“It’s not complicated, Kymri, just go to the continent, find a reasonably equipped male, stay until you’re sure the coupling took hold or until you can’t stand him any longer, or find another until the job is done.”
“Shut it, Zayli. I said this is none of your business.”
“Sustaining the lineages is everyone’s business, Kymri; don’t be so damned selfish.”
“Zayli, that will do, I’ll catch up with you on the reports in my office.”
Apparently, Zayli was there to bluntly make Kolina’s argument for her so she could smooth things over. Good dragon, bad dragon games.
Kymri crossed her arms over her chest, “I don’t have time for this; I have work do to.”
“As do I, so stop wasting my time by making me have to come all the way out here from the queen’s lair to talk to you about this.”
“Just don’t bother and leave me alone about it. I’ll do it when I’m ready.”
“No one has the luxury of waiting until they’re ready. Especially not metal dragons, Kymri. I’ve been more patient with you than most.”
Kymri snorted, rolling her eyes.
But her mother’s stare hadn’t wavered, her expression growing more intense.
“What’s this really about?”
Her mother blinked, a flash of vulnerability, then the intensity shuttered back into place.
“I’m making arrangements for down time for you in the next cycle. Go to the continent. Go to Blue Creek if you want, see the broader world. Just come back with a youngling.”
“Mother, I don’t want—”
“I know,” she cut in. “Neither did I.”
Kymri stepped back like she’d been slapped. She’d always suspected, but it was the first time Kolina said it outright.
Kolina must have seen her reaction because as she stepped toward Kymri, her expression softened, “But that doesn’t mean anything. That was before. After,” she shrugged, “is different.”
“You never talk about him,” Kymri said.
Kolina stilled, searching Kymri’s face. Calculating. Would telling Kymri of her sire give her the edge she needed to convince her?
Kolina’s thoughts were clear with every shift of expression.
“Never mind,” Kymri said, “my next patrol shift is about to start.”
She turned her back on her mother.
Kymri flew hard, tilting and dipping as the air slid around her sleek form. Metal dragons were built for speed. Her scales reflected the sunshine, making her glitter like the rippling sea below her.
A perfect day for patrols.
The further away from the main island and its peripheral islands she flew, the more her mother’s hold on her psyche weakened.
I don’t need offspring.
Her gaze dropped to the pelicans soaring below her, watching them a few moments to absorb their serenity. Breathing deeply of the sea air currents, she shook herself out from her head down through her body, letting it ripple out through her tail. Then she pulled her wings in, barrel-rolled and rebalanced on a lower current, swooping low over the waves.
Aligning one wingtip with the islands, she glanced off the other, searching the horizon. As a human, she never would have been able to spot the ship lingering at the edge of their territory, but in her dragon form she recognized Red’s pirate ship. A thrill of excitement rippled through her. She’d pay her a visit later to see if she picked up some new cosmetics and magazines for her. Bright nail polish was one of her very few guilty pleasures. She swung her gaze away from the ship, scanning the horizon again and angled toward one of the small islands at the end of their cluster.
Each long pass around the vast islands sent her out into an ever-larger spiral right out to where Red’s ship was. Extending the boundary just a little further on the next pass, she could feel the difference in the magnetic fields that protected their home from the rest of the world. Since mankind started using magnetic compasses to navigate the seas, they started finding themselves in compromised navigational troubles in the vastness of the ocean between the island of Bermuda, the Bahamas and the coast of the Americas. Unable to find their way out of the magnetic zone, they’d drift for days or be swallowed by the wild Atlantic storms. Sometimes they’d find their way to the isles of dragons, Draconia. Some left with all limbs intact, many didn’t.
Kymri sighed as her thoughts returned to her mother again, annoyed at how her voice just got right into her head. She loved her mother and was loyal, but they had different views on life.
The older generation. Her mother expected her to toe the line and follow tradition. Live on the island always. Live the dragon life, protect it above all else, save for the queen. As the supreme representative of their species, there was nothing above her.
Her mother wanted her to bear children, leave the Boundary Guard, and replace her in the interior Queen’s Guard, so she might move onto the council in her own mother’s place.
Had this been her grandmother’s idea? Was her mother suddenly prompting her after pressure from her own preceding generation? Or was it just her own deep-seated ambition to get into the Queen’s Council?
Kymri rolled again. She didn’t care who thought she should be bearing children and giving up her role among her sister guardians. Wasn’t going to happen until she was damned well ready, and that, she huffed, wouldn’t be anytime soon.
Rising on a current, she flapped once or twice to climb to a new altitude. Her last pass nearly complete, a buzzing sound caught her attention.
She banked and observed the dark sky ahead. Marli had reported an incoming storm that the islands were now preparing for. It looked like a strong one. Kymri could no longer see Red’s ship, likely having set sail for a new target. She sighed, no booty for her tonight, now she’d have to wait till Red returned.
The gusts were strengthening, forcing her to steady herself as the smattering rain began to hammer down.
She was used to unpredictable storms, and this one was rolling hard. Maintaining her course, it wasn’t long before she was enveloped by frothing storm clouds. The buzzing had grown louder.
A crack of lightening knocked out her vision and hearing for a few seconds. Trying to regain control of her senses, a streak of white and blue entered her flight path from nowhere.
Banking hard, she saw the startled face of a man struggling to keep his plane under control. But it was too late. Their wingtips clipped, sending them both off kilter. Where it took Kymri a moment to right herself, she could see the plane could not and was wobbling under the pressure of the storm.
The contact had been enough to damage the vessel. The brace holding the wing cracked, then the wing itself.
He began to fall.
2
Jori felt a distinctive shift in the wind. His eyes scanned the skies, but ahead of him all was blue and clear and as unbroken as it had been the last few days. The Cessna skipped over a trail of turbulence.
Turning his head, his stomach dropped. “Shit.”
Catching dark color in his peripheral, he turned his head further, staring at the steel gray sea banded by a darker blue-black at the horizon.
It was like turning to find a fifty foot tall grizzly had snuck up behind you while taking a piss in the forest.
“Shit.” He took a deep breath, “Okay.” He flew into action, throwing all his loose stuff into the lock box where he kept his compass and other small valuables.