The Blue Blaze (Revised and Retold)

Chapter 5

The wool bed and blanket feel warm and soft against my scales, but my shoulder and wings scream in pain, like they're being hammered repeatedly. Wait. I wasn't on wool before. I was literally dying on dirt. Where am I? My eyes snap wide open.

Keith! Where's Keith!?

I lurch upright, tangled in the blanket, and immediately lose my balance. The quilt flops over my face as I crash into the stone floor, snout-first.

"Ow!" I grunt, my voice echoing off the walls. I kick the blanket off and glance down at my body. Not human. I'm still a dragon. Weird... Shouldn't I have shifted back to my human form by now?

To my right, there's a small human-sized cot with a layer of soft white sheep's wool. It's empty.

"Sounds like he's awake now," I hear Keith's voice from behind a large wooden door that separates this room from whatever's beyond.

I scan the space. It's simple—barely furnished. There's Keith's cot, the stone-brick walls, and a square opening large enough to stick my head and shoulders out of, framed with cloth curtains. The wool bed I was on takes up a large corner of the room. That's it.

The room is enormous, though, big enough for a giant to stretch their legs out comfortably. The ceiling towers at least fifty feet above me. Why is this place so big?

I try to spread my wings, but they refuse to move. Looking back, I see them bound tightly with bandages, rendering them completely useless.

The door creaks open.

"Hey, man," Keith greets, poking his head and shoulders into the room. Bandages wrap around his head like a makeshift turban, drawing my attention. The massive doors swing open with surprising ease, though Keith seems to push them with little effort. His eyes widen as he looks at me. "You're still in your full dragon form."

"I noticed," I reply, my voice low. "Good to see you're still kicking. Guess that vase didn't do too much damage after all."

"Oh, it did," Keith says, grimacing as he touches his head. "Didn't you see the bandages? My head's still tender from that strike."

"As it should be," comes a deeper, rumbling voice from behind him. "Our nurses rarely treat humans. You're fortunate to have received any care at all."

Keith turns to his right and shrugs. "It's not like I'm complaining. I'm just glad I'm alive."

"Will you let me in?" the voice asks, this time tinged with irritation.

Keith steps fully into the room, opening the door wider. A twenty-foot-tall dragon enters, his scales a soft baby blue, with curved cream-colored horns. The sight of him explains the room's cavernous size.

"I am Suirauqa," the dragon introduces himself, his golden eyes gleaming. "You must be Ethan."

My brow furrows. "How do you know my name?"

Suirauqa gestures toward Keith with a nod. "Your friend told me. I found the two of you when I entered your realm. A few of my companions helped heal you. Medical work is not my forte."

"Whoever patched me up didn't do a great job. My shoulder and wings still hurt. And Keith's head seems far from fine."

"Our nurses are skilled but not miracle workers," Suirauqa explains. "They can only do so much. The rest is up to your body."

I sigh. "Where am I? And why am I still—" I stop myself, biting back the words. There's no need for this stranger to know about my human form.

"A dragon?" Suirauqa asks, his lips curving in amusement. "Your friend mentioned it already."\