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Chapter 9

Lyyreth pushed Infinity gently with a paw a she relaxed with her neck around his. "Infinity?" he asked softly. When she did not reply he said her name again, louder, and filled with growing worry. He knew that she had taken multiple stings from the wyverns, and that the poison was now coursing through her body. She had said she could regenerate her wounds like a hydra, but as Lyyreth looked to her own blood stained body it certainly did not seem the case. He pressed a claw against her, feeling her heart pump weakly against his touch. Good...she's alive...for now. He pushed against her again. "Infinity. You have to stay awake, or the poison." He wrinkled his snout as he pictured her dying now. Right after she had just used that potion on himself. When she could have used it on herself. Ice gripped at his heart when he started to feel that her heart was growing weaker and weaker with each passing moment.

"Come on Infinity." he pushed against her. "Wake up."

"Only for a few minutes." she mumbled sleepily. "I just want to sleep here...with Axton."

Was she hallucinating? That is certainly not a good sign. Lyyreth groaned and thumped his tail. What was he supposed to do? He could not heal poison, that was beyond him. He could offer her the two red potions on the ground, they might be able to help her. But they would not cure the poison that is eating away at her right now. He pulled his neck free from her, and helped guide her head to the ground softly. "You have to get up Infinity, please." His voice began to crack. All my fault again. I bring my brother out here to help her...and all I do is get him caught and her almost dead...probably going to die at this rate. He felt sick to his stomach as he was once again reminded about the fort, and how if not for his adventurer friends he and his brother would have most likely ended up dead. But your not here now...and look what I got them into..

He picked his head up to look at the entrance to the cave when he heard the sounds of foot steps on the cavern floor. "Whose there." he snarled, letting out a growl from his throat.

Jerry came walking into the cave, holding a torch aloft in his hand. The warm glow lighting up his wrinkled stern face. He was wearing a set of earth colored worn leather armor. Slung around his back was a gnarled looking bow, and a quiver of arrows beside it. His eyes went from Lyyreth to the Infinity, and he frowned. "Knock it off Chippy. Now is that there the girl dragon you were head over heels for?"

"Not like that." Lyyreth grumbled. "She got stabbed, poisoned, she's bleeding." his voice started to strain as he struggled to keep the fear filling his heart out.

"I need ya to snap out of it." the man spoke calmly, striding over to place a hand onto the dragoness without a hint of fear. "She ain't going to be moving for awhile. We are going to have to move her."

"How do you expect to do that?" Lyyreth rumbled, nudging Infinity again to get up.

"I need ya to make her smaller is all, then we can pick her up and head back to my house." the human thumbed over his shoulder. "Got the horse outside. I figure I carry her in my lap, and you fly beside me."

"I..can't fly at the moment." Lyyreth fidgeted his wings, wincing as they send a shiver of pain through him. "My entire body is sore...she told me I almost died myself."

"Well that's what ya get for acting like a bloody fool." Jerry spit on the ground, kneeling beside the wounded Infinity.

"How do you know I can make her smaller? I have only shown you I can do it to myself."

"I have seen other dragons do it before." the human held up his hand to silence the next question that threatened to leave Lyyreth's snout. "I can tell ya bout it another time. Right now we got to tend to your lady friend, or I reckon she is about to die."

"What can you do for her at your house that we can't do here?" Lyyreth wrinkled his muzzle.

"I have herbs, plants, and other various things at the house." Jerry touched her scales again, taking in a deep breath. "Things I can use to cure her of the poison...Magic Lyyreth, I can do nature magic."

"But you said you were...retired?" Lyyreth struggled to stand, his legs wobbling below him as he flicked back his tail.

"Retired doesn't mean I forgot how to do everything!" Jerry shot back, "Just that I haven't done them in a long time! I know some healing, tracking, and I can do some tricks with me arrows." He patted the bow on his back. "So once we get to the house, I am certain I can cure your lady friend of her poison."

"I...am glad we ate your cow." Lyyreth groaned, touching Infinities scales with his claw. He pictured her smaller than how she was. Small enough that she would be able to be picked up with ease by himself or the human who was giving him a glare.

"I am going to figure you meant that you were happy to know me? Not that you liked the fact you ate my cow."

"That's what I meant." Lyyreth sighed, twisting his tail in a circular pattern, while tracing Infinities scales with his claw. He closed his eyes gently, and focused the magic in his bones. He had used most of his magic for the night, and this would be the last bit of it for the day. I just hope we don't run into any more trouble....with how weakened I am from the potion...and without any spells....it will be up to Jerry. He pushed the thought from his mind. Hopefully it did not come to that, and the aging farmer would not be forced to fight. Focus Lyyreth, focus on saving the dragoness that saved you. "bulde vuldak." he spoke clearly, letting a wave of yellow magic flow off him like droplets of water. The magic soaked into Infinities scales, and spread little lines all around her body. Lyyreth sighed as she started to shrink before his eyes, until she was roughly the size of a small housecat.

"Well that is certainly a nice trick." Jerry mentioned, shifting his eyes to the sky outside the cave. "What did you say did the poison again?"

"Wyverns." Lyyreth muttered, placing a talon to his skull and focusing on making himself smaller. "They have a different type of poison than I am familiar with. I was immune to it as I should have been, but it somehow stopped her from regenerating. Which is something I have never heard of their poison be able to do before." Lyyreth shrunk down to the size of a large dog, and picked Infinity up with one limb and pressed her against his chest. "They must have been modified somehow specifically to hunt her." Lyyreth wrinkled his snout as he focused on the story that Infinity had just told him about the tower, and the undead creature she had called a lich. If anything I would put coin on that this was all his doing.

"Nasty thing Wyverns." Jerry snarled. "I seen there poison do nasty things to people once they get stung, horrible thing to watch as someone spasms in pain. Lucky your friend their be a dragon, otherwise I think she might have been a goner long ago." Jerry gave him a nod, and waved Lyyreth over to the cavern entrance. "So what exactly happened?" He gestured to the numerous dead wyvern scattered around the ground. "Looks like an animal ripped into them."

Lyyreth carried himself slowly, ignoring the soreness in his limbs. "That was me. I made sure that they did not finish her off." He remembered each rip of his talons into their flesh, each bite as he tore chunks from them. And I felt nothing while I did it. When the moment came, it had been Infinities life or those of the wyverns. He frowned at how easy it had been to take their lives again and again when it had meant freeing his brother or rescuing the black dragoness.

"Didn't think ya had it in ya honestly Chippy." Jerry muttered, stepping around a pool of crimson goo. "I figured your brother to be the more aggressive one...You really did a number on these critters." Jerry smothered the torch on one of the wyvern corpses, wrinkling his nose at the stench of burning flesh.

"Not just the critters." Lyyreth folded his frills against the back of his neck as they neared the bay horse, that bore a saddle with tan bags for holding things. "I also killed many mortals tonight."

"I bet they deserved it though." Jerry snapped back. "Best not to think about the lives of pieces of trash like that. People tend to get too harped on right and wrong they forget the way of wilderness at times." The old man patted the horse's saddle with his hand gently. "When push comes to shove, it often just boils down to your life or mine. Those folks decided to try and kill you, or take you away. You fought back. Simple as that Chippy."

"It doesn't feel that simple. I feel like a murderer at times."

"If that is what it takes to survive." Jerry quickly climbed onto his horse, his eyes once again scanning the sky. "I'd rather have you and your brother around. Instead of a bunch of horrible mercenaries that go after innocent dragons for coin."

Lyyreth nodded, wiggling his haunches. He bounded up towards the man, mindful of his talons as he settled onto his lap. He nestled down, still holding Infinity within his grip.

"You know, when yer this small I forget you're a dragon." Jerry laughed. "More like an adorable puppy."

Lyyreth said not a word, and pulled Infinity closer. He pressed his snout against her form gently, breathing a sigh of relief when he could still feel her heartbeating, and her breaths coming at a regular pace. Stay strong Infinity, you only have to survive to his house, and than he will heal you.

"What happened to your brother?" Jerry asked, grabbing hold of the reins and getting the horse to start galloping into the forest.

"The hunters got him." Lyyreth sighed, feeling guilt strike at his heart. "He was captured because we went looking for her. It was all my fault Jerry."

"Nonsense." Jerry snapped back, tapping him on the snout with a finger. "He got caught because they had those wyvern critters, and I bet a ton of folks with them. It was not your fault Chippy, stop being stupid and blaming it on yourself."

"Your a brave wrinkled bastard to tell that to a dragon." Lyyreth grumbled into his lap.

"Bet your scaled ass that I am, I also know when to put one of ya in yer place when yer being stupid." Jerry guided the horse around a large stump that jutted up from the ground to block their path. "So they have your brother, that ain't good news. But I guess after we heal your lady friend you two can go after him?"

"Yea, we took out most of the wyverns, enough that they will have to get a cart or something and carry my brother out that way."

"See? We have the time on our side than." Jerry grinned. "Even if they head out, you lot can overtake them by the air. Get the ole jump on them, get your brother back."

Lyyreth smiled weakly as the old man tapped his scales comfortingly. How is it that mortals always seem to be so optimistic? Or that they know the right thing to say to lift a dragon's spirits? He looked down to Infinity, admiring her dark grey armored snout. She looked so at peace right now, curled up against him. She looked rather adorable, almost making him forget that they were rushing now to get back and save her life.

"Hows spiky doing?" Jerry's voice snapped him from his fond gaze.

"Wait...spiky?' Lyyreth looked up to the man who was looking down at them.

"Well I don't know her real name do I? So it's going to be spike or spiky for now Chippy. So I ask again, how is she doing?"

Lyyreth touched her snout, wrinkling his own as it felt much warmer than a dragon's was supposed to be. "She is burning up, but other then that she is holding on."

"That means she's a tough customer." Jerry grinned. "Let's hope she can keep up that strength until we get those herbs to her. His head suddenly jerked up as he looked behind them, as the sound of leathery flapping wings filled the air.

Lyyreth snuck a peek behind the human to see that there was a solitary wyvern, with it's rider on its back flying towards them. The dragon like creature was gliding towards them now, with its mouth wide open, showing off its numerous rows of teeth. Oh no.. Lyyreth clutched the dragoness tighter, feeling dread build within his chest. He felt a wave of helplessness wrap itself around him as his nerves went numb. The rider held a bow in his hands, already having drawn an arrow. He narrowed his eyes and knocked the thing.

"Jerry!" he shouted out, tapping the man on the chest with his claw.

"I see them." The old man snarled, unslinging his bow from his back and guiding the horse with his knees. He drew an arrow from his quiver, and trained it on the pursuing hunter and wyvern.

The rider loosed his arrow first. The projectile sailing through the air at them, intent to end one of their lives. However to Lyyreth's relief, the thing went wide and struck the ground uselessly beside them. He heard the man curse out into the night, and once again go to draw another arrow as his wyvern flapped its wings and carried them closer.

"Not a very good shot is he?" Jerry muttered, letting fly his own arrow in response. The projectile struck the wyvern right on the front of it's snout, making the beast roar in annoyance. "Damn." Jerry grit his teeth as the horse avoided a tree. "Meant to hit the damn things eye. " Curse my trembling hands." The human quickly grabbed another arrow from his quill, and Lyyreth noticed that this one had a small black squid that was painted on the shaft. "Come on...Come on.." the human muttered as he focused on their pursuers.

The rider once again loosed his arrow first. It would have struck Jerry in his shoulder if not for the horse swerving to the right. The arrow instead struck the ground, causing the man to curse once more.

Jerry smiled. "That's right boy, I know how to ride a horse." He let loose his own arrow, it once again sailed towards the target and hit the wyvern's snout. However this time it exploded with a click of Jerrys mouth. From the arrow came a large black inky cloud that covered wyvern and rider completely.

The wyvern and rider descended towards them, the ink clearly covering their eyes. The best flapped its wings at it roared out into the night, quickly crashing and tumbling into the grass with a cloud of dirt and grass. The rider flipped out of his saddle and landed next to his beast with a pained shout.

"You got em!" Lyyreth cheered as he watched the pair grow smaller and smaller with each gallop of the horse below him.

"See I still got it." Jerry chuckled, stowing his bow and grabbing hold of the reins again. "Might not have killed em, but it will slow them down long enough for me to reach my farm."

"You think you can hold them off it they come looking for her?" Lyyreth asked as he saw in the distance the wyvern raise from the ground and let out a schriek. "What can you do at a farm?"

"It's my home Chippy, besides we got James, Jeff, and my wife." Jerry growled in the back of his throat. "Figure they won't be around for some time anyway with all their wyvern missin and all. That'll give you and your lady dragon friend enough time to heal up."

"Jerry."

"Yea Chippy?"

"Thanks for everything."

"Don't mention it little dragon. I can't have my new farm hands going up and dying can I?" He chuckled, lowering his hand and gently running a hand along Lyyreth's scales.

The dragon closed his eyes and let out a pleased croon. Luckily as the horse carried them through the forest they didn't run into any more trouble. There was no sound of leathery wings, nor schrieks, roars, or even the shouts of men. It seemed like they had actually gotten away when Jerry's horse broken free of the forest and he could see the buildings of the farm in the distance. Lyyreth could have never imagined that these moon lit buildings would ever look so inviting in his entire life. "Just hold on Infinity, we're going to get you better. Just you watch."