Here, There Be Dragons

“And what do you need it to be?” Bert asked as Charles extended his hand to touch the door.
“The base of the keep, right after we entered,” said Charles.
The door swung open onto the grassy knoll that sloped down to where the White Dragon was anchored. The moon was still directly overhead; not morning, but midnight. And there was no sign of the Black Dragon or the Winter King.
“Hang on,” said Jack. “If we just came out of the keep right after we entered it, then aren’t we still inside somewhere? And won’t we—they—still be trapped when the Winter King does arrive?”
“I don’t think so,” said Charles. “I think they’ll do as we’ve just done, and escape unscathed as we’re about to do.”
“What if they choose a different course?” asked Jack. “What if the ‘us’ in the keep now don’t listen to you?”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Bert assured them. “Trust me—I’ve done research.
“That’s the thing about time travel—you’re always moving forward, even when you go back.”

Safely aboard the White Dragon, they cast off from the shore and circled around to the other side of the island before they unrolled the Cartographer’s map.
“It’s a simpler course than it would seem,” said John. “We have to go a bit farther north, but then, it’s all due west. West, to the very edge of the world.”
“Best watch we don’t sail right off, eh, Aven?” Charles joked.
“Agreed,” she said, folding her arms. “Good thinking, Charles.”
“Oh, ah, thanks,” Charles stammered. “I wasn’t serious, you know.”
“You should be,” said Aven. “I’ve heard of this place—Nemo said the other sailors all talk of it in hushed whispers when they’ve had too much ale. It really is the end of the world, and if we’re not careful, it’s entirely possible that we’ll sail right over the edge. But don’t worry,” she added with mock sweetness. “I understand that there’s no ending to the void beyond, so we’d never hit bottom.”
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” said Artus.
“No,” said Bert. “It means we’d just keep falling, and falling, and falling, for all eternity.”
“Oh,” said Artus.
“If we set out right away,” said John, “we’ll have the entire night to gain an advantage over the Winter King. Remember—he’s going to be coming here, looking for us.”
“I still don’t understand why he won’t find ‘us,’” said Jack. “This time stuff makes my head hurt.”
“Trust me,” Bert said again. “We’re ahead of him, in more ways than one.”
“What happens when we do reach the island?” said Aven.
“We have the advantage of surprise,” said John. “Whatever is to take place there, we’ll be able to prepare for, long before he reaches us. We have the White Dragon—it should get us there with exceptional speed.”
“She, not it,” said Aven. “Let’s do it.”
Jack and Charles set about preparing the sails for travel northward—although the ship was already prodding itself in that direction. Not all of the motive power would come from the winds.
Aven took the wheel, and Artus, trying to make himself useful, climbed up to the crow’s nest.
Bert and John stood at the prow, enjoying the respite they’d found, however limited it might be.
“Tell me, lad,” said Bert. “What did the professor say to you in the tower?”
John smiled. “He said to listen to you, and that he had all the confidence in the world that we would defeat the Winter King.”
Bert gave John an odd look. “Did he really say that?”
“Close enough,” said John. “But then, the Cartographer said as much, didn’t he? We went in with nothing, and came out with little more. What did he tell us that we didn’t already know, except that our victory or defeat may come down to a matter of will?”
The old man nodded. “I’m glad you got that chance,” he said, “to see him—Stellan—one more time. I would have liked to myself. Ah, well—plenty of time to do that in the future, eh, my boy?”
Bert walked away to speak to Aven before John had a chance to ask him what he meant.

The White Dragon left the islands of Chamenos Liber in relative silence, and calm seas. Only one pair of eyes watched it pass. High above them in the clear night sky, the great silver and crimson crane watched a few minutes longer, then wheeled about and began to fly south with increasing speed.
Part Five

The Island at the Edge

of the World

“I greet you also, my friend the Far Traveler.”
Chapter Seventeen

Hope and Despair

The journey from the Cartographer’s island to the Island at the Edge of the World was the most peaceful and least eventful passage they had experienced since the original voyage from London into the Archipelago. The night air was clear, and the stars above stunning in their brilliance.

Artus was pointing out constellations to his companions; constellations, not all of which existed in the world beyond.

“Do you see that pattern of stars in the east?” he was saying to John. “The jagged grouping, there?”

“Yes, I see them.”
“That’s Athamas and Themisto. They’re pursuing that cluster there, to the north—we call that one Salmoneus. He was a merchant who stole forty pieces of silver from Athamas, and they are chasing him across the sky, to make him give back the silver.”