Chapter 92: Hands Up

“Yeah, she tore open the wound on her back, there’s a little blood in her lungs again. and she's suffering from some fairly extreme heat fatigue,” Quin stated as the healer finished going over Jacky. Unkai had refused, stating he had other patients to care about. Looking around at the full infirmary, that was probably true actually. Tom was still fairly sure it was for another reason. “And your side didn't fare too well either. I’m not gonna bother fixing that though, hopefully the pain will keep you under control and a fresh bandage will keep it from getting infected.”

Tom felt a bit like a kid on house arrest, though he didn’t really have a comeback to that. He also felt rather shitty as the healer set about fixing the damage done to Jacky. Spending energy that was probably better utilized elsewhere right now, But no Tom and Jacky it was.

When they were done Tom had carried Jacky back up to their room, even if all the stretches and the quick check-up likely meant she could have walked up the stairs just fine. She even let him tuck her in with a kiss to the side on the snout as she laid there smiling at him, even if it turned a little strained as he turned to leave. She would rest for the day to try and recover. So as much as he wanted to stay with her, she would have to be alone for a bit. It was high time he got some work done, hence he had gone looking for Luke. The guard captain had been delighted to have another set of able hands, as there was clearly plenty to do.

The day’s itinerary was mainly cleaning work, both inside and out. The dragonettes had been more than happy to let Tom try to deal with the soot and dirt from the explosion in the lower levels. He guessed they preferred blood and gore to the black soot, which suited him just fine.

“Just don’t kill me when I’m done, okay?” Tom joked as he grabbed a bucket of water.

“Good one. Like we would survive trying, hehe,” Luke responded, sounding a tad nervous.

“I reckon you could right now. I’m unarmed and unarmored and don’t worry about offending me if that’s the problem. I can take a joke,” Tom tried in a friendly tone. They were all friends here after all.

“Yeah, I somehow doubt that,” Luke responded, loosening up a bit. “You feeling okay? She looked a little… rough,” Luke continued, clearly searching for the right word.

“My head is not doing so hot and I’m a little sick from drinking, but other than that I’m fine, I think.”

“If you get worse just let us know. We won’t be working you to exhaustion after what you did… can you even get exhausted?”

“Oh yeah, I can, it just takes a bit more. Now, where were the brushes?”

“Kalix has a few down there already. Send him up in a bit would you? He needs to have his bandages checked midday.”

“Sure thing,” Tom replied, hefting the bucket and making his way down.

Luckily for Tom, all the bodies and larger bits had been dragged outside by now, but there was still a lot of blood in addition to all the soot, and it was starting to stink too. Chatting with Kalix as they worked, Tom learned that the darklings were going to be burned on a pyre, or more likely several. The bat things were too large to be moved nor would they be allowed to be burned, hence they would be cut to pieces and taken away to be discarded. Tom thanked his lucky stars he had avoided that particular duty.

Prying further, they apparently planned to simply throw the pieces in a rocky gorge a ways away that they used for refuse and other nasty stuff. Burying things wasn’t really a practical option when you lived on a cliffside. They didn’t want to just dump it off the edge either since they got their water from the bottom of the gorge.

As he brushed away, pouring on more water, he had to admit he was struggling a bit to keep focus and his headache was getting worse too. Short of last night, he had been nursing a headache since the battle pretty much constantly, but it was definitely getting worse.

His vision was also continuing to fuck with him, often going out of focus or going double. He didn't feel that tired, nor should he be; he had gotten plenty of sleep, even if some drinking had preceded it after all. If it was the painkillers acting up he couldn’t do much except tough it out anyway. Actually doing some work might even help burn it off, so he kept at it, making sure to drink plenty of water.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“I said kick in the door. Honestly,” Victoria scolded the uncomfortable looking young dragon as he sat on his haunches inside the warehouse. He was now decidedly more gray from all the dust he had managed to kick up, the shine was gone too.

There hadn’t been a soul here. So either they were too late or it was the wrong place. Which really didn’t help with the general mood in the room.

“We will figure out damages later. At least the place is still standing, but you will be paying for some of this.”

“I’m sorry,” Tiguan answered, sounding genuinely sad. “I just thought it would be cool.”

“I know, we’ll figure it out. Right now we need to figure out what to do next. Any bright ideas?” Victoria questioned, looking to Dakota and Sapphire. Balethon was already at work sniffing out the perimeter for anything familiar.

“Well, there was the one who got away. Or the man they apparently worked for. What was his name…” Sapphire answered. Truth be told she didn't fancy their chances of finding a lone coward likely in hiding. The big boss dude though, that might be possible.

“Gyros. Do we know where to find him? He would definitely know?” Dakota finished.

“Found someone! They're in there!” Balethon shouted out from behind a stack of crates. That got the attention of everyone present. They quickly surrounded the tower of crates, in case whoever was in there made a run for it

Balethon fairly quickly managed to sniff out the entrance, and with some help they pried off a lid, revealing a small passage. Two of the Hashaw guards went inside, a considerable commotion echoing out from within as a woman screamed in terror. Weapons were readied as, kicking and screaming, a decrepit looking female dragonette was dragged out by her feet.

“NO! Leave me alone, please! I didn't do anything. Please let me go, I won’t come back! I swear please just let me go!” She pleaded, tears running down her panicked face. She was clad in some kind of patchy sack-like material, forming a kind of crude dress which poorly hid just how thin she was.

“That is no Flaxen,” Sapphire stated, lowering her bow.

“No, it is not,” Dakota agreed, looking at the sad spectacle with a distraught expression.

The two guards dragged her to her feet, revealing a set of ruined wings that, judging by the faded scarring, had been like that for a while.

“Hello miss, you may call me Colonel Hashaw. We are investigating a kidnapping. If you cooperate we will not harm you in any way. What is your name?”

The panicked woman seemingly calmed down, at least a little, as she stood hunched down before the colonel. Sapphire couldn’t guess her age under all the muck, but she didn’t look that old. Perhaps around Dakota’s age, and she was shaking with fear.

“I’m Ray… that's it…I’m sorry.”

“No, it's fine Ray. I don’t want to hurt you. Now we were told some bad people were supposed to be here before sunrise. Would you happen to have seen anyone in here before us this morning?”

“I just tell you and you don’t beat me?”

“I won’t hurt you, even if you didn’t see anyone. I just want the truth.”

“I'm sorry for asking… but would you not tell anyone I’m here too… please I beg of you,” the woman went, damn near kneeling before Victoria.

“I can do that for you, don't you worry. Now did you see anyone?” Victoria responded, clearly doing her best to put on a welcoming face. Still, Ray’s eyes were wide with fear as she alternated between looking at the Colonel and glancing at the imposing dragon

Tiguan was doing his best to look friendly, Sapphire noted, as he sat smiling, clearly being careful not to show his teeth.

“There have been a few people in the last days… I don't know any of them, I swear. I mean it, I swear!” the woman went, holding her arms in front of her face as she said so. One of the guards tried to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Ray flinched, knocking it away defensively before realizing what she just did.

“I’m so sorry sir, I didn’t mean it,” she pleaded, bowing to the guard too, who just stood there not quite sure what to do.

“Uhm, I’m sorry miss, didn't mean to scare you,” he went, sounding as bewildered as she looked. Ray looked up at him still very much on edge, though clearly easing up a bit more.

“These people you spoke of, did you get a good look at them?”

“Yes, ma'am. I can look out the cracks. There was a lady, I couldn't stop looking at her. She had such a pretty dress and gold jewelry. Never seen a dress with a hood before either.” Victoria looked to Yldtiz who was already noting things down.

“Okay… Were there others?”

“There were some nasty looking people too. I thought they were here to kick me out. They were here yesterday talking about something with the lady. This morning only the pretty lady came. Oh, the lady also had some guards with her. They looked very pretty too.”

Sapphire could see a slight smile beginning to form on Victoria's face. This all lined up beautifully with what they wanted to hear.

“Did these guards or the pretty lady have anything that was easy to recognize?” Victoria asked very pointedly.

“Uhm… I mean they had cloaks on, but the lady had some very pretty rings."

"Oh, and she lowered her hood this morning. Her horns had silver bands on them, I've always wanted something like that,” Ray answered, her tone turning wistful, the fear seemingly gone for now as she described the lady.

“You have been a massive help. Would you mind coming with us? We might need you to tell others what you saw. We will clean you up and give you a proper meal for the trouble,” Victoria offered, extending a hand to Ray.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Ray’s expression turned suspicious as she stared at Victoria. “You won’t put me in jail, right? I don't want to leave my house, they will take my things,” she answered, still sounding very submissive.

“Wait, you live here?” Tiguan questioned, looking at the woman with an incredulous expression and lowering his head down.

Ray flinched, quickly hiding behind the guard who had tried to pat her on the back. Tiguan getting a rather sad look on his face as he raised his head again, taking a step back before sitting down again.

“I’m sorry. Didn’t want to scare you… can I see your house? I’m sure it’s very nice,” the dragon tried, clearly doing his very best so sound unintimidating. Ray peeked out from behind her impromptu shield before looking back at the pile of boxes.

“Not sure your head can get in the door… I’m sorry,” she replied, seeming rather ashamed.

“Pssst, Ylditz, can I talk to you for a second?” Tiguan went. The lieutenant nodded and jogged over as the dragon backed into a corner.

“Don't mind him. He's just trying to be friendly,” Victoria continued, as Ray was staring at the dragon. “Try not to be scared, he is trying his hardest.”

“I’ll try… goodness he is big though. Haven't seen a dragon that close in a long time,” Ray answered with a clear nervousness to her voice.

“I can have someone keep your thing safe if you want to?” Victoria offered. “But we need to get moving. The ones we are chasing might be getting away.”

“You would do that for me? I mean thank you so much, ma’am... Not to be annoying but... I am truly sorry,” Ray went, looking over her shoulder and trying to fold out what was left of one of her wings.

Ylditz came jogging back over. “Victoria, aren’t we going to have to send some people here to fix that?” he questioned, pointing at the hole in the roof, still dripping acid onto the stone floor.

“Well it’s not gonna fix itself.” One of the other family members went, looking up at the hole.

“No, of course it won’t. We will just have to pay the bill from the owner. Tiguan did it so that’s your responsibility, Ylditz. I’ll grease some hands for you though, don’t worry”

“It’s not that,” Tiguan let out, looking at the pile of boxes. “I don’t want them to take her home”

Victoria grew a rather strained expression at that, looking towards Ray. She looked back at her home with a desperate expression. “Oh gods no,” she let out, dropping to her knees sobbing. The same guard gave her a pat on the back again, this time getting away with it.

Sapphire just stood there not sure what the fuck to do in this kind of situation. She had lived here for a while, so this was hardly news to her. Hell, she had been pretty close to being without a roof over her head at some point, even if it never actually got that far.

Tiguan was looking around, shifting his weight from one leg to the others, clearly not happy either, Ylditz trying to calm the dragon down.

“Dakota, can we do something?” Sapphire questioned, leaning in to whisper.

“What do you want me to do?” She can’t help at the keep and we are stuck here for a while yet, you want her to stay with us at the tavern? There are thousands like her in the city, we can’t save them all.”

“I know but… never mind,” Sapphire conceded, pulling back, not sure what else to do.

“Can't she sleep in my stables for a bit?” Tiguan pleaded, looking down at Ylditz.

“No,” Yldtiz responded with a shake of the head. “We can't bring a homeless woman off the street into the training fields.”

“But I broke her home,” the dragon pleaded.

“I’m not homeless!” Ray protested, sounding distraught, looking to the tower of boxes. “It's just not as good as others.”

“We are gonna have to figure out compensation later. For now, you two stay here and guard her… house,” Victoria interrupted, pointing at two guards who nodded politely despite clearly not being very pleased with that assignment. “We need to get moving. Have you ever ridden on dragon-back before?” Victoria asked, looking at Ray, who looked back up at the colonel, eyes slightly wet.

“No?”

“Well, you are going to. Tiguan, we need to get moving. I promise we will find a good solution to this.”

“Can I grab something?” Ray asked cautiously, looking to Victoria.

“Sure, just be quick about it.”

“Thank you,” Ray replied, doing a small bow before going over to the entrance and crawling inside on her hands and knees.

Sapphire shuddered at the thought of living like that. She could hardly handle crawling through a narrow tunnel, actually living in one was beyond her.

“We could just give her a bit of money, couldn't we?” one of the other family members questioned, gesturing at the pile. “Surely that can’t be expensive to replace.”

“We will figure it out, but we need to move,” Victoria replied. It didn’t take long before Ray came back out, wearing a battered helmet that looked like it had been rather nice once. It was even engraved by the looks of it, and she was hefting a light crossbow. Sapphire didn’t think Ray had the strength left to cock it, but she had a few bolts for it hanging from a patched up belt.

“It looks crap but it works, I swear,” Ray let out, trying to straighten her back. Sapphire stared dumbfounded for a second, ‘Where the hell did she get that and why?’

“Very good, now let’s get moving,” Victoria went, after staring a bit herself. Tiguan moved over to the wide double doors as the bars were removed, swinging them open. “Come along now, Ray.”

Ray’s brief show of confidence quickly melted away as she looked up at Tiguan. “I haven't flown in years.”

“I promise he won't bite. If he does I will have him demoted to cadet, okay?”

“Okay,” Ray sniffed in reply. “Thank you.”

“Hang on a second,” Balethon interrupted. “There were three people here this morning, right?”

“Yup,” Dakota answered him. “You found something?”

“Yeah, she didn’t like her mask.”

“Oh, what a fucking idiot,” Victoria let out, sounding delighted.

“She did look rather angry this morning,” Ray added in, seemingly happy enough they weren’t leaving just yet.

Balethon came back with a white handkerchief. “Shame they didn't put their name on it,” he went, holding up his prize. “It stinks of her though, if it’s hers of course. Could be a guard’s I guess.”

“That’s silk, you don't just throw that away unless you are remarkably poor at managing money,” Dakota responded with a smile.

“Store it somewhere safe. We might be able to get a city guard to verify whether it’s hers."

“Can do,” Balethon let out with a grin as he packed it away.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Dude, I’m not feeling brilliant to be honest,” Tom went, as the two of them worked. They hadn’t even been at it for an hour, so Tom felt rather pathetic right now as the heavily wounded dragonette scrubbed away.

Tom hadn't been getting any better though; his head hurt and he was growing more and more nauseous. His vision definitely wasn't getting better either.

“Take a break if you need it. I’ll stay a bit longer if you want,” Kalix responded, not sounding too annoyed.

“Thanks dude,” Tom replied trying to sound appreciative as he sat down on a half-ruined bench.

He felt like shit in fact. Grabbing the bucket of water, he emptied it out onto the floor before puking in it.

“Bloody hell dude, you are sick,” Kalix let out, as Tom vomited again, now feeling proper sorry for himself.

Tom looked up again, finding a worried-looking Kalix staring at him. He could barely make out the details on the dragonette's face. He tried wiping his eyes to see if it was tears, but his hand came away dry.

“This isn't good,” Tom let out in realization. “I think I’m going fucking blind.” He tried to get up, stumbling to his feet as he felt Kalix grab his shoulder.

“I got you, bro. What’s happening?”

“Something's very wrong. Sight's going blurry,” Tom answered, trying not to lose his balance.

“Uhm… is that normal?” Kalix questioned, cautiously.

“No, it’s not fucking normal!” Tom snapped at the dragonette. “Sorry.”

“Come on, let’s get you upstairs.”

The two of them hobbled up the stairs, Kalix letting out some grunts of pain when Tom touched a wound while fumbling around.

“Sorry.”

“No worries man, we're nearly at the top of the stairs, can you see the stairs?”

“What’s going on here?” The young woman who had washed his clothes asked from somewhere in front of him.

“Something is very wrong with him.”

“I’ll go get Quin,” she replied as Tom heard hurried footsteps running off.

“This just turned into a shit day,” Tom tried to jest.

“That’s the spirit. Now, we go right here,” Kalex replied, guiding Tom onto the next floor. It was an annoying process, but they made steady progress. by the time they made it to the grand hall there had gathered a few people around them, including Quin. Tom couldn’t even recognize her face, but the voice fit.

“What the hell did you do?”

“Nothing, I was scrubbing the wall, my vision was a little fucky and then it just started getting worse.”

“He puked too,” Kalix added.

“Is that normal for your kind?” the healer questioned.

“No, it is really not!” Tom answered, trying and failing a bit to keep calm.

“I asked that already,” Kalix tried to clarify.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude,” Tom tried, apologizing. He was fairly agitated right now though.

“He needs to lie down, put him on that table, the infirmary is full. Do you have any idea why this might happen?” Quin questioned.

“Don’t know, I mean I took a painkiller yesterday. That’s not supposed to be mixed with alcohol, never heard of it doing this though. I took it in the morning though… Fuck Jacky got one too. Someone go check on her now!”

“Shit” Tom heard Unkai answer, followed by rapid footsteps. ‘She better be fine. She better be fucking fine. Why didn’t I just stay with her? We were fine at breakfast too? At least mostly.’

“Can you see anything or is it just black?” Quin questioned.

“It’s just blurry as hell,” Tom replied truthfully as he was laid down on a table. He felt Quin clearly do something as she touched his face.

“What’s wrong with him!?” He then heard Jackalope shout out from across the room. ‘Oh thank god,’ Tom thought to himself with a sigh of relief.

“He’s going blind. No idea why,” Kalix stated, as the one he guessed was Quin carried on touching his face.

“She's deaf, numbskull. Write it down for her,” Quin let out, sounding like she was concentrating.

“What, blind… why!?” Jacky let out after a bit, not receiving an audible reply.

“You’re fine right Jacky?… someone write down and ask her if she is fine. Especially her eyes. No blurriness or double vision.” It took a bit before the reply came.

“My eyes are fine. Just about the only thing that is, but they are fine.”

“What the fuck?!” Tom let out, thinking that one over thoroughly. ‘Right. I’m feeling sick and something is wrong with my vision. Possible cause; painkillers, alcohol, blood loss, fun time with Jacky, and... stress... possibly?’ He couldn’t do shit about the painkillers, but they should have worn off by now. And Jacky had drunk more than him last night. Bloodloss didn’t do this though, even if it might make something worse, and he had been thoroughly de-stressed yesterday.

“Do you guys know what... oh god I don’t even know your word for that... Bad alcohol that makes you blind?” There was silence for a bit, no one answering.

“You haven't even heard of that happening… ever?” Tom tried again.

“No, why would that make you blind?” someone asked in reply.

“Wait… Oh fuck, you don’t get hangovers either… Unkai! I need the little flask!”

“On it!” Came the reply as he heard the healer speed off. “What is in that? Did we give you something you are allergic to?” the Lady questioned from somewhere, sounding very worried.

“Possibly. I don’t know. Fuck it, humans and drinking 101. There is alcohol and methanol, our two words for what you likely just call alcohol. Methanol happens when you distill wrong or use the wrong yeast I think or just leave it in the open. We go blind and get sick from methanol; it’s basically slow-acting poison.”

“By the gods, we are so sorry!” the old Lady let out.

“Our ale is not that bad,” someone protested, sounding slightly offended, followed by a painful sound coming from the same person.

“You don’t get hangovers. You don’t… shit don’t know that word either… convert alcohol as I do. I get a headache and have a bad day for a bit after drinking a lot. Methanol might not hurt you at all, but it can kill me.”

“The mighty killing monster brought low by Jokun’s brewing,” someone let out in disbelief, from a by now was a fairly sizable crowd.

“Someone tell me what he’s saying! What’s going on?!” Jacky demanded, desperation creeping into her voice.

“Tell her I’m sick. It’s gonna be fine,” Tom ordered “Oh, and some water and a bucket just in case, please. And I need to sit up.”

“Right here,” came the immediate reply as Tom felt a metal canteen being pushed into his hand, while other hands sat him up on the table.

“You better be fine. Else I’ll… You're gonna be fine!” Jacky nearly shouted at him, bumping her snout against his face hard enough that it hurt.

“Found it!” Unkai shouted as he came sprinting over, Tom looking at the blurry shape approaching. Unkai undid the lid, giving Tom the small flask. ‘Thank god I didn’t down this yesterday,’ Tom thought to himself, looking up.

“Do you have something that can keep me from vomiting? This needs to stay down.”

“I can do that, It really won’t be pleasant though,” Quin retorted, apprehension clear in her voice.

“Whatever you have to do,” Tom replied, going bottoms up. He had to break a few times, coughing and spluttering as he washed it down with water. Of all the ways to drink whiskey, this had to be the worst. Today though it was medicine.

Finishing the flask, he handed it off to someone. He went back to racking his brain, for what else to do. He knew he was supposed to drink proper alcohol to stop the process. He couldn’t flush his blood of the stuff nor did he have proper antidotes. He had heard someone claiming baking soda helped. Would they have anything like that though? Thinking back, they used sourdough for their bread, so probably not.

“Can you clean blood in any way?” Tom asked. “As in, take something out of it?”

“What… no,” Quin responded, sounding a tad confused. Right, okay, that made sense. They would have done that with Esmeralda if they could. ‘This is not a brilliant situation.’

“I have no idea what else to do. I’m gonna need more proper alcohol. I don’t think this will last long. An IV drip would not be bad either I think.”

“We have plenty of ale and some wine left,” The lady answered in the kind of false optimism far too common around hospital beds.

“And one of them gave me this to start with… Please tell me you have a fast flyer left?”