FSE

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Chapter 10

"Here bring her inside...be careful now." Jerr spoke quickly, opening the wooden barn door quickly. He lit a few torches with a flint and steel, casting the entire place in an orange glow. "Okay now look over here." Jerry muttered, walking over towards a section of the barn that was stacked with boxes and squares of golden hay. The man shoved some of them off of the floor to reveal a large door heading into the ground. "Had it installed years ago, in case these sorts of things happen...Or the occasional storm and all."

"You want me to bring her down there?" Lyyreth asked, looking down to the small Infinity clinging to his scales. Her eyes were closed as her chest rose and fell. If Lyyreth didn't know any better he would say the little dragoness was asleep.

"Not at first, just pointing it out in case things start ta go south is all." the man shrugged.

"You think things will go south?" Lyyreth shivered at the thought of more people getting hurt because of him. Especially an elderly farmer who had no business getting caught up in all of this mess.

"Its an expression Chip, but your buddies I figure won't give up the chase for the black dragon because an old man grabbed her. If they know you're as wounded as you is..." The man let out a sigh. "Then I can imagine it won't be long till they come lookin for ya." Jerry then patted a section of the hay that Lyyreth and his brother had used for beds. "Now go lay down over there and get comfortable. I'll go get my wife and some herbs." Jerry paused as he went to leave the barn, his eyes looking to Lyyreth with concern. He must have seen the worry on the dragon's snout because his next words were spoken softly. "Don't worry Chippy. We got her this far, we can get her a bit further."

Lyyreth looked to the farmer as he settled onto his haunches, and nodded. When the man had left he carefully placed Infinity on the hay like she was a newly hatched dragon. He curled around her like a protective mother, and held her gently with his paws. "Don't worry Infinity." he nuzzled her snout softly. "Just have to hold on for a little bit longer." He let out a sigh and let go of the spell that was making her small. In a matter of moments Infinity and himself were their proper sizes, with him still pressed up against her. He lowered his snout to her chest, and pressed himself against her. Good. He sighed in relief as he listened to the steady rhythm of her heart. Once more he found himself trying to not focus on the wounds that lined her body, the fresh ones from the wyverns, and the scars she got from this hellhole of a tower she told him about. If we don't save Cordenth...that will be what happens to him. He frowned as he pictured his brother screaming out into the air as someone with a wicked blade cut into his green scales. No. he shook his head, flicking his tail behind him with a snort. We will save you before then...We just have to. He rested his head beside Infinitie's cuddling up against the dragoness and hoping that his warmth was helping her in some way hold onto life.

They stayed like that for several minutes filled with nothing but the sound of their breathing. He watched her eye-lids flutter for a moment, but she was still very much unconscious. Lyyreth held his head up, his eyes going to the barn door as it opened.

Jerry came inside holding a metal tub filled with all sorts of green herbs, vials, wooden bowls, and other various instruments. Holding the other side of it was Jaiden. Her eyes went to Lyyreth, and then to Infinity. If she was scared the woman did not show it. She was dressed in an off-white nightgown, and despite how late it was, she seemed alert.

"She's big." Jaiden muttered as they set the tub on the barn floor softly.

"Yea I know, she got stung up pretty bad too." Jerry crouched low and started sifting through the tub, moving aside green plant after green plant. His brow was wrinkled, and his eyes filled with determination as the elderly man continued with his search.

"What's her name?" Jaiden asked, pulling out the wooden bowl and taking position by Infinities head.

"Don't know her title to give you." Lyyreth rumbled. "But your mate has been calling her Spike or Spiky."

"I'll have to ask her when she gets up." Jaiden chuckled, "Can't be calling a girl dragon spike can we?"

"I don't think she would like that." Lyyreth chuckled in return.

"Will she be friendly towards us Chip?" Jaiden's eyes filled with concern a she looked up to the green dragon. "Am I or my husband in any danger?"

"I will be here to explain what happened." He quickly replied. "She also adopted a human child as her son. So I don't imagine her just attacking the first people she sees."

"Good." Jaiden touched Infinities snout softly, rubbing her hand gently around the surface. "She's warm to the touch. Jerry." Jaiden turned towards her husband. "How is it coming along?"

"I think I found it....there." The man pulled out a purplish looking plant that looked to have a small yellow line close to where the leaves were. He also pulled a greenish plant with little teal lines on the surface of the stalk. "Just gotta mush these together...and with a little magic she will be fine." Jerry walked over to Jaiden and placed the herbs into the bowl, to which the woman started smashing them together with a small wooden instrument.

"What do you need to do?' Lyyreth asked, cocking his head to the side as he watched Jaiden work on the herbs. "Do you need to inject them or something? Maybe get her to eat them? Or perhaps press them against the wounds and heal her?"

"Do I look like one of those apothecaries?" Jaiden chuckled, taking the wooden bowl from his wife with a smile. "I don't need any of their vials and needles and such." he thanked his wife, and carefully padded over towards the wounded dragoness. "Here...we can try these first....just gotta get her to swallow them."

Lyyreth watched as his breaths grew quicker with each passing second. He flicked his tail as Jerry crouched low beside Infinity's head. The man pressed his hands against her snout and gave a small grunt.

"Could you help me get her snout open?" Jerry turned back towards Lyyreth with a sigh. "She's got her mouth shut tighter than a locked tomb door."

Lyyreth nodded as he brought one of his claws down, and parted the dragoness' maw. This allowed the human to take some of the forest green paste that he had made, and smear it around the dragoness' forked tongue gently.

"Here." Jaiden brought over a jug of water and handed it to her husband. "So she can swallow the stuff."

"Thanks hun." Jerry opened up the container and poured some of it into Infinity's maw. "Now Chippy, can ya get her to swallow it?"

Lyyreth pulled the dragoness' neck up, rubbing along the scales to get her to swallow down the dark green concoction of liquid and herbs. It probably tasted just as bad as the black potion that she had given him, but it would end up saving her life. I hope anyway.

Jerry than ran his hand along her scales, tracing along the smooth surface. "Vokrase viidost." escaped through his wrinkled lips as green magic seemed to flow off of his fingers. The light absorbed into the dragoness's scales like water into a sponge. "There." the man said softly, patting her hide. "Should be cured of that poison stuff, now it's just up to her body to heal."

"So what happened to her?" Jaiden asked softly.

Lyyreth let out a sigh, placing his head into his paws. "She explained it like this." Lyyreth went on to tell the tale that Infinity had told to him when they were in the cave. He tried to remember all the bits she talked about. Axton, the Lich, the torture and the horrible days that she experienced. His frills drooped when he saw the woman's face frown, and she gasped at the end.

"T-that...is horrible!" She exclaimed, turning to Infinity and running a hand along the top of her snout. "And...she keeps going..that's...brave."

"I know, and those folks hunting her want to bring her back to that place."

"Which is why we ain't gonna let them." Jerry crossed his arms. "I'm going to get some things." he said standing up with a stern face. He gave his wife a knowing nod, and left the barn without another word.

Lyyreth and Jaiden sat in silence as they watched Infinity breath steadily in and out the entire time. He could feel the fear and anxiety that had held his heart for the last hour start to fade away. Who would have thought that the life of a dragon would hang in the balance, and be saved because they decided to stick around and help out a farmer. "Thank you Jaiden." Lyyreth said softly, turning towards her with his frills twitching.

"It's nothing, Chip." She replied. "It's the least we could do for such good helpers."

"It feels like you've gone above and beyond that." He replied, licking Jaiden across the face with his slimy eel of a tongue. "She would be dead without you two."

She wiped her face with a little laugh. "You're a gentleman."

"Gentle dragon." he corrected her, nuzzling her with his neck softly. "Hopefully you and your family doesn't get hurt trying to help us."

She sighed. "I certainly hope we don't."

Lyyreth turned his attention back towards Infinity, watching her chest rise and fall as she breathed. He could see the wounds that were covering her body start to heal at a rapid pace, some of the smaller ones already starting to heal. He let out a small rumble in his throat, as it appeared her words about the hyrda blood being true the entire time. Thankfully. "I wonder what she is dreaming about right now." He sighed, turning to Jaiden again.

She shrugged. "Only she could say."

*

Infinity ran through a field of grass, smiling as the sun shined down on her scales. She bounded after the form of Axton, who was keeping his distance from her despite her quickness. Her blood began to pump faster with each foot of ground she covered towards the laughing child. It was hard to deny the predator instinct after all in her bones.

"You can't catch me!" the boy yelled out in joy as he dodged one of her playful pounces at him.

"You wanna bet?" She laughed, digging up dirt as she scrambled to reorient herself.

"I actually....woah!" Axton shouted out, as she quickly closed the distance with a flap of her wings and grabbing him with her claws. "Hey! Using your wings is cheating!"

"Where in these rules of yours does it say I can't use my wings?" She snaked her snout close to the smiling human's face, and gave him a coy grin.

"Uh...uh." Axton stammered, his face turning a shade of crimson. "Well they don't! We didn't usually play with someone who had wings!"

"See? Not cheating!" she cackled into the air, pounding her wings harder and carrying them higher into the air. She felt the human began to wiggle, so she pulled him tighter against her chest. She gazed out to the countryside below, a great blur of greens and browns. She closed her eyes and let out a pleased sigh as the human rested his cheek against her chest.

"Can we do some flips and stuff?" he asked, anticipation sounding in his voice.

"Of course we can!" she cried out, pounding her wings harder to gain altitude. His ensuing laughter brought untold joy to her heart as she flew higher and higher. When the air started to become thin she angled her wings and started to drop. "Hold on Axton!" she screamed out, starting to spin round and round through the air. She looked down at him, his face seemed to be frozen in a state of pure happiness as he shouted his joy into the air.

"This is AWESOME!" he screamed out as they continued to fall, spiraling through the vast sky.

Infinity smirked, getting ready for the next part. She brought them out of the spin and into a glide. She flapped her wings to regain some control of their flight, holding tight to the human in her limbs.

"Hey what about the f-"

She cut Axton off with a mighty roar as she beat her wings and prepared for the flip. She flew up, and up, than flipped herself in mid air. For a brief moment the sky became the ground and the ground became the sky, and her son screamed in delight.

"HELL yes!"

"Language, Axton!" she laughed, dragging the human with her as she continued on her flight. They continued like this for quite some time. She would continue to flap, turn, flip, or spin. Axton would hold onto her, cheering, laughing, and egging her on the entire time to her delight. It was not until the sun started to set onto the blurry horizen did she start to head back towards the earth.

"Oh man...I wish we could do that ALL the time!" the human laughed as she settled onto the grass softly after a quick back-wing.

"Why can we not?" She replied, shaking her scales and resettling her wings against her back. "We are free, and without any rules."

"I guess so." Axton crossed his arms, striding over to her when she settled onto the grass in a ball. "Does that mean we don't have bedtimes?"

"You can stay up if you want." Infinity yawned. "But I would NEVER turn down a nap." she flicked her tail, offering the human a sweet smile. "Besides the sooner we fall asleep, the sooner the next day starts."

Axton laughed, taking his usual position in her paws. Like a wrymling he wiggled against her chest. He half-heartedly pushing away her snout when she lowered her head to rustle his hair with her breaths. "Hey."

"I love you son." She said softly, nuzzling him with her pebbly cheek.

"And I love you to mom..geeze...you're going to embarrass me." Axton laughed.

"Why, when there is no one here?" Infinity teased, raising her head and gesturing to the empty countryside before them. "And I would be doing it MORE if someone was here." she giggled, nuzzling him even harder than before. She let out a snort of victory when she heard her son resist his struggles and offer her a pleased sigh.

"Boy...am I tired." Axton yawned, his eyelids struggling to stay awake.

Infinity smiled, curling around him like she used to do.

"Thanks for everything mom." the human mumbled sleepily as he closed his eyes and rested his cheek against her chest.

"You're welcome, son." Infinity rested her head beside him, closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath.

* "Dad." came the concerned voice of James as the barn door opened, causing Jerry to raise his head. He had returned quite some time ago to take a seat beside the dragoness and dragon that had been staying at his farm. He had listened again to what had happened that night with the hunters after quickly gathering some arrows and such that he was sure was going to be needed for the rest of the night.

"Yeah, James?" Jerry asked, raising an eyebrow. The look of concern on his face had him troubled. Has it happened this early?

"There's a woman outside, ridin' a mean lookin' horse. She's all tough like and big." The man mimed with his arms a large looking monster with big teeth. "She looked ready to pound my face in, said she wanted to talk to the owner of this here farm....wouldn't take no for an answer."

Jerry hissed out a breath. "I'll take care of her." He said gruffly, standing up and going to the door.

"Be careful." Jaiden said from behind him, "Don't end up gettin' killed."

"Do..you need me with you?" Chippy groaned, struggling to stand with a wince of pain.

"You stay right where you are, Chip." He growled.

"Listen to Jerry, Chip." Jaiden pet Chippy on his scales. The dragon eyed the human carefully for a moment before letting out a sigh and settling himself down onto the hay.

"Okay." he let out a grumble.

"He will be fine, don't you worry. Right dear?" She turned to him, crossing her arms and giving him a look that said. "You better be."

"I'll be just fine. I've dealt with people before." He tipped his hat a bit and went outside.

"Sure this is wise Dad?" James asked, leading his father across the darkened farm. "She looked really mean."

"Nope." He said matter-of-factly, "but sometimes the wise thing isn't the right thing."

James nodded, leading him around the house to the other side. Where there was a tough looking woman with muscles the size of Jerry's head. She flicked her brown hair back, her piercing brown eyes glaring at the two. She was riding atop a black horse, that seemed to have her fierce eyes as well.

"Go round back...get them into the hiding spot." Jerry whispered to James as his eyes focused on the woman. James offered him a nod and strode back the way he came.

"You the farmer?" she asked in a gruff voice.

Jerry nodded good-naturedly. "That I am, miss."

"I heard that ya happen to have a dragon visitor on this here farm of yours." She spit onto the ground. "A new one at that."

He nodded, seeing no reason to hide this truth. "A right good help he be too."

"I meant the black one." the woman replied with a sneer. "Dark grey spines, wings like the night sky. Don't know if you know this...but she is wanted for burning down villages, killin folks, and stealing children away in the night to eat them."

"Well I don't have any dragons like that on my farm." He wrinkled his nose.

The woman sighed, frowning as she did so. "We tracked the beast to your farm old man. I am trying to do this peacefully." she gestured out towards the town. "Told the rest of my friends that I would at least try to get you to hand her over without bloodshed. We're not too keen to shed the blood of a wrinkled old man like yourself."

He sighed. "I don't know of any black dragons on my property here. Unless they snuck on."

The woman's eyes narrowed, her eyes flashing with irritation. "If that's the way you want to play it old man." She brought two fingers to her mouth and let out a loud whistle into the night air.

From the direction of town came a collection of thirty people carrying torches and pitchforks. They were shouting and hollering in a loud chorus of angry voices, that made the old man groan. Jerry spotted several people that would frequent the tavern, or own the shops in town. They were standing alongside people clad in worn leathers, holding wicked weapons of ill intent. The old man frowned as his thoughts went to the bow wrapped around his back.

"Have any different thoughts now?" The woman asked, a smile coming to her face. "Your memory suddenly been jogged? She gestured out to the collection of people getting closer.