Page 7 of Court of Rivals
Smoke fills the air, stinging my eyes. Lightning splits the sky overhead and thunder booms, like a warning to me that I’m in danger. Except, I already know I’m in danger. The dragon could kill me in an instant. The bone wyrm could come back and finish me off. Or I might survive both of those and have the forest fire do me in.
Still, I keep working. Somewhere in my heart I know that if I don’t, this dragon will die.
The herbs in this valley are the most powerful of all the ones in the nearby area. It’s said that fairies come here once a year for a celebration, lacing all the plants with their magic, and strengthening their healing properties.Hopefully, they can heal the valley after this fire with their magic.Although I can’t focus on that. This dragon is at death’s door, and I know that these plants are the only chance he’s got.
When I finish using all the paste, I haven’t covered nearly enough of the dragon, so I race back and make more. I’m coughing, sweaty, as I watch the fire. I watch it move toward the healing herbs and pray that something will stop it. That maybe the gods will protect us. Dragons are their most sacred creatures, after all.
“Please,” I say to the heavens. “Please let this dragon live. Let him survive this.”
I continue covering him in the paste, working it all over him. I reach his head and rub the paste into the wounds there too. To my surprise, his eyes open. I jerk back, but when he doesn’t move further, I keep working, babbling all along like a fool. I’m well aware that I’m inches from a creature that can simply open its mouth and light me on fire.
“It’s okay. It’s just me. I’m trying to help. I’m trying to heal you,” I tell him, teeth chattering, probably from nerves, as I keep talking, telling him about myself, about my life. Anything and everything spills from my lips as I try to stay calm. I don’t know why.
Soon,morepaste is needed. I gather more of the precious herbs, collapsing to my knees, squinting through the smoke and flames, praying that I can gather enough. Praying I can save this dragon. He’s male. He’s rare. For all I know, he’s the last of the male dragons. He has to be saved, this guardian of the sky.
Lightning again splits the sky, and thunder booms, just seconds before rain begins pouring down. The freezing liquid is a shock to my system. I’m left gasping, blinking as rain streams down my face and into my eyes. I instantly start shaking, but I can’t stop. I have to make more of the mixture. I have to rub it into his wounds and hope the rain won’t wash it away.
It’s miserable… but the smoke begins to clear. The flames are becoming quenched by the water raining down. I ignore it all,trying to remain singularly focused on the dragon. On saving his life.
Why? I don’t know.
Maybe because he’s a dragon. Maybe because he’s a rare male. Possibly even the last. Ormaybebecause some strange part of me feels like I can feel his pain. Like we’re connected. Like him dying would be a loss for me in some deep way that I’ll never recover from.
I don’t know how long I go on this way, the rain battering me, my fingers bleeding from working the paste, from pulling the plants. But at some point, I collapse beside the dragon, my legs numb, my arms numb, and my eyes pull shut.
That has to be enough. It has to be.
3
Harper
I slowly become aware of the fact that my side is boiling hot and that the rest of me is freezing. It’s such a strange sensation that I wonder if I rolled too close to the fire in my bedroom. Birdsong surrounds me, and a breeze blows through my hair.
A breeze?
I open my eyes, blinking several times, letting my vision come into focus. I’m in the woods. Some of the woods are scorched black, while the rest looks lush and beautiful.What the hell? Where am I?And then, it all comes rushing back to me.
Are you awake then, human?someone asks, their voice almost inhumanly low, like a growl.
“Y-yes,” I whisper, craning my neck to see where the person is.
Good, I long for flight.
“For flight?” I frown. “Where are you?”
There’s an amused laugh.Behind you.
I look, but I only see a mountain… a mountain of scales.
“Holy fuck,” I mumble.
The warm thing I’d been lying against? It was the black dragon. The one I’d thought was dying the night before. The one I’d tried so desperately to save.
I did nearly die, and you did save me, he says, but he doesn’t seem happy about it.
I stand, and my legs ache a little. I’m not old or anything, but I’m definitely past the age where I can sleep on the ground all night and not be a little sore. I move away from him so I’m standing where I can see him properly. His head swings toward me, and he watches me with pretty blue eyes.
“You can talk,” I say.
