Anya's Freedom_Found by the Dragon

by Lisa Daniels

  Four down, one seriously hurt, but they were not nearly ready to give up. She was now seriously injured and the blood was streaming down her back.

  Annora growled at them as they began to advance.

  Suddenly the ground shook like it was about to tear apart. All eyes turned to the other end of the camp. Standing there, looking at the fight, was the largest dragon Annora had ever seen. It was black, its scales appearing to absorb all of the light around it. The cruel eyes of the creature did not leave the stunned fighters as it reached up a talon and shredded a bag of their provisions and tore apart a casket of their gun powder. The fear in the men’s eyes fled as they watched their stolen goods get destroyed. Their attention turned immediately to the dragon and they charged it with a stupidity that Annora saw too often in humans.

  She pulled the bag of gold from the closest man, as well as a small bag of provisions. Moving as fast as she dared with her ankle and new injury, the dragon slayer fled the scene.

  Her mind reeled at what she had seen. It clearly was not the one that had destroyed Marked Tree because the color was all wrong. Still, it was nerve-wracking to think that there was another one in the area. With a final glance over her shoulder, Annora saw the dragon easily taking down the bandits. If she hadn’t known better, the dragon’s face almost looked amused as it crushed the men.

  Turning to move further into the woods, she wondered why the creature didn’t just breathe fire and get it over with. Nor was it eating anyone, which was very unusual.

  He’s a smart one, her mind told her. Any creature that would kill without eating wasn’t worried about wasting food. Not many species had that luxury. No idea what he’s after, but hopefully that little camp will be enough to entertain him.

  Annora leaned against a tree, the blood loss taking its toll. A bitter laugh escaped her lips as she slumped to the ground.

  Feeling her mind descending again into darkness, she regretted that she was dying in the middle of nowhere.

  “Sorry, Bree. Not going to be able to keep that promise. Tell Naya…” Her voice faded as she sprawled out on the ground.

  A voice from a long way away responded, “Tell her yourself.” She felt arms move under her and the ground suddenly shifted under her.

  Annora tried to open her eyes, but all she could manage was a quick, “No angel would come for me, and I don’t want to come back as a demon. No deal. She deserves better, so you can just put me back and let me go into limbo.” The warmth was too much, and she pressed her face against a very muscular chest. She couldn’t help but let out a faint moan as she pressed further into it.

  A very masculine laugh rang in her ears and moved her head as she felt the warmth of a man holding her close. He said something, but she could not make it out as she once again lost consciousness.

  Chapter 4

  Prisoner of Pity

  The first thing Annora noticed upon waking was the soft ground under her and the clean feel of fabric. Her eyes shot open and she sat up, gripped by a sense of sheer panic. The stabbing pain in her back reminded her why that was a very bad idea. Her hand immediately went to her back as she tried to ease the pain. Though she had pulled it, the wound did not reopen. As she felt around, she could tell that someone had been very thorough with the bandage; it was thick and padded, meaning that it would be very difficult to reopen. Instinctively, she began to feel her stomach, wondering just how far in the dagger had gone. From the location where it had gone in, the young woman knew that it must have at least struck a kidney, if not worse.

  Next, the dragon slayer felt her arm. There was fresh blood showing under the gauze, but it didn’t look as bad as it had the night she had gotten the injury. One thing was clear, though: she had been poisoned, and that had likely been the cause of most of her bad fortune since that evening. It would have likely dulled her senses, muddled her brain, as well as making it so that her wound would not heal. It was a novice mistake to make, and she was appropriately ashamed of how she had neglected to tend it when it had first happened. If she had taken time to treat it at The Palace Paradise, then slept for the evening, everything would have turned out differently. Instead she had run off without taking care of things and it had cost her any potential gain she would have had.

  There was no doubt that Elian would be well on his way to finding and killing the dragon.

  Releasing a very loud sigh, Annora decided to find out where she was and who had rescued her. Judging by what she remembered, this rescue was not by a mage. She had never met a magic wielder with such well-defined and built muscles. A blush rose to her cheeks as she remembered how she had nestled against the chest and the way it had rumbled with laughter.

  “Oh, gods,” she muttered. “That was practically an invitation.” Her hands moved to her papers, but they were still unmoved. With a slight twist of her head she wondered if perhaps there was something else the man wanted.

  Gently turning and swinging her legs over the other side of the bed, Annora realized there was a small platter of food just within reach. As much as she wanted to ignore it, the sharp pain in her stomach reminded her that she had been woefully underfed over the last few… days? She had no idea how long she had been unconscious the first time, let alone the second time. The last thing she had eaten was at least two days ago, and it couldn’t be called a proper meal. The food in front of her was far too tempting, particularly on such an empty stomach. Reaching out a hand, she picked up the apple and began to eat it as slowly as she could manage. As the food hit her stomach, she began to feel better. Next, she pulled up a small plate of fish and rice, and she polished it off much quicker than the apple. Although she wanted to be wary of the water, there was no point now that she had already eaten the food.

  As soon as she felt full, Annora carefully put her feet on the floor. Her ankle still hurt, but it had been wrapped several times so that its movement was limited.

  “Someone knows something about tending wounds. What could they possibly want from me, then?” Annora stared at her ankle as she tried to give her thoughts voice. Her mind still felt off, and she knew that hearing her thoughts would help her better process them.

  As soon as she was standing, the dragon slayer’s attention was drawn to movement to the side. Slowly she turned and realized it was a mirror. She could not hold the laugh in and she ended up sitting back down, grasping at her back as it hurt as her body shook. Her hair was an absolute wreck, almost as if she were one of the Wildlings from the nightmares of her youth. It had initially startled her until she had recognized the face under it.

  Standing again, she moved to the mirror. The cut on her head was still covered, but no blood showed through the bandages. Curious to see how it looked, Annora gently peeled the bandage back, and was shocked to find that the wound was little more than a scar.

  Her fingers went up to feel it as she asked her reflection, “Now, how did you heal so quickly?” Her bluish-green eyes sparkled back with the same curiosity. The dragon hunter removed the bandage and placed a much smaller one over the nearly mended cut. Her hair would hide the scar well, making it almost impossible to tell that she had ever been hurt. Breathing a sigh of relief, she was glad that she didn’t have any more obvious wounds to explain to Bree. Annora hated when they bathed together because Bree would always scold her for new bruises and scars, and she always knew which ones were new. Often Bree would act more like a mother than a younger friend, up until men were involved, then it was all Annora had been able to do to keep the girl in check.

  Annora did not want to think about what Bree would say if there was a scar on the older friend’s face. There would have been hours of lectures and reprimands about not being cautious enough, which would be entirely true in this case. Satisfied that the damage could be hidden, the dragon slayer stepped back and took in the rest of her reflection. She was fully dressed, but not in her regular clothes. The only part of her regular clothing was the shirt with her papers. The rest of her outfit was looser fitting than she
was accustomed to. Wondering how she hadn’t noticed, Annora glared at herself in the mirror.

  “What is wrong with you?”

  Upset with her steady stream of bad decisions and lack of caution, Annora wanted to get back on track. That meant finding her clothes and…

  Suddenly the young woman began looking around, a real sense of panic crushing her heart. Her weapons were nowhere. Without a second thought, the young woman began trashing the room as she desperately looked for the only two things that made her feel comfortable. Lately they hadn’t been as useful as normal, but she knew that was her fault. The dirk had been a gift from her father when she had expressed an interest in fighting at four years old. He had taught her himself, and then he had died trying to defend their town during that first dragon attack. The second attack had taken her mother.

  Her whole life had been a quest for revenge. That could not happen without her sword and dirk.

  When it was obvious that neither weapon was in the room, Annora pulled the sheets off of the bed and wrapped them around her. As there had been no clothes left behind, that was the next best thing. A silent storm was brewing in the back of her mind as it finally registered that someone had undressed her and put those clothes on her. However, that was not her biggest grief, not by a long shot.

  Storming out of the room, she headed down the hall. The young woman stomped down the stairs and ignored the patrons enjoying a meal as she went up to the innkeeper.

  “Where are my clothes and weapons?” She looked him in the eye. There was no way he would be unaware of her presence, so now was the time to find out just how stupid the man was. If he tried to feign ignorance, she didn’t need one of her weapons to do considerable damage. Her cold eyes would relay that warning if her low threatening tone didn’t.

  The innkeeper simply smiled at her. “Sorry, ma’am, I have no idea where he took your things. If you will please return to your room, I’m sure you will find the answers you want. Just wait for him to come back.”

  Annora gritted her teeth. Suddenly her body shook and she began coughing. The fit lasted over a minute. By the time she stopped, the innkeeper had his hand on her back and was trying to offer her a glass of water. Continuing to ignore the crowd of people watching the strange woman in a bedsheet angrily questioning the innkeeper, Annora managed to ask, “And who is he?”

  The man looked a little embarrassed. “Well, ma’am, if you don’t know who he is, I’m afraid you will just have to wait for him to arrive. I really can’t tell you much more than I already have.” She glared at him. He shrugged, “I really am not at liberty to tell you anything. He brought you in, he will have to explain. I have to say that although I am very pleased to see you up and about, I really don’t think that you should be down here.”

  She began another coughing fit; this time it was so violent that it caused the wound in her back to hurt. Biting back the pain, the young woman tried to sound more confident than she was. “I want my things. I have to do something and I can’t-” She began coughing again.

  As the coughs wracked her body, she felt strong arms lift her. “And just what do you think you are doing?” The voice was low and calm. And right beside her ear.

  “I’m terribly sorry, sir. I didn’t think it would be right for me to-”

  The man holding her tightly cut the innkeeper off. “It’s quite alright, John. I don’t expect you to tame a tiger, let alone such a wild creature as this.”

  Despite the coughing and pain, Annora tried to push the man away from her. The sudden motion merely caused the man to sigh. “I apologize, everyone. Please enjoy your meal. John, you can put all of this on my bill.”

  With that, Annora felt them turn and head toward the stairs. The coughing had subsided, but she was now beginning to shiver uncontrollably.

  The voice grew concerned. “Are you alright?” He pulled her closer, but she continued to try to fight him, pushing him away as much as her trembling hands could. She was shocked when a cold hand suddenly covered her forehead. “Dear gods! You are burning up. Leonides! Bring the kit, she’s burning up!” His voice boomed as he called to some unknown companion.

  Annora looked up into the face of the man holding on to her and shouting for assistance.

  “Elian?”

  Suddenly the man looked down at her. He blinked a few times, “You remember?”

  “I thought you were-” Her voice broke as her body began to shake uncontrollably.

  “Leonides, hurry! What the-” The man’s voice stopped as they entered the room. “Gods, what did you do to the room?”

  She felt herself being set down on the bed. There was some shifting and movement as he put everything back together. The blanket was pulled off of her, and he immediately began rubbing a strange oil on her arms and legs. She tried to move away, but someone else entered the room, and they were easily able to hold her in place while Elian continued to cover her neck and forehead with the oil.

  Once it was done, he put the blanket back over her. “I’m terribly sorry for that, but the oil will help to cool you down without making you shake further. Take some of this.” Annora tried to turn her head, but found she was too weak to do much of anything. “Please. It will fight the fever from the inside. We have to get the fever to break and that is not going to happen without medicine.” Then under his breath, he muttered, “And a bit of a miracle.”

  Annora thought she was not meant to hear the last part. Her thoughts were muddled, though, and she couldn’t be entirely sure that she heard him correctly.

  Opening her mouth as much as she could, a thick liquid was carefully and gently placed in her mouth. The man’s hand was rough, but not unpleasantly so as he tilted her head by the chin to help her swallow.

  Suddenly she began to shake uncontrollably. Her body was pressed up against something firm and warm, but her mind couldn’t understand what it was.

  “Leonides, it’s going to be a long night. Can you handle the mission for now?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Very good. I trust you to make the right decisions.” The sound of footsteps echoed in her mind before Elian’s voice broke in. “And Leonides.”

  The footsteps stopped. “Yes, sir?”

  “Don’t mention this.”

  The voice sounded like a smile to Annora as the man responded, “Understood, sir.”

  The warmth stayed with her well into the night. When her body finally relaxed, the warmth relaxed and moved away a little, but never far enough way that she couldn’t reach out and touch it. When she did, a voice would calm her.

  “Yes, but what you need is sleep. Stop fighting it so that you can recover.”

  Finally, a large hand began to stroke her head and back. With this reassurance, she finally drifted off into a fevered dream.

  Chapter 5

  Fevered Nightmares

  Annora’s dreams were among the worst of her life. Everywhere she turned, she watched the people she loved being killed as a result of dragon attacks. It was all of the worst moments of her life amplified by the fever.

  Tears streamed down her face as she watched Nyle standing between her and the last dragon to have beaten her. All the other scenes went by so quickly, like a mashup of all the worst moments of her life. Now with Nyle in front of her trying to give her time to run, everything was in slow motion. Again she watched him try to take on a full-grown dragon with no experience. She was the fighter, not him. He was several years younger than her, but Nyle had never seemed to care. When he suddenly shifted away from his dream of becoming a merchant, something at which he excelled, Annora could not understand it. When he picked up a sword and said he, too, would become a dragon hunter, she had feared the man had lost his mind.

  It was only in those final moments when she had understood why he had chosen a life that did not suit him.

  Standing between Annora and the dragon, he had thrown a sword into the dragon’s eye, causing it to rock back on its hind legs. In that instant, he had turned and p
icked up Annora, who was badly injured when the dragon had sliced open her side after she had brazenly tried to take it head-on instead of wearing it down. Nyle had come out of nowhere, sword in his hand. It was the first time she had seen his hand so steady as it threw the sword in a perfect arc.

  Running with her, promising she would be ok, Nyle had pressed into her, ensuring that her wound did not open further. The roar of the dragon told them both that it was looking for vengeance. They made it past several houses before he darted inside.

  He murmured, “I couldn’t let it be you. Last year I saw what was going to happen, and I couldn’t let it be you.” Gently, he kissed her on the head and murmured, “I love you.”

  With that, he gently laid her on a couch and darted back outside. Shocked, she tried to struggle to her feet as she heard Nyle yelling at the dragon.

  He never had a chance.

  “Nyle!” she screamed as she bolted upright in the bed.

  A hand softly but firmly pressed her back onto the bed. “Shh. It’s okay. It’s just a nightmare.”

  Annora sobbed. Strong arms pulled her toward the warmth that she had felt earlier.

  “Nyle,” she sobbed, “it shouldn’t have been you. It shouldn’t have been you. Why didn’t you tell me? Nyle. I’m so sorry.” The tears eventually slowed down as a hand stroked her back.

  “It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

  “No. No. It’s never going to be okay again.” She held onto something soft and warm. Arms gently wrapped around her and pulled her closer.

  “It will be okay. You just need to get through the worst of it, then you can start to heal.”

  “It will never heal. It’s all my fault. He died and it’s all my fault.”

  “Rest. You can blame yourself once you are through the worst of it.”

  “I want to die. She can be happy if I die. I just want her to be happy again.”

  The warmth started to vibrate slightly as the sound of humming filled her ears. There were no more words, just the humming and the warmth.