The Dragon Healer of Tone (World of Tone) (6 page)

“What is a dragon?” he wondered.

“I am a Dragon,” she said; no, she thought it.

His mind and hers joined. He could talk to her without talking, and he understood her thoughts. He felt her pain slowly subside as the orange glow from his hand spread over her wound and into the torn muscles and broken bones. He could feel each bone repair itself, each muscle regenerate, and finally the skin healed by stitching itself together with no trace of the injury. All this time he was oblivious of what was happening around him. He began to grow weak and was tired, so very tired.

“Lie down, my Terra, here in my wings,” Fienna thought.

He was so tired, and she now seemed to almost be part of him.

Somehow, he knew she would protect him, so he obeyed. Then he heard the large ones speaking, but now he could understand them. The large green one’s head was right over him frantically moving back and forth peering at him and asking Fienna if he had hurt her. Fienna said no, she was fine. Her wing stopped hurting, and she could move it again. The large green head moved over, licked Fienna’s wing with a huge dark red tongue, and peered at it carefully.

With surprise in her voice, she said, “It is healed; your wing is completely healed. There is not even a sign of the injury.”

She turned back to Terra.

“How did you do that?” she asked.

In the dragon language Terra answered in a tired voice. “I don’t know. I do it.”

The green dragon again seemed surprised that he answered and told Fienna to push him away, but she would not do it. Instead she folded her wings closer around him and told the green one that he was hers now.

Lowlack brought him for her, and she was not going to let them eat him.

The green backed away, looked puzzled, and said, “I’m not going to eat it. I just want to look at it, but don’t get upset, my little one, he is yours to do with as you wish.”

The green dragon then backed away and started to talk to the other large dragon in the corner of the cave. Terra could not hear what they were saying.

Fienna thought to him. “Rest, you are tired. We will talk later.”

He was so very tired and promptly fell asleep in Fienna’s wings.

Chapter 12 - The Wounded

(A Pain Relieved is a Pain Forgotten.)

337 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

Fienna was still in a great deal of pain, and her mother hovered over her, but she could not help her daughter. The entrance of the cave became dark, and Fienna looked up. She saw Lowlack flying into the cave and landing on the little ridge that her mother usually landed on.

In his mouth was a small struggling animal. She never saw such a thing.

It was small and had an odd looking multicolored loose skin on it. Her mother told Lowlack that humans were no good, they tasted bad, and she needed good food. Lowlack dropped the little creature in front of Fienna. Her mother moved toward Lowlack, and they started to argue about this creature. It stood up on two legs and started to walk toward her.

When it reached its hand out to touch her, she shrieked and then an odd feeling came over her. Suddenly, his hand was on her wing, and the pain was eased. She could feel his thoughts. It was a male named Terra.

She had never heard of a human. He thought she was a Fienna. She was hearing him, but he was not speaking.

“No, I’m a dragon.”

“What is a dragon?” he thought.

“I am a dragon.”

She watched an orange glow move from his hand to her wing. As the glow moved over her wing, the pain became less and less. She felt her bones knitting together, her muscles healing, and finally her skin sealing. She also felt the Terra’s body growing weaker. He drained his strength to help her heal.

The pain was gone, and she could move her wing. Terra was tired to the point of collapse. He used all his strength to heal her. She felt so close to him. It was as if he was now part of her. She did not understand, but she wanted to protect him and love him. A thing she had never seen before was now more important to her than her own mother.

She opened her wings and thought to him, “Lie down my Terra, here in my wings.”

Fienna now realized her mother’s head was right over her and Terra.

Her mother asked if he had hurt her. She told her no; the pain was gone, and she could move her wing. Her mother licked Fienna’s wing and looked at it carefully.

With surprise in her voice, she said, “It is healed; your wing is completely healed. There’s not even a sign of the injury.”

She then moved her head back to look at Terra.

Fienna heard her mother ask, “How did you do that?”

Terra answered in a tired voice, “I don’t know. I do it.”

Fienna didn’t understand her mother’s surprise at Terra’s answer.

She told Fienna to push it away from her. Fienna suddenly felt very protective and told her mother that Lowlack had brought it to her. It was her’s, and she would not let them eat it. Her mother tried to calm her down and said she would not touch it. Fienna watched as her mother backed away with Lowlack to the other side of the cave. Terra then fell asleep in her wings. She did not mind; he had healed her, and she felt better than she ever had. She loved this little creature and wanted to keep him safe forever.

Chapter 13 - Care and Feeding of a Human

(Care for the Innocence.)

337 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

Dawra could hardly believe that the little human had healed her daughter, and it took only a few moments. This had obviously drained his strength. He could hardly move afterwards. Dawra and Lowlack had never seen magic work on a dragon, but she knew in the past magic was used to try to hurt not heal. So they both thought that perhaps only healing or good magic could be used on the dragons. Dawra also found it strange that this human could speak dragon. No other creature had ever spoken dragon. Perhaps his magic was strong enough to learn their language by a simple touch. Dawra felt strangely grateful to this Terra as Fienna called him.

Dawra did have a problem. Her daughter had instantly developed an unbelievably strong attachment to the strange little creature. Dawra knew nothing about humans and had no idea what to feed this little thing, and after it awakened, it told Fienna it needed food. Lowlack had left and said he would return with something for it, but he had been gone all morning. Finally, in mid afternoon Lowlack returned. He carried a strange looking bunch of rocks in a spider-wed looking thing, which he dropped on the floor.

“Lowlack what is that?” asked Dawra.

“It’s food for the little human. I have been watching the humans for a long time. They do strange things. These are made from grass seeds.

Every fall they cut the grass down and knock the seeds off. They then grind them up and make a powder. They mix the powder with water and put it in mounds that are heated by burning wood. When they take the seed mass out of the mounds, it looks like these.”

He pointed to the rocks on the cave floor. The little human got up and walked to the rocks. He tore off a piece from one and ate it. He then took the whole rock and went back to Fienna where he sat down and began tearing little pieces off and eating them.

“Tell me, Lowlack, what else do they eat?”

“Well, lots of things. They pick these leaves from the ground and eat them raw. “

”Do they eat meat?”

“Yes, but in a strange way. They first make a pile of wood, and then they start it on fire. Then they cut a small piece of meat and push a stick through it. They put the meat over the fire until it is burnt, and then they eat it.”

“You’re joking! They ruin meat like that.”

“Yes, they seem to like it that way.”

“Well, there won’t be any burnt meat in this cave. Where did you get these seed rocks?”

“Oh, I watched a human. He went to one of the mounds while the other humans were gone and took some of the rocks and put them in the spider web. He then ran. I took off and followed him. When he was in a clearing, I swooped down. He was so surprised he dropped the rocks and ran into the woods. So, I picked them up and brought them here.”

“I wonder how long these rocks will last?”

“The humans seem to make them at every new and full moon.”

“I guess we will have to get that little thing some of these when they make them.”

It became Lowlack’s job to get the seed rocks and leaves for the little human. Lowlack didn’t really mind; he was old and had little else to do.

He, in fact, found it enjoyable to scare the humans and steal the rocks and green things they picked, especially when they were running from the folk who worked so hard to make them. Another problem came up soon after the little human started to live with them. He used the corner of the cave to relieve himself, and it began to smell. Dragons burnt their waste to nothing, and so Dawra had to do this task for both her daughter and Terra.

Dawra saw that Fienna was getting ever more attached to the little human; she rarely left him out of her sight. She cared for him and protected him from everything, including Dawra. Dawra did not know what to do about it, so she left the human alone. He was a pest, but Fienna loved him, and Lowlack did not seem to mind taking care of its food. Dawra did feel she had a debt to pay, so she allowed the strange arrangement to continue.

Chapter 14 - A Useful Tool

(An Annoyance can become a Blessing.)

337 set of seasons since the coming of the Averons

After two weeks, Dawra had grown used to Terra running around the cave playing with Fienna. She had started to call him by his name after the first moon risings; it just seemed to be easier than saying little human. Terra wanted to leave and go to his parents, and Dawra would have loved to take him, but they had no idea where or who his parents were. She also knew that Fienna would never let him go. Even though he cried about wanting his mother, Dawra did nothing. She actually felt sorry for him. After time, Terra seemed to be getting better and mentioned his parents only occasionally.

Several more weeks passed as Terra’s presence seemed to become a normal part of life He showed no other magic skills and seemed to be happy. Fienna was also happy, and the two endlessly played. There was one odd thing; they never seemed to talk. They simply understood what the other thought. Dawra found this strange and asked Fienna how they communicated, and she said just like her and her mother. Dawra did not ask again; it was obvious that her daughter did not understand her question.

One sun-rising while Dawra was out hunting she found a small herd of jumping beasts on one of the cliff sides. She circled while they moved up the cliff to a clearing. When the beasts reached the clearing, where she thought she could seize a nice sized one, Dawra swooped down. As she approached the herd from the cliff side, a sudden down draft hit her hard. She dropped twenty dragons’ lengths in a few moments. Just as she was getting herself under control, her right wing hit a branch of a dead stick tree. The sharp branch punctured the membrane of the upper part of her wing. A sudden intense pain shot through her like a bolt of lightning. Dawra hardly kept control, but she did manage to pull her wing from the branch before she became hopelessly entangled. She painfully glided to a landing on a rock outcropping at the bottom of the cliff. Her pain was intense, and she knew she had to fly home. With the greatest of effort, she slowly launched into the sky. Each beat of her wing brought her more pain.

Dawra finally reached her cave and landed hard on the little rocky knoll just inside its entrance. Lowlack was there watching the young ones.

He saw the pain on her face and hopped over to her.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I was hunting and caught my wing in a tree limb.”

“That must be painful.”

“It is. Can you get me some of the healing mud?” she spoke in strained tones.

“Oh, of course, I will be right back.”

Lowlack took off for the mud site. Fienna hopped over and asked if her mother was all right.

“Yes, my little one I’m fine. Do not worry,” said her mother.

Fienna hopped back to Terra. Dawra extended her throbbing wing and laid it along the cave’s floor. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing in an attempt to block the pain. Suddenly, the pain began to subside; a moment later it was gone. Dawra opened her eyes and saw Terra touching her wing. The whole area of the torn membrane glowed orange, it felt so good, warm, and even pleasurable. She could sense a truly gentle presence in her body, a kind of love she had never felt before. As she watched, the wound began to mend slowly, then more rapidly. In only a few moments, it was gone, not even a scar remained.

Terra was exhausted and slowly dropped to the floor. Fienna came to him. She easily picked him up and carried him to their sleeping corner.

Here she sat and enclosed him in her wings.

Dawra moved her wing. It was healed, completely healed. Terra had done the same to her as he had done for Fienna. Just then Lowlack landed at the mouth of the cave with the mud in his great taloned fingers.