| If you cannot laugh at yourself when the joke is on you, then you have no sense of humor. -Dragon�s Teachings, pg. 96 Part 24 Before I could say anything to her, I felt a searing pain rip through my snout and my whole body flopped over the wall. Garnet jumped up, the feather clutched tightly in her fist. � Zidane! What was that for?!� He ignored her to glare at me. � I told you not to give it to her!� I grinned, pretending to be unaffected by the blow (it hurt like hell), and got up. � But Zidane, I didn�t give it to her. I�m just letting her look at it.� Garnet looked at the feather in her hand, then up at me. � What�s so special about this?� � Rub it again,� I instructed. � You�ll see.� Zidane lunged for the feather, but Garnet escaped him and pet it, watching in stunned amazement as he crumpled into a pile of mush. With every stroke he curled tighter and moaned, begging breathlessly for her to stop. She pretended to think it over, still petting the feather. � Hm . . . Uh . . . No. Sorry. I think this is funny.� However, she quit soon after and gave the feather back to me. Leaning over his curled form, she said, � That�ll be your punishment from now on if you try anything, how about that?� � No!� he groaned. I pulled myself to my feet and wal---staggered across the area. My snout ached and I made it two-thirds of the way before tripping and falling. I could not get up no matter how hard I tried to do so. Vanel ran over to me. [Kitiane! Kitiane, what�s wrong?] I struggled up and tottered out of Conde Petie. The world was rolling and swaying and I couldn�t keep my balance. If this kept on I might get sick and the sight would not be pretty. [Zidane! Something�s wrong with Kitiane!] No, he�s the last being I want near me right now. Tiovex, where are you? There was a whoosh of split air and then Tiovex landed beside me. [Kitiane! What happened?! Your nose is bleeding!] I stumbled on. [Argument.] [With who?!] [Zidane.] [Over what?] [Feather.] [That�s it?! Oh, that boy is asking for it!] [I didn�t call you to hurt him! I can do that myself! It�s not just a normal feather. I�ll explain later.] I collapsed and Tiovex nudged me and held my head up. [You need to stop moving before you drown in your own blood!] � Mother!� Zidane was running at top speed. I got up as Tiovex took up a defensive position in front of me. He flared his wings and lowered his head, baring his fangs and hissing warningly. I stared over his hindquarters to see Zidane�s reaction. He skidded to a stop ten feet away, a distance easily covered in one lunge. I stood where I was, feeling the blood run down to my chin. To my surprise, I found myself grinning ruefully at his frightened face. I snorted, spraying blood on the sand, which dissolved until the blood�s strength was no more. � I cannot stay, Ziaden. You have injured me worse than any enemy ever could have, for my head is not the only thing wounded. You had a right to do what you did, but not so violently. Obviously, the humor in a joke on you is lost to you.� � Why can�t you stay?� he asked frantically. � See my nose? I�m dying.� � No!� � Yes. With one punch, you�ve all but killed me. Isn�t it strange how fragile dragons are after everything that they can withstand? I think so.� I turned my back on him and spread my wings. � Good luck on your travels, Ziaden. I may not be around long enough to see the results.� With that, I took off. Tiovex was outraged and let him know it. � How dare you! After everything she has ever done for you, all you can do to repay her is kill her?!� � Can�t you do anything?!� � We can try. It has never worked before.� He stomped a foot. � I don�t know how she could even stand to look at you after that! If I had my way, you�d be dead, boy!� He turned and followed me. I heard Zidane calling for me and my heart broke when I realized that he was crying. But if I stopped now, my chances of living were next to nothing. I had to get to Swiftwing. As long as they could do just a little bit, I could do the rest myself. As long as they could stop the bleeding, I could recover. Tiovex stayed by my side the whole way. He made sure I didn�t drop altitude and that I remained conscious and alive. [Kitiane, stay with me in Swiftwing.] [I can�t.] [What do you mean? Of course you can! He obviously doesn�t need you anymore if he�s beating on you!] [He had a legitimate reason, Tiovex.] [Oh? Let�s hear it then.] [When he goes into Trance, he grows feathered wings. I plucked one off him and discovered that it had . . . intriguing properties about it. He told me not to give it to Garnet. I showed it to her just a bit ago and let her hold it. I hadn�t given it to her, technically, but he thought I had. I meant it as a joke, but evidently he and I didn�t quite see eye-to-eye on that point.] [I don�t care! You raised him! He should have more respect for you than he just showed!] [He has more respect for me than he lets on, Tiovex. If you�d give him a chance you�d see that.] We made it to Swiftwing and into the castle. I fell just inside the doorway and Tiovex had to carry me the rest of the way to the medical chamber. There was a big rush as I was placed on a table and examined. [Do everything you can!] Tiovex ordered. [She�s the king�s daughter!] A cloth was placed over my nose and mouth and I drifted into sleep. <--Part 23 Part 25--> |