"Princess Ciara, you cannot go there!" Sergon yelled after her as she sprinted outside, running faster than she had in a very long time. He could barely even keep up with her despite the many skirts she was weighed down by.
"I have to!" she shouted back. "I cannot just leave it alone - it will be killed!" she said, and called for Kaisog as soon as she ran outside.
It took the drake mere moments to land in front of her, crouching low to let her up on his back with ease.
"Thank you, Kaisog." She gently though hastily patted his neck. "Please take me to Crocus - we have a dragon to save!"
He gave her an affirmative growl before spreading his wings out wide and quickly taking to the air, both completely ignoring Sergon's yells.
She'd barely been up there any time at all before she could hear the roar of pain accompanied by human yelling. She didn't have to tell him for Kaisog to speed up at the sound of that.
Before long, they could also see at least some of what was going on. An adult, crimson-red dragon was indeed raging in that square - likely because it was surrounded by Dragon Slayers pointing their spears and arrows at it. Even sending them flying, aiming to hurt.
She grimaced to herself. They had mistaken that pained roar for being one of violence. It was already bleeding because of their advances.
"Come on, Kaisog, we have to do something before anyone is seriously hurt."
That dragon was fully grown, and from the looks of it not unused to battle. If it decided to go further than to simply protect itself, there was no telling how many could die.
Kaisog landed right across from the furious fire dragon and amidst the many spears and arrows, creating a ruckus among the Dragon Slayers, who only grew more agitated, yet still held their fire. One dragon was one thing, two was a whole other, it seemed.
She quickly jumped down from Kaisog's back, presenting herself to the many Dragon Slayers, who seemed absolutely prepared to fight for their lives. Even with her there.
"None of you may harm this dragon!"
"That is the princess from the Dragon Kingdom, is it not?" one seemed to ask the ones around him.
"Yeah. What is she doing here?"
"Why the hell should we listen to some girl, who knows nothing of war?" a third asked, seemingly trying to rally some of the others, earning him a deep snarl from Kaisog.
She completely ignored all of them and instead turned to the dragon, who was warily watching everything going on in front of it with bared teeth. It didn't trust anyone. Not even her.
She slowly stepped towards the snarling dragon, feeling how the whole area around her tensed up as if holding its breath.
With its dark eyes as black as coal focused entirely on her, attempting to burn a hole in her very soul, she raised her weaponless hands into the air.
Even so, she still got a snarl from it as it towered above her.
"I will not hurt you." She stopped where she was, well within its range. "No one will, as long as you do not harm any of us either. I promise."
It kept its gaze on her a moment longer, then let them flicker to Kaisog. The black drake yipped happily, sweeping his tail across the pavement playfully.
Giving Kaisog one last, long look, the fire dragon turned back to her, paused, then slowly lowered its head down to her.
Up close, it was plain to see this one was a male - its features were far too rough and rugged to be female. And he was also a much older dragon, his calmness and watchfulness proving that.
She smiled and laid her palm against the warm, crimson scales. "Hello. It is nice to meet you too." She internally breathed out in relief herself. No one got seriously hurt this time around. So far, at least.
There was just one more thing she had to figure out.
"Now, what was it that got you so enraged?" Her eyes left his and swept over the angled, brown horns and down his neck. All the way down his back and tail were small spikes like those of Sunrose's, only in a warm, white color. His belly seemed to be the same color as his horns.
None of which showed any signs of why he'd gotten so angry. Not on the part of his torso and tail she could see from here, not on his head and not on his four legs either.
The explanation became apparent, however, when the fire dragon rustled one wing a little, lifting it from being tucked in close to his body. A cascade of blood fell, trailing down his side and landing in a splatter on the ground.
She gasped at the sight of it, her heart wrenching when she saw the damage that'd been wrought the wing when it was spread out for her to see.
"O-oh my..." She rested one hand comfortingly at his snout, which breathed heavily in exertion. This explained why he hadn't simply flown away. The skin of his wings had been torn up by what could only have been another dragon's claws. Three deep rifts in the skin from this far up and all the way down made it completely impossible for him to fly. He must have crashed down right here in the square. Pained, confused and enraged.
She tore her gaze away from the weeping wounds and back to meet his gaze. "I will help you fly again. I will do everything I have been taught, please just bear over with me for a little while longer."
The fire dragon nodded slowly before collapsing right where he was, leaving his wing out to her free disposal.
Smiling encouragingly at him, she turned back to the crowd behind her, seeing the common folk had been drawn in as well, much to her relief. This would make things much easier.
"I need a bucket of clean water, a clean rag, a needle and some thread to mend this dragon's wing. Please help me, everyone!"
She saw people turn to each other, whispering and murmuring about things she had no chance of hearing. However, none of that led to anyone offering their help.
"Please help me help him." She swept her eyes over them. She couldn't do this without them. "The sooner I can help him, the sooner he will get out of here."
That changed something because the muttering sounded a little different this time.
"I have a needle you can use, princess!" a young woman finally called out.
"Then I got a bucket of water and a cloth," a grown man said, immediately going off into one of the nearby houses to find just that.
"I believe I have some thread lying around at home for you," a woman said.
Though all three had already turned to leave, she bowed deeply to them. "Thank you so much!"
Luckily, they all seemed to live nearby. The man was the first one to come back, surprisingly enough.
"While I do not mind sharing some water and a rag, I am not too keen on approaching a dragon, so one of you Dragon Slayers will have to man up - this is not something for a princess to carry around. Not even one of dragons," he said as he unceremoniously put it down on the ground.
Silence reigned amongst everyone for a long moment, and she was just about to either go and pull it over herself or have Kaisog help her somehow when someone finally spoke up.
"For Dragon Slayers, you people are awfully frightened of those two," a man in wealthy-looking clothes spoke up, gaining agreeing nods from the surrounding common-folk as he stepped forward. "Whether you should agree to the fight or not, one should not simply leave a princess to fend for herself." Despite his appearance, he unceremoniously picked the bucket up and placed it nearby her.
"Thank you," she told the man, watching how his steps faltered the slightest bit as he placed it just by her.
"Anytime, princess." The man offered her a bow, then quickly backed away again with a last glance at the drake.
She smiled gently at him in thanks, completely agreeing with the small applause that followed the man. She understood - it had been no small feat for him, doing this.
Still, she quickly picked up the rag and turned to the fire dragon, who was drowsily staring at her, though attentively taking note of her every move also.
"I might need you to heat this water up for me. Can you do that?"
He snorted as if he found it funny she would think him incapable of something like that. He raised his head to hover over the water and released a deep breath from the depths of his lungs.
As promised, the water was left at a perfect temperature, killing all the worst impurities in the clear liquid.
"Thank you!" She dipped the cloth into the warm water and wrung it up properly. She moved to the wing, glancing at him again. "I am sorry, but this may hurt a little."
He gave her a small snort of acceptance, watching silently as she moved closer to the wing. Even though she did her very best to be gentle, he still hissed and flinched in pain when the rag touched the wound. Despite that, however, he didn't move an inch.
She silently and even more carefully continued to wipe the blood off the wing, the hissing never truly coming to an end. She furrowed her brow when something like a black wisp of something seemed to flow out of the wound and then dissipate. Was it some kind of poison? Or even magic? - maybe it really did exist...
"Princess, I have the needle and thread here for you," the wealthy man from a moment ago said.
She turned and saw him a few feet behind her, at a safe distance. She dropped the cloth in the lukewarm water and stood to retrieve the needle and thread from the guy, who looked just about ready to bolt.
She smiled reassuringly at him. "Thank you so much for all your help." She sure couldn't have carried the water all that way herself.
He looked at her with a lopsided smile, gave her a wink and once again backed away, this time much quicker than earlier.
She sighed internally. Well, at least he wasn't pointing a spear at them the way the Dragon Slayers were.
Not letting herself dwell on that almost insurmountable task ahead of her, she quickly returned to the one at hand. She made swift work of cleaning the wing up, not wanting to let the dragon suffer any longer than necessary.
She was almost done cleaning him up when another voice broke the silence surrounding her.
"Ciara Tarakona!" a firm, angry voice she could only barely recognize called out to her, his voice accompanied by the sound of approaching hoofbeats.
She turned to see who'd called her name. Without a title as well - a fact she may have appreciated hadn't it been for the tone.
People naturally moved aside so that the person could get to the front of everything. Even if it hadn't been for the banner following him, she already knew who it was simply by the sheer number of people.
"Princess Ciara!" Their eyes instantly met as soon as he broke through the crowd. "You will return to the castle. Immediately." The king's eyes were flaming with anger.
She shook her head lightly. "I am afraid I cannot do that, your majesty." She bowed her head respectfully. "Please forgive me."
She was fighting to keep calm despite her hammering heart. Couldn't he see this dragon needed her help? Couldn't he see she couldn't possibly leave this situation as was? If she did, there was no doubt this dragon would die one way or another.
Paying no mind to Kaisog's growing agitation, the king made a show of letting his hand fall to the sword at his hip.
"It was not a suggestion, princess."
She frowned, growing a little frustrated with him. He hadn't a care in the world for others, did he?
Kaisog didn't take kindly to the threat and snarled dangerously at the king for even thinking to pull the sword on her. As was the fire dragon behind her, moving to get to his feet as well.
She smiled warmly at their protectiveness, reaching out to gently pat the crimson dragon.
"At ease, you two," she said, seeing the unease they created in the crowd. "I will not leave until I am absolutely certain this dragon will be able to take care of himself."
He glared at her, his gaze flickering to the dragons for just a moment.
"I am afraid I cannot allow that," he said through clenched teeth.
"Please, your majesty," she pleaded with him. "I promise I will return without any complaints when I am done." When he did not reply, she elaborated. "It will not take long; I have come quite far already. He will not be able to leave this square before his wing is stitched. So please, let me finish what I started." She bowed her head in her desperation though it clearly didn't sit well with Kaisog.
She watched as Sergon leaned in to tell the king something - in her favor, by the looks of it. Finally, the king turned to her, his eyes burning just a little differently than they had before, but burning, nonetheless.
"Be quick about it."
She smiled at both him and especially at Sergon. "Thank you so much!" she quickly said, before returning to the dragon again. "I apologize for the wait. I will be as quick about it as I can." She wrung up the rag again, not heeding how oppressive the silence around them had become.
Just a few more wipes before the wing was properly cleaned up and she could get to stitching it. It really was a blessing that dragons were so adaptable and easy to help with this kind of thing. All she needed to do was to somewhat align the skin and it'd grow back perfectly in no time. The string didn't even have to be as sanitary as it did with humans either - ordinary household string would do just fine.
She picked up the needle and quickly threaded it, looking at the crimson dragon again.
"I only need to do the stitches and you will be able to fly off again. It will take no time," she told him.
Luckily for this situation, this was something she'd done an innumerable amount of times. It hadn't been because of another dragon back then, but rather flying just a little too close to a tree.
Surprisingly, the skin of their wings was quite fragile. If cut deeply enough, it would quickly render a dragon unable to fly as it had done to this one. Especially wind dragons would be severely limited in movement if this happened, as they didn't have any legs to walk with in such a case.
She stitched the wing up with expert hands, pulling the thread apart at the end and making sure it was secure before turning to the dragon with a smile, feeling Kaisog peer over her shoulder.
"There you go, all done." She watched with joy as the dragon stood up and seemed to test her handiwork.
Finding it done properly, he gave his seal of approval to her with a joyful snort and a sort of grin.
She smiled even brighter, seeing him being ready to take off already.
"Return to the castle in seven days and I shall remove those stitches for you as well," she promised him, knowing it would take no more than a handful of days for it to heal up.
The dragon snorted at that, then awkwardly but quickly took to the sky.