Chapter 21
Zeidon
My mate was the one thing that could always pull me from the darkness, and now she had given me a gift so precious that its light was blinding.
She loved me. A word that most Naga males only used for their offspring, a word we knew we felt for our mates even if they could not return it the same way.
At least, that was the way it was for the Water Weaver Clan.
Females needed their space; they needed us males to roam while they wove their cloth and raised our younglings.
But Farah? Farah wanted to share it all with me.
She was human; she did not expect any of the same things that a Naga female did. It was my wildest imaginings come true.
We were not safe yet, not entirely, and my ribs ached.
Some were fractured and those were dangerous injuries that could still fell a male if he did not take care.
No matter how badly I wished to bask in this moment and seed my mate, pleasure her until she saw stars, we had to leave this cold water first.
Curling my tail, I pushed it beneath Srazz so the Ayala could get a break and soak up some of my warmth.
He did not make grumpy noises or growls, just laid against my scales, his tongue briefly lapping at me in a sign of affection.
The dive was going to be tough on the little ones, and I was not sure how my female was going to take it either.
She did not seem scared of the water now, but what would happen when we had to submerge ourselves entirely?
The water closing over her head would surely strike her with the same panic as before.
“Farah, my precious mate…” I started. She had taught me the value of words over this past week, but it still didn’t feel natural to speak so much.
I did not know how to ask her about her fear or what the swim would do to her.
“The dive to the outside is not long, only about twenty feet. We must do it now, before you get too cold. I will hold you the entire time. You have nothing to fear.”
She bit her lip and I was tempted to lean in to nibble at that soft pillow, it looked so tempting.
“It’s fine. Let’s do it now.” I was so very proud of her for saying that; she sounded confident, like she did not fear it.
Already, she’d proven that she could manage the water.
She had swam after me when the hatch had been released, she had woken me from my injuries and pulled me back from the healing sleep.
The river was calmer here, but it still pulled and tugged at our bodies.
“Hold Buzz and Srazz,” I said to her, and I pushed with my tail so the two small animals rose high enough for her to pick them up and tuck them between our chests.
I did not need my arms free to swim, my tail would propel us where we needed to go, but my lungs ached from the pressure and still, I forced myself to take deep breaths in preparation.
I watched her face carefully as I angled us for the best spot to go under.
Her eyes were determined chips of sapphire, her jaw set at a stubborn angle.
Her heart rate was elevated, pounding loud enough for me to sense it against my palms, but she was not succumbing to any panic and fear.
When I dove beneath the water and started our swim, I felt her clench me tighter, but it was the Sleara that panicked, not my mate.
He scrabbled with his claws against my chest, digging them into my scales with enough force that I felt pinpricks of pain where they penetrated.
Srazz was calmer, freezing in place because he was not new to this despite his dislike for water.
Farah held them both, and I worried that the little Buzz would turn his claws on her fragile skin, so I forced myself to greater speed.
It made my chest burn and sharp pain lanced through my side; fractured ribs that were complaining under the stress.
I could see the light ahead of us and with a final boost of strength threw us toward the surface and then angled us toward the nearest river bank.
Farah released the Sleara from her grip as soon as we came up for air, and on soggy wings he launched himself in the air, indignantly screeching and chirping as he circled over our heads.
Srazz remained with us until he could scamper up the river bank, furiously shaking out his fur and snorting water from his nose.
I pushed Farah onto the bank behind him but struggled to pull air into my laboring lungs, panting through pain and dancing spots in my vision.
That was worse than I thought it would be, but my mate was fine, that was all that mattered.
“Zeidon, come on, you can do it.” Farah was speaking but it sounded like her voice was coming from far away, her voice frantic as if she’d been talking to me for a while.
I felt her small hands beneath my arms as she tried to help pull me out of the water.
It wasn’t possible for one so small to move me, I had to do it myself.
My tail felt twice as heavy as it should but I curled and wriggled until I was lying face down on a patch of luscious purple grass.
She laid down next to me, curling herself against my arm and rubbing a hand over my shoulders in gentle motions.
“Yeah, just rest a moment. That was a tough swim. But we got there! We’re out now.
Do you think you can point me in the direction of that Outcast Haven?
Where the other humans are? Are we close by? ”
I tried to focus on her words and her many questions.
Yeah, rest was good. I needed to rest so I could heal, I needed to breathe slowly through this pain in my chest and hope that a rib had not pierced my lung.
She said ‘Outcast Haven.’ That was important, but I struggled to make my mind work enough to figure out why.
Safety? Help? It was the place she needed to go to if I couldn’t make it, she would be welcome there, and safe.
Rolling over was too much for my burning lungs, and at the back of my mind I also knew that moving too much could aggravate this injury beyond repair.
I had to settle for turning my head along the grass, first left, then right.
Oh, I knew this place. I recalled that I’d already scouted it out on my first swim, this wasn’t too far from the Haven.
But as I calculated the distance in my mind, I knew that I wouldn’t make it.
Not with a lot more rest, but the swim had caused more damage to my injured body, I did not know if this would heal on its own.
“Precious Farah,” I whispered as I turned my eyes to her face.
If I was not able to heal from this, then I wanted her face to be the last that I saw.
“Follow the cliff,” I instructed her, and I flicked a finger weakly at the gray rock that rose to our left, the foot of the mountain was a steeply cut rock wall here and it would curve around toward Ahoshaga.
All she had to do was follow it and she would be safe.
I despised how exhausted I was, how weak this injury had made me.
I had pulled myself from my den to Ahoshaga before while injured, why couldn’t I do it again?
But that had been blood loss, this was an internal injury that was filling my lungs with blood.
I could feel it bubble at the back of my throat and fought not to cough and scare my female.
At least I had known her love before I died, and I’d paid for my mistakes and saved her.
What more could a male ask for? The touch of her soft skin against my face as she stroked my scales felt hot against my chilling skin, and despite my best effort, I could see in her eyes that she knew I was dying.
“No,” she said quietly. “They healed you before. It’s my turn to get help. ”
I blinked open eyes I hadn’t realized I’d closed and focused on the warmth of my mate against my side and Srazz who’d lain down against my shoulder on the other.
They were both safe, that was all that mattered.
“Zeidon,” Farah snapped, and I jerked open my eyelids again.
“You need to promise me that you’ll fight.
You have to hang on for me. You promise me! ”
Ah, my mate wanted to know if I’d be hers forever.
Of course I was. In this life or the next, I would always be there for her.
I tried to tell her that, my mouth even moved as I tried to pull the words from my chest. Did sound come out?
I was not sure. Her face swam before my eyes, and not even the nip of Srazz’s teeth against my scales brought me back from the brink.
Darkness claimed me.
***
Farah
“You stay, you protect,” I fiercely told the small badger-like Srazz.
He was sitting at Zeidon’s head, his paw on Zeidon’s shoulder, and a mournful expression on his snout.
I swore that he and I were joined in our fear and worry for the green Naga in that moment, and I knew that he would not leave Zeidon’s side the way I had to.
Why did this darn planet insist on trying to separate the two of us at every turn?
Hadn’t we been through enough? Zeidon had acted like he was fine, but I was certain that he was dying if he did not receive immediate medical attention.
The kind of medical attention that required surgery and advanced machines.
He’d told me how those at Outcast Haven had healed him before, and I’d seen how badly he’d been injured then.
I could only hope that they had what he needed this time and that I could reach them quickly enough.