Chapter Thirty Nine
We stood there, watching the sun rise far above the horizon. We sat on the meadow above the cliffside, overlooking the vast flatland and the pyramid that enclosed Efaque city.
After a period of silence, Ellie spoke up. “Let’s go.”
“Which way?”
Ellie shrugged. “Have no clue. But I know someone who might.”
She instantly began walking into the forest at the edge of the meadow. I followed her, taking in the crisp morning air through my nose and out my mouth. The purple light given off from the sky serpents was beginning to fade with the overpowering light of the sun.
Underneath the thick canopy of saplings, the undergrowth was bathed in a light blue hue given off from the lanterns above. It didn’t take me long to realize where we were going. The large base of one of those marble columns suggested it.
Ellie and I approached it, the ground immediately becoming hard with mosaic marble. We were at the center of something like an outside temple – six glowing columns surrounding us in a perfect circle. The mosaic tiles beneath my feet depicted an image of a purple dragon, it’s eyes fierce and green like an emerald.
“What is this place?” I asked.
Ellie looked around. “Seremon should be here.”
“Who?”
“Remember? I told you about him? About that guy who came in direct contact with a sky serpent? He even rode one I think . . . Anyways, he’s pretty much an outcast, and he normally comes here to summon the sky serpent he had first met.”
“. . . and you believe him?”
Ellie gave me a cross look. “There’s a reason why I brought you here, Darrel,” she said sarcastically. “I used to meet him when I was out hunting . . . and the way he explained things with such fluency and the way he looked at me . . . he couldn’t have been lying.”
I shrugged. “Have you ever seen him summon a sky serpent at all?’
Ellie hesitated. “Well . . . not really. But once you’ll meet him, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.” She looked around. “If you meet him, that is.”
After waiting for little over twenty minutes, I complained, “Ellie, we don’t have time to be lying around! I have to wake up in two days! Plus, I want to put as much distance between Efaque City and us as possible.”
“Just hold on a little longer.” Ellie bit her nails. “Gosh, I can’t believe he isn’t here yet.”
“Maybe he’s not coming?”
“No,” Ellie didn’t even miss a beat. “He told me that he always comes here.”
“Well, maybe he didn’t come today after Sarrol’s death? I mean, it’s obvious that the hunters and gatherers aren’t working today. Otherwise, we would’ve seen them leaving the Tärkein long ago. They were probably given a day off in respect to Sarrol like when Recaro had been killed.”
Ellie looked up at me as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her. Instead, she only said, “How ironic.”
I looked down. “Maybe . . . I don’t know. I guess –”
