Black as Blood (Part Two)

Healer Arianna

Lauri was met by the dull green glint of Thistle’s scales as he landed in the bright afternoon air, his form dark against the sunset. Lauri’s heart skipped a beat. Thistle would only come if something really disastrous had happened. Vali rose up out of the water, a fish in her mouth. Then she too saw Thistle make a light landing on the beach and the fish dropped from her jaw and flopped back into the waves. She drew up beside her Rider, “What is it, Thistle?”

Ryan dropped off the saddle and pulled up his Rider glasses, “We need you back now, Commander-In-Chief, Lauri. Something terrible has happened.”

Lauri stiffened. Ryan never called her by her status. “What has happened that we should have to end our pilgrimage so early?”

Ryan dipped his head, “There has been a confirmed sighting of… Felinus… in Redfield.”

Vali swore loudly, shaking her head, “Felinus! Are you absolutely sure, Ryan? Who reported this?”

Thistle stepped forward, “It was Jaydon, Vali. He came back from an excursion rambling about some sort of big cats that had almost bitten Ralem’s head off. He was in hysterics. I think he accidentally swallowed some of their blood, because he has an extremely low temperature… screaming and destroying stuff whenever you look away. And his Rider also has a little touch of the brain fever. We keep him locked up in his room.”

Vali took a deep breath, pawing the sand, “Those are clear symptoms of Felinus blood poisoning. Their mental capacities diminish, and then they die. I prayed that this day would never come. Thistle, when did this happen?”

“Yesterday,” both dragon and Rider said. Then Thistle added, “We flew all day to get you. They are calling for a meeting as soon as you get back to the castle.” He slumped forward into the sand, letting his wings relax.

“Relax here until you have the strength to make the return trip,” Vali said before diving under the waves and grabbing a huge fish. She dropped it by Thistle, where it flopped weakly, “Thank you for your haste, lieutenant.” She turned her gaze to Lauri and she nodded seriously. With a running jump, she landed cat-like on her dragon’s back and they disappeared into the ocean like a ghost.

Ryan looked over the ocean as he slumped down into Thistle’s stomach (who was tearing into the fish hungrily), “I will never get how she does that."

           For the next four days, everyone awaited the Commander-in-Chief and her dragon. Ralem was locked in his room, but everyone could hear him yelling, sometimes in the middle of the night, now and again seeming to plead with someone, then banging the doors like an angry spirit. Arianna could sometimes hear him from her own room, begging someone, anyone to let him out. She could hardly stop herself from crying at his pitiful, crazy, voice, and put her pillow over her head trying to drown out the terrible sound. The Pegasus couldn’t stand it either, and eventually had to sleep in the stables to get away from the noise. 

          The maids and servants bitterly advised her not to go in there, for he was ‘completely mad’. Only the nurses scurried in and out of the room, but all of them swore that he was being impossible to work with and soon teams of male healers were the only ones allowed to enter as the nurses were afraid for their lives. But after three nights of having to cover her ears to his anguish, Arianna decided she needed to see him. So being the determined person that she was, Arianna slipped past them one afternoon and stumbled into his room.

        The room was dark. The only thing that was moving was the drapes, which fluttered eerily over dim windows. Tables were knocked over, vases shattered on the floor, a chair lying haphazardly on its side. A paper fluttered feebly by her slipper and she bent over and picked it up. It was a picture that looked like it was made by a child, of a big, squiggly dragon and a snowman in the corner. In the dim light she could just make out a messy signature that spelled out JAYDON, in the corner. She smiled sadly at it, and then set it softly on the table.