Chapter 31: THE DRAGON THAT CAME BACK BLEEDING

RAIGORO’S POV

The following afternoon, a patrol dragon missed the western landing platform by nearly twenty feet.

That was the first sign the afternoon had become a military problem.

The dragon struck the lower stone approach hard enough to scatter three ground crews. One wing hit the retaining wall. The Dragon Host officer remained in the saddle only because the harness held him there.

Blood marked both of them.

"Clear the court!"

Raigoro was already moving when the first keeper shouted.

The Muster yard changed immediately.

Harness inspection stopped.

Feed carts were dragged out of the central route.

Members of the Dragon Host moved their dragons back from the injured animal while dragonkeepers ran toward her with guide lines and padded control poles. A dragon healer followed with assistants carrying bandages, forceps, medicines, and the heavy treatment cases used for Dragon Host injuries.

Raigoro reached the lower court as two men cut the officer free.

"The officer?"

"Alive," one healer answered. "Shoulder. Possibly ribs."

"Take him."

The officer caught the healer’s sleeve.

"Dragon."

"We have her."

That was apparently enough.

He allowed himself to be carried toward the passage leading down from the Dragon Heights to the Citadel infirmary.

The dragon was harder.

She crouched on three legs with her injured wing held at an angle behind her. Dark blood ran from a wound near the lower shoulder where several scales had been torn away.

A keeper approached.

The dragon snapped.

The man stopped outside the reach of her jaw.

"Easy."

Her head swung toward him.

Another keeper came from the opposite side carrying a padded control pole.

"Do not crowd her."

"I am not."

"She disagrees."

The dragon made the decision for them and struck one foreclaw across the stone.

Everyone moved back.

Raigoro found the patrol officer who had landed behind her on another dragon.

"What happened?"

"Northwest sweep, beyond the sixth ward marker."

"Attack?"

"Yes."

"What?"

The officer took off his helmet.

"Corrupted hounds first. Then something larger from the ravine. We never saw all of it."

"How many?"

"Enough that Captain Veyr ordered withdrawal after the second pass."

"Other injuries?"

"One officer cut. Two dragons with superficial wounds. She took the worst of it covering the turn."

Raigoro looked toward the injured dragon.

"Creature coordination?"

The officer hesitated.

"That is the problem."

"Explain."

"The hounds drove us toward the ravine."

Wild ash hounds did not care where Dragon Host patrols flew.

"Then the larger creature came from the route they pushed us toward."

"Deliberate?"

"I cannot prove it was deliberate."

Good. The officer knew the difference between evidence and conclusion.

Raigoro sent him to Daric for a full report.

Master Clair’s keepers brought the dragon’s head between two padded guide lines without forcing her flat. She tolerated the position briefly before making both keepers adjust.

Once Master Clair signaled that the dragon was safely positioned, the dragon healer approached the injured shoulder.

Dark discoloration had spread around the torn scales.

"Deep," the healer said.

Raigoro stopped outside the treatment line.

"Corruption?"

"Some. I need the wound open enough to see whether anything remained inside."

"What do you need?"

"Her head steady and everyone else out of my working space."

Master Clair answered before Raigoro could.

"You’ll have both."

Raigoro left him to his work.

Authority became dangerous when it convinced a man he knew another profession merely because everyone obeyed when he spoke.

Daric arrived from Command Terrace.

"I heard the landing."

"So did half the mountain."

Daric took in the injured dragon.

"Same patrol?"

"Northwest."

Daric’s expression changed.

"The sector from the morning reports?"

"Yes."

For three days, scouts had reported increased corrupted movement along that boundary. Numbers remained manageable.

Behavior had become less manageable.

Daric looked toward the observation gallery.

"Your wife is up there."

Raigoro followed his attention.

The Duchess stood beyond the visitor line with Alma and Lady Tavia.

At least she had obeyed the restriction after yesterday’s Muster problem.

Raigoro returned his attention to the dragon.

"Close the gallery to further entry."

Daric signaled a guard.

The dragon healer inserted the long forceps into the wound.

The dragon’s tail struck the stone.

Master Clair lifted one hand.

"Hold."

Every keeper stopped moving.

When the dragon settled enough for the healer to continue, the forceps entered again.

A dark fragment no longer than Raigoro’s finger dropped into the metal tray.

Neither man touched it.

The fragment appeared to be part of a barbed point.

Black material coated one side.

Raigoro looked toward the dragon healer.

"Do not clean it."

The man paused.

"I wasn’t planning to eat from it."

"Good."

Daric crouched near the tray without crossing the keeper’s working line.

"That coating."

"I see it."

The black substance had the same thick shine as the resin recovered from the meat trail near Third Watch.

And from the barbs driven into the ash hounds that attacked his wife’s camp.

"Same?"

"Similar."

"Very."

"Still similar."

Daric straightened.

Raigoro ordered a clerk forward.

"Seal the fragment with a sample from the wound. Separate containers. Send both to the same examiner who tested the road evidence."

"Yes, Your Grace."

Daric remained beside him.

This was why Raigoro kept him.

The same resin could connect a supplier, route, technique, or group. It still did not tell them who had arranged either attack.

The wounded dragon made a sudden harsh sound.

Both men turned.

The keepers were attempting to inspect deeper inside the injury.

The animal had had enough.

She threw her head upward.

One restraint line tore from a keeper’s grip.

"Back!"

The keeper nearest her shoulder dropped flat as the dragon’s foreclaw struck where he had been standing.

Another keeper released the line before it could pull him under her neck.

The dragon twisted.

The damaged wing struck the stone wall.

Blood ran fresh across the scales.

"Back!" Master Clair ordered. "Everyone out of reach."

The medical crew withdrew.

The dragon remained crouched, breathing too fast, head swinging toward every person who moved.

"How long can you leave that wound?" Raigoro asked.

The keeper did not look away from her.

"Not long enough to wait for her mood to improve."

Another keeper tried approaching from behind a shield.

The dragon saw him.

Her tail hit the ground.

The man stopped.

Master Clair swore.

"She will tear the wing worse before we finish."

Movement came from the observation gallery above.

The dragon’s head snapped upward.

Raigoro followed her attention.

His wife stood behind the visitor line with Alma beside her.

The dragon stopped fighting the keepers.

Her breathing remained fast, blood continued running beneath the damaged wing, but she had stopped watching the keepers. She was watching the Duchess.

Master Clair noticed.

"Do not move her."

Raigoro looked at him.

Master Clair never looked away from the dragon.

"Your Grace. Keep the Duchess where the dragon can see her."