Greetings all
This week pretty much devolved since Tuesday's update. Partner was diagnosed with a viral infection which continued to get worse and by Wednesday we were informed he may have come into contact with someone who had Covid.
Not wanting to take any risks, I took him to a testing station, and now we know the results. He tested positive. There was a likelihood that I also would be positive, so this has resulted in us remaining in our home until he and I are no longer infections.
I seem to have come down with it as well, but I don't want to go out and possibly come into contact with other people, so I will remain at home. I'm glad we got vaccinated, as I think this may have been far worse had we not been vaccinated.
Anyway, that's my update for the end of the week. I hope the rest of you are all doing better than my household. Enjoy the next part of Fell Dragon! Have a picture of our Ghost to make your weekend better.
The last thing Saita remembered was a pair of strong arms grabbing and throwing her over the bannister followed by a lot of wind and then a thump. She was not sure how long she had blacked out but when she came too, she had been forced to roll away from the multitude of feet that were all around her. Somehow finding shelter behind a massive piece of wood she caught her breath and tried to take in the situation. Someone had grabbed her and thrown her from a height, her head ached, and blood ran freely from her mouth. She ran her tongue over her teeth and noted a few were gone.
Shock rocked her body when she looked up and saw what was left of where she had been earlier. Flames, a lot of it, and twisted remains of seats and structure.
She wasn’t thinking as she stepped from the protective structure she had been hiding behind. She was confused. What had happened? Then she remembered her family. Quickly calculating her route, she ran up the ruined structure along with fallen stone and wood until she was on the bannister. She scanned her area, frantically looking for anyone.
It was Viribus she found first. He was blood-drenched, trying to pull his sister from under some debris. He must have sensed her because he turned and growled at her. “I didn’t risk not protecting myself so that you can just come back up here.”
“Let me help.”
“Idiot, go get help.” He growled.
“The smoke can be seen for miles, there are soldiers. They will get help. I am here now, let me help.”
Viribus gave up and instructed her to pull his sister free as he lifted a beam. It took a few minutes before Kiai was freed. Once the crushing weight was lifted from her, she came to with a gasp and looked around quickly to gain an understanding of what was happening.
“Who else could you find.” She coughed.
“Are you hurt?” He asked.
“Viribus, focus, who else have you seen?”
“You.” He said. “Can you sense anyone?”
“Where are the children?”
“Here,” said Saita.
Kiai blinked a few times before saying. “I could have sworn you threw her and Aleux over the bannister.”
“I did. This idiot came back to help.”
Saita ran to what remained of the bannister and looked down. She couldn’t see Aleux anywhere and she panicked. Before she could call out to him Kiai placed a hand on her head. “It is okay, I still sense him. He is safe. Someone must have found him and is keeping him safe.”
“This is no place for a child.” Hissed Viribus as he wiped at a cut on his forehead. “Damn it! I can’t see like this!”
“I can help...but it will hurt,” Saita said softly as she brought a flame to her hand.
“Well...it will stop the bleeding, but it will scar.” Kiai nodded her head.
Viribus grabbed Saita’s hand and said. “Concentrate it till it is white-hot and avoid my eyes.”
Saita grimaced as Viribus guided her hand and his flesh hissed under her flame. The smell of cooking meat was lost amongst the smoke but seeing the bubbling skin made her nauseous.
“There we go.” He released her hand. “We need to find the others. Saita, you need to get down.”
“They are my family too.” She said stubbornly.
“Saita can you even…” Started Kiai but Viribus stopped her.
“Don’t say anything, let’s see what we can do here.” He turned to face the mess before them. “My force is too strong Kiai; you need to kill the flames without causing too much movement of the structure or removing the oxygen.”
“I will try.” Kiai closed her eyes and began muttering under her breath.
At first, Saita thought that it was a prayer, it certainly sounded like one, but then she felt the air move around her and the flames started to dance. Then, one by one the flames started to die, as they suddenly cut from the wood with a pair of invisible scissors.
“Do not let her lose concentration.” Said Viribus. “Her powers may not be as strong as ours, but it is precise and any loss in concentration will be a disaster. Look after my sister.”
Saita nodded her head and Viribus started sifting through cleared debris, swearing now and again as he was burned by coals or when debris moved, and he was cut. Kiai was busy with the last part of the fire when more help started arriving. Soldiers, guests, and any able-bodied man, woman, and child came forth to help. Soon a chain of people was moving debris and carefully constructing safety structures to prevent the collapse of debris around them as they worked. The moment Kiai was free of her trance she grabbed Saita and they started helping those around them.
Soon they found Myla, battered, bruised but alive. Kiai and Viribus tried to convince Saita to go with the queen to the hospital, but she refused. She dug into the red-hot coals and splintered remains of the stadium, desperate to find other survivors. A few soldiers were found, some alive, some not that lucky. Doran had luckily survived the initial blast but collapsing debris had impaled him, in several places, and he was barely conscious when they found him. Saita sat beside him talking to him as the people around him tried to figure out a way to get him out without causing a collapse. The more plans they made the more he insisted on being left and the King is found.
“Shh,” Saita said as she placed a hand on his head. “You are in no position to talk.”
Doran would have laughed but he could barely breathe, everything hurt but he forced himself to remain awake. Kiai came to sit next to them and started chatting to Saita. He was barely paying attention until Kiai placed a hand on his head.
Can you keep her rooted here?
Shocked by the voice in his head he tried to look around but the hand held him steady.
*We have been trying to have her sent to the hospital for her injuries, but she is refusing. I don’t think she can feel the pain. *
Doran looked up to see Kiai still talking to Saita while looking him in the eye.
“Saita…” he started.
From his position he could not look at her fully, he couldn’t even turn his head. He had not seen her yet and he was sure she had sat behind his head so that he couldn’t see how she had been hurt.
“Don’t move.” Said Kiai verbally. “You have rebar through your chest, stomach and one of your legs, not to mention possible concussion and broken bones. Don’t move.”
You do not want to see, and you shouldn’t move. Keep her here. We are still looking for Pura, Karesh, and Furor.
“But…”
“Saita, you need to stay here with him and keep him awake. Do not let him fall asleep.”
“You will find Karesh?”
Doran flinched when he heard her voice, gargling as if there was blood in her throat. He looked up to Kiai and said. “Don’t leave her with me. Take her to get medical help.”
“I am not moving.” Said the girl behind him. “I am not leaving.”
See? We can’t risk someone trying to subdue her. Let her feel like she is helping by not getting involved and hurt further.
Kiai got to her feet. “Saita, you know why I am asking you to stay?”
“To look after Doran?”
Doran could barely make out a smile on her face as she shook her head. “Sweetie, the ability to hide pain is good if you are trying to survive a fight. You have survived, now you need to sit still so that you can be helped. You cannot fool me; my brother and I can see the flow of life force. You are hurt, whether you want to believe it or not. You must sit still for now. Keep Doran awake. I promise that I will find your father. If the doctor comes to help Doran, you need to go with them.”
“Kiai! They found Pura.” Someone shouted.
“Keep Doran awake.” Was the last order Kiai said as she went to continue her search.
Weakly Doran reached for Saita’s hand which she gave to him reluctantly. He saw then what Kiai had meant, bloody and burnt fingers gripped his hand strongly. If these were her fingers what did the rest of her look like?
“Saita…” He whispered. “Don’t leave me, girl.”
“I am here.”
Despite his pain, he knew that he would have to remain awake to make sure that Saita would stay where she was. He tried to talk but the smoke and ash dried his throat out and any coughing caused his chest to ache and brought blood to his lips. He had no idea how long he lay there before people gathered to remove him from where he was trapped. The whole time he tried to talk to Saita, but it was not possible over the noise and soon his consciousness faded. He held onto that hand as tightly as he could before it slipped from his grasp and his eyes closed.
The moment the rescuers had cut Doran free he had lost grip of her hand and Saita had pulled away. A rescuer had gripped his hand as he sought hers, but she was gone. She was not going to abandon her father in this disaster. She slipped between the various people mostly unnoticed and tried to follow the life force she had come to know as Karesh’s. She came to stand before the pile of stone and wood and stared at it. The pile was taller than she was, and she was already so tired. She didn’t know where to start.
“Could I be of some assistance?”
She turned and found a gaudily dressed, bald man behind her. She rubbed at her left eye as he seemed a little blurry. She noticed the rich golden robes which were embroidered with what seemed to be a story and here she had to pull her eyes away to look back at the pile of rubble before her.
“Karesh and Furor are here.” She said as she spat blood from her mouth. “I don’t know how to get them out.
“Furor was the cause of your brother’s death.” Said the man.
Confusion swamped Saita as she lifted one rock and tossed it aside. She didn’t have time to deal with confusion.
“You look confused.” The man continued.
“It is not difficult to confuse me.” She stated as she continued to dig.
“Why save the man who is the cause of today?”
“Because.”
“That is not an answer, dear.”
“I know not the past.” She said as she slipped on the rubble and skinned an already skinned knee. “But he has a life, and it deserves to live. If he is as bad as what people believe him to be he will be punished.”
“What if this is his punishment?”
“Who am I to be the judge of that?” She said, exhaustion evident in her voice. “Now, are you going to help me or not?”
The man gripped her around her middle and pulled her away. “Come along, Your Majesty. You need to move.”
She wanted to fight him with all her strength, but it felt like everything faded from her as he touched her. Instead, aimed her screams at him which caused others to be alerted to where she was. Then the pile heaved, and Karesh emerged pulling Furor by an arm. The King had a look of fear and anger on his face. When he saw Saita, he released Furor who fell to his hands coughing and moaning.
“Saita?” He could only look at her in absolute horror.
She was being held back by a finely dressed man who was smiling a little when he saw Karesh. “Greetings Great Karesh. Seems the girl here gave you the strength needed to dig your own way out.”
“Saita…” Karesh stepped from the rubble, ignoring what felt like a broken leg to step closer to the girl.
“Viribus likely saved her and Aleux’s lives by throwing them from the stadium, but she took the brunt of the blast between the two of them. Aleux is quite safe, he is with my retainer and is being healed. This one, however, has been digging to find her family.
“She is…”
“And she is not aware of it at all so be careful of what you mention.” Said the stranger.
“Can you move?” Karesh asked Furor.
Furor waved a hand and coughed. “Only some broken ribs.”
“Everyone has been found.” Started Saita. “Viribus was bleeding, but we stopped that. Kiai has a couple of broken ribs, but I think she will be okay. Pura was found, but I was with Doran when Kiai left to see him. Myla has been sent to hospital and why are you looking at me like that?”
Karesh knelt before the girl and smiled. “I think it is time you rest. You had a late night and an exciting day. If everyone has been found, then we can go.”
He flinched as he stroked her dripping, blood-soaked hair. He could almost not look at her face as he scanned for other external injuries. “How do you feel?”
“A little tired and my hands are starting to hurt, and my face is itchy.” She reached to scratch at her right eye.
Karesh grabbed her hand and simply said. “Don’t touch it.”
“Karesh what the hell is she?” Gasped Furor from behind him. “How is she still standing?”
“Father!” Kiai made her appearance with Viribus who lifted his father to a standing position.
“I am fine, nothing but bones, they can regrow. How is your brother?”
“He will live but he may not think so when he wakes.” Viribus grinned and pointed to his chest. “Broken ribs, a collarbone and likely a cracked skull.
He lost the grin when he noticed Saita being held by Karesh. “Karesh, let go of her.”
Karesh spun to give a retort, but Kiai stood next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
We suspect she is running on pure adrenaline at this point. If she stops for even a minute to consider the danger, she is in she will collapse.
“Likely true and it would seem even my capabilities cannot heal her.”
“Heavenly…” Started Viribus with a nod. “Perhaps we should speak elsewhere.”
Saita flexed her hands and grimaced. “What is a Heavenly?”
“Why, that would be me, dear.” The old man smiled.
“Oh, okay.” Her confusion remained.
She turned to Karesh and simply said. “I’m ready for a nap now.”
Her knees buckled and she fell forward. A broken leg or not, Karesh lunged forward to grab her before she fell face-first into the ground, preventing the shrapnel in her right eye from being driven further into her head than what it had already been.
“So, her energy is not infinite.” Said the Heavenly. “Well then, I’m glad I came, this was exciting. Always a fun party when you are involved, Karesh.”
Doran had woken up, drugged out of his mind, with his wife sitting next to him with a solemn look on her face. He had tried to speak, to move but his paralysed muscles immediately told him that something was not right. His wife, Darla, noticed he was awake, and she simply said. “Lie still, the paralytic will wear off soon and the breathing tube will be removed.”
She had then gotten to her feet and left the room. Doran strained to hear what was being said outside of his room, but he could hear nothing over the ringing in his ears and the sound of the ventilator close to his ear. Where was he? What happened? Why were there pink elephants flying across the room?
“We thought to let you rest a little after we got you stabilized.” Said a Handmaiden as she walked into the room. “I hope the pain killers aren’t affecting you too much.”
He tried to lift an arm to point to the obvious floating elephant behind her but all he could do was raise a finger. The woman smiled gently and lay her hand on his. “The hallucinations will pass once you are fully healed but until then you will need the painkiller.”
The woman stayed in the room until Doran was able to raise one hand to the pipe in his mouth and indicated that he wanted it out. The woman placed a hand on his chest and gave a small nod. “Alright, but you will have to be on oxygen. You were only stabilized, not fully healed. Now cough.”
Once the pipe was removed, he was able to rasp out. “Saita.”
“You need to worry about yourself right now.” Said his wife sternly though her face was clouded with concern. “I nearly lost you today. I cannot go through that again.”
“You don’t understand.” He maimed holding a hand. “I lost her. She was my duty.”
“Hush now.” Said the handmaiden. “I will say this one more time. You have been stabilized but not healed. Moving will undo all our hard work. Please calm down or I will be forced to resort to drastic measures.”
“Just tell me she is okay.” He begged.
“I cannot discuss other patients.” She said as she connected the oxygen mask before she left the room.
All inhibitions gone with the drugs in his blood the soldier broke down and wept. Darla gently stroked his head and whispered reassurances to him. This continued for less than a minute before the drugs in his system knocked him out once more. Darla was grateful to see the pinch of pain leave his face as he slept.
“The prognosis is good but there will be some therapy.” Came a voice from the doorway.
Darla looked up and saw the exhausted Queen standing there. She got to her feet to bow but Myla waved it away. “Darla, you have never had to bow to me before and you do not need to start now.”
“He blames himself.” Said Darla as she sat back down.
“Well, when he wakes again tell him that Aleux walked away with nothing more than a sprained ankle and a graze to his forehead.”
“He is not concerned about your son. I think he knew that the boy was safe.” Darla gritted her teeth to prevent tears from coming to her eyes. “I saw the explosion on television. I saw the poor girl dig through the rubble to find people. I saw how she sat with my husband as they tried to save him.”
“God damn journalist vultures.” Hissed Myla as she limped into the room.
As soon as Myla had woken, she had demanded to be healed to such an extent that she could move and find her family, but she was filthy and exhausted. Her right arm wasn’t healed all the way and the broken bone pained her, even though it was in a sling. Though the cut had been sealed, the cracked skull still caused her head to spin if she moved too fast.
“I would have liked him to sleep another week, but he was fighting the healing too much, must be his life force, fire types never really like to be helped.” She chuckled as she sat down next to Darla.
There was silence for a while before Darla said. “We both know that is not the reason he was trying to wake up.”
They both watched as his right hand tried to grasp something. Darla gripped his hand to prevent him from waking in a panic.
“What am I going to tell him when he wakes next time?” Darla hissed.
“Don’t tell him anything for you know nothing.” Myla placed a hand on hers. “Concentrate on your husband and I’ll concentrate on my family.”
“How is she? She looked…”
“I don’t know. The Butchers are still busy with her.” Myla tried to hide her tears.
“You are worried.”
“I didn’t see her but when people see me all I see is pity and I imagine what she must have gone through.”
“What of the rest of your family?” Darla tried to change the subject.
“From what I have heard Karesh has not left Saita’s side, I have no idea about his condition. Furor had a brain contusion with three broken ribs. Pura has a concussion with a broken collarbone and a few cracked ribs, he’ll be on a ventilator a little longer and is being kept asleep for a few more days. The twins seemed to have gotten away generally unscathed. Mostly burns, cuts and bruises. It seems they were further from the initial blast and managed to stay on the more sturdy ground than Doran. Aleux is resting with Beatrice, more from the shock than anything else.”
“And the Heavenly?”
“I have no idea where they are. Perhaps they are helping the other people who were injured in the blast.” Myla closed her eyes. “I should have had the children sent home.”
“Do you know who is behind the attack?”
“No, but there is suspicion thrown in the Lizard’s general direction.”
“Myla you need to rest. Just because your surface injuries are healed doesn’t mean that you should be prancing around.”
“Had I sent the children home, Doran would not have been caught up in all of this.”
“You could not have seen this coming. Let’s go to your room. He will not wake for some time.”
Darla slowly removed her hand from Doran’s and when it tried reaching for it, she folded the edge of the blanket into his palm and his fingers gripped it tightly. “Let him believe for a little longer that he was able to complete his duty.”
I hope you all enjoyed this update. The next update will explore more of the family dynamics of the royals and a hint to a character from a different series, which will in time join this one.
I hope the weekend treats all of you well, until my next update; have a great night!
Reader's List
If you have missed any of the parts, you can find them here:
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| Part 1| Part 2|
| Part 3| Part 4|
| Part 5| Part 6|
| Part 7| Part 8|
| Part 9| Part 10|
|Part 11 - You Are Here||Part 12 - Updated on Tuesday|
