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“Okay, then we’ll just have to find somewhere to put you where you’ll be comfortable,” she said.
He shook his head. This was getting worrying now.
“Drey, you’re going to have to tell me what’s wrong,” she scolded, worry gnawing away in her gut. She didn’t think she’d ever heard of a shifter getting stuck in their animal body before. Or not unless they were enchanted, but there was normally some kind of tell tale sign when that was the case. Drey was exhibiting none of those. He was just stuck in his dragon form.
Slowly, he lifted his wing and turned to look at it. She followed his gaze and inhaled sharply. There was a long gash on his flank, just under where his wing was situated. It must have been something ridiculously sharp to have cut through his scales like that, and she worried that an infection could end up setting in.
“Someone go get Diana,” she called, not looking away from Drey and his wound. She didn’t know enough to treat it herself, but the elderly physician would. Diana had been around for as long as Aledwen could remember. She’d fixed all of her childhood ailments and then some.
She’d also let Aledwen watch her prepare her potions and tisanes when she was younger. There had even been a time or two when she’d been allowed to help. Those had been good days, and childhood Aledwen had grown to look forward to them immensely.
“Now!” she barked when no one moved. Couldn’t they tell that something wasn’t right with Drey? Did they want him to end up with an infection? Even if they didn’t care about his wellbeing, they should care about their own. She didn’t imagine that an ill dragon would make for a great courtyard centre piece. A lot of people could end up hurt.
A great deal of shuffling behind her signalled that people were finally starting to listen to her. Good. They should, especially when it was for their own wellbeing. In the long run anyway.
“Can you lift your wing more, please?” she asked Drey, relieved to find him nodding his head in return.
She turned away slightly as he did, motioning for one of the fae by the well to bring her a bucket of water. Who knew why they even had a well, they’d had running water and indoor plumbing for as long as Aledwen could remember.
One of the women plonked the bucket next to Aledwen. “Thank you,” she said, effectively dismissing the fae.
She leaned down, and ripped along the hem of her skirt. The fabric came away surprisingly easily, and elicited several shocked gasps from the eagerly watching fae. Aledwen rolled her eyes. This was likely going to be the gossip of choice in the grand hall later. Yey for her.
“This may sting,” she warned Drey, who nodded his head in return.
She dipped the fabric into the bucket of water, hoping that both were clean enough not to make matters worse. Though she was sure Diana would arrive soon, and her own actions would be pointless. Saying that, she couldn’t very well stand idly by while he was in pain.
She stepped in, close to the wound, the sweet scent of star anise assailing her.
It took a moment for Aledwen to realise what that probably meant, and she tried to tamp down on the panic rising within her. For all she knew, dragons were immune to poison anyway. Though he’d probably have healed already.
He flinched the moment the cool damp cloth touched his skin, and she winced for him. This couldn’t be pleasant. She wouldn’t like it if someone did it to her. Admittedly, she didn’t have a wing joint complicating things. Yet, anyway. If what she’d heard about mating with shifters was true, then she might have at some point.
“What are you doing, Princess?” Diana’s voice scolded, interrupted by the slight wheezes which suggested she’d run most of the way here. Aledwen would have commented on it, and that the older woman should take better care of herself, if she hadn’t been too worried about Drey.
“I thought I’d clean out the wound,” she replied needlessly, nodding towards the rag still pressed against Drey.
“Without a proper antiseptic? Do we even know what’s in there?” Diana set down her bag and began sorting through her herbs and medicinals.
Not knowing what else to do, Aledwen removed the cloth from Drey’s side, and dropped it back into the bucket, only then realising both would have to be burned. Quickly, she described her observations to Diana, who nodded along and muttered to herself.
“I need him to take this,” she said, passing Aledwen a ball of sticky paste. “I don’t suspect he’ll let anyone else close enough to allow them to feed it to him.”
“What is it?” Aledwen asked, her curiosity piqued.
“Family secret,” Diana replied. “But it will purge the poison.”
“Even in a dragon?” She worried her left sleeve as she realised the obscurity of what she was asking the woman to do.
“I can’t say I’ve ever tried. But he seems pretty robust. If this doesn’t work, we’ll just try something else.
Aledwen felt rather than heard the low growl that came from Drey, and it made her chuckle.
“Well? No time like the present, Princess.”
Contrary to how she felt just about any other time someone called her that, Aledwen actually liked it when Dianna did. Probably because it didn’t come across as an honorific. Instead, she was using it as an affectionate name. And that made all the difference.
Aledwen faced Drey, his large, black, eyes watching her intently. She held out the sticky ball to him, her hand flat, like she’d hold it for a horse. The realisat
