by Sariah Skye
I glanced at Gabriel and snorted. "Well…there you are, then."
Gabriel smiled wryly, but was tapping a finger on his chin, appearing to be far away. "How is it that these Loremasters supposedly know everything, but yet, Kiarra is the best person for the job?"
I raised a brow, intrigued. "Hey now…there poses an interesting question."
"And…where was she when the damn storm was flying overhead, huh?" Gabriel scratched his chin. "I remember seeing her at the market but…during the storm. Nowhere to be found."
I couldn’t answer that. "Are you saying…"
He threw up his arms. "I don’t know what I’m saying!" he exclaimed in exasperation. "I just know that none of this makes any goddamned sense!"
"Now, that we can agree on," Daniel said, with a chuckle. "Now that Sleeping Beauty has awakened, I’m gonna go get some food. What is it that dragons eat? Side of cow? Pork ribs still on the pig?" he kidded.
I groaned. "Pizza…would be fab. And Mountain Dew."
He narrowed his eyes. "Girl, that stuff is horrible for you."
"But, it’s good for the soul. Now…" I motioned my head for the barn door. "See if you can…talk to Kiarra while you’re at it. Find out where she was." Daniel nodded and too disappeared out the barn door.
"Do we know for sure that the last pink dragon is really her Grandfather?" Gabriel mused.
I shook my head. "I don’t think she’s lying. I don’t sense it off her but, I’m not too knowledgeable with the empathy yet," I said, dryly. "I just wish I knew what else I could do…or if I’ll ever be able to do anything without being rendered a total invalid afterward." I groaned, closing my eyes and willing another shift again. It didn’t come as I wouldn’t think it would but it still didn’t stop me from cursing a whole string of swear words in Dragon.
The big barn door squeaked open then, and Esmè poked her head in. "Hello? Can I come in?"
Gabriel motioned with a hand for her to come, and she did. She looked tired, her hair in a long ponytail at her neck and she looked like she was still wearing pajamas.
"Long night?" I questioned, at her long gray nightgown, blue fuzzy slippers and long pink robe, tied tightly at the waist. She carried a cloth bag and set it down next to me and pulled up a stool nearby.
She chuckled at her attire. "Healing is serious business. Especially from magic wounds."
"But…I wasn’t cut."
She shook her head. "No, but magic injures in a different way." She picked up her bag and rummaged through it, pulling out a small water bottle filled with green liquid. "Open…this will help you feel better."
I squinted at it. "What is it?"
"Potion."
Gabriel reached out his hand. "Mind if I…??" he nodded towards to bottle, and she handed it to him. "Certainly," she said.
Gabriel eyed it carefully, swirling the liquid around in front of his face, peering inside. He grasped the bottle in his hands and closed his eyes momentarily before handing it back. "Just checking."
Esmè smiled warmly. "Of course. I would expect nothing else from a Knight." She uncapped the bottle. "Open, please."
I did so, reluctantly, and she poured the warm liquid on my tongue. It was bitter, but not terrible, almost like a dark, burnt coffee. I swallowed it quickly, it burned like a shot of vodka down the throat but not entirely unpleasant.
I half expected to be able to stand up and start dancing, but I felt no different. "I…don’t think it worked."
Esmè patted my knee that stuck out, my front legs curled under me. "It takes a couple of minutes. Oh…I have something for you." She placed the bottle back into her bag and pulled out something pink. "My companion made these for you, after seeing you last night. She would be so honored if you would keep and wear them, sometime." She handed it to Gabriel, who lifted it up by the corners and pink velvety material tumbled down.
"Robes?" I commented, rhetorically. They were pretty and surely as soft and alluring as the black ones but…I hated pink.
"These are a little different." Gabriel turned them around, and on the back was a familiar symbol embroidered in silver.
"My—my mark. How…?" I had no hands right now to finger the supple fabric so I nosed it instead.
Esmè smiled. "She is very talented, is she not? Between her and Hildie they could create an entire Castle Danger fashion line!"
Gabriel folded them up in his lap and smoothed the cloth with his hands. "They are very nice."
"Yes…thank you," I said, feeling a pang of guilt. "I…don’t even know who she is."
"Oh it’s okay. You can meet her when you’re feeling better." Esmè reached into her bag for one more thing: a plastic bag full of little objects that resembled vitamins. "One more thing."
"Vitamins?" I asked, uncertainly.
"Sort of. They are specially made, with magically cultivated herbs for restoration for a dragon’s tough system. I’ll come by with some more, later. You’ll find them useful, I think, whenever you use magic to help gain your energy back until you learn to harness that power," Esmè explained. She held them in her hand and I opened my mouth, again. She tossed them in and I swallowed all six of them with little problem.
"You made these too?" I asked.
She nodded. "My brother farms the herbs and I use them in my work. Potions and magic concoctions…"
"Oh. Well…thank you very much," I said, trying to smile but I was sure it came out awkward and terrifying.
"You are welcome." She stood again, patting Gabriel on the shoulder in acknowledgment who just smiled and nodded. "I will be around again in a couple of hours, if you’re still here. If you need me…well Kiarra or Finnian should know where to find me." She smiled again before disappearing out the barn door.
Gabriel exchanged a glance with me. He held up the robes again. "Feel like you can shift, yet?"
I closed my eyes a moment. I still felt weak, but gradually getting a bit better. "Soon, I think."
"You don’t have to, you know," he said. He came and sat next to me in the big pile of hay, leaning against my side. "I know this is a part of you, too."
I snorted. "Yes, pink scales. So sexy, eh?"
Gabriel reached out a hand under my rather large dragon chin, and pulled my face with some effort towards him. "You’re a pretty dragon," he said, smiling innocently.
I chuckled. "Right, right. Okay…tie those robes on. Let’s see if I can do this. If I’m lucky I’ll shift right under the robes and no one will see a thing."
"Aww, damn," Gabriel chided with a big cheesy grin on his face. I glowered at him with intimidation and quickly Gabriel stood, and draped the robes over my back, moving in front of my and tying the cord around my neck, loosely.
"Thanks." I felt a surge of energy then and shut my eyes and felt relieved when I was finally able to shift.
I opened my eyes, so glad to look down and see my bare feet in the hay and my hands sticking out. "Thank god."
I heard a rustling from next to me, and a pained sounding growl. I glanced at Gabriel who shrugged and we peered around the stall wall to Maxxus sleeping in the large stall next to us.
He had shifted his body so the opposite side was facing us, revealing a rather large, gaping wound on his dragon stomach.
I gasped, horrified. "Oh my gods, Maxxus!" I screamed in alarm. I was at his side in mere seconds, kneeling down on my human legs. I looked around for any indication of what happened, but noticed the edges of the wound had begun drying, but were still oozing blood out slowly, so the injury probably happened a while ago. Like…yesterday. Say…in a tornado.
Gabriel winced. "There’s an imprint; a magic one. I would say this happened yesterday during the storm."
"And no one bothered to find out if he was okay or not?" I scolded. I didn’t know what to do. Panicked, I shook his neck rather hard to wake him. "This is why he must have shifted, yesterday and won’t shift back. He won’t bleed as much in dragon form, nor will it hurt as much."
Maxxus snorted, an
d slowly lifted his head up to look at me. His eyes were tired and glassy. He tried to force a smile, but he ended up grimacing instead. "Leo…you’re okay."
"I am. But you’re not! What happened?" I gently placed my palms around the wound, moving them around the gape in his scaly, dragon skin.
"I’m sorry, man. We didn’t notice this yesterday. We were—" Gabriel started, but was cut off by a growl from Maxxus as I touched the wrong spot on his side, sending pain shockwaves through him. I yelped.
"Oh, I’m so sorry!" I pulled away, and placed a hand on the back of his neck instead, running my fingers over the scales up and down in hopes of calming him.
"It’s…. okay," he said, with labored breaths.
I whimpered. "Oh…" I felt tears prick my eyes, as I glanced back at Gabriel. "Go back and get Esmè. Or Finnian. Someone!" I insisted. Hearing the panic in my tone, Gabriel nodded and ran off.
"It’s not okay. How…how did this happen?" I stammered, feeling panicked.
Maxxus groggily craned his long neck, awkwardly placing his large dragon nose in my lap. His eyes were so sad and pained.
I put my hands on either side of his face and looked straight into his eyes. "We’ll fix this. You’ll be okay. All right?"
He tried to nod, but winced instead.
I frowned. "I…all because of me. You shouldn’t even be here! You— "
"St…t..op." He managed to mutter, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Oh…there has to be something I can do!" I patted the spot between his eyes and walked on my knees in the hay back to his wound. It was still dripping blood, slowly…I noticed a spot where the hay under him was red from bleeding. I felt so helpless. I sighed, leaning my head and cheek on his side. "I wish…I wish this didn’t happen. I wish you were better." I gingerly touched the skin area around the gash, hoping that some kind of magic would start shooting out my splayed fingers.
A handful of sparkles from my breath landed inside the wound. Maxxus let out a growl, but I felt him relax slightly under my palm. I gasped. The wound had closed ever so slightly.
I pulled my hands away and stared at my hands. "Oh my…I think I can…I think I can heal!" I scooted myself in the hay directly in front of his wound, placing my hands gently on either side. "I can heal you…I know I can. You need to heal. You…. you will be healed. You will…" I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and blowing gently and slowly on the wound and all around it. You will heal. The cut is getting smaller. And smaller. You’re not bleeding anymore. You’re not in pain. It’s healing. I concentrated on this mantra for a few minutes, concentrating so intently through the guilt I felt, feeling a stray tear fall down my cheek.
Maxxus gasped, and let out a growl before releasing a sigh. "Oh…oh, that’s better."
I opened my eyes and to my absolute joy and relief, the wound had closed and scabbed over. No more blood seeped from it. I let out a squeal of joy, leaping up. "I did it! I…I can heal!"
Maxxus grinned. "You did do it. How…did you know?"
I shook my head. "I don’t know. I just…felt so helpless. I exhaled and I was wishing you felt better….and I noticed the wound healed slightly. Oh!" I wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug. He rested his nose on my shoulder and I felt relaxed, allowing his dragon cheek to nuzzle mine. He lifted his head slightly and we swapped a brief look. My breath hooked in my throat under his intense look as my heart fluttered slightly. What the fuck is this? My mind questioned as I fought to tear myself out of his penetrating stare. Panic. It had to be the panic.
"Thank you," he said, weakly but not pained any longer. I nodded slowly, not wanting to be the one to break under the weight of the gaze.
The barn door flew open at that moment, causing me to leap back in a startle. Gabriel with Finnian in tow came dashing in. Momentarily I felt off, almost guilty. Maxxus let out a low growl and he too stepped backward.
"He’s hurt! He’s…." Gabriel stopped, staring confused at Maxxus, at the spot where he had been wounded. "He’s better?"
Finnian pushed past Gabriel who stumbled slightly to peer down at the gash in Maxxus’ side. He turned back to look at Gabriel and I in turn. "You said this was gaping? And bleeding?"
Gabriel pointed, dumbfounded. "It…it was."
Finnian turned to me, looking pleased. "You did this, didn’t you?"
I chewed on my lip, feeling nervous. Finnian’s gaze was penetrating, causing me to shift my feet and look anywhere but those compelling eyes. "Yes…."
"You can heal!?!" Gabriel exclaimed. He grabbed my shoulders and looked me square in the face. "You healed him? Really?"
I nodded.
"How did you do that?" Finnian questioned.
I shrugged. "I just…I just felt so bad that Maxxus got hurt trying to protect me; bad that he’s here because of me…I just…I just wanted him to heal."
The corner of Finnian’s mouth upturned slightly. "I knew it."
"Knew what?" Gabriel asked.
"I knew you could do it. Can you finish it?" Finnian asked, nodding towards the scab.
"No!" Maxxus’ tone was still weak, but firm. "No. I’ll be okay. She…will wear out again."
"Actually…I feel pretty good," I said, with a smile, suddenly like I had drank a gallon of coffee, with a burst of energy. I knelt down again and with more confidences, held out my palms around his wound and exhaled, willing the scab to be replaced with skin…this time I didn’t close my eyes as I breathed out. Maxxus twitched slightly, but didn’t appear to be in any pain as the scab lessened and was gone, leaving a scar in his scales behind. I ran my fingers over his smooth, cool skin. I tried to imagine the scar being replaced with his green scales but nothing happened. But at least he was healed.
Maxxus sighed. He threw his head back, with a smile. "Amazing!" I jumped back, as the dragon next to me suddenly became human, hunched over in the hay. I blushed and turned away. Gabriel pulled the robes off of himself and draped it over Maxxus’ naked human form quickly.
"Thank you," Maxxus said, tying the cord around his neck and adjusting the robes over his front. He paused a moment before turning around. He chuckled, spinning around. He had part of his abdomen revealed through an opening in the robes, revealing a shiny, pink scar. "Amazing, Leo! There’s like, nothing left!"
I reached out slowly, gingerly, ignoring Gabriel’s glower as I touched the area I had healed. It was warm and smooth and injury-free. "I…I’m sorry I couldn’t stop the scar."
"Sorry? Leo, you healed me! The scar is nothing." He let his robes close all the way, beaming at me proudly. "I will wear it with honor."
Under Gabriel’s sour gaze I resisted the urge to give him a huge, relieved hug. I just smiled and nodded at him.
Finnian appeared smug, thumb and index finger stroking his chiseled chin thoughtfully. "Well…I will send in Esmè to see you, have you checked over just to make sure everything is as it should be, but I suspect she will find nothing."
"No need." Maxxus had a moment of joviality and did a short burst of dance before crossing his arms over his chest and appearing serious, once again.
I stifled a laugh as Gabriel narrowed his eyes, fighting back a smile himself.
"You’re sure you’re okay?" I asked again cautiously.
Maxxus in a moment of bravery grasped my hand in his, bowed slightly and softly kissed my knuckles. A nervous shiver shot up my spine. I heard Gabriel audibly glower but I ignored it, hoping my face didn’t betray me and blush at his chivalry and strange display of affection. "Your grandfather would be so proud of you."
I felt my knees melt, at the mention of my grandfather. I felt grateful that Maxxus was indeed okay, but my lower lip trembled momentarily thinking of how worried he must be; not knowing where I was. Where we were. Maxxus was like another son to him. He always regretted we weren’t closer, Maxxus and I, but he knew I feared to tarnish the green dragon with my reputation. Once my brother actually suggested he believed Maxxus and I would make a good match but I was horrified—I didn
't even give it a moment's thought because of what it could do to him. My parents' claim that my mere existence held them back from the throne wasn't a lie. They tolerated me because they had to. Choosing to be with me? More than social suicide; it was social murder. Maxxus overcame way too much to have to put up with someone like me. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't entertain the notion. Braeden knew that.
Gabriel coughed, interrupting our moment and Maxxus blushed sheepishly and pulled away.
"That certainly was a lot of blood," Finnian observed nodding towards the spot in the hay where Maxxus’ dragon had been resting, a pool of blood, some dried in with the hay.
"It was." Gabriel said. "Which reminds me of how dangerous this magic is, and that we need to find the source of it and fast before it injures someone to the point where no one can heal them."
Finnian gestured his hand flippantly. "Oh, that’s easy. I know where it came from."
"Where?" I demanded, urgently.
"I did it," Finnian said, hands crossed over his chest appearing without a care in the world. He was looking at the pool of blood and mumbling, "I must get someone in here to clean that up."
"You did it?" Gabriel hollered, his hands balling up into fists. But that was nothing compared to the rage I felt fuming inside.
"You? You?!?!" I felt my heartbeat accelerate, the fire inside burning out of control like a forest wildfire, burning my face and cheeks as the heat rose. A pair of hands were grasping my shoulders but I shoved them away, determined and angry. "You caused this? Why the hell would you do that? You nearly killed my damn friend! What the hell were you thinking? You risked your entire town! Are you some kind of psycho? Some masochist? What the—" with each word I spat venomously, my raging tone grew louder and louder until finally words weren’t enough to properly display my anger. With a tribal yell, I charged into Finnian’s towering form who had appeared rather nonchalant but his expression rapidly changed to one of surprise as I slammed my body into his, knocking him into the bare ground. I straddled Finnian’s body with my own, my legs on either side of his torso like vices, attempting to squeeze the air out of him. I grabbed his shoulders and shook them, his head jostling as I did so.