Journey to Rainbow Island (4 page)

T
HE DARKNESS CAME QUICKLY
.

The children of Rainbow Island, along with all the animals, were asleep. This would not have been unusual, for children and animals tend to sleep when they are tired. Particularly when the night is still, the moon a silver sliver in the southern sky, and a soft breeze blows gently from the east. That night was such a night. But this darkness—this sleep—was not normal. In fact, it was unnatural. That is to say, the evil presence that brought the darkness cast it off of itself like a sinister cloak. Whatever and whoever came in contact with the cloak fell even further into slumber. A deep, dark, dreamless sleep.

All were asleep, that is, except Romeo, Yu-ning's most trusted friend. Romeo could not stop thinking of his dark visions, and as much as he wanted to sleep, he couldn't. He tried counting pink dolphins jumping out of the sea, but even
that didn't work. Finally, exhaustion overtook him and he nodded off.

Four hours later Romeo woke with a start. Something was not right. He bounded off the oversized chair upon which he had been sleeping and headed for the entrance of the cave. As he exited the small cavern, he knew for sure that something was wrong. It wasn't a sense of strong alarm—just a gnawing twinge of danger.

It was very late—well past midnight—and the slice of moon was beginning to set on the horizon. And the darkness—it was a darker dark, a deep, frightening darkness. “What is the source of this strange darkness?” Romeo asked himself as he made his way down the path toward the beach.

And then he saw the creature.

It stood at least fifteen feet tall, its wings flapping slowly as it hovered just a few feet from the ground. There, an inky silhouette against the white of the sandy beach, was what looked like an obsidigon. But could it be? They were said to be extinct—erased from the world decades ago. Its body, wings, talons, and head were angular, shining, scaled, and very black. Except for its eyes. They were a jaundiced shade of pale yellow. “This is what I saw in my dream,” Romeo whispered to himself.

The obsidigon searched the beach, making sure it was not being observed. As its yellow eyes scanned the village and surrounding cliffs, Romeo ducked behind a large tree next to the path. The obsidigon—if that's what it was—began to move down the beach, searching for something. But what?

As the dragon reached the end of the shore, it ascended the cliff, heading toward Rainbow Meadow, the most sacred
place on the Island. Realization hit Romeo—the dragon planned to steal the crystals!

Romeo moved with stealth up the path, keeping the dark animal in his sight. He crested the cliff that spilled down into the Sacred Meadow where the Seven Sacred Crystals were located and stopped in his tracks. The large golden stone upon which were set the Seven Sacred Crystals was directly before the dragon. Romeo watched in horror as the obsidigon brought down its huge wing, shattering the protective glass covering the seven stones. The obsidigon breathed fire, swooped up the seven crystals, and flapped its wings, ready to make its departure.

The loud crash awakened many of the children and teachers of the village, who emerged from their homes to investigate. Yu-ning awoke too and sensed danger. She retrieved her bow and quiver of arrows, which were never far from her reach. Though the Rainbow School taught the children to pursue peace and harmony with all creatures, each student was allowed to pursue a martial art. From an early age Yu-ning had exhibited a true talent for the bow.

A crowd formed along the path above the village and moved swiftly toward the crest of the cliff. Romeo appeared on the path above, an orange glow growing above the meadow behind him. “It's a dragon! A dragon has taken the sacred crystals!” he screamed. All froze in their tracks as the giant dragon appeared above, flying low and hard in their direction. A huge ball of fire erupted from its horrible jaws—Metatron stepped in front of the crowd and planted his staff firmly in the ground before him. The fireball smashed into his staff, sending sparks and flame away from the children.

“Run, everyone, back to your homes!” yelled the wizard. Yu-ning emerged, standing next to Metatron, who advanced toward the dark dragon hovering just ahead. The creature flew at Metatron, swept its wing low, and knocked the wizard off his feet. Yu-ning nocked an arrow and let it fly. The arrow hit the dragon dead center between the eyes, but skittered off the obsidian scales and fell harmlessly to the ground.

The terrible creature opened its massive jaws and spewed fire directly at Yu-ning. She dove from the path, but not quickly enough: the edge of the fireball hit her left shoulder, sending searing pain up and down her arm. Yu-ning screamed in agony as she fell into deep grass next to the path, out of the dragon's sight. She tumbled hard down the grassy cliff and landed near the edge of the beach, wounded and semiconscious.

Many of the children and instructors armed themselves with rocks and long sticks. Even Magic heaved a pebble and hit the obsidigon above one eye, causing it to flinch. Leading the charge was Romeo, ahead of the crowd by a dozen steps. The dragon descended on the unsuspecting boy as its talons grabbed hold of Romeo and carried him off the ground. As he rose higher and higher, he could only watch in despair as the dragon sent fireball after fireball upon the scattering villagers below, whose homes were now engulfed in flames.

The creature kept an iron grip on the seven crystals in one talon and Romeo in the other, as the flames engulfing Rainbow Village grew smaller and smaller. As the dragon flew ever farther away, the fires became orange dots in a sea of blackness. Romeo strained to keep his eye on the flames as the orange dots became a single speck that disappeared as the obsidigon headed eastward.

T
HE MORNING DAWNED BLEAK AND STORMY
on Rainbow Island, rain falling hard amidst flashes of lightning and thunder. The rain had started shortly after the attack of the obsidigon, sparing the village from total destruction. Even with the rains, the fires had caused massive damage; nearly half the village was either completely or partially burned. Smoke and cinder replaced the idyllic peace of just the day before.

Because the Island had never before experienced war or violence, its small medical clinic was ill equipped to handle all the wounded from the night before. All told, one of the teachers died, and three were severely wounded, including Yu-ning's master Metatron. Eleven children had been injured, some seriously. To make room for more wounded, they converted the main hall of the Rainbow School into a temporary hospital. This is where Cristobel, Yu-ning's archery instructor, was headed, to check on Yu-ning and the other children.

Cristobel had come to Rainbow Island as a child and was taught the art of the bow by her master teacher. She was tall, thin, and athletic, with lovely round eyes of deep brown to match her long hair, which she normally kept in beautiful braids. She was the best archer on the Island, and taught her students to only use a bow and arrow in self-defense, never in anger.

Cristobel walked quietly into the school hall, which at first she did not recognize. The main hall she knew was a colorful, airy room, with floor-to-ceiling white curtains, three sets of French doors on each wall, and lovely mahogany benches. But all of the hand-carved school furniture that normally adorned the room had been removed, and cots occupied most of the large space. Cristobel walked from bed to bed, visiting her pupils and her adult colleagues. Metatron was sleeping heavily, the Island's doctor standing near his bed.

“How is he, Doctor?” inquired Cristobel.

“He has suffered a severe blow to the head, and there is swelling. I won't know the extent of the damage until the swelling around his brain subsides. Until then, all we can do is keep him comfortable. He also suffered burns on his legs and torso.”

“Thank you for all you are doing,” added Cristobel as she moved on, visiting each of the cots down the row. At the end she saw Yu-ning's cot, and what she saw brought tears to her eyes. Yu-ning's face was swollen and bruised, and her left arm and shoulder were wrapped in bandages containing healing herbs and balm. She was asleep, but tossing fitfully in her cot.

The doctor joined Cristobel at Yu-ning's bedside and inspected the skin under her bandages. “The bruising is superficial, but the burns she sustained on her arm and
shoulder are deep, and we need to make sure they don't become infected. She will make a full recovery, but this dark day will always remain with her in the form of her scars. All in all, she was fortunate. It could have been much worse.” The doctor placed a reassuring hand on Cristobel's shoulder as he moved away to attend to some of the other children.

Cristobel placed her staff next to Yu-ning's bedside and sat beside her. She brushed the hair gently away from Yu-ning's face, which caused Yu-ning to shift in her bed and slowly open her eyes. “Cristobel . . . what is going on?”

“Do you not remember last night, Yu-ning? The dragon?”

Yu-ning didn't say a word, but sudden tears appeared in her eyes as she remembered the terrible events of the night before—and the abduction of Romeo. “I couldn't help Romeo, Cristobel. I was knocked down and was trying to get up to warn him to move off the path, but it was too late . . .”

“There is nothing you could have done, dear one. The dragon was too strong, and we had no way to defend ourselves,” said the teacher.

“Metatron. How is my master?”

“He is unconscious right now, Yu-ning. The doctor has given him an herbal sedative to help him sleep, and his brain is still swollen. The next twenty-four hours are critical. We must hope and pray that the swelling subsides and that there is no permanent damage.”

Yu-ning did not say anything else but shifted in the bed, her back now to Cristobel. The little girl reached her free hand over her shoulder, and Cristobel took ahold of it. The instructor sat quietly holding her hand until Yu-ning finally drifted off to sleep.

Yu-ning slept off and on for two days. She dreamt she was in a stone tower on a high mountain. She was caretaker of the tower, and for days upon days it rained. Try as she might, the rain kept seeping under the stones and through the roof, and no matter what she did, she could not stop the water from seeping into the tower's inner chambers. She used blankets and mops and buckets to soak up the water, but she had no place to dump the water, except out of the stone windows. But every time she threw a bucket of water out the window, it would end up trickling back down toward the base of the structure and begin seeping back in.

Finally the grey clouds covering Rainbow Island began to break, and the rainstorm blew itself out to sea. After three long days of torrential rains, the sun reappeared. But instead of bringing joy to the Island, it had the opposite effect: for the first time, the Islanders fully understood what the loss of the sacred crystals meant. There was no rainbow. And with the disappearance of the sacred rainbow came a strange, melancholy light. Not the kind of light that brings a smile to a child's face—a grey, brooding light. It was as if the Island itself were mourning the loss of the great rainbow.

Slowly, the bruising around Yu-ning's eyes and nose began to heal, and the swelling subsided. The bruises, though smaller, were nasty shades of purple and blue. And though her face did not pain her, the burns on her left arm and shoulder did. Even the strong herbal tea the doctor gave her only took the edge off the pain.

On the fifth day after the attack, Cristobel came to visit Yu-ning. “The doctor says it's fine for you to begin walking—that the exercise and fresh air will do you good. Plus, there
is someone who could benefit from seeing that crooked smile of yours.”

Yu-ning's legs were shaky but in good working order. Her arm was bandaged and wrapped in a sling. She walked gingerly around the makeshift hospital, using Cristobel for support. They made their way to Metatron's bedside, and Yu-ning was heartened to see him awake and alert.