Page 52 of Dragonbound

He felt the dragon brush his mind. It wasn’t unpleasant, just a bit odd. The dragon’s mind, if that was what he felt, should feel wrong and alien, not comforting. He welcomed it. It wasn’t overwhelming or painful. It was… right. It seemed to caution him.

Our secret. The words formed in his mind.

It was only when he felt Sereh’s gentle hands on his leg that he realised how much pain he’d been in, and how much the dragon was diluting it. It had been a beautiful agony when Sereh had first examined his leg. Her touch, so soft. The pain, so intense.

He heard Sereh’s footsteps drawing nearer once more. He opened his good eye and gazed at her. Did she feel it? Did she react to his touch the way he responded to hers?

‘This might hurt,’ she apologised.

Now he could feel her hands on him, endeavouring to rip free his one trouser leg, and then carefully placing lengths of wood against his broken leg. She then bound them in place with the strips of his trousers, and yet, for all the jostling, all her apologies, a friend was feeling his pain instead. He felt a gentle glimmer in his mind and knew his friend wasn’t in pain. But still, it repeated Our Secret.

Belatedly, he became aware that Sereh’s hands had stopped their ministrations. He opened his eye, slowly once more, to see her gazing at him in fear, her pale eyebrows twisted in concern.

She needs reassurance. He wasn’t sure if it was his thought or the dragon’s. He cracked a small smile, his mouth too dry to say anything.

She smiled with relief in return, her body sagging as her shoulders relaxed and then turned back to the fire and lifted the cups of water clear. He raised himself gingerly on his elbows and gratefully drank the warm water she passed to him. He sank back on his makeshift bed.

‘Thanks.’ His croak surprised him. He felt stronger. But, evidently, he was far from recovered.

‘Any time.’ She smiled, and he felt mesmerised by it. He was in intense pain, and yet he wasn’t.

He’d discovered in his darkest moment that he wasn’t alone, and neither were his people.

And as much as the timing was all wrong, he felt things for Sereh he’d never felt before.

The dragon brushed against his mind again, and he understood his new friend would be leaving for a short time. He hoped he’d see him soon.

The connection thinned, faded and was abruptly gone.

White hot pain radiated through him and he screamed. Sereh rushed to him, her hands fluttering, entirely unsure why he was in so much agony. He couldn’t explain. The pain was too great for him even to speak. His breathing was coming too fast. The pain was too strong.

It rippled and exploded down his leg in wave after wave. And then, the sweet relief of blackness.

He now understood the sensation of his flying dreams while he was trapped beneath the ice as his friend soared through the air with an aerial view of his homeland. As he hung in the darkening sky, he felt no pain.

Below him he saw the still pristine landscape. The tiny dots of people. Nowhere did he see land that was green or brown. Nowhere did he see the rushing purple of a river. It was as if the land slept under a white blanket. The sheer majesty of it all couldn’t quite deflect the unease he felt. The ice should be receding, and yet it wasn’t.

It seemed as though little time passed before he felt the gliding sensation slow and stop altogether. His friend landed with a soft thud on a snow-covered ledge, and a person Erann didn’t know stepped from the mountain’s interior. He was astonished to see someone who looked like him conversing with the dragon.

Erann realised he could somehow hear what his friend thought, but the woman’s words were muffled, so Erann could only make out the rise and fall of her voice, but not the actual words. Instead, he concentrated on looking at her. She was tall and beautiful, but impossible to age. Her eyes flashed kindly as she spoke to the dragon. She disappeared and then returned, and there were some complicated discussions Erann didn’t understand.

Back in the cave, Erann drifted into a more natural sleep.

35

SKALD DREKKI

He’d hoped that finding Erann alive would have been enough. Had been elated that Erann, one of the Others, could see him, despite what he’d been told. But once the woman had rescued him from his prison under the snow and ice, it swiftly became clear Erann’s terrible injuries were far beyond what he’d anticipated.

Neither could he help directly. He’d have to bring one of his Others here – someone skilled in herb lore and with the ability to lie convincingly. He didn’t understand why Erann could see him while the woman could not, but it meant he couldn’t transport Erann to rún-ketill where the Others could nurse him back to health. It would be far too difficult to try to explain to the woman. Despite what Emma had told him, the presence of his kind here needed to remain a secret. He knew what had to happen. He needed Emma to go to Erann.

Erann’s injuries weren’t life-threatening at the moment, and he felt comfortable leaving him for a short amount of time. It was the extreme cold and lack of food that worried Skaldi. He sought out Erann’s mind with his and felt a jolt of recognition. He conveyed that help would soon be on its way. With a sharp snap of his wings, he took to the air, aware Erann’s pain would increase without him there, but conscious he was the only one who could truly help him.

Skaldi used the journey to the mountain to think about the task ahead. He needed to get Emma here. He was unsure how to accomplish it. Could he convince her to leave her haven? What would she need to bring, if she agreed? What could she say to Erann and the girl to explain her presence?

He arrived home as the dark violet of night spread across his land. How many days had passed since the sun had first appeared over the horizon at the end of the pitch darkness? He was unsure but as he slowed his momentum preparing to land he felt confident it had been well over eight short days now. And yet, the ground beneath him remained covered in snow. The thaw should have begun in earnest. The land should have been a myriad of growing greens, muddy browns and rushing streams, or so Naer-Vera had shown him. So why wasn’t it?

Landing with a soft thud on the broad ledge of his home, he sent his request to Emma that she join him. She appeared, her expression unreadable.