Dawn's Light

Chapter 34

Celia woke up with a slight headache. Before she even opened her eyes, she groaned and blindly rubbed her head with her hand.

'CELIA!' Verbena barked and excitedly nuzzled Celia's face, "you are alive! I was so worried about you! Never do anything like that ever again!" The dragonet grabbed the female human in a hug with her wings.

Celia slowly opened her eyes and weakly smiled up to her draconic companion. "I am glad you are ok too," her head throbbed. Celia flinched as she reached under her hat and felt the lump among her hair. Thankfully, though she had a large sore spot, her scalp was not bleeding. She retracted her hand from her scalp, then checked her clothes and did not find any tears in her clothing either.

She sighed in relief, then wrapped her arms around Verbena's neck. "Thank you," she breathily spoke, "thank you for saving me."

'I would never abandon you and leave you to die," the green dragoness purred and cooed as she continued to nuzzle the human female, 'I care about you and can't imagine life without you.'

Celia giggled a small amount, then blinked and looked to Xan, who was also slowly regaining consciousness. "Irin? Is he okay too?"

Irin briefly looked away from Xan, then continued to worriedly hover over the human boy. 'I do not smell any blood, so I think he will be fine. We have experienced worse events and survived.' Irin gently nuzzled Xan as the boy groaned in pain and stirred slightly.

"I hate earthquakes." Xan murmured as he rubbed his head with his hand, then groaned again as his hand fell limp. "Irin?" He spoke in a pained, almost whining voice, "Where are we? How long have we been out?"

Irin paused and ran a few mental calculations, 'My best guess is a few hours, but I have not been paying attention to the moon, and we are in a snow cave. I preferred to stay with you instead of mindlessly watching the moon move.' He nuzzled Xan again and purred softly.

"Irin," Xan whined slightly as he laughed a bit as he mentally thanked the dragon for being so attentive and caring. He would have said his sentiments aloud, but he did not want Celia to hear anything that may or may not be embarrassing.

Irin paused for a moment, then looked at Celia, "I think we should head west and toward Iece if you aren't badly injured, Celia. The faster we leave the less likely the men from Hael will find us. They think we took two humans because we are going to eat them, and they probably also want our pelts.'

"I have a large headache and several bruises, but I will be fine." Celia assured with a weak smile, "as long as I am not jostled all that much." She reluctantly released her hug with Verbena and shakily stood to her feet. "Honestly, I may tie myself to the harness and sleep the entire flight." She placed a hand on the wall of the snow cave to keep herself from falling over from soreness and dizziness.

Verbena gasped a bit in worry and offered the female human a wing to help her stay on her feet, which she gratefully accepted. "Just go ahead and climb on my back," ht dragnet instructed, and Celia tiredly obeyed and strapped herself in.

"We might as well get a head start on our westward journey," Xan agreed as he climbed onto Irin's back. "I did not see any signs in Hael that they have any connections to the ray of light, but maybe we can check Iece to see if they have any clues. Though I do think it is a good idea to rest a bit as the dragons fly. I may not sleep, but it may help me feel better." He smiled a bit as Irin nuzzled him again.

Irin guided the make human onto his back, 'Verbena, let's head out. I do not think we need to stay here much longer since our partners want to move.'

Verbena nodded and crawled through the entrance of the snow cave and emerged into the white moonlit expanse. "Let's go," she said as she spread her wings, then burst into the sky with Irin close behind.