Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 019 - Battle in Minoosh part 3

Kaen! I’m coming!

Blood dripped down the shaft of the arrow, and Kaen felt himself choking on blood.  His whole body shivered as he tried to sit up and take pressure off the arrow that was sticking out of his chest and back.

No! If you come, we will both die!

Kaen tried to think.  He needed to do something.  He then remembered the potions in his pouch.  He reached for the pouch with his trembling fingers.  As he grabbed a potion and pulled it from the pouch, pain shot through his body from moving his arm, and his shaking fingers fumbled the potion, watching it roll down and then off the roof.

Groaning, Kane realized he had to do something fast, or he would die, and Pammon would die also.

Kaen took his hunting knife, his whole body shook as he glanced over his right shoulder and saw the one-inch thick shaft sticking out his back.  The head of the arrow was huge, and he knew what he must do.

With his left hand, he started hacking at the shaft.

Lights.  Bright lights flooded his eyes as he hit the shaft for the first time with his knife.  The force of it banging in his body throbbed in every area.

I will come!  Let me help!

Kaen could feel Pammon and the fear and angst in his mind.

No!  It is too dangerous if you come!  The people would attack you as well!

Pammon was frantic, and Kaen could feel it.  There was a deep fear in his mind.  Suddenly Pammon’s feelings changed completely, a peace came over Pammon.

I will give you my strength, but I must land.  Use it to do what you must.

Kaen wanted to ask what that meant, but right after Pammon had said those things, he felt power and energy flowing through him.  Even with the pain he was experiencing and the blood he was coughing up, Kaen felt alive.

Gripping the hilt of his knife, he hacked at that shaft again.

It hurt just as bad, but he was now able to overcome the pain.  He was able to endure it.

The shaft snapped, and Kaen gave a sigh of relief.  He could sense Pammon falling fast toward the ground.  He was not sure if he was falling from the loss of the life force Pammon was sharing with him or if it was a controlled fall.

With the tip cut off, Kaen dropped his knife, grabbed the shaft, and started pulling it back out through his chest.

A cough rose as he pulled on that shaft, wracking him with pain.

I am enough.  Be strong!

Kaen nodded.  He felt the strength Pammon was giving surge again.  It would be enough.

With a roar and a grunt, Kaen grabbed the shaft of the arrow and yanked it free.

Blood spurt from his chest, and he could feel it running down his back, between his leather jerkin and his body.

Wasting no time, he reached into the pouch and pulled out the last potion that Hess had given him.  Breaking the seal on top, he put the drink to his lips and let the liquid pour into his mouth.  The taste was like warm dirt or some other earthy taste.  The moment it ran down his throat and hit his stomach, he started to shudder.

The hole and torn skin of his body started to close, and he could feel it.  He wanted to shout and scream from the pain of it, but for some reason, no words would come from his mouth.  Instead, he screamed in silence.  He screamed in his mind.

You are safe!

Pammon was on the ground in the woods outside of town to the west.  He was hurting.  Kaen could feel it.

Pammon! Are you ok?  How are you hurt?

I’m not sure.  It is not an injury but from giving you my life force.  I just knew that you needed my strength.  I did not know what it would do.

There, kneeling on that roof, Kaen felt the spot where the arrow had punctured his chest. It was completely closed and healed, and he felt amazing.  Kaen wondered how he could ever repay what Pammon had done for him.

You're welcome.

But I never said thank you.  How did you know?

A peal of laughter came across the bond.

You forget I can read you.  I can feel what you are feeling and know what is in your mind.  I know you would do the same for me.

Pammon was right.  If Kaen could give his life for Pammon, he would in a heartbeat.

Now go finish that, orc!  He was wounded too.

Bounding to his feet, Kaen grabbed his bow and reached back for an arrow.  He felt that the quiver was almost empty.

Five.  Five arrows left.

He had no idea how many more were alive, but he knew Hess would be here soon to help.  There was no time to waste, and he needed to help save his town.

Peering over the peak of the house, Kaen saw the orc kneeling on the ground.  He had his right arm across his body, and his right hand was holding near his artery.  The arrow had missed the middle of his throat but had pierced his neck and cut the artery.  Blood was seeping slowly out of his fingers and under his hand.

The arrow he let go struck the orc in the same spot, pinning his hand to his neck.  A roar erupted, and the orc struggled to stand and failed as it went face-first into the dirt.  Kaen was not sure how much blood it had lost, but as it kneeled in the dirt leaning on its left hand, Kaen used another arrow, striking the orc in the spinal cord.  It fell to the ground, and the arrow that had barely been sticking out of its neck was thrust forward, tearing the flesh and skin open.  Blood gushed from its neck as it lay there in the street.

“Is this what it is going to be like?” Kaen wondered as he moved to the left of the roof.  “So much death and I have not even gotten my adventurer token yet.”

Leaning over the roof’s edge, Kaen saw the last two goblins, who were both wounded.  Each of them had noticed their leader had been taken out, and they were facing the two men who had helped Patrick with the orc and one other man from Cale’s party.  They looked unsure if they could win and were slowly backing up.

Three arrows left.  Using them meant those three men would be safe for now. Not using them might mean they could still get injured or killed.

There was no hesitation once Kaen realized he could save two more people so easily.  Each goblin fell from the arrow he shot at them, and he saw the group of men collectively sigh for a moment before cheering him and thanking him. Kaen nodded, moved to the roof's edge, and dropped off it.

He needed to check on Cale, who Patrick had dragged to the side of the street.  He could hear the groaning and knew the arrow was still most likely in him.

“How is he?” Kaen asked as he arrived behind Patrick.

Patrick turned his face to where Kaen could see it and saw the concern that covered his face.

“It’s bad, Kaen.  His whole shoulder is destroyed.”

Kaen bent down and saw that Cale was a pale white color.  He had lost a lot of blood, and Patrick had been correct in his concern.  The shaft of the arrow had blown through the socket and destroyed it completely.  Blood was seeping out past the wooden shaft, and Cale was shivering from the blood loss.

“I’m so… sorry, Kaen… I… I tried,” Cale said as his teeth rattled together from the cold he was feeling.

“Don’t give up yet!” Kaen ordered Cale as he tapped his friend's leg.  “I’ll be right back!”

Kaen sprinted over to the house that he had been on.

“Please do not be broken,” Kaen thought to himself as he looked for the glass potion that he had dropped and that had rolled off the roof.  The sun had gone down now, and it was dark with light from torches, but his eyes seemed not to be as affected as the others around him were.  Glancing through the dirt, dust, and a few weeds along the house, he saw a small reflection in the green and brown weeds.

Moving to it and bending down, he saw the vial had indeed busted open, and over half of the liquid was gone.

Carefully Kaen picked up the vial and carried the remaining liquid back to where Cale was, praying that there would still be enough to help his friend survive this injury.

When he got back, he set the broken vial on the ground a few feet away and motioned for Patrick to help.

“Hold him, I’m going to cut the tip off, and we are going pull this arrow out.  Once I do that, I’ll have to pour what is left of this drink into his mouth.  I’m not sure if it will save him but we have no other option.”

Patrick nodded, and Kaen saw the brief look of hope on his friend's face.

“Cale!  Look at me, Cale!”  Kane shouted as he watched his friend’s eyes start to close.

Cale was struggling to focus on him.

“I am going to save you, but I need you to stay with me! Now brace yourself!”

Patrick moved behind Cale and helped support his back from behind by bracing Cale’s body with his knee and arm.  Kaen thought cutting the feather side off and pulling through the back would be best.

“Here it comes!”

Kaen held his knife and grasped the end of the arrow shaft in his hand.  He focused with his mind on one point as he swung his knife down on the shaft and cut it cleanly in half with only a little jerk from the contact and force.

Cale groaned and whined as the force of the arrow getting hit rocked his shoulder joint.

Kaen grabbed the vial and lifted it to Cale, who was mumbling.

“Drink this!  After you drink this, I will pull the arrow, but you cannot waste a drop!”

Holding his friend's head back, Kaen poured the remaining amount of liquid from the vial into his friend's mouth and watched as he swallowed it.  The second he saw Cale’s throat force the liquid down his body, he let his head go, moved to where the arrow was, and pulled it through his shoulder and back.

Kaen saw Cale open his mouth to scream, but no words came from his mouth.  It felt weird seeing his friend do what he knew he had done.  Moments passed, Cale screamed silently for a bit, and Kaen saw Cale’s shoulder moving under the skin.  The hole was closing slowly, but it was closing.

“Watch him and keep him safe!” Kaen told Patrick as he stood up and turned back to face the fight that had been around them just a few minutes ago.

He saw the men standing behind him a few yards, and they were glancing around, keeping an eye out for any other goblins who might still come.

“A few goblins are still missing. You three watch these two and keep them safe while I try to find the two I know were part of this group.”

The men nodded and shifted closer to Patrick and Cale as they held their axes and pitchfork out in different directions.

Kaen ran toward the two goblins he had killed last and bent down.  They smelled as awful as he had remembered from the cave.  He pulled one arrow from one of them and found it was unusable, the feathers were rubbed wrong from passing through its body and scraping against bones and armor.  The other goblin had an arrow that would still work, hopefully, as no real damage was done to it.

He felt better with two arrows now in his quiver as he climbed onto the roof across from the building he had defeated the orc and these two goblins.

Pammon, how are you feeling now?

Pammon snickered through the link.

I am still weak, but I am fine.  I think I feel this way because I am still young.  I believe when I am older, it will not impact me as much as it did this time.

Swinging himself onto the roof, Kaen found himself nodding and wondering about that.  There was still so much about a dragon and this bond that he did not know or understand.  As much as he did not want to be known as a dragon rider right now, he realized how much he and Pammon could learn if they did meet with one and learned from them.

Putting those thoughts out of his head for a moment, Kaen scouted the streets, trying to find movement.  There was nothing he could see, even with his vision.  The noise he heard from the north sounded more like men celebrating than it did for fighting.  He wished Pammon was able to fly.  He had not really appreciated until now how helpful his ability to tell him where the enemies were was.

Glancing at the house to the left of him, Kaen saw that he could manage the distance and dashed forward and jumped over the six-foot gap between buildings.  A few tiles broke free from the roof as he landed, and he skidded a little as he got his feet and balance under control.

“Where are these last two goblins?” Kaen wondered as he looked from all the different sides of this house.  Could they have run off and fled?

Kneeling on the edge of the roof, Kaen looked intently at the ground below him.

His eyes saw what he was looking for.

Tracks!