Alexis Glaciermage's Arc

Chapter 12 of 13

They rowed back to the ship with the small rainbow shape curled on Alexis's shoulder and the gold one tucked in Rikki's coat. The crew lined the rail in silence as the pair climbed aboard. The rainbow dragon lifted its head, tasted the air, and sprang from her shoulder before she could speak. It flew straight up the mainmast and landed on the lookout platform high above the sails. Its claws gripped the rail. Its head swung north, then east, then locked. It did not move again. Alexis flew up after it. From the perch she felt the wind it was watching — a steady pull off the open water, not the wind they had come in on. Rikki called up from the deck. "Where is it pointing us?" Alexis pulled the brown leather collar from her belt — the trade piece with the small black box that turned beast-sound into words — and fastened it loose around the dragon's neck. She tapped the box. The dragon made a low sound. The box clicked once and said, plainly, "East by north. Hold it." Alexis dropped down to the deck and walked to the carved dragon at the prow. She set her paw on its cold snout. "East by north," she said to Rikki. "It won't break the heading." Rikki's mouth pulled tight, then eased. He had not told her, but she had seen him studying the chart that morning. East by north was the line he had been trying to plot for a week. The dragon had handed him his own course. Rosa came up from below with the ship's log. Raihan took the wheel without waiting for the order. The crew moved on the new heading before Alexis called it. She watched the rainbow dragon settle on its high perch like it had always been there. Something had shifted under her paws. The course was hers to read, still — but the choosing of it now sat on a smaller creature than herself. She climbed back up to stand beside it. The wind pushed east by north and held. Below, Rikki was already laughing with the helm. Whatever waited on that heading was his to find, and the dragon had given it to him, not to her.