Previously: After saving Pagewyn several times, from xlurps, blurghs, and an exploding couch, Nadec decides to stick with him until he’s back in his kingdom, Paralelo. He shows her why he is ‘the master of the Squares, defender of the Triangles, chief of all Lines’. A darkness rams Nadec while alone in the woods and she passes out.
When she wakes up, she experiences what it’s like to have a concussion, and finds herself prisoner to a creature and his dragon, Blackie. The dragon appears to be vegetarian, and Nadec finds herself up and close with her captor, the zlurp, before being rescued by Pagewyn. Blackie and Kitty, Nadec’s cat, appear to get along, but the zlurp still gives them trouble. He woke up and tossed Wyny aside. Nadec gets rescued by Blackie.
Read all the previous chapters here.
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‘The dragon winked at me and burbed the zlurp to unconsciousness.’ Nadec whispered while crawling toward Pagewyn. He was still lying where he’d landed after being tossed away by the zlurp. ‘I can see you stirring, so don’t pretend like you’re hurt.’ She ignored his silent groans, kept telling herself he was overdoing it.
She couldn’t do anything but whisper, the headache of her concussion enough to double her vision. She had to stop moving forward to throw up once more. Blackie was there immediately to lick it up. It almost made her heave again, although she doubted there was enough content left in her stomach. With the way she felt, and all the headache and nausea, she was certain she needed to get rest soon. If not, there might be serious consequences.
‘Whatever the consequences are for not tending to a concussion properly,’ she muttered bitterly.
By the time she got to Wyny, he was sitting up, but cradling his left arm. He looked a bit dazed at her, but seemed fine otherwise. Kitty had joined her when she was about halfway, right after chucking up. His purring machine was in full swing and it made her feel slightly better, and thankful that it didn’t worsen her painful head. The touch of his fur on her bare skin reminded her that she was naked. She managed to ignore that for now.
‘What happened?’ The force of his voice made her cringe, her eyes watering.
‘Whisper, please.’ Her own voice trembled. ‘Didn’t you hear me before? I already told you what happened.’ Of course he hadn’t heard, with the silence of her whispers, but she did not want to repeat herself. Perhaps later.
‘We need something to tie the zlurp up, any idea?’
There was only confusion on his face. She rolled her eyes, and nodded her head toward the zlurp. The flare of sharp pain generated instant regret at the movement. Balls, she thought, how hard is it to not speak or move your head?
His eyes widened when he saw the body of their current nemesis, and even wider a fraction later. The movement of the purple ugliness’ chest was clear. He was still alive.
‘Don’t know how long he’ll be out.’ She sighed as she knew what she was about to say. ‘Blackie burbed and he fell unconscious.’ There. She’d did it. She’d repeated herself. Blonky wallops in livercod.
‘Dragon’s White Gas.’ Wyny sounded in awe. The wondrous expression when he turned his eyes on her almost made her chuckle. Almost, but not quite. She gave herself an imaginary pat on the shoulder for remembering the effect noise had on her head.
‘It’s not as if she can breathe fire,’ she waved her hand dismissively, ‘so never mind that for now. We need to tie him up, and then we can rest.’ Her eyebrows shot up at hearing her own words. She would never in a million years admit to someone that she needed sleep. It scared her. It meant that she was in terrible shape. When did his hand end up on her cheek?
‘You are very hurt.’ He giggled. Oh. Wait. No. It was Nadec herself who’d giggled at his concerned tone. Why did he appear so worried all of a sudden? She pouted at his expression, not able to stop giggling.
‘Not to worry about the zlurp, if he really has been caught by Dragon’s White Gas, he will only wake when the dragon wishes him to. I will take care of everything. You need to close your eyes and rest. I will get you help.’
She wasn’t certain when she’d lowered herself completely to the ground, but by the time his hand stopped touching her cheek, she was curled up, Kitty in the hollow formed by her knees, tummy and chest. She saw Wyny walk toward the zlurp, a limp in his gait.
Through narrowed eyes, she admired his fine buttocks when she felt a warm surface press against her back, followed by a large black tail taking her view away. The warmth of the dragon’s embrace and the blackness in front of her were enough to make her stop fighting against what her eyes wanted to do. They shut. She fell into a deep slumber.
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