Rhiannon - Dragonrider

Chapter Twenty Nine - Recovery

The next thing I knew, I was sort of floating, mid-way between the cerebral and base domains... and I was looking up into the face of a beautiful young woman. And I was sure I knew that face... as if I'd seen it in a dream or something. That was it; I was a baby... and my mother was holding me in her arms... and she was showing me to a dragon... and not just any dragon... she was showing me to Psion... but Psion as I'd never known him. He was a brilliant silver white colour and almost as long as Rhiannas... but much sleeker. His scales sparkled in the sunlight, radiating vigour and strength, and the bubbling blue of his mind was vibrant.

But the most striking thing was the look he was giving my mother and me. Both his face and his mind were shining with utter devotion... and with love.

Then wisps of cloud started to appear and it was if I was being pulled away from the scene. I mean... the baby, who I knew was me, was still there but somehow I was drifting away. I didn't want to go but I was powerless to resist and, as I drifted further away, the mists closed in, shutting me off from that perfect scene... and I pretty much wanted to cry.

But then the mists began to drift away again and my whole body was wracked by these terrible fever pains. Someone was holding my mouth open and Zalibar was pouring mug after mug of water down my throat. I'd never seen him so angry. His ugly face was scarlet and he was repeating a string of swear words like a mantra or something.

I tried to beg him to stop but he either didn't hear me or just ignored me as he continued to pour the water into me.

After what seemed like years, he stopped the swearing and the water. "Six mugs of water an hour for the next ten hours!" he barked. "After that you can go down to three an hour. Her life and health depend on it. Is that clear?"

I heard Carodoc agreeing before I slipped back into the blessèd relief of unconsciousness.

When I came back to my senses, it was Carodoc who was forcing me to drink. Every bone in my body still ached but it wasn't quite as bad as before. "What's going on?" I managed to ask between gulps.

"Keep drinking and I'll tell you," he answered.

So I shut my eyes and didn't resist as he kept pouring the water down my throat.

"It looks like you've been poisoned," he explained. "You were on your way out when we got you back here and we didn't know what to do until Jenko appeared and said 'gorat'. When he heard that, Zalibar started swearing and pouring water down your throat."

"So the knife was poisoned? I knew it looked a bit funny - like rainbows."

"You probably shouldn't go round saying stuff like that because accusing people of violating the Precepts without evidence is the sort of thing that brings the wrath of the Edifice down on your head."

I had to think about that.

"Keep drinking," he added.

"I've had enough."

"Listen! You can either drink it or I'm going to get Zalibar. I'm sure he'll manage to persuade you."

"You wouldn't!"

"In case you didn't hear, he told us that, 'Your life and health depend on it,' so you can be quite sure I will."

"Okay then... but tell me what happened at the end there."

"Rhiannas stepped in and stopped Kiernonda from killing you. Of course he had to swallow his pride a bit to get involved on behalf of a mere 'doc in a trivial honour duel like that..." Carodoc paused and thought for a moment. "But I don't suppose it was too bad for him because the end of the fight was so odd... and because you'd done so well up until that point. Nobody was expecting you to last ten seconds."