The Silver Reckoning

Chapter 44: Aftermath

Zepos was sitting in one of the long corridors of the upper areas of Sky Mountain. The Lab to be exact. It was strangely quite for the time of day it was. There weren't any shambling or shouting from the many human scientists that occupied that part of the mountain. There were no grumbling dragons, taking their turn with giving some more scientific analysis that was required of the peace treaty between them and China. The whole mountain seemed silent, glum almost.

The lightning drake glanced at the large dragon-sized door to his left, his tail tapping anxiously on the floor. It had been less than a day since they had arrived back, and Silver had been instantly rushed to the medical bays that were also in The Lab. It was a place where dragons were brought when they had severe injuries that life dragons struggled to heal by themselves. Apparently Silver was hurt a lot more than she had seemed to be.

He sighed. Part of him wanted her to wake up as soon as possible. The fact that she hadn't already worried him more than he cared to admit. But the other part was afraid. He knew he would have to be the one to tell her what had happened to Retrix, and he knew that it would likely break her apart. He didn't want to see her like that... not again.

The door suddenly creaked open, causing him to flinch and look up in surprise. A life dragon stuck his head out and nodded to Zepos to come in. Inside the room it was rather spacious. It needed to be as there were a number of other dragons in the room as well as a few humans working with a number of machines.

Laying on a long bed, sleeping peacefully, was Silver. She was breathing evenly now, her mouth slightly open and her wings sprawled out. At first glance there seemed to be nothing wrong, but she had been asleep for three days, which was cause enough to worry.

"Do you know what's wrong?" Zepos asked the life dragon.

There was a sigh in response, "She will be alright, or at least she will recover... mostly."

"Mostly?"

"She pushed her body far further than she should have Zepos, far further than was healthy, further than what should have been possible. She used up so much in that battle... it'll take a long time for her to return to her former self, if she ever does."

"Oh..."

"But I wouldn't worry too much," said the life dragon, "Most of her wounds we've managed to fix quite quickly. She had too many broken ribs to count, a fractured pelvis, ripped out scales, some severe burning, all gone. Honestly... she is one strong dragon to have survived all of that. There is one thing though... her wings were broken it seemed, but it's like she has melded the bones back together with her own metal. They haven't been done quite right however, and the bones can't exactly heal when there is a lump of metal in the way. But it shouldn't be too much of a problem. When she does wake up we can ask her to remove it."

Zepos nodded his head, still not entirely convinced with what the life dragon had said. Silver had pushed herself far past what her body could take. It had been evident at the end. Whether or not she would still be the same after that exertion he didn't know.

He turned to walk out of the room when Silver suddenly moved. He froze, looking at her. She rumbled softly and her eyes half opened as she woke very slowly. The lightning drake quickly walked over to her, and her eyes instantly locked onto him.

"Aaargh... Zepos?" she murmured, sounding like she still was asleep.

"It's me," he replied nervously.

"What... what happened?" she tried to lift her head only to groan in pain.

"Hey, hey, stay still. You are in no condition to move."