundproof after all. Maria pushed her snout up against the window and bonked her nose. She winced and turned her head sideways, so that one of her ears was pressed to the glass. Faint noises came through. Almost like voices. Maria backed away from the window and looked down at Spry, fast asleep on his bed. The only other dragon here is the hermit. Who is he talking to? Swiftly, she stood up and slipped out of the room.