Chapter 4

Since it was still the middle of the afternoon, Aya and Beatrice still had time before setting off towards their destination. "Are you interested in something to eat?" Beatrice asked. Aya smiled. "Of course, what kind of a question is that?" The werewolf grabbed her companion's hand and dragged Beatrice past the many stalls that were selling food. "Everything smells so good!" Aya sniffed the air, taking in all the smells coming from the many different vendors. "Are you interested in getting anything, Beatrice?" Beatrice gave her a confused expression. "Are you sure? I don't want you to go through the trouble." Aya stopped at a stall that was selling sweet smelling cakes. "Do you like sweet food?" Beatrice blushed slightly. "...perhaps."

The two women sat down on a small bench to eat their cakes. "It's nice not worrying about anything except how much cake can I fit into my mouth!" Aya said, taking a huge bite of vanilla cake. The maid giggled softly. "You really are something, Miss Aya." "Can I ask you something, Beatrice?" Aya asked. The maid sat down on a bench and nodded. "How exactly did you know that we were gonna need a mouse? Did you know Malcom was a cat?" Beatrice paused. She stared at her food. "You... seem to like asking questions about me..." she muttered. "Aw, come on, I was just curious." Aya sat down next to her companion with a confused look on her face.

"The thing is," Beatrice admitted. "is that, well, I have this ability." Aya raised an eyebrow. "I... I can see the future, Miss Aya. It might sound foolish, but I tell the truth!" "I told you I was strange..." Aya shrugged. "How are you strange? You're really not." Beatrice gave her a weak smile. "Thank you. You don't have to hide what you really feel. You can be honest with me." Aya stared at the maid. she stared at those blue eyes. It was almost as if they were feeling an extreme amount of guilt. "I like to write down what I see, as to not forget, you know?" Beatrice took out the small journal from her pocket. "So that's what you've been using for." Aya said. Beatrice nodded. "I enjoyed our cake, Miss Aya, but it'd best if we head back soon. I don't want Mistress Emilia to worry."

As the sun began to set, Beatrice and Aya went back to their room in the inn. Emilia was starting to stir from her bed. "Aya, could you leave us be for a few moments? I need to discuss some things with Beatrice." Emilia asked. She looked dazed, almost as if she was not completely there. "Uh sure." she muttered and without another word, stepped out of the room. As Aya began to head downstairs for something to do, she heard a strange noise from their room. It sounded like Beatrice, but she was sucking in air through her teeth. What was going on in there? Her hand hovered over the door knob. Did she dare to go back inside? A loud thump was the que for Aya to swing the door wide open.

Beatrice was slumped over on the chair seemingly asleep. Emilia's mouth had a small smear of blood upon it. Her white shirt had her top buttons undone and her hair was not combed. Aya's face turned a deep crimson. Emilia turned towards the door. She stood up quickly and began buttoning her shirt. "I apologize that you had to see that." she said. "I didn't see anything." Aya admitted. It was the truth, after all. All she was was an extremely attractive vampire. She turned away from Emilia, trying not to show her beet red face.

The girls packed their belongings and headed towards the sea ports. "Do you know which boat we need?" Aya asked. "I know a man to get a boat from." Emilia said. She pointed to a small wooden shack that was next to a dock of small wooden boats. Aya raised an eyebrow. "It'll just be the three of us, correct? Why get something that will just take up space?" "I mean, I guess..." Aya muttered. They went inside the small shack that claimed to be a shop. A skinny man in a white shirt and blue pants was dozing upon his counter. "Excuse me?" Emilia asked, jolting the man awake. "Oh, uh, how can I help you, young man?" "I believe we're here for our boat?" Emilia's eyes glimmered. The man looked dazed, then said "Follow me." He took the girls towards the dock. "Did she just-" Aya began to ask, but Beatrice put a finger on her lips. "Please don't question it, Miss Aya." she said. "It's just what she does." Aya rubbed her neck with her hand.

The man stood in front of the party's new boat. It was a small fishing boat, big enough for around 10 people to walk on comfortably. A white sail with a blue mermaid fluttered softly in the breeze. "A ship of our very own!" Beatrice exclaimed. "This will be oh so exciting!" The three boarded the fishing boat and began to set sail. "I've only been on a ship when I was only a little girl! I'd never imagine that we would own one!" Beatrice looked around the main deck of the ship with the innocent energy of a child. A gust of wind was enough to unfurl the sail and pretty soon, the vessel was on their way from the mainland.

The boat drifted along the starry night. Emilia pulled out her compass. "Right on course." she said. The breeze made the boat move across the ocean. All of a sudden, Aya saw something in the distance. "Cave ahead!" Aya exclaimed. Sure enough, a dark cave was looming in front of the boat's path. "Best get out the lights, Beatrice." Emilia told her maid, who immediately went to grab the necessary supplies. The once luminescent sky was replaced by the darkness of a damp, rotten cave. The silence could only be broken by the occasional dripping from the stalactite from above Beatrice lit a candle and raised it in the air. "Gosh, it's dark in here." That's when Aya smelt it.

A powerful stench wafted through the air. Aya coughed at the foul smell. "Do you smell that?" Aya asked. Emilia and Beatrice looked at each other. "I don't smell anything." Beatrice said. Emilia, on the other hand, sniffed the salty air. "It smells like... fish blood?" she remarked. A sudden rumble came from beneath the ocean. "Hang on!" Emilia yelled, grabbing a nearby railing. Large waves crashed over the side of the boat. The shadow of a large, long creature rose out of the water. The girls stared in horror. The tiny ship was floating under the shadow of a massive, sea serpent. It's black and red scales glistened by the overhead moon. Aya gripped the side of the boat. "What do we do?!"

Emilia brandished her rapier. "We must do what all great heroes did before: we fight!" she exclaimed, charging at the monster. "Are you mad?! We'll get killed by that monster!" Aya yelled. "Fortunately for me, I already died!" the vampire stuck her rapier in-between two of the serpent's scales. It screeched in pain as it wiggled and writhed as to get Emilia off. Aya was frozen. What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to defeat a beast of that size? She looked around franticly, trying to come up with any semblance of a plan. She glanced up towards the roof of the cave and the stalactites

"Emilia! I got a plan!" Aya yelled. "Grab me!" Aya demanded. "Excuse me?!" "Trust me! Grab me and toss me up!" "Now you're the one that's trying to get killed!" By the faintest hint of trust, Emilia tossed Aya up into the air. She reached for a long stalactite as best as she could, only grabbing it by the tip of her nails. Using all her strength, she chipped a crack in the pointed rock with the dagger. The stalactite began to shake and crumble. "Steady..." she aimed it towards the serpent's eye. A large crack echoed through the cave and down plunged one werewolf and one sharp rock into the eye of an angry sea monster.

A spurt of black blood came from the sea monster's eye. The serpent wiggled and writhed, causing waves of water to splash over the tiny fishing boat. "You have to finish it!" Beatrice screamed. "We're trying to!" Aya clung onto the stalactite as hard as she could. It wasn't easy with the monster thrashing its head back and forth. Emilia, on the other hand, had made it to the monster's neck. She pierced the neck with the rapier. The black blood poured from the black and red scales. With a final howl, the sea serpent plunged into the waters for the last time. It was finally dead.

After a few seconds, Aya and Emilia popped up out of the water. "Ahaha! We did it!" she laughed and grabbed the vampire in a tight hug. "I... guess we did!" Emilia admitted. She didn't know if she was embarrassed or ecstatic. It was then that she noticed Beatrice was staring at something? "Beatrice?" she pointed towards a spot near where the girls were swimming. They quickly went back into the boat and stared with Beatrice. It wasn't bubbles she was looking at. It was a pair of eyes, and they were staring right at her. A gnarled, hard hand slowly came out of the water. It was a pink color and was covered with jagged pieces of rock. "What is that?" Emilia took a step back. "Is this another monster we must deal with?"

A small head popped out of the cave's waters. The three women were taken aback. It appeared to be the head of a child, but instead of flesh, its skin was pink and jagged. Its eyes were glassy and round, as if their eyes were made from pearls. "H-hello." Beatrice stuttered. The child turned towards the dead sea serpent, then saw that Emilia's rapier was stained with blood. She grabbed the side of the boat and in one swift movement, she jumped back onto the vessel. The girls stepped back from the child. It took a few steps forwards, staring at Emilia.

"Are you... made out of coral?" Aya asked. The child looked confused. "Do you understand me?" she asked, only to be greeted by the same confused face. "I'm guessing you don't." she muttered. Looking around, she found a nice, big scale that had fallen off the serpent. She grabbed it a drew three figures in the ship. "This... is us." Aya pointed to herself and the others. The child nodded. "We have this ship," she continued, "and we were attacked!" she scribbled a horribly designed squiggle that was supposed to be the sea serpent. "But we defeated the monster! And then you came along!" she drew three figures standing next to a smaller figure. The child pointed to the small figure. "You. That's you." Aya pointed at the child. Its pearl eyes looked at Aya. It cooed in a high pitched voice.

Aya then drew a small oval in one of the figure's hands. "Egg. I have an egg." Aya made flapping motions with her hands. "It's a dragon egg. I think..." The child put two of his fingers in his mouth and gave a sharp whistle. No sooner had he whistled that the water started to bubble. "What did you do?!" Aya asked in a fearful tone. She was only met by the child giving her a knowing smile. An arm similar to the child's shot out of the water and grabbed the boat. Another hand helped pull this new figure out of the water and onto the fishing boat. It was a man, but just like the child, the man's skin was made out of dark red coral and his eyes were blue pearls. The child made several clicks and gurgling sounds to the man. He turned to the girls, a soft kindness in his eyes.

"Hello there, dear travelers." "Are you the child's father?" Emilia asked. The man nodded. "Laz might be curious, but he has a big heart." he explained. He wrapped his arm around Laz's shoulder. "He told me that you mentioned something about a dragon?" The three women looked at each other. "We did, but I'm not entirely sure what you could do, sir." Beatrice said. The man sighed. "You might not remember this, but there was a time where dragons roamed this earth. And not just in the skies like in the stories your parents told you. No, dragons also lived deep beneath the sea." The man sighed and stared deep into the water. "They kept the sea creatures safe from harm, be it large or small. But as you might have guessed, dragons are no longer among us."

The man turned towards the party. "It would be my greatest wish to bring the dragons back. How do you plan to do this?" "Well we had possession of a dragon egg and it was our goal to bring it back in order to bring the dragons the idea of peace. But our egg got stolen from us by an assassin." The man nodded in understanding. "I take it you need all the help you can get." Aya sighed. "You could say that." The man turned to Laz and said something in their language. The child held out its hand. Its fingers were webbed like a frog's. He started to blow a bubble from his mouth and onto their hand. When it was large enough, the child gave it to Aya. It didn't pop when she touched the smooth sphere. The child motioned her to place it on her head. Nodding, she slid the bubble onto her head in one slick motion. "Amazing! I can breath in here!" The child gurgled in a manner similar to laughter. "I believe I have exactly what you need. All you need to do is follow me under the sea."