Scarlett Meris's Arc

Chapter 11 of 15

They found the blue dragon at the edge of a stripped pine grove, curled on its side in a bed of broken needles. One wing lay open at a wrong angle. A barb was still lodged deep in the muscle above the shoulder. Blood had dried black around it. The dragon lifted its head as Kieran's mount landed, and its throat rattled a warning. Scarlett slid down before Kieran could speak. She stopped ten paces out and raised her empty hands. "I'm not here to ride you," she said. "I'm here to pull that out." The dragon watched her. It did not lower its head. Kieran stayed near his own mount and kept his voice flat. "It knows my coat. It saw riders like me in the sky." "Then stay back." She unbuckled the rune-sword and set it in the needles behind her. The runes on the blade dimmed as she stepped away. She wanted the dragon to see her walk from a weapon, not toward one. From her satchel she took a bundle of red petals wrapped in damp cloth. She held them up so the dragon could smell them. It knew the smell. Its ears eased back a finger's width. She knelt at the wound. The barb was seated against bone. She worked the petals into the torn edges, and the dragon's breath hissed but its head stayed down. She braced her boot on the shoulder, gripped the shaft, and pulled straight. The barb came free with a wet sound. She flung it into the pines. Blood came fast. She packed the hole with the rest of the petals and pressed until the flow slowed. Her hands shook once. She steadied them. When she looked up, Kieran was closer than she'd told him to be. He had the dark iron charm out again, turning it in his fingers as if he could wake it. "It's dead," she said. "I know." He crouched across from her. His violet eyes stayed on the dragon, not on her. "You did that clean." "You could have said that from over there." "I could have." The dragon breathed. It closed one eye. Not sleep. Trust, or the nearest thing to it. Scarlett wiped her hands on the moss. Kieran reached across the dragon's flank and covered her wrist with his hand. She didn't pull away. She let his thumb settle on the pulse there. For a breath, the whole grove narrowed to that point of contact. "Not here," she said. "No," he agreed. He didn't move his hand. A horn sounded, thin and far, three times from the south ridge. Not patrol pattern.this was the humans. Kieran let go of her wrist and stood with a furrowed brow. "I’ve studied human military intelligence. That sound means fae spotted. They are going to battle. Scarlett looked at the dragon, dozing off now. Then she looked at Kieran, “where?”