"Darb, run!" Zann yelled. "We'll meet you on the other side of the boulder. Then we can all zap away!"
Darb nodded and darted out of sight. The blue dragons waddled after him.
Zann and the others ran in the opposite direction, with Perda in the lead.
Suddenly she stopped, and Zann almost crashed into her.
He quickly saw why. Arrano was nearby, talking to several adults.
"Arrano!" Zann exclaimed. "Where did you go before?"
Arrano turned to face him. "I had to summon the others before you got yourselves in trouble."
Just then Darb and Zing came around the other side of the boulder, running fast. "They're right behind me!" Darb cried.
"Oh dear." One of the adults bit her lip. "You must have angered them."
"Quick! Get behind us," a man said as Darb reached the group.
Zann grabbed Zing and huddled with his friends behind the Dracians, expecting them to fend off the dragons.
But instead of fighting, the Dracians threw themselves onto their knees in front of the small creatures.
"What are they doing?" Gliss whispered.
Zann shrugged. The Dracians were talking now, but Zann couldn't understand their words.
"Weird," Perda murmured. "It sounds like they're begging or something."
Darb nodded. "And they must be speaking in the dragons' language."
The dragons looked irritated as they listened to the humans.
One dragon spit a small glob of lava near the Dracians.
Finally both dragons turned and waddled away. The Dracians climbed to their feet.
Arrano hurried over to Zann. "Let's go before the dragons change their minds."
The Dracians rushed away, and Zann and his friends followed.
Finally everyone stopped in the shelter of a rock overhang.
"Whew!" one of the adults said. "You kids are lucky the first dragons you encountered were lava leapers instead of something bigger and less reasonable."
Arrano nodded. "Most dragons would have roasted you just for looking directly at them."
"What are you talking about?" Zann said.
"Dragons don't usually attack people without a good reason."
Darb shrugged. "Maybe things are different here."
One of the adults eyed Zing. "Why does this dragon travel with you?" he asked. "Is he training you?"
"Zing? Training us?" Perda chuckled. "He's Zann's pet."
"Pet?" Arrano said the word as if he'd never heard it before. "What's a pet?"
Zann was confused. "Uh, he lives in my house and I feed him and play with him and stuff."
"Oh." Arrano's expression cleared. "You mean you're his servant."
Zann laughed, but quickly realized Arrano wasn't joking.
"Wait," Darb said. "I get it. In this world the dragons are the dominant species, aren't they?"
"Of course." Arrano sounded surprised. "Isn't it that way everywhere?"
"No," Perda said. "In Magica, humans are in charge."
The Dracians looked skeptical. "Humans rule over dragons?" a woman said. "Impossible. Who would serve the dragons?"
Another adult nodded. "And what would the dragons eat?"
Zann gulped. "Do dragons eat people here?"
"Yes, when necessary," Arrano said, "though most prefer other fare."
Zann wasn't sure what to say. It was weird to think about living in a world where people were dragons' servants—and sometimes their dinner.
But he pushed the thought aside.
"We're looking for someone," he said. "Two people, actually. Their names are Wyssa and Morb."
The Dracians exchanged a glance. "They were both here," a man said.
"Wyssa left shortly before you kids arrived."
"Yes," another man said. "She only stayed long enough to determine that Morb had moved on."
"When did Morb leave?" Perda asked.
"About ten days ago," Arrano said. "He was here for almost a week, though nobody knew his purpose."
"Did either of them mention World X?" Zann asked.
"World X?" A woman shrugged. "I don't think so. I've never heard of such a place."
Arrano and the others murmured in agreement.
One of the women cast a nervous glance upward as several large dragons flapped past high overhead.
"You'd better return to the wormhole," she said.
"It won't be long before you're noticed."
"Good idea." Zann glanced at his friends.
"Come on, guys. Let's zap back to the boiling lake."
"Wait!" Arrano looked alarmed. "You shouldn't use magic.
Some of the dragons can sense it.
They might get curious and come to investigate."
All the Dracians were still watching the skies.
Their anxious expressions reminded Zann of the people of Skellia.
He wished he could have helped the Skellians escape their watery world.
Maybe he could help these people now.
"Why don't you guys all come with us?" he blurted out.
"We could take you to another world where you won't be ruled over by dangerous dragons."
To Zann's surprise the Dracians shook their heads.
"Leave Drac?" a woman said. "Oh, we couldn't."
"Thank you," Arrano added. "But Drac is our home.
We wouldn't want to live anywhere else."
The Dracians offered to guide the visitors on foot to the wormhole.
But Zann could tell that they were afraid. And no wonder!
He couldn't imagine how it would feel to know that any passing dragon might eat you.
"Thanks, but we remember how to get back to the lake," Zann said. "Come on, guys."
Zann and his friends said good-bye and then set off through the scorched landscape.
"Are you sure we can't zap to the wormhole?"
Perda complained after a few minutes, mopping her brow.
"We'd better not," Darb said. "You heard what the Dracians said."
The group walked without talking for a while.
Zann frowned when they crested a ridge. A patch of tall trees lay below.
"I don't remember seeing any trees like that before."
Zann's heart sank as he realized what this meant. "We're lost!"