Journey to Rainbow Island (38 page)

Suparna took wing from the courtyard and flew directly for the obsidigon from behind. Romeo was helping Metatron reach the archway, the wizard leaning heavily on the boy's shoulder for support, his tall staff in his opposite hand. As they scrambled through the archway, a fireball erupted on the ground just outside, sending flames shooting through the entrance. Romeo pushed Metatron to the ground as the intense heat blew over their heads. Romeo looked back to see the obsidigon reeling end over end through the air—Suparna had hit the dragon hard from behind, taking him by surprise.

Romeo helped Metatron climb the winding stone steps inside the tower, and they emerged into the morning light. Turreted walls ran adjacent to the tower in both directions. Men at arms raced past them as an officer approached. “Metatron, it is good to see you again. But you must get below the
city—my lieutenant will take you into our bunkers, where you will be sheltered!”

“Captain Darius, we are expecting a young girl—she will be approaching on foot from the south, and she will most likely be alone. Do everything in your power to protect her. She carries a powerful tool that might help us defeat the obsidigon. Do not let any harm come to her! Do you understand me, Captain?”

“Yes, Master Metatron. I will send out horse patrols to begin the search. We will do all we can to escort her safely into the city. I will alert you immediately with news.” Captain Darius saluted and called one of his lieutenants to his side, instructing him to lead the boy and wizard back down the tower stairs. At the bottom of the tower stairs, the lieutenant led them through a small door just behind the staircase, otherwise hidden from the tower entrance.

As they entered through the low door, the air turned cool and damp. Well-worn stone steps led steeply downward between narrow walls just wide enough for Metatron to squeeze through. Wall torches pointed the way down, and at the bottom the passageway split in three directions. “This way,” said the lieutenant, veering to the left. The narrow passage broadened and intersected with many other passages, which seemed to converge in a central area under the city. Large rooms could be seen off the corridors, containing sleeping quarters, kitchens, and an underground hospital. It was a military outpost ingeniously placed under the city, completely protected from aerial attack.

The lieutenant led Romeo and Metatron to a simple room containing two beds, a table and chairs, and other basic
furnishings. “These are the Captain's quarters,” the lieutenant said. “You will be safe here—any of the soldiers in this section will be happy to help you. I am Lieutenant Marcus, and I will bring you news just as soon as I can.” The lieutenant saluted and hastily returned to his post.

“Why do we have to stay here, Metatron?” Romeo protested. “I want to go look for Yu-ning. We have to help!”

“In due time, Romeo. The Captain's men are much better equipped to find Yu-ning, my boy. They have horses and armor. This is not the first time the obisidigon has attacked Tunzai. There have been other attacks in the past three weeks, and these men are good at what they do. The best thing we can do, Romeo, is rest, recover our strength, and await word from above. Once it is safe, we will make for the Floating Imperial Palace to seek the council of the Empress.”

Though Romeo was not happy to remain underground, he was exhausted from his ordeal on Baggul Island. After a simple but satisfying meal, he curled up under the covers of his bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. For the next two days, the wizard and the boy recovered their strength and waited for news from the city above. By the morning of the third day, Romeo was growing restless.

At the same time, Yu-ning and Minkaro were getting ever closer to Tunzai Island. With Yu-ning's pink crystal heart necklace hidden deep in her pack, she and Minkaro left no trail of light, and were able to slip past the Darq patrols along the ice floes north of Farcara Island. After swimming all night without incident, Minkaro could see the coast on the blue horizon. And he thought maybe, just maybe, their dangerous
journey had come to a successful end. He looked behind him, relieved to see nothing but empty ocean in every direction.

Yu-ning began to stir after catching a few hours of sleep, and Minkaro greeted her. “I trust you slept a little. I'm glad one of us was able to rest. Look ahead there, Yu-ning. It is the island of Tunzai. We have arrived!” Minkaro and Yu-ning swam into a rocky cove not far from the Southern Gate of the city. Yu-ning dismounted in the shallows and bid Minkaro farewell. “Go now, Yu-ning. As fast as you can, make for the Southern Gate,” he instructed her. “The guards will welcome a friend of the great wizard Metatron, who has been an ally of this fair city for many years. Metatron and Suparna will meet you at the Imperial Palace.”

The sun was already warm overhead as Yu-ning peeled off her goose-down jacket and stuffed it behind the saddle on Minkaro's back. Her crystal heart necklace glowed as it lay against her tunic. She slung her pack on her back, secured the Quiver of Light and Lightcaster crossways on her shoulders, and negotiated the rocky shingle of the small beach to a low cliff. Scrambling up the cliff and emerging above, she turned and waved down to Minkaro, who nodded to her and turned to begin the long journey back to Rainbow Island, where he was most needed now.

She turned toward the high city gates, which stood in the distance across open and treeless terrain. Over the city she could see flashes of light—red bursts. A creeping fear slipped into her heart—the fire was coming from a dark object flying over the city. As it rose and dove, the sun reflected off its shiny exterior. It was the obsidigon. As much as her head told her legs to move, they seemed to have a mind of their own. She turned around, searching desperately for Minkaro in the waters of the cove. He was gone. She was alone.

Her legs felt weak; she needed to sit down. She found a large rock nearby and leaned against it. She felt like she was shrinking—fear and terror pressed down upon her head. She stared at the scene before her and thought, I
can't do this. I know I should, and I know I must, but I can't.
She removed her pack and fumbled in the outer pocket for her water skin, her mouth dry.

As she felt for the water, her hand fell upon a small hard object. She removed the seedpod along with her water skin. As she took a long draught from the skin, she stared at the pod. Octavian the owl's words came back to her:
You might be small like these seeds, but you are also mighty like the kapok.

“Thank you, Octavian,” she whispered, tossing the pod in the air and placing it safely back in her backpack. She removed Julian's apple—she had been saving it all these days, and though it was a bit bruised, it tasted heavenly as she bit into the crisp flesh. She finished the apple and hefted her backpack, feeling refreshed from the water and the fruit. She stood, took three deep breaths, and set out for the gates of the city. As she jogged across the plain, the pink glow of her crystal necklace could be seen all the way to the top of the high city gates.

“What is that moving across the plain?” shouted one of the soldiers from atop the turreted wall, just above the Southern Gate.

“It's a girl, running toward the gate. If the dragon sees her, she will be killed! Alert Captain Darius—that might be the girl he is seeking!” The soldier called for a runner and hastily
wrote a message for Captain Darius:
girl spotted
—
approach to southern gate
—
requesting cavalry patrol.

The runner grabbed the small scroll and took off along the top of the wall, heading in the direction of the Western Gate. Soldiers scrambled to get out of the runner's way as he flew down the length of the wall. As he sprinted toward the Western Gate, he saw the dragon in the distance, breathing fire down upon the central district of the city. He reached the guard tower above the Western Gate and screamed, “Message for Captain Darius! Where is Captain Darius?”

“Here!” shouted the captain, stepping forward to receive the message. Darius hastily read the scroll and screamed orders to Lieutenant Marcus near the stables below. “Mount up, Lieutenant! A child has been spotted heading for the Southern Gate. Take thirty cavalry archers. Go now!” Within two minutes the massive doors of the Western Gate swung open, and the horsemen thundered out of the city and raced south along the Western Wall in the direction of Yu-ning.

From the center of the city, Hobaling saw the Western Gate open, and could see the dust cloud generated by the horses hoofs. “Something is happening outside the city. Follow them!” shouted Hobaling to the obsidigon. The dragon turned and sped across the rooftops of the city, weaving between turrets and towers. Arrows continued to bounce off his scaled armor like sticks against stone, falling harmlessly into the streets below. As the obsidigon flew over the Western Wall, it banked left in pursuit of the horse archers. Hobaling could see the last of the horses disappear at the end of the wall, heading toward the Southern Gate.

“See there, my pet?” Hobaling whispered into the obsidigon's ear. He was pointing south, at the grassy plain approaching the Southern Gate. “There is the girl! I told you she would come. Now is your time. Kill her light!” The obsidigon opened his massive jaws and let forth a terrible screech that shattered windows in the city and sent the soldiers to the ground, covering their ears in agony.

Lieutenant Marcus turned toward the terrible sound coming from the city walls, and urged his horse archers to increase their speed. Yu-ning ran as fast as she could toward the safety of the horses—she could see the obsidigon flying toward them further in the distance. A quarter mile from the Southern Gate, the horsemen reached the girl and quickly encircled her, falling into a testudo formation—shields above their heads, locked together in a tortoise-like protective covering. Yu-ning crouched under the mane of Marcus's horse, the sun completely blocked by the interlocked shields above her.

As she peered upward, a great blast of fire crashed against the shield wall—the fireball came in low and flat and bounced off the testudo, tumbling across the grass beyond them, leaving a trail of scorched earth. The obsidigon had flown in low and hard—thus its fireball had harmlessly deflected off the horsemen's shields. As the obsidigon turned to make another pass over the soldiers, Hobaling reined up, directing the beast higher into the air, aiming to send fire straight down upon the phalanx.

From under the protection of the archers' shields, Yu-ning removed Lightcaster and extracted an arrow from the Quiver of Light. She locked eyes with Marcus. “This is a Darq Render bow!” she said, thrusting the great bow before him. “These
arrows can bring down an obsidigon!” she added, the arrow gripped in her right hand.

Marcus nodded and yelled, “Inner five, spread shields with me!”

As the obsidigon positioned itself to release its fire, six shields in the center of the testudo parted. A small figure emerged, nocking an arrow and aiming directly toward the dragon high above. Yu-ning released the arrow. The moment it left Lightcaster, the arrow lit up with brilliant beams of blinding white light. It streaked upward like a white-hot flame, heading directly for the obsidigon's head.

There was no time for Hobaling to react as the arrow of bright light struck the obsidigon above its eye. As it neared the dragon, the arrow burst into a million bright shards, disintegrating before Yu-ning's eyes. White heat could be seen gleaming above the dragon's eye, a large circle of light glowing upon its dark scales. Though the light missile had not hit the dragon's eye, the creature seemed dazed. It turned and retreated from the field of battle.

“Back to the city!” Marcus commanded his men. They disengaged their shields and prepared to gallop for the Southern Gate of the city.

“No! We must pursue the dragon! It is injured. We must go after it!” Yu-ning urged. Ignoring her, one of the horse archers bent down and grabbed Yu-ning by the collar, swinging her up and behind him in the saddle. “Into the city with us, before he returns,” he shouted, spurring his horse toward the gate.

“No! I must pursue the injured dragon!” she shouted. “Now is my best chance!”

“Over my dead body,” yelled the soldier. “The Empress will want to have a word with you, I am sure, my little mighty archer!” As they raced back toward the city gate, Yu-ning pushed the archer from his horse. He rolled safely away, but Yu-ning took off in the direction of the dragon and Hobaling. “I'm sorry, sir!” she yelled as she sped away on the soldier's horse.

“Crazy child!” shouted the smarting horseman, a bump already forming on his head.

“You four, come with me after the girl,” said Marcus. “The rest of you, report to Captain Darius!” Marcus and the four horsemen spurred their horses in pursuit of the girl as the remaining horse archers returned to the city.

M
ETATRON AND
R
OMEO
received reports that the dragon had left the city, headed in the direction of the Cliffs of Conundrum along the northern coast of Tunzai Island. They gathered their few belongings and followed Captain Darius up long flights of stairs leading back to the Western Tower. Once aboveground, one of Captain Darius's men was assigned to escort them to the Floating Imperial Palace, where the Empress was waiting to receive them.