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Chapter 8

"Lyyreth?" She nudged the green dragon with her snout. Her eyes looked to the numerous wounds, cuts, and gashes that lined his body. His viridian scales that were so vibrant were now splattered and stained with blood. "Lyyreth!" she said louder, raising her paws and pushing against his shoulder, fear starting to climb up her throat once again. You can't be dead. He mind whispered as she thought back to Axton, and how he had turned to ash within her very claws. Not again..

She turned back towards the cave, moving as quickly as she could. She ignored that every claw on the ground brought a fresh wave of pain that nearly made her topple over. There has to be something I can do right? Her thoughts flashed to the brown pack that Axton had grabbed before they escaped the tower. Her thoughts soured, but it was the only thought that came to her head. Maybe there is something in there. She painfully forced herself each step of the way until she was standing before the small worn leather pack.

It will have everything we need for the journey. Axton's voice came to her mind, bright and cheery like it was. Infinity opened it with a small groan, pushing him away from her mind. Lyyreth needs you, or....he will die. She opened the pack carefully, emptying the contents onto the cavern floor. Even though they were blurry, each item that was spread before her brought another stab to her heart when her eyes gazed down onto them. There was a small journal that Axton had used to record his thoughts and idea. Next to that was a stack of drawings, all of them of her in various poses. Placed on top of the drawings was the gold coin that he had brought to her when she was captive. My first treasure. The last three items that had come from the pack were three potions wrapped in clothing. Two of them were a dull red in color and had a picture of a cross plastered on the glass. The last potion was midnight black, with a small note in Axton's handwriting. "Only for emergencies." Infinitie's eyes narrowed as she inspected that vial, for it looked like the liquid that the lich had used on her to regenerate her limbs and organs. "Healing." she whispered, grabbing the black potion and making her way back towards the injured green dragon.

When her eyes fell to a blurry Lyyreth once more she felt ice grip at her heart. For beneath him there was now a pool of crimson that was forming on the ground. How would he even live from this? She winced in pain as she took another step towards him, her tail flicking behind her. I just have to hope this works. She took position near his head, breathing in deep as she did so. Please. She prayed as she fumbled but eventually uncorked the potion with her teeth, opened his maw with one of her claws, and poured the black potion down into his throat. She tossed the empty vial away, the glass shattering on impact to the ground. With both of her forepaws she grabbed at Lyyeth's head and tilted his neck back to force him to swallow the potion. She breathed heavily as panic started creeping back into her mind. Please work..please. There was a pregnant pause with her standing there, claws on the dragon that had worked hard to save her. It appeared the potion had not worked with each passing second. Her heart tumbled from her chest, as her limbs started to quiver. All for nothing. Her spines folded against her scales as she hung her head. Just like Axton.

The air suddenly filled with a loud rasping cough, as Lyyreth's body spasmed within her grasp. His eyes shot open in fear as he pawed at the air, gasping for breath. Lyyreth's tail thumped on the ground strongly, coughing up some of the black potion she had poured down his gullet. "Infinity." he managed to cough out, gazing up into her eyes.

"Don't talk." she quickly replied, "Let the potion do it's work, you're badly hurt."

"H-how about you?"

"I'm fine." Infinity lied, looking down to her own wounds that lined her body. She could still feel each one burning from the poison that was coursing through her body. It's even stopping my regeneration. She helped the green dragon stand, and limped with him back to the cave.

"W-we have to get out of here." he stammered with a weak voice.

"You're too weak right now." she said, her voice almost a whisper as she leaned up against him. She would not admit it to him right now, but she needed him to stand just as much as he needed her. "Hopefully we killed enough of them to think twice about coming immediately after us."

"What if we didn't?" he asked, coughing more black liquid onto the ground beneath them. To anyone else it might sound like the dragon was now worse off than he had been doing.

But its working...I know it is.. "Let's not think about that for the moment, since it doesn't matter." she replied flatly. For it was true in her mind. If the hunters came for them now there was little they could do to stop them. She and Lyyreth would be captured, bound, and shipped back to the lich. And spend the rest of our natural lives in experiments and torture. She narrowed her eyes as she and Lyyreth settled into the cave, plopping down next to each other with a pained grunt.

"You don't sound okay." he gasped, looking to her with concern on his face.

"I..I said I was fine." she snapped weakly at him. "Now leave it be."

"We...we need to go." Lyyreth went to stand, but she quickly snatched him with her forelimbs and held him down. "What are you doing?"

"You can barely stand and almost died." She snarled, "Sit down and let the potion work. I will force you to stay here if need be."

"B-but he needs me Infinity." Lyyreth stammered, reluctantly settling down next to her. The green dragon repeated the words and set his head down onto the ground, giving a small snort.

"And it will do your brother no good if we go out there, wounded and weak. We will just get caught even faster, and than we will all be in big trouble."

"I feel like death." Lyyreth groaned, twitching his tail behind her softly. "That potion you used tasted disgusting."

"It was not supposed to taste good. It was supposed to heal you." She rose her head to look down across his scales. She smiled when it appeared that most of the wounds had already started to heal. The smaller ones had already sealed themselves up, leaving no trace that they had been there. "It appears to be doing the job as well, so just sit there and relax. You will be healed in no time."

"What about you?"

"I can regenerate faster than most dragons. Sort of like a hydra creature I was told." She wrinkled her snout.

"How can you do that? I have never read of dragon's having that ability before."

"I...was experimented on...and it was forced onto me." she sighed, settling her own head against the ground. The back of her head started to feel fuzzy, as her vision started to swirl slightly. "Just sleep off the pain, we will go after your brother when we are healed."

"Why did you come to help me? You had no reason to do so."

_ You think I am that heartless?_ "Because I don't want anyone to go through the hellhole that I escaped from." she sighed softly.

"Tell me about it. I need to know what is at stake..concerning my brother."

Infinity said not a word and merely gestured to her scars with a wave.

Lyyreth's eyes trace along her scales as his frills turned a darker shade of green. The green dragon then sneezed once, clutching at his snout with his claws. "So it's bad then."

"Worse than bad." Infinity had quick flashes of all the experiments that left her in such pain. The torture that had left her crying, broken, and bleeding on the cold stone. "Hell."

"Then I need to....leave." Lyyreth went to stand again, but she once more pulled him down.

"I just told you to sit! Did you take a few blows to the head that made you forget? We got most of the wyverns, that means they have to move your brother by foot. We will have time, so sit down and rest!"

"You expect me to just sit here? Knowing they will be shipping him off to what you just called hell? How will I live with myself if he dies?" Lyyreth's ragged voice got louder with each word. "We were only out here looking for you! Do you know what it's like to have someone get hurt because of you?"

"Yes....that's exactly what I expect you to do." she said patiently, than paused when he spoke the final sentence. "More than you know." she whispered, turning away from him. She could feel her heart start to stretch once again as she remembered her son. Her eyes started to mist, but she fought it. He doesn't need to see you cry.

"I'm sorry." Lyyreth's voice softened, and lowered. "That was stupid of me....Who got hurt?"

"He was my adopted son." She closed her eyes, fighting back the tears and tightness in her throat.

"Tell me about him." Lyyreth gestured to the pack that was still lying on the ground. "I can assume I can thank the owner of the pack that I am still alive?"

"He was so little...and happy...He gave me hope." her voice trailed off, her maw starting to quiver as her scales shook.

"W-what was his name?'

"Axton."

"Well thank you Axton." Lyyreth said in a whisper. "For saving my life."

Infinity gave a small laugh as tears started to come from her eyes. "It would have been so like him to save you. He was so caring at times. But he was fierce, and very brave when the time came." She spoke the words with such pride, she might have even swelled up her chest without knowing it."He was my little human son.

"Are you sure? You talk as if he was a dragon." Lyyreth than frowned. "What happened to him?"

"He died helping me escape the hellhole your brother is going to." She felt her body freeze as she pictured holding Axton within her claws, and once more watching him explode into onyx colored dust.

"Funny thing mortals." Lyyreth groaned. "They live such short lives when compared to us, yet they wiggle their ways into your heart...You know he will always be with you right?"

She nodded softly.

"Tell me more about him...so he can live on in me as well."

What should I tell him? She tried to rack her mind for answer as she stared into his kind yellow eyes. So she gave up and told him everything about him. She told him of the first day they met, laughing at the fact he had fallen into her enclosure. She told him about flying, creampuffs, playing together, snuggling, and even when he became a black dragon. She started to cry when she got near the end of the story, telling Lyyreth about her final escape and battle with the undead monster that had held her captive.

Her voice started to tremble as she described his pain filled scream, and how it had made her heart practically stop. She hung her head with her spines folded, almost certain that she could not go on with the story. That is when she felt Lyyreth wrap his wings around her, and embrace her in a hug. She sniffed and cried, leaning into him.

"Its ok." he whispered, resting his head on her back. He patted her scales gently, "He sounds like one of the bravest humans ever to have graced this earth....I wish I could have met him."

Infinity just nodded, pulling the green dragon closer as she continued to stain his scales with her tears.

"I need your help getting my brother back...I can't imagine him going through what you went through.

"I know we will, but we need to heal."

"Will you go on without me if I cannot keep up? I saw you fly, you're very fast. Your beautiful wings carried you through the air so swiftly, it was like you were a blur."

She let out a small laugh as she felt her cheeks go warm from the compliment.

"I mean your wings of course...your fast...um..and your scales...um..yea.." He rubbed the back of his neck with one of his black wing talons. "I'm just going to stop now."

She just smiled and gave him a half-hearted snort.

"Sorry..I get nervous around pretty people." His frills turned a darker shade of green again. "I mean people!" he sneezed.

You are kinda adorably awkward. She laughed, holding him closer.

"So will you do it? Help my brother?"

"Of course." she replied without hesitation. She felt the fuzziness return to her head, as the rest of her limbs started to grow heavy. Is this still the poison?

"Thank you Infinity...for everything." Lyyreth nuzzled his neck softly against hers.

"N-no problem." she blushed, returning the gesture gently. She could feel her own movements getting slower as the cave started to spin around her. but..I'm not really spinning am I? She wrapped her neck around the green dragon, letting out a sigh as the poison's pain started to fade away. She flicked her tail against the ground gently, already feeling herself starting to fade.

"Infinity." Lyyreth said to her, it almost sounded like his voice was coming from far away, filled with such concern.

Why are you so concerned about me? I'm only tired Lyyreth. She gave a snort of laughter as she closed her eyes.

"Infinity!" his voice came again, seemingly further away this time, filled with even more panic. "You have to stay awake! The poison! Infinity!

I'll only rest my eyes for a minute. She sighed, picturing herself holding Axton in her paws. She caressed the little human with her claw, delighting in his content sigh. I'll rest here a little longer with Axton....then we can go get your brother. Infinity heard Lyyreth call out to her one more time, but his voice was barely a whisper. She just pressed her snout against Axton and let herself drift away.