20 Recovery

Akai awoke to the sight of a small wooden ceiling. He laid awake with bandages covering himself. His armor and clothes were unequipped. His scales shown. His wings and tail were out in the open. He rubbed his eyes. He didn't feel any more pain from his injuries, but when he moved his wings, he felt a slight stinging sensation.

He recalled that dream that he had. Memories that were lost to time. Childhood memories that he didn't remember, but led him to where he was. He put his hands on his face and rubbed his eyes once more.

Akai looked at around. It was a small homely cabin. Lights protruded from the windows.

He tried to get himself up, but his body was sore. He may not have been able to feel pain, but his body wasn't ready to move quite yet.

He fell to the ground as he tried to lift himself up. "Ow. Ow," he said as he touched the ground. He tried to push himself back up.

A young woman entered the cabin. "Oh my. You're awake," she said as she hurried over to Akai.

"Don't try to move fast. It took some time fixing you up, and I don't want to re-bandage anything," the woman said as she helped Akai up to sit on the bed.

She kneeled down to Akai's level. They looked each other in the eyes. She had short red hair with simple village clothing.

"Why would you help me? Can't you see what I am?" Akai asked.

"Of course I can. Dragon or not, you needed help. What kind of person would I be if I didn't help somebody in need," she said as she fixed some of the bandages, "I'm Nera, by the way."

They sat in silence for a couple of seconds as Nera fixed his bandages.

"I'm Akai."

She smiled and got herself up.

"Well, you're bones aren't broken. And most of your injuries have healed up, already. I'm always impressed by how fast dragons can heal themselves."

Akai's eyes widened.

"How long was I asleep?"

"About 4 days."

Upon hearing that, Akai tried to get himself up, but to no avail.

"Careful, you're not mortally in danger, but you're still weak," Nera said as she tried to steady him.

Akai thought to himself that the other dragons must know by now that Aquis and Azor were killed. Kytlmyne would have made a call to all other dragons acknowledging his betrayal, he thought. He began to sweat and his teeth tightened.

As his worry has only began, another presence entered the cabin.

"Don't worry, Akai. You're safe here."

It was the witch, Miura. She was wearing casual villager clothes.

"Ahh. Lady Kentworth," Nera said smiling.

"Nera. I see that my friend is awake. We are in your debt for helping us.," Miura said with a bow.

Nera embarrassed replied, "Oh. It was nothing. I believe either of you would have done the same."

Akai didn't believe he would. And he definitely didn't believe that Miura would.

Akai slowly got himself up. As he did, Nera ran over and gave a walking cane to Akai.

"It used to belong to my father. I think you would need it more than him," she said.

Nera was surprisingly optimistic. Akai didn't believe that she would help them out of the goodness of their hearts, but hearing these kind words did give a smile to Akai's face.

"I don't know how I can repay you, but if you'd let us, I would like to speak to... Lady Kentworth," Akai said.

"Oh. Of course. If you need anything, I'll be right outside," she said as she left the cabin.

Akai and Miura stared at each other.

"Did you threaten these people?" Akai asked in a serious manner.

"No. These people genuinely wanted to help you. When I was walking down the mountain trail carrying you, I met some of these villagers. They immediately dropped what they were doing to help me."

Akai looked at her and then at his slave markings on his wrist. If Miura lied, she would be experiencing severe pain, but that wasn't the case.

Akai sighed and asked, "So, I was asleep for 4 days?"

Miura nodded and replied, "I know what you are thinking. I know that one of those ancient dragons escaped. And you suspect that he may have told his fellow dragons of what you just did."

Akai listened.

"Well, don't worry. He didn't send out any call, or anything that would sound like the call you made on top of Mt. Geolith. Even though, to me, it sounded like just a roar."

"How would you know?"

Miura smiled devilishly, "I'm a witch. I have other tools to my disposal besides shooting lightning. I summoned my crows to follow your prey. My crows are watching it, as we speak. Apparently, you damaged it, more than it damaged you."

"So, he's hurt. That doesn't mean that he didn't make a call to the rest of the dragons."

"I wasn't finished. This dragon's throat has been severely damaged. My crows saw it coughing out blood and soot. You must have burned its throat, along with the rest of his body."

She paused to catch her breath and continued, "And it won't be flying any time soon either, so you have time before it will move."

"What do you mean? Kytlmyne's unable to fly?"

"I saw it flying away from the mountain, but it's wings are burned to a crisp. He was only able to fly so far in it's state. So, that gives you time."

Akai walked slowly over to a wooden chair and asked Miura, "Where's my stuff?"

"For the most part, safe."

"Most?"

"I was able to hide your armor. But... your sword and ring. Your ring broke, but I can enchant another one like it. But the sword. The sword."

Akai's eyes turned to fear. Fear that his sword was lost.

Miura continued noticing Akai's fear, "I couldn't find your sword. It must have been buried under some rocks or snow. My crows weren't able to find the sword."

His fear was realized. He gripped the cane harder.

"That sword was the only thing that helped me kill Aquis and Azor. It's power was unlike anything that I have ever seen."

"That sword was powerful, yes. But there is only one ancient dragon remaining. You can defeat this Kytlmyne and the toughest hurdle would pass."

Akai sat to a nearby chair and thought to himself. He threw away his fears. He couldn't let himself be overwhelmed, now. The sword was powerful, but Miura was right. There was only Kytlmyne left to deal with. He looked at Miura.

"Do you have any plans that doesn't involve using your lightning storms?"

She frowned and replied, "No. But there is still time. You still need to recover and your recovery will end sooner than that ancient dragons'"

Akai paused and believed that the witch was right. Kytlmyne was very hurt before he was struck by a lightning bolt. He thought that the ancient dragon would need a lot of time to recover those wounds.

"Your crows. Your crows can see him, correct? I'm sure Kytlmyne must have some heavy protection around him as he heals. What kind of protection does he have?"

Miura nodded and closed her eyes for a moment.

She replied with her eyes closed, "Treants. Lots of walking trees. And thorny vines moving around the ground like snakes. The thorns also reaching towards the sky like tentacles."

"Where is he?"

"In the forest nearby. I can give you an exact position when we travel there."

She opened her eyes and Akai pondered to himself. He didn't know what he should do. If he still had his flaming sword, he could easily burn through all of those plants, but now he had to think of a different way.

"Alright. We still have time," he said, "I'll have to think about some way to get past his defenses. Your lightning storm could be helpful, but to Kytlmyne, it's nothing."

He looked to his burned wings and tried to move them, but every time he did, pain struck him like that lightning bolt.

Akai closed his eyes in frustration, "You're not allowed to use that lightning storm, again."

With those words, the slave markings glowed on Akai's wrist and Miura's neck.

Akai got himself up and walked towards the cabin door. He grabbed the door handle and opened it.