Here Be Dragons: Book 1 of the Emergence Series

"Before we begin the lessons today, I'd like to tell everyone about my plan. There are seventeen days until the arrival of the Daybreak, so there's lots of time to change things if needed."

"Good, tell us your plan," Devotion said as Fortitude bobbed her head in agreement.

"Alright." Pryce cleared his throat as he brought out the map once again.

"The Daybreak will try to go here on day 100," he said, pointing to the eastern coastline at the latitude of 22.5°N. "The Horizon is currently here, 100 kilometers away from Fathom's home. We'll need one day to fly back to the ship, another day to bring the ship back here, and then another day to get to our destination in the north. This means we should go get the ship on day 94, come back on day 95, then arrive at our destination on day 96."

"You want to be four days early?" Celeste asked.

"Yes. It should be impossible for the ship to be any more than a day or two early, so this is just to be safe. This also gives us time to practice searching for the Daybreak."

"Hrrm…and you do not want to go earlier because other dragons can find us," Fortitude guessed.

"Correct," Pryce nodded. "My plan is to have Fathom and Celeste go look for the Daybreak. Devotion will be the one to gather allies for us."

"Good idea," Devotion rumbled. "I will be trusted the most, and four days will be enough to gather allies."

"You said you had a way for us to find the Daybreak, right?" Celeste asked. "Are you going to explain that now?"

"Of course," Pryce said.

He took some time to explain how radio technology worked, using the same explanations and analogies that he'd used with Fathom. The dragons seemed somewhat reluctant to accept the reality of 'invisible light', but any doubts disappeared once Pryce brought out two portable radios for them to play with. These models could only transmit weak signals across a short distance, but they still had a range of a few kilometers.

«What a fascinating device,» Fortitude crooned as she spoke to Celeste, who had flown a few kilometers away to test the radio. "Why did you not show us this sooner?" she asked, sounding almost offended.

"We had other things to talk about," Pryce said, holding his hands up defensively. "Anyway, can you call Celeste back? I still need to tell you the rest of my plan."

"So we can use these to listen for the Daybreak, yes?" Celeste asked upon her return. "How far away can the radio hear the ship?"

"Good question. The ship's radio is powerful, but signals can still be blocked by the curvature of the Earth. This means that under normal circumstances, two ships like the Horizon will only be able to hear each other if they're within 36 kilometers of the other. If I were alone there wouldn't be anything I could do about that, but dragons can do something humans can't: fly."

Celeste blinked, then bobbed her head in understanding. "If I fly higher, I can see further, which means the radio can do the same."

"Exactly!" Pryce nodded. "The highest a dragon can fly is about five kilometers, which means that you should be able to hear the ship from about 300 kilometers away."

«So, with our help you can 'hear' them so long as they are within three thousand beats of flight, is that right?» Devotion asked.

"Exactly," Pryce nodded. "I will give Fathom and Celeste one radio each, and then you will fly for four hours along the coast of Loahm before returning to the ship. This will let us find the Daybreak so long as it isn't more than 540 kilometers away, which definitely shouldn't happen." He sketched a diagram as he spoke, showing the distance of the proposed patrols with radio ranges.

"But we can only hear the ship coming if we are in the air," Celeste pointed out. "What if we miss the ship?"

"You don't have to worry about that," Pryce reassured. "The ship will be travelling at around 25 kilometers per hour, which means it will only be able to travel 400 kilometers when you're not looking. I'm going to have the Horizon sitting out a hundred kilometers from Loahm so that other dragons won't be able to accidentally find us, and this will also let us find the ship before it's able to reach Loahm."

Celeste narrowed her eyes as she eyed his scribbles. "We can find the ship this way, but if we are very unlucky then the Daybreak will reach land before we can talk to them."

"That is true," Pryce admitted, "but the ship would have to be far off course for this to happen, and I can't think of any better plans. Can you?"

The three females rumbled amongst themselves for a few moments, but ultimately shook their heads.

"It is a good plan," Fortitude admitted, "But you have mentioned very little about gathering allies."

"You're the ones who know all the others, so I'm going to have to depend on your judgement for that. Do you know who you're going to talk to?"

"We do," Devotion rumbled. "The problem is finding them."

"We know where they live, but we do not know who will be going where," Fortitude elaborated.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"There are five places of gathering, but only one – which is named something like 'The Plateau' – is close to our destination," Fathom explained. "The others are all too far away to reach, and we don't have time to go to them before the Solstice."

"So our main source of allies will be those who gather at this Plateau," Pryce summarized.

"Yes, but there are some who do not go to the solstice gatherings," Celeste pointed out. "They will be easy to find."

"That makes sense," Pryce agreed. "So, are there any dragons that you'll definitely be able to find?"

"Helsha-ǂ," Fortitude replied. "We have traded before. He is very respected by others and he likes to stay at home, so he is a good choice."

"Is there something special about him? Why is he your first choice?"

"Helsha-ǂ grows plants, trees, and he makes medicine like you," Fathom explained. "Some of his medicine can make a dragon's patterns stronger. Even you might be able to see them."

"He also does not eat meat," Celeste added, in what felt like a gossiping tone.

Pryce blinked in surprise. "What? Then what does he eat to survive?"

"Insects, mushrooms, fruits, honey," Fortitude listed. "And sometimes things from the ocean."

"Interesting," Pryce replied. He'd known that dragons were omnivorous, but he hadn't expected one to be a vegetarian…or something similar to one, at least. "Why does he not eat meat?"

"He claims that hunting animals is like fighting weaklings," Fathom replied. "He claims it is dishonorable to do so."

"Oh, have you met him before?" Pryce asked curiously.

"No, I have only heard of him," Fathom said, shaking his head. "Helsha-ǂ is known for being a bit strange, but he is very honorable, and he is also an extremely good fighter."

"Really? Do you think you could win against him?"

"Hmph," Fathom snorted. "It is rude to ask embarrassing questions, you know."

Behind him, Celeste made an odd hiccuping noise – something that passed for snickering with dragons.

"Oh, sorry," Pryce said, a little surprised by Fathom's lack of confidence. "So, who else are we going to recruit?"

"Kharno," Fortitude replied. "She is popular and a very good fighter."

"That is if we can find her," Devotion grumbled. "She likes to move around very much."

"It will be easier to find her at the Plateau," Fortitude shrugged. "She always goes there."

"Okay, what makes her so popular?"

"She likes to help others," Fortitude simply replied. "...Without asking for things in return."

"Kharno is also our friend from a long time ago," Ghorrah rumbled. "She will be an easy ally…and she will be upset if we do not tell her about you."

"She is very interested in crafters," Celeste explained.

"I see…" Pryce murmured. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. "Is that…common?"

"What is common? Interest in crafters?" Celeste asked, tilting her head. "Of course everyone is a little interested. Why would they not be?"

"Fair enough," Pryce admitted. "So, is there anyone else?"

"The others will be less good allies," Fortitude said, tilting her head to the side. "Ghorrah will decide who to bring back when she goes to the Plateau."

"There are already four of us," Fathom began. "I think maybe five or ten more allies will be good. The more we gather the harder it will be to stay hidden."

"But why do we need to stay hidden?" Celeste asked, tilting her head at her father. "We want the news to spread, right?"

«Because chaos will break out the beat that someone discovers Pryce,» Devotion answered. «If that happens, we lose all control of how we break the news to everyone. Under the wrong circumstances it could ruin everything – or at least, make everything much harder.»

«Right now we control the information,» Fortitude said, elaborating on her partner's point. «That lets us do one thing at a time, but if everyone knows about Pryce, then everything will happen all at once, and that makes things dangerous.»

«I see,» Celeste quietly murmured.

"All good points," Pryce agreed when Fathom translated for him. "I'm feeling better now that we have a plan for our allies. Is there anything else I should know of? Anything that might cause trouble?"

«I don't see anything going wrong, so long as things go according to plan,» Fortitude said as she rumbled in thought. «Everyone is curious to know more about you crafters, so it's not as if anyone will be attacking you, especially in front of a thousand other dragons who wish to do no such thing.»

«Agreed…though if anyone's going to be a problem, it's going to be the Brewer clan,» Devotion lightly growled. «They're the largest clan on Loahm with over a hundred members. They're known for their alcohol, but their real source of power stems from being a trading fulcrum of the south.»

Fathom translated this for Pryce, then uncertainly added, "I think 'trading fulcrum' is the best way to translate that term. It means everyone trades with them because they have so many things, and they help move things across the land."

"So like a shipping company," Pryce said, holding his chin in his hands.

"A what?" Fathom asked.

"A company is a group of humans who work to do something. Shipping companies are those that focus on trading and moving things across the Mainland," Pryce distractedly explained. "But more importantly, I don't imagine this 'Brewer clan' would be very happy about humans coming along and making most of their trade worthless…are they going to be a problem?"

"Maybe," Fortitude absently shrugged. «The leader, Vosae-ǂ, led her clan in the fight over the first human ship.»

«The clan won the rights for the ship, but her partner died in the fighting,» Ghorrah continued. «I don't know her well, but I doubt she views crafters favorably after that.»

"Wait, she's still their leader?" Pryce asked in surprise – the ghost ship landed over a century and a half ago.

"Yes, she has been their leader for a long time, even for us," Fathom replied.

"Well…I'm sorry to hear that her partner died in the fighting, but I don't see how that's our fault."

"It isn't, but his death is not going to make her friendlier," Fathom snorted. "I heard that she was never the same after that, though recently she's been…less popular."

«Yes, I've heard the complaints as well,» Fortitude agreed. «She has grown harsher in recent years, though I've yet to hear of any reason behind this change.»

«Regardless, even she won't be able to do anything to us in front of everyone else,» Devotion firmly stated. «She might be a problem, but that's something to think about later.»

"Understood," Pryce nodded. "Alright, that's pretty much everything I wanted to ask. So, what do you want to learn about today?"

[JOURNAL ENTRY EXCERPTS]

Day 83,

We ironed out the details of our plan today, which makes me feel much better about things.

I'm a bit wary about this 'Brewer clan' of the south…but perhaps the individualistic nature of dragons will work in my favor. We have much to gain from cooperation; I just need to show it to them.

[JOURNAL ENTRY EXCERPTS]

Day 84,

Today was a bit unremarkable compared to the previous days. Celeste and Fortitude have requested to learn more about human history and culture, so I've spent the day preparing a lesson plan for that.