Page 52 of Sapphire Seas

“What if I add fire and bake the mud?” Odem asked. “That would buy extra time to ground more of them before Mattias and Caro unleased the mudslide.”

“Perfect. Now imagine their surprise if instead of lightning bolts hurling out of the sky at them, it started raining fireballs and water spears?” Ionus asked.

“Or giant stalactites,” Caro added.

“Now you’re thinking,” Ionus said. “This is what I brought us here to discuss this morning. It would be easy to hide the four of you behind a massive storm and force our enemies to try to fight their way through it if they wish to do battle with us. You all need to work with your mates too. Caro, would you like to explain what Emerson discovered?”

“Yes,” Caro replied. “Since my brilliant mate has been hard at work researching the theories that have been presented regarding the Gorynych and why they are attempting to gain control over Dragonkind. We all know that a thirst for power and control is behind it all and always has been, but Emerson believes it goes deeper than that. Look at the way they’ve targeted the young. Capturing them, controlling them, attempting to make the strongest a part of their colonies while casting out or killing the weakest amongst them, including their own.”

“Especially their own,” Ionus grumbled.

“The whole thing is fucked,” Odem grumbled.

“This is one of those times when your crass words are fitting,” Ionus replied.

“Emerson’s theory, and I happen to agree with him on this,” Caro said, “is that the Gorynych line is dying out and more than anything, they are desperate to save it. They know they cannot produce offspring with the mates they steal, but they hold them anyway as a means of controlling the children so that they can raise them to adulthood as one of them.”

“And indoctrinate them in the process,” Quint deduced, “in the hopes that they will find mates among the Gorynych and return the power they believe they’ve lost. Emerson has spoken at length with Torin on several occasions, he keeps coming up with more questions for him and my mate had jumped at the opportunity to provide him with all the answers he can to help fill in the gaps in the history records.”

“They’ve grown desperate as more dragons attempt to hide from them and conceal their young,” Ionus said. “I believe that our talk with Noir this afternoon is going to shed even more light on what the Gorynych have been up to. That’s why we need to continue to brainstorm and look for ways that we can start taking them out once and for all. It isn’t enough to protect our own lands any longer. They have gone unchecked for too long. I believe this is why the Goddess has finally sent our mates to us. She knew we’d need them if we were to restore the freedom of all dragons before other lines were wiped out.”

“I’ve been thinking of ways to use Quint’s venom in a more targeted assault,” I said. “When we were beneath the ocean, I was able to direct it at the lampreys so no other creatures were harmed. What if we were to encase it in the same bubbles I use for my water bombs?”

“Demonstrate?” Ionus demanded, stepping well out of the way as Quint and I moved forward.

The bubble I made for Quint was solid water he held carefully in his hands, until he realized that it would not break merely from his touch, even when he poked it with a claw. The water dented and bulged, but did not pop like the soap bubbles the dragonets blew. I watched the water grow darker as Quint sent his elemental venom into the shimmering blue orb, then clear again as he drew it back out.

“May I see that bubble?” Ionus asked.

When I handed it to him, Ionus studied it for almost a minute before a mischievous look crossed my stoically cynical older brother’s face. Before any of us could blink, he threw it at Odem’s feet, water and electricity exploding everywhere when it struck the ground in front of him.

“Now we have two ways to use it,” Ionus declared as Odem squawked, sputtered, then laughed, because he knew that was some shit he’d have done had the opportunity arose.

“Nicely done,” Odem said, clapping as he bent to brush water off his jeans.

“What made you think to encase my venom in a bubble?” Quint asked, a brilliant grin on his face as well.

For years, my brother had been searching for a way to harness his element. It pleased me to have found a way to help him. I hoped he felt the same way once I shared with him where I’d gotten the inspiration from.

“There’s a cartoon my mates love, about a sponge who wears pants,” Mattias explained.

“SpongeBob! I love watching that!” Odem yelped.

“Of course you do,” Ionus said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Firebug dragonets would never test his patience as much as our brother had while we’d been growing up.

“Yes, well, then you know how many things get suck in SpongeBob’s bubbles,” I pointed out.

“Even Squidward’s house,” Odem said, doubling over with laughter. “The way SpongeBob and Patrick stood there calling his name before it floated away was classic. It falling to the ocean floor in pieces was the last thing they expected.”

“I don’t understand what the two of you are going on about,” Ionus declared, “aside from that last part, which is exactly what we want to have happen.”

“Do you think I could combine my element with your storm to produce our own lethal form of acid rain?” Quint mused.

Now that the door had been opened, I could see the wheels turning.

“At this point, I believe that anything we do to combine our elements will be possible as long as we focus our efforts,” Ionus said. “Raven tried to show us before but I think we were too focused on the elemental portions as opposed to specialty traits such as Quint’s venom.”