“And we will be keeping a close eye on them as they move around the castle,” Baldewin added with a grumble.
Not that Sora blamed him. Their home had been invaded and three of their own had been hurt. Now, more strangers were coming in under the guise of “helping.” Of course they were grumpy and on edge.
“At any rate, I feel that they’ll likely come and ask you questions soon.”
“Okay.” Ravi didn’t seem particularly excited or bothered by this.
Lisette joined them, her lips pursed as she ran a diagnostic spell over the downed dragon. Whatever she saw pleased her, as she dismissed the spell with a smile. “You’ve been tended to nicely, Ravi. Really, Mage Vo, I’ve not seen healing arts of this caliber since the Dragon War. What else have I failed to learn from you?”
“There’s too long a list, I fear.”
Sora chafed at the fact that he couldn’t say more. Truly, the more he interacted with everyone here, the more this half-lie sat ill with him. And seeing how they all trusted him with Ravi, it burned even worse.
To try and mask it, and buy himself more time, he offered, “I will speak with my family later and get permission to share our spell books. I think they’ll be of great benefit here.”
“We’d dearly love to have a copy. We weren’t healers ourselves before the Dragon War, not really. As you’ve seen, we just know the basics. And our clan has suffered from it.” A cloud passed over Lisette’s face for a moment. “But thank you for being so quick to respond. Wing bones, especially, are so delicate. I would have hesitated strongly before attempting to heal Ravi. You clearly knew what you were doing.”
Not the first time I’ve dealt with wing bones was not the answer he could give her in that moment. Sora went with a safer route. “I’m happy to help. Although I wish it hadn’t been necessary. Please, be frank with me. Do you suffer from these attacks often?”
“Too often,” Baldewin answered with a groan. “Although, they’ve never penetrated the castle before. Sometimes the Jaeggi tactics are hit and run, more opportunistic. If they see a mage, they’ll try and kidnap them or take advantage. We had that trouble with my own mate, as the Jaeggi spotted Tori and trouble followed. But they can do more surgical strikes, as you’ve seen here.”
“I am…horrified to hear that.” Sora felt like even those words weren’t strong enough. Rage and growing unease slithered along his chest like a python, gripping uncomfortably tight.
“We’re not exactly pleased, ourselves.” King Alric sighed, and he seemed a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Especially with so many new mages here, who can barely do all the defensive spells. It’s worrisome. I’m afraid we’ve not put our best foot forward with you, Mage Vo. I know you’re here on behalf of your family, to report back to them. I cannot safely promise that we can protect them. Still, I hope they will come and speak with us, at the very least.”
Sora spoke from the heart as he promised, “I’ll do my very best to convince them.”
Sora stayed firmly at Ravi’s side all through the cleanup of the foyer and aided in the repair spells to the windows and front of the building to close it up. Even in this mild weather, it wasn’t advisable to leave the place like this. It would take more than a day’s worth of work, but the main structure was back in place. Tarps covered the windows until new glass could be ordered, as they’d been shattered so thoroughly that even with magic repairing them, they’d remain brittle and fragile. Everyone agreed that ordering in new glass would be the smarter way to go.
He lent his magic toward wards to boost the security and got many a thanks and even one exuberant hug from Cassie. Which surprised him, certainly. They were just so grateful for any helping hand, it was conversely worrying to him.
He fed Ravi a sumptuous dinner, a partial reward for a job well done, and then without compunction drugged the dragon up to his eyeballs with a sleeping potion. With that much in his system, even an active wind dragon should sleep soundly for eight hours. And it bought Sora time to safely sleep in a bed instead of staying camped out near Ravi all night.
Not to mention, time to make a very important phone call.
Sora waited until he was alone in his bedroom before pulling out his phone and calling his mother once again. She answered quickly, no doubt eager for news.
“Sora!” she greeted happily. “What news have you to share?”
“We were attacked.” Sora let the dark, unhappy mood he was in sound loudly in his tone. Now was not the time to pull punches or shield his mother from the danger he was facing.
She sucked in a breath. In a rush, she demanded, “How badly? Are you hurt? Can you come home immediately?”
“I’m not hurt.” Sora knew to answer that question first. “Not a scratch on me. A suicide bomber, a Jaeggi, infiltrated the castle and tried to blow it to bits. Ravi caught her, or tried, chasing her through the castle. He deflected the blow, and it damaged the front of the foyer. It’s left him injured and immobile for the next several days.”
“Oh. Oh dear, Sora, this really doesn’t sound safe anymore.”
“I don’t think this clan has truly been ‘safe’ since the Wars. It’s bad enough that King Alric apologized to me for the danger, said that he completely understood if my family wouldn’t come and meet with them. They don’t have any real knowledge of the healing arts. I offered at least a copy of our healing spellbooks. Healing. Spellbooks. Because they don’t know more than the basics.”
His mother tried to get a word in edgewise.
Sora wasn’t having it. He was on a roll now, his anger and heartache overriding his usual level of patience.
“From what I’ve gathered from his clan—and they are extremely proud and protective of their king—that man carries a grievous injury from the Dragon Wars. He can’t even fly, and still, he doesn’t ask for anything for himself. He’s worried about his clan. That his mages won’t be able to heal those truly injured. That people might die on him because of the attacks they can’t always prevent, because they don’t have the necessary medical knowledge. And despite all of that, he won’t demand anything from me. He won’t demand to speak with any of you. He respects our caution, our fears, and doesn’t order me to do anything contrary to my family’s wishes.”
She made a deflated noise. “You’re angry about this.”
“I’m livid.” He was nearly shaking with it, that was how angry he felt. “I’ve made true friends here in the past six days because they welcomed me with open arms and smiles. They trusted me today without question, left the care of their hurt clansmen entirely up to me. Thanked me for it, helped me, praised my skills. And I’ve repaid them with lies. I can’t stand myself right now.”
“I understand this goes against your nature, but…well, all things considered, isn’t it a sign that we shouldn’t go to them? I think you should come home, Sora.”
“This clan just suffered an unexpected attack, and you want me to come home? I just spent eight hours either healing a dragon—the dragon that defeated the bomber at significant cost, with multiple contusions and broken bones to show for it—or repairing a castle well enough for him to be able to sleep. He can’t even shift out of dragon form, lie in his own bed to recuperate, and you want me to abandon them here? They don’t have enough help to even properly ward this place!”