Page 88 of The Infirmary for Dragon Burns and Midair Mishaps

30

VAELA

I felt the familiar dip in the pit of my stomach as Min abruptly dropped through the clouds, plummeting down the mountainside to a safer height. I sucked in cold air, grateful that my lungs had finally stopped screaming. As Min leveled off, I twisted around, and Eden snuggled close behind me.

Her arms wrapped around my waist, her chin on my shoulder. But as we continued to descend, that clean, cold air was quickly replaced with the acrid taste of smoke. It scratched at the back of my throat and stuck to my tongue.

I coughed hard.

Eden held me tighter. “We’re almost there,” she said. “Hang on.”

I laid one hand over hers as Min swept across the wreckage of the town. Together we examined the damage. A few buildings had been completely destroyed, reduced to nothing but rubble. Glass sparkled like starlight on the ground. Entire streets of cobblestones had been pried up. Fires still burned, sending plumes of smoke twisting into the night sky.

Min swerved around the worst of them as ash rained down on top of us. I batted away the thickest pieces as we glided toward the lake.

On the approach, Min grew unsteady, her wings shuddering as they flapped, and I knew the landing was going to be rough.

“Brace yourself,” I called back to Eden, feeling her curl up behind me.

I locked myself in place the best I could, head down as we hit the ground. Min skidded through the muddy bank along the side of the lake, digging the spikes of her tail into the earth to slow us down. The motion jarred my teeth.

Finally she came to a stop. Then she stumbled a few paces forward and collapsed, almost throwing us.

I pressed my hand to her scales, my heart in my throat. “Min!”

She rose to her feet briefly, then collapsed again. Eden tumbled off one side while I rolled down the other, landing on my hands and knees, my prosthesis dropping down next to me. I reached for it and hastily jammed it back into place. The fit was wrong, uneven, but I didn’t care as I sprang up, throwing myself forward, practically tripping as I crumpled by Min’s head.

“Min?” I ran my hand over a scaly brow bone, knowing just how much exertion her heart had taken. “You did so well.” I kissed her face, praying that she would be okay while knowing it had all been too much.

She’d been too high for too long.

I could tell by the way she clenched her eyes and wheezed. She chuffed, her breath ragged, pained.

No, no, no!

“Min!” I screamed. There was a reason we never chased dragons toward the tallest peaks. “Help!” I cried. “Somebody help!”

Eden was at my shoulder in an instant, her expression broken. “I don’t… Vaela, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to do.”

Of course she didn’t. She was a burn nurse. What could she do about a heart that had beat too hard? What could I do?

“Help!” I called again, clutching at Min as voices drew near, the townsfolk gathering around in a panicked group. “Somebody get help.” Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn’t lose her. “Please.”

Gunther fought his way to the front of the crowd, leaning on a walking stick. “Move. Let me see her.”

I looked at him, feeling horribly useless. “Her heart,” I rasped. “The altitude… I don’t… Tell me what to do.”

Tell me how to save her.

Gunther laid his hand on Min’s head and nodded. “Get her into the water,” he said with urgency. “Take the pressure off her heart. That may be all we can do.”

I glanced toward the lake, feeling a bloom of hope. Then Cyrus stepped into my line of sight, soaking wet, his lips curled back over his teeth. “Don’t you even think about it. Keep that bloody dragon out of my lake!”

“Cyrus, please,” I begged him. There was no reality where Min would be able to drag herself up to the mountain lakes now. “She’s not going to make it.”

“That’s not my concern.”

“You wretched, wretched man,” Eden snarled, her jaw trembling as she rose to her feet. “Min saved you! She landed on that roof and made sure to carry you to safety. Without her, you wouldn’t be standing here now.”