The Dragon Healer of Tone (World of Tone)

by Adams, A. D.

  As the old woman watched them move off into the distance, she shook her head slightly, and from her pocket, she removed three other amulets identical to the one she had given to Terra. The center of the amulets glowed orange for the first time in hundreds of sets of seasons.

  She smiled and placed them back into her pocket. She slowly walked back to her small cave. There she pulled out of an old chest made of an odd looking wood, a great book, and began reading the prophecies of the Solan’s clan.

  Chapter 9 - The Lost One

  (The Loss of a Child, a Pain that Never Relents.)

  337 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

  They slowly moved away from the old woman’s cave back toward the entrance to the Death path. They again arrived at its mouth in mid afternoon and decided to wait until dark to cross. It would be more dangerous this time; the moon was now a thicker crescent and the night was clear. It would be much easier to see them on the path. Adam felt that it was still wiser to travel the path at sunset even with the moon. As the time to cross came closer, Reicka felt more and more apprehensive.

  She felt something was about to happen that she could not stop. Adam packed the cart and put Reicka and Terra on it. Suti walked next to Adam as they slowly made their way to the beginning of the path and started the crossing. The path was easier; they could see the rocks and ruts in the moonlight. The small band approached the center of the crossing when they heard the first hideous screeching sound. It came from high above them, and Adam knew it was an Averon. He quickly drew an arrow and mounted it to his bow. They moved faster. A black distorted shadow passed over them time and time again. Suddenly from the sky, a hideously large flier swooped down. Adam shot his bow, and he heard a shriek as if he had hit it. He quickly mounted another arrow.

  Suti crouched down ready to leap when a second one came in to attack.

  She leaped as it approached the cart and caught it in the chest tearing it open and slicing through its heart. The Averon fell dead from the sky on top of Suti. She was pinned under the massive body, and from the sound, was in great pain. Adam was standing in front of the wagon trying to control the plow beast when another attacked. Adam was struck from behind and knocked to the ground. Reicka, seeing her husband down, jumped from the wagon to his side. Terra, unseen by his mother, climbed out of the cart. When he reached the ground, he ran to help his Suti. At that moment, three monstrous Averons swooped down; two picked up their dead companion, and the third snagged Terra’s rope belt lifting him into the air. As he looked down helplessly, he saw Suti lying flat on the ground, his mother’s arms were outstretched toward him, and she was screaming his name over and over again. His father was on his hands and knees trying to get to his feet next to the plow beast.

  Terra soon lost sight of his family as the Averon climbed higher and higher into the air. He could not touch the animal because he was hanging from his rope belt. He was angry and screaming at the monster, but it did not hear him. He was not afraid; he really didn’t know what fear was, but he thought that when he was able to touch this monster he would fix it. He struggled trying to turn or wiggle free but with little effect.

  After what seemed to be forever to a young child like Terra, the two monsters that carried the dead one flew away from him. He didn’t understand why. For a while longer, he and the single Averon flew toward a big hill, and he could see the sun just rising over it. Then suddenly, Terra was falling through the air, and just as suddenly, a large claw with funny slick bumpy skin grabbed him. Three huge talons wrapped around his middle and held him. He could touch this thing, but he could not connect to it as he had with Suti. It ignored him. He looked up at massive dark legs that reminded him of Suti’s back legs and a breast as big as the cart. A huge neck and wings so large he could not see their ends in the dim light of dawn. For a long while, they flew over hills and valleys. He saw small villages and farms and even people.

  Then they came to craggy cliffs, and Terra saw water splashing up against their base a long way down. He noticed that they were flying toward a big V-shaped wall with a large black hole in it. As they approached the hole, a massive head came down and with its great teeth grabbed the rope around Terra’s waist. He tried to struggle, but his small body was nothing compared to this monster. Then the claw released its grip, and the head brought him up. The wind was strong, and Terra closed his eyes against it. He still felt no fear. The wind suddenly stopped, and he opened his eyes.

  Chapter 10 - The Rescue of a Meal

  (The Pain of Love for an Injured Child.)

  337 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

  Dawra could do little to help her beautiful little Fienna. The dragons had no healers and knew nothing about medicine, other than the mud she had already used. She thought that a fresh killed meal would help her daughter; perhaps it would boost her strength. Lowlack started to help Dawra with her injured daughter. She asked if he would mind hunting for a fresh killed meal for Fienna. Lowlack was old, but he could still hunt. He said he would be glad to and took off to see what he could find.

  He flew toward the mountain where the best game always seemed to be. On the way, he saw several human villages. The people always looked up and pointed when a dragon flew over. Then they ran into those odd caves they built of square rocks. Lowlack had hidden in the plants atop hills to watch the humans. The dragon’s vision was incredible, and from his viewpoint within the foliage, he could see everything. The humans often worked alone, but when they needed more strength, they gathered into groups and together lifted or moved heavy objects. They also tied their large worker beasts to objects and forced them to pull until it was moved. Lowlack admired this. He thought that if the dragons would only work together they could do almost anything with their great strength. He did not eat the humans; they really didn’t taste good to him, and they were hard to catch. They ran in erratic patterns that made it difficult to grab them in flight. He had snatched their work beasts before, but those beasts were tough and stringy. He did it only when he was really hungry. Lowlack often saw humans burn their meat with fire. They didn’t eat it raw, which he thought was strange. After all, the taste of meat is destroyed when it’s burnt. That nice bloody taste is lost. He saw them take the seeds of the grass and crush them into powder. Then they mixed it with water, formed it into blocks, and put it in large carved out rocks that they heated with fire. They ate these blocks. One time, he grabbed some of them off the ground after they dropped some while the females were running from him. He held one of the blocks in his front claws, ripped a piece off, and started to chew it. It tasted awful. He had to flame the taste out of his mouth.

  Lowlack now approached the mountains. He first saw some jump-beasts in a valley crevice, but the area was too small for him to fit into.

  So, he circled around the mountain to see if there were more on the other side. When he came around a large ridge near the mountain’s top, he spotted a small Averon flying near the wide valley floor. It was carrying a small animal in its talons. He couldn’t see quite what; it was hidden below the Averon. Lowlack pulled his great wings in and dove straight at it. Suddenly, he heard a great shriek. A flock of five or six Averons had just flown around the mountain opposite from him and was warning their fellow. The Averon Lowlack was diving on looked up. It dropped its prey and flew towards its companions. Lowlack made a quick decision to grab the dropped animal, rather than take on six Averons. So he swooped down and clutched the small body in mid-air just before it would have hit the ground. He then extended his wings and glided back around the mountain on an updraft of air.

  Lowlack looked down and realized that he had a small human who was still alive and conscious. He thought that since this was a child and about the right size for a good meal for Fienna, he would take it back to the cave. After all, maybe Fienna would like the taste of human. As he flew, the little human kept touching his claw, Lowlack felt oddly warm when he did this. Lowlack thought it was just the exertion and his age that c
aused the warm feeling, so he ignored it. He flew back the same path he came and finally started to approach Dawra’s cave. He reached down and grabbed this small human by a rope tied around his waist. He didn’t want to crush it on landing. The little thing struggled against great odds. Lowlack realized it was a brave little thing as he flew into the dark opening of Dawra’s cave.

  Chapter 11 - The Healer

  (An Injury Healed is a Joy to the Healer.)

  337 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

  As Terra opened his eyes, he could see another large monster and a small one about three times his size. The small one seemed to be hurt; its wing was bent. The large one stood near the small one, protecting it and speaking in a language he could not understand. He felt himself being moved toward the small monster, and he was dropped on the dusty floor. He fell on his bottom, and it hurt. He did not cry; he had stopped that long ago. He stood and was instinctively drawn to the small monster with the broken wing. He felt that he should heal it. He didn’t know why, but he liked healing others; it made him feel good.

  When he went to it, the little one gave out a high-pitched scream that hurt his ears, but it didn’t back away.

  As he reached for the little monster and touched the injured area of its wing, he felt his hand tingle with warmth as it always did when he healed things. This time something was different. He could not hear anything around him. As his hand warmed, he felt the thoughts of the Fienna. He thought that this was a Fienna. No, her name is Fienna, and she is a dragon.

  “What is a dragon?” he wondered.

  “I am a Dragon,” she said; no, she thought it.

  His mind and hers joined. He could talk to her without talking, and he understood her thoughts. He felt her pain slowly subside as the orange glow from his hand spread over her wound and into the torn muscles and broken bones. He could feel each bone repair itself, each muscle regenerate, and finally the skin healed by stitching itself together with no trace of the injury. All this time he was oblivious of what was happening around him. He began to grow weak and was tired, so very tired.

  “Lie down, my Terra, here in my wings,” Fienna thought.

  He was so tired, and she now seemed to almost be part of him.

  Somehow, he knew she would protect him, so he obeyed. Then he heard the large ones speaking, but now he could understand them. The large green one’s head was right over him frantically moving back and forth peering at him and asking Fienna if he had hurt her. Fienna said no, she was fine. Her wing stopped hurting, and she could move it again. The large green head moved over, licked Fienna’s wing with a huge dark red tongue, and peered at it carefully.

  With surprise in her voice, she said, “It is healed; your wing is completely healed. There is not even a sign of the injury.”

  She turned back to Terra.

  “How did you do that?” she asked.

  In the dragon language Terra answered in a tired voice. “I don’t know. I do it.”

  The green dragon again seemed surprised that he answered and told Fienna to push him away, but she would not do it. Instead she folded her wings closer around him and told the green one that he was hers now.

  Lowlack brought him for her, and she was not going to let them eat him.

  The green backed away, looked puzzled, and said, “I’m not going to eat it. I just want to look at it, but don’t get upset, my little one, he is yours to do with as you wish.”

  The green dragon then backed away and started to talk to the other large dragon in the corner of the cave. Terra could not hear what they were saying.

  Fienna thought to him. “Rest, you are tired. We will talk later.”

  He was so very tired and promptly fell asleep in Fienna’s wings.

  Chapter 12 - The Wounded

  (A Pain Relieved is a Pain Forgotten.)

  337 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

  Fienna was still in a great deal of pain, and her mother hovered over her, but she could not help her daughter. The entrance of the cave became dark, and Fienna looked up. She saw Lowlack flying into the cave and landing on the little ridge that her mother usually landed on.

  In his mouth was a small struggling animal. She never saw such a thing.

  It was small and had an odd looking multicolored loose skin on it. Her mother told Lowlack that humans were no good, they tasted bad, and she needed good food. Lowlack dropped the little creature in front of Fienna. Her mother moved toward Lowlack, and they started to argue about this creature. It stood up on two legs and started to walk toward her.

  When it reached its hand out to touch her, she shrieked and then an odd feeling came over her. Suddenly, his hand was on her wing, and the pain was eased. She could feel his thoughts. It was a male named Terra.

  She had never heard of a human. He thought she was a Fienna. She was hearing him, but he was not speaking.

  “No, I’m a dragon.”

  “What is a dragon?” he thought.

  “I am a dragon.”

  She watched an orange glow move from his hand to her wing. As the glow moved over her wing, the pain became less and less. She felt her bones knitting together, her muscles healing, and finally her skin sealing. She also felt the Terra’s body growing weaker. He drained his strength to help her heal.

  The pain was gone, and she could move her wing. Terra was tired to the point of collapse. He used all his strength to heal her. She felt so close to him. It was as if he was now part of her. She did not understand, but she wanted to protect him and love him. A thing she had never seen before was now more important to her than her own mother.

  She opened her wings and thought to him, “Lie down my Terra, here in my wings.”

  Fienna now realized her mother’s head was right over her and Terra.

  Her mother asked if he had hurt her. She told her no; the pain was gone, and she could move her wing. Her mother licked Fienna’s wing and looked at it carefully.

  With surprise in her voice, she said, “It is healed; your wing is completely healed. There’s not even a sign of the injury.”

  She then moved her head back to look at Terra.

  Fienna heard her mother ask, “How did you do that?”

  Terra answered in a tired voice, “I don’t know. I do it.”

  Fienna didn’t understand her mother’s surprise at Terra’s answer.

  She told Fienna to push it away from her. Fienna suddenly felt very protective and told her mother that Lowlack had brought it to her. It was her’s, and she would not let them eat it. Her mother tried to calm her down and said she would not touch it. Fienna watched as her mother backed away with Lowlack to the other side of the cave. Terra then fell asleep in her wings. She did not mind; he had healed her, and she felt better than she ever had. She loved this little creature and wanted to keep him safe forever.

  Chapter 13 - Care and Feeding of a Human

  (Care for the Innocence.)

  337 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

  Dawra could hardly believe that the little human had healed her daughter, and it took only a few moments. This had obviously drained his strength. He could hardly move afterwards. Dawra and Lowlack had never seen magic work on a dragon, but she knew in the past magic was used to try to hurt not heal. So they both thought that perhaps only healing or good magic could be used on the dragons. Dawra also found it strange that this human could speak dragon. No other creature had ever spoken dragon. Perhaps his magic was strong enough to learn their language by a simple touch. Dawra felt strangely grateful to this Terra as Fienna called him.

  Dawra did have a problem. Her daughter had instantly developed an unbelievably strong attachment to the strange little creature. Dawra knew nothing about humans and had no idea what to feed this little thing, and after it awakened, it told Fienna it needed food. Lowlack had left and said he would return with something for it, but he had been gone all morning. Finally, in mid afternoon Lowlack returned. He carried a strange looking
bunch of rocks in a spider-wed looking thing, which he dropped on the floor.

  “Lowlack what is that?” asked Dawra.

  “It’s food for the little human. I have been watching the humans for a long time. They do strange things. These are made from grass seeds.

  Every fall they cut the grass down and knock the seeds off. They then grind them up and make a powder. They mix the powder with water and put it in mounds that are heated by burning wood. When they take the seed mass out of the mounds, it looks like these.”

  He pointed to the rocks on the cave floor. The little human got up and walked to the rocks. He tore off a piece from one and ate it. He then took the whole rock and went back to Fienna where he sat down and began tearing little pieces off and eating them.

  “Tell me, Lowlack, what else do they eat?”

  “Well, lots of things. They pick these leaves from the ground and eat them raw. “

  ”Do they eat meat?”

  “Yes, but in a strange way. They first make a pile of wood, and then they start it on fire. Then they cut a small piece of meat and push a stick through it. They put the meat over the fire until it is burnt, and then they eat it.”

  “You’re joking! They ruin meat like that.”

  “Yes, they seem to like it that way.”

  “Well, there won’t be any burnt meat in this cave. Where did you get these seed rocks?”

  “Oh, I watched a human. He went to one of the mounds while the other humans were gone and took some of the rocks and put them in the spider web. He then ran. I took off and followed him. When he was in a clearing, I swooped down. He was so surprised he dropped the rocks and ran into the woods. So, I picked them up and brought them here.”