It seemed to take a long time, but Danika checked her bio screen several times and it was actually only a handful of minutes before Ais.h.i.+n and all of the elves crowded into the stone room.

A few minutes later Sea Song Tione messaged again: "I've set the stone on the dock, but it's barely on the edge, be careful."

Danika said quickly, "I'll go first and move it over." She exited the stone, activated her wings, and looked around. The dolphin had taken them right up to the elven s.h.i.+p. In the distance she could see the city's portal which had a bustling crowd gathered in front of it, and seemed to be functional again.

She grabbed the stone from the edge of the plank it lay upon and used her featherweight spell to move it onto the s.h.i.+p. Then she popped back into the stone room and said, "Ok, we're on the s.h.i.+p."

The elves exited quickly, and they all followed a moment later. Ais.h.i.+n bent and scooped up his stone, held it over the side and told the dolphin, "If the dragon is going to blow us to the continent that quickly, I think you'd better ride in the stone?"

"I want to at least ride on the deck so I can watch!" Sea Song Tione protested. "Just use it to lift me up there," he added as he entered the stone. Ais.h.i.+n set it on the deck and a moment later the dolphin reappeared.

One of the elves wrapped Sea Song Tione gently back into the elven blanket, and then to the dolphin's shock, tied him down to the deck like luggage. The elf spoke to Ais.h.i.+n in a serious tone, and Danika's skill let her hear, "danger", "dragon", and "in the".

Ais.h.i.+n nodded and said a few words in elvish. Then he turned and told them, "He says it would be best if we all ride in the stone room and that he'll make sure it won't be able to fall off the s.h.i.+p." While he spoke the elf put a blob of some sticky substance on the deck beside the dolphin and moved the stone into it and pressed down while casting what looked like an ice spell.

Danika pouted and said, "I kind of want to watch like the dolphin."

Ais.h.i.+n s.n.a.t.c.hed her out of the air and knelt beside the stone. "We're going inside as soon as I decide it's too dangerous," he declared.

Danika glared up at him for a moment. MatchlessMinion and Shrubbery crowded closer and touched the stone with their toes. Danika glanced at them questioningly.

MatchlessMinion's furry cheeks rose to almost hide his eyes as he said gleefully, "If we're going to make it to the goblin fortress in time to get inside and move the staff before the Christmas event ends, we'll probably be traveling at least a hundred kilometers an hour!"

"Oh," Danika replied.

A moment later a gust of wind whipped the sails that the elves had raised into full bells and the s.h.i.+p rose in the water until only its keel touched. Shrubbery's hair blew forward so hard that it began losing petals and leaves, and she was the first to re-enter the stone.

MatchlessMinion's fur whipped in the wind and he squinted at the horizon and asked, "Does it look like there are hundreds of dragons on the edges of the storm to you guys?"

Danika craned her head around to look behind them, while Sea Song Tione rolled his eyes backward and exclaimed, "Oooh, I see them!"

Behind them the clouds seemed to be boiling, and serpentine shapes writhed within them. A more distinct blue-green shape separated from the leading edge and flew forward until it was directly overhead. The Dragon said simply, in a voice they could all hear, "Hold on tight little mortals."

Things creaked ominously, but nothing broke as the s.h.i.+p flew forward. A wave rose around and beneath them at the same time. Danika clung to Ais.h.i.+ns fingers and wondered if they were going to flood the plains after all, and arrive like a tsunami. MatchlessMinion's large round ears were pinned down by the wind as he turned to look at the ocean ahead and his little feet started to skid forward. He vanished into the stone a moment later.

Danika looked around and saw that all of the elves had tied themselves to something at their various posts. Sea Song Tione shouted over the wind, "This is soooooo awesome!"

Ais.h.i.+n crouched lower and placed his hands and Danika against the stone. He squinted against the wind like MatchlessMinion had, and said, "I don't think we should wait much longer."

The wind was fierce enough that his sword s.h.i.+vered against its straps across his back, and after a moment, Danika looked around once more, and then up at the belly of the Dragon G.o.d. She wondered if the Turtle was below them. Sea Song Tione shouted, "I'll message as soon as I see land!"

"Thank you!" Danika shouted back, and then whispered "darkheart". Ais.h.i.+n appeared beside her less than a heartbeat later.

After sitting around for a minute, Ais.h.i.+n said, "I'm going to go work on stuff so that I can stay on as late as we need to later. I'll keep the messenger layer open on my phone."

"Ok," Danika replied, and Ais.h.i.+n logged out.

Shrubbery said, "Good idea, me too!" She logged off a second later.

MatchlessMinion shrugged and said, "I don't have anything I have to do, but I could eat something?"

Danika laughed and agreed, "Sure, let's do that. It sounds like we're going to play really late tonight."

"Yeah," he agreed cheerfully and they both logged out a moment later.

--

Danika was the first to return to the stone room. She was too impatient to wait for the dolphin's message, and kind of wanted to be ready to pop out and watch the end of their voyage. MatchlessMinion was the next to return, and Shrubbery followed a few minutes later.

MatchlessMinion was exchanging a string of messages with his sister and their two cats were in and out of the little stone room. He explained after a bit, "She is actually being pretty useful. She arranged for Ranma to meet us at the centaur city where she says the river narrows too much for sea going vessels."

"SaltySiamese has always been a good raid leader," Danika pointed out.

"I guess so," MatchlessMinion agreed grudgingly, "but don't ever let her have her own town."

Shrubbery giggled. When Danika looked at her she explained, "She wastes all the resources on cats and decorations, and forgets to build all the production buildings."

Danika blinked and asked, "Can a player even own a town in 'Living Jade Empire'?"

"I don't know, but I don't see why not? You can buy land and buildings." MatchlessMinion pointed out.

Sea Song Tione's message arrived a few minutes later. It read simply: "Land!"

Danika was the first to reach the center stone, but both MatchlessMinion and Shrubbery were close behind. The wind caught at her wings, but she sank her little claws into the deck and held on with her dragon strength. Beside her Shrubbery and MatchlessMinion caught the line that one of the elves tossed downwind for them with startling accuracy.

They approached the edge of the continent swiftly, but Danika thought that the winds were dropping, and the wave beneath the s.h.i.+p subsided as they approached the wide mouth of a river. As they splashed through the point where the currents met, they could see the water splash against the sh.o.r.es on either side, rising just above the highest water marks, and then subsiding.

Danika huffed a sigh of relief. They wouldn't be arriving as a tsunami. The storm overhead began to disperse as they traveled inland on the river, but the Dragon still guided the little s.h.i.+p forward hard enough with her winds to make swift progress against the river's current.

Danika looked over at Sea Song Tione who was strangely quiet and asked worriedly, "Are you ok?"

He didn't reply immediately, and MatchlessMinion skittered over to him, while still clutching the sailor's line firmly, and poked him. "Are you ok?" He shouted at the dolphin.

The dolphin rolled his eyes and replied happily, "I'm great! I'm just trying to remember everything for my songs!"

--

When they reached the centaur town, a tall grey horse with white dapples was waiting at the docks beside two shorter backed centaurs. "Match! Shrubbery!" exclaimed the horse as the s.h.i.+p approached the dock.

"He talks?" Danika gasped.

MatchlessMinion rolled his eyes and said, "All players can talk."

The Dragon spoke overhead, "Travel swiftly, and do not call me too soon." She soared upward and vanished into the afternoon sky a moment later.

A few minutes later the elves were wis.h.i.+ng them farewell, and Danika had been introduced to Ranma. A quick discussion led to Danika being tied to Ranma's mane while holding Ais.h.i.+n's dark stone. Shrubbery, MatchlessMinion, and Sea Song Tione would ride to the fortress inside the room.

The centaurs accompanying Ranma had been hired to resupply the elven s.h.i.+p, and Danika thanked Ranma for his thoughtfulness as they trotted swiftly out of the interesting centaur city. Danika's brief impression of it reminded her of scenes from Dutch paintings, with pastures bordered in thick beds of brilliant flowers showing through the unseasonal snow, and half timbered buildings dotting the landscape.

Ranma altered between a gallop and a canter and maintained the pace for far longer than Danika thought that a real horse could sustain. The sky was red with a flame colored sunset when he delivered them to SaltySiamese only an hour later. Danika messaged Ais.h.i.+n as SaltySiamese untied her, and then entered the stone room just long enough to inform the others that they'd arrived.

Ais.h.i.+n logged back in and stepped out of the stone a few minutes later, and joined the discussion just as Danika asked, "If I ride on you isn't my stealth enough?"

Quin replied with a frown, "Why risk it?"

MatchlessMinion turned to Ais.h.i.+n and explained quickly, "Quin is one of the few people who've survived inside long enough to see the central tower, so he's insisting that he should just carry us in."

Ais.h.i.+n frowned and Danika looked at his wrinkled brow and exclaimed, "You're home!"

Ais.h.i.+n grinned at her and replied, "Yeah, I'm home. Sit on Quin and hold the stone with your stealth activated and let me see how visible you are to me?"

"Ok!" Danika agreed, and zipped down to grasp the stone and used her featherweight to carry it to Quin's shoulder where she hooked her claws into his leather armor and activated her skill.