The Dragon Eaters

by Duke Kittle

  * * *

  Kravek always thought death would look like a light at the end of a dark tunnel. He blinked once and rubbed his eyes. The light was a welcome relief. But even as he lay there, staring up at it, he could feel its warmth beckoning to him. He could even hear it calling to him. He could hear the light calling his name. Its voice was so familiar. It was comforting.

  “Can you hear me?”

  It seemed like a strange question coming from the light of death. Kravek responded quietly. “Am I dead?”

  “Close to it.” Tina pushed herself up from Kravek's chin. The ball of light floating over her head rose with her. She jumped down from his chest.

  Kravek sat up and looked down at Tina standing next to him. “What happened?”

  Tina thumbed the platinum armlet on her left arm. The diamond in the center of it was glowing brightly. “We were very nearly crushed.”

  Kravek looked around to see why they hadn't been. A half-sphere of what looked like waves of heat flowing through the air surrounded them. On the outside of the half-sphere was what appeared to be a massive pile of gravel dumped right on top of them, burying them.

  He looked down at Tina. “How are we not dead?”

  “There's a barrier of magical force surrounding us right now. It can't hold forever, but it should hold up long enough.”

  “Long enough for what?”

  “Long enough for me to fuse these rocks together before it collapses. And then, hopefully, I can see to Luna's wounds.” Tina walked to the edge of the barrier and pushed her hands through it. She touched the rocks on the other side. “See if she has any bandages in her backpack. She's bleeding, but I don't have long enough to try healing her before this barrier breaks.”

  Kravek moved to Luna and lifted one of her arms. He still felt a little dazed, but urgency demanded his focus. The bull pulled Luna's backpack open and searched through it. Fortunately, there was a set of rolled up bandaging cloth there. He pulled it out, and then he slid the backpack off Luna's other arm and set her back down. There were several holes in her leather armor, but there were many more which had been stopped and were simply imbedded in the hide. Even so, he could see blood through the holes.

  Kravek quickly went about pulling belts and ties on her armor before pulling it off and laying it aside. He looked at the bloodied fur on her body. She wasn't bleeding profusely, but the number of wounds made him worry. “Tina, she's pretty badly hurt.”

  As Kravek started wrapping wounds, Tina nodded. “I'll see to her. Now, be quiet for a minute. This is harder than it looks without my glasses.” Unable to see the exact equations pertaining to the pebbles, their number, their weight, the force pressing down on her sphere, or how deep they ran, Tina had to make estimates and work slowly. As she multiplied her own organic variable, she cast the product into the rocks. With the sound of shifting gravel, the pebbles merged in front of her hands. The fusing process slowly expanded outward as the wizard worked carefully. It took a few minutes, but once she was finished, the rocks around them had solidified into a single, solid half-sphere.

  Tina stepped away from the rocks and sank to the ground with a sigh. The diamond set on her armlet cracked just before the half-sphere of pure force faded. She looked down at it and slid the armlet off. It wasn't going to be easy to replace, but it had saved their lives. Tina picked up her rucksack, tucked the armlet into it, then moved to where Kravek was tending Luna. He had bandages wrapped around her middle, her chest and shoulder, and her right arm at the bicep and forearm. The bandages were already stained with her blood.

  Tina climbed up onto Luna's chest, being careful of her wounds, and looked at her head. Fortunately, it looked as though the blast had caught only her right side. “No head wounds. Small miracle, but one for which I'm very grateful.”

  “There are two holes in her belly.” Kravek's expression looked grim. “Those need tending first, or she'll be dead before you can get to the rest.”

  Tina turned back around and moved to Luna's stomach. She rubbed her face. “Kravek, I can't mend wounds of that kind without my glasses. Wounds like this... it's much more meticulous than making a wall of stone. Even if I'm careful, I run a high risk of doing more damage than good.”

  Kravek narrowed his eyes at Tina. “You have to try, Tina.”

  “Kravek,” Tina looked up at him, “I can't be sure it will help.”

  “You still have to try.” He touched Luna's shoulder. “She came here to help you. Now, she might be dying.” Kravek's gaze was fixed on Tina's face. “It may not be perfect, but you have to try.”

  Tina hesitated as she looked at Kravek. She knew the damage she could do if she wasn't careful. Her ears pressed back against her hair. “Kravek, if I don't get this right, she could end up with any number of--”

  “Are any of them worse than death?” Kravek's expression was stern as he interrupted Tina.

  Tina looked up at him again and saw Kravek's hard eyes. It was an expression she hadn't seen before. But she was afraid. If she didn't heal Luna's wounds perfectly, the mink could end up living in pain for the rest of her life. If Tina got it wrong, Luna might even wish for death.

  Tina's hands trembled. “Kravek, there are worse fates than death.”

  Kravek sat straight up. His stern glare turned to one of disappointment. “Well... that's it then, is it?” He looked away from her. “And here I thought I was the coward.”

  Tina felt the blood leave her face. “Kravek...”

  Kravek shook his head. “Every minute you wait, she draws closer to death, Tina. Maybe you will screw up. Maybe she will hate you. Maybe she will wish to die.” He hesitated for a moment before he spoke again. “She might even want to kill you before the end.” He fixed his gaze back on Tina. “But at least her end won't be here.”

  Tina closed her eyes. There were so many risks. She opened her eyes again and looked back down at the bandages on Luna's belly. Wizards did not normally possess the power to heal, and while what Tina did was not the same as a healing spell, she did have the ability to at least get Luna out of danger from her stomach wounds. But without her glasses, she would be flying blind.

  With a sigh, Tina moved to Luna's stomach and pushed the bandages down to reveal the holes in her skin. “Kravek, I need your help. This isn't going to be easy for either of us. Tear off a few pieces of the bandages, and then hold her down and pray to whatever deity you worship that she doesn't wake up.”

  After Kravek set a few torn pieces of bandage across Luna's stomach, he put one hand on Luna's shoulder and the other on her hip. Tina leaned over the larger of the two wounds and picked up one of the torn bandage strips and wrapped it loosely around her hands. She pushed her hands into the hole in Luna's skin, and the cloth quickly became soaked with Luna's blood. Tina used the cloth to wipe the blood away several times before she pushed her hands in more deeply. Though the wound looked large, the rock shard had not gone as deep as it could have. Wrapping her fingers around it, she manipulated the stone until she could slide it out of the wound and tossed the shard aside.

  Pushing her hands back into the wound, Tina drew on her gift and poured it into Luna's skin. A flicker of flame rose from the wound as Tina cauterized it to stop the bleeding. But as soon as the flesh had mended, she used her claws to rake at the skin and open it again. Manipulating Luna's natural healing process, she accelerated it and carefully watched as the flesh started knitting. Within a few seconds, she had to burn the wound again as pathways for blood were restored without the skin to cover them. The shard hadn't penetrated the muscle in Luna's belly, but it had ripped several fibers. Tina had to burn the wound many times over the course of mending it and then poured her gift into Luna's stomach to accelerate the healing process.

  It took two minutes to mend the larger wound. Tina had hoped the larger one had been the deeper wound, but it had merely been caused by a larger shard. Once she pulle
d her hand away, she tugged the bandages across Luna's belly up to cover the wound again.

  “Why do you keep burning her?”

  “Kravek, I really need to focus right now.” Tina moved to the smaller of the two wounds which was farther to one side on Luna's body. She wiped her hands, dabbed the wound, then wrapped her hand again. She could only fit one hand through the small hole, but it was much deeper. The pathway through Luna's muscle was less rigid and torn. Tina felt her arm push all the way through it before she pulled it back out again. Using another one of the bandage strips, she cleaned up the resulting blood, wrapped her hand more tightly so the bandaging wouldn't come off in the deeper wound, and then pushed back in again. Her arm went in all the way up to her elbow, and Tina had to change position to press deeper.

  “Can't you burn the wound to stop that bleeding?” Kravek questioned.

  “If I do before I find the shard, I run the risk of sealing it in her body. Now be quiet Kravek, please.” Tina pushed her arm in deeper and carefully tried to feel around for the stone. Feeling around inside Luna was making Tina's stomach turn, but she didn't have a choice. When her hand finally brushed against something stiff, she grasped for it. She could feel the shard had sharp edges on it, but it hadn't begun to dissolve, and she had a firm grip on it.

  As Tina pulled her arm back, she felt the muscles of Luna's stomach suddenly flex. They tightened around Tina's arm, and the wizard gasped in pain. Biting her lip, she tried to pull her arm back again, but the muscles tightened as Luna let out a groan. Tina had to get free before Luna woke up, or the restricting muscles could break her arm. She twisted the shard to try to get it to move, but that only made the problem worse as the pain brought the mink closer to consciousness. Tina's tail slapped the ground hard as she fought the feeling of her arm being crushed. She wanted to put a sleep spell on Luna to knock her out again, but the mouse couldn't focus.

  Tina stopped pulling on her arm. She kept her grip on the small rock shard tight, but she stopped moving in Luna's body. The feel of Luna's muscles squeezing on her arm was painful, but all of Tina's moving around was only agitating the situation. Tina pressed her incisors against her bottom lip to keep from crying out. But as she stopped moving, Luna slowly relaxed. Tina turned the shard so the sharp edge was against her palm and then managed to slowly slide her arm free. With a small puff of flame, she cauterized the wound and dropped the shard. “It's out.”

  Kravek quickly wrapped up the wound on Luna's side again. He placed his hand on her shoulder, but she had stopped moving around. Kravek looked down at Tina on the floor next to Luna. “Are you all right?”

  “I'll be fine.” She looked down at her bloody hand. It was all Luna's blood, and Tina had fortunately escaped getting any cuts from the sharp edge of the stone shard. The mouse lay back on the ground and closed her eyes. She'd removed the shards and hadn't felt any cuts in Luna's bowel around the shard which had penetrated the muscle. Luna was going to be all right.