Dragonkin 4 You're my Mate? No thanks.

Part 17 Salvation

Demanding a set of medical gear, I barge into the theatre, donning surgical scrubs. The operating theatre nurses who are cleaning up, look on in shock.

I am in shock myself. Cassy. My Cassy. She lies prone and lifeless on the gurney. Her face devoid of blood. Lips turning blue, she looks drained of life. The memory of how rosy her cheeks were when she was shouting at me in anger surfaces in my mind's eye. How red her lips were when we kissed in the lagoon. It seems like ages ago.

Shaking myself mentally and pulling my wits together, I did a quick assessment of her injuries. They are grave indeed. Her ribs are fractured in several places and have caved in, piercing and tearing open her heart. The beating of her heart has flatlined, though I can detect minute spasms of her heart which are too weak to pump blood and are slowly diminishing by the second.

Applying my telekinesis and telepathic powers simultaneously, I probe her mind delicately. Cassy, Cassy sweetheart, do you hear me?

No response.

I probe again. Cassy, if you hear me, please reply. Please. I frantically search her mind.

My telekinesis on the other hand, palms her heart with extreme care, carefully and swiftly extracting the bone fragments then immediately closing the torn tissues. My trembling hands steady as I focus on sewing up the tattered tissues of her heart. My mind not once stopped searching for Cassy's remnant psyche.

A far-off voice reaches me.

Karalianus... Karalianus? What's happening? I'm freezing and cold. I'm stuck in a dark place. I've been wandering aimlessly for a while and unable to walk out of this forsaken place. I'm hearing other eerie voices beckoning me. I'm scared.

Don't worry, Cassy, I'm getting you out soon. Latch onto my voice. Hang in there, darling. Keep talking to me, I assure her calmly.

I perform surgery on her while conversing with Cassy mentally. The world fades away, my vision narrows down to the heart in front of me and Cassy's fading weak voice at the back of my mind.

The nurses look on in amazement. Sweat beads on my forehead. In my concentration, I didn't notice until a foreign cool soft object touches my fevered brows. A nurse efficiently wipes away my sweat as I operate on Cassy.

I give a start and relax as I renew my efforts on sewing up Cassy.

Come on Cassy, talk, I urge frantically. I've lost contact with her for a precious second. I pray that I haven't lost her. I can only hope my parents' spartan training did not go to waste.

Picking out a small fragment from a tissue with forceps, I clear the last of the bones puncturing her heart. With the bone debris removed, her heart can finally be sewn and closed. Patched up, the bleeding slows. I delicately massage her heart to help it jumpstart again.

Karalianus, I lost your voice for a moment there. Where am I? I'm frightened. A small weak voice enters my consciousness.

Cassy dear, concentrate on my voice. Think of coming back to me, I soothe.

Applying more pressure on her heart, I focus on resuscitating its rhythm. A weak faint beat. Still a flat line. Come on Cassy, try harder. You can do it. Come back to me, sweetheart.

I can feel her heart beating with more effort. A monotone continues to register on the machine. Still no heart trace. Then a stronger heartbeat. And a stronger one. And finally. Beep. The flatline changes to a tiny hump and after a long second, another beep.