28

"Why would they think that I would accept a false dragon as the new king of my Origin?" she sounded almost bored.

"What?" I was more then a little confused.

Who was this woman to call me false?

"Arrogance will do you no good here," she blinked at me slowly, "Who would give a human the body of a dragon?" she asked herself, "I wonder."

*****

I woke up on the ground feeling like I'd just gotten hit by a bus. I got up, and looked around as I checked for any major wounds. Nothing felt broken. Just a whole lot of bruises. Ethan wasn't far from where I'd landed.

I went to walk up to him. Only to find that something had carved a path through the solid frozen ground. I climbed across the uprooted ground, and checked on Ethan. He was breathing, and besides a broken arm he was no worse off then I was. I rolled him onto his back gingerly so I wouldn't agitate the already broken limb.

Securing my foot against his chest before yanking his arm straight. The pain startled him awake.

"Savannah?" He looked up at me confused, "Where's Wyatt?"

"I don't know yet," I answered honestly, "He's close. The bond feels weird."

"We need to find him," Ethan struggled to his feet.

"We need to find Jax more," I checked my armor right quick, "He's not as tough as we are, and he wasn't wearing any armor."

I reached under my breast plate, and tore off a fairly thick strip.

"Something is wrong with Wyatt," Ethan completely ignored my worry about what had happened to Jax, "He's not answering when I try to talk to him."

"He's alive," I snapped, "If you hadn't noticed he can recover from just about anything if we give him enough time, but if you're really that worried then you can go to Wyatt while I go find Jax."

Ethan nodded, and headed toward Wyatt. He was more then enough to check on our dragon companion. Jax on the other hand wasn't nearly as easy to find. At first I just followed the path of destruction away from Wyatt. Dozens of downed trees, and a path nearly a mile long.

I vaguely remembered that burst of speed that propelled us through the portal that brought us here. He'd gone from going fast to going so fast we could barely hold on in a split second. I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I tried to use my strengthened bond to Wyatt to search for Jax, but something was definitely wrong. It was almost as if the bond was closed.

No. Closed wasn't the right word. A pulse came from the bond. The power of it startled me. It radiated outward from Wyatt like a shockwave.

Yet it gave me an idea of how I could find Jax in this cold environment. I pulsed my own mana out. In a much smaller wave. Seeking out only heat. I sensed several sources of body heat nearby, but only one was completely still.

I rushed to Jax. Finding him pinned beneath the small trunk of a young sapling. Half buried in snow near the beginning of the path of destruction. Mana radiated off of him. Mana that was not his own.

Wyatt had protected him from the fall, but the mana was fading. It's protection was leaving him. I didn't bother trying to wake him. Ethan had been right about there being something wrong with Wyatt. We couldn't wait here.

Jax could whine about being carried around by a girl later. I hauled him up on my shoulder with surprising ease, and took off at a jog. I had to slow down multiple times when I came across downed trees or unstable spots. Another pulse of mana radiated out. This one was just as powerful as the last.

I knew that all this mana was coming from Wyatt, but where was he getting it. I'd never felt him give off power like this without taking the time to gather it. Now each heartbeat was giving off a wave of uncontrolled gentle power. I nearly dropped Jax the second time it happened. There was a gap of nearly ten minutes between each beat.

I moved while I had time. Accelerating so that I was nearly at a full tilt run as the trees thinned. The cliff that Wyatt had come to rest against was steep, and cracked where he'd hit. Ethan was picking up his big head. Trying to wake him.

Wyatt wasn't responding. He lay with his neck stretched out. His legs beneath him, and his wings resting on the ground. Almost like he was sleeping. He wasn't sleeping.

Wyatt wasn't a deep sleeper, and he never slept long. The snow around him had melted. The burns on his belly looked like they were healing. The thing that worried me the most was that if Wyatt was sleeping Ethan should have been able to wake him. Ethan wasn't able to wake him.

That meant he wasn't sleeping. If he's not sleeping then what is actually happening to him? I leaned Jax up against Wyatt's wing, and walked over to Ethan.

"How is he?" I knew this wasn't good, but I wanted to know if Ethan had reached the same conclusion I had.

"It's like his mind isn't there," Ethan frowned, "I don't like this."

Another pulse went out. The effect of it was way more obvious this close. The loose snow was pushed away. It felt like a warm wave of air, and energy. Wyatt healed visibly.

The slight sound of bones grinding as whatever internal damage healed itself. I didn't like this either, but we couldn't just leave him. I didn't know what planet we were on but the mana here seemed to like Wyatt.

"Do you think we're back on Earth?" I walked over to Ethan.

"I don't know," Ethan grumbled, "And I don't care."

"You are," The feminine voice surprised us both.