To Jasmine, the goodbyes took forever. Kurventhor and Ellindris kept nuzzling into each other, exchanging words Jasmine didn’t understand and frankly didn’t want to. King Allard made his rounds, gathering the knights in the main hall of the castle, horses and all. Swift was among them, Jasmine noticed, although sans a rider. Enkaiein slipped out of the horses’ way, lingering near the door. Swift dashed up to Prince Albert, neighing and kicking its feet in the air in a greeting.

“Hello, Swift.” Prince Albert chuckled, taking the reins, cooing and shushing to calm Swift down. Princess Salina handed him his sword with a smile. She mouthed take care and Prince Albert strapped his scabbard in place at his hip. He gripped the hilt, unsheathed the blade, inspected its sharpness in the colorful shine of light abstracted by the distant Icy Mountains and then put it away. He embraced Princess Salina lovingly, kissing her on the lips before he and Swift made his way to the others. Jasmine swallowed the lump in her throat and meandered to Enkaiein, the only other being in the place that seemed itching to leave.

“So, think this’ll work?” She asked the giant inky beast.

“I cannot say,” said Enkaiein. “Does something trouble you, Jasmine? You seem on edge this morning. I know you are not hungry. At the King’s breakfast, you consumed more than the knights.”

“Yeah, well you didn’t eat at all,” said Jasmine. Enkaiein got closer, sliding towards her with the fluidity and speed of water down a shoot.

“I do not require food to survive. You may have changed the subject but I am old and curious. I will not make it that easy to evade my questioning. What bothers you this day?”

“If you must know I’m not too keen on this whole plan,” Jasmine said. “I mean, yeah, Kur freezes Mr. Evil Frog Guy. Excuse me, Mr. Evil Cloud Guy. But then what? We have to find a beast willing to sacrifice itself for the cause? I don’t think we’ll find anyone.”

“That is not the real thing that troubles you.”

“Yes it is.”

“Ah, young Jasmine. I am ancient and have been acquainted with many beings, some having far more questionable worries than those of humans. Whatever it is, you can tell me without fear of judgment.”

“It’s the prince,” Jasmine finally whispered. Enkaiein backed away, watching Prince Albert approach, Kurventhor at Swift’s flank. Princess Salina was waving all three of them goodbye, standing next to Ellindris.

“Ah,” said Enkaiein, “You feel cheated. That is not uncommon.”

“That makes me sound like a cliché,” Jasmine said. She sighed and scuffed her boot against the floor. “I know I can’t have him. He loves someone else. What’s bothering me is there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m friends with the princess so I can’t hate her for being with him and I do want them both to be happy. My problem is I want to be happy too. It just always seems like something is getting in the way of that.” She glossed her fingers over the burns on her face looking sullen. She missed riding. Riding made her feel like she belonged somewhere. When Prince Albert had first told her she was his lost princess, Jasmine may have denied it out loud but inside she had been excited, hopeful even, to see the world where she belonged. Right now it didn’t seem she fit in anywhere. Being accepted back home, if she ever got back somehow, wouldn’t be easy with these new scars, not that she had many before this whole ordeal. “I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“Climb on my back,” said Enkaiein. When Jasmine turned to him squishing her eyebrows together in confusion he said again, “Climb on my back, Jasmine. You are the only one without a steed.” He dipped his wing to her feet, nearly touching the toes of her boots. Prince Albert mounted Swift and Kurventhor stretched his wings. The King rode up on his mare, leading the knights and his son outside. Jasmine heard King Allard sing the spell to cross the mote, wondered what artifact had made something like that possible. Kurventhor stopped at the door, turning halfway around to give Jasmine and Enkaiein an inquisitive look.

“Are you sure?” Jasmine asked. Enkaiein lowered his wing even farther. “Well, okay then.” She stepped up onto his wing, crawled up atop his back and settled on his shoulder blades, in between his neck and the joints that attached his wings to his body. When Enkaiein brought his wings back up, the ink beneath and around Jasmine solidified into a saddle of sorts, conforming perfectly to her position. One loose bit of ink even formed a string to wrap around her torso, holding her firmly in place.

“Let us be off,” said Enkaiein, and he burst out of Castle Albreton so fast that Jasmine’s peripherals became instantly blurred. She could hear the horses stampeding beneath her as Enkaiein lifted off, could feel Kurventhor’s wing beats too, cold air enveloping her, stinging her eyes and exposed unburned skin. She dug her fingers into Enkaiein’s mane, taking hold as if she were riding bareback. It took her until her throat was raw to realize she was screaming.

“Having fun?” Kurventhor asked cheerfully, flying sideways next to them.

“Are you kidding?” Jasmine yelled, grinning wide. Enkaiein didn’t fly like a dragon. He was fluid and ever-changing and utterly invigorating. Hanging on to Ellindris may have been difficult for a non-rider, but for Jasmine it had been easy, given a few adjustments. Enkaiein was a challenge. It reminded Jasmine of her own horse, the one that threw that professional jockey right off its back when she was still a tween. Wallowing in her adrenaline and the wind that rushed her sides with each flap of Enkaiein’s wings, Jasmine didn’t notice that Kurventhor had his own occupant, the cat clutched delicately in one of his hands. Then the cat spoke.

“Yes, yes, fun for all you shortsighted people. Have you forgotten where we’re going? It isn’t a place that takes kindly to the naïve. You better still have that artifact I gave you.”

“What?” Jasmine yelled as if she hadn’t heard the cat, but really she just didn’t want his crankiness ruining her mood. She hadn’t been in a good mood in a long time and she fully intended to enjoy it.

“Never mind,” said the cat, fur and whiskers whipping around at its eyes. “We’ll all just die if you forgot. No big deal.”

“Have you always been such a grump?” Kurventhor asked, tone completely honest, bringing the cat up to eye level as he flew. The cat responded with a garbled noise that may have been a yowl muffled by the wind.

They traveled for a week like that, through plains and forests and then even more plains, all vibrantly colored, whose creatures scattered at the party’s approach. King Allard and Prince Albert barely spoke to each other the whole way and monosyllabically when they did. But the knights made conversation whenever they could, especially during meals and the nightly camps, telling stories around the fire as Jasmine and the beasts listened with intent. Once, Jasmine asked Albert what had him so down, to which he replied he missed Salina.

“You’re hopelessly in love with her, aren’t you,” Jasmine said.

“More than hopeless,” said Prince Albert. Out of the corner of her eye Jasmine saw Kurventhor gaze at the sky and then back towards Albreton, looking just as lonely as Albert.

“We should get some rest,” said the King.

“Yes,” Enkaiein said, “We are less than a day’s journey away from our destination.”

When they reached the swamps, everyone’s mood turned sour and nervous. It was a stink-filled place, muggy and acrid. The water reached the horses’ knees, rippling in impossible patterns as they waded along. Kurventhor hovered above, blocking what little sun could drip through the trees, but Enkaiein walked along with everyone in the swamp, completely comfortable in the soggy conditions. He even sniffed the nearby plant life. Jasmine just crinkled her nose. Something about the place was positively ominous, like a bellow from a cave. She felt like things here could definitely eat her if they wanted to. Of course, there was nothing menacing in sight, which made it that much worse.

“Be ready,” said the King. Prince Albert silently drew his sword, readjusting Swift’s reigns in a tighter grip with his other hand. The knights did the same. “Silence,” said King Allard. Everyone moved more slowly, more cautiously, inching forward bit by bit. It wasn’t long until Enkaiein was leading, being the only creature present who was unafraid of what might be lurking in the swamp. Even Kurventhor flew a little ways behind, cool air wafting down on everyone with each wing flap. They heard chanting up ahead. And thunder.

“We are close,” whispered King Allard, “Halt.” He held up a hand and the knights tugged on their horses, stopping with a few splashes of water. Wind so fast and sudden it could have been a tornado swept over them and Jasmine clung harder on Enkaiein. Swift reared, ready to bolt, but Prince Albert succeeded in making the horse stay put. Three of the knights fled, leaving only two, one in yellow and the other in blue. The red one got control of his steed and spun back, rejoining the others but the other two who fled didn’t return. The air tasted like bile, smelled like rot. There was laughter now, and a flash of lightning.

“I have done it!” Jasmine heard Fragmaroginog’s voice rumbling with thunder, “Lindargra, your final curse was as meager as all the others, a futile attempt to stop me! Good riddance! Come to me, artifacts! Bestow me with your magic! I will march the lands and conquer kingdoms! There is no one who can stop me now!”

“Let’s go,” Jasmine said to Enkaiein, gripping the pouch at her belt, “That guy needs a reality check.” Enkaiein launched towards the voice, stomping right through the cloud upon arrival as Kur dived out of the canopy, the cat no longer in his claws. Fragmaroginog drifted upwards to reveal a hollow in the world, a portion of space where the mass of the swamp swirled out of the way and another land, far darker and denser, bled out of the wound in the atmosphere. Something bellowed and then screamed like a monkey from the other side. It shivered Jasmine to the very core. Ice splashed down in front of Enkaiein, startling Jasmine. Kur must have missed because the cloud was still intact, hovering higher above the portal. It sent bolts of lightning in Kur’s direction and managed to hit him in the chest. Kur spun out and crashed down into the swamp, causing a few trees to fall with him. The knights, King Allard and Prince Albert all scattered out of the way, water sloshing everywhere, algae clinging to the horses’ legs. Albert and his father charged forward, heading toward the cloud with swords held high. The red knight drew his bow.

Jasmine reassured herself that this had to work, removed the pouch from her belt and pulled out a single scale the size of her palm, translucent and tough in her hands. Then, just as Lindargra had taught her, she closed her eyes and concentrated. So engulfed in thought, she barely felt Enkaiein rise out of the water and dart through the air towards the cloud.

The red knight released the shot. Prince Albert and King Allard sliced straight through Fragmaroginog, feeling not an ounce of resistance against their blades. Jasmine imagined plants in her mind, vines slithering up out of the swamp all in tandem to curl around the cloud, trapping it in place. The scale in her hands glowed yellowy-white. The red knight’s arrow zipped between the rising vines to strike the cloud at its core. Kurventhor rolled up to his feet, sending powerful waves through the swamp. The knights and King Allard fell, but Swift and Albert remained upright, strong against the shock of water. They galloped through the swamp beneath Enkaiein, watching as the arrow glowed the same yellowy-white as the artifact in Jasmine’s hands and the vines tightened around the cloud.

“Move!” Kur yelled, puffing his chest, scales rising and frigid. Enkaiein swooped out of the way as Kurventhor released his ice at the vines, freezing the entire structure in place with Fragmaroginog sealed inside. Then, overtaxed, the dragon fell to the ground with a colossal thud, graceless and limp but still conscious. “Did I get him?”

“You did,” said Albert. He and the red knight joined Kurventhor, each standing at one side of the dragon. The red knight drew another arrow and steadied the shot at the frozen, crystalized vines that still floated above the swamp as if suspended by magic from within. King Allard and the remaining knights soon joined them, all in defensive position waiting for something to happen, hopefully something advantageous.

Jasmine winced open her eyes. She gasped seeing it there, the vines all swirled around the cloud and then frozen just as she had imagined it. The artifact Lindargra had given her really could bring her thoughts to life! It was amazing seeing it there floating as if it belonged, as if it weren’t just something Jasmine came up with on the fly for lack of a better tactic.

“It will not hold for long,” said the cat from a nearby tree branch.

“I know,” said Enkaiein. He too dropped to the bottom, landing in the swamp without splashing for his ink melded with the waters seamlessly and silent. “Jasmine, you must imagine something else now, something more permanent, something a soul cannot escape.”

“I can’t,” Jasmine said, “What could even do that?”

Kur groaned, got up out of the water and shook himself off. It sent a vibration of freezing air towards everyone, all of whom shivered beneath him. The ice cracked and the portal grew wider. Something bulky and covered in damp, reddish brown fur skulked out of the opening. Only Albert saw it.

“What is that?” Prince Albert asked, pointing. Enkaiein and Jasmine watched as the beast slid down underwater, rippling towards them.

“Get out of the water,” Kur said. He grabbed the King and his mare in one hand and the prince and Swift in the other before he flapped his wings to rise out of the water. “Enkaiein, the knights!”

“Yes,” said Enkaiein, shifting and reforming until he had all three knights and their horses nestled into his body behind Jasmine. Then he jumped out of the water as well. In the nick of time, too, because the creature burst through the surface of the water, tusks gleaming, and chomped empty air where Enkaiein had stood.

“What is that thing?” Asked one of the knights.

“A monstrosity,” said another.

“It is a bunyip,” Enkaiein said, “A creature of Olden. Be wary; its magic is nearly as potent as that of humans.”

Fragmaroginog burst out of the ice and vines. He cackled, the arrow still stick inside his body, its enchanted silver-tip having hit the core of the cloud he inhabited.

“He’s out!” Jasmine said. For the life of her she couldn’t think of something capable of encasing a soul.

“But my arrow struck true,” said the red knight, knocking another on the string of his bow. Kur dodged a lightning bolt that struck the swamp below instead, electrifying everything including the bunyip. It screeched and roared and leapt out of the water, swallowing Fragmaroginog whole. Then it vanished into the swamp, where Jasmine saw only splotches of its hairy flippers and the horse-like tail as it rolled around. Mud and sludge splashed towards them. The red knight loosened the tension in his shoulders, steadily lowering his draw.

“Why would it even do that?” Jasmine asked.

“Enkaiein, take them,” said Kurventhor as he let Prince Albert and King Allard plus their steeds down onto Enkaiein’s stretching back. The dragon dove headfirst into the water before Jasmine or anyone else could protest. The entire swamp froze upon his impact with the water’s surface, and him along with it. Jasmine squeaked.

“What has he done,” said Albert.

“Hurry it up, Jasmine!” The cat said from its place on the branch. “Now is your chance. Use the spell!”

“But what about—”

“He is right,” said the King, “If you have a way to seal that wizard, do it.”

Jasmine closed her eyes and thought hard, imagining exactly what Lindargra had told her to: a swirl of energy and silver, Fragmaroginog’s true soul which Jasmine saw as black and greedy, and a tendril of light coiling around both objects. Below them the magic began, luminescent tendrils spreading out from the nearby unfrozen trees. They slipped into the ice as if it did not physically hinder them and curled over the arrow inside the cloud inside the bunyip. The silver arrow tip was lodged inside the core of the cloud, but the Veins peeled back that layer and latched onto Fragmaroginog’s very soul as it flickered in futile protest. Kurventhor broke free of the ice, shaking off the shards.

Albert watched Jasmine’s entire body surge with pulsating light, light amplified by the artifact in her hands, and he shuddered. The magic she wielded was ancient, powerful and frightening. He felt the red knight and his father tense, heard the horses whinny and the slurp of Enkaiein’s inky flesh as they tried to get away. But all of them were stuck there, ink solidified stubbornly around their hooves.

Jasmine remembered Lindargra telling her to meld a beast with the wizard in her mind, to mold them into one singular object and then imagine that thing shrinking, losing its power as it did so until it could no longer move. Jasmine couldn’t help it. The first beast she thought of was Kurventhor. She didn’t know he would get caught up in it. She thought it was just a way to make the spell work faster. But when she opened her eyes and stared below, Kurventhor had vanished and a single silver pendant, that of a dragon, was falling out of midair towards the frozen swamp.