Shadows of the Realm (The Circle of Talia) (28 page)

As they rode toward their destination, the sky lightened. The stars winked out one by one, early morning light wiping them away as the sun alighted on the snow-capped mountain-tops. Arie marveled at the glowing snow, a rose-hued petal gently resting atop stark, craggy peaks. Arie admired the impressive landscape.  This was a scene he never wanted to forget. The young boy was happy to feel small and insignificant against such a wonder of nature.

Agmunsten allowed them a short stop for lunch. As Arie munched on a piece of dried beef, he watched two dark shapes floating and gliding on the thermals high above the mountain tops. “Are they dragons?”

Agmunsten nodded. 

“They’re smaller than I thought.”

“
Smaller? How big did you think they’d be?”

“
A lot bigger than you and I put together.”

“
They are, lad. They only appear so small because they’re extremely far away.”

“
Well dah, I know that.”

“
I don’t think you realise how high up they are. Trust me; you’ll be scared enough by their size when one is standing next to you.”

“
Hmm, they don’t look all that scary to me.”

Agmunsten chose not to reply. He remembered what a shock he’d gotten the first time he’d met one. In fact, the first dragon he
’d met was King Valdorryn, Zim’s father. Agmunsten had been twenty-five years old and newly inducted as a realmist. His mentor at the time, a rather pleasant old man named Fernsten, had been aware of the importance of keeping up good relations between the realmists and dragons. When Fernsten died, one hundred years ago, Agmunsten had taken his place as Head Realmist. 

Agmunsten had almost fainted when he had been introduced to the King of Dragons. It was not just the elephantine size of the creatures. They had a particular skill of making their eyes fierce and cold, with a subtle lifting of black lips to expose just a hint of the ivory sharpness within a mouth big enough to contain half a grown man with little effort. Agmunsten had since learned it was all for show, generally used when a dragon was meeting a person for the first time. He shared a knowledgeable smile with king Edmund; both men looked forward to Arie
’s reaction when he finally met one of the great creatures.

Edmund happily anticipated seeing his fellow monarch after a number of years. He had always like Valdorryn. The dragon king was relatively down-to-earth, for a dragon. He was a good-hearted creature who loved to laugh, and Edmund couldn’t help but feel they should have kept in touch more often. Unfortunately they only seemed to see each other when some crisis or other surfaced; this was no exception. A familiar tension crept into his shoulders, climbing, to seize the muscles in his neck. He was afraid of what Agmunsten was going to tell them. He had not been given the full story from the start. King Edmund also knew that, although what he had concocted to fill in the blanks was rather unpleasant, the truth would be even worse. He felt a headache coming on.

The afternoon passed quickly. Arie had given up craning his neck trying to look at the impossibly high mountains. When they reached the northeastern most point of the Dragon Alps, Agmunsten turned his horse to the south. He expected to find the river entry in an hour or two. “I don’t have to tell you to behave yourself with the dragons.”

“
No, sir. When have I ever not behaved myself?”

“
Well, there was the time that Lady Eugenie Thirslyn the Second visited the Academy.” Agmunsten twirled his beard end between long fingers. “And then there was the time…”

“
All right, all right, you don’t have to go ruining my reputation in front of ‘father’ do you?” Arie grinned at Edmund, who shook his head and smiled.

“
If I had a son I’m sure I would want him to be just like you.” Arie puffed up at the compliment. The King of Veresia thought Arie, a nobody from a small village, was good enough to be his son, a prince no less.

“
Don’t go getting ahead of yourself, lad. You’re my apprentice, and I can guarantee you won’t be a prince any time soon.”

“
You always ruin my fun.” Arie glared at Agmunsten’s back.

“
Good. It means I’m doing my job.”

The trio continued in silence until Agmunsten called a halt on the banks of the Vallas River. Arie looked upstream. The river was quite wide further up, but narrowed abruptly a few metres from where they were standing. The change in width forced the water to suddenly race toward the Dragon Alps. Arie estimated they were about two hundred metres from the base of the mountains. He was surprised to see that where the river and mountains met, there was a large cave into which water sped. It rushed over rounded boulders, smoothed by thousands of years of ceaseless flow.

Arie dismounted and lay on the pebbly bank. He reached his arm over the edge, but it wasn’t long enough to reach the water.

“
What are you doing, lad?”

“
I want to feel how cold the water is.”

“
Of course. I should have known. In the meantime you’re dirtying your clothes. Please get up, Arie; you’re getting too old to satisfy childish whims whenever they present themselves. You look silly.” Arie stood up and brushed himself down.

“
There you go again.”

“
What?”

“
Spoiling my fun.”

“
We’re not here to have fun. A dragon will be here soon to escort us into Vellonia, and I don’t want him, or her, thinking I have a half-wit for an apprentice.”

Arie crossed his arms in front of his narrow chest.
“Next time you have somewhere to go, you can leave me behind. I don’t think I like you anymore.” His nose pointed in the air as he glared at Agmunsten.

“
Oh for goodness sake, boy, get over it.” Agmunsten shook his head. Why did children have to be so damn, well, childish? Agmunsten realised how ridiculous he sounded and laughed. “Sorry, Arie. Seems I’ve forgotten that we should have a little fun along the way.”

“
Hmm, OK then. Apology accepted.” Arie was a forgiving person and Agmunsten had never known him to hold a grudge. Agmunsten didn’t see himself as a particularly hard taskmaster; however, he could recall numerous occasions when he had made a student cry.

“
Arie?”

“
Yes, Father.”

Edmund smiled, he had quite enjoyed the boy
’s company.

“
I just wanted to prepare you for when you meet the dragons. Not only are they imposing creatures, they have a love for formality and drama. Go along with the show and try to be just as formal as they are. I promise you, they will appreciate it.”

“
OK.” Arie thought the request was reasonable, especially since they were to be guests at Vellonia.

“
How are we actually getting in? The river looks a bit dangerous.”

“
I’ll have to let Agmunsten fill you in on that one. I’ve only been here twice before. Each time the dragons blindfolded me at this point.”

“Why would they do that?”

Agmunsten answered, “For security reasons they like to keep everyone guessing about Vellonia’s inner workings. I also suspect it’s more fearsome to embark on a mysterious journey blinded. A dragon will come and greet us, we’ll then be put into a flat-bottomed boat and strapped in around the waist so no one falls out. It can get rather rough.”

“
You mean we have to go into the cave, through that, in a boat!” Arie pointed at the jagged-edged entry through which the water rushed. Agmunsten nodded. “That’s crazy. We’ll be smashed on the rocks. We’ll drown.” Although Arie could swim, he didn’t like his chances against the tumultuous waters, which bounced off numerous rocks before being swallowed up by the black-as-pitch cave mouth.

“
Nothing will happen. The dragons are our friends; you have to trust them.” Arie shook his head.

“
Just in case, I’ll say goodbye to both of you now. It’s been an honour to have been included in this journey; I guess I’ve done a lot for my age. I’ve lived a full life and I got to meet the king. Not many my age can say that. I’ll see you in the next Realm.” Arie hugged both men and then his horse. Edmund and Agmunsten tried to hide their laughter.

“
Oh the dragons are going to love you.” Edmund affectionately ruffled the youth’s hair. Agmunsten stopped laughing and looked up at the sky. His companions followed his lead to see what had distracted him. A large, black shape glided in semi-circles, falling lower and lower.  Arie couldn’t believe the wing-span. It was wider than a house. His mouth fell open. A shadow fell over the trio, the sun eclipsed by the ebony dragon. A rush of air buffeted the humans as Zim alighted between them and the cave. Arie looked up at Zim’s face, which was at least as high as The Academy’s two story buildings.

Arie watched as Zim subtly inclined his enormous head. He was astounded at the beast’s gentleness. Edmund and Agmunsten bowed with great respect, and Arie thought he should do the same.

“Welcome my friends. It is an honour to accept your presence.”

“
I think we can cut the cow’s dung. We’re too old for that now. It’s good to see you.” To Arie’s surprise, Agmunsten walked to the dragon and caressed the broad, scaly nose, which was half the size of the realmist himself.  Zim almost purred with pleasure.

Arie, although in awe, walked tentatively up to the dragon. He looked into green eyes that were the size of his own head. 

“Allow me to introduce my student, Arie.”

“
Pleased to meet you Arie. My name is Zimapholous Accorterroza, son of the king and queen of Vellonia. Have you had a good journey?” Zim’s smooth, deep voice enveloped Arie like a warm pool of water. Arie couldn’t believe the dragon prince wanted to know something as mundane as how their trip had been.

“
It was as good as I could have expected, Sir, except I wasn’t allowed to have much fun along the way.” Agmunsten raised his eyebrows in warning.

“
Well, young Arie, I do hope that your stay within my beloved Vellonia will compensate.” Zim handed them all blindfolds. Agmunsten knew the drill and led the others to the river’s edge. Miraculously, a wide timber boat waited for them. Its polished, dark timber surface reflected the water, the sky, the rocks. Arie had never seen anything so beautifully crafted. He had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t imagining things when he noticed the craft was hovering just above the surface of the river, water crashing dangerously centimetres below.

Agmunsten stepped down into the vessel, which remained two steps below the level of the river bank. He couldn’t count the times he had done this; always the same routine, although, thankfully, Zim had kept the formalities to a minimum this time. Agmunsten sat on the front bench seat, indicating Arie should sit in the middle of the boat, with Edmund to the rear. Leather straps floated from under each seat and fastened themselves around each waist. This surprised Arie once again. He knew there were things that could be done in this world that he had never imagined, but it was never the same as seeing something amazing occur. His elders already had their blindfolds on so the boy hurriedly tied his on tight.

The boat gently glided forward, accelerating as it went. “See you soon.” Zim’s voice followed them into the abrupt coolness of the cave. Arie’s heart beat quickly. He wasn’t sure if he was having fun or if he was scared. The vessel increased speed, air rushing past Arie’s hair, musty cave odour filling his nostrils. The boat jolted, speeding up yet again. Arie’s stomach was left behind and he shouted in delight. “This is fun!” His words rushed away so quickly, King Edmund had a hard time working out what the boy had said.

The straps holding them in place were tested as the boat turned sharply to the right. Arie felt the belt cutting into his side. He wasn
’t sure how it was possible, but the vessel continued to travel faster, always in a circular direction. Arie could feel them dropping as they speedily circled. The fear returned. The only thing keeping him from panic was the promise from Agmunsten that the dragons would never hurt them. What if the dragons had no control over this entry system? What if it was all left to chance? He wondered how many guests had actually survived to reach Vellonia.

The spiralling ended with the boat being dropped a few metres to land with a heavy splash. Arie felt like he was in an egg, which had been laid by a tree-dwelling chicken. He counted the seconds as they fell. The boat, having lost its reckless speed, glided gently toward their destination. The trio took this time to take a breath and flex each limb, ensuring no damage had been done.
“I’ll never get used to that. Is everyone alright?” 

Edmund and Arie responded favourably to Agmunsten
’s question. 

“
Good.”

“
Are we almost there?”

“
Probably. It’s different every time. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes not.”

“
Oh, strange. I wonder how it works?”

“
Hmm. Seems like I have taught you something. It’s important to question everything; you’ll learn more that way.”