Fate of Dragons

Chapter Twenty, Part II

The dragons arrived at the docks well before Derol, Amina, and Astrid arrived. A crowd had formed by the time they got there, clamoring for a view of the dragons — Torun and the two new arrivals, three in all.

As they neared the docks, Gypsy broke away from them and scrambled through the crowd. She wove through the onlookers' legs, and Derol could track her progress by following the trail of jostling heads.

Amina led the way, first skirting along the edges of the crowd, then forced to make her way through the thick of it as they approached the narrow dock leading to their fleet of boats. She stopped suddenly at the front edge of the crowd, and Derol soon discovered why. He came up alongside Amina and felt a solid wall before him, though he could see nothing. Astrid grunted as she bumped into it, and Gypsy now wiggled at Amina's feet, leaning against the invisible barrier.

Amina gestured to the sides of the docks and Derol's gaze followed. On each side of the dock, a wooden cup holding a collection of stones stood unobtrusively, tucked against the pilings. Derol frowned, then after a moment realized what he was seeing: a magic spell. The stones created the shield.

A splash next to him drew his gaze to the water, and he saw Gypsy paddling forward. The barrier did not extend over the water. Derol chuckled and shook his head, then grabbed Astrid's hand. She had moved closer to the edge of the dock to peer after Orrie.

"Well, that's one way to do it," said Amina, who was chuckling too.

They did not need to resort to such measures themselves, because just then Fenn came jogging toward them. He reached a hand out to Amina through the shield and pulled her through. It was as if no barrier had ever been there. Next, Fenn reached out to Astrid and Derol, and they walked through without a catch. The crowd around them murmured and jostled, but they were through before anyone could try to tag along.

"Isn't it amazing?" Fenn was smiling. "Anyone from this side of the shield can let someone through just by touching them. They use it when they're unloading valuable cargo, usually."

Derol had to agree that the spell seemed useful. They walked past their boats to the very end of the dock, where the dragons seemed to be in conversation with one another. Their three riders were gathered beneath their dragons in similar poses, as if they were small replicas of their larger counterparts. They turned toward Derol and Amina as they approached. Orema was smiling.

She waited until they came close enough for her to speak quietly. "You've brought the eggs," she said and gripped Amina's hand in both of hers.

"We've come this far," Amina said.

"Oh, don't be so serious," said Savanna, the other rider. She was smaller and more wiry than Orema, with a long blond braid running down her back. "That you've gotten the eggs out of Arethia at all is a miracle. It might just save us."

"Eventually," said Maira, who stood close to Torun.

Savanna sighed and rolled her eyes. Orema still smiled, but her expression had turned a bit more somber.

"Well, it's the first good news we've had in a long time," Orema said.

Amina cast a glance around the dock. The crowd still stared from the barrier, and only a handful of the crew were in sight.

"Will the dragons mind if we go inside to catch up?" Amina asked.

"Not at all," said Orema with a firm nod. "This one?" She gestured at the boat nearest them.

Amina nodded and they all filed into the boat and on into the living quarters they'd been occupying. Derol noticed that the riders, too, were impressed with the spaciousness of the cabin.