Captive Fire by Erin M. Leaf

long. Soon, the desert would
grow terribly cold and they’d face another battle to survive.
    Ryuu smiled. “I know some tricks,” he murmured.
    “You shifted. Silver,” Drakon said. He coughed, trying
to clear the junk from his throat and immediately wished he hadn’t. Agony
speared through his bones. “Beautiful.”
    “It seems my mother’s blood runs true in my veins,
after all,” Ryuu said softly.
    Drakon nodded. “I’m happy for you,” he gasped.
    “Shh.” Ryuu set aside the cloth. “We can’t stay here.”
    “I know.”
    “I’ve called for help,” Ryuu said somberly.
    A burst of fear tripped through Drakon’s heart. “Who
did you call?”
    Ryuu smiled wryly. “I told them the Desert Dragon
needed their help.”
    Drakon stared at his mate as he realized what Ryuu
meant. “They won’t help me!”
    Ryuu frowned. “They will help if they want to live. I
still have the strength to shift back to my dragon form.” He sighed and kissed
Drakon’s forehead. “They’re the only ones close enough to help. After my
father’s surprise attack earlier, none of my people have any working flitters.”
He looked to the east. “We crashed much closer to the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains
than I realized.”
    Drakon shook his head fretfully. “Don’t hurt them,
Ryuu.” Stars flickered along his eyelids and he knew he didn’t have much
strength left. “They don’t know any better.” He gasped for breath.
    “You care for your people a great deal, hmm? You
didn’t abandon them at all.” Ryuu put the cloth back on Drakon’s forehead,
fingers gentle and soothing.
    “I serve, even if they don’t want me to,” Drakon
whispered as the darkness took him.
    ****
    Ryuu stood, watching the small party of Soutx walk
toward them in the darkness. Their lights looked like old-fashioned lanterns,
bobbing against a sea of black. He wished they would hurry. Drakon was weak,
and he wasn’t sure how to help him. He shifted his weight, concealing a wince. He
hurt, but he would heal. Drakon, though, was in bad shape. He sighed and shook
his head. What will be, will be.
    “Are you the Desert Dragon?” the leader of the group
called out. Her voice carried the weight of age and authority. Now that they
were close, he could see that the lights were lanterns made of crystals set on
the end of poles. He’d read about such lights but never seen them. The crystals
were the same as the ones that formed the fields above the citadel, and thus
served as excellent light reflectors and amplifiers.
    “I am the Dragon,” Ryuu said, ignoring a pang of worry
he couldn’t quite dispel. He hadn’t ever admitted that title aloud before.
Usually people called him a butcher. Or the Bearer of Blades. He snorted quietly to himself. The truth of his identity was far stranger than
anyone knew.
    “We brought our healer,” the woman said, walking
faster. She wore soft brown leather clothing and had her long hair tied back
into a complicated braid design. “Who is injured?”
    Ryuu stepped back, letting their light fall across
Drakon’s unconscious form.
    “Drakon!” the woman gasped. She thrust her pole
lantern at a man standing just behind her and hurried forward. She fell to her
knees and reached out a shaky hand.
    Alarmed, Ryuu loomed over her, but then he saw the
tears on her face. A face that looks suspiciously like Drakon’s, he
realized.
    “He’s alive,” Ryuu said softly, crouching down. “But I
don’t know how to help him.”
    She touched Drakon’s cheek. “Aster, come quickly,” she
called urgently. “Your brother is alive, but terribly ill.”
    A younger version of the woman pushed through the
cluster of Soutx. A braid of dark brown hair slid over her shoulder as she set
down her pack to examine Drakon. She took out a handheld computer tablet and
attached a sensor wand. When she held it out over Drakon, Ryuu turned to the
older woman.
    “He’s your son, isn’t he?” he asked.
    She nodded, still staring at Drakon.