Page 28 of Of Steel and Scale

I took out the antiseptic spray, then took a deep breath.Gria, this will feel cold and sting, but it’s necessary to stop the wound getting infected.

Hurt?came her response.

A question that suggested she didn’t entirely understand everything I was saying. No surprise there, given she’d only be ten or so years old and would have been in the aerie for most of that time.

Yes.

Bad?

Maybe.

I could feel her doubt and fear. The queen made a rumbly sound, and Gria’s head dropped a little.Do.

I immediately got to work. The wound was so deep and gaping that it took a couple of bottles of both the antiseptic and the sealer to take care of it. The seal probably wouldn’t hold all that long, given the stress flight would take on it, but it would hopefully last until she was somewhere safer.

But I definitely wouldn’t have enough to fully repair both wings, let alone help the queen.

I moved on to her broken wing. After explaining to both drakkons what I needed to do, I carefully straightened Gria’s wing out. Her pain rippled through me, but it was the fierce need to snap and kill the thing that was hurting her that had my pulse skipping along erratically. Only the force of the queen’s will kept her in check.

With the wing straight, I positioned and then activated each of the bone straps. Once the broken sections were braced, I pulled the silk webbing from the pack and strung it across the bigger sections of the torn membrane in order to give the sealer something to cling on to. It took a while. By the time I moved around to the second wing, only one bottle of sealer and a few strands of silk remained. I repaired the worst of the tears then took a deep breath and released it slowly. Hopefully, it would be enough.

A high-pitched but somewhat distant cry had me looking up. Veri had arrived, and that meant Mom and whoever accompanied her could only be a few hours behind. I told Veri to remain high, then picked up the now very light pack and moved out from under Gria. The queen stared down at me, her jewel-like eyes obsidian in the gray of the day.

That’s all I can do for now, I said.But she will not make it back to your aerie.

Not safe here.

I hesitated.What about the old aerie above my city?

Not safe.

It said a lot about her desperation that she’d risked flying to a city she feared to seek my help.None will hunt you there. None will hurt you there.

Used to.

Yes, but no more.

Still have throws.

The ballistas cannot reach you in the aerie, and none venture there now.

Something flared in her eyes, something unexpected. Humor.I eat if they try.

I grinned.Which is why they won’t try.

She blew out through her nose, the sound sharp with frustration and unease.No been there. Entrance?

There’re two—one high above the city, one overlooking the sea. The second lies at the top of the interlocking basalt columns that run down to the sea.

I sent her an image of the stepping-stone like structures that had been formed by eruptions so long ago.

Know that. Go there. She shifted slightly, once again shifting a clawed foot dangerously close.You come?

You don’t need my additional weight in flight?—

Capra heavier. You easy.

I smiled.Perhaps, but my kin come.

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