Chapter 55 FIRE IN THE VALLEY
He ran out of the house and into the valley. It was easy to tell where the poisoned man was. Everyone in the village had formed a thick crowd around him. They were all murmuring, some whimpering in possible fear. The dragon race was a very close group. The loss of one member was always a devastating event.
Magnus pushed his way through the crowd, muttering apologies whenever he shoved too hard. Eventually he made it to the middle where Xerxes was. The dragon king was kneeling next to a man. There was a deep cut in his shoulder, the blood tinted a dark color. This was definitely poison.
"I'm sorry, Levi," Xerxes said, lowering his head in dismay. "There's nothing I can do about this. We don't have an antidote."
Magnus didn't say anything as he approached. He got down on his knees next to Xerxes and looked over the dragon who was lying on the ground, cringing. It was a painful experience, something he knew all too well. He had been poisoned a few times in his life.
"How long ago was he poisoned?" Magnus asked.
"I don't think it's been too long," answered Xerxes, not knowing the exact amount. He was confused about the question though. Something like that didn't seem all that important at the moment.
Magnus reached into his pocket and drew out one of the vials that Sirona had given him. He popped the top off and moved closer to Levi. He placed the vial near the man's lips.
"Here," he said softly, and Levi opened his eyes to peer at the object.
"What is that?" the dragon asked weakly.
"An antidote." Levi just gave him a skeptical look, as if he didn't quite trust the boy. "Look, I'm just trying to help. Trust me on this. It can't make things any worse."
Levi opened his mouth a bit, and Magnus poured the green liquid in. It apparently had a bitter taste, but he swallowed it anyway. Everyone fell completely silent after that. They were waiting to see what would happen. In the mean time, Magnus placed his hand over the wound and cast a healing spell, completely closing it up. There were a few murmurs at the action, mainly in awe, but he ignored them. He was too busy hoping that it hadn't been too late.
A few moments went by before Levi finally opened his eyes. There were no longer any signs of pain left in them. His dark blue eyes were completely clear. He glanced over at Magnus, and there was a smile on the sorcerer's face. He watched as Levi sat up and stretched his arms. The dragon was a bit shocked to see that his arm had been healed. He hadn't felt anything.
"How do you feel?" Xerxes asked him.
"Great," he answered, sounding a bit shocked. He turned fully to Magnus, bowing his head a bit. "Thank you."
"No problem," the sorcerer assured him. "Just happy to help."
"What was that?"
"It's an antidote I got from my healer. She worries a lot, so she gave me a few vials to take with."
"Who's your healer?" Xerxes questioned curiously. He knew of quite a few healers. Perhaps he had heard of this one too.
"Her name's Sirona."
The surrounding group gasped in shock, the murmurs returning. They were all watching Magnus curiously, and he seemed a little nervous. He wasn't quite used to this kind of attention. He was starting to wonder if maybe he had said something wrong. Perhaps, the dragons weren't fond of his healer.
"So you know Sirona," Xerxes said at last, a smile on his face. "She used to live here with us."
"Sirona did?" That was news to him. It had to have been quite a while ago, because she had been his healer for years. He rarely went to any other unless he had no choice. He usually got lucky though, and whenever he needed someone to heal him, she was there. She moved a lot, going from town to town. It was a strange coincidence, but he wasn't about to question it. He liked that strange run of luck he had.
"She's an amazing healer," said Levi with a smile. "She lived here for a while and then said there was something she had to do. She wouldn't tell us what, but she said it was important."
Magnus didn't say anything to that. He wasn't entirely sure what her reason was either, but he had the feeling it had to do with him somehow. Sirona had known his family for a long time. They had always kept in touch. I wonder what was so important though. None of us ever got hurt that badly, so her help hadn't been needed much. I wish I knew when it was she left. Then maybe I could figure out why.
"Magnus!" called Xyra, instantly drawing the boy's attention. He hadn't thought she would follow him. She was running towards him, dressed simply in her white shirt and brown pants. Her sword sheath hung at her side, just like it always did. Her cloak seemed to have been forgotten. It was a bit too hot out to wear it though. He had discarded his own quite a while ago.
"Hey Xyra," he greeted with a smile as she reached him.
"Why did you run off so fast? What was wrong?"
"Just helping out a bit, that's all." He gave Levi a smile, and the dragon returned it goodheartedly.
"Your friend here just saved my life," he told Xyra.
"Yeah, that sounds like Magnus." She smiled at the sorcerer and then heaved a small sigh. "Looks like I had nothing to worry about." She turned around and began walking off, heading back through the crowd. "I'm going to go and see if I did Darren any permanent damage with that rock. I hit him pretty hard."
"Okay," he said as he stood up as well. He didn't plan on following after her though. He wanted to look around a bit. He began to walk off…or at least he would have if he hadn't heard Xyra let out a small yelp. He quickly turned and saw that one of the dragons towards the end of the crowd had grabbed her wrist. There was a less than pleasant look on his face.
Xyra squirmed a bit as the dragon before her kept his hand locked around her arm. He hadn't said anything yet, and she was starting to get scared. He was looking her over, an angry expression on his face. His eyes had caught sight of her sword sheath, and now they were resting there again.
"Woman," he began, his voice very deep. It suited his tall, rather built up body. "Is that sword a khukuri?"
"Yeah," she answered a bit meekly. The dragon's face darkened.
"Why do you have one? Who did you take it from?"
"No one. It's mine." She was getting a bit more defensive now. True, she was a thief, and stealing was part of her lifestyle, but she wasn't going to allow someone to accuse her of stealing something she didn't. She had a bit more pride than that. Besides, she wouldn't steal someone's sword. Money was much more her thing.
"So you're a slayer?" His eyes darkened even more, and he didn't even let her answer the question. He shoved her harshly to the ground. "I knew it! You people came here to deceive us! You're working for him, aren't you!?"
"W-what?" She was about to ask just who he had been referring to, but she didn't get the chance. He held his hand up, a fireball forming in it. She could only stare on in fear, the flames swirling and dancing along his fingertips. There was pure hate in his eyes, the fire reflecting perfectly in them. She reached to her sword to draw it, remembering what Magnus had shown her during their encounter with the black sorcerer. However, there just wasn't enough time. Before her hand was even on the hilt, he fired.
Lucky for Xyra, the flames never reached her trembling body. She had closed her eyes at the last second, but now she was slowly opening them, realizing that she was still alive. She looked up a bit, seeing the flames slowly dwindling away after colliding with a familiar looking barrier.
Xyra glanced over, following the eyes of a lot of the surrounding dragons. Most of them had been unaware of what was going on until Xyra had nearly been killed. The majority of the crowd had been far too focused on Levi and his recovery. Now, however, everyone's attention was on this incident. All of their eyes were currently on Magnus. He had his left arm raised, aimed right at Xyra. He had set the barrier up at the very last second.
Magnus dropped his arm and made a dash over to his companion. Before the attacking dragon knew what was going on, the sorcerer had positioned himself in front of Xyra. He had a glare that threatened the man's life on his face. Despite the fact that Magnus was just a human, and an injured one at that, the dragon seemed nonetheless intimidated.
"Never touch my companion," he stated lowly, his jade eyes taking on a devilish glint. He wasn't someone to be messed with right now. Even without the use of his good arm, he was definitely a force to be reckoned with.
"What is the meaning of this?" Xerxes demanded as he reached the scene. He had watched the entire thing, and now his angry eyes were on the dragon that had attacked Xyra. "These people are our guests. You went way out of line."
"But she has a khukuri!" he exclaimed. The crowd began whispering the second that word left his mouth. Xyra began glancing around nervously at all of them. They were watching her.
"Is this true?" Xerxes asked Xyra. She just nodded meekly, praying that nothing bad was going to happen to her. "Are you a slayer?"
"What's a slayer?" she asked, wanting to know exactly what she was being accused of.
"Someone who kills dragons."
"Of course not!" She sounded rather insulted. She stood up and faced Xerxes, her eyes completely serious for a change. "I've never once used this sword to kill anyone, especially a dragon!"
The dragon king took a second to look her over. He was checking her eyes the most. She understood why though. Astrid had mentioned that she could see things in Magnus's eyes. Perhaps this was something that dragons were good at. Reading people had to be a special skill they possessed. That or she just wasn't able to look deep enough to see anything in anyone's.
"Okay," Xerxes told her with a smile. "I believe you. Both of you are dismissed."
Magnus nodded in thanks to Xerxes and then began to walk away but not before grabbing Xyra's arm and pulling her along with him. He kept her a bit close as they walked past the rest of the dragons. Only once they were alone did he release her. He sighed rather deeply right after.
"That was dangerous," he remarked, not seeming mad at all. He wasn't scolding her in any way, only making an observation. "Guess they don't like khukuri very much. You should be careful."
"I don't think I have to worry now," she told him, relief biting her words. She really had been scared back there. She wasn't used to being accused of something she hadn't done. "Xerxes straightened things out."
"Still, I want you to be careful. Don't get yourself in trouble, okay?"
"Thanks for worrying." There was a soft smile on her face, drawing one from him as well.
"…You're welcome." I won't let anything happen to my companions. I won't be responsible…for anyone's death.