The Dragon Healer of Tone (World of Tone) (17 page)

The next morning the three of them and Lowlack went to a cliff that sat in front of a small island with a pinnacle of rock jetting from it.

Lowlack flew by and put a small bush on top of the pinnacle.

“Now Fienna you are going to try to hit the little bush. Now breathe in as deeply as you can. Then try to feel heat in your chest,” her mother said.

Fienna breathed in as deep as she could, then she concentrated as hard as possible to make her chest feel hot. At first, nothing happen.

Then slowly she felt a warming sensation in her chest. It slowly grew until her whole body felt warm, even a little hot.

“Now Fienna force the air out as hard as you can,” her mother said.

As she did this, flames came from her mouth and nose. They went in all directions. Fienna had a hard time controlling her head. The force of the fire felt as if it was pushing her whole body back. She saw Terra run behind a great rock because the flames were everywhere. The flames seemed to last forever, but they finally stopped as the remainder of the air she had breathed in left her. She mentally yelled for Terra.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry. I think I will stay behind the rock until you’re done practicing this sun-rising,” Terra thought with a laugh.

“I can’t help it; I’m new at this,” she thought back a little annoyed.

“I know. I know,” Terra thought laughing even more. She could even hear his laughing from behind the rock.

“Ignore him. That was fine for your first try daughter. Now you should remember that dragons are not harmed by flame, but all other things are. Try again, but this time take in only a little air.”

Fienna did, and this time only a small amount of flame came out of her mouth, and she could control it. Gradually, she was able to take increasingly larger amount of air and control her flame. Just before they were going to leave, Fienna was able to hit the small bush on the pinnacle of rock.

Over the next several sun-risings, Fienna slowly built up the amount of fire she could release and control. Her mother taught her how to breathe fire through her inner nostrils in a controlled dual stream.

She was getting very good with her flame, but she had not yet used her full power as she did the first sun-rising.

“Fienna, I want you to breathe in as deeply as you did on your very first attempt. This time stiffen your neck and brace yourself. Then aim and hit that island.”

“Terra, go behind the rock,” Fienna thought to him.

“You have control now; you won’t do what you did the first sun-rising.” Terra said with a rather proud tone to his thought.

“Please, Terra.”

“All right.” With that he moved behind the rock.

Fienna breathed in as deep as she could and waited for the warmth to build in her. When she was ready, she braced herself and aimed at the island. Then she opened her mouth and let the flames go. A flame reached across the water in an instant exploding against the rock. The rock pinnacle started to melt away from the intensity of the heat that flowed from Fienna. When her flame finally faded, the island was no more than a melted lump of rock. Dawra was surprised at Fienna’s heat.

She had never melted rock, and as far as she knew, no dragon had ever been able to. Terra stood on top of the rock clapping his hands together and cheering for Fienna. She was now a full dragon with all her powers of flight and flame.

Chapter 37 - Terra Rides the Winds

(The Pleasure of One Shared by Both.)

349 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

Fienna felt odd not having Terra with her when she flew the high winds, but it was very cold. Her mother had allowed her to fly them alone for the first time that morning. She felt as free as a dragon could.

Fienna did want Terra to fly with her, and she really believed he could do it. Her mother would never allow it though, so it would have to be done in secret. Terra felt the same as Fienna, and they decided to try the next sun-rising during the warmest part of the mid-sun-rising. Fienna and Terra had gone looking for more coverings for him, a few full moon risings before. They had gotten some very thick cloth in a large sheet. Terra took this with him. When they reached the large cave that Fienna always used as a starting point, Terra tore two large pieces and tied them around his feet. The rest of the cloth he tied around his body, and he even tied cloth around his head to protect himself.

Once Terra was mounted on Fienna they took off. Terra stayed low on her back hugging her neck tight. Fienna liked his touch. As they flew higher and higher, the clouds seemed to cause the ground to fade into a misty blur. Then Fienna warned Terra they were entering the wind.

Fienna’s body bounced, but Terra was held fast to her. Her body heat seemed to flow into him, and he was not cold as they thought he would be. As they flew, the sensation of speed was exhilarating. Terra could feel the wind rush by his body at tremendous speed.

“Is this how it always is Fienna,” Terra asked closely hugging her neck.

“Yes, is it not wonderful?” Fienna said with true joy in her thought.

As they flew, Terra never did become cold. He could see the coast move by at an incredible rate. As they moved up the coast, he started to notice clouds forming. At first they were light and fluffy, and he could still see the coastline, but slowly they became more dense and darker.

“Fienna, I think we better turn back; I think we’re heading into a big storm,” Terra thought with concern.

“We’ll be at the gathering place in a short time. I’ll land and rest for a while, and then we will return.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t go back now?”

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

Fienna and Terra came to the place were they had to leave the winds and fly into the great bowl-shaped gathering area. As they left the wind, they could not see anything below the dark and foreboding clouds.

Fienna was tired and needed to rest, so she flew down through the turbulent mass. It was raining heavily under the clouds; the winds were powerful, and the bolts of light that often came with such storms were flashing in all directions. Some of the bolts came so close Fienna could feel her scales tingle. For a moment she felt a sharp pain, but it was gone in an instant. It took all of her skill and strength to climb above the storm.

“Terra, I’m so tired I don’t think I can reenter the winds.”

Terra hugged her great neck and started to slowly glow orange.

Fienna could feel her strength returning. She started to feel rested and ready to continue when she realized that Terra had given the strength back to her tired muscles.

“Stop Terra! You will tire yourself too much and won’t be able to hold on.”

“I would rather have you safe than me alive.”

“STOP giving me strength!! I am fine now,” Fienna ordered Terra with the most powerful thought she could generate. Terra did finally stop transferring his strength to her.

“Can you hold on while I reenter the winds?”

“Yes, don’t worry about me I’m fine,” Terra thought in such a weak tone Fienna could hardly hear him.

She climbed into the first layer and then the second to take them home. She was as careful as possible not to bump or jar Terra loose. He stayed attached to her neck through the flight but thought nothing to her. They finally came to their home coastline, and Fienna flew down through the two layers of winds. She had grown tired again. Then suddenly she felt Terra slip slightly. She pushed her head up to brace his body from the winds and headed directly to the great cave. She landed as gently as possible and lowered her neck to the ground.

“Terra, Terra are you all right?”

Terra stirred a bit then thought, “Yes, my Fienna. Yes, I’m fine.”

He slowly got off her neck and slid down next to her side. Fienna repositioned herself to cover him with her wings as she had always done. Then she saw it, a large red scar down his back. Something had hit him and cut his back open from his neck to his thigh. It had healed together, but it was still visible. He could not give his strength to her and heal himself at the same time. Now the scar started to turn orange and slowly disappeared as she watch. No wonder he was so weak.

Blood covered most of his body, and she could see it was all over her neck.

Terra fell into a deep sleep, and Fienna could feel his breathing and heart beat to a very slow rate. She did not move even though she was extremely tired. Fienna’s fear grew as time passed. She could not imagine living without her Terra. He was part of her, and he had to survive. As her fear was reaching its peak, she noticed his breathing and heart was faster. In fact, it had returned to normal. Suddenly, his thoughts returned to her.

“Fienna are you well? I thought I might lose you in the storm.”

“You were the one that was hurt. I saw the cut. It was half the length of your body. Your blood is everywhere. If you had died, I would have died with you. We are one,” Fienna thought this with a love that enveloped Terra’s whole being.

“I feel the same; my life is yours,” with that Terra snuggled his body against Fienna’s and stroked her great chest with his hand.

“What happened?” she asked with concern.

“A bolt was about to hit you, so I took it,” Terra thought in a tired tone.

“The pain. It was you.”

“Yes,” he thought.

“You would have died to save me,” Fienna thought with love.

“I would do it again if needed.”

Terra was able to stand in a short time, and he pulled off the blood soaked clothes. Naked he mounted Fienna’s back, and they flew to their lake to bathe. As the two soaked in the cool water, Terra’s blood washed away from them both. Then Fienna flew them home. Dawra was not in the cave; she had gone hunting. Terra took some of the clothes stored in the cave and ate some of the seed rocks. Fienna was starving, and they immediately went hunting for her. It took her little time to kill and devourer a running beast. When they returned to the cave, Dawra was there waiting for them.

“A powerful storm is coming. Where have you been?”

“Hunting,” Fienna said in all honesty.

“Well, it’s good your back. This will be a very bad storm. It may last for sun-risings. I have brought six runner beasts for us to eat. Terra do you have enough of those seed rocks?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now I don’t want you two to leave the cave until I say its safe.”

They were both very tired and just wanted to sleep after their dangerous flight. That sunset the storm hit and raged for three sun-risings. When Terra and Fienna were finally able to leave the cave, they could see massive damage. Trees were uprooted and thrown dragon lengths. They first flew to their lake. The storm seemed to pass over the great crevice and not do much damage to the area. They then went to the cove and found it full of trees and sea plants. Fienna cleared an area by the shore, so they could relax.

Chapter 38 - Rest and Learning

(After Trouble a Time of Peace is good.)

349 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

Fienna and Terra lay down in the sandy area that they had cleared of debris. They were both still a little tired from the flight through the winds. They had not talked about it since it had happened, but Fienna thought it seemed an appropriate time to bring it up.

“Terra, why didn’t I feel pain from you when you were injured by the storm?”

“I blocked it from you, so you would not be bothered by it while you were trying to fly us back above the storm.”

“You can block things from me?”

“Only pain, nothing else. I seemed to be able to control my pain and stop it. When I do control it, it doesn’t seem to transfer to you.”

“But, I thought you could feel my pain?” Fienna said a little bewildered.

“I do. I feel everything you feel.”

“If you feel everything I do, then I should feel what you do.”

“I don’t want you to feel my pain. I want you to always be happy.”

“I won’t be happy unless I feel what you feel,” she said.

“If that’s truly what you want, that’s what shall be.”

“Good, then that’s settled,” Fienna said with a satisfied look on her face.

As Fienna’s voice faded into the wind Setilan and Seana’s heads appeared in the distant waves. When they saw the two on shore, they swam to them under the sea. As they walked onto the shore, the mess and devastation of the storm was overwhelming.

“I had not realized the storm was so bad,” Setilan said to Terra.

“It lasted three sun-risings. Didn’t it affect your homes?”

“No, storms don’t bother us. They pass over only disturbing the top layer of water.” Seana explained.

“Oh well, that’s good,” Terra said with a smile.

“Would you like to postpone our lesson? Considering this mess.”

“No, we have nothing planned this sun-rising,” Terra said standing and brushing sand off his legs.

Seana started to clear an area just beyond the tidewaters and a little away from Fienna who still concerned her. As she did, she started to hum a little. When she looked up, Terra was staring at her.