Chương 66: A Stranger in Drakehaven

Lilly woke up feeling as though someone had replaced her blood with wet sand. Something was very wrong - her body felt impossibly sluggish. She knew what exhaustion felt like. She knew blood loss, Weave depletion, poison, starvation, sleep deprivation, and the peculiar hollow weakness that followed pushing a spell far past the point where any sensible mage would have stopped. This was none of those.

This felt deeper; like reaching for a limb and discovering the world had added resistance between thought and movement. Lilly tried to flex her fingers, and they eventually responded as a quiet groan escaped her throat. From somewhere nearby, a young boy's voice called out.

"The woman is awake." Lilly stopped moving. The voice was unfamiliar, as were the other sounds around her. Her eyelids felt heavy when she forced them open. Bright daylight immediately stabbed through them, and she shut them again with a hiss.

"Careful," a young woman's voice said.

"You've been asleep for a while." Footsteps approached. Lilly waited several seconds before trying again more slowly. The room came into focus after a moment: Small, clean, and unremarkable. At first glance, she might have mistaken it for the treatment room of some rural healer who had recently acquired enough coin to stop working out of their kitchen. There were four beds besides hers, each separated by simple curtains that could be drawn for privacy.

Shelves lined one wall with basic medical supplies, but it looked very barren - as if it had only recently begun accumulating. A broad wooden table occupied the center of the room, and another smaller table had been placed beneath the windows that was covered in instruments. The walls were very new. Someone had plastered most of the interior carefully, but there were still small places near the corners where the work had not been finished. It was not a hospital, nor even a proper city clinic.

It was a healing house in a settlement wealthy enough to build one before it had learned how to hide the saw marks. Strange. Though more important— A young woman stepped into view. She was perhaps eighteen, with white hair. Simple clothes suitable for work rather than ceremony, though clean enough that she had likely changed recently. Her sleeves were rolled past her elbows. A few strands of hair had escaped whatever arrangement she'd attempted that morning. She carried herself like a healer.

The real kind who had already decided Lilly was a patient before Lilly had any opportunity to object.

"Can you hear me clearly?" the girl asked.

"Yes," her own voice sounded rough.

"Good. Do you know your name?" Lilly stared at her. The girl smiled apologetically.

"I know. It sounds insulting. Humor me."

"Lilly."

"Do you know where you are?"

"No."

"That one's expected."

"Comforting." The girl's smile widened slightly.

"Do you know approximately how old you are?"

"Twenty-eight."

"Any pain?"

"Everywhere."

"That one's also expected." Lilly's eyes narrowed. The girl seemed entirely too cheerful about this.

"What kind?"

"Heavy. Weak. My muscles feel…" Lilly searched for the correct description.

"Unused." The girl's expression changed.

"Anything sharp? Chest pain? Trouble breathing?"

"No."

"Dizziness?"

"Some." The girl stepped closer and gently lifted two fingers.

"Can I?" Lilly's first instinct was to tell her no. Instead, she gave a small nod and allowed the girl's fingers to touch the inside of her wrist. Lilly's attention sharpened instantly as Weave moved. That was not the work of an amateur. The magic was soft, remarkably controlled, and spread through Lilly's body without trying to overwhelm anything it encountered. It moved almost like curious water, testing, feeling, withdrawing whenever it met resistance. Lilly watched the young woman's face.

There was concentration and concern present, but nothing else. After several seconds, she released Lilly's wrist.

"Your pulse is good and your internal condition looks stable. You're going to feel weak for a while, though."

"For how long?"

"That depends on how stubborn you are." Lilly stared at her. The healer gave her another apologetic smile.

"Sorry. I've spent too much time around my brothers," the young woman turned toward the doorway.

"Kindle?" A black-haired head appeared around the frame; Lilly recognized the voice immediately. The boy from before looked perhaps twelve. Messy black hair fell almost to his shoulders, and his amber eyes seemed far older than the rest of him. He wore dark trousers and a charcoal tunic with faint ember-colored stitching around the cuffs.

"Yes?"

"Can you heat some broth?" Kindle considered that.

"You're asking if I can heat broth."

"Yes."

"You know why that's funny." The healer's mouth twitched.

"From the cottage, Kindle. And don't bring the whole pot."

"I did that once."

"You brought enough soup for six people."

"You said bring soup." The girl sighed, then Kindle disappeared. Lilly watched the empty doorway for a moment before she looked back at the healer.

"What is this place?"

"We'll get there."

"That sounds ominous."

"It isn't. I'm just trying not to dump everything on you at once." Lilly's gaze drifted upward. The familiar translucent display appeared before her, which she directed toward the young woman. [Aurelia] [Third Seal: Caretaker] Lilly stared; that couldn't be right. She narrowed her perception beyond the simplified reading. Aurelia's Weave Reserve was compact compared to Lilly's memories of truly powerful mages, but it was far deeper than Lilly would have expected from a Third Seal Caretaker.

Her vitality was even stranger. Healthy did not fully describe it - there was density and resilience there. A body carrying considerably more life than its Status suggested should belong to someone of her advancement. Aurelia noticed the staring.

"Something wrong?"

"You're Third Seal."

"Yes."

"Your reserve is too large." Aurelia blinked, then laughed.

"Oh, that. I got stronger a few weeks ago."

"That isn't an explanation."

"No, probably not." Aurelia rubbed the back of her neck.

"My Seal changed, and the increase was… larger than I expected." Lilly watched her carefully. There was no hesitation beyond mild embarrassment, and no defensive shift in posture. She appeared to be telling the truth, which was almost more interesting. Lilly's expression softened a fraction.

"Congratulations." Aurelia brightened.

"Thank you! It's in the past now, but I guess that makes sense since your waking up from a month-long coma." Lilly's thoughts stopped.

"A what?" Aurelia immediately grimaced.

"That was probably not how I should have said that."

"How long?"

"Just under a month." Lilly pushed herself upright, and the room immediately tilted. Aurelia's hand shot toward her, but Lilly caught herself against the bed.

"One month?"

"I know that sounds—""My companions." Aurelia stopped. Memory struck Lilly in pieces: A campfire burning low while someone argued about whether they had enough supplies to continue. A laugh as a sword was being sharpened. Someone saying they were close. Havenwood; her father; flames; something enormous against the sky— Then fog. Images existed somewhere inside it, but whenever Lilly reached toward them they seemed to turn sideways.

"We were traveling together," she said. Aurelia nodded carefully.

"How many?" Lilly ignored the question. She swung her legs from the bed in an attempt to stand.

"You were the only person brought here." Her feet hit the floor, but her knees nearly buckled. Lilly caught herself with magic; Weave wrapped around her calves, hips, and spine in dozens of fine threads, taking the burden her neglected muscles could not. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Aurelia inhaled sharply, surprised by what she saw.

"Lilly, you really shouldn't—""I've been unconscious for a month and my companions are missing."

"I understand."

"No, you don't." She took a step. Her body resisted, but the Weave did not. Lilly corrected the imbalance before it became visible and moved toward the door. Aurelia hurried after her.

"You can barely stand."

"I am standing."

"Magically."

"Yes."

"That is not better." Lilly opened the door, then stopped. Sunlight spilled across a small settlement. A hamlet, perhaps, though that word felt increasingly inaccurate the longer she looked. Fresh buildings spread outward from what appeared to be an older cottage at its center. Packed roads had been laid between structures. Workers moved lumber and stone. Several foundations suggested considerably more construction was underway. A large warehouse stood near the cottage, and beyond it were cultivated fields.

Another sizable structure rose near what looked like an enormous artificial basin, nearly completed and surrounded by scaffolding. The entire settlement was enclosed by walls, or appeared to be. Massive stone curtain fortifications rose around the perimeter, complete with towers, battlements, a gatehouse, and broad figures patrolling along the top. A respectable defensive system. Except— It was an illusion.

Anyone without considerable magical experience would probably believe Drakehaven had somehow erected a fortress in the middle of nowhere. Lilly could see where reality stopped cooperating. That should have been the strangest thing before her, but it wasn't. Something small and reptilian lay sleeping beside the nearly finished basin, curled into itself with the absolute confidence of a creature that expected no one nearby to harm it. A drake. Lilly's breath caught.

Before she could process that, brilliant light flashed near the warehouse. Another serpentine creature appeared beside a stack of cargo. It was white-scaled, and floating despite being wingless. A larger winged drake slept near one of the open areas, its body shifting slightly as someone walked past its tail. None had chains, handlers, or containment circles; people barely looked at it. Then Lilly saw the man. Tall, with ash-blond hair braided neatly back.

He was broad enough to be a warrior, and he stood speaking with someone near the road. The Weave inside him sat wrong for a man - structured around something that no humanoid body had created. Dragon. Aurelia stepped beside her.

"I'm sorry." Lilly's head snapped toward her, though Aurelia looked genuinely sympathetic.

"I know this must be a very strange place to wake up." She placed a hand on Lilly's shoulder, and Lilly reacted before thinking. Weave condensed in her palm as she spun. Aurelia froze, noting the spell hovering inches from her chest.

"Who are you?" Aurelia slowly lifted both hands.

"Aurelia."

"What is this place?"

"Drakehaven."

"What are they doing here?"

"The drakes?" Lilly's jaw tightened.

"The dragons." Aurelia followed her gaze; understanding passed across her face.

"Oh." That single syllable irritated Lilly more than panic would have.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just realized this probably looks terrible from your perspective."

"You have dragons walking through your settlement. One of them is pretending to be human." Aurelia glanced at Aegis.

"He isn't pretending exactly."

"What happened to my party?"

"I don't know."

"Then find someone who does." A hand closed around Lilly's wrist. She had enough time to register that someone very large had approached from her blind side, then the world shifted. Her balance vanished as a leg hooked behind hers. Her shoulder turned, and Lilly found herself folded onto the ground with considerable efficiency, one arm controlled behind her while a large white-haired man knelt across her center of gravity.

"Easy," he said. Lilly stared sideways at the dirt. Insult momentarily overwhelmed confusion as she looked at the arm controlling hers. A Status appeared as she looked at her captor. [Orion] [Second Seal: Protector] Lilly went very still. Second Seal. A Second Seal had just put her on the ground. Granted, she had been awake for perhaps fifteen minutes, but none of those facts improved her mood.

"You should probably avoid threatening Aurelia," Orion continued.

"Especially after she spent the last month keeping you alive." Lilly drew breath. One pulse; not enough to injure him, only enough to place the Protector somewhere approximately fifteen feet away. She reached into her reserve… And found a wall. Her mind blanked. Lilly reached again, and the Weave answered, but only a fraction of it. Her Status appeared so quickly she nearly failed to read it. [Lilly] [Fourth Seal: Mage] [Health: 68%] [Weave Reserve: 93%] Fourth. That was impossible. She had reached the Ninth Seal.

It had taken years upon years of work. She remembered it clearly, as well as every step along the way. Her Fifth, her Sixth, the winter she had nearly died earning her Seventh, and the three-year plateau before her Eighth. She knew what she was… Or what she had been. Lilly pushed against the deeper layers of herself. They existed still, but they were folded away behind something she could neither identify nor reach. Her breath caught.

"What…" Orion immediately felt the change in her. His grip loosened slightly, then an older voice carried across the road.

"I think that's quite enough." Everyone looked up as an elderly man approached at an entirely unhurried pace. He had gray hair, a weathered face, and simple traveling clothes. There was a cloak thrown loosely around his shoulders despite the warm day. Lilly stared at him. Just an old man walking toward them as though people being thrown onto the ground outside clinics was a fairly ordinary part of his morning.

"Orion," the man said.

"She had a spell pointed at Aurelia."

"Yes. I saw."

"Then we're agreed."

"Not necessarily." Orion looked offended, and the old man sighed.

"Would you mind helping her up?" Orion looked down at Lilly.

"If you're done trying to blast my sister." Lilly's eyes narrowed. She released the spell still gathered weakly in her palm.

"Yes." He stood and hauled her upright with considerably less effort than Lilly appreciated. Her legs immediately reminded her that the magic was doing most of the work. The old man stopped several feet away.

"I believe I'm the person you're looking for." Lilly studied him.

"You know what happened to me?"

"I know some of it."

"How?"

"I found you," the old man gestured toward the Healing House.

"Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere you can sit before Aurelia becomes angry with all of us."

"I am already angry," Aurelia said.

"Yes, but you have such a pleasant face that it can be difficult to tell."

"Inside." The old man smiled.

"See?" ─── 🐲🐲🐲 ─── Lilly hated that sitting down helped. She hated it even more that within seconds of returning to the bed, the room began swaying again. Aurelia appeared beside her.

"You overdid it."

"I walked thirty feet."

"You were unconscious for nearly a month." Aurelia placed a hand near Lilly's shoulder, pausing deliberately before making contact. Warmth spread through Lilly's body. A stabilizing sensation filled her stomach and bloodstream, taking the sharp edge from the weakness. It seemed healing-adjacent, but wasn't what Lilly was immediately familiar with. Lilly frowned.

"What was that?"

"Nourishment."

"Spell?" Aurelia nodded.

"I can convert Weave into enough basic nutrition and hydration to keep someone stable when they can't eat normally." Lilly examined herself. Crude compared to actual food, but clever.

"That shouldn't substitute indefinitely."

"It doesn't," Aurelia said immediately.

"It keeps vital systems functioning. It doesn't replace proper meals, and apparently it definitely doesn't prepare someone to wake up and become rambunctious." Lilly stared at her.

"Rambunctious."

"Yes."

"I threatened you once."

"And immediately escaped the clinic."

"I walked outside."

"You were supposed to be in bed." The old man coughed suspiciously into his hand. Orion stood near the doorway with his arms folded, while Aurelia remained beside Lilly.

"Talk," Lilly said. The old man's humor faded.

"I was walking several miles outside Drakehaven when you appeared."

"Appeared."

"Quite literally." Lilly's expression tightened.

"Teleportation?"

"That would be my guess. I'm afraid I am not sufficiently educated in the particular method to tell you more." Lilly examined him. His tone was natural - no unnecessary elaboration or signs of fabrication.

"Was I conscious?"

"No."

"Alone?"

"Yes." Her stomach tightened.

"There was something written on your hand," he continued. Lilly looked down automatically.

"A glyph?"

"I believe so. It faded shortly after I found you."

"What did it say?"

"That whoever found you should bring you somewhere safe… and your party had been wiped out." The words landed without drama, which made them worse. Lilly said nothing as her memory shifted. Rain, boots in mud, and someone walking ahead of her. A man's voice telling her that after all these years, they were finally close. Then— A pressure in the air, intense fear, and someone shouting. Then, there was nothing. Her fingers tightened around the blanket.

"Anything else?"

"One object." The old man reached beneath his cloak. Metal scraped softly against wood as he produced a sword. Lilly stopped breathing. The weapon was damaged and its enchantments were dead, but she knew the hilt and the shaping along the guard. The barely visible notch near the pommel where its owner had once tried to open a bottle with it and spent the next twenty years denying that was how the mark got there.

"No." Uncle rested it across his knees. Lilly stared.

"That sword belonged to our leader." The room became very quiet.

"He was with you?" Aurelia asked softly.

"Yes." Her answer barely came out. The old man did not offer the weapon immediately, which she weirdly appreciated. The worst part was that the story fit. Some emergency teleportation used by someone still conscious long enough to send Lilly away. A glyph explaining enough that whoever found her would not leave her in the wilderness. The sword sent with her because— Because its owner no longer needed it. Lilly's vision narrowed. Aurelia caught her shoulder.

"Lie back."

"I am fine."

"You're not." For once, Lilly lacked the energy to argue. She let Aurelia guide her backward and the ceiling returned to view. She remembered Havenwood: Trees taller than most city towers, walkways woven between ancient trunks, green roofs. Then smoke, and a shadow moving through the sky. Then - after years of training and travel - they had become stronger. Herself and others who had lost people in the same tragedy. Because someday they would find the dragon responsible. And then— She knew they had been close.

So close that anticipation had become difficult to distinguish from fear. But that was it Now she was here. Her party was gone, her memories were broken, and her advancement had somehow been reduced from Ninth Seal to Fourth. Nothing about her situation was acceptable, yet someone had kept her alive for a month. Now, someone else had brought her food. A Second Seal Protector had thrown her into the dirt because she threatened his sister rather than because he feared her.

And an old man had carried her from the wilderness because a fading message asked him to. Lilly looked down at the broth.

"I'll help." Aurelia tilted her head.

"With what?"

"Whatever needs doing."

"You're recovering."

"When I am capable," Lilly continued before she could object.

"I do not enjoy owing people."

"You don't owe us."

"That is a very pleasant sentiment. It does not change reality." Aurelia opened her mouth, then closed it.

"Fine, but you're still resting for now… and eating." As if on cue, the young boy from earlier entered. This time, he held a bowl of faintly steaming broth. He brought it over to her with the calm stability of someone a bit beyond his age.

"Here…" He held it out to Lilly. She accepted it, but not before examining him over a second time. Now that she had gone outside, the nature of his eyes seemed to tell her a different story than what she may have initially though of. She decided not to comment for now. Lilly lifted the bowl slightly to drink, which satisfied Aurelia. Outside, something roared. Not loudly or threateningly; more like an enormous creature complaining about inconvenience. Lilly's shoulders tightened on instinct. Aurelia noticed.

"That was probably Aegis."

"The dragon pretending not to be a dragon."

"He would disagree with the wording."

"I doubt that concerns me." Kindle crossed his arms.

"He'll like her." Lilly looked toward him.

"Why?"

"He likes difficult people." Orion nodded.

"He really does." Aurelia smiled. Lilly stared at the three of them, then toward the old man who appeared entirely too entertained by all of this. She had awakened in a settlement full of lunatics - possibly dragon-loving lunatics. She should have found the thought intolerable. Instead, somewhere beneath the grief, confusion, and anger, Lilly felt something else. Not comfort, and certainly not trust, but perhaps— Curiosity. For the moment, that would have to be enough.