Page 35 of Dragon Fire

“I have no idea if that’s even possible, but it seems likely given the evidence we have. The minute he left, we were back in communication. But why would he block them? It seems odd. He didn’t do it earlier, when we first arrived.”

“Maybe it wasn’t him,” O’Dare put in, thinking of the possibilities.

“Who then?” Livia asked, her gaze reminding him so much of her mother, yet her independent spirit was more like his own. His late wife, Olivia, would never have challenged him in public. She was far too refined to do such a thing. But her daughter, Livia, was more irreverent. More independent. He liked that about her, but it was also trying at times.

“Fisk has been known to dabble in magic. It is said he made a deal with a demon to remain hidden from my vengeance for so long, and I’m half inclined to believe it, though I don’t generally hold with talk of magic,” O’Dare told them. They all seemed to ponder his words as Seth skidded back into the hall, a bulging pack slung across his back and another in his hands.

Xanderanth lowered his neck for Seth to slide the strap of the bigger pack around his long neck, settling it against his broad chest. Then, Seth and the dragon left the great hall, followed closely by Leo, who shrugged and waved to them all on his way out.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Seth talked with Hrardorr about the sea dragon’s injury on the short ride to the other side of the island with Leo and Xanderanth. With Xander’s powerful wings, they arrived in no time at all, and Seth slid down off of Xander’s back, approaching Hrardorr, who sat quietly next to a slightly smaller dragon that shared Hrardorr’s dark coloration, but was just slightly different. She leaned more toward the dark blues than the deep greens that were the base of Hrardorr’s multi-hued hide.

“Hrardorr?” Seth asked, uncertain how to approach the unknown dragon who was eyeing him with a shy sort of suspicion.

“Seth, this is Lady Shara. She has been injured by a diamond blade and is in need of your expertise,” Hrardorr said formally, introducing the sea dragon.

Seth bowed as well as he could with the pack on his back. “Lady Shara, I am Seth, apprentice healer of the Southern Lair. Will you let me have a look at your injury? I promise to do all I can to help you.”

Her jewel-like gaze went from Seth to Hrardorr and back again.

“You may approach,”came her tentative voice in his mind. It was like a shushing whisper of waves against the shore, unlike any other dragon’s voice he’d ever heard. He found it pleasant.

Seth went to work, inspecting the long, thankfully shallow, gash that still wept blood on her foreleg. Seth sensed Hrardorr’s frustration in being unable to see what was going on, so he began to talk about what he was seeing and doing.

“It is a shallow but long cut, Lady Shara. I will apply a special salve that will stop the last of the bleeding and begin helping your scales knit together. You may have a slight scar after this, but it will disappear in time when the affected scales shed in the natural course of things. Sea dragons do shed your scales like land dragons, right?”

“Yes, Seth. Not often, but we do it from time to time,”Shara answered, her voice a little stronger as Seth applied the salve that he knew would also deaden any pain she might be feeling.

“As do we,”Hrardorr put in.“I always know a patch is going to shed when it becomes unbearably itchy.”

Shara seemed to giggle.“The itch is theworst,”she agreed with Hrardorr as Seth continued his work.

“Lady Shara, is it possible for you to remain out of the water for a few days? I only ask because the salve may dissipate in water, and I fear infection could set in. It might be best if you kept the wound from getting wet while it is still healing.”

“We sea dragons can spend time on land,”she admitted.“It is not our preferred place to be, but the wizard allows us the use of his beaches and caves. We like the ones in this area best, and the gryphons mostly leave us alone. I can stay in the cave over there for a few days if that will help in the healing. I have done so before.”

Seth looked over to the darker area in the cliff she’d gestured toward. Sure enough, he could just make out the opening of a cave that he hadn’t really noticed before. Night had fallen, and Xanderanth and Leo had set up a bonfire so Seth could see. Seth noticed the way Xanderanth was watching the sea dragon, as if mesmerized.

“Have you met Sir Xanderanth, Lady Shara?” Seth asked while he worked, hoping to distract her a bit from her injuries.

“I have not,”she replied rather shyly.

“Xander, come closer and meet Lady Shara,” Seth said familiarly. He liked Xander and Leo—especially since they’d proven their worth by insisting they come along on this mission.

The dark blue dragon shuffled slowly forward, as if he, too, was shy. Seth was surprised. Xander was usually one of the more self-assured young dragons.

“Hello,”Xander said, approaching slowly.“I’m Xanderanth, but my friends call me Xander.”

“I’m Shanaraneth, Shara for short. Pleased to meet you.”

Was it Seth’s imagination or were the two dragons exhibiting the initial signs of being smitten with each other? Could a land dragon and a sea dragon evenbemates? There had been only one case that Seth knew of—Hrardorr’s famous ancestor—but nobody in Draconia had even seen a sea dragon since then, and that had been centuries ago.

Seth finished up with the cut on Shara’s scales while she and Xander exchanged pleasantries. Yeah, they were definitely intrigued by each other, though only time would tell if anything would—or could—come of it. They were both quite young. Seth judged them to be somewhere around the same age, which put them both at just coming out of their adolescence into adulthood. That was very young for a dragon to find a mate.

And there was the complication that Xander was a fighting dragon. He’d bonded fully with Leo and could not take a dragon mate until Leo found a wife, lest the spillover from Xander’s amorous activities drive Leo mad. At such times, only a true mate would do for the human side of the family because the bonds ran too deep for a casual bed partner to be able to satisfy.

Seth sat back, having finished with the cut when the gleam of blood in the firelight caught his eye. He stood, walking around to the back of the dragon and had to stifle a gasp. She had another injury—a much more serious injury—to her wing that she was either unaware of, or trying to hide. He had no idea why she would do such a thing, but he had to try to help her.

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