Fell Dragon
Greetings Readers
I hope you week is going to a gentle close and you all get to enjoy your weekend. My week has been busy! I had a client accidentally add me to his project when he meant to talk to me about his project. After some back and forth, we managed to agree that I am suited to writing his book and he won't remove me from his project due to his mistake.
Haven't had too much opportunity to write write on Fell Dragon this week, but luckily I have a whole book to share before we get anywhere close to where I am stuck now.
I hope you are ready for today's chapter. So much emotion, and not all happy. Enjoy!
Myla hadn’t been told about Saita at first, that had been Doran’s orders. Jarah had been the one to welcome her. He didn’t miss the look of pain on the woman’s face. He had wanted to hold her and welcome her back, but he knew that was not what she needed right now.
“You need to eat and sleep.” He told her.
“I’m not hungry, and I am not tired.” She said as she rubbed at her arms.
He didn’t know what to say to her, so he only nodded his head. “You will need to be quarantined so that we can be sure that you aren’t carrying anything. You understand, right?”
She nodded her head and followed the Butcher to a private room. Jarah was not going to let her be stubborn about what he wanted from her. He needed her asleep so that he could give her a proper examination. Doran was quietly trying to convince her that she needed to rest, but she shook her head violently.
“Would it be alright if I examine you?” Jarah asked after some time when she was sitting on a hospital bed looking at the white walls through slitted eyes, clearly in pain.
“No.” She said softly.
“Saita…” Started Doran.
“I don’t want to know what they did to me.” She wrapped her arms around her body, and tears came to her eyes.
Her fingernails dug into the dark marks on her skin. “I don’t want this.”
Doran had to prevent her from scratching the marks from her arms.
“Saita, Saita, listen to me. We can’t help you with the pain if we cannot figure out what is causing it.” He said gently as he held her hands. “I want to help you. Jarah wants to help you, but we can’t if you do not let us.”
She gritted her teeth and grimaced. “I just want to sleep. I am exhausted but I am not tired.”
The two men looked at each other in confusion, then back to her.
“I just want to sleep and wake up from the nightmare.” She closed her eyes and resumed her rocking with her fingers tangled in her hair.
“Let me give you something for the pain and to let you rest a little easier.” Jarah reached for her hand and gently stroked it.
She remained silent for a long time before she nodded her head. No explanation, nothing, Jarah stepped from the room and returned a few minutes later with a cup of something that was steaming just a little.
“It will let you rest for a few hours without you getting sick. Try to finish it.” He said as he put the cup in her hands.
She was thirsty, and she didn’t mind drinking it. She finished the cup quickly and didn’t notice anything at first. She must have been confused because Jarah simply said. “Lie back and close your eyes.”
She shook her head. “Then the nightmares come.”
“They won’t while I am here.” Said Doran.
“But you aren’t always there.” She said.
Doran noticed the slight slur in her voice, and he came to sit next to her on the bed. He put an arm around her shoulders and said, “I am here now.”
Minutes passed, and slowly her eyes started to drift closed, but as soon as her head started to droop, she would snap it up again in fright. This continued for another ten minutes before her head no longer snapped up.
“That took a little longer than I expected but the result will still be the same. She should sleep for about two hours if we are lucky. I have a lot to do.”
“Did you get all the information that was sent to you?”
“I don’t want to talk about that right now. Allow me to work but be back within the next hour so that she wakes to your face. She is terrified and in agony.” Jarah turned to a computer at his side. “But for now, you need to let me work because if I don’t work, I may just break down.”
Doran had wanted to watch Jarah work, but his emotions eventually got the better of him, and he had to leave the room to actually cry over what had happened. He could not let Saita see him that weak. Not now. Not when she needed him at his best.
Jarah called him back an hour later. The doctor was spire white and could barely get two words out; he was shaking so much. Once he was calmer, he could talk about what he discovered.
“I don’t know what was embedded into her body but all the enhancements I noted when she first came to us are the backing for it. There are many odd discs which are connected by wires, and as for their function I can only guess with what I am seeing on her skin.” he sat down heavily in front of a giant screen. “Look here.”
The doctor pointed to what looked like a 3D scan of the girl’s body. He was able to turn it as he wished and even managed to zoom in.
“There were more than 28 surgeries. Those were just to insert these discs. There must have been hundreds of smaller surgeries, laparoscopically done during the times of rest. Thank God there was a rest period between the major surgeries otherwise she wouldn’t have had a chance to recover.” Jarah rubbed at his eyes. “The marks on her skin are as what Saseric suspects, crystalised force, the energy that is so pent up in her system that it is forcing its way under her skin. I do not know if this is due to the system or a self-defence mechanism.”
“What do you mean by self-defence?”
Jarah took in a shuddering breath before he said. “Did she complain about pain when you saw her the first time?”
“She mentioned that it felt like she was burning. I assumed that she was running a fever as she was shivering.”
“It isn’t a fever. This excess energy, let’s call it that, is not meant to be allowed in a single body. Look here.” he switched the view of the body and it lit up red. “These are her nerves.”
“I am not a doctor, Jarah, I don’t know what I am looking at.”
Saita moaned behind him, and he turned to look. Her face was contorted in pain.
“Her nerves are on fire because of the excess energy. I think her body is trying to combat the pain by making these dense clusters of crystals between the layers of skin when the nerves can’t be touched.”
“How extensive are the marks?”
“I haven’t looked, Doran. I am not going to undress her after what she has been through. She deserves some privacy after all this.”
“Where is the extra energy coming from?”
“I can only assume that it is being generated by this thing inside her.” Jarah lowered the image and brought up what seemed to be documents. “I am trying to follow Doctor Sellious’ work, but it is mostly the ravings of a mad man that was trying to reach a greatness only he saw.”
Doran left the Jarah to stand next to Saita, who had sat up holding her head with a look of agony on her face. She was momentarily confused by her surroundings. Fear flashed over her face before she noted Doran, and then she visibly relaxed.
“Saita?” Jarah turned to look at her. “Sweetie, how do you feel?”
She shook her head and said nothing.
Jarah frowned and turned his computer off. “What happened?”
There were tears of terror in her eyes, but she still just shook her head. “Don’t remember, can’t remember.”
She looked at her hands. “I feel wrong. More wrong.”
She grits her teeth. “The nightmares...I...don’t make me sleep again.”
She looked at Jarah and begged. “Please don’t make me sleep again.”
“Do you know...how long it has been since…” started Jarah before Doran could stop him.
“No.” she clutched at her head in pain. “No!”
She grabbed at a pillow, covered her head, and forced her face into the bed before screaming in pain until she couldn’t take it anymore. Despite Doran trying to hold her down, she kicked him away, falling to the floor before some instinct took over. She bolted.
“Oh, not this again,” muttered Jarah. “You better go get her.”
“You aren’t concerned?” shouted Doran as ran after the girl.
“Likely straining her body eases some of the pain, or she wouldn’t have run,” he yelled after the man.
He turned back to the computer to turn it on and started reading the notes of Doctor Sellious. “You would not have created her to feel agony all the time. There must be a way to ease it.”
She ran blindly. Not caring where she went as long as the pain eased. She knew where she was, so getting lost wasn’t a problem. However, confusion warped her mind, and she could barely think. Instinct told her to run and to keep running because that would stem the hurt. Eventually, the corridor she had flown down ended, and for a moment, a small moment but a moment nonetheless she felt cornered, trapped, and terrified. She slapped the wall in frustration then put her back to it before sliding down until she sat at the base of the wall. She gripped her legs with one arm, and the other gripped at her head. Everything hurt, and nothing she did was going to ease it.
“Excuse me?” came a tiny voice.
She looked up and saw a little light-haired girl and boy, who were holding hands, looking at her from the door of a nearby room.
“Are you okay?”
Saita chuckled harshly and said. “Don’t think I ever was.”
A stab of pain lanced between her eyes, and she squeezed her eyes closed praying for something to ease the pain. Anything. She heard a door open wider and almost sensed the surprise of the person who made their appearance. No words were said as this person came to squat next to her.
“Momma?” came the little voice again.
A cool hand was laid on Saita’s neck, and the pain from between her eyes halted immediately. She nearly cried; it had been days since that pain had left her for longer than a few minutes.
“Is that better? Even a little?”
Saita opened her eyes and looked up into the worried face of her mother. If the woman was surprised to see her missing daughter, she didn’t show it at all. There was concern but nothing that showed anything else.
“It is,” whispered Saita.
Myla's second hand reached for the other side of Saita’s neck and twisted her head to look up at her. She sensed the agony in her daughter. Her fingertips felt what had been done to her, but she tried to remain neutral. She saw the terror in her face, the pain, and the uncertainty of what was going on.
“Momma?” came the little voice again.
Saita’s eyes fell on the children again, and this time she saw the family resemblance. A year, she had thought a year had passed, no more. Time had been difficult to judge with the constant waking and sleeping with the nightmares of pulsating organs that plagued her. But now, before her, clearly a set of twins, about three years old were looking at her with confusion. Not knowing who she was.
Saita desperately wanted to ask something, but a gentle twist in her head made her look at Myla again, and she saw the wrinkles that had not been there before. The concern and confusion. Seeing Doran had made her realise she had been rescued. Seeing her mother made her realise that she was safe at last. She fought the urge to cry, but as her face pulled to fight the tears Myla’s sprang to her eyes.
“My little girl.” whispered the Queen as she hugged her.
A sob escaped Saita’s chest before she could swallow it back. Safe. This was safe. The same safe that she had felt the first time she had fled from the doctor. She clutched at her mother and fought her fear back but eventually, her sobs joined her mother’s, leaving the twins looking at the two women in confusion.
Aww, what a reunion! But where is Karesh? Has he been told yet? Guess you'll have to continue reading to find out.
For those of you just joining us, please note that this is the follow on book from Fell Dragon. Here is the link to that book:
Fell Dragon Book 1
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Part 1
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Part 3<You are Here< Part 5