“Gin, I love…” Sath said, and then he was just gone. The light faded—Sath was lying on the floor, face down, in a heap—in his own body. He was Qatu again.
“Sath…”
Sath opened his eyes slowly. Every bone, every muscle, every atom that made up his body ached. He was smothering under a thick hide blanket but couldn’t move to shove it away. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words formed in his mouth. All he could manage was a strangled growl. A growl? Sath’s eyes scanned his surroundings. It was very dark, and he seemed to be face down in the heavy blanket. He finally made one of his arms move, and thankfully the hide came away from his mouth so that he could breathe properly. He pushed himself up on one elbow and tried to call out for Gin, but all that happened was the same growling sound.
“Sath?” The sound of her voice instantly calmed him. She was all right…well, she was alive and able to speak, that was all he knew for sure. “Oh, Sath, you’re…you…” Sath flopped over onto his back and stared upward into Gin’s worried face. She reached out to touch his face, but he flinched away, instinctively thinking that her touch would hurt. “Sath, do you know who I am?”
“Of course I do,” he said. At least he thought that’s what he said. The growling was getting louder each time he tried to speak. “What happened to me?”
Why are you snarling at me? Gin asked, her forehead creased with concern as she looked down at him. Sath reached up to smooth out the wrinkles on her face and tell her it was all right but startled when a fur-covered clawed finger nearly scraped the delicate skin on her face.
I can’t make the right sounds because...I’m me again—I’m Qatu.NA’HINA! He was dumbstruck. Why had the red dragon done this to him? Why had he not taken the chance to kiss her one last time? He would never again feel her skin under his fingers or be able to grab her up in his arms without worrying about breaking her fragile bones or skin.
Gin smiled down at him. “You’re perfect is what you are.” She stroked the fur on his face, murmuring a spell that would heal his body of the pain that currently shot through him from his ears to the tip of his tail. “My Sathlir.”
“At least your Qatunari hasn’t gotten any worse,” Sath replied, chuckling a bit despite the gloom that had claimed him. “But you don’t have to keep this up…it was good while it lasted with me in the wood elf suit, but…”
“Don’t you dare, Sathlir Clawsharp,” Gin hissed at him, her expression serious. “You are no different to me than you were before, got it? Just because we can’t…you are more to me than that, and I would hope I am more to you than just a body.”
Sath ran the back of one of his fingers down the side of her face. “You know you are.” He struggled to sit up, and Gin tried to help him, but he was back to being twice her size. Finally, he was up and managed a good look around. “I see that Omerith has departed, if he was ever even here,” he said as he rubbed a large hand over his face. He felt fur and smiled.
Gin walked over to the window and looked out. “You shouldn’t have made him angry,” she said softly, hoping that he wouldn’t hear her—yet knowing he had. “Sath, I don’t know what to do. We don’t know where the orb is. We don’t know who is controlling Daelyth. Without Omerith’s help, I do not know how we will get back home. And we still don’t have a plan to stop the Mother Dragon.” She sighed, and he walked over to her, wishing he could wrap his arms around her waist the way he had only hours before. Instead, he put his hands on her shoulders, and she leaned back against him, relaxing a little. “And the orb—can you imagine, Ikara’s magic back in the world?”
“I have to admit, this is a little unsettling.” He leaned down and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Omerith is key right now. He is our only chance to stop the Mother Dragon and get back home.”
The Qatu is right.
Omerith! Gin forgot herself for a moment in the face of the intrusion into her mind. What did I say to you about just dropping into our conversations?
I am speaking to both of you, Nature Walker. I can get you back home, and I will send you now if that is your wish.
Not before we stop Kaerinth. What about the orb and your Daelyth? Is there any way that Sath and I can help you?
There may be, Nature Walker. Rajah, I must apologize for my fit of temper. I should not have undone what the goddess did for you.
It is of no consequence now, Omerith. Let us help you find your daughter, and then we will know where the orb is.
A bright light split the darkness and Ellie was aware again. She was still trapped in the back of her mind—everything hurt.
Ah, you’re awake. Good.
Taeben, what do you want?
You are to call me -
I will call you whatever I like. You have left me here. Further, you told me -
Fair enough. I need your help, Elspethe.
I could not possibly care less, Taeben.
She could feel him getting closer, and he was angry. She genuinely did not care.
I fear that I have made a mistake, and I do not know if I can fix it. Please tell me that the daughter of the red dragon is not, in fact, a FROST DRAGON.
And if she is?
If she is, I have shown my hand too soon and will likely need to force the golden dragon to give up the location of the orb. She took
