Armies of the Dragon (Book 2 after Warriors of the Dragon)

Through the Portal

Their pace was fast, but the island seemed to be fighting them on the way to the western edge and a storm brewed before it poured on them from dark blue skies. Sephira was relieved to have the clouds cover the sun and give her and her dragon a break from looking at an overly bright sky. Sephira worried about where they would land. She hated herself for losing her mask. If anybody found it, most Duvendis would know that it was hers and maybe the rest would mistake it for her father's.

They flew straight into the storm behind the Duvendis and Dawn and Craven. The rain pelted down on Nuka's sensitive face and he found that he had to hold his arm up for relief. The dragons didn't seem to mind and the Earth dragons flew with their mouths open to gather as much as they could while they flew.

Sorin's eyes narrowed as they reached a gigantic stone archway built high above the beach. It was made of pristine white sandstone and seemed cut with unbelievable precision. Oryx dipped to afford her and her rider a better view through the mysterious arch, but inside was only a view of the ocean beyond with the wind roiling the waves that crashed ashore. Dawn and Leuthil made eye contact as Sephira determinedly directed Caius straight to the arch. She only hesitated when she saw a flash of light for a second through the arch. Her heart was pounding in her chest and the wind and rain blew back her blond hair reminding her of her lost mask. She inhaled as Caius pierced the invisible veil of the portal and the sun flooded over her and her pitch black dragon. The dryness of the air practically choked her and the rainwater immediately began to evaporate from their skin. Her eyes took a long time to adjust to the bright light and the first thing she saw when she looked back was the shock and recognition on her companions' stark faces. Their dragons were dark against the washed-out sand and the pale blue sky. Hopelessness and fatigue seemed to settle over them as the noon sun zapped them of their energy and baked their skin.

Sephira wasted little time before landing. She knew they'd end up flying in circles if they didn't wait for the sun to start setting to navigate.

"We should build shelter." Sephira frowned as she started pulling her tent off Caius.

"Why are we stopping?" Markus boomed, directing his question at Sephira before turning his unanswered question on Dawn who had begun helping Malina remove her tent from Desoto.

"We can't travel during the hottest portion of the day! We don't even know which direction we're going!" Rauka answered Markus with a frown as she looked at Cerberus' back which both lacked a tent and half her pack had been washed away when they were ship wrecked. She only had her saddle, reigns, and a few odds and ends like her water bladder and some clothes. Caius started digging as soon as Sephira had removed her tent and pack from his back. Oryx just looked on as the giant feline dragon dug his sharp black claws into the loose dry sand and raked it back. Turrock followed Caius' example and the naiad dragons started sinking their bodies into the sand as well to escape the heat of the sun.

"We don't all have tents." Isolde frowned, with her bare arm shading her eyes as she watched the Duvendis stab their tentpoles into the ground a good distance from each other.

"We'll have to share." Craven shrugged, pausing when he noticed Sephira placing her tent poles further from each other. He watched and waited to see what she was up to when she started connecting the edge of her striped deerskin tent to the tip of the pole. She was setting it up like a canopy and not a tent and Sorin had done the same with his without even looking at her, as if he could hear her thoughts.

"That's a good idea." Rauka murmured, before she began to help Craven make a canopy with his tent as well.

Isolde and Markus found themselves gathered under Craven's canopy tent with Rauka while most of the dragons had made holes in the sand to lay in and the naiad had built one tent that they disappeared into to sleep.