Fugitive's Flight (Dragon Castaway Book 2)

Chapter 17

Jake let out a quiet sigh of disappointment as he watched the ground beneath him speed by before looking hopefully towards the rapidly approaching mountains in the distance. The soil here was far too hard for his intended purposes, he could only hope that higher elevations would yield the results he hoped for.

"You ever wonder if this whole odyssey we're on will only be chalked up to a fool's errand girl?" he muttered as he patted the back of Valkyrie's neck. He was loathed to admit it, but he was having serious doubts about this quest he was on.

He was not a naïve teenager anymore. Jake knew perfectly well that people didn't just change their ways and turn their backs on established history. At least not easily, not without a massive amount of blood watering the ground. And that, was precisely what he feared he was about to walk into, enough to make the blood that he'd already shed look like a small dribble on piece of paper.

He shuddered with worry as the full gravity of his situation finally began to sink in. Could he really shoulder the responsibility for that kind of suffering? Would the end truly justify the means he used to achieve it?

Spotting a thin forest clustered on top of a group of foothills surrounding the base of one of the larger mountains, Jake reached out through the link and Valkyrie began to descend rapidly.

"This looks like a better prospective location for a search" he muttered as he watched the dragon's massive claws dig into soft earth rather scrape against rock or hardened dirt.

Grasping his war lance in one hand he pressed the other onto Valkyrie's back to stabilize himself as he dismounted.

"Definitely more moisture around these mountains" he thought as his feet made contact with the soft dirt. "Couldn't see a major source of water from the air though, underground aquafers feeding the soil maybe?"

He shrugged off the internal monologue, willing to let the mystery remain unsolved as he tied an empty pouch to his belt. Whatever was feeding this part of the land didn't matter, what did matter was the possibility it nurtured what he needed and that he got his hands on it as soon as possible.

Motioning for Valkyrie to hole up in a small grove, Jake took off at sprint up the hill's shallow slope. As he reached the top, he paused for a moment to catch his breath and let out a small sigh as he leaned back against one of the thin trees that made up the forests in this land.

"I may not be psychic, but I don't need to be to see that you're troubled young one" a familiar voice crooned softly behind him.

"And right cue here comes my spirit animal, so much for being alone to clear my head" Jake thought wryly as he turned to face the all too familiar bearer of said voice. Sure enough, Tlaco had coalesced from a fine white mist. Her glowing ice blue eyes staring at him with concern that he swore could pierce into his very soul.

"What troubles you, my Archon?" she pressed, clearly determined to get to the heart of the matter.

"Oh, you know" Jake said with a slight shrug. "Just feeling the fate of the world resting on my shoulders and crushing me into dust, no biggie. The movies just never prepared me for exactly how heavy it would actually be. You of all deities know that they were never an accurate representation of the feeling."

"You're being melodramatic, but I admit that I do love a good binge-watching session" she agreed her gaze never wavering from him. "Putting all that aside I understood that it would be difficult, but I also believed that you can handle the strain. That's a big reason I chose you and why we never try to rely on young teenagers for this kind of work. You would not believe how fast they snap under that kind of pressure in the real multi-verse! Shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, especially a long-lived deity, yet some keep on trying like fools!"