Chapter 1 #2
The dragon had already dropped off its riders, but it had retreated back into the sky to watch from a distance.
I could only assume this was because the beast might be too heavy for the still, occasionally crumbling ground to support.
Zsekhet might fear Sesethul could get trapped or injured if it stayed on the ground and an aftershock came.
He’d be right. The land would take days to fully settle, and one massive tremor might not be the end of it yet.
“Hello!” I called out as I climbed out of a deep furrow I’d had no choice but to cross.
This was, I was certain, the area where the naga had been when the earthquake struck.
It was clearly the spot those on the dragon had also decided required a search for survivors.
Already, I could tell they’d pulled a male from beneath the rubble.
He was swearing, but at first glance appeared unscathed, despite being partially buried.
“Joxra, are you hurt?” I asked as I approached.
“I came back in case you needed another pair of hands here…” I glanced about, but wasn’t sure who was supposed to be in charge right now.
Regardless of leadership, males were already working closely together to begin digging out the entrance to the sky wreck.
Joxra shook off more of the dirt clinging to his red scales, his expression furious.
“I’m fine! It’s Jasmine. Jasmine’s in here somewhere!
We’ve got to find her!” I’d never seen the former Bitter Storm male so agitated before.
His expression was so guilt-stricken that I wondered if he had something to do with her disappearance.
Or perhaps she was his mate, and he was beside himself with concern.
“She wasn’t supposed to be here!” Joxra added, shaking off the hand of the Thunder Rock male holding him up.
He twisted on his tail, then winced, subsiding back against Ezho’s still-proffered arm with another vicious curse.
“It was just me and her who climbed down. It was her warning that got the dragon skybound in time, and the others all retreated to safety inside the sky wreck. We have to find her!”
I shifted uneasily on my tail and glanced around.
With so many massive furrows and unstable holes, it was going to take a while to search them all.
Worse… a small human female was unlikely to have survived this.
I could tell from Ezho’s grim look that he thought the same as I did.
“We are searching, Joxra, but you must rest. You’ve broken your tail in three places, brother.
If you are not careful, you could become partially paralyzed… ”
Joxra gave Ezho a look that was deadly. He cared, it appeared, very little for his own health right now.
Ezho was correct, however: breaks in his tail could have devastating results if not healed by a Shaman soon.
It was also apparent that Joxra was not going to settle until he was certain this human female, Jasmine, was found.
One glance at the other naga hunters told me they had their hands full, likely as much for Joxra’s sake as for those trapped inside the sky wreck right now.
If Corin was in there, he was as good as any Shaman and could potentially heal Joxra’s injuries in no time at all.
My eyes lifted higher, and I rose on my tail to glance into the distance, where I knew the Sun Fang and Thunder Rock males might be dealing with their own crisis.
They did not need another pair of hands to dig here, and they seemed certain only this Jasmine was lost in the muck outside.
Lost, and presumed dead. I could perhaps save another life or two if I headed for the attack party’s last location.
No matter what I thought of their reason for attacking, I did not feel they deserved to die.
Then I looked back at Joxra and saw the plain distress on his face, as well as the agony he must have been feeling from his injuries—injuries he had been trying to hide so he could search for her personally, at any cost to himself.
“I will search for her, Joxra. You can count on me.” The words had been spoken before I could fully consider the ramifications.
It meant not helping the others in the hills.
It meant staying here a little longer, again.
The way Joxra’s expression filled with relief made me feel good, though. It was exactly that kind of feeling that had enticed me to stay, or to come back again and again, to Haven. Working together with brothers, males of different clans, with scales of different colors, yet united all the same.
“You’d do that, Ekkire?” Joxra bit out through clenched teeth.
The pain was definitely getting the best of him now.
I helped Ezho lay him down, then watched as the former Thunder Rock male fussed over the former Bitter Storm male, trying to make him more comfortable. I locked eyes with Joxra and nodded.
“I will check the gullies and cracks for her presence. But I do not have her scent.” I rose higher on my tail to glance around and identify the best options.
I suspected she’d been near Joxra when the quake started, and he confirmed it, so the starting point had to be where they’d dug Joxra from the muck.
“Mud seems to have churned toward the hills and mountains when water welled up from an underground spring.” I indicated the spot and shuddered to think about what it must have been like, trapped in such churning, fast-flowing mud.
“If I find her, I will send a message,” I told him firmly.
I eyed the mountains in the distance. “If not, I will continue on that way,” I said, pointing to the mountains.
“There is a Sun Fang outpost there that must have been swept away by a rock avalanche. I will check on them for potential survivors next.” As Joxra had passed out as soon as I said, “If I find her,” I directed the last part at Ezho.
He nodded in confirmation, and off I went.
My sense of loyalty to the naga at Haven was very satisfied by this choice.
I was helping them, potentially still helping the Sun Fang people living at the outpost. Yet I avoided helping those who planned to attack Haven’s people, and the humans, directly.
I’d search for this female, recover her body, and perhaps ease the healing of Joxra’s body by doing so. That was a worthwhile cause.