An Ocean of Lies (AFOS II)

Chapter 26 : Alaric

He calmly put the spyglass down. Ice dragons could sense fear, literally, they could smell the chemicals in their victim's bodies, but maybe that was an exaggeration, where had he heard that again? He tried to remember what he'd read in books. They didn't eat very often, their metabolisms were quite slow, unlike firebreathing dragons who needed to feed regularly. They could do with one feeding a month; if the prey was large enough, they spent two weeks solely digesting the thing. They napped, sometimes under the sun in secluded areas. This dragon was flying under the fog, so no digesting there. He didn't attack immediately, but that didn't say anything. Maybe the dragon was trying to figure out what they were, if they were edible or not. Sometimes they learned to attack ships, knowing humans sailed inside, reason enough for any sensible sailor to never venture into the Fog Ocean without masking runes, to ward monsters away. But the runes were weak, and the dragon had caught a whiff of them, no doubt: it knew something was up, and it waited. He wouldn't.

He entered the cabin, trying not to disturb Jo. He could feel her heart beating at a slow pace, she slept soundly. He'd give her a couple of minutes more before waking her up, she didn't need to just yet.

The revenant walked to him, serious. "What did you see, boy? Please, tell me it's not—" Alaric whispered ice dragon in his ear. "It was nice knowing you, kid."

"Hey, you're giving up already? No clever ideas? I thought you were, I don't know, planning our escape while I looked outside, just in case, you know," Alaric bat his arms like wings.

"I wanted to know, now I know," he shrugged, but he didn't look calm at all.

"What if we feed more firerock to the—"

"Won't work, kiddo. The dragon will always be faster than us. Besides, if we run, it'll know we're running away, it'll know it can eat us. We're better off sailing steadily, no sudden moves. We'll have to wait it out."

"Wait it out? What, until it gets bored and decides, hey, maybe I'll just chomp a bit of that tasty ship, see if there's people in it after all," Alaric whispered angrily.

"Or maybe until something more appetizing crosses his way, it could happen, you know? A delicious whale, maybe. I've always wanted to see a floating whale, must be a true sight. They say they've got so much magic in their veins they can float on their own, they sing their own runes, sort of speak, to navigate."

"Fascinating, truly, mister revenant, sir, but, you're diverting. There won't be any floating whales, or minor monsters—"

"Or maybe a bigger monster, you know, one of those toothy overgrown fish, with scales like a dragon's and bodies like a whale's? it could eat the dragon: problem solved."

"And then it would eat us: perfect. Just. Never mind. I'll, ugh. I'm not good at this, at planning. I need to wake up Jo, she'll know what to do."

"First of all: I was mocking you, boy. Second: Jo needs to rest. She was up all night, her body needs to heal itself the old way, we don't want her to take what little magic we have left. Then the dragon will eat us, no doubt about it."

"Right, right. You're right, I'm sorry. We still need to lose that dragon, though," he sat down on a chair near the revenant's desk.

"It's a good thing I'm an expert on dragons, then," the revenant laughed

"Right, let me guess: mocking me again, are all revenants so funny or is it just you?" it was hard to know with the revenant, people were simpler, usually.

"You got it, all comedians, the lot of us, we spend all night cooking up the funniest jokes. The truth is, I know nothing of dragons. I avoid them like a plague, that's why I use runes, I've never encountered a single one. Even my island is warded against dragons, I hear they love secluded pieces of rock," Alaric nodded.