After the success at finding
Razzak, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Now that they knew what to
look for, the rest of the shrines should be easier. They put Razzak
on display in front of the Colosseum.
“Is he going to come alive
in the middle of the night?” asked Bending Chalice.
“No, not if you mean is he
going to fly around and spit fire,” answered Dalfgan. “The
shrines are like computers that monitor the dragons and keep track of
how strong they are.”
“Then do they do anything,
or just sit there?”
“They don't move. The
inscription says they help the dragons form a power orb like the one
Thornbark has. He is our strongest dragon, and I don't think any of
the others could do that without help. The shrines give them extra
energy. Maybe not all the time, but just when they reach certain
stages.”
“Do you have any idea
where the other dragons are?” Spiderdog wondered. “I mean, it says
places in the poem, but where are they?”
“Where are the shrines?”
Dalfgan answered. “Oh, I can show you on the big orb, and we have a
pretty good idea which one is where.” They went downstairs into
the office and Dalfgan moved the orb to show a view of Greece. “Labels on,” he said. “Ok, this is Greece; it has a
mainland part, and all these little islands off to the east. That big
country east of the islands is Turkey. You see how this little neck
of land divides Greece into north and south? Mount Olympus where we
found Razzak is on the east coast of that north part, right there.
You remember the story about Freecha making Razzak leave the Verulean
Lowlands?”
“Yeah,” said Spiderdog,
“she was friends with the ship guys and she and all the Airs chased
him out.”
“Yes. If you follow the
coast up a little to the north shore of the sea, there is the city of
Veroia. All this part by the water is the Verulean lowlands.”
“And all the mountains up
there are the highlands?”
“Right. So we found Razzak
on the tallest mountain around, and Freecha ought to be not too far
away. A little bit south of Olympus, you see that long island shaped
like a seahorse? With its head on the west; that's Euboea, where we
were telling stories on the beach.”
“Hey! It does look kind of
like a seahorse,” laughed Bending Chalice. “It has a fat tummy.”
“Yes, the tummy almost
touches the mainland; that's where we watched the tide go back and
forth through the Narrows. Now look at this little island right above
it.”
“Skyros.” read Spiderdog.
“Oh! That's one of them!”
“What do you want to bet
the Air shrine is on Skyros? Air and sky? I think it is. And I think
the Metal shrine is on Euboea, because the ancient Greeks mined iron
and copper there. Olympus-Euboea is in the fat tummy part of the
seahorse.”
“Then Lesvos is that big
triangular island over by Turkey,” put in Bixby. “It's so lush and
green it's called the Emerald Island. I think the Plant shrine is
there.”
“And the last Greek site,”
added Dalfgan, “is Arcadia, right in the middle of the south part
of Greece. It's high and mountainous, so the best guess for it is the
Earth shrine.”
The kids voted to find
Freecha first. The north end of Skyros was a tract of small
pine-covered mountains, of which Olympus-Skyros was the tallest. The
detector picked up a trace very quickly, and a red glow appeared as
soon as the children called Freecha's name. “Wow! That's fast,”
marveled Lewis. “The poem says Freecha is one of the quick ones;
looks like it's right.” It wasn't long before they were moving her
statue into place next to Razzak's.
Slameg the Singer was next.
While Mohs and Olivine were circling Olympus-Euboea with the
detector, Tim stood looking moodily out over the water. He was always
interested in explosions, and this one had been big. PonytailGirl
walked up to him and asked, “That's the Scar of the World, isn't
it?”
“Yes,” Tim replied. “It
looks different because we were at a different place last time, over
west by the Narrows. But that's it.”
“Was that the middle of
the explosion, the narrow part?”
“No. Well, no one knows
where the middle was, but the middle would be a huge pit, and that's
the least blown up part. I wonder where it was. Let's find out!” he
said. “Hey! Vander!”
“Mom!” PonytailGirl
called, “I'm going with Tim!”
“You can't,” she called
back, “they just found the spot. Come call the dragon.”
“We're looking for the
epicenter of the Scar,” Tim told Vander, “and we need another
person to triangulate. Bixby! Come on!” They went down to the shore
to take measurements.
Olympus-Euboea
is mostly grassland, but there is a forested patch on the north,
where the detector reacted. The children called Slameg but he didn't
respond. “I know! He likes music,” BlazeDragon said, “let's
play our flutes!” By the time they had retrieved the flutes and
started to play, Tim had seen enough of the east gulf.
“There
have been a lot of little earthquakes here,” he said, “but this
isn't the epicenter.”
“There
are some pretty famous hot springs at the west end of the island,”
offered Bixby. “It might be hard to dodge the tourists, but it
seems a likely spot.” About the time they were scanning the vents
where hot springs bubbled up underwater near the beach, the flute
players were being rewarded by a red glow from Slameg, and the hidden
doors were appearing.
“Well,”
said Tim, “there was a big earthquake here 2500 years ago, but this
isn't the center of the Scar. I think it's somewhere in between the
places we've looked.” They moved to a deserted spot on the shore,
halfway between the west end and the Narrows, downhill from a
mountainous, forested area with rocky canyons and a deserted open
pit mine.
“There've
sure been a lot of earthquakes here!” Vander exclaimed after the
first scan.
“Focus
deeper,” said Tim. “Ahh...a magma chamber...it's five miles down!
This is it!”
The
camouflaged doors opened, the ruby eyes of the statue glowing bright
red. As Slameg came awake, he woke up another Metal dragon that happened to
be on the island, sleeping in an unflooded section of the open pit
mine. He jerked awake, disoriented, and lumbered out of the mine,
knocking over a few buildings that got in his way. He was hit by a
falling tower and turned fiercely, smashing it down with his heavy
tail. Then he crashed his way over the crest of the mountain and
down towards the gulf, trailing tree limbs and a twisted piece of steel
that had gotten stuck in his back plates.
Vander
was the first to notice the disturbance. “What is that?” he
asked. He couldn't see the dragon; only a progression of trees
falling in, like a landslide moving down the mountain. But he could
hear the roar.
Bixby
took a reading of the hillside. “It's an animal, a big one. It's a
dragon! What...it looks like a Plant.” Then, as the creature
emerged into a clear area, “What kind is that?”
“I don't care what kind it
is, just stop it charging!” yelled Tim. Bixby tried the calming
field he used on Plant juveniles, but the dragon was too irate. He tried
weaving trees and vines around it to tangle it up but it pulled free.
Vander called Dalfgan, who
sent Dickinson to try the effect of a Metal Boost. Metal and Plant being opposites, a Metal Boost should weaken a Plant dragon. It didn't help.
“Wait a minute!” he exclaimed. “This is a Metal dragon. Try a
Plant Boost.”
“No, it's a Plant,”
Bixby said, “a Boost will make it worse. Oh! I see! It's an
opposite hybrid!” He tried a Plant Boost but it didn't help either.
“Well then, I've got
another idea that usually works on Metals.” Dickinson did something
to his Metal orb and suddenly the music of Metallica blasted out. The
dragon turned towards Dickinson and stopped fighting. It put
its head down and began eating the tangle around its feet. “Iron
Maiden works too,” grinned Dickinson. The dragon tore some tree
roots out of the ground with its tusks and ate them.
While it was distracted,
Bixby and Dickenson took further readings and decided it was a
Malachite dragon. “He's a rare one all right,” said Bixby. “I'd like
this guy on the island.”
Before they left Euboea Tim shared his news. "We know why the ancient corundum stele blew up. It was sitting
on top of a magma chamber, keeping it from erupting."
"Whoever messed with it was pretty foolhardy," added Vander. "It was like taking the lid off a pressure
cooker. It blew out rather spectacularly, and there have been lots of smaller earthquakes ever since.”
Finding Thornbark and
Zector went pretty quickly. Olympus-Lesvos was not a busy place
and easy to visit unnoticed. A paved road wound through forested
lower levels up to radio towers on the rocky peak. They didn't
even have to use the detector; Thornbark was another easy one. The children called him and he
woke up immediately. “That's him!” exulted Bixby. “He's just
like our Thornbark!”
Evening was coming, but the
wizards decided to go to one more shrine that day.
Olympus-Arcadia had a full-fledged archaeology dig going on and there
were a lot of people around, but they were starting to pack up and
leave. The mountain had two peaks; an altar to Zeus was on the lower
one, and a shrine to Pan and an ancient sports arena were at the
foot. There were no trees, just low scrubby plants and grasses. To
keep from being noticed by the archaeologists, the wizards let the Fog
dragons come in before they started exploring.
Mohs was teaching Yogo to use the detector. "Wouldn't you like to find the Water statue yourself?" he asked. He had her hold the base while he showed her how the levers worked. She ran the detector through its settings but nothing registered, so she gave it back. He searched the other side of the mountain and found Zector hidden in the higher peak. Now they had five shrines. Kroll started designing a display garden.
Mohs was teaching Yogo to use the detector. "Wouldn't you like to find the Water statue yourself?" he asked. He had her hold the base while he showed her how the levers worked. She ran the detector through its settings but nothing registered, so she gave it back. He searched the other side of the mountain and found Zector hidden in the higher peak. Now they had five shrines. Kroll started designing a display garden.
