The growl was distant but it rumbled through her, rolling together with her worry and flowing freely through her veins.
After Eli had left his study, Anok had come to get her a while later, and she had left with him to her room. Anok would usually stay outside her door but for the first hour of that period, he had stayed indoors with her.
Eli must have so much trust in him.
The growl had been quite loud then and she had pressured Anok to tell her what was going on, her heart raced with panic at what had to say, even more by the fact that he didn't know as much as she would have expected.
It was very unusual for the dragon to break her chains and even go as far as knocking down a good part of the den's gate.
She had heard that the chains were enchanted. She wondered if the need for a mate had been so strong that it pushed her to snap against magic.
Maybe the need to find a mate for a dragon was just so strong that it couldn't be ignored, maybe it made them twice as feral as they already were.
"The lower part of the castle has been shut down. Everyone has been moved to the floor above it." Anok continued as calmly as he could. "There are still some men down there, trying to put out the fire and ensure everyone is alright. They are handling it quite alright. We are lucky that the dragon hadn't sent the castle into a blast."
"And the King? Is he down there, locked with the dragon?"
Anok had folded his hands behind him, looking away from her worried eyes.
"It was the King's orders."
Anok had also mentioned something about an order to evacuate if things were to get out of hand.
"There is rumor control going on at the moment. This must not get to the people or it will cause destructive fear and unnecessary panic." He had said, his face in a deep frown, his hands still folded behind him while he remained oddly calm.
At that moment, she had felt him shift from the bodyguard he used to be with her, to the General that he really was.
"Put your mind at rest, My Lady. The King has this under control. He has made orders in place for everything that could happen and on the sight of it, I will ensure that they are immediately carried out. My paramount duty is to keep you safe." He had said that with a poor attempt at a reassuring smile, but he seemed to believe that his attempt had worked because he nodded at an assuring smile.
That had been about an hour ago.
The growl had died off after and she had jumped to her feet when she realized that.
"We should go and check him." The words had slipped past her lips but Anok shook his head.
"We have to wait."
After some minutes, there was a noise outside.
Anok had been quick to go and check, and when he came back, his face was calm but Belladonna could sense that something was wrong.
Although she couldn't read him like a book, she could sense it from his demeanor that there was more information to give.
"What is going on outside?"
"There are more injured people than I had calculated." He said without skipping a beat. "The labor is not enough too."
"I can help."
"I have strict orders to----"
"Keep me in my room protected while people die because there is no one to attend to them?" She said with a dismissive shrug.
"To keep you protected in your room, My Lady." He said like she hadn't said anything.
"General Anok, are you so incapable in your protection that me stepping out of this confined space, questions your skill and strength?"
"I have strict orders, My Lady. I must follow it. King's orders ."
Alright.
That hadn't worked.
She needed another tactic.
"Anok, please, people are dying. It is cowardly for me to be here while they are losing their lives right now."
He folded his arms and she waited the silence out, feeling that the words that he would process in his head would be more convincing than the ones she would speak.
"I am very good with stitching." He replied after a while, his hand on the knob. "What can you do, My Lady?"
She smiled, racking her head for any useful skill that could help her out right now, and one look at her scar reminded her immediately that she wasn't totally hopeless.
"Cleaning, little stitching, cleaning, and treatment."
"Why so much talking then?" he pressed the doorknob and the voices of people along with the growl of the dragon drifted freely to her ears. "We have some stitching to get to."
He shut the door behind her, walking quickly while she ran along with him.
"It will not be a pretty sight, My Lady."
"Belladonna or Bell, whatever suits you."
"You have to be ready for this, My Lady." He continued like she hadn't even said anything, as they went further down the stairs.
They ran into someone along the hallway, blood staining his cloth, with a burn on his arm while he shouted for help.
Everything was so hot.
"The dragon flames." She whispered.
Anok chuckled, picking up the victim easily and heading to a hall while Belladonna followed after him, hoping that she would be useful soon.
"The dragon flames do not leave its victims alive. Probably just came in contact with one of the rods of the den or any other thing. Not direct flames."
The door of the hall swung open, there were people moving around, while some occupied the makeshift beds.
Lady Kestra was in the middle of all of it.
Belladonna wondered if she was supposed to be here and down in the dungeon helping Eli, but even she must not be immune to dragon flames.
About the hall, Anok was right, it wasn't a pretty sight.
She was almost tempted to just go back into the room but she stood her ground. She was here to help and she would.
"Pretty." Anok had said beside her and she turned to him shortly, but he didn't turn to her, instead, he moved swiftly across the hall, rushing over to Lady Kestra who moved around, giving orders and administering as she finished up with a person she had been treating. Quickly she was attending to the person Anok had bright to her, flashing Belladonna a quick smile.
"Lovely to see you here, pretty little thing."
Anok was passing quickly by her side before she had time to respond.
"Keep up, My Lady. We are of no use standing around and staring."
Yes.
Right.
Stitching.
Cleaning and healing.
Here she came!