For long moments, nothing happened. The birds and squirrels fell silent. Only the whisper of a breeze in the needles overhead broke the quiet. Even the crunch of the horses’ hooves as his men led them in circles seemed muted in the stillness of the forest.
Lorne let out another chittering call. Were there any fleech dragons in the vicinity? Were they close enough to hear him?
While the occasional fleech dragon bonded with a human and became more or less domesticated, the majority of the fleech dragons remained bonded only to the land, wild and yet responding when called upon by anyone in Lalsacia to heal.
He waited several more breathless seconds, mentally tracking Adeline’s heartbeats to ensure that she was still alive.
There came a skittering in the tree overhead, sounding somewhat like a squirrel yet with an extra scraping of scales and claws. An answering chitter called from above before a yellow-green fleech dragon scurried into view. It was about the size of a weasel with a similarly long and sinewy body. Scales, larger than that of a snake or typical lizard, covered the dragon while sawtooth ridges ran down its back from the top of its head to the tip of its tail. Tiny wings were folded against its back.
A few yards from the ground, it unfurled its wings, pushed away from the tree, and glided the last few feet to the ground, landing lightly on the moss next to Lorne and Adeline.
Lorne laid Adeline on the moss, his gaze fixed on the fleech dragon. “Please. Help her.”
The fleech dragon scurried closer, its body wiggling and waddling. It sniffed at Adeline’s face, its tiny nostrils flaring as its slitted, golden eyes squinted.
It lifted its head and let out a louder, screeching call.
All around the forest, other screeching chitters answered before more claws skittered on bark and loam. Fleech dragons in jewel colors from bright red to cerulean blue appeared, bounding over the forest floor or gliding between the huge trunks of the trees.
The first fleech dragon crawled onto Adeline’s chest and curled up there like a cat preparing to snooze in the sun. It began making a growling, purring noise deep in its chest. That sound seemed to reverberate outward until Lorne could feel it in his chest as much as hear it with his ears.
As more of the fleech dragons arrived, curling up on or next to Adeline, they also rumbled their purr. A golden glow pulsed, so faint at first that it almost seemed a trick of the light. As it strengthened, little starbursts drifted around the fleech dragons and Adeline.
Lorne held his breath and Adeline’s hand. Would this work? Fleech dragons couldn’t heal everything. Lorne’s mother would still be alive if that were the case.
He couldn’t lose her. Not like this. Not after everything. He’d begun to lose his heart to her, and he could see himself falling utterly and completely, if he hadn’talready. He wanted to hold her as they celebrated their first child. Their second. The many years of a long and happy marriage.
He’d done all he could for her. All he could do now was sit there, his gaze fixed on the fleech dragons, and hope the magic of those tiny dragons was enough to save her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Awareness came slowly. It started with the sense of warmth and comfort. Then a settling into her own body, her heartbeat strangely loud, her breaths whooshing in and out.
There was something warm behind her, and something equally warm and also heavy on her chest.
Peeling her eyes open, Adeline blinked as she tried to focus. She seemed to be in a forest unlike anything she’d ever seen, denser and darker with larger trees than any found in Kelverny. Sunlight slanted through the huge tree trunks, dust motes shimmering.
A creature lay curled on her chest. Something yellow-green and scaled with tiny wings and a cute little snout that was puffing hot breath toward her face.
Was that one of the fleech dragons she’d heard so much about? It was even smaller—and cuter—than she’d realized.
As she turned her head to take in more of hersurroundings, she became aware of how her head rested against a shoulder, her back against a solid chest. Strong arms braced her up and held her close.
“Adeline?” Lorne’s voice spoke near her ear as he gently brushed her hair from her face. “How are you feeling?”
“Alive.” She tried to assess the sensations throughout her body. There was no pain, a sweet relief after the tearing she’d felt in her last moments of consciousness. Instead, her whole body felt so relaxed she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to move. “I’m all right, I think. I’m just too tired to move.”
“Nearly dying is exhausting.” Lorne pressed a light kiss to her hair, his arms tightening around her briefly. “Are you up for moving? There’s a village about an hour away where we can spend the night.”
Adeline nodded and struggled to sit up. It wasn’t an easy feat, given how weak her muscles felt and the small dragon sleeping on her chest.
At her movements, the dragon gave a grumbling, chirping sound and lifted its head. It languidly rolled into her lap as Lorne helped her sit all the way upright. She gathered the dragon into her arms as Lorne picked her up, an arm under her knees and the other across her back.
She ran her fingers down the dragon’s sleek scales. “I think this one is coming with us.”
Lorne smiled down at her, then at the fleech dragon. “Yes. It might still return to the forest. Most fleech dragons prefer to live in the wild. But sometimes they bond with a person.”
“Really?” Adeline ran a hand over the fleech dragon’s scaly back as Lorne carried her between the huge trees toward where Godwin and Orvyn waited by three horses.
