I am Dragon (Dragon Fires Rising Book 2) Marc Secchia (most read books .TXT) 📖

predator of Solixambria had certain instincts that most certainly did not include guzzling their best friends, all appearances to the contrary.

Meantime, he dived down to sea level. So strong was the gale now, it was becoming hard to distinguish between the water and the rain sheeting above it. Blasting water filled the whole world. He landed with a jolt and submerged.

Instant calm. By his wings!

There was nothing to see bar endless fields of blue, but the contrast shocked a tingle back into his weary wings. All was serene just a few tens of feet below the surface. Crazy. And he had been battling so long and so hard, for what?

Stretching out his body, Dragon began to rotate his wings in the new motion he had learned – the much longer, more languid yet more powerful motion of swimming. It strained different muscles and worked the joints in unfamiliar ways, but with a decent effort and concentration, he worked out how to add supporting thrusts of his webbed paws and even an undulation of the tail to which Wavewhisperer – supremely graceful in her native element – had introduced him. He surged through the water. Powerful. Agog. Savouring each and every novel sensation in a realm that was half of his heritage.

No, it did not feel like home. Not yet. Perhaps that would develop with familiarity, but the idea that popped into his head was of a long-overdue homecoming.

He would always be half and half. The new challenge he recognised now, just as Juggernaut had wisely noted, would be to reconcile his heritage. To become him – to know who that Dragon was and what he stood for.

Three nostril hairs and one scale to your right paw, Dragon, said the voice inside his mouth.

There’s a current pushing us as well, isn’t there? he guessed, making the correction.

Aye, the titbit tickling his tongue agreed. We’re getting quite well off course. We’ll need to fight to stay northerly enough, I suspect.

Alright. Keep calling the compass points.

In about ten minutes, he surfaced into howling waters and low, lashing waves, the Lumis Ocean churned up into a frenzy. Diving again, trying to keep the movements smooth, fluid, economical. Strange how close swimming was to flying. Thicker air, essentially.

He gathered his courage. No giving up. No rest. Not until I bring my Princess safe to shore.

Thinking aloud again?

This time, he heard a smile in her voice.

Chapter 23: Wave Dragonhome

SWIMMING FOR HOURS, THEY cut through storm and ocean, before picking up an unexpected current that swept them in a curve between the lowest talon and first island southeast of Wave Dragonhome. By this time, Dragon was so enervated that he could barely swish his wings in the water – but with the aid of this steady current, he did not need to. He lifted his muzzle out several times to peer blearily at the rocky shore they could not possibly reach as they swept past, heading more westerly now.

Was it dawn already? Where had the hours flown? It must be over nine hours since their last stop.

He must gather his strength. One more barrier loomed ahead. Wave Dragonhome stood atop a magnificent crag, a truly draconic perch from which to survey the world. He could not even see the tops of the cliffs in the storm, but they were every bit as majestic as some of the cliffs in his native Tamarine Mountains. Black and unrelentingly sheer for at least a mile until they vanished into the clouds; dashed by enormous waves at their base. White spray exploded forty and even fifty feet into the air, the dull booming having conducted through the water to their hearing for the last few miles. Jagged, toothy rocks waited like the grimmest of greeting committees.

They were being dragged toward another pummelling.

Absolutely no way, either, he could make that flight up the cliffs. Not in this weather. Not in his state.

Look for a crack or somewhere to make landfall! Dragon heard himself bellow.

Alright, alright, keep your scales on.

Princess Azania knelt in his jaw, searching avidly, having to shield her eyes from the driving rain and sea spray. Ah, Seaspray!

Princess, is that something … a crack?

Aye. Take us in easy. I’ve got the bearing – maybe a tiny beach? That’ll do. Submerge if you need to.

Good idea. Given how the tide ripped across the rocks, however, he had no illusions about whether the water or the air would be the easier route. Only, taking off right now? No. Instead, they rode the increasingly powerful surges of water as the ocean raced in to land, crashed upon the rocks, and then sucked back with a violent counter-tow. Underwater, white bubbles and froth filled his vision, but he soon became aware of the bottom shelving up. Nothing smooth about those rocks down there.

Maybe ride one of these brutal swells in? Keep the paws ready for kicking off the bottom, but use the ocean’s own power to glide over the worst of the danger?

Gathering his wings, he waited for a suitable wave. Thrust! Swim! Go, go!

Up and over they surged amidst a massive swell of white water. He could barely see, but he kept his wings moving and his paws scrabbling, taking them over the sharp-edged ranks of rocks in a mad scramble. Left paw! He lunged away from the cliff face, bellowing as something tore his flank and then his trailing tail. Smacking his knees to no end, he lurch-thrust-flopped over the final rank of stone teeth and landed flat on his face on the shore.

Uhh … not elegant …

Jaw, please.

Even that took an inordinate effort.

Dragon cracked open an eye as the Princess clambered stiffly out between his fangs. They had landed on a pocket-sized beach of pristine white sands, sheltered from the raging tempest by sheer cliffs.