After another half day of walking Wyla informed them that they were almost there. Lou looked nervous, he kept whipping his head around looking for any sign of this "nest."
Tate felt strangely at ease, and a little excited. Ever since the night before when he'd talked to Wyen, he felt a little more comfortable with the male dragon. He knew Wyen still didn't particularly like or trust him, but at least they'd had a conversation and shared information. It was more than he could say for Wyla.
Wyla, was a mystery to Tate. She had been the most informative at first, but now she seemed like she was going out of her way to be vague. It hadn't escaped him that she had reprimanded her brother for saying something like, "the ones that returned" last night. Tate wasn't stupid or hard of hearing, he had heard it. Of course, he was insanely curious as to what that had meant. The ones that returned? He felt a headache come on if he tried to figure it out. There were so many things that might mean or not mean but the bottom line was that Tate did not have enough information about this wider world to make any assumptions.
He was painfully aware that how things were in the Empire, in the human realm, were not reality here. He had a desire to learn more, he wanted to know all about the wild dragons, he wanted to see them flying, see how they lived, and learn about how they saw themselves and the world. He also wanted to know what else was out here. How wide was this world beyond the realm he knew? What other creatures resided in these lands that did not live in the human realm?
He couldn't help looking at Wyla and Wyen and wondering if they had a flame in their human form and what was their fire endurance. Did they have special abilities like the dragons back home? He was already dying of curiosity to see what their caves looked like. He didn't see anything yet that looked like a cliff or rocks that may signal their final approach to the "nest" but his eyes were intently searching. None of his curiostiy showed on his face though, except the constant darting of his eyes.
His body felt a bit better today, but he was still in a good deal of pain. Now, even the mark by his eye was starting to ache. He was scared to touch it for fear of incurring more pain. However, all this was something he was able to shove aside in his excitement. Even though his body may hurt his mind was alive and well. He hadn't felt this level of anticipation since the last battle he and Aqana had taken part in.
In front of them appeared a tall thicket covered in vines. "We're here," Wyla said. Tate was shocked. He had seen nothing like this since they entered the forest, until now the canopy had been open and full of light. Now this tangled web of brown vines twisted between two trees. They went so high that you had to strain your neck to look up at the top. They just stretched between the two trees making an almost solid wall, but the vines didn't extend to any other trees.
"What do you mean? Where is it?" Lou asked.
Wyen stepped forward and put his hand against the vines. Tate was forcibly reminded of the first time he'd put his hand on the veil. Sure enough, as Tate expected the vines began to move and an opening was created. It was a large opening, large enough for a dragon.
What Tate could see beyond stunned him. He followed Wyla and Wyen through the vines in a daze as he took in the unbelievable sight. This was nothing like what he had expected or ever dreamed of.
In his world dragons lived in caves, but this was something else. The world opened up into a clearing that had not been there before. Tate somehow knew that the vines had been a barrier similar to the veil, it had hidden this "nest" or city. Before him were streets, homes, markets, and shops, only everything was on such a large scale. It was scaled to accommodate dragons. The clearing in the forest that this city sat in was massive but there were a few trees here and there. Tate could not see an end to this glorious city blanketed in wood and leaves. On the ground, the homes were built in a way Tate had never seen before. It looked similar to mud but it was dry and glossy. The windows were made of wavy glass, and the doors were all the colors of the rainbow. Above those homes on the ground was a massive network of buildings built into the sparse trees in the clearing. They looked almost like they were made out of gold. As the sun hit them they glittered and made him squint his eyes. Each of them had a large deck where he saw dragons landing and taking off.
Dragons, dragons were everywhere. Red, green, blue, brown, and the occasional other color, they walked and flew in every direction. Dragonlings tumbled through the air, playing and roughhouseing. Dragons in human form were everywhere as well. They entered homes and shops, talked and sat in restaurants eating together, and moved about in clusters visiting and shopping. If he hadn't known where he was he would have seen it as the bustling life found in any city.
He observed all this as Wyla led her brother and the two stupidly gaping humans through the massive streets. The streets themselves were laid stone, it was a light stone with shots of grey that glittered in the sun. Everything about the city was gilded and stunning to the eyes.
"We're almost there," Wyla said.
Tate looked ahead and saw the most amazing sight yet, one he wasn't sure how he had missed until that moment. At the end of the main road they were on was a building that he would hesitate to call a castle or a palace, its style was not like that. It looked like nothing he'd ever seen before. It appeared to be made out of massive jewels. Red, green, blue, white, and black sparkling stones seemed to meld together to make a shining diadem of the city. It dwarfed all the massive buildings of the city. It was so large that Tate felt like an unworthy ant in front of it.
It had three stories from what he could see. The top floor had massive openings and he could faintly see dragons and dragons in human form moving back and forth across the openings with purpose. On the second story, the windows were smaller but there were hundreds of them. Most of these seemed to be covered. The ground floor had more massive openings including a large archway that opened into the deeper reaches of the building. He couldn't tell what was inside but he really wanted to see and find out.
To finish off this stunning sight was the added grandeur of a distant waterfall and lake directly behind the building.
"This is the Heart." Wyla introduced. Her hand waving regally towards the building. "This buliding is the center of the Nest and it's government."
Tate couldn't speak and apparently, Lou could not either because he heard not a sound from his talkative apprentice.
Something touched his chin, startled he looked down to see Wyla's amused face. "Close your mouth human, you'll catch bugs."
He laughed. Then paused, when was the last time he had laughed?
Wyla gave him a strange look and he must have looked very confused.
He shook off the odd feeling he had and once again looked at the Heart in front of him. The Nest was so different then what he had been picturing in his head. For some reason, his idea of "wild dragons" had images of a wild place, something that you might call uncivilized, but this place, this city was far more beautiful than the capital of the Empire. It put any city he'd ever seen to shame.
Even the air and the temperature were perfect, with the warm sunlight streaming down he almost thought he could feel magic in the air. Magic, that was the other surprising thing. Besides dragons themselves and the veil, there was nothing like magic on the other side of the barrier. Here though, he could feel that same sensation he felt while being in the middle of the veil. It was in a much smaller amount, much much smaller, but it had the same effect on him. He felt alive in the air here. Every part of his body was aware and comfortable. He felt happy.
All he wanted in that moment was to be allowed to roam freely. He wanted to see every part of this city, he wanted to find a way to get up into the buildings in the trees.
"Come on, we must go see the Elder now. My brother and I need to be on our way." Wyla's voice interrupted his happy mood. Nerves snuck in and he felt uneasy. The beauty of the city had taken away his sense of self-preservation and caution. It had disarmed him.
He berated himself, how could he let himself get so swept away? It was unbecoming of a man who had spent so much time at war to be so lax. He had yet to assess if he was among friends or foes. He needed to do better, he had Lou to think of too. He needed to focus and figure out quickly what the next step needed to be. If things did not go favorably from here, he may need to have an exit strategy in mind. With that thought he began to covertly study the city as quickly as he could. This time he tried not to see it with so much wonder but with a tactical eye.
When the group began walking so did he, but he made sure he noted everything he saw and observed. The moment of truth was approaching, would they stay and talk to the elder, or would it be time to run?