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Broken
The first thing to reach Dragon in the darkness was the smell of draconian blood. Slowly, Dragon's consciousness began to rise from the depths. There should not be a reason why she smelt blood or had a dull far-away-pain from her lower belly--a pain that insisted it was far more important than the cries from her face, ribcage, legs, and right arm. The closer that Dragon's consciousness reached the surface, the more the pain intensified and the more she became aware something was wrong. Horribly wrong. Dangerously wrong.
Just as Dragon's eyes were to open, there was a faint pop and a stab of pain in her belly. A second or two later, there was a crash, a mewling cry, and the thud of feet clad in dragonscale armor.
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Though Creighton thought only a few moments had passed from the explosion, he realized it had actually been several minutes--or so he guessed from the blood that had seeped from a cut on his head leaving a pretty fair sized pool. Wiping blood out of his eyes, Creighton looked around. The first thing he saw was that all remained of the house was a few charred pieces of wood that were still smoking.
The second thing he noticed was a cloud of smoke that was not drifting away with the small breeze. Realizing it was Xangord, Creighton first tried to climb to his feet--but had to fall back because the effort made his head swim and nearly caused him to vomit. Crawling over to her, Creighton rolled her over--
"Don't you be dead," Creighton muttered, feeling for a pulse. After a second or two, he felt a very faint one and sighed.
Like he had done, Xangord had smashed her head on a rock. Unlike his which was pretty superficial--though Creighton admitted to himself that he may have a concussion--Xangord's injury was bad enough to cause her head to cave in just above the left eye. Upon closer inspection, Creighton realized it was actually intended blunt force trauma instead of hitting a rock--he could see the studs of the club that imprinted her skin.
Hearing a snarl from behind him, Creighton spun around as quickly--
"It's you," Nogard said calmly, grabbing Creighton as he stumbled. "Thought you were another damn Hunter or Slayer.
"What happened?" Creighton asked, closing his eyes and putting a hand over them to steady himself.
"We were visited by the patron saint of rabbits," Nogard said. "What the hell do you THINK happened?! ******** Hunters and Slayers attacked--how the hell they managed to bypass Nerissa's systems I would very much like to know."
"Where's Dragon?" Creighton asked.
"They took off with her," Nogard said darkly. "When I get my hands--"
"You're bleeding," Creighton said, noticing everything from Nogard's waist down was stained in blood--HER blood. The arm not around Creighton's shoulder was curled around her stomach.
"It's a scratch," Nogard said, glancing at Xangord. "Is she dead?"
"No," Creighton said. Grabbing Nogard's hand, Creighton moved it out of the way--surprised that Nogard would even let him do so. He was even more surprised when she allowed him to unbutton her coat so he could inspect the wound. It took Creighton's mind a moment to process what he saw. Horrified, Creighton moved his eyes from Nogard's stomach to her face. "You--"
"It's a ******** scratch and leave it at that," Nogard said. Creighton belatedly realized she was as pale as a sheet. "We need to deal with Xangord first."
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