Fell Dragon
Greetings Readers
It's that time of the week again! The survival book is doing great, but the previous book is finally out of my hair. AT LAST!
But you aren't here to listen to my moan, here is the next chapter to Fell Dragon. I had to cut it short to the chapter would have been too long. Luckily, you guys only need to wait till Friday for the next update!
PS: We have a new banner thanks to 
She stopped eating and sleeping then. She modified her training so that her body didn’t demand sleep and food from her. There was no comfort now. She took her early morning runs and then some light training, but other than that, she did nothing else. She even avoided her cousin, who had now seen her at her weakest, and she hated it.
Kiai tried to stop her from wandering the forest instead of talking to her, but Saita had shrugged off any kind of contact and hid in the forest for hours long after the time she should have returned. She was worried and reached out to Jarah. The doctor, having refused to pick a side, only spoke to her for Saita’s sake.
“What do you expect?” he said into the camera that was sharing their communications. “She was conscious when the pieces were put inside of her. The only time she was fully unconscious was they messed around with her head. She is traumatised. The fact that all of you have her helping you in this ridiculous war is a detriment to her. She needs counselling and a lot of it.”
“I realise that,” she said softly. “I didn’t want her in on this myself, but Astec thought it would help her heal, but it isn’t, and it is getting worse.”
“How worse? I thought you said she just stopped eating and sleeping completely again.”
“She is having flashbacks. If anyone touches her in a certain way you can see her eyes grow wide, and she literally runs from the room. Someone says something, and it’s like she is somewhere else immediately.”
Jarah leaned back in his chair and stuck a pen between his upper lip and his nose. He knew this was something that could happen, and he had no idea how to help her. This wasn’t something that was going to go away, and it wasn’t something that could be buried. It was going to haunt her for the rest of her shortened life.
“She is losing weight, and the bags under her eyes are black as pitch, Jarah, send me something so that I can help her,” she begged.
“I have nothing but painkillers for her and a tea that can let her sleep for an hour at most with no dreams. Beatrice is the one you should be talking to, not me.”
“Beatrice is not going to get involved and she will call for Saita to be returned to the planet.”
“That is not a bad suggestion, and you know it,” said Jarah as he brought up a data pad where he was typing information in. “Saita should be institutionalised and monitored to help with the trauma. I’m concerned about thoughts of suicide.”
“Suicide!? No way, Saita is training every day-”
“And what else? There is no family for her to get comfort from. Her brother doesn’t even know that she is alive. Her mother hasn’t seen her in weeks. Her father has all but disowned her. Likely she has also gotten it into her head that everything that is happening right now is her fault.”
Kiai remembered the conversation that she had had with Saita and frowned. Jarah noted it and said. “Do you understand now why I am concerned about suicide? She has no one. Hell, when Astec came to see her, he brought his pregnant wife to make it very clear to the girl that she didn’t even have him in her corner.”
“That isn’t fair Jarah,” she snapped.
“Mark my words. Between you, Myla, and Karesh, that girl is going to die. One way or another.” Jarah looked up at the camera. “I’ll send the pain killers with the next shipment for the hospital. Two pills dull pain in general. Three should offer some sleep, but I cannot guarantee that it will be dreamless.”
He then tapped the data pad on the table. “I have something else, but it was never tested on her.”
“What?”
“Anaesthesia. The original formula worked well for her. I have been tweaking it. Maybe it can be a sleep aid, I don’t know. I didn’t get around to using too much of it on her during her surgery, but she seemed to have woken from it without remembering any dreams,” he faced the camera again. “It is a bandage and nothing else. She needs to face her problems and not bury them.”
“Once we have stopped this war, we can get her all the counselling that she needs, but for now I need a lucid Saita helping me.”
“The girl has known nothing but people using her,” muttered Jarah. “Fine, I’ll send some with but don’t turn the girl into a drug addict to deal with her problems.”
“Thank you, Jarah.”
“Two dead soldiers,” said Saita as she returned from her run.
Kiai turned and saw a sweaty and bloodied Saita walk into her office. She was momentarily shocked by her appearance that she almost didn’t hear what the girl had said. “Excuse me?”
“I found them on my run,” she muttered as she sat down and sipped at the coffee, long cold. “I brought them to the edge of the forest. They were already cold. Did you change the guarded routes in the forest?”
“No.” Kiai had to prevent herself from running out to see which soldiers had been killed.
“That means they were snatched from within the perimeter. Your natives are making a move.” she drained the coffee, then set the mug down and pushed her hood back.
Kiai tried to not look surprised by the condition of her thinning cousin. She picked up a phone and dialled a number. When someone picked up on the other side she said. “Two of the guards never reported this morning. I have just been told there is something on the edge of the wood. Go check and take protection.”
She set the phone down and sighed before sitting down heavily. “God damn it.”
“You know...I can go into the forest and sort this out for you,” said Saita as she ran her fingers through her hair.
Kiai’s thoughts dwelled on what Jarah had said about suicide, and she immediately said. “No! What if you get hurt?”
“Two men are dead Kiai. What are you going to do about that?” Saita insisted.
“I...I…”
“You are the leader here. Do something, or I will.” Saita got to her feet. “I’m going to have a shower.”
“Before you go.” Kiai pushed a box across the table. “I asked for Jarah to send this.”
“What’s this?”
“Some medications for you. I need you to take it down to the sick bay. There is also a voice recorder in there for you.”
“For what?” scoffed Saita. “Are you all expecting me to recite my nightmares now?”
“Jarah asked Beatrice to record herself singing.”
Saita’s entire body sagged at the news, and Kiai could hear the sob in her voice. “Thank god.”
Saita tore the box open and looked for the recorder. “I am so tired.”
Kiai closed the box before Saita could find what she was looking for. “Take the box to the sickbay first. Your meds are temperature dependent, and if anything happens to you, we need to be able to treat you.”
Saita half growled. “Fine. Keep an eye out on the forest. Your natives are going to make a move soon.”
She scooped up the box, pushed her way through the hidden entrance and made her way through to where the sickbay was. She rather unceremoniously dumped the box on the doctor’s desk before opening it and rummaging through it for the tape recorder. The doctor remained silent and only inspected the contents when Saita stepped back with a smile on her face.
“Your medicine?” he queried. “Jarah said that he’d be sending some.”
“Yes,” Saita mumbled. “Going to sleep. Bye.”
She practically danced from the room and then ran to her own. All she wanted to do was eat a meal and sleep. It is all she wanted to do for weeks, but the fear of the dreams had kept her from being brave enough to close her eyes. Now she could escape if only for a few hours. She had been feeling sick the last few days, but she had said nothing because she was so tired of Kiai looking at her in concern. All she needed was something to eat and then to sleep. Some dreamless sleep.
She snuck into the kitchen to steal some fruit before the cooks realised that she was there and then hid in her room. She devoured her meal before making sure the recorder was charged enough to give her at least two hours of peaceful sleep. According to the recorder's memory, Beatrice had made several recordings, each labelled with the length of the songs and what they would bring her.
Peace.
That one had been labelled as two hours long. That was enough to take the edge off of the anxiety and fear that stalked her. She decided to leave the recording device plugged into her computer and let it play through the speakers, which were located near her head. Kicking the blanket aside she gripped a pillow to her chest and cuddled it as Beatrice’s voice filled the room. The words had never meant anything to Saita, but this one finally made sense. It was a promise of sleep that would give her some peace to rest. She needed that. She just needed to rest. She closed her eyes and set her back against the wall.
Please, no dreams.
Her mind begged as it listened to the song. It took a while for her muscles to relax, and she was able to lie down and finally fall asleep. Her sleep was only black, with no dreams. She never moved from her position as long as the song played. Saita thought that she would sleep until the song ended, but it was a bang at the door that jolted her from slumber. She sat bolt up, confused at first.
“Saita!”
Jumping from the bunk, Saita went to the door to find her cousin looking very worried.
“I was asleep.” was all Saita said as she rubbed at her eyes. “I dreamt of blackness and there was peace.”
“There is a problem.”
And what could the problem possibly be? I guess you'll have to wait to the next chapter :)
For those of you just joining us, please note that this is the follow on book from Fell Dragon. Follow this link to read it
Fell Dragon Book 1
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 12>>You are Here>>Part 14