The Lost Star's Sea by C. Litka

Author:C. Litka [Litka, C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: adventure, Fantasy, science fiction, Dragons, planetary romance, edgar rice burroughs
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28 The Shadow Sea

01

Having guided us to his Halfway Islands, I had no doubt that DeArjen would guide us to the islands of the Dragon People as well. We sailed through the cloudless and island-less sky of Endless Sea for another 31 rounds before seeing clouds ahead, which usually are the first sign of islands. A watch later, the dim blue shapes of islands themselves began to emerge from the clouds and the hazy light blue-green sky. DeArjen, who had been standing watches on the bridge these last several rounds, fine tuning our course, was certain they were the islands where he'd been castaway. By the end of the round, we were alongside the outermost group of islands – a ten kilometer cloud of small, jungle-clad islands with birds, lizards, big beetles and bright butterflies flying amongst them. Similar clumps of islands, plus specks of small, free ones, floated, blue in the distance.

The slim red-feathered Dragon People, however, were not yet seen. DeArjen said that they were found in numbers only on the large core cluster of islands, a faint blue smudge in the sky.

We had come to rest on the fringe of this rather granular archipelago to allow the skipper, ValDare, and DeArjen time to discuss our next move from the wing deck of the bridge. As much as I enjoyed the freedom of not being totally responsible for the ship and the lives of its crew, I must admit that at times like this, I missed not being included in the conversation. In Captain KimTara's view, my job began and ended in seeing that the ship had power when she wanted it. Where it went was not my concern and I was not consulted about it, nor had our relationship blossomed to the point were I could invite myself, despite all those after dinner hours I spent on the after deck keeping her silent company.

The confab on the bridge broke up and I heard the warning bell ringing in the engine room from the open skylights – we'd be underway again soon. I stayed on deck. BayLi had the watch and I had long since banished any need to keep an eye on her. Moments later, the propellers whirled to life and I felt the slight tug of inertia as the ship got underway once again.

ValDare joined me at the railing to watch the nearest cluster of islands slip astern.

'DeArjen's Islands?' I asked.

'He says so. However, what we're looking for is a very large group of vine entangled islands that is still some ways off. He says we'll need to do some tricky navigating to reach our final destination – some sort of hollow within the tangle of islands.'

'Getting excited?'

'Can't wait to get started. Everyone has been getting a little stir crazy after being cooped up aboard the ship for so long.'

'What sort of reception can we expect from DeArjen's bird-men?' I asked. 'My run-in with these folk was brief, and mostly benign. Still, they didn't seem to be folks I'd care to go up against.

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