The Golden Dragon Rider

Emma's loss

"We're almost there I think." Eve said as she began lowering.

"You think we're almost there, or we are almost there?" Chloe asked following her.

"I don't know."

Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes. They passed their village and some of the mountains a while ago and were now flying over the forest. She had a feeling that they were more likely to find the fortress again rather than Emma.

"Can you see anything?" Chloe called to Eve who was now flying just above the tree tops.

"I think so," Eve said slowing down. Then she finally landed in a small area between the trees. Chloe hung back with Vivi looking around. There was a small stream and a clearing near to where Eve was.

"I see a clearing," She called to her friends, "I'm going there." And she began lowering. Carefully touching down on the dirt, Vivi allowed Chloe to jump off and look around. At first she did not see anything but then she noticed a dark shape lying a few meter away. It was Aeron.

"Oh my god," Chloe said and began running to him. Just then Eve, Sam and Snowflake emerged from the trees and saw them.

"Is that Aeron?" Eve asked coming up to Chloe who was kneeling next to him. His eyes were closed and his breathing was very slow. The wound was not bleeding but looked to be infected.

"Sam get me my bag," Chloe instructed. He quietly walked up to Vivi and tried to unhook it from the saddle. She glared at him but did not do anything and let him get the book and the medicine. Quickly walking over to the girls he gave Chloe the book while Eve took the medicine.

"Thank you," Chloe said flipping the book open and turning the pages. "Eve," She said, "I need to clean the wound first, do you have a bottle or something?"

"I have a small flask," She said.

"Does it have water?"

"No but I can fill it up with water from the stream,"

"Great you do that," Chloe said and took a piece of cloth that she had in her pocket and began looking through the medicines. Sam didn't really know what to do and just stood there watching her. Eve came back with a full flask and Chloe wet the cloth and began washing the wound. Aeron took in a sharp breath but did not react in any other way.

Eve took the open medicine book off Chloe's lap and began reading it.

"So we need to apply something to it and then bandage it up." She said, "But by the looks of the wound its not going to do much." 

"We can try," Chloe said.

"Where is your sister?" Sam asked suddenly, "If her dragon is here shouldn't she be nearby?"

"I don't know and for now that doesn't matter we need to help him," Chloe said absentmindedly, "You can look for her now actually,"

"What does she look like?" He asked.

"Tall and a human, there can't be many of those around here. Fairly easy job," Chloe said washing the cloth and cleaning the wound again. The dirt that was around it has peeled away and now you could see the muscle and the blood, but it didn't look natural.

"I think its infected," Eve said while Sam stood up to have a look around, "This is bad,"

"What do we need for it?" Chloe asked.

"The book says that we need to mix some stuff together or something... ah yes. Mix these two together and apply to the wound then bandage it up. Repeat every half an hour until it begins to heal. Then add some sort of plant (what?) with a bandage and take it off after a couple of days."

"Plant?"

"I don't know, some sort of healing bush or whatever."

"Well maybe now you can just mix the medicine or whatever and we can apply it." Chloe said, "I think I have a small plastic tub in my bag, you can mix it in there."

While Eve wen to fetch the tub, Chloe washed her hands and walked around the other side of Aeron until she was facing his eyes. They were closed and it appeared that he was sleeping. Sighing she looked up. Sam was nowhere to be seen so he was probably still looking for Emma.

Eve came back to Chloe who picked up the bottles with the medicine and added a few drops to the tub. Taking a clean cloth she mixed them together and let it soak in, which she then began to apply to the wound. Hearing a nose behind her Eve turned around and saw Sam coming out of the bushes, followed by Emma.

"Chloe," Eve said tapping her friend on the shoulder, "Emma's here." Chloe stopped what she was doing and turned around. Emma was pale, her clothes were ripped and she had dark circles under her eyes. It looked like she hadn't slept for a few days.

"Hey," She said coming up to them. "I thought you guys wouldn't come."

"I'm sorry," Chloe said standing up and hugging her, "It has been hard. The village was attacked." 

"Is everyone ok?"

"Mum is fine and so are Eve's parents but a lot of people are gone." Chloe said kneeling next to Aeron and applying the medicine again. 

"He's not going well," Emma said sitting down next to her and putting his head in her lap, "I think he's dying." She said her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and bit her lip. Chloe could see that she was holding back tears. Sam and Eve were reading the book hoping to find any scrap of information that might help him recover.

"We just have to wait." Chloe said wrapping the bandage around the wound. "Its going to be ok," She said quietly.

But it wasn't. As the hours went by and no matter how many times Chloe read and reread the book, and reapplied various medicines, nothing was helping. He did not look any better and Emma said that his heart rate was going down. Eve tried to reassure her that it was only a few hours and it might take a few days to see any changes, but nothing helped. Sam, who was helping look after him, knew that Aeron's time was limited, but said nothing to the others.

Emma did not do anything except sit by Aeron and hold back tears. She knew that he was holding on to life by a thread. And a few hours after the sun went down and a small fire was lit, everyone gathered around him to say goodbye. Chloe hugged her sister and let her cry on her shoulder as they said goodbye to her dragon. The dragon she had since she was thirteen. Since she had her own ceremony and ever since she brought home the egg.

Nobody slept at all that night. They all sat by Emma while she cried. And when the sun shone through the trees and rose into the sky illuminating everyone in a beautiful, orange light Emma was there to see him breathe his last breath. 

"Goodbye Aeron," She whispered.

A/N

I'm sorry but I had to. It was planned.