Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Good to his word, King Alric returned three hours after checking on Ravi, with Baldewin on his heels. Baldewin had a large blue stuffed rabbit in his hands for some reason, which he promptly tucked in between Ravi’s forearm and chest.
“You’re the only one who understands me.” Ravi sighed in pleasure.
Baldewin shook his head. “You, sleep without at least one cuddly thing nearby? We’d never hear the end of it. How are you, Ravi?”
“Sore, aching, but I have a hot male nurse. I mean, as a silver lining, it’s a damn good one.” Ravi grinned at Sora, who grinned back.
Such an incorrigible dragon. Sora would tickle him for the impertinence if it wouldn’t set off his multitude of injuries.
King Alric regarded his injured bodyguard with a twisted smile. “In good news, we’ve verified that the bomber didn’t bring an ally. There weren’t any boobytraps about, either. The Sonthofen police have come up and helped us investigate, and they’ve taken the remains of the bomb and the body away for processing. They said that, when you’re up to it, they’ll need to ask some questions about what happened.”
“Sure, it’s not like I’m doing anything else.” Ravi repositioned a little and winced. “But really, the police?”
“Since we’ve come out to the world, they’ve been more…forthcoming with us. I think they saw this as an amazing chance to not only get inside the castle and look around, but also foster good relations.” King Alric shrugged as if this were only to be expected.
“And we will be keeping a close eye on them as they move around the castle,” Baldewin added with a grumble.
Not that Sora blamed him. Their home had been invaded and three of their own had been hurt. Now, more strangers were coming in under the guise of “helping.” Of course they were grumpy and on edge.
“At any rate, I feel that they’ll likely come and ask you questions soon.”
“Okay.” Ravi didn’t seem particularly excited or bothered by this.
Lisette joined them, her lips pursed as she ran a diagnostic spell over the downed dragon. Whatever she saw pleased her, as she dismissed the spell with a smile. “You’ve been tended to nicely, Ravi. Really, Mage Vo, I’ve not seen healing arts of this caliber since the Dragon War. What else have I failed to learn from you?”
“There’s too long a list, I fear.”
Sora chafed at the fact that he couldn’t say more. Truly, the more he interacted with everyone here, the more this half-lie sat ill with him. And seeing how they all trusted him with Ravi, it burned even worse.
To try and mask it, and buy himself more time, he offered, “I will speak with my family later and get permission to share our spell books. I think they’ll be of great benefit here.”
“We’d dearly love to have a copy. We weren’t healers ourselves before the Dragon War, not really. As you’ve seen, we just know the basics. And our clan has suffered from it.” A cloud passed over Lisette’s face for a moment. “But thank you for being so quick to respond. Wing bones, especially, are so delicate. I would have hesitated strongly before attempting to heal Ravi. You clearly knew what you were doing.”
Not the first time I’ve dealt with wing bones was not the answer he could give her in that moment. Sora went with a safer route. “I’m happy to help. Although I wish it hadn’t been necessary. Please, be frank with me. Do you suffer from these attacks often?”
“Too often,” Baldewin answered with a groan. “Although, they’ve never penetrated the castle before. Sometimes the Jaeggi tactics are hit and run, more opportunistic. If they see a mage, they’ll try and kidnap them or take advantage. We had that trouble with my own mate, as the Jaeggi spotted Tori and trouble followed. But they can do more surgical strikes, as you’ve seen here.”
“I am…horrified to hear that.” Sora felt like even those words weren’t strong enough. Rage and growing unease slithered along his chest like a python, gripping uncomfortably tight.
“We’re not exactly pleased, ourselves.” King Alric sighed, and he seemed a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Especially with so many new mages here, who can barely do all the defensive spells. It’s worrisome. I’m afraid we’ve not put our best foot forward with you, Mage Vo. I know you’re here on behalf of your family, to report back to them. I cannot safely promise that we can protect them. Still, I hope they will come and speak with us, at the very least.”
Sora spoke from the heart as he promised, “I’ll do my very best to convince them.”
Sora stayed firmly at Ravi’s side all through the cleanup of the foyer and aided in the repair spells to the windows and front of the building to close it up. Even in this mild weather, it wasn’t advisable to leave the place like this. It would take more than a day’s worth of work, but the main structure was back in place. Tarps covered the windows until new glass could be ordered, as they’d been shattered so thoroughly that even with magic repairing them, they’d remain brittle and fragile. Everyone agreed that ordering in new glass would be the smarter way to go.