Touch of Flame

Nazneen felt Ares’s body go limp in her arms, but before she could panic, a fight broke out again. The dragon that had been still, tried to flee as soon as Ares lost consciousness, but Malachi and his brothers were there to stop him.

Nazneen was slightly annoyed that he followed her despite what she said. Had Ares not taken care of things meanwhile, then they could have put him in danger. But of course, he was eager to get his hands on the dragons that possibly hurt him, and his breedmate and Ares wasn’t his priority.

As they put their focus on the dragon, Nazneen decided to save her breedmate and ignore them. She carried Ares up and flew away with him to the closest sea she could find. Then she gently put him down on the beach. He was losing a lot of blood, so she hoped this would work. She moved him closer to the sea so that the waves would wash over him.

The waves bathed him, taking the blood back with them to discard in the sea, but Ares didn’t budge. “Ares!” She shook him, but he didn’t reply. His pulse was slow. She tried to push him closer so that he would almost drown, but it didn’t help and she was scared that she would just drown him. This wasn’t working.

She panicked. “Ares!” She shook him again. She couldn’t lose him. “Please, don’t do this. Wake up!”

She placed him on the rocks, worrying that she only made things worse and made him swallow water. Then she suddenly heard those strange sounds again coming from the sea. She turned her head, a little worried. She had never met a Marozak before and she didn’t know what they thought of dragons or what exactly they could do, but she still hoped someone here could help her.

“Is someone there?” She called.

Silence followed.

“I need your help.” She called again.

The sound faded away. Nazneen clenched her fists. She had to do something. She tore fabric from her skirt and wrapped the wound on his head that kept bleeding. Then she wrapped his leg before deciding to take him back home so he could get medical help.

Malachi and his brothers had already arrived before her when she came. Aaron quickly came to her side to help her. “You disappeared. We thought something happened.” Then he looked confused at her because she was wet.

“We should take him to my home,” Malachi said as he and Aaron came to help her.

They took over to carry him and Nazneen just followed, watching the stream of blood that he left behind on the floor. She became cold, like when she had been locked in the cave. She dared not think of the worst possible outcome yet. Had she arrived a second late, he would have burned. She would have lost him.

Her legs felt strange as she followed the men carrying Ares. When they arrived home, Ravina met them at the hall and her eyes widened with horror.

“Ares! What happened?” Again, she was too worried for a stranger, but Nazneen was too anxious to wonder about that yet.

The hall and stairs got stained with his blood as they carried him upstairs and then they placed him on a bed. Ravina quickly came to his side and studied his wounds. She was about to touch him when she stopped herself and looked at her. “Do you mind?”

She could see the distress in the woman’s blue eyes.

“She can help,” Malachi explained.

Nazneen could only nod as her heart kept pounding in her chest. Ravina quickly began to take off the bandages so she could inspect the wounds, but once she saw how badly his leg was injured she couldn’t help her expression. “His skin is gone,” she breathed. Then she kept inspecting his leg. “It is broken,” which terrified her even more.

Nazneen understood. That is because he would be unable to walk again.

Ravina looked around, almost as if calling for help when she was the one supposed to help him. This was bad. “I need more help,” she told Malachi.

“Help is on the way,” he said calmly.

Nothing could help him at this point except for being a sea demon. She hoped something would happen soon and … blood. He needed blood to heal but he would need to be awake to take it.

Ravina inspected the wound on his head and then his head while a physician arrived. She put something on the wound and then bandaged it. “He has lost a lot of blood.” She noted.

When the physician arrived, they spoke about placing the bones in his leg in a way that could possibly make it heal, but they also said it was too broken to be restored. Nazneen’s head began to spin. She felt sick from all the worry.

“Forget his leg. Will he live?” She asked.

“We hope for recovery. We need to make sure he wakes up soon so he can restore the blood loss and we also need to be careful not to get his wounds infected. I need to examine him more.” The physician explained to her patiently.

They spend a lot of time on his leg and Ravina went back and forth helping the physician as much as she could. Nazneen tried to help and at least bring forth the things they needed and when they were done, Ravina looked saddened at Ares.

Why?

“What happened to his leg?” She almost whispered.

Nazneen recalled the scene. When she came flying she was surprised that there were no dragons guarding the area and then she some of them fighting and many of them already dead. Ares had taken things into his own hands. He was a fighter and didn’t wait around to be saved. She shouldn’t have expected less. She only had to kill one dragon. He had taken care of the rest.

Now his leg was like this. Would it not heal? Would he never walk again? Someone like him wouldn’t take it well. It would restrain him too much for his liking, but she refused to believe he wouldn’t heal yet. He would be fine. She would take him to the sea again once he woke up and then it would all be back to normal.

Light peeked through the window. They had worked the whole night and now it was almost dawn. Nazneen looked at Ravina. “You must be exhausted. Thank you for all your help. You should rest now.”

Ravina smiled. “You too. I will bring you new clothes. Do you want something to eat?”

She shook her head. She didn’t want to bother her anymore. “Alright then. I will bring something comfortable to wear.”

She went around the bed and left her alone with Ares and Malachi who had been sitting quietly in a chair. He had been gone from time to time but when he sat there he watched them with a quiet and concentrated look; slightly suspicious as well.

“We captured two more dragons who were injured,” he began.

She only nodded.

“It is strange to me that so many were dead. I was right behind you.”

Oh, so it was that.

She shrugged. “It seems like they had a fight among themselves. Perhaps a disagreement.”

“It seems like it.” He nodded with a straight face.

She could care less if he believed her or not but she was not going to tell him anything that Ares didn’t want to reveal himself.

“Where did you take him?” He asked.

Nazneen looked at him but didn’t reply. He smiled with a nod, understanding what her answer was. “So loyal. I wonder if he is equally loyal to you.”

Nazneen looked at Ares. She wasn’t sure about loyalty. He had been honest about doing what was necessary for his people, so she was surely not his priority.

Ignoring his remark, “there is perhaps a witch involved in this.” She said.

“What makes you think so?”

“Just a feeling. The royalty in my clan has always kept a witch close. The way they abducted him leaving no trace is suspicious.”

“It is not difficult to do so if you have been sleeping.”

“I have very high senses,” she reminded.

“You have also been locked for a hundred years.” He reminded in turn.

“Forget it,” she said. Why was she even talking to him about this?

“I will look into it,” he said at last as he rose from his seat. He gave her and Ares one last look before leaving.