Dragon Blood (Completed)

An Unsettling Sight

"So the three are Heartsbane, Dragon's Eye, and Fire Ivy, which are all slow acting and cause fatigue. They can't be cured with dragon fire, and can enter through the blood system." Paige patted the cut on her arm before any questions could be asked.

"Drake poisoned his sword." Zane deduced as he quickly realized that Drake was not trying to protect him from Paige the night she arrived. Drake had actually been looking for his opportunity to attack the remaining Bluescales.

"Yes, it appears so," Maze sighed.

"The cure?" Paige sounded like she was asking about the dinner menu rather than her life.

"Dragon's Eye and Fire Ivy both have antidotes, but I have to administer them separately. If the ingredients are mixed, they would be deadly."

"Which one are you going to start with?"

"Dragon's Eye. It reacts the fastest to the cure, so we will know sooner if it's the wrong one and can switch to the cure for Fire Ivy."

Ryder returned with Byran as they were talking about the cures for the queen. He stood quietly, listening. Ryder's concern was evident to Zane, but he didn't seem willing to speak around the queen any more.

"And if the poison is Heartsbane?" Zane asked, since Maze didn't mention the cure for the third poison.

"There is only one cure for Heartsbane."

"Let me guess, some rare plant that only grows once every seven years on the peaks of some remote mountain," Paige scoffed.

"How is it you always find the energy for snide remarks?" Ryder asked. Zane wished he'd stick to his silent treatment of the queen.

"It's called sarcasm, and I wouldn't have made it this far without it."

"Nothing that dramatic, My Queen," Maze advised, putting an end to Ryder and Paige's dialog. "You would simply have to take a companion. The ritual of the Desma will cure the damage the poison has caused."

"I think I'd rather go for the rare plant on the mountain idea." Paige turned a hard gaze to Ryder. "What's the cure for Dragon's Eye?" she asked, turning her focus back to Maze.

"You will need to drink this antidote five times a day." Maze fished in her bag for a vile filled with a thick, dark liquid. "We should know within a day if it's working."

"Let's get started." Paige reached for the vile. Maze pulled the cork off and passed it to Paige, who drank it quickly, making a face of disgust as she reached for the other drink on the table. She drank it until her face relaxed, and she could open her eyes that were now watering. "Oh, that is foul."

"Maze, can I have more of those herbs that gave me energy this morning?" Paige looked at Byran. "If my theory is correct, it's going to be a long night."

Maze again reached in her bag, pulling out some herbs for Paige. Paige thanked her, and Maze left, promising to find the queen in a few hours for another dose.

"Byran, is your new prisoner a talkative individual?"

"We can't understand him, so why does it matter if he talks?"

"I want to hear the language he's speaking, so I was wondering if he was saying anything, or if we'll have to find a way to make him talk."

"Oh, I see. He said a few things. I'm sure we can get him to repeat them with little effort. I think they are mostly angry swear words anyway."

"I think it would be best if I could be someplace where he can't see me, but I can hear him."

"Yes, we can arrange that," Byran surmised.

"I'll meet you tonight after I put Dean to bed."

"Yes, My Queen. If you come in the back door of the guard station, I can arrange your request."

"Thank you." Paige dismissed Byran, and when he was gone, she stood. "Ash, please help me to my room." The tall guard stepped forward and took her arm gently. There was tenderness in his actions, as if Paige would shatter if he didn't treat her like the finest hand spun glass.

"Are you coming to the guard station?" Paige asked before she left.

Zane and Ryder said they were, but Lavender didn't want to be anywhere near the vial criminal. Paige turned to Lavender and again studied her with bright yellow eyes.

"You don't want to see me. I guess we won't be friends, but that doesn't mean we have to be enemies."

Lavender was speechless as Paige walked away. "What did she mean by that?" she finally asked after Paige disappeared.

"I have no idea," Ryder mumbled. "Who knows what she's thinking. She just said she would rather die than be my companion. You know she could do worse."

"She's just mad at you because Dean wouldn't have been out flying today if you didn't put the idea in his head," Zane reminded him.

"You're the one who said to get on the kid's good side."

"I didn't say to do it at the expense of his safety." It sounded harsher than Zane had intended.

"Blazes, Zane, calm down. He's not even your family," Ryder grumbled.

"Well, if you want to have any hope of winning Paige over, then you better start thinking of him as your family.

"You're awfully defensive of her," Lavender asserted.

"She saved my life."

"You saved her life last night," Ryder quipped. "You should be even now."

"No, we're not even yet." Zane felt like he still owed her something more than a life debt. He couldn't put it into words, and he knew if they found out she'd almost killed him last night, they would have more to say on the subject than he wanted to hear. Since he couldn't explain his own feelings to himself, then he didn't want to confuse the situation even more. Was it because she'd seen the darkness that lived in him? A darkness she understood because it lived in her as well? Is that why they kept choosing to overlook the other's faults and accept each other for who they were? He knew she saw him more clearly than those closest to him.

The idea made him sad, thinking that Paige understood him more than Lavender did. She'd learned in their first encounter what Zane was sure Lavender never had. He looked at Lavender, and she returned his look, her eyes questioning, like she was asking who he really was. For the first time, he was afraid of their Desma, when she would learn his every thought and memory.