Aurora (9 page)

‘What about Firestorm? Can he keep up this pace?’

‘Firestorm is already proving his resilience,’
Shadow said, a note of surprise and grudging respect colouring her tone.
‘It must be hurting him to fly at this speed,
but he has not asked me to slow down and he is showing no signs of fading yet. Only time will tell how long he can keep going.’

Chapter Eight

Elian woke suddenly. His body felt slick with sweat and his heart was beating hard. There was a painful ringing sound inside his head and everything around him was blurred. He
blinked several times. The surface of his eyes stung with each movement of his eyelids and his clarity of vision did not improve. He tried to sit up but, as soon as he moved, it felt as if the room
had been picked up by a giant and tossed, tumbling into space. The movement also triggered a spike of pain in his right leg.

He flopped back down against the soft pillow with a groan and closed his eyes. Even with his eyes closed the tumbling sensation remained. It made him feel nauseous. What was happening? Was he
sick?

Memories of the short trip through France began to flood back. The explosion. The pain. He was injured. Was it bad? Was he blind? Deaf? A surge of panic began to build inside him.

‘Calm down, Elian. I am here.’

‘Aurora! What happened? The world is spinning out of control. I can’t see anything.’

‘Relax,’
she soothed.
‘You are safe now. One of the flash-bang weapons in the other world exploded right next to us. You suffered a nasty wound to your right leg. I
can feel your disorientation. I do not understand the sensations you are experiencing. I will get Fang to send Kira to you now.’

‘Your voice . . .’
Elian began. He paused for several heartbeats before finishing.
‘. . . it sounds so weak. Are you all right?’

‘It is my own fault,’
she admitted
. ‘When the flash-bang struck, I panicked. I tried to form a gateway before true dawn. I succeeded . . . just. But it drained me
terribly. It was all I could do to fly the short distance to land here in the dawn dragon enclave. I will need to recuperate for some time before I fly again.’

‘I don’t think I’ll be ready to fly for some time, either.’
The spinning sensation was gradually slowing. Elian tried opening his eyes, but he was quick to close
them again.
‘I can’t focus and my head is full of noise.’

‘Neema and Shimmer have gone to fetch a village medicine man they think might be able to help,’
Aurora said, her voice surprisingly positive.
‘He has a reputation for
working miracles.’

‘Neema?’

‘Neema is a dawn dragonrider here at the enclave,’
she explained.
‘Her partner, Shimmer, is a particularly fine-looking dragon. His scales are most
attractive.’

‘Reeeally?’
Elian said, intrigued by her description.
‘Attractive! That’s the first time I’ve heard you describe another dragon in
that
way.’

‘Well,’
she replied, giving no hint that she had picked up on his inflection.
‘That is because Shimmer is more attractive than most. When your sight has recovered,
you will see what I mean. He has always been popular as a mate with female dragons from the day, dusk and dawn enclaves. He has recently flown Blaze. She is in the hatching cave brooding over her
clutch of eggs.’

‘Flown Blaze? What do you mean . . .?’
Elian began to ask. He stopped as his mind connected the phrase with the clutch of eggs.
‘No, never mind. I get the idea, but
you say Shimmer is popular as a mate. Don’t dragons have life partners?’

‘No, Elian,’
she said.
‘Our mating traditions are very different from yours. We live for a long time, so nature has restricted our urge to mate. Dragons spend much of
their lives travelling alone. When the urge does come, we may be a long way from the mate of our choice. Finding a suitable mate then becomes a matter of—’

‘Enough information!’
Elian interrupted, feeling his cheeks flush.
‘I think I get the idea.’
This conversation was straying into areas he was not
comfortable with, and he got the distinct feeling that Aurora was willing to explain things in more detail than he was ready for.

‘I do not understand your embarrassment, Elian,’
Aurora said.
‘Mating is a perfectly natural course of events for every creature, man or dragon. It is nothing to be
embarrassed about.’

‘No. I know,’
he replied, mentally squirming as he tried to think of a way of diverting her.
‘So have you ever . . .’
He left the sentence hanging, mentally
kicking himself for starting down this path.

‘Mated?’
she finished, her tone still matter-of-fact.
‘No. The urge has never touched me. It is not unusual amongst dragons for a female not to mate. When we do, we
tend to produce a lot of offspring. Blaze has over forty eggs hardening in the hatching cave. Perhaps a third of those that hatch will survive. Life as a young dragonet is hard. But if we mated
with the frequency you humans did, the world would be overrun with dragons very quickly.’

Elian could appreciate that. He tried to work out how fast the dragon population would expand if dragons produced offspring more regularly, and the numbers got very big, very quickly. It was a
useful diversion to take his mind from the pain in his leg and his eyes.

A sound broke through the white noise that was blanketing his hearing. Someone had entered the room and was trying to talk to him. It took a moment for him to recognise Kira’s voice. He
tried opening his eyes again. The room was still blurred, but he could see moving shapes. Kira’s voice became clearer as she approached to his left.

‘Elian? Can you hear me?’

‘Yes I can hear you,’ he said, his own voice sounding strange inside his head. ‘But only through my left ear, and that feels strange. There is a constant sort of crackly,
ringing noise that’s making it hard for me to hear, and I can’t see properly. My vision is constantly out of focus.’

‘I’ve brought someone to see you,’ she said, speaking slowly. ‘He’s come to help make you better.’

The blurry outlines switched around and another person leaned over him. Cool, strong hands touched Elian’s cheeks, the fingers gently feeling around to the back of his neck, carefully
avoiding his ears.

‘Hello Elian.’ The deep male voice was clear despite the noise inside Elian’s head. ‘My name is Haithan.’

Although he was out of focus, Elian could make out that Haithan had an impressive flowing mane of golden hair. The man’s hands made a complete sweep of Elian’s upper body, gently
feeling for anything unusual. Elian tensed as the hands reached the tops of his legs.

‘It’s all right,’ Haithan assured him, his deep voice almost hypnotically calming. ‘I won’t touch the area around the obvious wound. I just want to make sure
there’s nothing else that your friends have missed before I begin working on what we can see.’

‘Thanks.’ Elian relaxed slightly, but a certain amount of tension remained in his limbs, shoulders and back until Haithan had finished his investigation.

‘Some sort of exploding weapon, I’m told,’ Haithan said, his deep voice thoughtful.

‘Yes.’

‘Have you tried to move since you woke up?

‘I tried to sit up a little while ago, but I felt dizzy and was nearly sick,’ Elian admitted, feeling embarrassed by his weakness. ‘Also, my sight is blurred and my eyes hurt
whenever I blink. There’s a buzzing ring in my ears that won’t stop, and my body feels as if it’s been side-swiped by a dragon’s tail. Aside from that I feel ready to
wrestle a lion.’

‘Hmm!’

‘What do you think, Haithan?’ Kira asked. ‘Can you help him?’

‘Oh, yes,’ he replied. ‘I can help. He’s a very lucky young man.’

‘Excuse me if I think differently,’ Elian muttered.

‘What I mean is, you’re lucky to be alive,’ Haithan said. ‘The weapon, or at least a part of it, is lodged deep inside your thigh. If it had hit you in the chest, it is
unlikely we would be talking. The surfaces of your eyes have been slightly cooked by the heat and flash of light. That damage will likely heal on its own in a few days. The fluid that your eyes
produce should work its own miracle there. Your hearing and dizziness is more worrying. There is something I can try that might help stop the disorientation. Which ear is the worst?’

‘The right,’ Elian said, a lump forming in his throat. He tried to imagine what his leg looked like with the weapon stuck in it. Why hadn’t Kira taken it out? What could
Haithan do?

‘All right,’ Haithan said. ‘Relax and move with my hands. Good. Now, I want you to count slowly with me to twenty. We’re going to do it three times with your head in
different positions, all right?’

‘I’ll do my best.’

‘Good. Kira and Neema, I’ll need your help as well,’ Haithan continued. ‘Soon I’d like you to help me roll Elian on to his left side. Be careful not to touch the
wound on his leg. I want to avoid putting any pressure on it.’

‘Where would you like us to stand?’ Kira asked.

‘Please stand to his right. Now, Elian, are you ready to begin?’

‘Yes.’

Haithan moved to stand next to Elian’s head. ‘Here we go then.’

The healer cupped his hands over Elian’s head and tipped it about forty-five degrees to the right. He began counting. ‘One . . . two . . .’ Elian joined in softly. ‘. . .
nineteen . . . twenty.’ The hands tilted Elian’s head through ninety degrees to the left. The counting started again. What good did Haithan think this would do? Elian couldn’t
begin to imagine, but he played along. ‘. . . eighteen . . . nineteen . . . twenty.’

‘Roll him now,’ Haithan ordered.

Two pairs of hands gently lifted Elian’s body until he was lying on his left side. Haithan’s hands turned Elian’s head further to the left until he was looking straight down at
the bed. ‘One . . . two . . .’

Elian could not have moved his head even if he had wanted to. The hands that held him were strong and firm. He counted along with the deep voice until they reached twenty again.

‘All right. He can sit up now,’ Haithan said.

Hands began to tip Elian upright. He tensed his stomach ready for the whirling disorientation he had suffered before. To his amazement, there was none. No spinning. No nausea.

‘That’s amazing!’ he gasped. ‘What did you do? My head isn’t spinning at all. My balance feels perfectly normal!’

‘It’s a trick I learned some years ago,’ Haithan said, his deep voice containing notes of pleasure at his success. ‘I wasn’t sure it would work on your injury, but
the fact that it did furthers the proof of my theory. One of the hunters in my village used to suffer vertigo. I tried lots of different things to cure him and in the end it was this simple
manipulation of his head that worked. Certain types of dizziness are due to something becoming misaligned inside the ear. Balance is controlled there. By trial and error, I found that this simple
manoeuvre of the head can restore that alignment.’

‘It seems the rumours about you are justified,’ Kira said. ‘You can work miracles.’

Haithan laughed. His laughter was as rich and rolling as his speech. ‘Miracles! Some call my work miraculous. Others accuse me of magic. I don’t really care what people say. It
brings me pleasure to help others.’

The ringing in Elian’s ears had not abated, but he could follow what was being said. The voices were distant, though he knew the people speaking were right next to him.

‘Can you do anything to stop the ringing in my ears?’ he asked. ‘I can’t hear anything in my right ear and there is a sharp pain there unlike the more general pain
I’m feeling elsewhere.’

‘I can prepare some drops for your ears,’ Haithan replied. ‘There is a plant that grows in the rainforests nearby with properties that should help. The solution doesn’t
keep long, but it isn’t difficult to make. I suspect you’ve damaged the membrane inside your right ear. It should heal in time and you will regain a measure of your hearing. A day
dragon’s healing breath might restore it, but I don’t know for sure and we don’t have one to hand.’

‘There wasn’t a lot of certainty in any of that,’ Elian muttered.

‘No,’ Haithan agreed. ‘People do not all heal in the same way, I’ve observed. Why do two people with the same symptoms react differently when given identical treatment?
It is a mystery that has eluded me so far. I can only help you by using methods that have worked for the majority of people. If you have the will to get better, then this often tips the
balance.’

‘I thought everyone who was ill wanted to get better,’ Kira said, clearly unimpressed by Haithan’s explanation.

‘It’s surprising, I know,’ he said solemnly. ‘But I’ve seen some people make a full recovery from horrific injuries who I thought would not survive a day, and
watched others, who were really not very ill, fade away and die for no reason. The desire to live appears to be the most powerful healer of all.’