Chapter 19-7

It took them most of the day to get back to the town. They had to stop often to rest, and for Almonihah to readjust the bandages he'd improvised for both of them. Eventually, however, they reached the stockade. The guards' reaction at their appearance was... interesting.

“Quit staring and take us to a healer!” Almonihah growled at the nearest one.

The young guard, who had indeed been staring with his mouth open just a bit at the sight of these two ravaged warriors, shut his mouth, gulped, and waved for them to follow him.

As he followed, Almonihah suddenly remembered something. He stopped and pulled the dragon claw out of a small sack hanging from his belt.

“Fixed th' dragon problem,” he mumbled. The other guard, who had been staying at his post, got a little wide-eyed looking at the sword-length claw. 

Almonihah dimly noted through the fog descending on his brain that there were a number of people watching them pass through the streets. He pondered tiredly on how quickly news of them had apparently spread through the small town. A few of them yelled things that he thought were encouraging, but he didn't pay much notice. Zakhin'Dakh gave them a tired, but appreciative, cheep. 

Both of them only vaguely noted when they stopped in front of a small temple to Mashano, the god of Humanity. The head priest hurried out, with a guard who had apparently gotten there before them (Had there been another one that had run ahead? That seemed to explain some things to Almonihah. Maybe. When he wasn't so tired, maybe it would.). He asked some questions, to which Almonihah could only mutter half-audible replies. After a few moments, he stopped and waved to a couple other people nearby. 

He wasn't quite sure how he got inside or how they managed to arrange him halfway comfortably in a bed, with his broken wing hanging awkwardly behind him like it was. After a moment, he managed to rouse himself enough to look at the priest standing nearby and ask, “Zakhin'Dakh?”

“Some of my acolytes led him to the innyard. It was, ah,” the priest seemed a bit embarrased, “the only semi-private place with enough room.” Seeming to sense the half-dragon's continued concern, he added, “I will see to him as soon as I have finished here.”

“Should take caref 'm first,” Almonihah mumbled, with what urgency he could muster. “Got worse 'an me...”

The priest's only response was to begin a spell-prayer, and soon after, Almonihah was asleep again.

****

Apparently Almonihah was hurt worse than he thought. That, or I'm tired. Good night.

Chapter 19-6

Despite some... culinary mishaps, both Almonihah and Zakhin'Dakh ate heartily when they awoke. The half-dragon was glad to see his big friend more active, though he greatly favored one foreleg that had a particularly deep gash in it, and one of his wings was clearly broken. Despite this, he seemed fairly cheerful, and didn't seem to blame Almonihah at all.

Almonihah, however, did blame himself. He knew better than to do something stupid like attack a dragon head-on with no preparation. For that matter, he hadn't even checked to see if the townspeople had done something to antagonize a dragon that would have otherwise been willing to just leave them alone. 

 

Zakhin'Dakh fell asleep again soon after eating, but despite his weariness, Almonihah couldn't seem to stay still. Perhaps it was his frustration and anger at himself that kept him pacing about, or perhaps it was just a delayed reaction from the morning's... excitement. Whatever the reason, he slowly moved about, trying to make the best of their makeshift campsite. He tried binding the worst of the griffon's wounds, adding in the few healing herbs he carried with him. After a little while, he tried using the one weak healing spell-prayer he'd learned from Llinos on Zakhin'Dakh's injured leg. It did some good, but Almonihah almost fainted from the unfamiliar exertion channeling the power took. After puttering around for a little while longer, he finally drifted off to sleep again.

Zakhin'Dakh woke him this time, nudging him with his beak and cheeping softly in concern.

“'m better off than you,” Almonihah grumbled as he woke. 

 

Zakhin'Dakh screeched softly in a noncommittal response. Almonihah started to laugh, but stopped with a wince as he felt where he'd hit the tree.

“So we're both pretty bad off,” he said to his big friend, who nodded slowly in agreement.  

“Bit more food 'and some more rest is about th' best we can do now.” Again Zakhin'Dakh just nodded in agreement. He had been hurting a lot, but it didn't feel as bad now, and the dragon meat was tasty when Almonihah cooked it, so he wasn't feeling too bad. 

 

They ate, Almonihah did what more he could for their wounds, and then they both settled down to rest again. Neither slept this time, however, so after a little while, the half-dragon spoke.

“Sorry t' get you into this, Zakhin'Dakh,” he started, softly.

Why... how say that? Zakhin'Dakh screeched in response

After a few minutes of teaching him how to say sorry in Great Eagle, the griffon asked again, so Almonihah responded, “For being 'n idiot 'nd getting both 'f us beat up like this.”

Not fault, Zakhin'Dakh screeched back at him sharply.

Almonihah snorted. “Should've known better than t' just charge in like this, 'f we even needed t' in th' first place.”

The big griffon settled down a little bit, though his quiet screech still sounded like he disagreed. The pair were quiet for a few moments, before Zakhin'Dakh asked, Fight dragon before?

No, Almonihah replied, switching over to Great Eagle. But Zrathanzon told me about fighting dragons. He'd done it some.

Talk him lots, Zakhin'Dakh commented. What like?

Almonihah thought for a bit. Well, he was a half-dragon, too, but his parents were a gold dragon and an elf...

Zakhin'Dakh fell asleep at some point while Almonihah told of his time with Zrathanzon. He felt... better thinking about those times. Zakhin'Dakh had enjoyed hearing about Varack'Nara, and some of the different places Almonihah had gone. The big griffon seemed to like hearing about different places. Almonihah himself fell asleep soon after.

They woke in the morning, both feeling a bit stronger. After having some breakfast, Almonihah hacked off one of the dragon's claws as proof of their deed, then asked Zakhin'Dakh, “Think you can walk?”

He nodded and screeched a bit hesitantly. He thought he could, but it didn't seem like it would be pleasant.

“Hopefully there's a priest back in town,” Almonihah said as he started to get ready to go. “Don't think we're going t' be in good shape until we get some magical healing, really.”

****

Short post. I'm tired. Good night.