Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
He stared at me again, as if deliberating my words, like he somehow understood every word I said.
“You can trust me. I’m not one of those assholes. I would never hurt you.”
He took another step closer to me and dropped his head. His eyes were level with mine, his toothy jaw so close to my face I could feel his warm breaths fall across my face.
I closed my eyes—my display of trust.
His nostrils flared as he drew breath, as he pulled my smell deep into his lungs.
Then I felt the thud on the ground.
I opened my eyes and saw him right in front of me, on his stomach.
A smile moved on to my face, but the tears continued to come. “Thank you…”
I climbed up the dragon’s body, latching on to the hard scales and spikes as I pulled myself up. The ground had to be at least ten feet below, and I was taller than most of the trees in the jungle.
I examined what was left of his wing, just a nub that had been sawed down to the bone. I examined it for a while, seeing exactly where the blade had hacked and sawed. Just touching it riddled me with physical pain, like I knew exactly how it felt. My fingers made contact with it, and a vision hit me.
A man in armor, hacking and sawing. His face was covered with a metal helmet. Chains were wrapped all around the dragon, so he couldn’t escape. He was subjected to the torture then shipped out here to suffer.
I yanked my hand away as if I’d just touched a flame. “You’re going to burn this motherfucker alive when I’m done with you.”
A quiet growl escaped his lips.
“What is it?”
“Ivory.” Huntley emerged, his weapons on his hips, his bow on his back.
“He’s with me,” I said quickly. “He’s not going to hurt you.”
He held up the little bag I’d brought with me, which was stuffed with medicinal herbs that I had gathered on our journey. “Here.” He tossed it up to me.
I caught it with one hand and set it beside me. “Thanks.”
The dragon continued to growl, his head following Huntley’s movements.
“Next time you come out here, drop the weapons,” I said.
Huntley kept his eyes on the dragon as he walked back to the trees.
“That’s my husband,” I said. “You don’t have to worry about him. I promise.” My hands touched the nub everywhere, trying to focus my mind to feel what was left of the nerves, tissue, and bone. It would be hard to recreate the wing, especially when I had no idea what a dragon wing looked like, what the anatomy was comprised of. In this instance, I would have to rely on the memory left in the tissues, in the hope that they would direct my ministrations. “This is going to take a long time, so be patient with me. And it’s probably going to hurt a little bit.”
He gave a grunt—like he understood.
Hours passed and nothing happened.
I focused my mind, tapped into the nerves of his body, but no matter how hard I concentrated, I couldn’t get anything to happen. I pulled out my notebook, checked my notes a couple times, and tried again.
The dragon looked at me over his shoulder and gave a grunt.
“I told you it would take a long time. So, get comfortable.”
He lowered his head to the ground.
“Baby, how’s it going?” Huntley kept a far distance away, steering clear of the dragon’s jaw.
“Uh, it’s not going—as you can see.”
“I can also see it’s starting to get dark, so we should call it a night soon.”
“No. I almost got it.”
“Ivory, there’s no rush—”
“I said I almost got it. Give me some space.”
Huntley stood there, arms across his chest, his weapons still all over him.
Every time I tapped into the electric current of his body, I followed it to the injury, but I couldn’t get it to push out. I knew that made no sense. It wouldn’t even make sense to another healer, because I wasn’t healing anything. I was tapping into the body’s natural directory to regrow cells and teeth…and trying to apply that to his wing.
I pushed and pushed, my hands feeling the scales burn hot from the energy underneath. Then I felt my hands shift underneath me as something jerked upright.
Roooooaaaaarrrrr.
I jerked back when I heard the dragon cry out. I fell on my back and quickly pushed myself up again.
There it was.
More of his wing.
It wasn’t much, just some regrowth of his bone, but it was something. “Oh my gods…”
The dragon looked behind him to examine the wing.
“I did it… I fucking did it!”
He moved the limb and winced at the same time, but he was so happy that he couldn’t stop. The whine he gave earlier was replaced by a quiet growl, a growl of satisfaction. His dark eyes shifted to me and held my stare.