Page 64 of Sapphire Seas

“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.”