At dawn the next day, Tango and Argus landed in Asha’s crater: a wide, grey, shallow depression on the mountain’s summit, strewn with rocks and pebbles. The view from the crater’s edge was spectacular, stretching for miles and miles across the waking sea. Where the rising sun met the water, it looked as though the ocean was kissing the sky, sending the first delicate blush of rose into the cheeks of the new day.
Without a word, Argent, Tristan, and Rhys dismounted Argus, while Daniel helped Esme off Tango’s back. Lillian and Vince had opted to stay behind. The former was still a little woozy from the karkavores, and the latter had declared it his sacred duty to serve his true love tea and hot chicken soup.
The volcano’s vent, stretching a hundred feet across the crater’s base, drew every
