The Dragon Prince: A Dumb Lump and Salty Dragon

Wounded

She hissed as she backed away, preparing to strike again as her wings flared.

The male held a claw to his chest, touching the wound she'd caused before growling at her. He backed off, leaving her be.

Once he was gone, the red dragon looked at her side, seeing her own blood seeping from between the scales on her leg. The male's bite had been deep. She couldn't even lower her foot to the ground it was so painful. Her gaze turned to the other dragons in the cave, all of them waiting for an opening to try and claim her as theirs.

The last dragon had been hard to fight off, and she needed time to recover before trying to face any of them again. She needed somewhere safe, and only one place came to mind.

Running past her 'suitors', she sprinted out of the cave and leapt into the air. She heard their roars of disapproval at her flight, but at least they didn't follow her. None of them could keep up with a female in the air.

Flying high, she headed southwest, but her mind was clouded by pain. She relied solely on her instincts to get her to her destination. It was almost night by the time she saw the castle under the clouds. Right after she had spotted it, the last of her strength had drained. Her vision began to blur, and she struggled to keep her wings beating as she descended and crashed into the forest. In her wake, she left up-turned dirt and small trees strewn about.

Knocked out by the initial collision, she groaned as she opened her eyes, but something was wrong. Her vision was blurry and distorted. Guessing she'd hit her head during the fall, she lay her head down on the hard soil to rest and wait.

After a while, she heard something approaching, pushing past the foliage around her. A part of her knew no one would hurt her with the peace treaties in place. But another part of her knew she was blinded, wounded, and in the middle of human territory. So, she forced herself up on shaky legs, turning to where she'd heard the sounds. As the seconds passed, more sounds began to emerge and surrounded her.

She growled loud enough for them to hear her, warning them to stay away.

"Pyrrah?"

The growl instantly died. "Soren?"

"Yeah. We saw you crash and came to help." She sniffed, and could tell he was moving carefully towards her. "What happened? You're shaking."

She struggled to keep on her feet. "Another male," she mumbled.

A hand touched her jaw and she turned her head towards him, realising she'd been looking the wrong way. She could feel his confusion through his hand and she sighed softly. "My eyes have been damaged. I...I can't see."

"You're blind?"

"I will recover soon," she groaned, her body trembling.

"Pyrrah, you can barely stand," he whispered, stroking the side of her face. "Why don't you shift? I'll get you to the palace. You can rest there."

If she'd known where he was, she would have glared at him. "If I shift, it will hurt more and I'll take longer to heal."

"If you don't, you're going to get rained on. Not sure if you know, but there's a storm brewing above us, and I don't mean Cal," he teased, still caressing her face. "Pyrrah, please. I don't like seeing you like this."

She tried to guess where he was, then sighed. "You better look after me," she muttered, then shifted before him. The exhaustion of her confrontation, flight, and wounds tripled instantly, and she gasped in pain before blacking out. Yet, just before all understanding had left her, she felt two arms lifting her up, and heard a whisper. "I gotcha."