The Lost Boy II - For the love of a dragon

05 - Farewell freedom

Joke woke up in a jolt and immediatly threw up the water in his lungs. They were burning and aching.

He vomited the salted water and turned on his stomach, coughing and catching his breath back, trying to calm down his thoughts and panick.

His chest was aching too, as if it had been crushed under a dragon's weight. His left shoulder didn't obeyed him properly, he could barely move his arm, and the shoulder was aching too, but in another way. It seemed like something was stuck in it.

His right foot, his right cheekbone and the ripped out skin on his wrists were burning in an unbearable way, no doubt because of the salted sea water.

He tried to ignore it all and gritted his teeth, still steadying his breath. His blurred vision had calmed down, enabling him to see he was laying on a wooden floor. A crazy hope crept into his heart, had he been found by the dragon riders ?

He lifted his head with difficulty but recognized the hunter crew. He was back on their ship. The one next to him, visibly the one who had reanimated him after his drowning, got up sighing. He didn't have noticed this man before.

Unlike the others, he was less bulky, but still intimidating for a sixteen year old boy.

''Get him back to his cell.'' The captain vociferated. ''We had already lost enough time.''

''What do we do for the white Night Fury ?'' Another hunter asked.

The captain glared at him, then pinched her nose bridge with irritation.

''Looks like, if we leave these two together, they'll find another way to escape.''

Joke didn't need explanations to understand she was talking about him and the white Fury, and she was right : they would escape again if they were reunited.

''Leave a few men on this island to capture it and keep it until we return. We'll sale the boy first and will come back for the dragon later.

''Oh... Okay, boss.''

A hunter walked to Joke and grabbed him by the right arm, by the boy couldn't stand on his own. His legs were weak and shaking, they refuse to hold him, which unervers the hunter. Yet, as he was going to slap him, the less bulky man stopped him.

''I should take care of his wounds. With the sea salt, they risk to get infected, and we won't be able to sale him if we have to cut off his foot or arm.''

Joke froze as he heard that. He tried to struggle but had even less strength than before, needless to say any try was vain in his current state, that would only tire him. The hunter and less bulky man – who seemed to be a healer judging by his words – dragged the young boy back in the hold, when he got back to a cell.

He was now on the other side of the room, the healer insisted to put him in the only cell free of any straw, and Joke internally thanked him for that. He was nauseous enough to bare this sticking smell.

The hunter threw him on the ground and growled something to the healer, surely he was telling him to hurry up. The healer immediatly got to work, Joke let him do. He didn't have the strength to fight back, and he had to admit he didn't wanted either his wound to get infected.

The first thing he felt was the healer to tear off his tunic at the shoulder to take off the arrow. He seemed to treat the wound in priorities. The pain made the boy wince and gave him the feeling it was stealing all his strength away. He couldn't bare for long and fainted.

* * *

A smashing sound on the ceiling woke him up in a jolt. Joke opened his eyes to see a room he recognized but didn't like to see : this cell in the shiphold. Yet he noticed there was no light coming from outside, it was night time. The only light was the lantherns from both sides of the room, creating a gloomy ambiance.