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The lake stretched out below them, sparkling in the late afternoon light. Amira swooped down, looking into the depths.
“I can feel him.” Amira said inside Kai’s mind, “He lies on the very bottom, asleep.”
“How do we contact him?” kai asked her. She felt Amira shrug under her legs, “Fair enough. He did say that he would help me if I had severe need of him. So maybe if I call out to him...”
“You can try. He’s pretty deeply asleep though.” Amira sounded uncertain.
Kai sighed and looked around. There was a small grassy island with a copse of trees in the centre, slightly to the west of their position. “How about you land down there, on that island?”
Amira nodded and swept down and around the island. She landed on the grass; Edward tumbled off her back and lay out flat on his face in the grass.
“I hate flying.” He mumbled into the dirt.
Kai slid down, and found a comfortable spot, ignoring Edward as she opened all her senses.
The first thing that she noticed was that her powers had strengthened; when she looked at Amira, still in dragon form, she could see the human form that her friend took as a picture in Amira’s mind, as well as the golden swirl of spirit that filled her body.
“Be careful, Kai,” The dragon priestess said, “I will guard your body, but the further that your mind gets from your physical body, the more likely it is to die. You may be immortal, but you are not invulnerable.”
“Noted.” Kai raised her mind up into the air above her body and glanced back at it, amazed to see the bright gold aura it had, at the trailing line that led out of it toward her mind.
“I think we need to do some aethyric training soon.” Amira said. “I suggest that you hurry and find Ao Qin though. I saw him lying deep within the lake toward the eastern end of the lake.”
“Okay. Thank you.” Looking around the island, she could see tiny green flames of spirit in each blade of grass; the trees had spirits in humanoid form, with young birch trees seeming like babies and the huge great oaks taking the forms of Elders. The water teemed with life, from tiny specks of spirit in the bugs and micro-organisms, to the darting fish, birds and amphibians that fed off them.
Kai dropped her mind down into the water as if diving from a height, the warmth of the air suddenly replaced by the cool of the water, which became progressively colder as kai moved deeper. The surrounding water darkened. That’s such an odd feeling. I know that my body is up there, she looked upward automatically and saw the gold line leading up where she had come down, so how am I feeling the chill of the water when I have no physical body in it?
Tucking the thought back for later discussion with Amira, Kai hovered in place and looked around again, seeking the bright spirit that would indicate the presence of the Dragon King.
She spotted a golden cloud, a lot deeper and further away than she thought it would be. I hope that’s the Dragon King and not some ancient lake monster. Pushing her mind onward, the cloud came closer so slowly that she wondered if she had moved at all.
Then with no warning, there was a jerk and kai could move her mind no further, no matter how she pushed. I guess that is what it means to be ‘at the end of your tether’. The gold cloud was almost below her now, but there was no way that she could get to it. “Lord Ao Qin, if you can hear me, I have need of your help.” She called out with as much force as she could manage, then she waited.
The gold spirit cloud moved on its own, spinning and swirling toward her. It rose toward her so rapidly that she flinched or would have done if she’d been in her body. A pair of huge golden eyes lit the water around them, and she saw Ao Qin’s body, outlined by the gold cloud of his spirit hover in front of her.
“Young One, you are too far from your physical form. Return to it and I shall join you on the surface.” His voice would have blasted out her eardrums in her physical form from that close, instead it made her feel as if she was being blasted by a hurricane force wind.
“I can’t lord, I don’t know how to.” She felt like a baby before an adult.
“I shall help you. I would not wish you to die before you reach your full potential.” The Dragon King waved one front paw and suddenly Kai was moving backward the way she had come fast enough that the individual spirit fires of the creatures she had seen on the way down blurred into lines of light.
Then she was back in her body. The warmth of the setting sun flooded into her, the air filled her lungs in a rush, and she found herself staring up at a worried Amira in naked human form, and a terrified Edward.
“You’re back. Thank the Gods.” Amira said, grabbing and holding kai tightly.
“I thought you were dead, Kai, I really did!” Edward babbled, moving back and grabbing at his hair.
Kai coughed and pulled away from Amira gently, smiling, “If I’d stayed down for much longer, I probably would be. Ao Qin said he would be following me up.”
Amira paled and shimmered, “He’s coming here? I’d better return to Dragon form, it’s bad manners to be seen in human form around them.” She moved away a few metres and in seconds, the lithe green dragon stood, anxiously looking around.
“There’s a Dragon King coming?”
Kai grinned at Edward, “Yes. Do you still not believe in them?”
He looked worried, “So much has happened recently, that I have to believe in them now... but...”
“...until you see Ao Qin in the flesh, you won’t really believe.” She finished for him.
He flushed and his fangs grew slightly, protruding over his bottom lip. She could feel his annoyance that she knew so much about him.
“Just stay quiet and let me do the talking.” Kai told him.
The flush retreated but not the fangs; she wondered if that meant he was feeling belligerent. Then she didn’t have any more time to prepare, as Ao Qin burst up through the surface of the lake, just beyond the island.
Last time she had seen him, it had been dark, and kai hadn’t really seen what the Dragon King of the South China Sea looked like. Now, the setting sun sparkled on the water dripping from the red scales that covered his body, setting the world alight with the glow from his golden horns and yellow-orange spines. He hovered, high above them for a few moments before dropping down to wrap his massive body around the island twice, his head dropping down to rest on the grass in front of Kai.
“That feels nice.” He murmured as the sun warmed his scales, “I love sleeping, but I love the warmth of the sun more.”
Kai stood up, and moved to stand beside Amira, who was dwarfed by Ao Qin. Edward stayed behind Amira, clearly trying not to be noticed.
However, the eyes of a Dragon King see everything, and he took a deep breath as he raised his head, “Young one, I see you have one of Ao Guang’s children with you. Could she not help you with your problem?”
Amira shuddered slightly and bowed, “Lord Summer, I greet you in the name of my ancestor. I cannot physically aid the Jade Cat in her quest against the Fae as I am pledged to the Earth Temple and have forsworn anything other than healing or peace mediation.
“I see. What of your Ghoul, Young One? Can he not fight for you?” The Dragon king levelled a piercing gaze at Edward, whose fangs first grew slightly longer, then shrank back to normal canines again.
“I will fight to the death to defend the Jade Cat, but I...” he said, “...I am not trained as a warrior. I was a scholar in my human life and have not the skills to fight.”
The dragon king nodded, “That is good to know; scholars are as important as warriors. So young one, I would assume that you are going to ask my aid in confronting the Fae?”
Kai shook her head, “I did that already Lord, it was not successful. They have launched an attack on Te Ling, and they have a pair of ghouls of their own to command.”
“They attack the Treaty City? That is a declaration of war.” Ao Qin said, “How would you have me aid you, Young One? I cannot see how I can help.”
“The fire of a Dragon King is the only thing that can destroy a ghoul utterly. One of the ghouls is... was a friend and I don’t think that she would want to do the things she is doing if she were in control of herself.”
“So, you wish to end her unlife and let her go on to the wheel of rebirth.” He summed up, then looked at Edward, “And what of you, Scholar? Would you wish to progress on the wheel, rather than remain here eating the flesh of the living?”
Kai winced and looked at Edward.
“I am too new to this... unlife, I have not decided yet.” He didn’t look at Kai.
“What of the Dragons?” Ao Qin looked at Amira, “Surely my children have not all forsworn the warrior life?”
“There is a sect which still hold to the Warrior ideals, Lord. However, they are not in favour at the moment as the majority of my... our people are pacifists.” Amira’s green became a pale copper colour under the dragon king’s gaze.
She’s embarrassed. I wonder why? Kai tucked the thought away for discussion with her friend later.
Ao Qin snorted derisively, “I obviously need to have words with our people; it is not right that they let the humans and other mammals bear the brunt of battle. I will visit Hachin once we have dealt with this... difficulty. You will accompany me, child.”
Amira’s scales shimmered into a deeper copper, and she lowered her head to the ground, closing her eyes.
Kai coughed, bringing Ao Qin’s attention back to her, “The day is getting late, and I must return to Te Ling; the Ghouls are being delayed in their attack by the Black Dragon and the strength of Te Ling’s warriors. If they are destroyed, then the Ghouls will enact the Fae’s plan and feast upon innocent humans.”
The Dragon King nodded, “Then let us go.”
Kai nodded and Edward groaned. She glared at him, “Come on Edward, we need to get back to the city.”
“I could swim across and walk home.” He said in a hopeful tone.
Kai rolled her eyes and pointed to Amira, “Get up, Edward.”
He looked at her, looked at the Dragon King and sighed, then he walked across to Amira and climbed onto her back.
Kai followed him and once Amira was aloft, the Dragon King rose into the air, water falling from the rest of his body as he uncoiled himself.
“To the Treaty City then.” He said.
Amira roared in response, and they flew south.