The Dragon Healer of Tone (World of Tone) (29 page)

Fienna finally felt she was an adult dragon; she had mated with Terra, her true love. It was a dream beyond imagination, and the most intimate thing she had ever done. Even when she was human and the two mated, it was not the same. This in her mind was the way they should always be, but she knew that Terra would probably return to his human state that sunset. She did not know how she knew; she simply did. She could feel the pure love emanating from Terra. She now understood one thing all too clear. She had to watch Terra. He had no fear of any type. She had to stop him if he did something foolish because he feared nothing. Terra felt this concern in Fienna.

“I promised you once I would be careful, and I will never break that promise,” Terra said in love.

This made Fienna feel better, and she snuggled closer to Terra. The two stayed on the ledge for only a short time. They were both hungry, and Terra had yet to hunt as a dragon. They flew off to look for some food. They flew over Fienna’s favorite hunting range. As they flew, a large hideous flier watched the two great dragons from a hidden perch in a dark crevice of one of the mountains. Fear drove it to take off from its hidden perch. Fienna immediately spotted it. She arced to the left, and Terra arced to the right. The flier had two dragons coming at it from two different directions. It panicked and flew straight at Terra.

Terra backed up and grabbed it with his great crystalline talons. It was dead instantly. Fienna could hardly believe the move he made. Few dragons could have done it. Terra flew toward Fienna, and the two headed back to the crevice with Terra’s first kill.

As they crested the cliffs of the crevice, Lowlack followed behind.

He landed on top of one of the cliffs and hid behind several large boulders. He saw the two tear the Averon in half. Fienna began eating, but the great white only picked at the meat. Then Fienna came to him and hit the meat with her flame. Lowlack had never seen a dragon eat burnt meat. Fienna only did that for Terra, and he wondered why the white did not flame the meat himself.

As Terra and Fienna landed, Terra asked her to tear off what she wanted of the flier. She grabbed one of the legs, and the two pulled the beast in half. Fienna was ravenous and began eating the meat immediately. Terra took some in his mouth but could hardly swallow the raw meat. Fienna felt this through his mind.

“Flame it,” she thought to him.

He hesitated remembering what had happened the first time Fienna used her flame.

“You’re right love. You could do a lot of damage to our home,”

Fienna thought to him.

“Let me do it.”

Fienna came over to Terra and flamed the meat burning it thoroughly as Terra liked. After they eat, they again swam to wash off the blood of the flier. The sun was setting, and the heat had built up in the crevice, so the two went into the cave to rest. Terra barely fit through the entrance. As the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the crevice cliff sides Terra began to feel odd again. Slowly his great body began to shrink in size. His wings slowly melded back into his body.

His head became smaller, and finally he was again a human. That sunset Terra slept folded in Fienna’s wings. She could not be separated from him this sunset.

Lowlack stayed the sunset and saw only Fienna and Terra leave the cave at sunrise. In his mind, he had only one question, was Terra the great white dragon?

Chapter 58 - The Attack

(The Incident That Changes All of Time.)

354 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

The next sun-rising brought sun and warmth. Terra, again a human, wanted to go to the lake and swim. Fienna wished to go hunting. So, Terra told Fienna to hunt while he was swimming. She happily flew off to find a meal. Terra went to the lake and stripped. After a long cool swim, he decided to sleep on the sand near the lake. Terra fell asleep with the image of Fienna flying off to hunt; her graceful body clearing the edge of the crevice. Lying in the warm sand, he quickly fell asleep.

He must have been more tired than he thought for his sleep was as deep as it ever had been.

As Terra slept, the sky began to cloud, and the earth seemed too tense. The small animals felt this and scattered to their dens. Then twenty to thirty Averons crested the walls of the crevice. Suddenly, the sky erupted with lightning, striking the Averons down. The great creatures literally were exploding with each strike of lightning. Several managed to dive at Terra through the deadly skies. Suddenly, Terra awoke from the noise, and as his mind cleared of sleep, an excruciating pain shot through his back. The pain was so great he had to fight to stay conscious. He opened his eyes and saw a great hideous flier lifting him off the ground. His mind screamed “Fienna,” and his mouth said the word of death “SILLA.” The flier above him stopped for an instant in time and then disintegrated into a cloud of dust. Terra felt himself falling; he hit the water of the lake hard. He could see the water was red as he went under. He struggled to get back to the surface, but the pain was beyond description as he moved his arms. Slowly, he rose through the water and finally broke the surface. Terra simply floated; he could do nothing else. He could feel his magic trying to repair his body, but the pain was so great. He could hear noise above him, but he could only concentrate on staying afloat and conscious.

Fienna had a successful hunt. She had found a nice big runner and was taking it home to share with her mate. Suddenly in her mind, her name exploded as well as pain so great it almost crippled her. She was out of control for a moment, and she dropped the runner from the sudden and extraordinary pain. Fienna recovered her flight as her mind cleared the pain, but it was not her pain, it was Terra’s. In an instant, without a thought, she flew straight to their home. As she approached her home, she took little notice of the dense black clouds above her. She crested the cliff face of the crevice. There she saw a seen of horror.

Three Averons were flying about. Terra had just surfaced in the water below them. Half the lake was blood red, and the color was spreading.

Anger erupted in her. As she flew straight at the fliers, she let out a burst of flame that hit one of them. The creature exploded from the intensity of the heat. Fienna hit the second one from behind grabbing it from the air and literally tearing it in half with her powerful arms. The third one was trying to escape and was behind her. She flared her tail and whipped it. The last of the attackers was sliced in half. For an instant, it hung in the air, and then the two pieces fell onto the lake’s shore.

Fienna dropped into the water and carefully moved her great fingers under Terra. She slowly lifted him. All she felt from his mind was pain.

Pure pain. His blood was pouring out of two great holes in his back where the talons of the flier had pierced his body. Fienna could feel how weak he was. His healing powers could not keep up with the blood loss much longer. Fienna started to give him her life force as fast as she could. Slowly, an orange glow formed over the holes, and the blood flow stopped. Fienna carefully began to move to shore trying not to jar her mate.

The Old Sinut was in his cave when again the power of the world’s magic was drawn upon by Terra. He again was stunned by the use of the power. When he recovered, he went to his black pool and tried to focus the image on the point were the magic erupted from. There he saw Terra floating on the surface of the water with blood radiating from his body. He immediately appeared in the council chamber of the king where he and his daughter were talking.

“We have to go to the human and his dragon. How do we get there girl?” the Old Sinut said in a harsh antagonistic voice.

Setilan and her father turned in surprise. She said in a stammering voice.

“I, I don’t know how.”

The old Sinut interrupted her in mid sentence.

“Don’t lie girl; he is dying. Take me there now.”

She turned to her father. He nodded she should take him.

“I need guards also. Now!” yelled the old nymph.

Within moments a contingent of twenty guards, the King, Setilan, and the Sinut were moving rapidly toward the underwater entrance of the crevice. As they entered the cave, the passage was easy enough for Setilan whose small size was an advantage, but the guards and her father were being badly cut up. The old Sinut seemed to glide through the winding tunnels with ease. As they came into the bottom of the small lake, Setilan saw the blood, which had now filled the entire body of the lake. As they swam up to the surface of the lake, the blood healed the cuts and scratches on the guards and her father. As they surfaced, they saw Fienna walking into the cave entrance. Setilan called to her, but she simply looked for a moment in her direction and continued into the cave. When Fienna had turned slightly to look at her, she saw the body of Terra.

At that moment, Dawra and Lowlack cleared the top of the crevice and headed to the rock in front of the cave entrance. They landed, and Dawra went into the cave. Lowlack stood in front of the entrance and watched as the sea nymphs advanced to the shore.

Dawra and Lowlack had heard the word of death used again. They both knew that if Terra had used it something was terribly wrong. By chance, the two had arrived at the crevice virtually at the same time and flew over its edge to see the sea nymphs swimming toward shore. The lake below them was blood red and seemed to warn of death. As the two flew toward the cave, Dawra saw Fienna’s tail disappearing into its entrance. She flew directly toward the entrance, and Lowlack followed, eyeing the nymphs with suspicion. Dawra landed and went directly into the cave. There she saw Fienna sitting near the small stream with Terra cradled in her arms. A slight orange glow emanated from the two where Fienna’s hand touched Terra’s body. Dawra approached slowly.

“What happened? Did those nymphs attack Terra?” she asked with concern.

“No, they are friends. It was those bastard fliers. I found three of them attacking Terra,” she said with a sadness that seemed to tear at Dawra’s soul.

“Can’t he heal himself?”

“He is trying. He lost so much blood. I am giving him my energy, but I don’t have much left.”

Dawra thought of the blood red lake and how much it would take to do that. She then realized what Fienna had said. She was giving her life energy to Terra. It would drain her.

“Can I give mine to him?” Dawra asked.

“No, only I can.”

“Those nymphs, what are they here for?” Dawra asked with contempt in her voice.

“They probably came to help. They consider us friends.”

“Nymphs?” said Dawra in a questioning voice.

“Yes, tell them to come in.”

“All right!” Dawra said suspiciously. After all, nymphs were nothing more than scavengers and dragonette killers.

Dawra went back out to Lowlack. The nymphs had congregated on the shore.

“Lowlack, Fienna wants them inside. Let them pass,” Dawra said with a little disgust in her voice.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, she say’s they are friends,” Dawra snorted.

“If that’s what she wants,” Lowlack said a little confused.

“Don’t make them feel welcome, old friend,” she said with a wave of her hand beckoning them into the cave.

“Oh, I won’t.”

As they approached, Lowlack put on the old snarl and sneer. He saw the old one in front, seemingly unafraid, leading the rest. The others were obviously frightened.

The sea nymphs saw the great dragons crest the high walls of the crevice and fly to the cave entrance. The old Sinut slowed his advance toward the cave, and all the others in the party followed suit. The dragons didn’t seem to bother them but were more interested in getting into the cave entrance. The old Sinut finally came to the shore. He changed his rear flippers to legs and painfully walked onto the shore. It had been many a season since he had been on land, and his muscles were not what they once were. The rest followed. The old Sinut knew better than approach a dragon unless invited. So he just stood on shore waiting. He saw the large female enter while the old male stared at them. A moment later the female came out and spoke to the male. No one could hear the dragons; they were too far away, so he had no idea what she was saying. Then she waved them into the cave. The old Sinut moved with an assured gait up to the cave entrance. The others followed like scared children. The old dragon glared and snarled at them as they passed. As they went into the cave, the light passing through the crystal projecting from the caves ceiling dazzled them all, even the old Sinut. Then they saw Fienna holding the limp body of Terra. The old Sinut immediately went to the dragon and spoke in her language. This surprised even Fienna for Terra was the only other non-dragon she could remember that spoke dragon. The old nymph told Fienna to set Terra down so that he could help him. She just stared at him with an intensity that would have devastated any other, but this one was too strong and would not back away. Fienna would never put Terra down in this condition. Plus she was feeding him with her own strength, keeping him alive. The two simply stared at each other without moving until Setilan came up to Fienna.

“Could you lower him so the old one can look? He will help him. I promise nothing bad will happen,” she said with concern on her face.

Fienna slowly and carefully lowered Terra so that the old Sinut could see and touch him.