Nessy's Locket

by A. W. Exley

  He yelped and staggered backwards just as the harpoon cracked through bone and recoiled fast to slam into the vehicle. Pavlin screamed in agony, and Cara’s heart leapt into her throat. Rachel cried out for her friend and scrabbled down the side of the stallion.

  Cara grabbed the girl before she rushed into the path of a stray bullet.

  The other bounty hunter jumped into the vehicle and pressed on the accelerator even as Nate lunged for them. The metal was a mere fraction of an inch from his outstretched hand before the vehicle lurched forward.

  “Don’t let them get away!” Cara yelled. “Amy and I will tend to Pavlin.”

  Amy jumped from the still-moving Armadillo that slid in behind Nate, and he leapt into her seat. Dirt spun from under its wheels as the little metal beast shot after the larger receding one. Kirill led the charge, shooting fireballs, and Cara could only pray they caught the men responsible.

  Calypso landed on the ground next to her sister and cawed with a low tone. She dropped her head to Pavlin’s and rubbed her cheek against the panicked dragon, trying to ease her distress the only way she knew how.

  Pavlin’s chest heaved with shallow breaths as she made a low keening noise. She struggled to right herself with her left wing. The other hung at an ugly angle. The membrane was in pieces and her hide was covered in blood.

  Cara knelt by her side and placed a hand on her chest. “Settle, girl. We’re here and we’re going to make you all better, I promise.”

  Rachel crouched at Pavlin’s head, wrapped her arms around the female’s neck, and pressed her face to the soft scales. Calypso spread her wings over her sister, sheltering her from any other attack.

  Cara rose to stand next to Amy as they examined the dragon’s wounds.

  “The bullets haven’t done too much damage, thankfully. The scales seem to have stopped the worst of them.” Amy pointed at one circular dent. “The big concern is this wing.”

  The harpoon had torn through the membrane. Delicate skin hung in flaps like shredded fabric, and blood flowed from the multitude of tiny veins that had been severed.

  “And this isn’t just broken, it’s ruined.” Amy pointed to the bones along the top of the wing that that allowed the dragon to flex and extend. The bone had shattered when the harpoon snapped back to the winch. Now the dragon’s wing dangled useless as she mewled in pain.

  Cara’s heart sank. If a dragon with a broken wing was anything like a horse with a broken leg, they might have to end the little female’s suffering. With so few of the mythical creatures in the world, why did men seek to destroy them in their greed?

  “But you can fix her can’t you, Aunty Amy?” Rachel’s young voice sounded from by the dragon’s head.

  Cara and Amy exchanged worried looks. Amy held up her hands in a helpless gesture.

  Cara shot her friend a glare. “I don’t know, Rachel. A broken wing for a bird is a very serious injury.”

  The young girl looked up with tears running down her cheeks. “You can’t kill Pavlin. You can’t. She’s not worthless just because she’s broken!”

  She held up her left arm, and light caught the metal of her prosthetic. The skeletal fingers curled into a fist. The pain shuddering through her young body stole Cara’s breath. Then Rachel burrowed her face back in the dragon’s neck, refusing to let go of the injured creature.

  They had to save the dragon—for Rachel.

  “We will do whatever we can, I promise.” Cara swallowed. She didn’t know how, but they would make the dragon fly again.

  Calypso trilled and her eyes whirled with stormy greens as she regarded Cara. It seemed everyone expected her to produce a miracle.

  Rachel’s hand made soothing gestures over Pavlin’s eye ridges. “I’m not leaving you. Not until you are all better, I promise.”

  Men arrived from the house and dismounted from their horses. They assembled around the dragon, awaiting Cara’s command. Some took off their caps in respect, as though they stood around a dying man. Cara needed to stop that line of thought. If Amy was to fix the dragon, they needed to get her to safety first.

  Cara pointed to one and then gestured back to the main house. “Go fetch the largest hay cart we have. We need to move her back to the stables. Get the lads to make up a dragon-sized bed for her, and fetch Amy’s trunk with the medical supplies.”

  They did what they could to soothe the dragon while they waited. With every second that passed, she seemed weaker and her cries more indistinct. Calypso picked up on her distress and kept nudging Cara, as though pleading with her to do something. Cara could have screamed with frustration and her need to act instead of watch. Part of her wished she had galloped after the bounty hunters to vent her rage on them.

  All they could do was sit around Pavlin and croon reassurances to the suffering dragon.

  Eventually, a rumble heralded the large cart arriving. Two sturdy draught horses trotted over the rough ground, and the man driving the cart clung to the railing with one hand to keep his seat.

  It took ten of them and Calypso to gently lift the injured dragon onto the flatbed of the large cart. Calypso used her body to steady her sister as she was positioned. Pavlin’s cries were raspy and indistinct when they tucked the shattered wing close to her body so that it didn’t flop off the cart. The poor creature was in too much pain to object any louder.

  “I’m sorry, but I promise we’ll find something for the pain as soon as we can.” Cara had to wipe the tears from her eyes and hoped Amy did have a painkiller large enough for a dragon.

  Rachel, true to her word, could not be dislodged from Pavlin’s side. The dragon rested her head in the child’s lap. A large shudder ran through her frame as she closed her eyes.

  The man told the draught horses to walk on with their fragile load.

  Amy pulled Cara to one side before she climbed back onto her horse. “I know nothing about dragon anatomy or physiology.”

  Cara took her friend’s hands in hers. “Nobody does except Sergei, and he’s not here. You are top of all your medical classes and know about setting bones and stitching wounds. You just need to trust your instincts, Amy, please. Whatever you need, we will find it for you. We must do everything we can to help Pavlin survive this.”

  “Well, I suppose I could imagine she’s just a large sparrow,” Amy muttered under her breath.

  Cara patted her friend’s arm and then pushed her towards a waiting horse. “Good. Keep thinking like that and figure out what you need so we can tell the men.”

  It took an eternity to walk back to the barn, by which time Pavlin was almost unresponsive. Her chest still rose and fell, but her cries were tiny whimpers with each exhale. The men drove the cart under cover and into the large barn. Calypso paced back and forth at the entrance, keeping guard. Within, fresh hay had been strewn on the ground and with all available hands helping, they eased Pavlin down to the fragrant bed.

  Amy rolled up her sleeves and grabbed her apron that someone had hung over a stall wall. Next to it was a large, white-painted chest with wheels and a handle at one end to pull it along. The top had a red plus sign to indicate it contained medical supplies. When you had a workshop full of mechanical equipment and men who liked to brawl, you always had a constant flow of injuries to tend.

  Amy flipped open the lid to the chest and surveyed the contents. “I need warm water and bandages. One of you go find Professor Isayev and get him to hunt out any books in the schoolroom that show bird anatomy. Particularly wing structure. Then find me one of the engineers. I’m going to need his help to support the broken bone.”

  “An engineer?” Cara frowned.

  Amy nodded. “If you want her to fly again, we need to figure out a way to support the bone while it heals.”

  Cara waved to the men. “You heard the doctor, get to it.”

  10

  The flighty and nervous Amy that Cara knew as a child had vanished. She was replaced by a confident and brilliant surgeon who held complete control of the situation a
nd issued commands like a general.

  Within fifteen minutes, the barn looked like a field hospital. The contents of the chest were placed on a sheet-draped table. To that, the men added a pile of bandages and buckets of warm water.

  Amy selected a bottle with thick blue glass and a soft cloth. “Before I start, I’m going to give her something for pain relief. I have no idea if this will work, and I’m guessing how much she weighs. I’m going to give her enough to drop an elephant and hope it allows her to sleep through everything.”

  She placed the cloth over the neck of the bottle and tipped the clear liquid onto the fabric. Her lips moved as she counted drops. Then she knelt by the dragon. “I will need your help, Rachel. I need you to monitor Pavlin’s breathing and tell me if it becomes too shallow or if the gaps between breaths become too far apart.”

  The young girl wiped tears from her eyes and sat up, her gaze serious as she watched the rise and fall of the dragon’s chest to measure her breathing.

  Amy held the cloth over the dragon’s nostrils and let her inhale the sweet scent. Her eyes whirled a dull blue like a sky with an approaching storm, and then the dual lids fluttered shut.

  Professor Isayev arrived with an armload of books. He stopped, stared at the dragon, and muttered something in Russian that sounded distinctly unsuitable for young Rachel to learn. He dropped the piles of books to the hay and then selected one. He flipped through pages as he approached Amy.

  She glanced at a double-paged spread, and then peered at Pavlin’s wing. “Her wing structure does look remarkably similar to a bird’s.”

  “Da. You can even see that the bone is hollow.” The professor pointed to a broken end of bone that showed the fibrous interior that kept weight down but maintained structural integrity.

  The two kept up a running commentary as Amy examined the broken bone and discussed how to fix it with the professor.

  “The harpoon caught between the radius and ulna, and that in turn has caused the muscles to separate at the elbow. First we need to splint the radius so it will heal and restore the blood supply to the bone. Then I need to worry about the muscles that make the wing work.” Amy wiped her hands on her apron as they determined what to do.

  The engineer had wide eyes when he arrived. He ducked around the pacing Calypso and approached the slumbering dragon.

  “What do you need?” he asked as he pulled a pencil from behind his ear and a notepad from his pocket, ready to sketch what Amy required.

  “If we can keep the broken ends of bone in contact with each other, it is possible that calcium will build up and rebridge the gap. I need a rod to hold the bone still while it heals and some way to attach it.” Amy pointed to how she wanted the radius splinted, a bit like a man with a broken leg but on a larger scale.

  “Do you want something permanent or removable?” he asked.

  Amy consulted with the professor. “Removable,” they said in unison.

  The engineer considered the bones for a moment and then suggested, “We could drill a small hole through the bone on either side of the break and secure a rod there with a screw. Then it could be unscrewed when the wing heals.”

  “Yes, that should work,” Amy said.

  The engineer’s hand made quick strokes on his pad as he drew the idea in his head. Then he pulled a folded ruler from a pocket, flicked it open, and took measurements. “I’ll have what you need in under an hour.”

  Amy nodded. “Good. That gives me time to start on the membrane.”

  Cara felt helpless. “Give me something to do, Amy. Please.”

  Her friend selected items from the laid table and threaded a needle to begin the arduous task of stitching together torn membrane. She pointed to the array of instruments on the cloth. “Take the tweezers and start removing bullets. Those bounty hunters have peppered her hide, and you need to find and extract every one. They shouldn’t be too deep because of her scales. When you are done here, check Calypso, as they shot at her too.”

  With a bucket at her feet, Cara began inspecting Pavlin’s hide. Each bullet she found dropped with a dull plonk into the bucket. They worked quietly, only the deep inhales and exhales of Pavlin marking the passage of time. The metallic hint of blood mingled with the sweet aroma of hay. Cara suspected that forever in her mind the scent of hay would evoke this scene. For the first time in weeks, her stomach didn’t want to empty its contents; she was simply too busy for morning sickness.

  Once Cara had inspected both Pavlin and Calypso for bullets, she collected a bucket of warm water and began washing all the blood from Pavlin’s hide. Amy laboured over quick, neat stitches in the skin that covered the dragon’s wing. Another man assisted, handing her a newly threaded needle as required and gently wiping the skin when she had finished.

  When the light began to fade, men brought in lanterns and set them up around the barn. A grim-looking Jackson and stony-faced Nate appeared as dusk fell outside. Kirill landed next to Calypso and peered inside. He called to Pavlin, who muttered a weak response in her sleep.

  “We have them,” Nate said as he placed a kiss on Cara’s neck. “How is she?”

  She shook her head, unable to find the words to say she simply didn’t know.

  The creature of beauty had been turned into Frankenstein’s monster. The wing resembled a patchwork quilt with rows of stitches criss-crossed over the skin. A metal rod with brackets was screwed either side of the broken bone to hold it immobile.

  Amy finished up and dipped her hands into a bucket of soapy water. Jackson handed her a towel to dry off. “We will know better in the morning. I will stay here with her tonight. The main thing will be keeping her quiet and still to allow the wounds time to heal. I have done my best to set the bone.”

  Jackson brushed strands of loose hair off her face and Amy leaned against him.

  Cara wondered how they would keep the dragon quiet and in the barn for the weeks needed for healing to take place. But that was a worry for tomorrow, and she had her full of concerns for today.

  An exhausted Rachel had slipped into troubled dreams with her arm still around Pavlin. The dragon had woken from her induced slumber, but her eyes were half lidded and she made no attempt to move.

  “We could all do with a hot meal, and we need a blanket for Rachel.” Cara wrapped her arms around Nate and rested her head on his shoulder. She let his heartbeat echo through her body and drew from his strength along their bond.

  “What have you done with them?” she whispered against the fabric of his jacket.

  He stroked her short hair. “They are secure and having time alone to think about what they did. I will deal with them tomorrow, once we know better how Pavlin fares.”

  Conversation was muted as the men tidied away the supplies, dirty water, and bloody rags. More men brought plates with a chunky stew to revive flagging senses.

  Cara draped a blanket over Rachel and left the girl to sleep with the dragon.

  Amy sheltered against Jackson’s broad torso as she sat on the floor and ate dinner. She stared at her large patient with a forlorn look on her face. “I’ve done all I can. It’s up to her now.”

  The image of Pavlin’s patchwork wing haunted Cara’s sleep. What would they do if she could never fly again? Cara needed to escape the nightmares but her mind could only conjure horrible scenarios.

  She awoke with a start, for a moment unable to place her surroundings until she remembered they all slept in the barn. The familiar warmth of Nate was pressed against her back. Always a light sleeper, he cracked one eye open as she stirred.

  “You were restless last night.” He picked pieces of hay from her hair.

  “My brain can’t seem to rest any more. As our family grows, so do all my problems.” She glanced over to where Pavlin slept, Rachel curled up in the arch of the dragon’s neck. They were a beautiful sight, if you could ignore the ugliness of Pavlin’s tattered wing.

  As people roused, staff brought out breakfast for everyone. Rachel enticed Pavlin to dri
nk by offering her honeyed water.

  Having assured himself that the dragon had survived the night, Nate left to deal with the bounty hunters. Cara suspected it would be a one-way trip, wherever he intended to take them.

  With arms crossed over her chest, Cara stared at the ruined wing jutting out from Pavlin’s body. If only she could do something, or work magic to restore full function to the creature. They needed the dragon legislation that McToon drafted passed into law to make what the bounty hunters did an act of treason.

  “Will you be all right if I go to London? I need to do something, and sitting here watching makes me feel so helpless.”

  “Go,” Amy said. “There is nothing any of us can do now. The professor and I are going to research bird wings and see if there is anything else we can do to help Pavlin.”

  Cara kissed Rachel and then took the small airship to the docks by the Thames, where Nate owned a number of warehouses. Her destination was the smallest storeroom, tiny by comparison to the enormous spaces that could hold an airship like the Isis. Instead of timber walls, this warehouse had thick, metal-lined walls and a permanent guard when in use. Her husband and his men affectionately referred to it as the safe.

  Day by day they cleaned out the Curator’s compound. Every single item was boxed up and stored in the safe. Periodically, Cara went through the crates to determine what could be tossed, sold, or moved to the secure storage under the Lowestoft estate. It was slow work and drained her emotionally, but it had to be done.

  Completely at odds with its surroundings, a comfortable armchair had been set up in the middle of the floor, with a low table beside it for when she sorted through smaller boxes. Someone had draped a woollen blanket over the chair in case she got cold working in the chilly warehouse.

  “I’ll fetch you a cup of tea,” Brick said and left her to silent contemplation.