20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
Kes
“Thank you for letting us drop in to visit you today,” I told Hurley as he showed Caspian and I into the lighthouse and the visiting area he’d set up on the ground floor.
“No thanks needed,” he replied as he gestured to the chairs right in front of one of the windows.
“I welcome the chance to do a bit of entertaining now that I have somewhere to host folks again. Living beneath the sea after spending decades on land was difficult to get used to, especially when any interaction with an outsider became cause for suspicion. I’ve got some refreshments ready, just let me grab them and I’ll be right with you. ”
I gingerly lowered myself into the chair, mindful of the double egg I carried.
In the last week bending had become an activity I no longer engaged in.
If I needed something from a low shelf or cabinet, I sat my ass down to get it.
Getting back up again wasn’t a challenge yet, as long as there was something nearby to offer the leverage I needed.
Otherwise, that egg started rearranging my insides with its pokey top, giggles accompanying every jab, like the twins were trying to remind me that they were there.
Like I could forget.
Every day I talked to them more, sang to them and read to them too.
Caspian and I took turns picking books when Mattias wasn’t home.
Papa always read them their bedtime stories though, even if we fell asleep before the stories were over.
I’d woken to find him reading to our bellies in the dead of night, after he’d returned from a patrol.
He’d pressed his fingers to his lips to keep me from saying anything that might wake Caspian, then went right back to reading.
Having the opportunity to see the inside of his lighthouse home now that he’d decorated it, was positively incredible.
He’d already turned it into a home. Shaped like a hexagon, with an open floor plan and winding staircase leading to each deck, the lighthouse truly was remarkable.
On the upper floors, there was a waist high wall that served as a barricade to prevent any accidents.
From this vantage point, I could see floor to ceiling bookshelves on the second one already housing some of the books he’d found since beginning to explore Dragon City.
“Here we go,” Hurley said as he placed a platter of tea, crispy shrimp, and seaweed wrapped vegetable rolls on the table. “Now, what was it that you wanted to speak with me about?”
Caspian’s hand shot out so fast I thought I’d missed it, but no, there was definitely a seaweed roll missing from the edge of a pile.
“Sooo good,” Caspian moaned around the first bite.
“You’ll have to excuse him, he’s eating for four,” I explained, while Hurley chuckled.
“Nothing to excuse,” Hurley said, waving at the air between us. “That’s all praise right there.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Caspian moaned.
“I was hoping you could tell us more about why you were living on land,” I explained.
“Before you came to live under the sea with us, we’d only see you twice a year,” Caspian explained. “When I asked why, the elders explained that you were one of The Watchers. When Kes asked me to tell him more about what The Watchers did, I’m afraid that I didn’t have much information to give him.”
“Because we’ve always lived apart from the rest of the herd and each other,” Hurley explained. “That was because of our love for those we left behind, not because of any conflicts among us.”
“I don’t understand,” Caspian said.
“I think I do,” I replied. “You were guardians, weren’t you? Watching for threats against the undersea kingdom that came at them from the air. Were your homes atop massive cliffs that allowed you to see everything between you and the horizon?”
“That they were,” Hurley said. “Have you encountered one of us before?”
“I think so, but I can’t be certain,” I explained. “That’s one of the reasons we came today.”
“Every member of The Watchers built his own tower from the stones we hauled to our perch. Nothing short of the very mountain falling out from underneath us was cause for a Watcher to desert his post. Even then our task was clear. Find a new vantagepoint, build a new tower, and resume the mission.”
“What was the mission?” Caspian asked, a second roll, along with several shrimp, having found their way onto one of the small plates Hurley had provided us with. “Besides keeping watch for danger?”
With the scent of those shrimp wafting up from the platter, my stomach soon growled, urging me to dig in and feed my growing dragonets.
“We kept an eye on what the humans were up to,” Hurley said as he selected one of the veggie rolls.
“How close their villages were to the shore. How they were treating the environment. When animals were in danger we intervened. We did our level best to retrieve any trash they threw into the sea or left littering the shorelines. Mostly though, we remained in our towers and watched for those who wished to enslave our people.”
“The Watchers were the reason we had time to hide before those early attacks came, weren’t they?” Caspian asked.
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
“I wish we could have done more and remained in the positions we held in such high honor,” Hurley said. “Being able to live here on this cliff and take up that role again is the best thanks I could ever have.”
“What forced you to return to the sea?” I asked.
“The Gorynych,” Hurley explained. “In their hunt to uncover why their efforts to capture the dragons of the sea were so unsuccessful, they discovered a tower. Many of us had modeled them after human lighthouses of times past, which is what allowed us to blend in for so long. To the humans, we were simply eccentrics living alone beside the sea. The Gorynych began sending scouts to live among seaside communities to ferret us out. One after the other, we were forced to abandon our towers to avoid capture.”
“Did all of you return to the sea?” I asked.
“No, very few did,” Hurley replied.
“What happened to the rest?”
“Some holed up in caves, attempting to keep watch from the shore so they’d have two methods of escape at their disposal. Others demolished their towers before the Gorynych arrived and sought refuge deep within the earth.”
“Were they always alone?” I asked.
Hurley cocked his head and nibbled on a piece of shrimp, quietly contemplating my question before answering.
“No. If memory serves, three of The Watchers found their mates while on land. I do not know if those mates were Seadragons or not. If they weren’t able to swim as deep as they would have needed to hide, then they’d have either fled or burrowed. ”
“So, they could still be there?” Caspian asked as he leaned, reaching for the platter.
I nudged it closer to his hand when it looked like he wasn’t going to be able to reach it, because with double the dragonets, he was rounder than I was.
“It’s entirely possible,” Hurley replied. “They’d have done what they needed to do to stay undetected and maintain their positions if it were possible.”
Nodding, I nibbled on a delicious vegetable roll, thinking about the recurring dream I’d had.
“Sometimes I pick up on the energy signatures of other dragons when they’re nearby,” I admitted.
“There’s one I’ve been dreaming about. Your lighthouse brought back the memory of one of the places my friends and I stayed at.
Rocky, coastal, with ruins on top of one of the cliffs that looked like it could have been a watchtower or lighthouse.
At the time I wasn’t connected fully to my dragon and didn’t realize he’d detected heartbeats beneath the earth.
In my dreams I hear them though. I’ve been trying to remember where we were when it happened. ”
“Well, I know the coastline we covered, so if you can remember where you’ve been and can get your hands on a map, I’ll see if I can’t identify the spot for you,” Hurley declared.
I’d come prepared. Not with Emerson’s maps, since I’d have been too afraid of damaging one of them and incurring his wrath.
I’d taken pictures of them, though and used the copy machine in Mattias’ office to print them so I could bring them with us today.
I passed Hurley the page and he rubbed his eyes and scooted forward in his chair, studying the first one, then the second, before laying them on the table.
“I’ll be right back,” he said as he stood. “I know I picked up a pack of those bright pens the humans love, oh damn, what are they called again.”
“I haven’t the foggiest idea,” Caspian replied, shrugging, a shrimp dangling from his fingertips.
“Highlighters?” I asked.
“Yes, those, thank you, they had a rather exquisite set when I was in town the other day. All the colors of the ocean. I know it’s around here somewhere.”
His voice drifted down the steps, followed by a shout minutes later, after he’d rummaged around for a bit.
“There you are. Now we can get to work,” Hurley muttered as he made his way back up to us.
“Those maps show one of the coastlines we set towers up on,” Hurley explained.
“Now I can’t pinpoint where everyone sets theirs up at.
I can only mark where mine was located and tell you that we’d been instructed to maintain a minimum of fifty miles between every tower.
When I set out onto the land, we were spread out a great deal more than that.
As more Watchers joined our ranks, the intervals were smaller, but we always maintained that fifty-mile rule.
I’m going to highlight our territory for you. Hopefully some of it looks familiar.”
Hurley worked slowly but methodically, including the islands on the map as well as the longer stretches of coast. Sometimes he paused and looked thoughtful, switched colors, making notes in the margin to denote what each stood for.
While he worked, I munched and studied my mate serenely sitting in his chair, one eye on the ocean.