Dragonmancer

by Simon Archer

  “It’s okay, we made it through this, and that’s what counts,” I told her, looking back at the cave. “Who are those guys?”

  “I have no idea, so keep your fingers crossed there are answers in the cave,” Gale replied.

  “How could they get inside is what I want to know,” Deyla piped up. “They couldn’t have been in there before the fire. They would’ve starved to death by now.”

  “Let’s go see what we can figure out,” Heather chimed in.

  The five of us went back into the cave. I still had my flame in case there were more threats that we didn’t know about. The torches were still burning, providing a good amount of light to see by.

  We navigated our way through the dead bodies on the floor. Even the men that had been paralyzed by potions had ended up burning. The smell was nauseating, and we all had to cover our mouths and noses with our hands.

  The cave itself was enormous. It kept going on forever, it seemed. The walls arched up to connect with a ceiling at least sixty feet above us. Airmed had definitely made certain her home was spacious. There were stacks of rocks here and there around the cave. A very large stack was piled up in the back, left corner. When I looked to see if there was a passageway behind it, I saw something move.

  “I think someone is still in here,” I yelled to the others, who came running immediately.

  I held my flame out in front of me as I neared the rock pile, watching for further movement. I rounded the corner quickly and what I saw made me gasp. Huddled back in the corner, between the rock pile and cave wall, were at least two dozen girls and women.

  “Gale!” I yelled right as she ran up to my side. She looked around the corner and gasped as well.

  “Oh my god, who are these girls?” she whispered.

  The hovering bodies were dressed in rags, but looked to be fairly clean. Some of them had no problem looking at us, while others averted their gaze in fear. When Heather rounded the corner, I swear I could’ve seen her heart break at the sight of them. She rushed over to them, systematically tipping their chins up with a gentle touch to see if they were alright.

  “Heather?” a young voice said. Her head whipped around.

  “Yes!” she called out, still trying to identify whose voice it was.

  Out of the tightly packed group, a teenage-looking girl pushed her way through and threw herself onto Heather. Aron sucked in her breath beside me.

  “Who is that?” I asked Aron.

  “That is one of the girls missing from the river. It’s one of the ones just taken,” she said, rage in her voice. Her anger wasn’t at the girl, of course, but at the fact that she’d been taken.

  “I would venture to say that all those girls will have come from the river kidnappings over the years,” Deyla added as she scanned the crowd.

  “Let’s get them out of here,” I replied, and Heather nodded.

  I stepped to the side to let Heather and the girls access the exit, and when I did, I spotted something dark on the back wall from where I was standing. When I reached it, I found it was a hidden room behind the back wall of the cave.

  “Hey, I’ve got a secret room,” I shouted out so everyone would know where I was going. I stepped into the secret space and immediately turned back around.

  “You ladies need to get in here! NOW!” I yelled as loudly as I could.

  All the leaders except Heather, who was helping the prisoner girls, ran to my side, and I took them into the secret room. They stopped in their tracks the moment they saw what I was looking at. At the very back of the room, curled up in a corner and laying on a bed of old grass, was a beautiful, light blue dragon. She had tucked her head tucked behind her where we couldn’t see, and her tail wrapped tightly around her body. None of us moved. The dragon wasn’t moving, and I couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. The girls and I looked at each other, each trying to devise a course of action in our own minds.

  “Airmed. Is she alive?” Gale whispered, horrified at the thought that we may be looking at a corpse.

  “I think she is,” I told her. “Her scales are dulled, but they are still beautiful. They would have decomposed by now if she dead.” It was the soundest logic I could think of at the moment.

  “How do we approach her?” Aron asked. Right then, it was like the answer popped into all our heads, and we looked to Deyla.

  “Aron, Gale, I’ll need you to go back to the other area. If she’s been abused, which I’m sure she has, she may be violent. I can handle dragon violence easily, and he’s the Dragonmancer. We will get her out.

  “I have another idea that may help us,” I said. “Gale, will you please go get Victoria and bring her in here?” Gale nodded and left with Aron to comply.

  “Let’s let Victoria approach her first. If she has become tainted from abuse, it wouldn’t have been abuse from another dragon,” I said to Deyla.

  “Fair enough,” she said after thinking about it for a moment.

  “You should go with Victoria, though,” she replied. I wasn’t sure of her logic, but I wasn’t going to disagree with a Dragon Whisperer about how to handle a dragon.

  Moments later, Victoria was standing by my side, and her face was distraught with concern for her fellow dragon. I stuck close to her leg, and we approached Airmed as slowly as we could. We stopped every few feet to give Airmed a chance to look at us if she wanted to, but she didn’t move.

  Finally, we were within just a couple of feet, and I saw her torso move just the tiniest bit to indicate she was breathing. Relief rushed through me like I’d never felt before. There was something about her that felt so familiar, and it had grown with each step I’d taken toward her.

  Victoria slowly lowered her head and ever-so-gently rubbed her snout across the back of Airmed’s neck. The dragon didn’t move, but I noticed her start breathing a bit faster. Victoria repeated her motion several more times and even let out some very soft, clicking dragon noises while doing so.

  Airmed didn’t move.

  Victoria lifted her head and looked at me, tears in her beautiful eyes. I patted her leg and stepped in front of her. I knelt down beside Airmed and closed my eyes. I remembered the look in her eyes when I’d had a vision of her being captured. It was steely, hard resolve. She had promised me she would survive. I focused on my instant protectiveness for her, my admiration for how beautiful a creature she was, and slowly put my hand on her neck.

  The connection was electric and instant. I felt a jolt of energy transfer from me to her. I opened my eyes. The scales directly under my hand had begun to glow a soft yellow light. I concentrated on her harder, and the glow grew. Inch by inch, it spread across her entire body until finally, she was glowing all over.

  She stayed that way for a full five minutes, pulling energy from me like a vacuum. The transfer wasn’t draining, however. I felt as though every cell in my body was working to provide what she needed, and that there would be an endless supply. I could also feel that she wasn’t broken physically or mentally. She was malnourished, tired, depressed, sad, and angry, but not broken. If she had been any other dragon, however, she would’ve been dead. I was sure of that.

  I kept my hand on her even after she shuddered underneath it, her first sign of movement. After another few minutes, her drain on me started to lessen. She was gaining strength by the moment until finally, she stopped pulling energy from me. I lifted my hand, stepped back slowly, and returned to Victoria’s side.

  We watched anxiously while the gorgeous creature before us began to move her body. As the yellow glow engulfing her began to fade, she unwrapped her tail and dragged it across the ground. Then she shifted her weight until her legs were beneath her. Lastly, she began to lift her neck and head. Her movements were so painfully slow that I didn’t have any concern about violence coming from her.

  Victoria and I took a few steps back to give her some more room as she finished unfolding her body. She took a deep breath and finally stood. When she was fully upright, she towered over Victori
a.

  She finally moved her head around to where we could see her, and though her eyes lacked light, I could see the gratitude in them. She looked at Victoria and nodded to her gracefully. Then she shifted her gaze to me and lowered her head until it was directly in front of me. I placed my hand on her forehead. I could feel the gentleness and graciousness of her soul through our connection as she thanked me for finding her. She lifted her head and took a weary step to test out her strength. When she was more comfortable, Victoria and I led her out of the secret room.

  Deyla walked with us into the main part of the cave, and thankfully, the cave was empty because all the other leaders were tending to the prisoner girls outside.

  Airmed took her time, stepping very carefully and looking around her home. I wondered how long she’d been stuck in that back room. She glanced at the entryway to the cave but didn’t seem interested in leaving. She was blinking rapidly, as one would expect when being kept in darkened quarters for so long. She went to the middle of the cave and slowly stretched her wings out. The cave was barely big enough for her to do so.

  She moved slowly to fold them back up. It was obvious she needed nourishment, so I sent Deyla to get some for her. I didn’t want to force her to go outside until she was ready, so I resolved to bring her food if that is what she needed.

  As she stood, looking lovingly at her home free of torture, I couldn’t help but feel a different kind of connection with her. It was similar to a sense of déjà vu, but that didn’t make sense. I remembered the vision I had of her. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

  Deyla soon returned with food, and we laid it out for Airmed. I was a little unsure whether she’d want to be alone or have company after essentially being alone for so long. I decided to have Victoria stay with her while she ate.

  Deyla and I walked out of the cave to check on Gale, Aron, and Heather. The prisoner girls were sitting at the feast table, telling the tales of each of their kidnappings. When we all were in the same place, I looked at Gale and smiled.

  “Airmed is going to be okay,” I told her. “I don’t know how she survived.”

  “The girls here said that they would feed her just enough, so that she didn’t die,” Heather said, tears in her eyes. “How could anyone do this?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said, “But nobody is going to do this again.”

  33

  I stayed with Airmed for the next two weeks, bringing her food, keeping her company, and making sure nobody tried to get near her. I slowly lit more torches in the cave each day to get her eyes accustomed to light again. She recovered much quicker than I would’ve expected, and soon, she was energetic, and even a little playful.

  Meanwhile, Deyla would come visit every so often and bring me any supplies I needed. She was spending all her other free time organizing an honorary feast for Airmed with the other leaders. It wasn’t the healing feast that was tradition. It was simply to honor her return to her former glory.

  Victoria stayed with Airmed and me, and the two of them became fast friends. They would play games and roar at each other. They even curled around each other when they slept sometimes. Every day I could see Airmed feeling better. After so many years of starvation and horror, it was so hard to believe she hadn’t lost her fighting spirit and gentle ways.

  Feast day came, and the only question mark on the day would be whether Airmed would exit her cave. Up to that point, she had not.

  Slowly but surely, the citizens of Ponatha flocked to the mountain. They kept quiet and calm as they brought their favorite foods and drinks, setting them up on the feast table, which had finally been cleaned off. Children kept their voices down and were careful not to run around too rambunctiously. Everyone had such excitement in them at the return of their beloved Airmed that gratitude weighed heavy in the air as they arrived.

  Once we set everything up, I went back into the cave, and Deyla came with me. Airmed was sitting on her haunches, curiously watching the activity going on outside her cave. Victoria was sitting next to her and got up when I entered the cave.

  Together, Victoria and I coaxed Airmed to her feet, and she began following us out of the cave. I was out first, then Victoria. We stepped to the side to allow room for Airmed to exit. She paused just before entering the light, fluffing her wings several times. Then slowly, and with her head held high, she stepped out of her cave, and her head and neck emerged into the sunlight. Several more strong, confident steps, and her body was out.

  Victoria and I backed off to the side, realizing that we would be in the way if she were to stretch her wings. That was exactly what she did. Once she was fully in the sunlight, and had checked to each side of her for a clear path, she slowly unfolded her purplish-blue tinted wings to their full length, and suddenly, I knew what our connection was.

  When the sun hit Airmed’s wings, it glanced off at just the right angle, and my eyes flashed with light that made her wings look white instead of blue. I recognized that white from the dream I had about almost drowning as a kid… the creature in the sea who had rescued me. The sunlight through the water must’ve made her look white the way she had that day.

  She folded her wings and looked over at me. I knew she could tell I had finally fully recognized her. I didn’t have a complete memory of what happened. In fact, I had very little memory of it at all, and as I grew older, I dreamed about it so often that I couldn’t honestly tell what I dreamed and what I remembered after a while.

  Regardless, I felt a pride and love swell up in me for Airmed, lined with respect and admiration. How a dragon could’ve saved a human from drowning, I had no idea, but I planned to find out. That could wait at that very moment, however. It was a time to celebrate her life and her return to Blenwise’s people, as well as the return of health to the realm.

  By the end of the feast, everyone was stuffed, laughing, and happy. The girls and I sat together and stared at Airmed, mostly. She was so graceful and big. There was little talk of any future plans as we were all simply enjoying the day.

  After a while, Aron, Heather, and Deyla wanted to go look around the cave a little bit since they hadn’t really gotten a chance to do so. I walked them in and showed them around. I had found another secret room off the first one, but it was empty except for one formation in the center made of stone. I had taken it upon myself to scrub down the entire cave the past few weeks to remove any evidence of the torture Airmed went through. The second secret room was the only one I hadn’t really been in yet.

  I looked around the small room with curiosity as we entered. I hadn’t gotten to spend much time there yet. The stone dais stood in the center of the space, almost like a large altar or carved bed. A thousand possibilities and uses ran through my head, and my sudden sexual urges surprised me. I had been at the mountain for weeks, after all. The girls picked up on it instantly. Judging by the sexual tension that crackled in the air, we were all only thinking of one.

  Heather hopped up onto the raised slab and gave me a pointed look. Her small feet dangled just above the floor, and something about her looked incredibly innocent and alluring.

  I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Aron strode over to her and arched one of her black brows.

  She tugged on a strand of Heather’s golden hair. “What makes you think you get to be first?”

  Heather gasped, and her eyes widened. She met my gaze, and I immediately grew hard. Something about Aron taking charge of Heather made my blood surge with desire. Deyla sidled up beside me with a wicked grin on her face.

  She looped her arm through mine and cuddled into my side. “Oh, this looks fun.”

  Aron’s gaze flickered over to her briefly, then settled back on Heather. Without warning, she reached into Heather’s top and gave her right nipple a little squeeze. Heather’s indignant little squeak quickly became a moan.

  Deyla made her way over. “I want in on this.”

  The curvaceous redhead stood on Heather’s opposite side. She brushed Heather’s golden ha
ir off of her shoulder and leaned down to kiss her neck. I was already getting turned on, but the sight of Deyla’s mouth on Heather filled me with heat.

  Aron grinned wickedly. “Deyla, I think Heather needs a hand taking off her clothes.”

  Deyla nodded and set to work, removing Heather’s strappy, skimpy outfit, all the while kissing down her neck and chest. Heather gasped as Deyla freed her breasts and sucked on her nipples. Aron’s face looked triumphant, and I knew she loved feeling in control of the other two girls.

  Aron smacked Deyla’s ample ass, shocking both of us. “Now, why don’t you get on your knees and see how she tastes?”

  “Damn, Aron,” I groaned.

  She met my eyes with her signature dark gaze, then let them trail down my body. Her silent command was clear, and I began pulling off my own clothes. The air in the room was slightly chilly, and I immediately got goosebumps. Despite the outward temperature, though, my blood was boiling.

  Heather gasped as Deyla lapped at her with her mouth, and I walked closer to get a better view. Heather’s light blues eyes flicked up to meet mine, and she locked eyes with me intensely as she came from Deyla’s mouth. My whole body tensed, and my erection throbbed painfully as I watched Heather grind against Deyla’s slick face.

  Aron snapped her fingers impatiently. “Lay down on the stone, you two. Give Blake a better show.”

  Heather offered Deyla a hand to stand up, and the two girls kissed as they both crawled further onto the stone table. I sidled next to Aron and wrapped my arm around her waist. She softened into me for just a second before resuming her commanding role.

  “You don’t get me yet,” she purred.

  Heather and Deyla now fully stretched along the length of the stone, and I watched their velvety tongues slide against each other as they kissed passionately. Aron flipped her black braid over her shoulder and looked down at the girls like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

  She gestured toward Heather and Deyla’s slick pussies, which sat on top of each other, perfectly stacked. Aron tapped their thighs, and both girls spread their legs to give me a better view of the way their mounds rubbed against each other. They had begun to grind against each other and whimper softly without any further instruction from their ringleader.