Enslaved

Chapter 20

Ryuu ran the towel over his head as he dried his hair, his pants slung low over his hips and his shirt lying on the sink waiting to be donned. He dropped the towel onto the top of the clear glass door surrounding the bath and picked up the deep gray shirt, his eyes flicking up to the mirror as he did so. He met his own dark green eyes, noticing how they were full of exhaustion at the same time as his eyes caught a speck of green blood that he hadn't caught within one of the scales lining his left cheekbone. He dropped the shirt and grabbed a hand towel, dipping it in the water in the sink for a second before rubbing some soap into it and bringing it to his face. He rubbed the towel into his scales' intricate design, rubbing out the blood that had sprayed onto his face from both Valik and the spy that the bath hadn't been able to wash out.

After a second, a stinging sensation registered in his brain and he realized that he had been scrubbing his scales for too long and too roughly and he lowered the towel, the skin around the design a rash red. Ryuu let out a sharp breath and laid the towel down on the sink next to his shirt when he noticed his fingers shaking and clenched his hand into a fist, bowing his head. He had killed two hybrids just now without even a second thought. When had be become what he had sworn to never be? He breathed deeply, casting his thoughts away and lifted his head, letting go of the green-tinged towel and picking up his shirt, pulling it over his head and carefully buttoning it around his wings. He ran his left hand through his damp hair before walking over to the door and taking a deep breath before unlocking and opening the door. His eyes raked over the room and settled on the form laid out over his bed, not moving. He frowned slightly.

"Kaida?" His voice was quiet but traveled over the room nonetheless as a sharp sting of worry wound its way through him. "Are you alright?"

She didn't move but her wings twitched slightly where they stretched out over the rest of most of the bed. Ryuu walked around the bed to the wall she was facing and saw that she had fallen asleep, her face pressed into his quilt and her hair spread out around her head like a golden halo. Ryuu's mouth quirked as a small smile pulled at the corners of his lips at the peaceful expression that exuded from where she lay on his bed, all previous worry leeching out of him.

He just watched her for a second, admiring the peaceful expression on her face that he had never seen while she was awake. He scrubbed a hand over his face and walked back around the bed, sitting on the edge where her wings weren't and covering his face in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. He had to move an entire base tomorrow; an entire base full of new hybrids who had barely been able to come to terms with their new freedom. How had those spies found their base? He had made sure that this place was the most hidden, protected, and unknown of all his bases. Nobody had been to this valley since the Dragon Slaughter, for dragons-sake!

"Ryuu, the healer is here." Kajeel's voice cut through his thoughts, starling him since he hadn't heard open the door. "She wishes to speak with you about Valik's wound."

Ryuu stood up, dropping his hands to his sides and facing the doorway. He saw Kajeel's eyes flick to Kaida before going back to Ryuu, locking their gazes. Ryuu just curtly nodded and walked over to him, patting his left shoulder as he walked by him and through the doorway, going toward the stairs. He heard Kajeel shut his bedroom door quietly and follow him down the stairs and into the living room where Valik was sitting up on a couch with Vivia perched on the coffee table in front of him with bandages, ointments, and various other tools spread out around her on every available surface.

"There you are!" Without turning around, Vivia called over to them. "Come here, you two. I have some bad news."

Ryuu walked over, his eyes growing heavier and heavier with every step. What other bad news could he stand today other than the infiltration of their most secure rebel base since he started the rebellion? He shook his head, dismissing his pessimistic thoughts; he had a camp to take care of and an injured hybrid that needed attention. He walked around the coffee table to Vivia's left and sat down in the only space that wasn't taken up by bandages or tools, carefully folding his wings.

"What is it?" He asked, keeping his voice low. "The blade didn't pierce his heart, I checked. And he said his lungs didn't hurt when he breathed."

Ryuu watched as Vivia threaded a needle with antiseptic thread, carefully tying the knot before turning to Valik and taking off the bandage she had put in place of Ryuu's bare minimum field dressing. Vivia quickly started to stitch up the now black and blue skin around the fist size wound that was not even an inch to the left of where his heart was and Ryuu saw Valik wince.

"Do you feel that?" Vivia asked, not once taking her eyes off her stitching. "I have more morphine."

Valik winced again and Ryuu looked up to his eyes as he nodded. Vivia's hand gestured to behind her.

"It's the syringe with a clear liquid in it behind me, Ryuu. Grab that."

Ryuu turned and looked over his right shoulder and wing, scanning the table carefully twice before he found the syringe right next to his wing and grabbed it, turning around and handing it to Vivia's outstretched hand. She took it and, holding the threaded needle in her right hand, injected him above and to the right of his wound, pushing the down plunger quickly. Immediately Valik's posture relaxed and Vivia continued sewing his skin together.

"The news, Ryuu." Her voice was brisk but full of business, as usual. "Busybody over here," -she jerked her head in the direction of Kajeel- "Already knows. But alas, he's not the head of this little camp. Much to his dismay."

Ryuu sighed and rubbed his eyes with his right hand.

"What is it, Vivia." His tone was sharp. "I don't have the energy for putting up with your dancing around the subject bullshit right now, as much as you like to dance with me."

Vivia pulled the needle through the end of his wound a few times before tying it and cutting the thread. She turned to the coffee table and picked up ointment and bandages and turned back to Valik, not once looking at either Ryuu or Kajeel.

"Fine, Mr. Impatient." Ryuu snorted; if it had been anybody else he would've snarled at them but Vivia had been a part of the rebellion since he founded it. "Valik's wound is worse than it looks. I'm assuming that when the blade got pulled out that they jerked it? That's the only explanation as to why there is a severed tendon that leads to both his arm and wing as well as the misdirected trajectory toward his heart."

Ryuu's head spun as he registered her words and his eyes jerked to Valik who stared at him with exhausted and depressed eyes. Vivia cleared her throat.

"It pierced straight into the main muscle of his wing instead of his heart, which you just so happened to bandage to his body when you tried to help." Vivia's voice was less brisk now and full of anguish. "If I am correct in thinking that the entire tendon is severed, he won't be able to fly any time soon, if ever again."