Dragon Tide Chronicles: Dawn Rising

Chapter 5: Silent Sentinel

Chapter 5: Silent Sentinel

“Do we have any progress report, captain? I want to know where he went!” I bark to my unfortunate subordinates. I was in a terrible mood, mainly because I couldn’t figure out where he went. I swear anything else and I was going to- The lights in the room went out. All the people working eyed me, and hastily left the room, just as I threw my chair and yelled,

“OH COME ON!” This day was not going well. We couldn’t track him down anywhere along our coast. What was I going to do? “Excuse me, Danica? I think you should see this in the satellite room.”

I sigh. “I’ll be right there, private.” I walk, not too enthusiastically to the room, and ask, “What did you find?” In a not too interested manner. “This had better be interesting.”

“Oh it is, Danica. See this map of the ocean? Far out to sea, I detected islands that weren’t there before these incidents with that Alexander figure. By the way, we’ve also determined that he stole an artifact from the Feltatus National Archival Museum.”

I’m surprised. “What? Why would he do that? Which one are you talking about?”

“The one with all the different languages inscribed on it. The one we don’t know what it is.”

“Do you mean the Chronicle Stone?” I asked, worried. The Chronicle Stone is a mysterious stone that has MILLIONS of letters from all different languages on it. It’s impossible to read or make sense of it. We found it in some dragonling ruins, and we today, after about 15 years, have made no headway.

“The same. It appears that you may have been a secondary objective, and he was just creating enough distraction to allow the theft to go unnoticed until now. These islands may be where he came from, but because they’re so far out, he still may be traveling towards them. We’d best form a pursuit team and try to catch up.”

I nod. “Alright. Get a team ready. How long will it take?”

“A few hours, my lady.” He says in a bored monotone.

“Alright. I understand.” I sigh. “Might as well head home.” I thought to myself, Maybe I can relax a little before I have to go chase that jerk down. I want to know why he’s stolen that artifact, more importantly, why is he after me? What did I ever do to deserve that? With that, I returned home, and settled down on my bed. While I dreamt, I would constantly see a silhouette of Alexander somewhere. On dates with Drasmere, or just dreaming that I was sleeping. I had no explanation for it, and it kind of scared me. After several hours of fitful sleep, a knock on my door rang through the weak fogs of my dreams and brought me back to reality. “Yes? Who’s there?”

“My lady, if you will, we are ready for debriefing on the mission. We’re ready for you.”

“Hold on, I’ll be right there, cadet. Report back to the meeting room.” I say with slight excitement, for I finally will be getting something exciting to do, other then occasional military ops, but believe me, this was exciting.

“Yes my lady!” The cadet raced off, not wishing to disobey my orders in any way. That’s why I love leading the military. They learn to respect you, even if you are a princess. I groan, and straighten my hair. Once I’m satisfied with my appearance, I strap on my armor, and snatch the appropriate weaponry. I then hurry off to the meeting room.

“Alright everyone! Pay attention! This is a level 0 operation!” I bark sharply, and the room quiets down. “We will now plan Operation: Silent Sentinel. Our objective is simple. The capture of the General Alexander, he is to be captured alive. He probably has important information that we must discover, so we can be sure that his mission was not a ploy to kill important government officials by the Dragonlings. We need to accomplish this as soon as possible. Surprise is not likely to be on our side. Do you understand?”

“Yes Mam!” The squad yells. I smile.

            “Very good. We now commence the operations. Everyone, battle stations! Let’s take care of business!” With that, the squad leaves for the military garage. Now, dragonling, we’ll find out what your goals are, and more importantly, I’ll avenge Grampa. You’re not going to hurt my family, or me. Ever again. With these thoughts in mind, I enter the garage, and mount a Hover-cycle. “Let’s ride, everyone! On my mark! Three! Two! One! Let’s go!” At once, my squad races out of the garage and straight across the bay, and soon, the beautiful lights of Feltatus are becoming distant. With the sea spray sparkling like diamonds, and the hovercraft’s intense speed, it’s easy to become an adrenaline jockey. But my adrenaline was coming not from the thrill of the vehicle, but of the hunt. “You won’t get away now,” I growl in a low undertone.