Shooting your weapon in the tunnels of Mount Crenel would alert the lich to our presence.
I assume if I have to shoot something, she’ll already know we’re there. Look, I’m sure Sindari and I can sneak around as well as you can, and if we fail at sneaking, then we can be of some use. I stroked his scales. Also, I don’t want to go home and leave you here to face danger alone. I’ll worry about you. It’ll give me indigestion. You don’t want that, do you?
A puff of air that might have been a snort floated away from him. Proper digestion is important.
Especially with those all-protein diets dragons favor.
Yes. Very well. I will not send you home, but I ask a favor.
Wow, that sounded so polite and diffident. He’d never made a request like that.
What? I asked.
Do not attempt to vex the lich. She could slay you with a thought.
You know I have a hard time reining in my tongue. Can I at least taunt her and talk about how superior you are after you and your clan have defeated her?
I will allow this.
A cold breeze blew off the snowy peaks outside and into the mouth of the cave that Zav had located more than a hundred miles from Mount Crenel and—he promised—outside of the lich’s range to detect us. When we entered, bats, or something like them, shifted and flapped about in the back, adjusting positions among stalactites before furling their wings tight for warmth. The nippy air made me wish for wings I could wrap around myself.
At least the air was clearer than it had been near Mount Crenel. For the moment, my lungs were content.
Zav shifted into his human form to accompany me inside, creating a soft yellow light to illuminate the area. It showed his elven robe slashed open in the back and on one side, revealing deep gouges in his flesh. The same eerie purple glow that had plagued Sindari’s cuts hovered over these, almost an ominous mist that shifted and writhed just above the wounds.
I swallowed, trying to tamp down concern over their underworld taint and what it would mean if the potion he’d been given didn’t work. Could we trust that Silverclaw healer? Especially when the lich was also from the Silverclaw Clan? Wasn’t it likely that they were in cahoots?
“You said you have a potion I can rub on those for you?” I reminded myself that the healer had fixed up Sindari.
“Yes.” Zav produced a slender tapered tube about a foot long with a cork in the top. “I will disrobe for you.”
I accepted the strange holder. “That always excites me.”
Zav gazed at me through his eyelashes. “I know this.”
He floated his robe off and draped it over a boulder, using his magic to mend the rips in the fabric.
“Why does your clothing get torn when you’re injured in your dragon form?” I’d seen it before and hadn’t thought much of it, but it occurred to me to wonder since he could poof his clothes and other things into interdimensional storage cubbies.
“If I forget to put it away, it shifts along with me and is magically integrated into my scales. When I am in a hurry, I rarely worry about my human coverings.”
“And when you’re not in a hurry, you hang it in an interdimensional closet?” I imagined his robe on a hanger, floating inside one of those portable fabric closets.
“Yes. I strive to be a tidy dragon.”
“That shouldn’t be hard, given how few things you have.”
“Some dragons hoard knickknacks and treasures.”
“As the books tell me.” I smiled and rested a hand on his bare shoulder. Normally, I would have appreciated the view and the excuse to run my hand along his muscular back, but the otherworldly wounds made me uneasy. “Do you have any water? Maybe I should clean these.”
“There is a pool in the back of the cave.” He pointed into the shadows.
“Under where the bats poo? I said clean, not infect.”
“I will sterilize the water.”
“And incinerate the guano?”
“A simple task. When I am done, you will enjoy drinking from it as much as the fizzy water in the cans of your world.”
“I’m sure.” I imagined a film of guano ash atop the water and wondered if I could survive not drinking again until we made it back home.
Zav reached into his magical cubby and drew out a bowl that reminded me of a dog dish. I didn’t suggest he paint bones on the side, since I’d had enough of bones, skeletons, and all things death-related for the week.
He floated it back to the pool, filled it, then applied magic to boil the water. Another wave of magic washed over it, though I couldn’t tell what it did. Maybe he was incinerating debris, or maybe it was UV light for sterilization. If he had the ability to produce UV light, I would hand him my toothbrush and other bathroom implements when we got home.
A cooling breeze whispered past, and the bubbling water ceased its boil by the time it came to rest at my feet. Next, he produced a couple of fuzzy squares of cloth. Or were those furry squares? I supposed dragons weren’t big on textiles.
I dabbed water onto his wounds, trying to be gentle. Nobody had accused me of having a surgeon’s hands, but Zav didn’t complain. He let his chin droop to his chest as I worked on his back and side. Maybe I let myself work a few caresses in with my free hand. To help my patient relax, of course, not for my own pleasure.
“This is appealing,” Zav said. “Henceforth, I will allow you to clean all of my wounds before I heal them.”
“Is cleaning necessary? I haven’t noticed you roaming around with infections from normal wounds.”
“Usually, my magic is sufficient for sterilization, but healing my own wounds doesn’t prompt you to rub my butt.”
“I only brushed it; I didn’t rub it.”
“You may rub it.”
“Thanks for your generosity.”
He looked over his shoulder at me, his lashes lowered again.
“As much as I appreciate your smoldering bedroom eyes,” I said, “we’re not having sex on the lumpy rock-covered floor of a cave, especially not when there are enemies that could be searching for us.”
“I can make the floor comfortable.”
“And the enemies?”
“They will not find us.”
“Cocky dragon.”
“The term in your dictionary is self-assured.”
“Cockily self-assured.” I kissed his cheek, dropped the cloth, and uncorked the potion. A pungent odor that smelled like rotten eucalyptus wafted out. “This’ll either cure you or kill you.”
I tipped some of the goo into my palm, letting it rest there for a moment to make sure it didn’t burn a hole through me or do anything else vile before I risked applying it to his wounds. A few of the bats made squeaky noises, probably protesting the scent.
The goo made my skin tingle but nothing worse, so I dabbed some on Zav’s cuts. “Do you keep bandages in an interdimensional medicine cabinet?”
“No. I will heal the wounds once the taint has been extinguished.”
My stomach growled as I was finishing up, reminding me that the last thing I’d eaten had been that drugged protein bar.
“I don’t suppose you brought any food along.” I hadn’t ever seen Zav take a snack stash out of any of his invisible pockets.