Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 60: Rytin Ikla

I got everything ready to leave, ate breakfast with the others, and went through the Tayna ceremony to recharge my alabri. Clarisa kept as far away from Tawny, Kuertis, and I as possible, though she did glare at me from time to time. After we ate, we set out again in the direction of the portal. It seemed to get colder as we went deeper into the desert. There were few plants and fewer animals, no doubt caused by the lack of liquid water.

It was like that for days. While we rode, we all separated into smaller groups to talk. Kuertis would ride between me and Tawny, though he talked mostly to me. Our conversation usually bored Leera so much that she would threaten to take me flying through the chilling air if I didn't talk to her about something more interesting instead. This forced Kuertis to talk to Tawny, who didn't seem put off at all by his somewhat obvious reluctance to do so.

The nights never got warmer, but having Leera's head heat the tent helped a little. We tried not to fight with each other as much as normal because neither of us could really storm off while we were so far out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by enemies. But when we got caught in a blizzard after several days of hard riding, she had some choice words to say.

[You couldn't have brought winter gear for dragons, could you?]

She and the other four-legged quest members had formed a wind block to keep the rest of us from freezing to death. All of us who could transform into furry creatures already had and were pressing in as close to our mounts as we could.

[They don't make cold weather gear for dragons,] I said, burying under her head. I had transformed into a white-furred fox but was still pretty cold.

She snorted and curled into a tighter ball around me. [Then they should have put the portal somewhere warmer.]

[I agree.]

There wasn't much more we could do but wait. The blizzard stopped eventually, and we all dug ourselves out of the snow that had piled up around our mounts. When the sky finally cleared, I saw the sea in the distance. Emerging from the ocean was an endless white wall that stretched into the sky.

 Tawny transformed back into a talme. Her teeth were chattering almost as much as mine. "It-it's the Gr-great world b-barrier."

I remembered when oh so long ago, I'd seen a drawing of the Great World Barrier in a textbook. It had been around for as long as anyone could remember and surrounded the entire continent. No one had managed to get past it, though many had tried.

"We are almost to the portal," Farot said. "It is on an island called Rytin Ikla. We will go now."

[I'm not swimming in that water,] Leera said.

"Are we going to swim?" I asked, trying not to grimace. There were literal ice chunks floating in the water. Swimming might just be the thing to kill me out here.

"We will fly. The cold desert ends soon after the coastline."

"Then let's go." I clambered up onto Leera's back. Even if it would still be cold because we were still in the north, it would have to be warmer than the cold desert if there was that much liquid water in the sea.

Everyone else seemed to share my sentiment, and we set out at full speed for the coast. Unfortunately, the coast was significantly farther away than it looked. It took over two hours to get there, and after a whole day of riding, even two hours were tough for us all. When we landed to give our mounts a break, Bylanna spoke out.

"We should rest before setting out."

"The island is not far. We must not wait. Every day, the war causes many to die." Farot spurred his katalni into the sky.