Maiden Flight (Dragon Knights)

by D' Arc, Bianca

  “I see what you mean. Get to work on the skiths and I’ll figure a way to get Adora.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The two younger dragons swooped down through the leafy canopy and soon roars of flame were heard along with skith barking and bellowing. The knights too were employing their slings and even their swords as they got close enough to engage the slithering skiths. Jared left them to it, trying to figure a way to get Adora out of that tree and onto Kelzy’s back with him, but it was not possible. She was positioned just wrong in the tree and obviously too weak at this point to move the great distance needed for him to be able to grab her.

  “Kelz, you have to snatch her.”

  “No! I could kill her! It’s too dangerous.”

  Making such a snatch in mid-air would demand all of the dragon’s considerable skill as well as unflinching cooperation from Adora. If either of them moved at the wrong moment, Kelzy’s dagger-sharp claws could rip her apart.

  “It’s the only way. She trusts you enough not to move. You have to snatch her out of that tree.”

  They both heard a disastrous yowl of pain from below. One of the dragons was hurt!

  “It’s now or never, Kelz. Those youngsters are good, but they can’t wipe out the whole nest of skiths down there alone. For that matter, even if we helped, it wouldn’t do much good. We need to get Adora out of that tree now. Do it, Kelz. Do it now. She’s running out of strength.”

  Kelzy sent her thoughts to the woman in the tree. “Baby, I’m going to make another pass and reach out for you with my foreleg. Don’t resist and above all, try not to move. Do you trust me, child?”

  “I trust you, Mama Kelzy. Whatever happens, I love you, Mama.”

  “Oh, baby, I love you too. Hold still now. I’m coming to get you out of that tree. Don’t move! Please, baby, don’t move!”

  Kelzy made the final pass, glad to notice Rohtina was making her way out of the tree canopy, flying awkwardly but still under her own power. She was hurt, but she was clear of the skiths. Kelvan still fought below.

  Kelzy concentrated all her effort on reaching out to her human child, snatching her out of the tree without hurting her. She reached out, timing everything as best she could in such bad circumstances and was gratified to feel Adora’s waist in her grasp. She closed her talons as gently as she could and felt the small woman in her grasp flinch uncontrollably.

  “Adora! Are you all right? Did I hurt you?”

  “I’m all right. Thank you for coming for me.”

  “Hold tight now. I’ll have you to the Lair in just a few minutes. I won’t let you go, sweetheart.”

  Chapter Eight

  Jared reached over Kelzy’s shoulder to look down at the small woman in his dragon partner’s grasp. He saw the bright red of blood against Kelzy’s blue-green foreleg, but it was hard to discern the jagged scrapes from the dragon’s sharp talons against the brown leather that covered the woman.

  Pain entered his heart as he saw her pale face, pressed tightly, trustingly against the dragon’s muscular leg. She was so brave, so strong. This was a woman of rare character and ability, and she was fast becoming all too important to him. Either way, Adora would not be returning to her home in the forest. Kelzy and he would see to it that she stayed in the Lair.

  This was a woman who needed to be protected and given the care she deserved. He wasn’t looking for a wife, but he could not let her leave them again. She was much too precious.

  “How does she look?” Kelzy’s words were for his mind alone.

  He didn’t want to worry his dragon partner, but neither could he keep the truth from her. “She’s pale and weak. Your talons scratched her and she is bleeding a bit, but she’s holding up well.”

  “Sweet Mother of All! Why didn’t she tell me?”

  “It doesn’t look too bad, Kelz. Just get us to the Lair and we can fix her up, I’m sure.”

  “If I hadn’t snatched her out of that tree—”

  “If you hadn’t,” he interrupted, “she would most likely be skith food right now. You did what you had to do and I’m sure she’ll thank you for it, my friend. You don’t hear her complaining, do you?”

  “She was ever a thoughtful child. She would never complain, even when she ought to.”

  “Well, you can nag her about it after we get back to the Lair and the healers have a chance to look at her scratches. She’s alive, Kelz.” His voice dipped low, surprising him with the deep emotion he felt. “That’s what matters most. She’s alive and she’ll live with us now.”

  “I should never have let her leave in the first place!”

  “Neither of us should have let that happen, but we can and will stop her from going anywhere this time. I’ll have her bound if I have to.”

  “We’re almost there, baby.” Kelzy included all of them in her thoughts now as they approached the Lair. Kelvan brought up the rear with Gareth, both of them keeping close watch on Rohtina’s injury as she struggled to fly back to her home.

  Jared caught sight of the landing ledge and realized the younger dragons must have sent word ahead, because a contingent of people was waiting for them. Among them was Belora, wringing her hands, with tears tracking down her pale face. Silla, the woman who acted as healer for the Lair, was also there and it was to her side that Kelzy aimed her landing. She hovered a moment, allowing Jared to jump down and catch Adora as Kelzy opened her claws.

  Adora was clearly in a great deal of pain, but when she opened her eyes, Jared breathed a huge sigh of relief. She wasn’t out of the woods yet, he knew, but she was conscious at least. Just seeing her beautiful eyes blink open reassured him.

  “You shouldn’t frown so hard, Jared. I’m fine.”

  “Then why are you only half-conscious?” His gruff voice was for her ears alone as he carried her away from the ledge so the dragons would have room to land safely. Belora was at their side almost instantly, making sure her mother was okay.

  “I’m fine, baby,” her mother assured her. “Just let me get bandaged up. You should see to Rohtina. She was hurt by the skiths, I think.”

  Belora gasped and ran for the ledge once more after kissing her mother and assuring her she would check on her as soon as she was patched up. Silla moved closer and lifted the leather away gently and looking at the severity of the scratches. Jared looked too, frowning when he saw the deep gouges, but he stayed silent as Silla made her own assessment.

  “It isn’t nearly as bad as it looks. A few weeks and she’ll be good as new, I think.”

  Kelzy breathed a warm sigh of relief that washed over them all, bringing a smile to Adora’s pale lips. “See? I told you it was nothing.”

  “Doesn’t look like nothing to me,” Jared grumbled.

  “I can wrap these, but it will have to wait until the more serious cases are tended to.” Silla’s eyebrow rose in a clear signal to Jared that she expected him to take care of Adora.

  “It’s all right,” Jared answered the demanding eyebrow. “I’ll do it. There are others in graver need of your skills.” Jared headed for the corridor with Adora still held in his strong arms.

  “I can walk, you know,” she fussed without much heat.

  “I’m not letting you out of my sight until you’re patched up and comfortable in bed. In your room. In our quarters.” His eyes held hers as he laid down the law.

  “Okay.” She surprised him by placing her hand at the nape of his neck and stroking him gently.

  “You’re not going to argue about going back to your forest?”

  Solemnly, she shook her head. “After what just happened? The village was destroyed. My patients are all gone—either dead or fled. There’s nothing holding me there any longer.”

  “Well, thank the Mother for that!” Kelzy’s disgusted voice floated to them as she followed close behind on their way to her quarters. “Not about the village—that’s terrible,” she clarified quickly, “but about you staying with us now. We need you, girl.”

  Adora chuckled
and closed her eyes, letting her head drift to rest against Jared’s strongly beating heart. He liked the way she felt against him, liked the trust she put in him by that simple gesture. Carefully he maneuvered her through the archways and into the room she had used before and placed her gently on the bed.

  Kelzy’s great head followed them into the small human-sized room to observe that he cared for her girl properly, he supposed. He didn’t mind. He loved Kelzy and knew the dragon loved this small woman. They weren’t bonded the way he and Kelzy had bonded, soul to soul, but their bond was perhaps even stronger. This was the bond between mother and child, as unlikely as it seemed. The unconventional relationship was just one more reason he loved Kelzy so deeply. She was a special dragon in every way, with a deep compassion and capacity to love that many others of her kind did not seem to possess.

  Jared reached for the small buttons on Adora’s clothing, undressing her with an efficient hand, over her weak objections. She was almost completely drained of energy. When his hands found the burn marks from the skith venom on her leggings and boots, he marveled at the way her unconventional garments had withstood the fierceness of the attack. When he removed her boots, he noted the hardness in the sole and saw the flash of Kelzy’s scales peeping through the burns, shaking his head at her ingenuity.

  “Look at this, Kelz.” He tossed the boots near to the dragon’s head so she could inspect them. “Your little human daughter is a very bright woman.”

  “Amazing,” Kelzy agreed. “Why didn’t we ever think of doing something like this? Incorporating my shed scales between layers of treated leather. It probably saved her from some serious burns.”

  “Definitely. The scale stopped the acid. Even when the first layer of hide failed, the scale and the inner layer of leather were there to protect her. Her skin is unblemished, but the boots and leggings testify to the severity of the venom spray. She was hit pretty badly.”

  “Hey!” Adora protested when he pulled her leggings clean off, leaving her bare from mid-thigh to her wiggling toes. Jared simply lifted her legs, inspecting her skin minutely for any injury before pulling a blanket from the foot of the bed and tucking it around her.

  “Your skin was protected by the leather, Adora. No burns on your legs from the venom, thank the Mother.” He looked into her eyes as he reached for her tunic. Her hands came up to stop him, but he brushed them aside. “I have to clean and wrap those scratches.” His voice was soft, but his tone serious, and she let her hands fall away so he could do what he had to do.

  He pulled off the ruined shirt as gently as he could, knowing by the way her breath hissed that it hurt her, but it had to be done. She was bare beneath the shirt and he was surprised for a moment at the sight of her lovely breasts spilling free of the form-fitting garment. She was built beautifully and quite the loveliest woman he had seen in many long years.

  He stroked the side of her face with the backs of his fingers as he noted her discomfort. She was in pain and obviously shy. He had no doubt from her reactions that she had not been with a man since the death of her husband many years before. Jared thought that a crying shame. She was so beautiful, so vital. She deserved to enjoy life and love, not lock herself away in the middle of nowhere where no male could appreciate the beauty of her.

  Not that he wanted to be that man, but he saw the value of her and knew she had been wasting her life away hiding in the forest. Here at the Lair, she would be appreciated for the jewel she truly was. He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about all the single men who would be beating a path to her door once they knew she would stay here in the Border Lair. Shaking his head, he concentrated on the task at hand while Kelzy kept the room nice and warm with her puffing breath.

  He took a water jug from the nearby table and splashed a bit into the matching bowl, snagging a washcloth at the same time. Slowly and with great care, he cleaned the gouges on her back and side, being as thorough as possible before wrapping a clean cloth lightly around her middle.

  Doctoring done, he stood from the bedside and helped her settle comfortably back before tucking the blanket around her. Kelzy stayed just where she was, even after he left the small chamber, and he knew the dragon would watch over her human daughter all night. He shook his head as he reached his own room and tumbled into bed. It had been a long, eventful day.

  “How bad is she?” Gareth called to Lars as soon as they landed.

  Lars jumped off Rohtina’s back and rushed around to examine the damage done to her tough hide by the skith venom.

  “Water! We need water here!” Lars began to panic as he saw how deeply the venom had penetrated Rohtina’s golden-red hide. It wasn’t easy for skith venom to penetrate dragon scale, but there were certain vulnerable areas on their bodies and she had been hit in one of them, just beneath her wing, in the supple crevice where it joined her body. The acid still smoked. Water would counteract that.

  Buckets began making their way to her side, a number of knights pitching in to help the wounded dragon. Lars directed them as Gareth helped and Kelvan used his great strength to haul a cistern of water up from the ledge below. He placed it near his mate and the process went much faster as the men could fill the buckets from a nearer source, splashing each one carefully to do the most good.

  The ledges were built in such a way that the acid-laced water drained off, over the side of the cliff, well away from any place humans or dragons would come into contact with it. Besides that, the water had weakened the acid to the point where it was more or less safe. It would continue degrading over time all by itself, so the forest below would come to no harm from this emergency drenching.

  Kelvan’s voice, and it echoed through the minds of all present, making a few pause in surprise. Belora moved forward to face the green-blue dragon.“Belora, help my mate. I beg you.” Worry and pain filled

  “I don’t know what I can do, Kel. You know my healing talent has never been strong. But if I can help her, you know too that I’ll do everything in my power to do so.”

  Kelvan bowed his great head. “Then go to her. Place your hands on her as you did with me and concentrate. Your power is greater than you know and perhaps the only thing that can save her now.”

  Belora looked uncertain, but moved to the golden dragon’s side.

  Up close, she could see that Rohtina had used all her strength to get back to the Lair. She was badly injured and probably close to death from such extensive damage. The heart she had shown in flying all the way here with no complaint was amazing and Belora felt tears gather behind her eyes.

  Gingerly, she reached out and touched the dragon’s shimmering golden hide, now burnt brown and black in places, red in others where she bled heavily.

  “Concentrate, Belora, as your mother trained you to do.”

  Kelvan’s voice in her mind encouraged her and gave her something to focus on as she gathered the energies that her mother had taught her to recognize, though they never seemed to do what she wished. She had never been a strong healer of humans, but Kelvan insisted that what power she did have felt good to dragons. She had to believe him.

  “You can do it, Belora. I have faith in you. You were meant to heal dragons. Not humans. Dragons. You are one of us.”

  There was no higher compliment a human could receive from a dragon and everyone within hearing distance heard and watched, with varying degrees of awe and suspicion. Belora forced all those watching eyes out of her mind as she focused the energy that was part of her. It leapt to life, as it had never done before, when she touched Rohtina’s scarred hide with gentle hands.

  Suddenly it was all clear. She knew what she had to do.

  Belora placed her palms over the ridges of Rohtina’s amber eyes, locking her gaze securely on the dragon’s faceted orbs. Belora felt the power flowing through her as never before as she formed the connection with the dragon on several levels.

  Belora screamed, feeling just the echo of Rohtina’s great pain as her own, but after a moment it began to s
ubside. She felt Lars and Gareth behind her, ready to support her if needed, and her heart filled with love. The love too, transferred to the dragon and reflected back. Rohtina and she joined as one for a breathtaking moment out of time, then the power surged to life within Belora and poured out into the dragon. It went on and on until finally the spell was broken by Rohtina’s blinking jeweled amber eyes. They sparkled with life and renewed vitality and a small tear leaked out one side, dropping down onto Belora’s elbow, landing there and solidifying into a magical gem.

  “Thank you.”

  Dragons did not cry, but when stirred by great emotion, their magic could release itself in a tear that turned to a precious, magical gem. That Rohtina gifted Belora with the sparkling amber jewel was amazing in itself, but even more amazing was the result of the magical healing. Rohtina was completely well. Not a scratch remained on her previously badly mangled hide. She was whole and healthy once more.

  And Belora realized one other little thing that had seeped into her mind while they’d been connected.

  “You’re pregnant.”

  Her whispered words were followed by a shout of joy from the watching knights. A dragon pregnancy or birth was always a cause for great celebration since there were so few each year.

  “I wasn’t sure yet,” Rohtina said quietly, the first hint of shyness Belora had ever seen from the magnificent golden dragon.

  “Be sure.” Belora removed her hands from Rohtina’s eye ridges and cupped her rounded cheek. “I felt the presence of the dragonet within you. It is well and happy.”

  “Praise the Mother of All that you were here, milady. Thank you for saving my mate and my child.” Kelvan nudged her with his great head, moving closer to his golden mate.

  “It was your faith that made me believe I could, Kel. I’ve never done that before in my life.” Belora laughed now in relief as the dragons surrounded her with their immense bodies and their love and joy.