Page 30 of Hidden Dragons

Little by little all frantic activity on the ledge calmed. Anxiety was banished and Isabelle felt the world still. She eased her chant and drew back some of the power, knowing the injured dragons needed more than those who were treating them. She found she could control the direction and amount of calming energy she sent out into the area. She saved the best for Growloranth, calming his anxiety while they awaited news.

And then the bugling call of Tildeth reached their ears. She was landing.

It wasn’t graceful and it was far from pretty, but she made it home.

Growloranth used what little strength he had left to crawl over to her side, staying out of the way of the healers, but managing to twin his neck with his mate’s in greeting while he looked over her injuries for himself. She had a slash that went up one leg and over her belly. It had probably gone through her wing as well. The wing showed signs of recent healing, but the wound on her leg and body were still in need of attention.

Adora and Silla busied themselves at her side. Silla used her skills to clean and prepare the wound while Adora called on her magic to begin healing it. She couldn’t heal it completely in one session, but she could give it a good start, and stop the worst of the bleeding.

Robert stayed by Growloranth’s side while Isabelle went to help Silla, handing her whatever she needed, when she needed it. At one point, Silla grabbed her hand.

“A little calm wouldn’t hurt right now,” she said. Isabelle understood.

She began chanting quietly while they worked and the calm spread to Tilly. Isabelle added a verse to her chant to dull the dragon’s pain while the healers did their work.

A little tingle shot through her when Isabelle’s magic met Adora’s, but they were compatible. The magics blended at the seam where they met, but didn’t dissipate each other. In fact, they seemed to augment each other a little bit.

Adora caught her eye and smiled as she went back to work. It took quite a while, but between all their efforts, Tildeth’s blood stopped flowing all over the landing ledge and her wound began to close. It took a moment before Isabelle realized Tilly was going to survive.

The relief she felt was so intense, she almost lost her footing as her chant ended. She realized in that moment that she cared a lot more than she’d thought for Tilly…and Growloranth. She loved them both as friends, or older, far wiser siblings.

And, she realized in an almost blinding flash of insight, she loved their knights. Period. She just loved them. Which reminded her…

“Where’s Bear?” she whispered.

Tilly must have heard her question, for her deep, feminine voice came into Isabelle’s mind a moment later.“I could not carry him with my injury and he was hurt as well. The spear got me, but he was hit by an arrow. They were seeing to his wounds and will bring him here as soon as it is safe.”

Isabelle’s heart ached. She wanted to go to him, but there was no way. She would have to trust to his comrades—and Belora—to make sure he made it. Robert’s arm came around her shoulder and pulled her back against him. He rested his chin atop her head and surrounded her in his warmth.

She clung to him, sharing the worry over their missing man. She tried sending a message directly to Bear’s mind, but he was too far away.

“I cannot bespeak him,” she whispered, clinging to Robert’s arm.

“Neither can I, but don’t worry. He is simply out of range,” Robert assured her.

Tilly raised her head and looked at them.“He may be, but there are dragons flying between here and the battle. I will ask one to act as relay.”She closed her eyes and almost immediately opened them again.“He is near!”She sounded excited.“He is unconscious but being carried on the back of old Algath. Look for a green dragon. He should be here any minute.”

Tilly’s head swung around, looking eagerly toward the landing ledge though she couldn’t move while the healers were still working on her injuries. Isabelle went as close as she dared to the busy ledge, not wanting to be in the way, but straining her eyes to see if she could pick out a green dragon in the blue sky.

“There!” Robert breathed excitedly. He was right behind her. “I see him.”

“Bear?” Isabelle whispered.

“No, I see Algath. But there is more than one knight on his back. Good ol’ Algath. See over there?” Robert pointed past her ear and she followed the line of his arm to the correct portion of the sky. Sure enough, there was a green dot moving rapidly closer and resolving from dot into very large dragon. Algath had an extra large wingspan.

Within moments, the large green dragon landed nearby. A knight jumped down off his back and reached up for Bear, who was slung across the dragon’s back, unconscious. Robert moved to assist, despite his shoulder injury, as did a number of other people. Princess Adora was still working her healing magic on Tildeth, but Silla rushed to Bear’s side, as did Isabelle.

She saw at once that Bear had a hastily wrapped wound on his lower left leg, but the more worrying gash was on his right temple. It was the head wound that had caused his unconscious state, in all probability. The leg wound was still bleeding, but it wasn’t too bad. It could be stitched up and healed in a few weeks time. Less, if a bit of magic was used.

Silla went to work while Isabelle assisted, handing the healer things as she asked for them.

“A bit of your chanting wouldn’t go amiss, if you have the energy,” Silla took a moment to say as Isabelle handed her a clean towel.

Isabelle thought about which of the variations her mother had taught her to use and decided on the best for this case. She centered herself and a moment later, began to hum the melody, building into the actual song of the chant by slow degrees, stirring the power that dwelled in all living things to aid her in her work.

It took a while, but by the time Silla was finished sewing up Bear’s leg, he was starting to wake up. Isabelle stood near his head and had sung her chant throughout, using clean water and cloths to bathe the shallow wound on his temple. She had rubbed some healing salve on lightly and then covered the cut with a bandage. She had then wrapped another thin strip of cloth around Bear’s head, to hold the wad of clean linen in place.

“Isabelle?” Bear’s whisper caught her attention.

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