Glowly's Arc

Chapter 6 of 16

Glowly stood at the cave mouth, flask full and pack heavy with dried fish. The dark ridge waited across the channel. She took one step toward it, then stopped. Her knees buckled. Nova caught her arm before she fell. "You can't stand straight," Nova said. Her chalky hands gripped tight. "Look at you. Look at me." She held up her own arm. A long scrape ran from wrist to elbow, crusted and red. "We crossed on nothing but fear. Push into that ruin now and we drop inside it. Nobody drags us out." Glowly wanted to argue. Her father was close. The steps were close. But her vision swam, and the ground tilted under her feet. Nova was right. The crossing had wrung them dry. The cave had food and water, but it could not heal bruised legs and torn skin in an hour. "One day," Glowly said. The words hurt. "We rest one full day. We eat. We sleep. Then we go." Nova nodded and steered her back inside. They spread the rolled blanket on the cave floor. Glowly cleaned Nova's scrape with fresh water and bound it in cloth from the shelf. Nova wrapped Glowly's swollen ankle the same way. The wolf pup curled between them and slept. That was when Glowly heard the scratching. Something small moved behind the crates. She reached for the shovel. Nova raised a hand to stop her. A head poked out. It was a little dragon, no bigger than the pup. Blue scales, small folded wings, a spiked tail. It blinked at them with wide orange eyes. It had been hiding in the cache, thin and hungry. "Easy," Nova whispered. She tossed a strip of dried fish. The dragon snapped it up, then crept closer. It sniffed Glowly's bandaged ankle and made a low, warm sound. Heat rolled off its body like a coal. Glowly held her breath. The little dragon pressed against her wrapped leg. The warmth sank into the sore muscle. The ache eased. She looked at Nova. "It's helping," Glowly said. They rested through the day and the night. The dragon curled against their hurts, and its heat drove the stiffness out. Glowly slept without waking. She ate until her hands stopped shaking. When morning came, she stood and put weight on her ankle. It held. She tested it again. No buckle. No swim in her sight. Nova rolled her arm and grinned. The scrape had closed to a thin line. "We're ready now," Nova said. Glowly packed the last of the fish and filled a second flask. The little dragon climbed onto her shoulder and settled there, warm and light. The wolf pup stood at the cave mouth, waiting. Glowly looked across the channel to the dark ridge and the drowned steps below it. "Now we search," she said. This time her legs did not shake.