Princess of Dragons

Chapter 20

He scrambled to catch the princess, just barely in the nick of time.

Her eyes seemed to be staring into nothing in silent suffering, as if there wasn't much left to keep them going.

He could hear the approaching steps of the two guards, only for them to be drowned out by the thundering sound of the dragon's wings.

He looked up into the sky at the furious beast coming directly for them.

"Dragon! Catch that man and do it fast!" He got an affirmative roar as it raced right past them overhead. "Do not kill him!" he added, though he got no reply to that.

He lowly hissed to himself at the look of that arrow - it was from the West. And just when he'd finished promising her she'd be safe here.

He wasted no time tearing the fabric open around the wound to see the damage. Even though he grazed the arrow, she didn't even budge.

"Hells!" he cursed to himself, though he was by no means the only one who could hear it. These damned bastards had dipped this in their bloody poison. "Damn bastardly cowards!" He took a firm grip around the arrow as close to the head as he could.

"My king! What are you doing?!" one of the guards yelled - he couldn't care any less which of them it was.

He immediately yanked the arrow out of the princess' shoulder. Doing so elicited a loud scream from her as the blood gushed forth. Fortunately so - that meant there was still time.

He didn't even look up at the two as he gave them their orders.

"One of you follow that dragon and the other go fetch a healer." He quickly ripped a piece off his shirt and pressed it to the wound. "Now!" he shouted when they didn't move fast enough.

He continued cursing to himself as he wiped away as much of the poison as he could see, though he had his doubts it would make any difference considering how much must have already weaseled under her skin.

"Your... Majesty..." she whispered hoarsely, blinking as she tried to focus on him.

He looked at her face - pain-ridden as it was and unable to focus on him at all.

"What in the seven levels of Hell possessed you to do something so foolish?!" he more so scolded her than actually asked her, unable to release his frustration any other way.

"Because..." she slowly started, though he hardly expected a reply. "If I... had not... you... would... have been... hit..." She breathed harshly between every word.

He looked at her face for a long time. This was the second time this had happened. He refused to let this end the same way.

"Next time, do not do this again, you hear me?" he told her much more harshly than he had actually intended to. He got a weak nod from her in response. "Now, keep quiet and be still. The more you move, the quicker the poison will spread."

"My... necklace..." She grimaced.

He frowned, but did as she said, only then remembering he'd seen no necklace on her just a few days ago. Nevertheless, he pulled it out from under her dress.

"A scale?"

It was a deep, crimson color - just a shade lighter than her blood. It had to have been from that dragon in the square back then. But how did it still have its color? All the scales he'd ever seen the Dragons Slayers bring home would be gray and lifeless. Yet this was so vibrant still. And warm to the touch - more so than what was natural. It was like a small fire was burning inside it.

"Crack... pour... in wound..." Her breaths were growing shallow. Looking at her, she was as pale as snow, her skin lacking the warmth of life it usually had.

"Crack it open and pour it into your wound?" He got a slight moan from her that might have been a yes. "Are you sure?" He frowned lightly. He'd never heard of anything like this before. On the other hand, there were a lot of things about her that he had never experienced before.

She blinked again, her almost dead eyes finally meeting his. "Trust... me..."

Looking at her, he realized it was this or nothing for her. Even if the healer was here right now, it would likely be too late for her - this was a fast-working poison.

He pushed away all skeptical thoughts and simply did as she had instructed him to do. He quickly cracked the scale open. Inside was a liquid as vibrant as the scale itself, just waiting to be used.

He immediately tipped one half of it over and poured the ooze into her weeping wound. Her back arched like a bowstring as soon as the liquid met her shoulder, sizzling when it first connected. It immediately calmed down and was absorbed into her body. She relaxed as gradually as it disappeared from sight.

The more of this liquid had left the scale, the more the scale lost its color and turned to gray. As soon as he finished with the first, he continued with the next half, feeling how she relaxed in his arms.

When he had poured it all in, he let the lifeless halves fall to the ground besides them. He shifted so that he could get her into a more comfortable position.

"Thank you," she whispered, some of the hoarseness still in her voice, but the shallow breathing now back to normal.

"You are welcome."

He watched in awe as some color returned to her skin and she just seemed more tired than anything else. He could only wonder at what other secrets those dragons of hers held as she passed out right then and there.