Victor Rosevale's Arc

Chapter 5 of 18

Sable slept against the cleft wall. Her breath was steady now, but her face was gray, and when Victor lifted her shoulder to check the wrap, she did not wake. The wound held. The woman would not travel. Victor knew this the way he knew weather. She needed a roof, a fire, and three days off that leg. He had none of it. The two men who cut her would come back when they saw the falcon circle. He stepped to the mouth of the cleft and looked at the trail. Open ground in every direction. A blood smear on the stone behind him. He could not carry her fast, and he could not stay. The moss-covered dragon was still there. It sat on its haunches at the edge of the ferns, watching him with that pale blue eye. Wet leaves clung to its shoulders. It had not left since the spring. "I need somewhere to put her," Victor said. He felt foolish speaking to it. He said it anyway. "Somewhere they won't find her. A day. Maybe more." The dragon stood. It walked up to Victors and knelt down as if to offer its back for Sable. Victor’s eyes widened in surprise then smiled in gratitude. Victor wrapped Sable in his coat and lifted her gently into the dragon’s back. "Hold on, honey," he said. "One more move." He followed the dragon uphill. Victor laid Sable down on the leaves once they made it. He touched the water in the basin. Warm. He wet a cloth and pressed it to her mouth. She swallowed. Her eyes opened halfway. "Where are we." "A room the dragon knew about," he said. "You'll stay here until you can stand." "You'll stay too." "Of course my love." She found his hand. Her grip was thin but sure. "If they come up the trail, you don't fight two men alone. You wake me. You hear me, Victor." "I hear you honey. But I have a strong feeling that we have all the help we need." He replied as he smiled at the dragon. He kissed her forehead and settled her against the wall. He set the spear across his knees. Outside, the dragon curled at the lip of the hollow and laid its head on its forelegs, facing the trail.