Adventures in Summoning

Chapter 30

Being kicked out of bed in a panic isn't the best way to start the day, I don't recommend it. But we were able to get everything packed up quickly, and then get back out into the surf to keep travelling. Quin said we were less than half a day from the palace, and she was right on in her estimate, we came within sight of the huge island just as we were starting to hear our stomachs rumble for lunch. I had really been hoping for a royal feast of some sort as a reward for bringing Quin home!

All the islands we'd seen so far were low, and only as tall as the trees on them. This world must not have the hurricanes and typhoons that our earth does, or the villages would have been wiped out ages ago. But the island with the palace on it was entirely different, we could see that from a long way away. Several huge mountains jutted skyward in the middle of the island and were surrounded by the familiar fruit loop palms creating a striking visual contrast. I was in awe of the island, and we hadn't even landed yet. No wonder they chose this place to create their palace.

We slowed down as we approached, as there were several fishing boats out in the water, and I didn't want to swamp them with the wave. This was the first we'd seen of the locals, and I was enthralled by their appearance. At first glance, they were simple bipedal lizards, but with a variety of colors in their scales. Most were of a blue or green hue, but with a wide variety of fins, back ridges, and horns. They were cautious of us humans and shied away when they first saw us. But then they saw Quin and immediately changed their attitude and waved and cheered. I could only imagine how terrifying three humans would normally be to them after all the attacks.

I had the elementals gently deposit us on the end of the fishing pier, and we slowly strode towards a set of stone stairs that rose up into the mountains. We would have walked faster, we were in a hurry after all, but Quin seemed to be quite popular with the locals and drew quite the crowd, mostly children who whooped and cheered for her. She stopped to say hi to several of the villagers but did move along when she could. I could tell she loved the citizens that she protected though, and it was heartwarming to know that she was still my mate and was such a good ruler.

Damn, who knew I'd be head over heels for a dragon?

"This is the Isle of the Horn since the mountains stick up like dragon horns. It has been the site of our palace for as long as the dragons can remember," Quin explained.

"It is stunning," I murmured with a smile.

The steps were high and wide, obviously designed for the dragons, and not humans, so the climb was a little bit uncomfortable. I kept stumbling on the stairs along with Dee and Helen, while Quin would try not to chuckle. I really needed an elevator. We all, other than Quin of course, had worked up quite the sweat by the time we reached the top of the stairs.

The structure that greeted us there wasn't at all what I had expecting. Maybe I was still influenced by human art and various movies, but I had expected a cave or a stronghold castle of some sort. Instead, I was greeted with something that looked much more like the acropolis in Greece, with columns of marble, multiple buildings connected with colonnades, gardens and fountains, and a bronze gate with bars that was guarded by two dragons. They didn't have a black hide like Quin, but more of a dark green, and were both shorter by at least a foot.

They snapped to attention when they saw Quin and bowed their heads, while keeping an eye on us humans. The one on the right growled at us, and I couldn't really blame him. "These are my guests Goldar. If I hear you growl at any of them again, you'll be attacking the enemy by yourself. Is that understood?" Quin snapped at him with an edge to her voice. She was certainly the one in charge here.

"Yes Princess, I'm sorry. I was just caught by surprise," The guard apologized softly.

"I understand that, but if they're with me then you can be assured that they mean you and us no harm. As surprising as it may seem, these humans are allies, not enemies," Quin said, slightly softer.