The Draykon Series (1-3)

Lokant: Chapter Thirty-Five

Minchu. Do you remember how you reached out to Isand, when she was still in her grave? I need you to do that now. Look for your mother.

Llandry obeyed Pensould's instruction without hesitation, anchoring her mind to Ynara's essence. Instantly her delicate senses were overwhelmed with the wrongness in this fragile body. Bones were broken throughout her mother's frame; her beautiful skin was torn and ruptured and bleeding. There was so much blood, seeping away as Mamma lay white and still.

She was really dying, her life seeping out as Llandry watched. She could feel the life-energy fading second by second. The realisation smote her hard, closing her throat and filling her eyes with blinding tears.

Pensould, she's almost gone! Hurry, faster, please...

You must stay calm. Above all, you must remain rational. We are going to use our own life-energy to restore hers, do you understand me? She is draykoni in large part; it will work. But you must not go too far. If you allow your emotions to rule you, your father may have to bury you both. Do you understand?

Llandry nodded frantically, consumed by her urgency. Yes, yes. Now please, help her.

Then follow my lead. Llandry watched in her mind's eye as Pensould cocooned Ynara in a soft blanket of his own energy. He steadily increased the flow until the life-force surrounded Ynara in a ceaseless, whirling current.

And yours, heart-of-mine.

Llandry gulped down her panic and obeyed, letting her own energy stream out of her to join the river that supported her mother. Soon the flow grew so bright that she could hardly focus her mind on it.

Good. Pensould's thoughts shifted as he redirected the current. It streamed into Ynara, mingling with her fading energy, reinforcing her life. Pensould directed the healing force first at Ynara's heart, stabilising its slow, irregular rhythm. Next he turned his attention to the lungs filling with blood and water; he purged them, searing away the choking fluids. Ynara's breathing cleared.

But Llandry was beginning to feel the pressure. It started as a crushing tiredness that hit her all at once, draining her strength. Holding herself upright became too much; she dropped to the floor.

Hold on! There is much yet to be done.

The blood that seeped away internally, drop by drop, slowed as Pensould strove to rebuild Ynara's broken internal functions. He too was flagging now, his own life-energy burning lower the longer the healing went on.

Llandry's world shrank down to the simple task of drawing breath. One after another, in and out... even drawing in air came to seem almost impossible, but she hung on, grimly determined to last as long as her mother needed.

Pensould's voice broke in on her suffering, his words weak and hard to hear. I can't - stop the bleeding, entirely. The damage is too much. We are spent. Time to withdraw.

No! Finish it.

I dare not -

Llandry gritted her teeth and reached deeper, finding new stores of energy inside herself. She didn't question where they came from; she merely thrust them at Pensould, willing him to continue.

Please!

With a cry of anguish, Pensould did as she directed. Her mother's wounds began to close, bones began to knit, but so slowly, not fast enough...

Llandry hung on until she truly couldn't breathe. Her exhausted body lacked the energy to operate itself. The last thing she heard as her eyes closed was the sound of Pensould cursing.