Chronicles of Carnezia (Book 2): Wilderness

Chapter 13: New Arrivals

Chapter 13: New Arrivals

            The strange yet perfume smells that filled the air around and inside the shop was a little sickly but once your nose gets used to it then it was quite a pretty aroma. Frain was still grumbling at me fussing over him though I just ignored him up until we reached the shop door.

            ‘Frain, stay here and try not to lick at it,’ I told him and then disappeared inside.

            As I pushed the door open, there was the jangling of a small wind chime that the door hit. Behind a small rectangular table sat a lady; she didn’t look very old though she wore a shawl around her shoulders. Hearing the wind chime, she looked up and gave me a little smile. It was when she spoke that I realised she wasn’t old in age but more in wisdom.

            ‘Hello, Egg-Finder,’ she welcomed me, using a name I had only heard from one other being. Although it would be expected that many people here knew what I had done. ‘How may I help you?’ she asked.

            I stepped further in, not in much of a rush, though I should be. ‘It is my dragon. He is injured from a fight not long ago.’

            She stood up and put down what looked like rocks onto the table. ‘Oh, we can’t have that. I will see what I can do.’ She walked outside and I followed her. There was little introduction needed; as soon as she saw Frain she busied herself with talking to him. He told her of what had happened as she looked over the gashes in his flank. ‘Yes, these are deep but nothing that won’t heal. Please wait here.’

            I remained with Frain as she went back inside. It was only two minutes later that she reappeared with a tray of liquids and powders. In the large bowl she mixed the contents of the various containers and they formed a thick bright green gloop.

            ‘Now, this might hurt but after a couple of minutes it will be soothing for you, Frain,’ the woman said as she stood up still mixing the contents.

            Frain turned his head and took a sniff at the healing mixture. ‘What is that? It does not smell pleasant,’ he complained.

            The lady giggled and then dipped her fingers into the bowl and spread the gloop over the tears in his scales. With the first touch he growled and tried not to knock her with his wing or tail. ‘Keep still. It needs to soak into the wounds.’ Frain grumbled again so I went over and stroked my hands down his neck. ‘I know it hurts, just wait a few minutes.’ She finished with the deepest gash and then washed her hands in a second bowl of water.

            ‘What is that stuff?’ I asked, repeating Frain’s question.

            She stood up, drying her hands on her shawl. ‘It is just some concoction that I made years ago. Is there anything else I can help you with?’

            Frain was now moving his back leg experimentally and with the absence of his grumbling, things seemed to be fine. ‘Yes, healer. What is your name?’ he asked slowly.

            She smiled, as she had when I walked in, and patted the top of his head. ‘Healer will do fine, my friend. That is what everyone calls me.’ She picked up her tray and disappeared inside once more. After a few minutes, we realised she wasn’t coming out again so we made our way back home.

            As always we made detours around the city; it would take a long time to fully see the city in even three days except maybe flying above it. Most of the city was residential and there were hardly any shops; there wasn’t what I would call a main street either. The shops were dotted around, here and there, so that you had to walk at least a few streets to find the next shop you needed. There was little use of money here; the only use of it was when the travellers visited with their merchandise. Trade was the majority of the business in Dracona.

            Entering the square outside the Eduram, I spotted two people that I hadn’t seen in awhile. It was Nate and Pit and Jan was with them; fortunately, there was no Jeta to be seen. Jan saw us and waved me over. This was very different to the first time we had all met. There were two new dragons to the picture. The dragons were only about a few months old and were as small as when Frain could still lie across my shoulders.

            ‘Hey, Carly,’ called over Pit. ‘Look who’s showed up in ages.’

            Nate, the boy, was trying to settle his dragon down. It was of a turquoise-green hue, very pretty with blends of green and blue along the tail and wings. Pit was holding her dragon in her arms like you would a puppy; hers was a reddish orange colour with flecks of blood red all along its body.

            ‘Hey, I’ve been wondering where you two have been recently.’ Though I first knew them through Ky, we knew each other a lot better after bumping into each other during my first year here. ‘Now I see that you’ve just been busy.’

            The two young dragons couldn’t speak yet and the familiar chirping and high-pitched growling rang in my ears and I was instantly taken back to my memories when Frain first entered my life.

            ‘Yeh, they are a bit of a handful. How did you cope?’ Pit asked as her dragon hopped down and the two started playing around our feet.

            As Jan and I had had our dragons for quite a while now and we both giggled knowing the patches of bother they would go through as well. ‘You will manage, every dragon is different,’ Jan told them.

            ‘Caron, come here,’ Nate called. His small male dragon was now running around between Frain’s legs who looked uncomfortable as he couldn’t move in case he stepped on the hatchling. Nate picked up the turquoise reptile and held him like Pit did with hers. ‘Sorry about that. Caron is a handful.’

            ‘It is fine,’ Frain said, accepting the curiosity of young dragons.

            Pit then noticed something was wrong. ‘Where is Jeta?’ she asked, seeing the absence of the black dragon.

            Jan and I swapped glances, then I explained. ‘There was a fight between Jeta and Frain earlier and it wasn’t pretty.’

            Nate and Pit had widened eyes and Jan continued. ‘I sent Jeta on a flight, he needed to cool off.’

            The other two clearly wanted to know more but neither Jan nor I said anything else. Pit’s dragon was staring a lot at Frain with the possibility of admiring his size. As I listened to their gossip and Jan told them both of what I had been up to two years ago, I watched the two small dragons closely. There was something strangely familiar about the both of them yet I had definitely never met either of them before. Nate’s dragon was again jumping around the ground and he bumped into my leg. Kneeling down, I stroked his back like I would a cat and it was then that I remembered.

            ‘So, you are one of the dragons I saved,’ I whispered to him.

            Frain heard and dropped his head down next to me. ‘He is not the only one to have hatched.’ I looked at him and he turned his gaze up to Pit’s shoulder where her dragon now perched.

            Standing up, I smiled happily knowing that two of the dragons I had saved as eggs were entrusted to two people that I knew would take care of them lovingly.

            Jan must have seen the look on my face. ‘What is it, Carly?’

            ‘Hmm. Oh,’ I mouthed when I realised I was staring. ‘Those eggs you were just talking about, the ones Frain and I helped rescue... well, these two dragons are just two of the five we brought back.’

            Nate laughed and Pit smiled warmly. ‘Yes, we know. That’s partly why we haven’t been around lately. There were a few adults that wanted us to make sure we knew what we were taking on having these as our dragons. No one expected them to hatch so soon after coming back. We understand they are lucky to have survived and there’s no one else that can be as grateful as we are.’ Nate finished his little speech and both he and Pit gave me a head bow which I gladly returned.

            ‘We need to go now, Nate,’ Pit said. ‘We will see you around more now but who knows when. Bye,’ she and Nate said together and then walked off inside the Eduram.