“What’s going on? Have the demons returned?” she asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
“No, they are long gone. But you have a visitor. Young Joshua came looking for you.”
Gwendolyn opened her mouth to ask all the questions seething in her mouth, but the minute she heard the name of the kid, she forgot them all.
Startled, she ran to the cabin’s main room. “Joshua, what happened? Why are you here at this hour?” she asked, worried.
“Mom is worse, she can barely breathe,” the boy explained, wriggling his hands nervously.
“You came here all alone?” she asked, as she ran into the kitchen, picking herbs and a few bottles on her way.
“Kael found me and helped me get here.”
*The woman snorted but didn’t say anything. Instead, she put all the things she had been collecting in a basket and ran to the small stable at the side of the house, pulling out an old horse and saddling the beast in a few moments.
“Can you take him back home? My horse can’t carry us both,” she asked Kael.
“It will be a pleasure. I’ll see you there.”
She nodded and left in a fast gallop.
“We better walk this time, or we’ll get there faster than Gwendolyn,” Kael suggested, locking the door before he turned to face Joshua.
The kid looked so tired he seemed about to collapse.
He took a deep breath, trying to look stronger than he was, “Yes, you’re right.”
“Or perhaps, we can take the scenic route. That should give your grandmother enough time to get to your place,” Kael suggested, sure the kid wasn’t able to take another step.
“I would like that, thank you,” he assured him, with a weak smile.
Smiling back, Kael spread his wings and had him climb on his back this time. That way, he would be able to have a better view of the world underneath them.
But before they reached the boy’s village, he had fallen asleep, with his arms tightly wrapped around Kael’s neck.
He was about to reach the boy’s village when he saw Gwendolyn’s horse crossing it. He decided to follow her since his passenger was entirely out and when she arrived at a small cabin on the edge of the village, he waited until she got in for him to descend and land on the front porch.
Making his wings disappear, he entered the house in silence with the kid still on his back and took him to the couch he found in the main room. He didn’t want to disturb Gwendolyn and the kid’s mother, so he waited for the older woman right there, watching the boy sleep.
About an hour later, Gwendolyn came in the room, looking tired and stressed.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, with a frown.
“She’s not alright. Her lungs sound about to collapse, and I don’t know what else to do. I’ve tried all the medicines I know, and nothing seems to make her get better,” she explained, wiping a tear from one of her cheeks. “She is all he has,” she added, indicating Joshua. “His father was killed in one of the demons’ attacks.”
Kael looked at the innocent child sleeping. He had no idea how old he was, but he was sure he was too young to be alone in this world.
He recalled that Colborn had once used his blood to heal Gil Ra, even before he had converted her into a drogon. He knew their blood had healing qualities, but he had no idea if it would heal a woman that wasn’t his soulmate.
A low sob from the couch was all he needed to make a decision. Joshua had been listening to them, and he was crying in silence.
It was worth trying. He wouldn’t lose a thing, and we could win a lot.
“I might have something,” he told Gwendolyn. “I’m not sure it will work for her, but at this point, I believe we should try.”
“I’m willing to try anything,” Gwendolyn said, with a tired sigh.
“Make her some tea and give me a cup. I won’t be long,” he suggested leaving the house and entering the nearby forest. Once he was sure he was alone, he slashed open his wrist and collected some blood in it.
When he was done, he licked the wound, and it healed immediately. Thinking of little Joshua, he prayed to all gods in the universe his plan would work, before he returned to the house.
Gwendolyn was already waiting for him with the cup of tea in her hand. “What is it?” she asked, curious.
“It’s something I brought from home,” he replied, evasive. “Give me the tea.”
She handed him the cup, and he mixed his blood with it to disguise its flavor and handed his cup to Gwendolyn. “Make her drink it all,” he instructed.
She nodded and returned to the other woman’s room.
Kael paced the room, impatient, hoping he had done the right thing. Joshua was still crying in silence, but he didn’t have the right words to comfort him. All he could do was wait and pray his blood would do the miracle that was needed.
Gwendolyn finally came out of the room. Her smile was broad and her eyes shined with happiness. “I have no idea what you gave her, but I think you cured her. Her lungs are clear, and she’s breathing perfectly. It’s as if she’s cured,” she said, crossing the room and hugging Kael.
He hugged her back. “I’m happy it worked.”
Joshua jumped out of the couch and joined the embrace. “Thank you, thank you, you saved us both,” he kept mumbling.
“Nonsense,” he dismissed the effusive gratitude.
“You should go back to the house,” Gwendolyn advised him. “Rhiannon will come for you at dawn.”
“You won’t come?”
“No, I rather stay here tonight to make sure Esther is alright. I’ll see you two when you get back,” she explained. “Please, take care of my granddaughter. Don’t let anything bad happen to her,” she added, with a slight frown.
“I’ll protect her with my life.” And he meant every word he was saying.
He walked away from the house and only when he was sure he was alone did he display his wings to fly back to Gwendolyn’s house. He went straight to his room and threw himself on the bed, analyzing the fight with the demons.
Apparently, their strength resided in their numbers. They weren’t very smart creatures, but they were quite lethal when one didn’t have the right weapons to fight them. The fire turned them into ash in a matter of seconds, and that was wonderful news since as a drogon, fire was second nature to him.
But he wouldn’t be able to destroy all the demons by himself, so, he would need help from the villagers. He would have to find a way for them to fight back using fire in a more efficient way than the one they had been using so far. That implied developing some sort of fire weapon, and fortunately, that was something he was good at.
When the sun came up in the sky, he got up and collected his backpack. Gwendolyn had insisted on washing his jumpsuits for the trip since it would be impossible finding clothes in the village able to fit him, so he packed it all, along with all the other things he was taking with them.
Rhiannon arrived only a few minutes later. It surprised him seeing her wearing pants. So far, all the women he had seen in the village had been wearing long dresses. Her long mane was combed in a tight braid, and she had a thick coat as well. He guessed it could get cold in the mountains.
“Good morning. Is grandma still in bed?” she asked, with a smile as she entered the kitchen.
“I hope she is. She had a tough night. Someone came looking for her, in the middle of the night,” he informed. “She spent the night there.”
She sighed. “Who was it this time?”
“A woman called Esther. She was having too much trouble breathing,” he explained, handing her a cup of tea he had prepared.
She took a seat at the table in front of them. “Oh, poor woman, I hope she is feeling better,” she said, cutting a few slices of bread and quickly preparing a couple of sandwiches for them. “Here, eat this with your tea,” she offered. “You’ll need the energy.”
He smiled and took the bread, not making any comment.
“It will take us three days to get to the mountains, so it’s not an easy ride,” she explained. “Using horses is out of the question. There’s no road there, and the woods are too thick to get good speed with a horse. We’ll go faster walking,” she added, finishing her sandwich and her tea.
It was a pity he couldn’t use the escape pod to take them there. The device had no energy left, and even if it did, the thing was designed for a person only.
Flying her, there wasn’t an alternative either. It was impossible to carry her and all the stuff they had to take for their stay.
“Gwendolyn helped prepare everything. We can leave whenever you’re ready,” he informed her. “Did you have any problem convincing your father to let you go?”
“Not at all. It’s something I do with some frequency, so my request didn’t surprise him that much,” she replied with a naughty grin, as she cleared the kitchen. “It’s a shame grandma isn’t here, but I guess we’ll see her when we get back,” she added, picking up the bag she had brought with her.
“She wished us good luck.” He said, smiling as he grabbed his backpack and the other two bags he had prepared with Gwendolyn and they left the house, locking it behind them.
It was a precaution the villagers had learned to take the hard way, when one of them entered his house to find a few demons in it, waiting for him.