Chapter 48 #2
Who did? I wanted to ask, but there was no arguing with a memory. What she had put into the stone was what we would see.
Her fangs glittered, stained with blood.
Attacking my den when I was heavy with eggs.
Her sides heaved again as they sought to expel her young, I now realised.
Because they knew they would not be able to stand against me at my full power.
Find… Her body, the memory, it was weakening, I could fee it.
Find my nest and you’ll know the truth. Find—
“We need to go now!”
Viridian’s rider broke the spell we were under, trying to wrench Fern free, and it soon became clear why. The entire cave system was shaking, pebbles and rocks falling to the ground.
“No…” Argent’s rider muttered. “Get Fern out of here! Get her out now!”
As the humans barked orders at each other, the rest of us moved.
Male dragons stepped forward, their wings outstretched to protect the lot of us. I went to snarl at them because they were blocking our escape, but the four of them looked upwards.
The answer is in the earth.
Why do you keep saying that! I snapped at Viridian. We need to get—
Back.
Slate’s command would not be denied. Every single one of us moved to the perimeter of the cave as the male dragons all clustered closer. My wing went around Fern as rocks began to pelt us.
“Acid breathers…” Viridian’s rider said. “They’re going to—”
“Melt a hole in the roof.” By Kael’s smug expression, you’d think he was the one to create an escape route for us, not Slate. “Everyone needs to get back. One drop of their spittle and it’ll burn a hole right through you.”
Fern—
I was about to clasp her against my chest, wrapping my wings around her, when she darted out from under my wing.
“Fern!”
Her name echoed throughout the cavern, shouted by every single human throat. As silver acid splashed against the rock above us, she darted around them, making for Drathnor’s bones.
Because another crystal egg that had rolled free.
I looked down at the one in my claws, sure it had to be the same one, only to find it still held tight.
“Gods be damned, no!”
Dain raced across the floor, his grimace, then the red blood blooming where his armour was burnt away, made clear he had been stung by the acid. As the earth, the rocks, everything above us, dissolved, revealing the sky, he plucked Fern from Drathnor’s bones.
Which meant I needed to rescue them.
I hoped the seams of his garments would hold as I grabbed both of them, then launched myself out of the newly created hole in the cave ceiling.
Fresh air, the sky, the sun, none of those things had ever been as precious as they were right now.
My wings worked as I climbed higher, but I could not take off as I wished.
Landing didn’t feel like a safe thing, but relying on the armour to hold and Dain’s grip not to loosen on Fern was too much for me to risk.
With a heavy thud, my hind legs hit the ground some way away from the cave complex, the others joining me seconds later.
“You…” Dain was in great pain. I could feel it radiating off him. “I…”
“Saved the day again.” Kael grimly pulled something from Slate’s saddlebags and then marched over to the injured human. Powder was produced and Dain held back a scream as it was applied to his wound. “I know. I know, brother.”
“Neutralises the acid,” Lorien told Fern and Lance in grim tones.
“Let’s hope it was just a glancing thing and didn’t burn you down to the bone.
” Kael’s eyes flashed as he raised his waterskin and then emptied it onto the wound.
Red flesh was revealed, pink blood splattering on the ground.
I leaned in closer to inspect the damage, but Argent was there already.
Dain’s pants of pain faded away as he stared into his dragon’s eyes.
What is Argent doing? Fern looked up at me. Is he hypnotising Dain?
Taking away the pain, I replied, a low croon starting in my throat. He will bear it so his rider doesn’t have to.
Perhaps that was why Dain’s eyes rolled up into his head and then he fell away in a dead faint. Kael intercepted his fall, which was when Fern rushed over.
“Is he going to be alright?” Her voice trembled as much as her hand did as she reached to touch the unconscious man’s face. “He shouldn’t have gone back for me.”
“Can’t stop himself.” The growl in Kael’s voice had my head rearing up. “Can’t stop drawing you, dreaming of you, and now the bastard can’t stop trying to kill himself to keep you safe.”
“I’m sorry.” She shrank back a little, then dropped to her knees beside Dain. His limp hand was clasped by one of hers as she held out her palm. “Another egg was revealed in all of the chaos. We went down there for answers…”
And now perhaps we would find more.
“We need to get out of here.” Lorien’s eyes were trained on the gates of the human settlement beyond. “The city watch is coming and they’re gonna want to know what happened. I vote we don’t stick around to tell them.”
“Everyone get in the saddle,” Kael ordered. “Argent will carry Dain as we make for somewhere beyond the watch’s reach.” He glanced down at Fern’s hands. “Then we can discover whether or not that egg was worth the cost.”