The Dracones

I wake to a red ceiling. I look around without moving my head. A white sheet lies over my naked body. A window is by my bed where a blue curtain blows with the breeze. It caresses my skin, raising gooseflesh where it touches. I try to lift myself but my torso protests.

“Ah.” I gasp when I push past the pain. I slouch against the wall, gasping. I pull the sheet up to cover my breasts again. When that is accomplished I take a bit of a breather. Stiffly I try to sit up on my own. My middle protests but it’s manageable. Carefully I turn, placing my feet on the ground.

“One,” I say as I brace myself. “Two. Three.” I push myself up, making sure the sheet stays on my chest. I stumble forward as I bite my lip to stop a scream. My leg feels like I have a pole shoved through it. I brace myself against the wall and take as much weight as I can off of my leg.

“Kit, what are you doing?” Alienis asks me while I try to think this through.

What am I doing? “I’m not sure. Are you alright?”

“Yes, though Trayvon is very angry at you. Freiah is as well. Just so you know, I’m mad at you too.”

I groan. “I know it was a stupid thing to do Alienis, but I was honestly losing the battle for my head. I had to fight back and do something. I wasn’t about to let someone control me. If I was going to die, I was going to fight. You know this but I do apologize for not telling you what I was doing.”

He groans in my head. “It’s alright and I do understand. You may have cut off mental connection, but I still know what you’re feeling. You felt trapped so you had to do something. I just think you were stupid going alone. Now lie back down and rest.”

I try to move from the wall, but I just fall back against it. “I will when I can.” He just chuckles in my head while I count under my breath. I decide to move along the wall and go sit in the chair in the corner. I still have no clue what room I’m in.

When I am about to reach the wooden chair the door opens. “What in the name of Slayer do you think you’re doing?” Freiah demands.

I look and see the top of her golden head. Her hair is braided and twisted around her head in a beautiful crown. She’s wearing the same thing everyone else wears, but she’s cut diamond patterns on the side of her shirt. “Trying to walk,” I reply a little breathlessly.

She rolls her eyes and walks over to me quickly. She carefully supports my weight and helps me limp to the bed again. I groan as my body moans in relief. “You’re injured. You should be in bed.”

I sigh. “I’m not that type, and you know that.” I lean a bit to ease some of the pressure on myself. “So, what did I miss?”

Freiah sits on the bed. “Well, after Alienis explained your stupid move Trayvon kind of took off. He’s back, but boy is he angry. All the others are ecstatic over the release of the captured dragon souls. I the other hand, want to know what was all over you when you came in. The dragons couldn’t smell you, so they were convinced you were still out there. By the way, I made you a new suit.”

I smile at her. “Thank you, and it was a paste called Nostilgray. It basically covers your scent, or if ingested it’ll cause temporary anosmia.”

She raises an eyebrow. “I never knew you knew so much about this stuff.” She sounds impressed.

I shift my side again. “It’s not something I advertise. Please keep it under your hat for now.”

“Why?”

“Just please keep this secret for me,” I say as I give her pleading eyes.

She stares at me for a long time before she sighs and nods. “Alright.”

“Kit!” Someone shouts as the door slams open. I jump but Freiah just stays looking at me, totally unblinking. Her eyes are wide though, so he did scare her. I look at the door and see Trayvon glaring at me.

“What?” I ask when he remains glaring at me. I sit up a bit, making his eyes drop. His face is a little derailed when he sees I’m completely naked underneath it. “Trayvon?” I ask as I snap my fingers. I’m covered so he should be good.

His eyes snap back to my face but it takes him a second to remember his thought. “What is wrong with you? You went in there without backup? You nearly died.”

“I’m aware of that.” I snap at him, getting defensive. “I had to Trayvon. I was running out of time.”

He scoffs. “What do you mean you were running out of time?”

“You’ve had your mind taken correct?” I ask in disbelief. He is the one person I’d thought would understand.

His jaw tightens. “Yes.”

“Do you remember that feeling of...hopelessness? Despair even? Or feeling violated at all? Maybe it’s all three Trayvon. I was at the point of that combination, but I felt something in my mind I’d never felt before. I was doubting myself. I thought of myself as weak. When I had hit that point I had to go Trayvon. I had to reclaim my mind and fight. Trayvon, he was going to take my mind in a matter of hours. This would all be over. I had to give it a shot since it was the only solution.”

It takes him a few minutes to think that through. “Well, you could have taken me.”

I nearly laugh. “What did you want me to do Trayvon? Drag you out of bed fresh out of a three-week coma? You couldn’t even stand without falling. There is no way you would have been able to survive that.”

He stumbles over that one. “Look, I’m not the one that got stabbed with Night-something or other. You’re the one that screwed up and this is on your head.”

“What is on my head?” I demand. “What did I screw up on?”

He gets completely derailed by that one. “Just think before you act okay?” He slams the door shut.

“What is his problem?” I ask Freiah, though I know what the answer is. I left him behind. I did this myself without even telling him where I was going. I nearly cost us everything...It slams as it hits me. “Freiah, help me get dressed will you?”

She nods. Quickly she stands and tosses me clothes and helps me get dressed. She hands me a cane and helps me to stand. Slowly she helps me out of my room. She gets called away when I make it outside.

I hobble my way through the sea of looks and find Trayvon leaning over a rocked wall that we put by the dragons’ homes. That way my worry of falling and dying was lessened. His body tenses when he sees me lean over the wall with him. He’s staring at the setting sun. I don’t even look at his face. I know what it’ll be. Blank. A mask.

After a few minutes, I speak. “Look Trayvon, I understand you’re upset by what I have done. I accept that. I should have told you where I was at least going. I did that with Ivan so you shouldn’t be different.”

He glances at me. “You were a team, Katarina. We’re a team. That’s what we do. You don’t leave the other blind or behind.”

My eyes remain on the sun. “That’s just it, Trayvon. We’re not a team. There is no communication. Since day one this has been about you. It was always what you say goes. There was never room for debate. You never took the time to even get to know me.”

“You never tried to get to know me.” He snaps back.

Don’t engage. “I tried Trayvon, but you would shut me out. What I know about you is what people have told me. Even then, they don’t know you either. No one even knows your favorite color for Dawn’s sake. You shut me out and everyone else.”

He interrupts me. “This isn’t about me Kit. This is about us. You nearly cost us everything.”

I finally look at him with wonder. “There is no us Trayvon. There never was. This was survival. All we both cared about was surviving. I don’t know how many times I’ve fought by myself since I got here, but I can give you the exact number we have together. Zero. We may have protected one another, but it was out of our mutual understanding. By Dawn Trayvon, you left me the moment things got tough without even talking to me. So, the next time you lecture me about not making a team decision, make sure there is a team in the first place.” I’d walk off at this point, but my limping would ruin it, so I just turned my head away and resumed looking at the sun.

Trayvon stands there stunned. He can’t think of anything to say to that. He leans his back against the wall. I refuse to be the first one to look or break this silence. Finally, he speaks. “We’re in trouble aren’t we?”

I chuckle a bit. “That’s putting it mildly.” I then remember something. “You’re in bigger trouble though. When I was in the cave with Modain, I heard him and Mikal talking. Mikal told him he could still take your mind and he’s going to. Did he?”

When I do not get an answer I look at Trayvon. His eyes are down, and his fists are clenched. He’s angry, but his face is shifting from mask to mask. “Trayvon?” I ask since he still does not answer.

Finally, he speaks. “When you came back, Kit...You were thought dead. The dragons could not find your scent. Alienis could not contact you. There was so much blood coming from you that Freiah thought for sure she couldn’t stop it. There was nothing in your face, nothing to show you were alive. I-I got angry.”

He stops there and won’t say more. I’m shocked at this point. “Trayvon, what did you do?”

“I-I went to look for Modain.”

“What?!” I screech. “Are you dense? Trayvon, I barely made it back with my life intact. If it weren’t for Alienis and dumb luck I’d be dead.”

“I know!” He snaps. He still won’t make eye contact with me. “I didn’t get there though. I couldn’t find it and the Adversantem were everywhere. I had to bunk down for two days. While I hid for those days I had a lot of time to think. I was thinking that I can’t-” He stops there. He finally looks at me. He loses a spark in his eye before he looks just above my head. “I can’t wait any longer to teach you to heal.”

I raise an eyebrow. That’s not what he was originally going to say. “Alright, but I need you to answer my question first.”

Now that takes him off guard. “Question?”

I nod. “Yes. Mikal can still take your mind. You never told me if he tried.”

He shakes his head. “No, but if that’s the case I need to leave you then.”

“Boy, you better be lying, or just plain stupid.” I take a breath to calm myself and try to remove some of the harshness of my words. “Didn’t you just hear what we had said? Trayvon you cannot keep running from me just because you believe you’ll hurt me. You need to talk to me. We need to communicate. If we’re going to be a team and win this thing we need to work together. That’s going to be hard to do if you keep leaving when things get rough.”

Trayvon gives a slight shake to his head. “Whatever you say, Kit. I’m going to go talk to Gracial.” He starts walking away at that point. I’m either irritated beyond belief at this point or just plain surprised. No, being annoyed is the best I can get with him. For once I wish I could be the one to walk away.

“Trayvon!” I yell. “You can’t keep running every time life throws you a problem.”

“Try me!” He yells back but keeps walking.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Fine. I will.” I grab my cane and throw it at him, gasping as my stomach tries to kill me in protest. If I could have I would have thrown my shoe.

The cane clips the side of his shoulder and flies off down the side of the mountain. I’m not getting that back anytime soon. “Ow!” Trayvon yells as he turns around. “What in the name of Slayer was that for?”

“For your asinine behavior. You’re being an idiot.” I yell back at him. “If you walk away now Trayvon, there is a good chance you’re going to get killed.”

“No Kit you are,” Trayvon yells back. “You think you know everything and that your little miss perfect. Well, do you know what? You’re just as dumb as the rest of us.”

I see the exact words he wishes he could take back but it’s too late. My anger has already woken. “Then just go Trayvon. You’re so convinced you can do this yourself, that you try to run from anything that can even just remotely complicate your plans. So just leave then. Let’s see how far you can do this on your own. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. I hope you’re alive long enough that you can figure this out on your own. I can’t keep getting hurt covering my ass and yours just because you’re too blind to see this.”

“I’m not blind Kit. I’m a realist. Just look at you. You can barely walk, and your stomach is in stitches. You’re weak and almost dead. This place is killing you. I’m killing you. You’re not going to make it here. It’ll be better for both of us if we just split up and work on our own ends.” He walks away from me after that.

I’d kill him if I could walk. I still might. Now that my walking stick is gone I’m going to have to go at this solo. I’m going to kill him.

“Kit, what’s wrong?” Alienis asks me when I take a step. I might cry. My leg is wobbling and might just knock me on my butt. I can’t answer him since I have to concentrate on my every step.

“Kit?” Alienis asks when I finally reach the wall.

I gasp as I lean against it, letting some weight off. My leg is pulsing under me. The split nerves are not helping either. “Trayvon is an ass. What else is new? I do not understand why he refuses to fight with me. He’s fighting Modain on his own and he’s going to lose. Maybe after he cools off after my idiotic move he’ll work with me. I hate that he’s so...removed.”

“That’s just who he is right now Kit. If you heard his story then you’d be more allowing.”

“I do know his blasted story Alienis. I just wish he were the one to tell me. He made a deal for Gracial’s life. I still say he’s a moron if he believes ignoring me is protecting me. I’m getting killed out there while he just hides from me. If he can’t see that we need to work together, then I’m just going home. I don’t need this, and I don’t deserve the way he treats me.”

“Kit just be patient and don’t do anything rash.”

“I can barely walk. I think you’re safekeeping me grounded for right now.” I start moving my way along the walls, using them for support. I keep seeing people stop and stare at my wounds, their mouths gaped open. Not one of them helps me. It’s a good thing I’m taller than them or this could get complicated when I have to cross the center square.

When I make it back to the room I had woken in, Freiah is waiting for me. “Where is your cane?” She demands and helps me to the bed.

My entire body groans as I sink into the bed. “I threw it at Trayvon. He’s not speaking to me, which is good considering how much he infuriates me.”

She starts laughing. “What happened?”

“Long story short, he thinks it’s best that we just keep working separately.” I start winding my hair up and tie it off. “Every time I think that we can actually talk and get along, he runs off. He refuses to discuss anything with me and just walks off. It’s pissing me off.”

She sighs. “That kid is more of a flight risk than you were when you first got here.”

“At least I stayed,” I mutter under my breath. “That kid makes my blood boil.” I stop then something clicks. “Uh-oh.” I breathe. The breath has just been knocked out of me.

“Gracial, where is Trayvon?”I demand while Freiah talks. I’m not hearing a word she’s saying.

“We’re on flight to Boulder’s Rock. He said he needed to cool off. Why?”

“Because when I released the dragon’s souls, Modain’s energy depleted drastically. He needs Trayvon’s blood to get some of it back. Only the effects are temporary. I need you to keep him safe. If Mikal has healed, by now he’s going after Trayvon.”

“I will. I’ll get him back to the city as soon as possible. You need to tell him what happened when you went there.”

“Gladly. Just get him back here.” I breathe in, just a bit more relaxed. Gracial can always talk sense into him. I just really wish I could heal. Why’d he have to leave before he fulfilled that promise? Because I opened my big fat mouth that’s why.

“You’ll just have to be patient,” Freiah says as she pats my leg.

What did she say? “Sure,” I say as I smile at her.

“Good. Now get some rest. I’ll wake you if we need you.”