Love and Other Magical Adventures

twelve

There, congratulations. Now can you please focus on your wounded comrade for five minutes? His dragon form wavered for a moment and then disappeared, leaving him a human in his black clothes.

"Do you ever get used to that?" Sylvie asked, picking up sticks at the edge of the area.

"Yes," I said at the same time he said "No."

She tilted her head quizzically.

"It makes me somewhat dizzy for a short while," he explained, taking his shirt off with a wince. "And she's seen it daily since we first met."

I nodded and uncapped the medicine, and she saw. "The miracle cream," she said with appreciation, catching my eye. "A life-changer." She held my gaze so I knew how heartfelt her words were, and it warmed me.

Focus, for fuck's sake, Grim interrupted this beautiful exchange as he came to sit on the mat I laid out and I gave him my attention. The scorched area was more pronounced in this shape, taking up his shoulder, upper left arm, and that side of his chest. I hoped I had enough of the salve to get it all. The bite marks on the right side of his stomach were redder than I cared for as well. You're a mess, I thought to him, a little emotional because he had come pretty close to being seriously injured.

Or worse.

Fortunately I know a stellar healer, he replied lightly, not wanting me to worry any more than I ever wanted him to. He aura was still showing the sting of humiliation because the smaller creature had gotten the best of him.

I put some on the fang wounds, which healed before my eyes, and began spreading it over the singed skin. I'm just glad you're okay.

He began to relax as the injuries disappeared. He would be back to normal after a good sleep. You're just glad Sylvie's not leaving.

You speak the truth, sir. I ran my finger along the inside of the blue jar and applied the last of it to him, making a face. "I'll make another one tonight." It wasn't my favorite thing to do because it used up most of my magic reserve and left me pretty drained until the next day.

Sylvie had rolled a small log closer and now sat on it, arranging the firewood into a pyramid. "It takes a lot out of you to do so?"

"Yeah, so it's better to make it while we have time and I have the energy," I explained. "I can always heal someone if we don't have it, but as you've seen, I don't always have the greatest control."

"And we might need her magic at that point for something other than healing," Grim put in, shrugging into his black shirt again and stretching. "Ah, much better." He yawned hugely. Being healed was still work for the body, and recovery rest was essential.

"Get a nap, we'll find some food." I found my lighter in Feebur's pouch, where he was fast asleep, and gave it to Sylvie as Grim took his mat out of the way. It was growing dark and cold now, though I easily diverted much of it away from us.

I warded the camp and left to hunt, catching two large hares right away. I disliked killing but food was fuel, and while I could be picky, I found lighter meat tolerable. Fresh vegetables and fruit were often hard to come by, and dragons didn't do well with a meatless diet. And so we ate meat at times.

Back at camp Sylvie and I prepared the creatures. "You don't use your powers to call animals," she observed.

I shrugged. "Many people seem to feel no compunctions in using their magic to draw prey to them, but I find the idea disturbing," I admitted. "Not to mention morally wrong. I've only done it once, when we would have otherwise starved." I shrugged, poking a stick around in the growing flames. "I guess I can imagine how horrifying it would be to have some invisible force pulling you toward your death, and you being unable to resist it." I shuddered a bit.