Our climb up the mountain began easily enough. There was enough flat ground to walk and only occasional rocks that needed surmounted.

We traveled in silence for some time. On my part, it mainly was awkwardness that stayed my tongue. I was sure she was somewhat older than me in my current body, was a head of state, and my “senior” at the Royal Academy. However, that last one was technical because I wasn’t enrolled for my own schooling’s sake.

Up and up over rocks, we climbed, and before long, I realized we were quite some distance up, and I had to suppress my stomach wobbling as I glanced below us.

“Do you need to rest?” Alina asked me, open concern in her eyes.

I turned to her, surprised, “Uh, no, do you?”

She looked at me, her eyes seeming to pierce through me as she examined my face, “Let’s at least have some water; if you don’t take care of yourself, you’re going to have trouble getting down the mountain.”

She reached into her robes, pulling out a flask she offered me.

I hesitated for a moment before I took it, taking a small sip. I really didn’t need any water, and I didn’t want to waste any in case she needed it.

I handed it back to her, and she frowned, “That’s it?”

“I’m fine, really,” I waved my hands to emphasize the point, “I’ve always been physically active. This is nothing for me.”

Ha, that was such a lie.

“Then you should know not to take hydration lightly,” Alina frowned reprovingly, “Lack of proper hydration can take anyone down.”

If you’re human, I suppose.

“I know. I know.” I nodded, trying to emphasize that she was getting through to me, “I’ll be sure to stay watchful.”

Alina looked at me for a bit longer before she sighed and then took a swig of the water herself, “Sorry, I don’t mean to be bossy. I’d hate for you to get hurt when I’m supposed to be taking care of you.”

I really didn’t need someone to take care of me. On the other hand, Alina seemed to be coming from a good place, and it would have been rude to try and push back too much. Plus, I still felt guilty about elbowing her in the gut.

“You’re not being bossy,” I replied, looking out over the mountains, which at this height seemed to be not so high up after all.

Honestly, it took my breath away; I had never really had the opportunity to travel. Not that I should get too wrapped too much in this right now. I still had a mission to heal Sara, and I needed to focus everything I had on that.

“Ready to keep climbing?” Alina asked.

I nodded, “Yep,” I replied quickly and turned back to the now slightly more intimidating side as the mountain got progressively steeper.

We resumed our climb, and I couldn’t help but feel like an insect compared to the vast mountain slowly going up the rock and dirt. I had to restrain myself from attempting to go too fast, as the actual business of holding my body up wasn’t even an activity worth mentioning.

The sun was about midway through the sky, and we reached the top of the mountain with a final bit of effort. The air was cool and windy up this far into the sky, but I found it relaxing.

The rocky mountain top was spread apart but easy enough to walk across the rocky terrain. The top was wider than I thought a mountain peak should be; I expected something pointier and jutty. We surveyed the other mountains looking for evidence of a dragon or something. Honestly, I had no idea what I was looking for, but I didn’t want to showcase my vast ignorance.

As I was standing in the frosty air, I felt a strange warmth on the back of my neck, I tried to pull the collar of my shirt up to remove what I assumed to be overbearing sun rays from my back, but the action did not help. If anything, it felt warmer. I felt gingerly around my neck, trying to feel the sunburn I expected to have and hoping to eliminate it with a heal, but my skin was not at all tender to the touch nor overly dry.

What are you doing here, little leaf?

I blinked as a distinctly masculine voice echoed in my head. That didn’t sound like Sara.

A vague feeling of amusement flowed through me.

I am not ‘Sara.’ When you White Mages still came to talk and bargain with me, you mostly called me the Great Dragon of the Last Frost.

Despite myself, I murmured, “Well, that’s majestic.”

It is, isn’t it?

A feeling of warm satisfaction flowed through me before a distinctly curious feeling went through me.

Still, you haven’t answered my question, what is a White Mage doing here so very far from home? Do you wish to renew our agreement? I suppose I might be amenable with a few concessions, of course.

“We had an agreement?” I murmured quietly, aware that Alina was not too far from me.

Yes. I gave the White Mages old claws and teeth, and they provided gold or, if I needed it, healing.

“That’s why I’m here, actually,” I muttered, “The King of the Kingdom of Glass has gotten ill, and I need a claw to heal him.”

Is one as young as you acting as an envoy for such a task? Your people must have great faith in you.

Something unexpectedly bitter welled in my gut, but I still responded calmly, “As far as I know, I’m one of the last White Mages.”

The warmth I felt faded, replaced by something else, twisting and curling.

The White Mages gone? Not possible.

Something dark and terribly sad swept through me, and I ignored the burning in my eyes as I felt grief that was not my own.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

It is I who is sorry, little leaf. I have been asleep for some time. Perhaps if I had woken earlier, I could have helped your people.

The emotions eased up and twisted slightly to a more palatable regret.

I will provide you with some of my discarded claws.

A roar echoed throughout the mountains, and I turned to see the ground far away from Alina, and I distorted and shifted as the earth slid to the side. A massive white claw emerged, thudding into the ground before the blue-scaled arm it was attached to flexed. A head emerged from the ground, and I found myself face-to-face with my first dragon.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Its head was massive with two slit yellow eyes longer than I was tall, set against a massive snout covered in dappled white and blue scales.

I vaguely noticed that Alina was sprinting at speed in my direction before she came to a stop standing in front of me protectively.

“Great Dragon,” she called out, though her voice cracked slightly, “We have a request?”

The Great Dragon of the Last Frost shifted its head, eyeing Alina before giving a massive gusty sniff.

Strange, your companion smells different than how a human should.

That was strange. Alina certainly looked very human. Okay, I looked human, too; maybe that wasn’t the best way to determine things.

“Stay behind me,” Alina murmured out of the corner of her mouth, gazing at the dragon defiantly.

The Dragon shifted and snorted again, looking at Alina with one eye and then the other.

Is it her bloodline, perhaps? What bloodline, though, would disturb me as such?

Another deep gale of a sniff, and then I saw the Dragon’s eyes widen, which was impressive considering how large the eyes were already.

The Golden Bloodline!

The Dragon reared back, and the temperature that was already cool dropped to frigid. Tendrils of icy blue began to gather around its mouth.

“Wait!” I cried out, slipping past Alina and putting myself in front of her.

Move aside, little leaf! I have unfinished business with this human!

I shook my head, gazing steadily at the Dragon.

Then I am sorry little leaf. Her bloodline is the enemy of mine! I don’t know what a Fire Dragon had to do with an heir of the Empire, but I cannot suffer her to live. Her line is why Dragons no longer reside within the Eastern continent. My people cry for justice.

It was then that two things happened.

A storm of ice-blue energy raced toward us, freezing and cracking the ground.

A red raging fire blew out from behind me, curving around my body, meeting the ice blue energy and halting its advance.

I was frozen momentarily, awed and dismayed as the energy met around me.

“We need to go,” Alina cried out, grasping my hand and yanking me to the side. Finally, the ice blue light broke through, shattering the spot where we had been standing in an explosion of stone.

How had things devolved this badly? I vaguely wondered before my eyes landed on the Dragon’s claws.

We still needed the claw. I slipped free from Alina’s hold and sprinted at the Dragon’s feet.

“Jamie!” Alina cried out, but she had no time to make another grab for me as the Dragon once again turned his mouth on her, the ambient temperature diving as a blue light flashed out, only to once again be met with red flame.

All of this meant that the Dragon paid no mind as I reached their frontal claw and drove my fist down in a white flash onto the nearest claw.

For a moment, I contemplated that trying to punch a Dragon’s claw off was possibly a foolish idea. My fist connected with the ivory talon, and with an ear-splitting crack, it kept breaking off a sizeable chunk of its talon.

I grabbed it, which was all the time I had as its tail whipped around, walloping me in the stomach and sending me flying into the air as the air was driven from my lungs.

I noticed vaguely that I had been launched so far that the mountaintop we had been on was no longer underneath me. I thought I wasn’t really afraid of heights, but now entering free fall toward the ground below, I realized that maybe the height hadn’t yet been alarming enough.

I wanted to scream, but honestly, I was far too petrified. That was when something or, more accurately, someone slammed into me, her red hair flying into my face.

Alina gripped me, flame jutted out from her left foot, and our descent slowed. We fell in spurts; the descent slowed by her fire before we thudded to the ground none too gently in a tangle of limbs.

Frantically I tried to scramble out of Alina’s grip to get eyes on the sky.

I could hear bellowing, and the mountain seemed to shake, but no dragon seemed to emerge into the sky. I reminded myself that only some parts of the dragon had actually come out of the ground and that it may be having trouble freeing more of itself.

“Jamie! Are you okay?” Alina asked, hands patting over me as she seemed to be trying to feel for a wound.

“I’m fine. Just winded. Are you okay?” I replied, trying and now succeeding to get out of Alina’s grip.

“I’m good,” Alina replied, hands dropping down as she took deep breaths, and I realized how exhausted she looked. I couldn't blame her if fire magic took anything out of you, as healing people did.

I looked around frantically, looking for Lord Balar. Still, I instantly realized that he would have been further down the trail by now, leaving us without transport and, from the sound of it, a Dragon that wanted to turn Alina into an ice cube.

Panic was beginning to sweep through my brain. What to do? What could I do? We needed to get away! We needed-

A sudden realization ran through me,

‘I will come when you call.’ The Sea Horse. Following instinct that made little sense to me, I raised two fingers to my lips and blew.

A sound emerged, but it wasn’t so much a whistle as a long flute-like note that echoed through the mountains and into the air.

“Jamie?” Alina had turned to me, looking understandably completely confused. I shook my head wordlessly and turned about the path looking for the Sea Horse. Did it hear me? Would it come? What if I was too far away?

The galloping of hooves sounded like thunder, and the air in front of me seemed to shimmer with blue light, and out from it emerged the Sea Horse which turned to me with intelligent eyes that I realized were a shade of silver so similar to my own eyes that they almost seemed identical.

The eyes almost seemed to speak to me, ‘Took you long enough. I was waiting.’

“Sorry,” I grabbed Alina’s hand, pulling her toward the horse, she looked utterly stunned by its appearance, and I could only think that in a world like this, someone would be more surprised by a horse than a dragon.

“What! Jamie, what are you? What is- “I didn’t give her time to finish lifting her off the ground with ease and placing her on the horse before leaping up in front myself.

“Go!” I cried out, and the world started to tear past us as we swept like the wind out of the valley.

The mountains ripped by us, the rocky terrain disappearing into the hard soil outside the mountains. The Sea Horse slowed to a gallop and then to trot before they came to a stop. In the distance, I could see the village we had come from though there was something off about the image, perhaps too much gold?

I shook it off, slipped off the Sea Horses' back with a deep, shaky breath, and patted the Sea Horses’ neck, “Thanks,” I murmured.

It wasn’t words, but I felt warm satisfaction, and the Sea Horse bumped its head against my chest. I chuckled and rubbed its head, realizing how soft its hair was and in awe of the ripples of blue that seemed to flow through it.

“Jamie?” a soft, questioning voice emerged, and I turned to see Alina looking at me, confusion flickering in her eyes. I realized I had no idea what to say to the girl. An explanation that sounded believable and, at the same time, did not reveal more than I wanted to. Furthermore, some things that the Great Dragon of the Last Frost had said bothered me. I looked at Alina, already drawing a ‘Golden Bloodline’ and a ‘Fire Dragon.’ conclusion in my head.

What would a Golden Bloodline have to do with except for the Empire of Gold? What exactly that bloodline did and who they were was still mysterious.

“Sorry, it’s nothing,” I said, not meeting her gaze directly; I was never the best at lying, “Did you have some questions?”

Hesitantly, almost shyly, Alina nodded, “How did you get us here?” she asked.

Well, that was probably the simplest of the questions I expected; I ruffled the Sea Horses' mane with my free hand that was still not clutched tightly to the chunk of claw, “My friend here. I assume you know who they are.”

Alina hesitated, then got off the Sea Horse, sliding off agilely.

“They’re a Sea Horse,” she said hesitantly, looking at them awed as she stroked the Sea Horses’ flank.

“Yeah,” I nodded, releasing a deep breath before looking back at the Sea Horse, “You know, I really should have asked, but do you have a name?”

The Sea Horse snorted as if indicate the obviousness of that question.

‘I do.’

Okay, that definitely was not my imagination at this point. Given that I had already ‘spoken’ to a dragon, I was starting to wonder what other animals were intelligent and could speak to me. Was it simply ‘magical’ animals that could talk, or did other animals speak? I hadn’t heard anything from the other horses we had ridden here.

“Can you tell me?” I asked.

The Sea Horse stood there and looked at me as if weighing my worth. A long minute passed, and I could not suppress the apprehension within me completely.

‘I am She-Who-Cuts-through-Azure-Sea.’

Wow. That was quite the name; I chuckled awkwardly, “Would Azure work?” I asked.

She shook her mane, looking about as contemplative as a horse could get, ‘It is acceptable.’

The warmth conveyed in those thoughts seemed to be more than acceptable, but I held my peace.

I turned to Alina, “Her name is Azure,” I said, not knowing why but feeling that it was important that I introduce her. The least I could do for Azure saving my life twice.

Alina nodded slowly, looking between me and Azure. “Did you just talk to her?” she asked slowly, and my stomach twisted.

Well, no point in denying the obvious, “Uh yeah.”

She frowned, looking at me, opening her mouth to speak, but she cut herself off as her eyes went further behind me, and her jaw dropped.

I turned and saw the village in the distance and was confused until I saw what looked to be a mass of golden metal moving towards it. Banners rose about the mass, which I now realized was people in golden armor. On the Banners was a red dragon impaled by a massive golden sword.

“They’re here,” mumbled Alina.

I didn’t need to ask because who else could it be but the Golden Empire?

“What do we do?” I asked Alina, but she did not respond. Emotions warred on her face, among them fear but, in a larger amount, pure rage.

She looked back at me for a moment, and the rage present on her face seemed to drop slightly, but the fury was still there, banked to coals.