Page 114 of Upon Buried Embers
“Do not say things like that to me, Elf,” he rumbles, chest heaving.
I move to his side and his hand snaps out. “We can help him.”
“He’s dangerous, you need to go back, you could get hurt.”
“I won’t.”
He stares at me and I stare back, showing him I’m serious for the very first time since we met.
“Now is the time to use that fire of yours?” He mumbles, and I frown in confusion. He releases my arm slowly, eyeing the blue dragon who has stilled, and then Drogonah, until eventually his eyes come back to me.
“He hurts you, I won’t hesitate. Do you understand?” I nod, swallowing. He turns to the blue dragon, and in his most dominant voice, he tells it. “Stay. Still.”
The dragon shudders a little, but he stays very still.
Voices sound behind us, people from the camp coming to help. Rohan tells them to stay back, but my eyes are on the blue dragon, that pain radiating through me.
“It’s okay.” I reach out a hand like Rohan does to Drogonah.
“Elf,” Rohan warns, “Drogonah will have to hurt him if you don’t stop.” So that’s why Drogonah hasn’t intervened yet.
I ignore Rohan, accepting whatever punishment he has for me for doing so.
“I’ll help you get better, I promise.” The dragon blinks slowly, his lighter blue eyes roaming over me.
He pauses for a moment, but then he leans forward and ever so slowly, his snout touches my palm.
I release a shuddering breath.
“I’m here now,” I soothe while rubbing circles on his snout, and the dragon’s eyes flutter, another low whine coming from him.
I swallow roughly at its pain and then I make my way to the net wrapped around its wing.
Anger courses through me when I spot the hooks, and the trickles of blood leaking from their entry.
I’m not tall enough, and not really strong enough to remove them.
“Rohan, can you come here… please?” He’s there in an instant, his eyes on the dragon as I put a palm against the warm, blue scales. “Can you remove the hooks first, then we can untangle his wing?”
Rohan grunts, and I see the anger in his eyes as he looks at the net and the wounds. Rohan grabs hold of the first hook, and I soothe the dragon as he pulls it out with a sickening squelch. The dragon flinches, but otherwise stays still for him.
Rohan removes the hooks one at a time while I talk and hum to the dragon, who is now purring occasionally.
It takes time to get all of them, even some on the other side of his spine, but eventually, all the hooks are out.
“Let’s get the net off his wing now,” Rohan says, “be careful of the webbing in between, it’s easily torn with hooks this sharp.”
I nod, and begin at the bottom, collecting the net in my hands, gently easing it back as far as I can with my height. One of the hooks slips, and I grab it before it can hurt the dragon, hissing when it cuts my palm.
Ignoring it, I wait for Rohan to meet me in the middle as he gently drags the net down, taking what I’ve collected from me and then with one last heave, the net flies off the dragon’s wing.
We step back and the dragon instantly stretches its wing up high, releasing a sigh of relief.
I smile, feeling the trickle of my blood running down my hand, but it was worth it.
“Good job, Little Whisperer,” Rohan rumbles, coming to stand next to me.
“Will he be okay?” I ask as the dragon turns and begins to lick at his wing.
