Okay guys!!

I think there is ONE MORE Chapter after this that I am posting tonight and then MAYBE an epilogue. DONT WORRY - It ISNT FINISHED. I've decided to make APK into a Trilogy, it's just how my ideas have worked out and where I am almost up to is a good time to stop the first book. 

Don't hate on me!!

VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!

Love Daisy xx

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(Circe's P.O.V)

I didn't scream. I thought about it, I thought about shrieking as loudly as I could in this annoying boys ear, but when it came right down to it, there just wasn't enough time. We must have only been free falling for two seconds before a strange weightless sensation overtook my body and when I opened my eyes I realized, with a feeling of wonder and awe, that I was flying.

I turned my face to look up at him, my anger forgotten for the time being.

"You really can fly." I whispered in amazement, turning my head back around to take in the white mist that was whipping past us, the ship already out of sight. 

He let out an amused chuckle. "You didn't honestly think I was lying did you?"

The scowl was quick to return to my face. "I didn't know what to think, you were exactly polite in explaining your intentions." I tried to lean away from him but his hold simply tightened around my waist as he gripped me to him. 

"You might not want to lean away now Princess," He said in that musical voice of his. "It might be the last thing you ever do."

I looked down and tried not to gulp. Every now and then, the mist cleared enough for me to see the ocean below, I hadn't realized how high we had gotten in such a short amount of time and I was fairly certain that if I fell now, hitting the water would be like falling onto solid wood.

I clutched him a little closer to me, hating that I had to depend on him. 

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, trying to regain some kind of control over the situation. 

As if he knew what I was trying to do, the Prince smirked down at me, his white eyes glowing bright. 

"I already told you." Was his only reply.

"I know that," I said impatiently. "I want to know where you are taking me now."

He was silent for long enough that I became seriously annoyed with his lack of answers, and when I opened my mouth again I told him exactly that.

"Look Prince whatever your name is, I don't know who you think you are, but I'll have you know that you aren't the only Royalty round here so-"

"Zalas." He interrupted quietly. "My name is Zalas."

I looked up at him, feeling slightly startled by the sudden humanity in his voice, noticing the way that his eyes were sudden glazed, focusing on something that I couldn't see. Suddenly I didn't care about keeping up the indifferent act, I just wanted to know what was happening. 

As I went to open my mouth, Zalas interrupted for a second time.

"I know that you have many questions, but now is not the time, nor the place. All shall be explained in time." This statement was spoken with surprising kindness that was ruined with his next words.

"So don't bothered with the annoying blabbing if your expecting someone to be listening, because I certainly won't be."

I gritted my teeth in anger and resolutely turned my face away from his. My action was met with a dark chuckled and then he raised his voice to call out in a unknown language. 

"Unabonan!"

Almost instantly there was an answering roar that almost seemed to make the air around me vibrate. I cringed, recognizing the roar from the terrifying scene in my room and scenes flashed through my mind, that deadly clawed foot reaching for me, Obsidian leaping across the room, his sword slicing down on the white scales again and again ...

A curious sound followed the roar, growing louder with each passing second, it was difficult to describe as I hadn't heard a sound like it before and my fear spiked momentarily as another growl ripped through the air, much closer than the last.

There was no doubt in my mind that whatever had been outside my room, was now advancing rather quickly towards us and straining  my ears, I listened for anything that might give a clue as to which direction it was coming from.

Silence.

There was an earsplitting ferocious roar from directly below us that shook my bones and then I was thrown against something extremely hard, my grip on Zalas loosening momentarily as I screamed out.

Zalas let out a stream of wild laughter, making up for my loosening grip by simply tightening his own. The weightless feeling in my stomach had suddenly doubled, coupled with the sensation that half of my body had been left behind as we shot through the air with enough speed to whip my hair straight back from my head. 

I screamed again as my world suddenly tilted downwards, but the sound was lost on the wind and all I could do was grasp onto Zalas and pray to God that today was not my day to die. 

The world righted itself again and I felt a sudden burst of relief that quickly disappeared as another roar echoed around, this time I was sure that it was shaking the air around me, I could feel it. 

"What is that?" I whimpered, my hands fisting into the material of Zalas's flowing blue robe. 

He laughed again, the sound reminding me of ringing bells and sustained piano notes. "Why don't you open your eyes and see Princess?"

Until he mentioned it, I hadn't realized that my eyes had been squeezed tight shut, refusing me any visuals to accompany the noise I was hearing. Ever so slowly, I cracked my eyes open the tiniest amount, looking through my lashes apprehensively before my eyes flew wide open with shock. 

I was on a Dragon.

*

(Obsidian's P.O.V)

My hands were fisted at my sides as I stared out of the hole in the side of Circe's room. I reached upwards to trace the scar that ran down the right side of my face with shaking fingers, wincing at the pain that shot through the wound as I did. The vision in my right eye blurred and swam sickeningly and I rubbed at it, knowing that the action wouldn't help in the slightest. The damage was already done and if Circe's pendant hadn't been able to heal it then nothing would. 

"Obsidian."

I whirled around to see my brother leaning heavily on the doorframe, blood dripping steadily down his side. His face was pale through the coating of grime that covered it and his lip was split.

Although his voice was weak, his tone was urgent and his eyes flashed with the silver that we had once shared. 

"They've taken her haven't they?"

I nodded in confirmation, feeling the suppressed anger rise slightly higher. 

"You know that there is a good chance that they could just not bring her back. They could keep her for themselves, or even take her to the Queen without our knowledge. They could easily twist the story to run in their favor."

"I know that," I spat. "but we haven't got a choice, she is as precious to them as she is to us. It doesn't matter what happens as long as she is kept safe."

Cobalt attempted to walk towards me, but stumbled on the second step. Before he could hit the ground I was at his side, lifting him up under his arms and slinging one of his arms over my shoulder. 

"What happened to you?" I grunted, feeling blood under my fingers as I tightened my grip around his waist, leading him over to the mangled bed in the corner. 

He groaned as I set him down, closing his eyes momentarily. "Bloody Dragon got to me as I tried to get back to you and Circe. What about you?" He asked, gesturing towards the scar on my face.

I scowled. "Same. Apparently it was revenge according to the Princess brat. Going on what knowledge I have, I'm assuming that the revenge was for our Father torturing the youngling Dragon all of those years ago." My voice was bitter. "Since he is not around to atone for his sins, they get passed down to me."

Cobalts voice was pitying. "I am sorry brother."

My face hardened. "Do not pity me, I knew the consequences of killing our Father. The world is better without him in it and the knowledge that I was the one to slay the beast is enough for me to deal with the hate that comes my way."

Cobalt nodded and reached out a hand to grasp my arm. "I want to thankyou."

"For what?"

"For being a brother to me. For sheltering me from your fate. If I could trade places with you I would, you know that." His voice was sincere and I turned my face away. 

"I know."

His hand dropped from my arm and he let out a sigh. "I might need Lacy's assistance soon, I'm afraid I'm losing quite alot of blood."

My eyes snapped back to his and I noticed that his face had indeed grown paler than before and thick blood was oozing out from between the fingers that were pressed to his side.  Cursing I spun around and headed for the door as he slumped over sideways on the bed, his eyes sliding shut. I did not go through all of this just so my brother could die. My anger spiked as I stormed down the hallway. A peaceful welcome might not have been guaranteed but if my brother died, screw everyone, I would start a war.

"LACY!"

*

(Circe's P.O.V)

My breathing quickened. I was on a dragon, seated in the crook between its shoulders and neck to be precise. A trail of deadly sharp spikes followed the line of its spine, up its neck and finishing between its long curving ears. I didn't dare turn around to see if the spikes also ran down it's back. My legs were on either side of it's neck and the scales underneath me were flat, hard and crystal white. As the dragon moved through the air it's elegant neck twisted from side to side and I saw that the scales moved much like the scales on my tail did, bending slightly to allow movement.

I clamped my legs tighter around the great beast and slowly turned my head to the side to see two massive wings stretched out on either side, so long that the ends of them were lost in the white mist. The air that was caught underneath them before being pushed out, was the source of the mysterious noise that I had been trying to place.

My heart was still beating fast as I opened my mouth to ask the question I already knew the answer to. "Was this the thing that made the hole in my wall?"

The dragon let out a roar, throwing its great scaly head to the side as it flew so that I caught a glimpse of a long scaled snout and a gigantic white eyeball before it turned back around.

Zalas chuckled from behind me. "Unabonan doesn't like being referred to as a 'thing' and yes, that was him."

I twisted around in Zalas's arms so that I could look him in the eye. "Can you talk to him?" I asked incredulously.

Zalas smirked and opened his mouth, but before he could answer there was a great rumble from the body below us and I gasped aloud as a deep voice echoed through my mind.

Vanima, I am the one who speaks to him Child

I shuddered, the words, although understandable were rough and grating with a wild edge to them that made me feel as though I shouldn't be able to understand them at all. The voice had a thick accent that sent shivers running through me and the presence that came with the voice was heavy and unnatural. 

Zalas chuckled. "Yes, that is true."

I took me a moment to realize that he was answering the voice that had been spoken in my mind and for the second time that day I looked at him in amazement. 

"You heard that?"

He smirked. "That I did, Unabonan and myself share a ... unique connection."

There was another rumble from below us and a deep grating cough sounded through my mind. My brain went into over-drive and I realized that the dragon was actually laughing, laughing! As though it was human!

A deep snarling growl reverberated in my head, making me cringe back into Zalas who spoke with amusement.

"It is not a good idea to compare one as mighty as a dragon to those as low as human's Princess. It is seen as a great insult, Unabonan and those of his race are more intelligent than you or I could ever dream of being, the only thing that labels them as beasts are the bodies they are gifted with."

The dragon gave a satisfactory snort as though to agree with Zalas's statement.

"I am sorry." I said, suddenly feeling ashamed.

It is alright Child, you are young and do not know our race. Many are ignorant of who we are and the role we play in history, we do not seek attention often.

There was another great roar from somewhere to my left and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out as a long pointed nose suddenly appeared out of the mist directly in front of us. The second dragon veered upwards at the last second while Unabonan titled down and I could help the reflex that made me duck, some part of me sure that we were either going to collide, or my head was going to be taken off.

Air was rushing all around me, from the sides, below and above and for a moment all I could see was dragon scales as the second beast passed over top of us, its long tail whipping out behind it, at least half of it's body size in length. 

"How many dragons are there exactly?" I had to ask, gasping slightly at the rush I had just received. 

Zalas chuckled. "The dragons were the rulers of the Air Temples before the my race arrived. They are a race in their own, there are hundreds of them, there used to be thousands, but those numbers have dwindled."

"Why?" I asked, feeling curious despite the situation I was in. 

Dragons do not breed as easily as we once did, Unabonan answered and I flinched a little at the sound of his voice in my head. That was going to take a bit of getting used to. Dragon offspring are very precious to our race. Hence the upset when one of our young was stolen by the Traitor.

"He means the man that you know as Zeus Gold." Zalas whispered. "The stolen dragon was a great loss to both our races, this is why we are not so easily forgiving towards those involved ..." He trailed off towards the end and I knew that he was referring to what had happened to Obsidian. 

For a moment I opened my mouth, ready to contradict him and tell him that he had no right to blame Obsidian or Cobalt for anything that had happened with their Father and that if anything, he should be thanking Obsidian for killing Zeus Gold in the first place, but the words dried up on my tongue and I couldn't seem to spit them out.Yes they were true words but obviously this was a sensitive subject and one argument, no matter how powerful was not going to change their minds.

"Brother!" 

The sudden call had my head whipping to the side just as the second dragon flew straight over top of us again, causing me to shriek in surprise and throw my hands over my head. Zalas laughed loudly as I raised my head again, blushing furiously. 

"Do not panic Princess, that is just my sister and Nelonimi."

"Nelonimi?"

"The dragon that is looking at you right now."

I turned to the left and came face to face with a giant blue eye and a mouth full of ridiculously large fangs. I screamed again and would have fallen off the side of Unabonan, had Zalas not been there to catch me and tug me upright again.

"Enough screaming," He said grumpily. "you are hurting my ears."

I scowled and turned my face to the side only to be eyeballed by the same dragon that was staring at me before. I slapped my hand over my mouth before I could make another noise and envisioned myself screaming rather loudly in my head. How could Zalas put up with being around these creatures every day? They were terrifying! Did it not occur to anyone that they had the power to either eat you raw, or fry you to a crisp and then eat you, in just a matter of seconds?

"She's soft brother. Are you sure she is the right one and not some decoy that the Dhaeraow has planted?"

The second dragon had pulled slightly further ahead, revealing the scowling person sitting in the same position as Zalas and myself, in the crook of the neck and shoulder blades. 

It was the girl from my room. 

Well I supposed it wasn't really that surprising, I thought bitterly to myself. After all it was obvious they were together, I just didn't expect to see her so soon. The scowl that the girl was directing at me only served to increase my dislike for this person that I hadn't even been properly introduced to yet.  

"Of course she is the right one." Zalas said dismissively. "Da' lle tanya e' can'ta il er en' lye o'wen?"

"What language is that?" I asked curiously. Did all people in the Air Kingdom speak that language?

The girl scoffed. "I am having doubts brother, she does not even know her own-

"ENOUGH!" Zalas roared. "That is not your place! Tanya il lle yamen' a' kwentra seler'!" 

I jumped a Zala's suddenly furious tone, wincing a little as his lithe arms tightened around me. He was stronger than he looked. 

The girls only reply was to give a curt nod before she faced forward and didn't look at us again as the dragon she was riding gradually pulled ahead, disappearing into the mist.

*

Several hours must have passed before I became aware of the rumbling. Zalas and I had lapsed into silence after a few awkward attempts at small talk. His reluctance to divulge any information what so ever was rather frustrating and I had eventually decided just to give in and come to terms with the fact that I was always the last to know what was going on.

I had been dozing on and off against his chest, relying on the little trust that I had for him, that he would not let go of me and let me plunge to my death. At first I had hardly noticed the deep grumbling in the background, it sounded similar to the blood that was pumping through my ears, but now it was definitely noticeable, like a bee that wouldn't go away and I felt my curiosity flare again as I wiggled slightly more upright and rubbed at my eyes. Wincing as I tried to loosen the corset that I was still wearing, much to my distaste. I had grown far to accustomed to men's clothing over the weeks and while the dress Lacy had dolled me up in hadn't bothered me at first, it was certainly starting to bother me now.

"Can you hear that?"

Zalas didn't reply at first and when I twisted around slightly to see his expression, he was looking far off into the distance, his white hair whipping back from his face and his pearly eyes glowing slightly. 

"We are nearing Norsa alu tanya tuulo' i' menel." Was all he thought necessary to say and I felt the frown slip back onto my face. 

"What does that mean?"

Zalas didn't answer, his smile merely widened as he continued to stare straight ahead and finally the dragon beneath me spoke, his rough wild voice rushing through my mind like a ferocious wind.

Norsa alu tanya tuulo' i' menel Child, it means the water that falls from the sky.

"The water that falls from the sky? You mean, like rain?"

Unabonan gave a rumbling chuckle. No Vanima, it is not rain.

"Then what? I don't understand-"

You will soon. Patience Vanima, patience.

I sighed and fidgeted with the ends of my hair. Lacy's beautiful braid had fallen apart with the constant wind exposure and straggly tangled strands twisted in front of my face. I attempted to tug the whole thing out so as to re-braid it but I couldn't reach all of the pins, resulting in my hair looking even more of a birds nest than it did before hand.

I growled under my breath and attempted to sweep the knotted mess out of my face, resigning myself to the realization that I would just have to deal with my appearance once we reached our destination. I could only hope that I didn't not have to meet anyone important inbetween the time of my arrival and when I could get my hands on a mirror. 

A soft touch at the ends of my hair made me jump and Zalas let out a throaty chuckle from behind me.

"Hold still Princess."

Doing as he said, I sat in silent wonder as he proceeded to efficiently untangle and re-braid my hair, his nimble fingers working quickly on a long strange looking plait, that once finished reminded me almost of a fish tail. 

Zalas must have seen what I was thinking because he smirked as he fastened the end of the braid with a light blue ribbon he pulled from no-where.

"This is the common hairstyle for the woman of our Kingdom. It is called the lingwe braid, or in English, the fish braid."

"Lingwe." I said the word softly, trying out the sound of it on my tongue. "Will you teach me more of your language?"

Zalas looked past me, a small smile gracing his lips. "If you are willing to learn Vanima."

I picked up the word instantly, recognizing it as the one that Unabonan used when referring to me.

"What does Vanima mean?"

Zalas frowned at me. "Not Van-ma, Van-ee-ma. And that is one that you will have to find out for yourself."

I folded my arms over my chest. "But-"

"Hush Princess, silence your mouth and cast your pretty eyes forward and tell me what you see."

I turned with his words, attempting to peer through the mist that had suddenly tripled in quantity. I couldn't even see Unabonan's scaled head in front of us now, his neck just disappeared into the mist, as did his wings on either side of us. 

"I can't see anything." I said, squinting. "But can you hear that? That rumbling noise that was there before. It's gotten louder."

"Unabonan!" Zalas called. "Upwards, we are too low."

Unabonan let out an almighty roar and suddenly we were plowing upwards through the mist and I was lying flat on his scaled neck with Zalas pressed into me from behind as we both gripped desperately onto the flat scales in order to stay aboard the beast. 

Just when I thought I wasn't going to be able to hold on any longer, the dragon leveled out and I struggled back into an upright position, cracking my eyes open and rubbing away the water that had streamed out of them due the the wind.

The roaring had increased in ferocity until it was all I could hear and I turned to Zalas in fear when he let out a wild yell, but upon seeing his face contorted into an expression of euphoric happiness, I followed the line of his hand to where he was pointing and let out of a gasp.

I could hardly believe it, about a mile from where we were flying through the suddenly clear sky was a waterfall that came out of no where. 

The massive sheet of water had to be at least half a mile across and several miles high. It fell, straight out of the sky, the colossal amount of water crashing down into the ocean below with incredible force. Clouds of spray shot back up into the air and just hovered there, it was this spray, I suddenly realized, that we had been traveling through. This waterfall was so large that the mist created spread miles outward over the ocean like a suffocating cloud.

Zalas let out another whoop at the same time that Unabonan roared. Both noises, so loud before, suddenly seemed like a whisper in comparison to the thundering rumble emitting from the waterfall.

Suddenly the second dragon was back, roaring overhead of us, spinning and twisting through the air as she went. It was undeniable, the excitement in the air that had come with reaching the waterfall and I felt uncomfortable for a moment, as though I didn't deserved to behold such beauty. It seemed to mean so much more to them than to me.

Norsa alu tanya tuulo' i' menel is the divider of worlds Vanima, Unabonan's voice rumbled through my head and I could feel his excitement although his words were still cool and calm. It is the protector as well as the giver of life, it will come to mean a great deal to you also. Once we are on the other side you will see.

I suddenly felt slightly nervous. "Other side?"

No-one answered me and I realized that no-one had slowed down in the slightest as we neared the great waterfall. If anything they had sped up. 

My fears were confirmed as Zalas's sister called out over the roaring, her dragon swerving dangerously close to Unabonan as she did.

"Fancy a race brother?"

Because I was seated directly behind Zalas when he replied, I heard every word clearly. 

"Why do you even bothered sister? You know we will win like always." 

His tone was distinctly taunting and obviously his sister caught the edge in his voice because her scowled deepened. 

"Not this time!"

Before I could even react she had shot ahead, picking up speed at an incredible rate. I heard Zalas growl under his breath and Unabonan let out a roar.

"Wait Zalas what-"

My panicked question was lost on the wind as we too picked up speed faster than ever before, Unabonan's neck straining forward at his eagerness to catch up. Bit by bit we were gaining on them and I found my fears disappearing as I got caught up in the race until  too was leaning low over Unabonan's neck, willing him to go just that little bit faster.

"Come on, come on." I muttered as we drew equal with Nelonimi's tail, then her back legs, then her mid-section, until we were once again riding side by side with Zalas's sister, her face a determined mask as she too leaned low on her dragons neck.

"Just remember when you lose sister," Zalas called out over the gap. "that we beat you even with your head start and the extra rider on board."

Her face was furious as Zalas let out a wild laugh and we shot past them with a burst of speed that I thought was impossible. I couldn't help but join in the laughter, all of my fears and worries forgotten for the moment as I just enjoyed the feeling of knowing that I was riding perhaps the fastest creature on earth, that wasn't even supposed to exist in the first place. 

"Hold on tight!" I heard Zalas roar. "We are going through!"

I looked up and let out a soundless shriek as I realized we were still barreling towards the massive and suddenly very solid looking wall of water directly in front of us. This was it, the weight of the water would crush us to pulp, we were going to die.

I was suddenly flattened back down onto Unabonan's scaly neck, Zalas's chest pressing into my back and his lips by my ear. 

"Close your eyes and don't let go."

And then we hit the water.