Page 10 of Drakhana's Secret
“I thought we were trading with them,” I say, continuing to spoon oatmeal into my mouth. I’m starving like a dragon deprived of food for weeks.
“That’s what I thought so too, which is why we voted to stay out of the fighting.” She shakes her head. “It’s none of your business that ice and fire are at each other’s throats.”
That I can agree with, but could this be what’s been troubling me? Could the battle finally be spilling into our territory?
My eyes wander around and I get a sense of what’s happened. In one fell swoop, our clan has been decimated and our ancient home destroyed. Our peaceful lives have been taken away from us and we don’t even know why. We’ve always been careful and respectful.
“We need a leader,” Baba says.
“What?” My eyes widen. “What happened to Corbin?”
She shakes her head. I don’t need to know the details, only that he didn’t survive the fight. “What about you?”
“I’m more useful helping the injured. You need to step in, Sapphire.”
I turn around to see a group of the elderly and young ones looking to me. “Have they been waiting this whole time for me to wake up?”
“We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you,” Baba says. “We don’t know what to do.”
My gaze drops to my lap and the half-eaten oatmeal. Suddenly, I’m not so hungry anymore. I don’t know what to do either. I’m not a born leader. Where do I get the hope they will need to get through this?
I lift my gaze and meet each and every one of them. Then a thought comes to me, which prompts me to say, “Whenever I feel like I don’t know what to do, I do something else. A task accomplished helps us find the next task and then the next until we have put ourselves back together.”
Nods come from the crowd. They understand what I mean. Good. At least I don’t have to elaborate.
“First, we will need food and supplies.” I look to the young ones. “Fledglings, with the help of the whelps, can you fan out and gather all the food and supplies that’s left?”
The older of the fledglings stand. They take the younger dragons away. I leave it up to them to figure out who will do what.
To the elders, I say, “Can you help Baba set up a makeshift hospital area? That way we can all tend to the wounded.”
They nod and Baba joins them to begin working. Earth dragons love to work. Giving them tasks is something that puts their minds at ease.
One of the dragons that I recognize as a warrior approaches me. He has soot on his face and a bandage on his arm. Baba must have tended to him already.
“You’re Arthur, right?” I ask, making sure since I don’t know all the warriors by name.
“Yes,” he says. “By my count, we have twenty warriors left. The rest of them . . .”
“Are gone,” I whisper and he nods. “The rest cannot know that our defenses are currently weak. It will only worry them.”
“I totally agree, but we’d like to be of service.”
The pleading in his eyes undoes me so I say, “Why don’t you take the rest of the warriors and sweep the area for survivors? Bring them back here so that we can tend to their injuries. At the same time, can you assign one or two of your men to look after the young ones? That way they have supervision.”
“Thank you, Sapphire,” he says in a reverent tone that’s only been reserved for Corbin.
I nod, unable to hide me sadness. I guess we will have to deal with the dead as well. Once the warriors return, I will ask them to prepare graves for those we’ve lost.
Arthur leaves to accomplish the task he’s been given. I set my bowl aside and stand. The salve and tonic have done their job.
I walk over to the well and bring up a bucket of water. I wash away as much of the dirt and sooth that’s covering my face, arms, and legs. I wonder why I’m this dirty until I realize the ash is coming from the embers that are still burning in some areas of our village.
None of the homes have survived. Many of them have burnt bodies inside. I make a note to have them covered so that the children won’t see them.
When I feel as clean as I’ll be, I take inventory of what they have. The brutal attack of the fire dragons has left us with very little. We have some of the garden left and a few livestock are walking around.
I spend a few minutes creating a simple pen for them. It’s basically sticks spaced apart and tied with string to create the walls. Our animals are all domesticated, so placing them in an enclosed area, no matter how flimsy will hold them in place.
