Chapter Twenty-Two, Part II

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"It's one of the disadvantages of bound magic," Renna said, sweat dripping from his brow as he pried out the stone he had labored over for the last hour. The stone clattered against two others when he dropped it into the wooden bowl at his feet. Tesa forced herself not to look, knowing that bits of flesh clung to it and that it shone with blood.

It had been a week now since they had found the dragons, and Tesa felt that if she helped one more dragon, she would collapse. But she had to keep going. They'd found a way to free the dragons by removing the spellstones that had been embedded into the flesh around their necks. So far, the dragons they'd healed seemed to be recovering well, but they had not regained their full strength yet. Two more dragons had died before Renna and the Yennar Leian casters had figured out how to help them.

"The casters know how to create a spell, to direct the magic," Renna continued, "but it's harder to alter it once the spell is set in the stone. And they don't do that here. They barely know how, they're so accustomed to the stones."

"That's an advantage for the caster, isn't it? It's harder to stop their spell." Tesa rubbed the dragon's neck with her hand. She concentrated on healing the gouge in its neck where the stone had been. It twitched its ears and sighed in its sleep. Tesa had used magic to let it relax and sleep through the removal of the stones, so she didn't have to worry that it would wake before they were through.

Renna wiped his brow with his sleeve and looked out across the open space circled by the spires. They'd begun to call it the new arena because of its resemblance to the arena in Areth's own dragon dwell.

"I'm talking about as a system. Because of their system, they all expect the spells to be more durable than they are. All it takes is for them to encounter a few Arethian mages who can take their spells apart easily."

"This is not easy," Tesa scoffed.

Two rows of stones circled each of the dragons' necks, far more stones than those that Tesa and Neela had removed from the necks of the poor rock dragons what seemed like ages ago. The spells in the stones were complex, and the magic in them had been turned against the dragons, attacking them instead of binding them. Even with all of the casters who had been sent to help, it took hours to disentangle the spells of just a few stones. And, as Renna had said, not all of the casters were used to undoing the spells in the stones. They were usually the ones creating them.

"No. Berick is well versed in free magic and bound magic. He crafted the spells from all angles." Renna fell silent and his brow furrowed. He worked on the next stone.

All around the edge of the new arena, pairs of mages worked at healing the affected dragons. Some were affected worse than others, possibly they'd worn the stones longer. Or perhaps the spells worked differently on some, hurt some more than others. There was so much they didn't know.

Tesa heard the clank of another stone in the bowl, moved on to heal the wound. Her eyes had crossed, glazed over. She only saw the dusty gold scales of the dragon before her through the blur of her unfocused gaze. Her mind worked to mend the skin, and she drew a breath before moving on to help Renna with the next stone.

But there wasn't one. Renna put a hand on her arm.

"That's it for this one," Renna said. "Time for a rest."

Tesa sagged forward into the dragon's neck. With her last bit of energy, she drew magic from the rocks around her and used it to bolster her spell. She embraced the dragon with the energy and eased its pain and fear. It sighed again in its sleep. Tesa stood.

As they'd worked, the dragon riders who had been assigned to other parts of Yennar Lei had begun to arrive in Saldive. Messages had been sent through whatever means Yennar Leians used to communicate across distances. Probably a spell of some kind, maybe like Fenn's letter. As she made her way toward her tent, another shadow crossed overhead, signaling the arrival of more riders. Tesa shielded her eyes from the sun and squinted to see if either of them were Orema or Savanna. They weren't.

The dragons landed and Yennar Leian scouts rushed to assist the riders in dismounting and caring for the dragons after their flight. Tesa smiled at the eagerness the young mages showed in their tasks, and at how quickly they had mastered the role of dragon caretakers.

"Thank you," said one of the riders as she dismounted. "He'll need to find a shady spot to rest. This sun has been too much for him."

"Doesn't seem like the sun to me," said the other rider, cupping her dragon's cheeks and peering into its eyes. "I keep saying, she's felt off since not too long after we got to this cursed country."

Tesa slowed as she passed. Hadn't Orrie been feeling unwell? He hadn't complained lately, but they had all been so busy since they'd rescued the dragons and chased off the Karume that she hadn't thought to ask him how he felt.

"It's just this nasty climate," the first rider said. "Too hot for dragons here. They like a nice breath of cool mountain air once in awhile." She squinted around at the spires above her and the sun shining bright in the cloudless sky. "Well, not this mountain."

Tesa was about to stop to ask the rider about her dragon's illness, but just then Orrie's voice broke into her thoughts.

They're here!

Tesa's heart leapt, then she frowned. Wait, who? She'd assumed he meant Orema and Savanna, because she'd just been thinking of them, but then she remembered that they were waiting for others, too.

All of them! Orema and Savanna are with Fenn and the others.

What? How?

Does it matter? Let's go meet them!

Tesa looked up at a shadow overhead and saw Orrie sweeping down into the new arena. He came in fast and skidded to a stop next to her. Tesa coughed and swept her arm in front of her face to clear the cloud of dust that Orrie's abrupt landing had stirred up. She smiled at his ebullience.

Tesa glanced toward her tent, thinking about her sleeping bag and how she'd been looking forward to curling up in it and falling asleep. She sighed.

I'd love to just fly down, but we'd better check with Malía to see what she wants first.

Orrie twitched his wings. Fine.

Tesa turned to start toward Malía's tent, then turned back when she caught sight of the two recently landed dragons trudging wearily toward the watering troughs with the Yennar Leian dragon handlers.

Orrie, remember how you were feeling ill the other day?

Feeling ill? Orrie tilted his head and blinked his eyes, rolling them toward the sky as if he were trying to remember.

Tesa rolled her eyes at him. Yes, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. You've still been feeling ill, haven't you?

It's nothing, Orrie protested. Aerix says it's probably just the climate and all the stress. I would tell you if it was bad enough to take you away from the kidnapped ones.

It can't be nothing if you and Aerix have been discussing it. Tesa fought the urge to shout out loud at him. What if it gets worse and we can't help you? She stomped her foot to punctuate her point.

Orrie seemed to be avoiding her gaze. He shrugged his wings and tucked his nose under one to scratch an itch. When he looked forward again, his eyes brightened.

Look! There's Malia! Let's go ask her if we can go greet them, he said, and bounded off across the arena.

Tesa glared after him. His avoidance of the topic worried her. But he was right, compared to the urgent need of the kidnapped dragons, a mild sickness among the other dragons would probably not become a priority with the healers. Still, she resolved to mention it to Malia the next chance she got. Maybe her dragon had already mentioned it to her anyway.

By the time Tesa reached Malia, Orrie had already communicated his news through Gira. Malia watched Tesa approach.

"Go ahead," Malia said. "Greet them and bring them back here."

Orrie gamboled over to Tesa and waited expectantly as she climbed aboard his back. With a running start, he lifted into the air. Tesa leaned wearily against his neck and closed her eyes. She tried not to think about how exhausted she felt as she went to meet her friends. 

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