The Crown of Magmunia: (The Dracolich Enchiridion: Book One) (The Dracolich Enchridion 1) by Samantha Hernandez

Author:Samantha Hernandez [Hernandez, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen: Diapause

Gaia’s ashen hair rests atop her knobby, bare feet, swaying like the boughs of a weeping willow. Her appendages are unnaturally long as though she had crawled her way from the earth like a weed. It was difficult for me to find the words to speak, but Gaia seems so accustomed to silence that she waits patiently, still as the stalagmites bordering the walls of the cave. Wavering behind her, curtains of moss blanket her wings, burgeoning with veinous buds of flowers, some teeming with life and abundance, others wilted, frayed, or dried.

“Are there more of you? How are you still alive? How do we use magic?” The questions fire off my tongue.

“First, tell me what’s brought you to me,” Gaia replies cryptically, her voice is mawkish and grating like rusty pipes rubbing together. There’s a rumbling in the back of her throat from years of neglect. How long has it been since her last visitor?

“The Devil Dictator has killed his brother, the King of Magmunia.”

“Yes,” Gaia says as she slithers around me, long enough that if she wanted to coil around me like a snake, she could. Mercifully, Gaia stays a comfortable distance away. Regardless, I keep my wings around me like a fortified cocoon. “That is what has brought Hinnom to its current state, but what has brought you to me?”

“Is this a riddle?” I blurt, locking my feet to the ground.

Gaia remains eerily quiet, her blanched lips tight in a thin line.

“The Great Witch lives in my mind, and I have her magic. But, her magic is competing with mine, and I have to figure out how to use it so I can defeat the Devil Dictator.”

Gaia’s lips remain sealed.

I continue, “He plans to kill us all.”

“Oh, but not all, young Dracolich. Avians will be safe.” Gaia settles onto her throne; the plush mushroom caps barely sink under her weight. “So what stake do you have in these conflicts? Are you not alone in the world? Are you not, by default, an Avian? Who are you seeking to protect if you are already safe?”

I frown, unsure if I want to answer this question honestly. Gaia waits nonetheless. The dripping of water echoing throughout the cavern fills the silence, thickening the air with tension. I need to protect Myrrh. I don’t trust Gaia enough with my sister’s name though so instead I try to think of a broader truth. Something Myrrh and I always dreamed of.

“I want the fighting to end,” I finally admit. “I don’t want Avians to be hated anymore, but not because there’s no one left to hate us. I just want the fighting to stop.”

Gaia’s fractured lips crack into a strained smile, as though her skin hadn’t been worked in a very long time. “Me too.” Without rising from her seat, Gaia motions toward the lake to their right with an elongated arm. Her hair reminds me of a wet scrap of cloth, the way it hangs limply from her skull, dragging against the rock by her feet.

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