Part 11. Impressions - Land of Rivers and Trees.
Asriel stepped ashore from the boat that had carried him, Ullys and Sarah to the Hoorn Cliffs. They landed several miles to the North-East of where Iyru and Oisin had been shipwrecked, but the shoreline was very resembling. A soft sandy beach with white cliffs reaching up to the sky, riddled with caves. The white porous wall reached from horizon to horizon, from left to right. It seemed as if the walls would go on forever, but they did not. They would grow lower the more they went from this point in any direction, the edges reaching into the sea like a crescent moon.
Asriel stroked through his blond hair and wondered how life would be like here. In the end they would all live at some location across the surface of the continent. Sun, Sand and Water, he could do worse...
Looking up, Asriel thought he noticed a flash of moving colour, but he wasn't sure. Maybe a bird had passed into his view, or some flowers. Asriel walked toward the stream, running from the lowest caves into the ocean and wondered from where it came.
"There's a river in those cliffs?" Sarah asked as she stepped onto the shore herself. She was a shy woman, the same age as Asriel, with brown hair and grey eyes. Everything about her was soft and faded. You would not remember her if she came to your house, but she had no interest to stand out. Even now, with only three of them around she felt like they did not know her. And maybe that was for the better. She liked to keep her private life private.
"I think it starts way on top of the cliffs and has worked it's way down through the rock over the ages." Ullys said. He had seen landscapes like this before and they always impressed him. But even more than the cliffs, Ullys longed to see the forests that lay behind these walls of stone. Two separate ones there were, large and untouched, bigger than most on Earth. His passion had always been in nature, that had led him to his job as a forester. For years he had been happy where he was. He hoped that he could be happy once more.
A splash of water brought Ullys back to the present, his dark face glistening with drops of salt water.
"Stay with us." Asriel smiled, "I said: do you want to go explore the caves?"
"That might be dangerous." Ullys answered, in his mind he already saw Asriel fall down cliffs, slide down slopes and even drown in shallow pools of toxic water... Ok, maybe that last vision was more a wish than a fear, but the caves would be far from safe.
"I'm not suggesting we jump of the cliffs to see who would land first." Asriel said, "Just a stroll inside the caves."
"It's still 4 hours till sunset." Sarah said, "A walk might be nice."
"What if one of us, "Ullys looked at Asriel, "falls down into a chasm and breaks a leg."
"Whenever I see a pit I promise to walk around it." Asriel said, "Scouts honour." he made the v-sign with his two fingers and smiled again, flashing his bright white teeth.
Sarah meanwhile, kept herself out of the argument. Ullys tried to use reason to stay on the beach, while Asriel tried to use his charm and the promise of adventure to start exploring. Sarah did not feel much for staying on the beach the next hours, but she also wasn't about to run into the caves without preparations. But whatever she said, she would always go against one of the two, and they had a long time yet to spend together. She would just wait and see who won the argument.

***

An hour later, Sarah, Ullys and Asriel were walking down the caves. They had all agreed that mapping the first line of caves might be worth the risk. Well, they had dragged Ullys into the caves and let him make them rope harnesses to ensure their safety. 
Asriel rubbed his torso. Those harnesses were hell, they chafed and burned until he was sure that keeping them on longer was more of a risk than going further unprotected.
"I've had enough," Asriel stated, "I'm taking this silly thing off."
"Don't!" Ullys called, turning fast enough to see Asriel slide down a hidden chasm.
"If there is justice, there'll be a nice toxic pool at the end of the fall." Ullys spoke through his teeth with an angry look on his face. "He's put us all in danger now."
Sarah shrugged, to be fair, the rope was uncomfortable. She had thought about removing it for quite a while now. "Hello? Asriel?" she called down the sink hole.
Asriel got up and groaned, no broken legs or arms, but a welt on his head the size of an egg would trouble him for a while. Before he was standing straight, a bright light shone down, blinding his eyes. 
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" he called, "Get that light away."
Above him he heard Sarah say: "Sensitive to light... sounds like a concussion to me." then she turned to the hole again and shouted: "Do you have a headache? Or do you feel nauseous?"
"No..." Asriel answered, "Just ready to kill someone!"
"We'll tell Enid." Ullys smiled down, "She'll know what to do."
"Agh..." Asriel exclaimed. He hoped Ullys was joking, if the dark man was capable of joking. Asriel thought he had never seen him smile once since the mission, except that mocking smile just now.
Looking around, Asriel suddenly gasped. He had not thought about why he could see the surroundings, but now that the bright light was gone, he saw that a transparent blue quartz wall filtered light from outside. Instantly he knew where he was, outside they had not seen this blue transparent wall, but they had seen the river coming from the walls. What they had not expected was that this room was much larger than just the river.
"Guys!" Asriel called, "Get down here!"
"Are you crazy?" Ullys called down, "We'll pull you up!"
"No! You have to see this!"
The river flowed out to the beach and into the sea. From his vantage point, Asriel had a great view of the outside, but also of the rest of the cave. The sloping floor gradually lowered until it was underwater while on the other side the cave ran for several yards with a forest of stalactites and stalagmites, glistening from the spray and from tiny specks of gems catching the calm blue light and the bright white light from the flashlight.
"Wow..." Asriel heard Sarah say behind him.
"You just had to see this." Asriel said, "Do you think we should hatch the egg here?"
"I wouldn't know a better place." Sarah said, "You do the honours."
Asriel looked at Sarah and Ullys, "Are you two sure you won't stay here?"
"I'm a forest man." Ullys said.
"You found the cave, you own the place." Sarah shrugged.
Taking the egg, Asriel walked toward the river. He knew Ullys might find that strange, but this cave was made for some type of aquatic dragons, who could enter and leave freely through the river. 
Placing the egg down, it showed cracks nearly immediately. The egg lay half submerged in a pool, separated from the river by a dam of rocks.
The hatchling that fell out was pale, like the cliffs, with leathery deep blue wings like the light in the cave. The hatchling had a few feathers on her wings, but mostly they seemed not made for flying, but for gliding. Two deep blue eyes looked into his, deep blue hair framing her face.
"Asriel..." she said, "You chose beautifully."
"Brir..." he said, for once at a loss for words.
"We will be happy here."

***

Sitting next to the fire, Sarah watched the forests before them. Suddenly Ullys appeared right in front of her. 
"You scared me!" she called, "How about a little warning?"
"I cracked a branch or two on my way back." Ullys said as if he had come back with sirens and fluorescent blinking pink lights to announce his arrival.
"We should have taken Asriel with us." Sarah said, "I don't like him being alone in those caves."
"If he survived that fall with only a bump on his head he's nearly indestructible." Ullys answered, "Beside, he's got Brir to protect him and I trust her more than I trust that surfer dude."
Sarah nodded, deciding to leave it at that. She still worried about Asriel, being alone in a new place could be frightening. She just hoped Brir would keep him company and not decide to take off into the ocean...
Ullys stared into the fire and brought up what he thought needed to be decided tonight.
"Tomorrow we'll each head into one forest." Ullys said, "Which one do you want?" he asked. 
He hoped Sarah would pick Ankyla. That forest looked more like a park and was definitely safer than Eiken which was almost as impregnable as the rain forest. He was a former ranger so he could handle a little rough country, but Sarah didn't seem like the country girl.
"I'm leaning toward Eiken." Sarah answered.
"Ankyla would be more suited for you maybe..." Ullys said.
"It would not. It's clean and organised. I'm not like that." I'm hidden, she thought, and what is hidden in my mind might even be more twisted than what is hidden in yours. 
"We will each go our way, mine is to Eiken." she said, it was time to lay down the law. She had stayed on the background long enough. This choice was what really mattered. She knew Ullys would not cave soon, but when needed she could be stubborn as a mule...

***

Sarah stepped into the undergrowth of Eiken Forest. She smiled, it had taken an hour more to convince Ullys that her way was the only way it was going to happen. 
Making sure her legs didn't get scratched by the thorny bushes that seemed to line the forest, Sarah walked on, making her way deeper into the forest. The plan they had devised was to walk until noon, hatch an egg and then walk back. Or in case of a very lucky impression, fly back, to where they had camped that night.
A sudden flapping behind her caught her attention. Turning she saw nothing, not a breeze stirred the leaves of the trees. Sarah shook her head and thought that she should worry about her in stead of worrying about Asriel. Knowing him he'd not even hear imagined sounds.
She continued, but soon a loud shrill cry sounded to her right. She turned and saw nothing once again, just the bushes and trees. She was just about to continue her journey to the center of Eiken - she was optimistic, she knew she would never reach the center today - when a soft velvety darkness covered her eyes. A sense of warmth covered her cheeks and neck, and a warm breath blew into her neck. Slightly panicking, Sarah reached behind her and felt a snake lodged on her shoulder. Tugging, she struggled to get the snake off. Falling, she felt her backpack slip from her hands.
The darkness suddenly disappeared and light flooded back to her eyes. The first thing Sarah saw was green, the green of leaves above her. Turning to lay on her belly, she got to her knees and stopped moving when she saw a cyan-coloured winged snake wrapping itself around her egg. 

Believing her dragon in danger, she lunged for the snake, hoping to drive it away. She did not succeed. In fact the creature just hopped away without effort and landed on her back. Sarah slid over the ground and came to a stop within millimetres of her egg.
Suddenly the egg exploded before her and she closed her eyes, hoping those shards wouldn't be too sharp.
"Open your eyes, please, Sarah." a voice suddenly said, "I want to see them."
Carefully Sarah opened her grey eyes and saw a dark-coloured male dragon, wingless with brown stripes over his entire body and a proud look in his eyes.
"That's an interesting friend you've got there..." he said, "What is it's name?"
"Huh?" Sarah asked, "I'm all alone."
"What's that on your back than?"
Screaming Sarah got up, trying to shove the snake from her back, but the creature kept holding her. Finally it let go, but returned to fly in front of her face, chirping that high piercing cry.
"It says it likes you." the dragon, Streep she knew, told her, "And that it is a wyld roamer."
"A pet?" she asked with big eyes.
"It seems like it."
"I doubt it can get us back to the edge of the forest though." Sarah shrugged, "nor you."
"I can help you make it easier." Streep said, "Follow me."

***

Ullys embarked on the road to Ankyla, almost immediately passing a grazing herd of strangely big walking birds that seemed a mix of a turkey and a peacock, not all that bad-looking but rather weird in colour, like most of this forest.
Though his eyes registered the herd, his mind was with Sarah. He still felt he shouldn't have let her go to Eiken Forest, who knew what creatures lived there?
Looking up he suddenly noticed that the air had gotten warmer and now smelled of flowers he was unfamiliar with. They smelled faintly like roses, kind of rich and moist, but also a bit sharper, like they were spiced, which did not make any sense.
Warm winds rose behind him, carrying leaves and dust past him. He followed the strange congregation of detritus and saw it follow the path he was on. Strange, wind would not turn like that. The hairs on his arms rose and he suddenly felt cold. So much for believing that Eiken was the challenge, this Ankyla forest seemed more a thing for Fairlight than for him.
Going on more carefully than before, Ullys made his way deeper into the park, passing a large lake on the right. The winds seemed to be stronger here, but there was really no other way he wanted to go, he was not a coward and he didn't much like being pushed around by paranormal winds. If there was a greater meaning here, he'd be damned before he ran.
Walking on, Ullys finally reached a large clearing that seemed to be more on place on an impressionist painting than in real life. The colours were pastel: greens, blues, reds and purples that seemed to flow over into each other. Trees with hanging branches and large blooming flowers bordered a perfect circular patch of grass.
"This is the place." Ullys said, something this prepared would be too stupid to pass by. Placing his egg down, he suddenly heard a thundering sound. A stampeding herd of those turkeys appeared on one side of the clearing, seemingly headed straight for Ullys and his egg. 
Ullys reacted before he could think, he ducked, rolled and was on his feet again with the egg when the herd ran by. As fast as they had appeared, the herd vanished on the other side and Ullys was alone again.
"Second try."
Ullys placed the egg again and waited. A few shakes and then nothing for five minutes. then shaking again. Ullys sat back and waited. He had plenty of patience.
His patience was starting to get challenged two hours later though, when the sun was on it's way back to the west. The egg would have to hatch soon or he would be late. As if responding to his thoughts, the egg finally showed a neat line running from top to bottom. The crack widened, green skin behind it.
Finally the dragon crawled out, A green male with stylised gold horns, gold, leafy hair and bright green wings.
"Gaelic?" Ullys asked hesitantly.
"That's my name." the dragon said sagely, only to ruin the sincere mood by adding: "Don't wear it out."
"Are you up for a little flying?" Ullys asked, he might as well get out soon now.
"Let us try."

Continue to Part 12

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