“How does it feel?” Cerin.
“...better,” came the reply. Theron's voice. “I'm afraid to stand up. The bones were broken through. I can't really believe I'd be fully healed.”
“Shock is normal from both the break and the cure. Just lay there a moment.” I heard movement. Then, I felt one hand on my forehead, the other lying on my abdomen from through armor. There was a rush of heat, and a tingling sensation spread through my body, washing the fatigue from my bones. “She's breathing,” Cerin continued, after a moment. “Her organs are all working. She is just in slumber.”
Perhaps I wasn't dreaming, after all.
I opened my eyes, slowly recognizing my environment from when I'd left it consciously. Theron sat as he had, though both legs were fully healed. A pool of blood still sat below him, thickening with time, a reminder of how severe his wounds had been. Above me, Nyx's face came into view, and I realized she held my head on her lap, and was brushing my hair. Her face registered immense relief once my eyes met hers.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” she greeted, as if to downplay her worry.
Cerin was beside my hip, watching me closely. I knew he was ensuring my eyes were clear and that I was of mind, but it still gladdened me all the same to have the attention of such a man. Silas stood at my feet, also watching me intensely, both arms crossed before his chest.
With a glance to my right, I saw the corpse of the ice wyvern in the midst of all its loot. Its throat had been gashed out, and that appeared to be the final blow. Blood had pooled below, though ice had frozen bits of its lifeblood on the bottom flap of the wound. It appeared that the creature had been in the midst of shooting ice when Nyx had finished it.
“How do you feel?” I turned my attention back to Cerin after he asked. His forehead was furrowed with concern.
“I'm...here. How is Theron?” It was a stupid question. I knew how he was; I could see both of his legs in alignment. I'd asked it just to make myself feel better, since I had been unable to finish healing him.
“I am alive, Kai,” the ranger answered. His eagle-like eyes were sharp and on mine despite the fatigue of his recent trauma. I was so happy to see them clear again. “Thanks to both you and Cerin.”
“I'm sorry I couldn't—” My voice broke with emotion, and I stopped speaking to swallow.
“The only thing you should feel sorry for is over-exerting yourself,” Silas spoke up. “You could have been killed.”
I ignored that concern for now, focused on the ranger's right leg, the one I hadn't been able to heal. “Did you boost his immunity to infection before closing the wound?” I asked Cerin.
The necromancer grimaced. “I do not know the spell.”
Theron held a hand out, as if to stop me before I panicked. “I have potions on me that should keep away infection. Do not concern yourself.”
I finally sat up from Nyx's lap, my eyes darting around the hoard of gold. “Are we staying here tonight?”
“That's the plan,” Nyx replied, massaging her leg where I'd been laying. It must have fallen asleep with the pressure. “The sooner the better. I'm exhausted.”
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Cerin and I both volunteered to keep first watch for the night, since he had leeched much of the wyvern's lifeblood and was set energy-wise for awhile, and I had recently been refreshed by him. We wandered around the wyvern's hoard, searching through piles of it to see what we could find, keeping our friends within view.
“I wonder why all this is here,” I pondered aloud, picking up what once was a very expensive dwarven made battleaxe, before throwing it to the side because it turned out to be dull, like a ceremonial weapon.
“Dragons like shiny things,” Cerin replied, rummaging through his own pile.
“Don't we all?” I teased. I heard the necromancer laugh low, and was happy that he appeared to be enjoying himself. “I thought this was a wyvern,” I added, remembering his earlier words.
“Agh, I'm one for semantics, forgive me,” he replied. “It is a wyvern, but it is also a dragon. Wyverns are types of dragons. They have two legs rather than four, and are much weaker and smaller, in general.”
“I'd hate to run across a dragon, then.”
“Yes. Me as well.” I took that to mean he never had.
“How do you think this wyvern got all this gold in here?” I asked, motioning toward the piles. “I get that it probably was flying around and picked up whatever shiny things caught its eye, but these piles of gold are taller than us. That's a lot of weight for a flying creature, not to mention it would need something to carry it with.”
“The gold is an offering,” Cerin replied, before motioning toward the sconces along the wall. “You can tell people have taken care of this place. There must be a village nearby that does it.”
“Why?”
“I've heard that some view dragons as gods, or that they offer gold in exchange for protection.”
“Does that work? The wyvern didn't seem one for talking,” I mused.
“I don't know if it does or not. I have never met anyone from one of these villages, myself.”
“Forgive me. My questions must tire you,” I offered, given his short answer.
“They do not. I simply find it interesting that an heir to Sera is so green to the world and its ways.” I wasn't sure if that was an insult or not.
“My venture to Whispermere was the first time I stepped foot out of Sera,” I replied. “Terran is the true heir; not I. Father never included me in on his discussions of the world like he did my brother.”
Cerin was silent for a few moments, processing my words. “You call him father, but you do not believe it.”
I stopped rummaging through the loot for a moment, my eyes sticking to the gold pieces before me. “I do not. And neither does he.”
“I see why you traveled so far just to meet your mother,” he commented, a note of sympathy to his voice.
Warm air blew through my nostrils as I exhaled. “It is pathetic of me to drag all of you through this long and hard journey in some quest to meet her. I am an adult. I have no need of parents.” I'd allowed a little too much of my own self-reflection out into the open, and I squinted my eyes shut in embarrassment. It was easy to talk to Cerin, just like it had been years ago. Maybe too easy. I admitted far too much around him, because I somehow knew he would know just what to say, or simply listen to me when I needed someone to.
“This journey is far from pathetic,” he finally replied. I didn't hear him rummaging through the loot anymore. “And you are not dragging anyone. We are all here on our own free will, whether that is through friendship or coin.” He hesitated. “I have lost both parents, Kai, but at least I had them. I can only sympathize with your need to discover where you came from. I just hope you like what you find.”
“That is the second time you've mentioned that, like Whispermere is some shithole of a place,” I commented.
“Whispermere is beautiful, from what I saw of it. But its problems run deep.” Cerin paused. “I do not wish to say more. We will be reaching there within the next few days, and I want you to form your own judgments.”
I sighed, frustrated. Everyone I had ever spoken to of the place was so secretive. Unable to focus on sorting through loot, I turned and sat down at the bottom of a gold pile to take a break. I heard Cerin walking over spilled coins, but he was behind a pile of them, so I could not see him. Reaching up, I pulled my long hair slowly out of its hair tie, not needing it out of my way while I was resting. My long, bright red locks fell around my face, billowing out with new freedom. I let my head fall backwards with a clink against the coins.
I opened my eyes a moment later to find my companion staring at me, holding a golden urn beside a pile one over. As soon as my eyes met his, he blinked and looked away, putting the urn on the ground.
“I will come back to help you in a minute. I'm a little overwhelmed,” I explained, keeping a straight face. Really, I wanted to smile. Nyx had been right. The attraction between Cerin and I was mutual.
“No, you're fine,” he replied in a rush, though he stopped after a moment, and looked back over to me. “I will teach you my spells.”
Even as I replied, he was walking over to sit beside me. “I thought we agreed to wait on that until you trusted me.”
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