Keeping Kaya: Book of Judan

"This isn’t going to work, Kaya," Oasis grumbled moodily.

"Got any other bright ideas, Captain?" Niji retorted. She turned back to Kaya and Yame, who were looking at Oasis with queer looks on their faces.

"I say we go back to the Meu building, where we were supposed to go," Oasis complained.

"The Book isn’t there," Yame said. "There’s no use."

"Is there any use here?" Oasis whined.

"Oasis, will you get some patience and shut your trap for a moment?" Niji said angrily. The way Oasis complained reminded her of a two-year-old.

Kaya rubbed the ribbon across the back of the page, and once more blue letters sparkled as the ribbon rubbed across them. That Shea was one smart girl. Kaya would have never have thought to keep this information in such secrecy. Once the letter were finally decoded, they read:

Travel to the peak of fame

Keep this page handy- you’ll need a name

"What’s the ‘peak of fame’?" Niji asked.

"Are you kidding? You don’t know what that is? What’s the most important mountain in Judan?" Kaya asked.

"Mount Kiji?" Yame guessed.

"Yeah. But there’s one problem- I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not a mountain climber," Kaya said.

"Getting up Kiji will be a problem," Niji said, disheartened. She loved Judan the way it was just like the rest of them, but she wasn’t exactly a mountain climber either.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Oasis protested, holding his hands out palms facing up. "Who said we’re even going up Mount Kiji?"

Yame was tired of Oasis’s immature negative comments. "Oasis, do you think this is some kind of hoax or something?" he asked, waving the paper in Oasis’s face.

"What? No!" Oasis blurted.

"Do you think this would lead us in the wrong direction?" Yame tested, waving it again in front of Oasis’s eyes.

"No, of course not!" Oasis said, looking offended and confused.

"Then it’s settled- we’ll find a way up Mount Kiji. We just need to think of one, which would probably exclude you," Yame said, attempting a joke.

A snort in the background sent a puff of smoke above the treetops. All of the gang looked up, but Yame was the only one who was gritting his teeth to stop from groaning. Everyone else was wondering who it was, but Yame was trying to force the answer out of his mind. Surely it couldn’t be them…

"Woo-hoo! We found ‘em, Reck ol’ boy, we found ‘em!" a voice cried, sounding much like a rodeo cowboy, but this figure was far worse in Yame’s mind. Why did he have to come now…

"Oh no," Yame groaned.

"Isn’t that Ade?" Oasis asked, watching another puff of smoke rise, bigger and closer now. He could actually smell the smoke, it was getting so close and drifting that far.

"Right in one," Yame moaned. "But what he’s doing here, I don’t think anybody knows. No wonder he got here so fast- he’s riding Reck, one of the battle dragons."

"Zain’s got dragons in his army?" Kaya asked nervously.

"Precious few. Ade’s riding Reck, but Reck can’t blow fire. He can only blow smoke, but I’m not worried about the dragon as much as the one riding on it," Yame replied.

Oasis looked down on Yame. He had heard about Ade, and knew that few grudges were held against him. "You’re worried about Ade?" he asked.

Yame gritted his teeth harder. "It surprises me more than it does you, Oasis," Yame said through bared teeth.

"Should we run?" Niji asked, her eyes never leaving the smoke puffs in the sky.

"No. He’ll just follow us. Just let him come," Kaya said. Yame looked at Kaya with sad eyes, but immediately turned back around. The dragon was in sight now. The shadow was only a sliver from the dragon. The scales were tealish {leaning more on the green side}, and they covered a slim, wingless body, only stopping at points where whiskers were growing out of Reck’s face. There was two on his face, four on his sides and six on his tail, dragging behind like flags. Small feet were jutted behind him, but came forward like landing gear as he landed. Small smoke puffs erupted from his nostrils, which were relatively small and narrow, and although everything in the dragon’s deep blue eyes screamed "friendly", the four couldn’t help but be intimidated by the dragon’s sheer size. The dragon hit the dirt with no sound, but the group could feel the vibrations dance up their backbone, shaking them like maracas. Ade leaped off, brushed his front off, then looked cheerfully up at all of them.

"You ran quite a way, Yame," Ade cried. "I’m glad I thought of scourging the skies before searching for you on foot."

Niji started growling. "What do you want, Hedgehog? We don’t have room for one more to come along."

"Niji, quiet!" Yame whispered through gritted teeth, but it was too late. Ade had heard her loud and clear. Ade rubbed his dirty blonde hair, which had grown past his shoulders, making him look like a shaggy werewolf.

"Come along where?" Ade asked suspiciously. "Where are you hightailing it to now, hm? Another village? If so, you might find yourself with Zain again. He made his move about an hour ago. All of his armies are marching up to the villages, and he’s dragging everyone up to Kiji’s side and he’s making them all proclaim him as Emperor tonight."