“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” I asked, scrabbling for the first aid kit once again. I thought about our long walk down the mountain. The t-shirt he’d been wearing was drenched in blood. He’d tossed it to the floor along with a coat he’d been wearing over it. That’s why I hadn’t noticed.
“I didn’t know it was so bad. I thought it would stop bleeding.”
I looked down at the cut. A first aid kit wasn’t going to help much, but at least I could clean the wound. “You are going to need stitches.” I pulled out some cleaning ointment and poured it on a cotton swab. He winced as the fluid dripped into the deep cut. “Lift your arm,” I ordered, pulling out the last of the bandages.
“There’s no point putting that on. It will only tear off when I shift into a dragon.”
I looked him square in the eye. “That’s not going to happen. Turning into a dragon will rip your skin to shreds in this condition.”
“So, how will we get down?”
“It looks like Avery will have to go down for help after all.”
Chapter Seventeen
I quietly explained to Morganna the problem with Ash. She agreed that we’d have to ask Avery to go for help.
Avery was sitting waiting on a rock, looking down at the ground. She appeared upset and unsure. I could hardly blame her. She was stuck on a cliffside with a group of people she didn’t know, including two self-confessed Slayers, one of whom was the daughter of the man who trapped her in his sword for so long.
“Avery.” She looked up and gave me a shy smile. I just wanted to pick her up and put her in my pocket. “Ash is injured. He can’t shift without hurting himself. Would you mind going down the cliff after all?”
Her hand went to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She looked behind me as Ash emerged from behind the boulder, now with his shirt and coat back on.
He smiled warmly back at her. “It’s no problem. You were scared. I hurt you, too. We’ll have to chalk it up to experience, but I can’t shift. My skin is torn across my shoulder.”
“I said I’d go down and I will,” she said, standing up. She looked even smaller now. I’d put her at seventeen or eighteen years old, but now that I’d looked at her properly, I saw I was wrong. I’d be surprised if she was a day over fifteen.
“Can you see that house over there?” I asked, pointing to Spear’s house in the distance. She nodded. “Fly down there and find a man called Spear. He’ll send someone up to carry us all down. Tell him that Ash is okay but unable to shift. You don’t have to tell him that it’s because the pair of you were fighting. Don’t turn back into your dragon form.”
She nodded again, this time disappearing behind the bush that Ash had just emerged from.
“Wouldn’t it be better if one of us goes down with her?” asked Ash. It hadn’t occurred to me, but he was right.
Less than a minute later the bright yellow dragon came out and readied herself for flight. I ran up to her, hoping she’d hear me before flying away. She hesitated and looked at me.
“I’m coming with you. Is that alright?”
She nodded, so I jumped on her back.
It felt weird being airborne with someone other than Ash. The thrill of flying was still there, but I found I had to hold on tighter to Avery. We weren’t as in sync as Ash and I were when we flew together. I’d been flying with him for so long now that I knew instinctively which way he was going to turn, whether he was going to do a dive, or when he was just gliding through the air. I could fly on his back and almost never have to hold on, just adjust my body to match the way he was flying. With Avery, I had to hold on to her neck. She glided all the way over Frokontas, coming to a stop in Spear’s garden. I hopped down and told her to wait where she was. Running inside, I bumped into Edeline.
“Julianna!” she exclaimed. “You’re back. How did it go?”
I shook my head. “Not great. The Goblins wouldn’t tell us anything. I doubt they ever will. Is Spear around?”
“He’s outside with the sick dragons. Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, but Ash got hurt and couldn’t bring us down the mountain. He’s okay,” I reassured her. “Nothing that a few days of healing won’t cure, but everyone is trapped up there.”
“I’ll go get them. Are they on the ledge?”
“Yes, but I’d prefer Spear to go. I’ve got another job for you if you don’t mind.”
“What is it?”
I guided her to the window. Avery was still in her dragon form, curled up on the grass.
“Who is that?” Edeline asked.
“She’s a runaway from another colony. She’s been in my father’s sword so long, she can’t remember her way home. I was hoping you could find some clothes for her, then bring her inside. She’s very thin. I think she’s in sore need of a good meal.”
Edeline nodded and followed me outside. I ran to the makeshift hospital while Edeline went to help Avery. I found Spear talking to my father at the far end of the hospital. So many dragons were laid out on the floor unconscious that it looked just like the prison in the woods near Dronias, except these dragons did have their souls.
“Julianna,” he greeted me. “Success?”
“Not really. I’ll tell you about it later. The others are up on the ledge. Can you go and get them?”
“Can’t Ash bring Morganna down?”
“No, he’s hurt. It’s not bad, but he can’t shift right now.”
Spear furrowed his brow. “So how did you get down?”
“It’s a long story. It’s not just Morganna up there. Ash is still up there, and the Wolvren too.”
Spear sighed. “I really don’t want anyone turning into their dragon form at the moment. Too many dragons are getting sick.”
“You can’t leave them up there, Spear,” responded my father.
To my amazement, Spear clapped him on the shoulder as one would an old friend. “You’re right. I’ll do it myself and bring them down a couple at a time. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour to get them all.”
“What was all that about?” I asked once Spear had left.
“I’ve been on my best behavior. We’ve come to a truce of sorts.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” I replied. “Dare I ask what brought about this turn of events?”
He looked around him at all the dragons with a look of regret on his face. “I’ve seen dragons looking like this many times. I’d often go to the building where we held the bodies to rejoice over my power. I know it sounds pathetic now, but back then I thought I was all powerful. Seeing just how many bodies I’d slain made me feel like a big man. Spear and I have our differences, but seeing how much he wants these dragons to get well has made me realize just how much damage I’ve caused. Slaying dragons didn’t make me a big man. Quite the opposite. It made me very small indeed. Trying to save the people in the village, doing everything in his power to help them, including giving up his time and garden. That makes Spear a bigger man than me. I never cared about the people in Dronias as much as Spear cares about the people here. I pretended I did, but the truth was, I wanted everyone to look up to me.” He grabbed a cloth and began to mop the brow of one of the slumbering dragons. “I feel such guilt at my actions.”
I smiled at him. “It sounds like you are willing to put things right.”
“I am. I said that when we first started this journey, but again, I think I was trying to exert my power. Now, I really do want to help. I don’t know what is wrong with these people but I’m going to do everything I can to fix it. I know you said that the Goblins wouldn’t help you, but I’ll bet everything I own that they know what’s wrong.”
I sighed. He was probably right, but after three attempts at climbing up there, I’d finally given up hope of them ever helping us.
“How did you get down here if Ash didn’t bring you? Don’t tell me you climbed down.”
“I’d break my neck attempting to do that. Come with me and I’ll show you.”
I t
ook my father into the house. Avery and Edeline were both in the dining room. Avery was devouring a salad that Edeline had made for her. A plate of mini muffins was next to it on the table.
“Father, this is Avery. She’s a dragon from another colony. Avery, this is my father, Rocco.”
At me mentioning who he was, her eyes went wide. The fear in them was obvious.
“Are you...” My father turned to me. “Was she in...”
“Yes, Father. Avery was one of the dragons you slayed. When she was released, her soul went to the mountain peak where her body remained. We found her when we were visiting the Goblins.”
“My child,” he said, moving toward her. She flinched. “Please don’t be afraid of me. I’m not going to hurt you. Not anymore.”
“I remember you now,” she said.
“I’m sorry. Truly sorry for what I did to you. All I can do is promise that it will never happen again. Please forgive me.”
I watched with bated breath. She had no reason to forgive him. It was because of him that she was lost and alone.
She gave a timid smile and picked up the plate of muffins, offering one to my father. He took the whole plate, set it down on the table, and gave her a hug. I couldn’t see his face from where I was standing, but his body moved as though he was sobbing silently. I decided to leave them there. My father had a lot of making up to do and it was up to him to decide how he was going to do that. An evening speaking with Avery might be good for both of them. If my father meant what he said, and I believed he did, then maybe when this was all over, he’d help Avery find her way home.
Outside, I only had the starlight to help me see Spear, but as I watched, a dark silhouette of a dragon carrying three people came in to land. Morganna, Alpha and another of the Wolvren hopped down and headed over to me.
“It’s been a long night,” Morganna said to me as Spear took off again. “We are going to head to bed.” She took Alpha’s hand and the two of them headed to the houses in the cliff face. The other Wolvren walked past me into the house. Spear must have let him sleep there.
Ash was the last to be brought down. Once Spear was back in his human form, we took Ash to the outside hospital where Spear patched him up a lot better than I had. Stitches pinched together the long hole in his shoulder and chest that Avery had made in the fight.
“That’s going to scar,” said Spear, finishing up his work.
“It’s okay, we’ll match,” I said meaning the scars on my own body. I took Ash’s hand and bade farewell to Spear.
Together, we walked the same path Alpha and Morganna had taken fifteen minutes earlier. The night was quiet, with a slight hint of a chill. Ash took off his coat and gave it to me, exposing the bloody mess of his shirt.
“Do you think this will ever be over?” I asked him. “It seems that no matter what we do, nothing gets any better.”
He put his arm around me. “I want to be positive and say yes, but I honestly don’t know. I don’t see how we can fix everything without the Goblins, and they are refusing to help. Maybe it’s time that we admitted defeat and treat those soulless dragons back in Dronias as dead. That’s what we thought they were for the longest time. We’ve already done our mourning for them.”
I sighed. I hated that he was talking this way. I had been hoping that he would cheer me up like he always did. “It’s not just the dragons back in Dronias though, is it? The dragons here are sick, too.”
“Maybe we should mourn them, too,” Ash replied.
With that sobering thought in mind, we let ourselves into his house and fell asleep in his bed.
Chapter Eighteen
Ash slept fitfully, moaning in his sleep due to the pain in his shoulder. My own body was still sore, and even though I’d been liberally applying Edeline’s burn cream, it still appeared red and flaky in patches. Because of his moaning and my own pain, I couldn’t sleep. I got out of bed and made my way to the balcony in the hopes that some fresh air would make me feel sleepier. In the dim moonlight, I saw someone heading up the path to the fire pit and cliffside houses.
I waited until I could see definitely who it was before heading downstairs to open the door and welcome her home.
“You’re out late,” I pointed out as Edeline walked through the door.
Firecracker ran up to her, wagging her tail, to which Edeline gave her a stroke behind the ears. “Yeah,” she replied wearily. “It’s been a long night. So much went on since you left.”
She looked so tired. I’d been so caught up in my own stuff, I’d not really put a thought to the people of Frokontas who were working through the night in shifts to look after the ailing dragons.
“Would you like me to make you a pot of fruit tea?” I offered as she took off her coat and hung it up.
She gave me a grateful smile. “I’d love it. Thank you.”
I was eager to find out what had gone on over at Spear’s house. It had been pretty quiet when we left and I couldn’t imagine what could have gone wrong now. And something had gone wrong. Edeline looked not just tired but resigned, too.
I ran up to the kitchen and poured a couple of cups of fruit tea. Edeline appeared a few minutes later with a bottle full of clear liquid which she added to her cup.
“Sleeping draught,” she answered my unasked question. “I’m so utterly exhausted, but I know I won’t sleep. There’s just too much going on. Would you like some? You look pretty sleepy yourself.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to be able to sleep even with that. Ash is tossing and turning and moaning in his sleep. Spear stitched his shoulder, but it still hurts him.”
“I’ll sort him out,” she said, picking the sleeping draught bottle up and leaving the kitchen. Five minutes later she was back. She poured what was left of the clear liquid in my cup.
“It’s herbal and won’t hurt you,” she said with a wink. “I’ve given some to Ash, too. That will knock him out for the night. You’ll both wake tomorrow morning feeling like you’ve had the best sleep of your life. You’ll probably need it after hearing what I’m about to tell you.”
I grabbed a couple of cookies that Edeline had baked earlier and handed one to her. I had a feeling I was going to need some sugar.
“So, what happened? Was it my father?”
If there was trouble, I could count on the fact my father was involved. Despite what he said to me earlier about turning over a new leaf, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was already getting under people’s noses. It was in his nature.
“Actually, no. It was that girl you brought home, Avery.”
I arched a brow. “Avery was causing trouble? She did attack Ash, but she said she felt threatened. I believed her.”
“Oh, I’m sure she did. I don’t mean she was trying to hurt anyone. Quite the opposite. The poor thing is terrified. She’s just a kid. Rocco has taken her under his wing and given her a bed to sleep in at Spear’s house. He’s decided to stay there, too, to protect her. I told them both I’d head back tomorrow.”
“Protect her? Why?”
“It all started when Spear had some people over for dinner. The Wolvren who were staying with him, the dragons that had developed the sickness in human form, and all the volunteers helping with the sick dragons. He’s got quite a house full at the moment.”
She paused to take a sip of her tea, leaving me hanging.
“Then what happened?”
“The Wolvren mentioned to everyone where they found her, up on the top of the Triad Mountains. One of the Slayers, I think it was Jasper, asked her how long she’d been there. It turns out that in the couple of days she was lost up the mountain, she heard a bit about what was going on with the Goblins. Apparently, they didn’t realize she was there as she spent the last week curled up and hiding behind some rocks. She overheard quite a bit about us and the Slayers when they came and went from the entrance.”
My heart jumped. All those times we’d gone up the mountain and learned nothing and Avery had heard something by acc
ident. Maybe we should have spent time hiding behind rocks by the entrance rather than blustering in every time. “What did she hear?”
Edeline put her head in her hands. “She seems to think the Goblins are out to get us. That they wanted to be rid of the dragons a long time ago and that selling swords to the Slayers was their way of doing it.”
“I don’t understand. What would selling the swords to the Slayers do for the Goblins?”
“The dragon souls are what power Goblin magic. Avery says that a long, long time ago, they killed the dragons themselves, but they are small creatures and do not have the skill for fighting. So, they invited warriors and village leaders in from the nearby villages to offer to make them magic swords. That’s how the Slayers became Slayers. Before that point, the people in the villages and the dragons had lived peacefully.”
I could quite well believe that the Goblins had somehow started this, but it made no sense. “If the dragon souls create the Goblin magic, how does it help them if the Slayers have the souls?”
“That is the question,” she replied, standing up and rinsing her cup out. “Avery doesn’t know. She didn’t hear any more.”
I felt the sleeping draught begin to take effect. My eyelids became heavy and when Edeline yawned, I caught it. I headed to bed, my mind racing, but almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.
Edeline was right. The sleeping draught helped me sleep like a baby, but nothing could stop me waking up to the noise outside the next day.
“What’s that?” Ash mumbled from under the covers.
I snuggled up to him, enjoying the warmth of his body, wishing that just for once, there wasn’t a problem to deal with. It had been a long time since we’d slept in a bed, and getting out of it hadn’t been on my to-do list for today.
“I don’t know. It’s probably got something to do with what Avery told your mother last night.” I sighed, pulling the covers further over my head to block out the noise. I could already tell that there was an argument brewing outside and no doubt I’d have to deal with it.
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