In the morning, Craydon, Meryda, and Rusha Banei were feeding the farm animals, with the Bone Boars taking care of the Fur Cows.
Hazer and Shilna Cemim, the Demi-Centaur siblings, arrived with Tetil Stog slithering next to them and Pof Grinun on Hazer’s back.
As they arrived near the smiling Meryda, a green being grew from the floor and took the shape of a serious Fae, who looked at them all. “It is about time. Stay calm, Meryda, and remember what you did when you met all the Monsters you tamed.”
Pof frowned and asked, “What are you talking about? You know what this weirdo is saying, Meryda?”
From the sky, two long and chilling screeches scared them all. It was as if something was warning of an incoming death.
Pof looked up, and his eyes widened. In the sky, there were two massive flying lizards. At that distance, they appeared to have ten-metre-long bodies, with the tail half that size. Their wings were enormous, almost double their bodies’ length.
He looked at Meryda, and she had an enormous smile on her lips, and her eyes were shining. He trembled when he heard her mumbling, “Dragons… They look like Dragons! So cool…”
The light around her increased, blurring everyone’s eyesight from the nightmares in the sky. Responding to Meryda’s Magic, the two flying lizards shone as well, and the Fae spoke again, “Call them down, Meryda, nice and easy!”
“And they will hear me up there in the sky? How good is their hearing, anyway?”
“Your Magic will do all the talking; you just need to call them and calm them. They are just Monsters, remember? And you are a… Oh, come on, just say it! It will be so cool!”
Meryda nodded and waved both hands at the sky while shouting, “Hello there! I am a Monster Tamer, but I want to be your friend! Can you two land over here?”
Both Drakes made a tight turn, and while slowly flapping their wings, they landed, lifting a cloud of dust around them.
When the dust dissipated, the Emptiness Monster and both Gigantic Spiders were around the two massive lizards, making sure they didn’t pose any kind of threat to Meryda. She slowly approached them with a smile on her lips and spoke in a calming tone while still surrounded by Magic. “That’s it. You are safe here. No one is going to attack you. I mean, as long as you behave, because my spiders and my pretty dark fog will get very mad if any of you try to eat me!”
The two Drakes folded their wings against their bodies and nodded. Meryda reached her hand towards them, and they both lowered their massive heads and let her pat their snouts. “So cool! Your skin is so rough, like rock lizards, but even harder!”
Craydon approached and noticed that both Drakes had some sort of seat tied to the back of their necks with two large bags tied to it, one on each side as if they were saddlebags. There were dark ropes surrounding the Drakes’ bodies, right around their long necks, tightening the seats against them. He pointed at one of those seats and asked, “Is that what I think it is? They are used as transport?”
The serious Fae answered, “Not usually, but they are now. It’s probably better if you two say farewell and mount them. You will have a few days’ ride to get to your destination.”
Tetil Stog asked while caressing the side of one Drake, “Where to? This guy’s scales are amazing…”
“To the front lines near the mountain range, which serves as a natural barrier to the Demon’s country,” explained Meryda, making her friends gasp.
Pof Grinun grabbed her arm and shouted, “What are you saying, dumbass? Are you going to ride those things to get there? As if I would let you! Unless you take me with you, you are not going anywhere!”
“I can’t, Pof. I wanted to, but my father told me the Oomans might use you or the others to force me to join them. I want to see for myself what is happening over there. I am not saying I will join the Ooman Alliance, and I won’t return, but I have to go. If there is a way, I want to speak with the Demons to hear their side of this conflict. You heard those envoys who came here. The Monsters in the mountain range are not attacking; they are merely preventing the Oomans from stepping foot in the mountain range. I want to find out why they are doing that and if someone or something is telling them to protect the mountain range.”
“But… but… You could die, moron! I won’t let you! I won’t let you leave me!”
Meryda caressed the crying boy’s face and said in a gentle tone, “My sweet Demi-Dog… my dearest friend… Who said I was going to leave you? I am going to come back. There is no Ooman, Demon, or Monster in this world that would stop me from returning home!”
Pof hugged her and said in a low voice, “If you ever call me friend again, I am going to split your head open! You know I like you! You always knew!”
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“I… I am not the girl you used to know, Pof… I have changed, more than you will ever imagine.”
“I always liked your bad temper and the way you blew up at the tiniest thing, but I also like the new you, the calm and serious Meryda. Promise me you will be careful out there! And at least take another Monster with you! I don’t trust those big lizards!”
Meryda kissed Pof’s right cheek, and while leaning her forehead against his, she said, “I will be careful, and I won’t be alone. My father will be with me, and I am going to take as many Monsters as I can, besides the two Drakes.”
Clearing his throat, Craydon said, “Aham!… I am going to grab things for our voyage. Rusha, do you mind helping me out? Let’s leave the kids alone for a while.”
“Sure, we also need to speak.”
Leaving Meryda and the others behind, Craydon walked side by side with Rusha towards the barn where they had put the bags with food, water, and many camping equipment, like blankets, tableware, and pots for cooking.
When they entered the barn, Rusha hugged him from behind and said, “I am not ready to lose you. Promise me you will come back to me! If not for anything else, because I can’t possibly take care of this big farm all alone!”
Craydon leaned his head on hers and answered, “I will do my best, but if I get into a situation where I have to save Meryda at the cost of my life, you know what I have to do.”
Rusha kissed him and said with a slight smile. “I know, and that is also one of the reasons why I love you. Let’s get all the bags before I change my mind and stop you from going!”
A few trips back and forth between the Drakes and the barn, and in no time, Craydon and Rusha were tying the last bag to the seats on the Drake’s necks.
All that time, Meryda was walking along the cropped field with her friends, talking with her Bone Boars, asking them to continue their work while she was away, and making sure they would obey Rusha Banei unconditionally.
The Slime and the Salamander were at her feet. The orange fire lizard was jumping over the water canals, while the gelatine being was floating in the water, wiggling all over.
From the corner of her eye, Meryda saw the dark fog splitting, and a small cloud approached her. Meryda kneeled and said, “I was hoping you would come with me. What I still don’t know is if you are a part of the big Emptiness, or if you are his kid. Or daughter.”
The small, dark cloud curled its upper section, and Meryda said with a frown, “A part? That is very weird, you know. How can such a big Monster split itself into something so small… Never mind. A dark fog that melts everything organic is strange enough, so I suppose I should just accept weirdness as normal. But you have to fly near the Drakes all the way, or hover above ground, under their shadows, because I can’t carry you in my arms.”
The small, dark fog curved again, and Meryda giggled. Her father called for her, saying that everything was ready for them to leave, so she grabbed the Slime, tapped the Salamander’s head to signal him to follow her, and walked with her friends to the two flying menaces.
After one last hug to everyone and a few tears, Meryda climbed to her seat on a Drake’s neck. Craydon gave one last kiss to Rusha and cleaned up her tears before climbing to his.
The serious Fae looked at Meryda and said, “They know the way to the mountain range, but you have to tell them to land when it’s getting dark, so that you can rest, or they will fly the entire time to get there, and you and your father won’t sleep at all. On your way to the mountain range, you can camp or rest in a City, but they have to land away from any Oomans or Demis, and you have to walk to enter a City or a village. I will appear to you whenever you land to keep you safe. If, by chance, you meet any Monster and you tame them, you have to tell them to come here, unless they can fly as well. There is a weight limit the Drakes can carry, okay?”
“Will we be safe while flying? What if another Drake comes near? Or another flying Monster?”
“Tame them, of course! You are supposed to be a Monster Tamer, remember?”
Meryda nodded and tapped the neck of her ride while saying, “Let’s go, my cute lizard! Time to fly!”
Both Drakes turned around and spread their wings. They started to run towards the gate entrance of the farm and flapped their wings at high speed to take off, lifting an enormous cloud of dust as they were leaving the ground, almost brushing the edge of the enormous Emptiness which had to lower itself so it didn’t touch the Drakes’ bodies and melt them.
Pof Grinun sighed and said, “Now what? Are we supposed to wait for how long for them to come back?”
Tetil Stog put one harm over the sad Demi-Dog boy and said, “We can go to the siblings’ farm and see if everything is working well with our new construction. And while Meryda is away, we can do a few Quests. She told the spiders and the boars to go with us if we asked them.”
“I know… It’s just… It won’t be the same thing without her…”
“Yeah, but she will come back in no time. She promised, didn’t she? Now, everyone goes clean their faces; let’s help Miss Rusha with her work, and then we can leave.”
Rusha Banei made a slight smile and said, “Thanks, kids. We don’t have much to do, so as soon as everything has been taken care of, we can go have lunch. Craydon prepared everything early this morning for his voyage, and there are a lot of surpluses for us to have a big feast. Meryda and Craydon would hate to know we were sad the entire day, so let’s get busy and then fill our bellies!”
Tetil Stog raised both arms and shouted, “Fill bellies! Fill bellies! Shout with me, everyone! Fill bellies!”
The kids shouted in unison as they were following Rusha to the cropped field to check what the Bone Boars were up to.
At the entrance of the farm, the enormous Emptiness had a rounded top looking up, as if it were a head, watching as the two Drakes flew into the distance. He stood there until the two flying shadows disappeared on the horizon, and he then returned to his patrolling around the farm by using the water canal as a road.
From time to time, he would stop and curve the top in the direction where Meryda went, and then return to his slow patrol, as if he were already missing his friend and owner.