The Black Collar: Chapter Thirteen

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Chapter Thirteen

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“You’re certain I am ready?” Alvaranox lay upon his back atop his pile of soft things, his wings half folded at his sides. Sunlight poured through the windows in golden streamers that danced on the dragon’s green scales. Alvaranox tucked his front paws against his chest. He held his head up and cocked it to watch the women working. The bitter smells of herbs and medicinal spirits tainted the air. “You are certain, aren’t you?”

Nylah shook a pair of shears at him as she crouched next to his shoulder, near the front of his wing. “You’re the one who’s been pestering us to get these stitches out.”

Alvaranox snorted, his spines raising. Things seemed a little more nerve wracking now that the moment had arrived. Despite the dragon’s glare and flared crests, hints of poorly hidden concern softened his voice. “What if I’m wrong?”

Kirra clambered up atop the dragon’s chest, settling herself just below his plates. “Then your wounds will pop open again.” Kirra sounded far too cheerful to be speaking about something so gruesome. She tapped her own set of shears against the dark green plates that protected the dragon’s heart and lungs. “And we’ll have to start all over. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“The point is,” Nylah said as she worked her shears into the sinewy stitches holding the dragon’s wounded shoulder together. They’d been there longer than Alvaranox cared to think about. “If you don’t feel ready, we won’t proceed. Most of your wounds are healed, but your paw and your belly were the worst of them by far. If anything isn’t healed, it’s those. So…” Nylah carefully snipped the ends of the sturdy stitch, and began to pull it back through the dragon’s flesh. The wound upon his shoulder was now a puffy pink line stretching across his scales. Tiny holes marked it where the stitches were removed. The dragon winced as they were pulled free one by one. “Do you feel healed or not?”

Alvaranox lifted his head to look himself over. Aside from Kirra straddling his chest, the dragon’s body was bare of all coverings for the first time in ages. He’d gotten so used to having bandages wrapped and affixed to his scales he had almost stopped noticing how itchy they could be. As his wounds healed they had gotten itchy as well, and he had to fight not to scratch them. His belly bore a large, ugly pink scar still bristling with sinew thread stitches. The dragon doubted that scar would ever fade. His paw was little better, and would remain tender to walk upon even as the scar gradually shrunk.

With a growl, Alvaranox thrust his paw at Kirra. “Get the damn things out of me.”

“Alright, Alv,” Kirra said, chuckling. “You’ll have to be careful for a while, though. Your leg won’t have as much strength as it did, and neither will your wings.”

“Less blabber, more stitch removal.”

Kirra smirked at the dragon. She cradled the dragon’s forepaw gently in her hands, inspecting the mottled pink and black pads. The dragon had healed very well, though the angry pink tone of the scar did not match the naturally pink blotches of his pads. Kirra snipped the tied ends off the thick stitches. Then one by one, she began to pull them free. Alvaranox grit his teeth at the feel of the sinews sliding through his still-tender flesh but it was a pain he was happy to bear. Once all the stitches were removed, Nylah passed up a cloth soaked with spirits. Kirra gently washed the dragon’s paw pad with it. The harsh liquid stung the little holes that remained where the stitches had been, and Alvaranox yanked his paw away.

“Enough already!” Alvaranox peered at his own paw pad a moment. He slowly closed his paw into a fist, watching the scar that marked it crinkle before it disappeared under his green-scaled fingers. The motion made his paw throb a little, but it was nothing he had not expected. He opened and closed it a few times. “Hurts a little.”

“That’s understandable,” Nylah said from his side. She began to wash the wound upon his shoulder with the same sharp-smelling spirits. It stung a little, but the dragon did not flinch. “The pain should lessen as your paw adjusts to being used again. It’s probably going to hurt to walk on it for a while as well.”

“I don’t care,” Alvaranox said. He tossed his head, though laying upon his back the gesture was little more than a thump of his horns against a pillow. “As long as I can walk on all fours without that stupid sling I shall be quite happy.”

Kirra reached forward and brushed her fingers over the dragon’s foreleg. Alvaranox understood the gesture, and offered her his paw again. As long as she wasn’t going to use the spirits again she was welcome to examine him. She gently pressed her fingers into the meaty flesh of the dragon’s paw pad all around his scar. As she expected color returned to the dragon’s pads almost immediately every time.

“Looks perfect,” Kirra said, smiling at Nylah. Then she tried to amend herself. “Well, perhaps not perfect, given the permanent scar there. But, considering how bad it was before I stitched him back together, it’s close enough to perfect. Probably won’t ever be perfect again…”

“Quit while you’re ahead, Kirra,” Nylah said, grinning.

“She’d have to be ahead in the first place,” Alvaranox said, perking his frilled ears in amusement. “Though, I suppose there is a first time for everything.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kirra scowled at him, swatting him on his chest plates before she turned around to straddle him near his belly scar.

“Oh, don’t worry Kirra,” the dragon said, licking his nose. “I’m sure we’ll let you think you’re ahead of us someday, just to make you feel important.”

Kirra snorted as though imitating the dragon. “I’m always ahead. You’re just so far behind you can’t tell.”

“Yes, Kirra, keep telling yourself that.”

“You know, Dragon,” Nylah said, giving Kirra a suspiciously wicked smirk as she moved around the dragon to begin working on the arrow wound in his haunch. “If I were you, I would be exceptionally polite and kind to Kirra right now.”

“Then that is where you and I differ.”

“I suppose you have a point,” Nylah said, kneeling down next to the dragon’s haunch. She pushed on the slightly rough green scales there to get him to shift his hind leg for her. “Of course, I’m not the one sprawled on my back, with my hind legs parted. It would be easy for Kirra to wallop you in a very tender area.”

Kirra smirked over her shoulder at the dragon as Nylah gave her an excellent idea. Alvaranox glared at her, then flattened his spines against his head. “Have I told you how wonderful you are Kirra?”

“No, but you might want to start.” Kirra giggled to herself, then leaned forward to inspect the stitches. “Now hold still.”

“I am holding still,” the dragon muttered. When Kirra leaned forward over his belly, her rump lifted into the air a little. Alvaranox could not help but notice how her haunches pressed against her black breeches. “You’re the one wriggling about.”

“I am not wriggling,” Kirra said, then waggled her rump at him. “This is wriggling. Now be quiet a moment.”

Alvaranox growled in his throat, eyes shifting back and forth with the motion of the woman’s body. Both women dressed similarly today. Each wore a simple blouse and breeches, fit for a day of working with the dragon. In Nylah’s case her blouse was blue and her breeches a slate gray, while Kirra wore a dark green shirt with long sleeves, and black breeches that did not seem as loose fitting as usual to the dragon. Alvaranox rather liked the color combination as it matched his own scales.

Alvaranox cringed a little when he felt Kirra snip the end off the first stitch. The motion tugged at the still-sensitive flesh of the scar. Trying to keep himself from staring at Kirra’s haunches, he looked around the room a little, only to find Nylah smirking at him. He glared at her a moment, then parted his jaws and let his pink tongue hang from his muzzle. It was the closest he could come to sticking his tongue out at her the way Kirra often did to him.

Like what you see? Nylah mouthed the words silently to him, but after all the years Alvaranox had known the old lady they needed no sound to communicate.

Oh, get mounted, Alvaranox mouthed right back to her.

Looks more like you’re the one thinking about mounting. Nylah smirked at him, pulling a stitch from the arrow wound in his haunch with a little too much force. You’d never fit.

Alvaranox sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes going wide. He hadn’t been thinking about…that. With…her! But now that Nylah said it, the image popped into his mind. The dragon’s ears, nostrils and crests all flushed a faint purple hue in embarrassment as hot blood rushed to the beast’s face. He looked away, pinning his ears back, nostrils flaring.

“I win,” Nylah said aloud.

Kirra glanced over in confusion. “You win what?”

“Oh don’t mind me,” Nylah said with an innocent smile. “I’m just keeping Alv distracted with a little battle of wills. How is it coming?”

“Well, actually,” Kirra tossed down a few sets of stitches she’d already removed. “Halfway there.”

“I haven’t split open yet have I?” The dragon growled in his throat, trying to distract himself from Nylah’s teasing. Kirra’s position didn’t help much. He lay his head back onto one of his pillows, closing his eyes. “I shall be quite cross if I have split open.”

“Not yet,” Kirra said, easing another stitch from his flesh. “If you do split open again though, I’m going to get someone else to put you back together. I’m not going through all that again.”

“It is heartening to know, Kirra,” Alvaranox said, thumping his tail against the blankets. “That should I receive another life threatening injury, you won’t bother to fix me up again.”

As Kirra worked to get the last of the stitches out of his belly, Nylah moved to the dragon’s ribs. In order to avoid clambering all over his wing, she moved to his shoulder, and climbed up atop him just like Kirra. Then she stretched herself out across his belly, leaning over his side to start pulling the stitches from the arrow wound in his ribs.

“I feel like some children’s playground, with younglings clambering all over me.” Alvaranox lifted his head again to glare at the two women a moment.

“Now there’s an idea,” Nylah said, more to Kirra than to the dragon. “Perhaps we can rent him out to the local children. Sort of a mobile playground.”

“Oh, and I could pass out chalk and charcoal sticks,” Kirra giggled, tugging the last of the stitches free. “They could draw all over his scales. Come to think of it, I should have signed my name to this stitching I did. I’m quite proud of myself.”

“Are you done?” The dragon lifted his wedged shaped head, baring his fangs at the two women clambering all over his body.

“I believe we are, yes.” Nylah smiled at him, and began to ease herself down from the dragon’s form.

“Then get the hell off me!”

“Hmmph!” Kirra gave a little snort, turning her nose up. “Some grateful beast you are.”

“I shall be grateful when you’ve gotten yourself off of me so I can finally stand up properly again.”

“Must you always be such a scaly ass?” Kirra started to slip down the side of the dragon’s body.

“Don’t step on my wings,” Alvaranox hissed, impatience making him increasingly irritable. “Go around, like Nylah did.”

Kirra scowled, and gave a little sigh. She started back up towards the dragon’s chest, but Nylah waved her back the other way, smirking. “Go on then,” Nylah said, with a wicked grin the dragon could not see. “You may as well while you have the chance.”

“What are you old betties babbling about?”

Kirra made her way down the dragon’s belly, careful not to bump his scar. “Oh, nothing.“ Soon she was moving down between his hind legs, climbing down onto his tail.

“Hey!” Alvaranox rustled his wings against the bedding. “What do you think you’re doing down there?”

“Nylah thinks I should do this.” Kirra made a fist, held it up over her head, and then made a show of swinging it down towards the dragon’s most tender parts. Just as Alv cried out in alarm, Kirra brought her hand to a stop, and only gave the dragon’s testicles a little swat. The little burst of pain was still enough to make Alv yelp, and Kirra quickly danced away from him, laughing. “Serves you right!”

Alvaranox groaned, and as soon as Kirra was clear, he rolled over onto his paws and sat up. Though no sooner was he sitting on his haunches than he was hunched over a little, clutching himself protectively. The dragon’s face scrunched up, his eyes ridges knit together and he pinned his ears back.

“What was that for?” The dragon said through gritted teeth.

“For acting like a brat while I was trying to help you.” Kirra kept giggling as she began to clean up some of the spent stitches lying around. Then she smirked at the dragon. “And to let you know I could have done it a lot harder. And for staring at my ass.”

“I was not staring at your ass,” Alvaranox said, growling, his tail curling.

“Yes, he was,” Nylah said, gathering up the cloths they’d used to wash the dragon’s wounds.

“You shut up, Old Lady.” Alvaranox snapped his jaws at her.

Nylah only grinned at the dragon. She wiped off the top of a flask of spirits with the blue sleeve of her blouse, then put the stopper back in. “If she’d done it spitefully, she’d have done it a lot harder.” Nylah handed the flask to Kirra, then smirked at the dragon. “I’d have done it a lot harder if it was my ass you were staring at without permission.”

“She was waggling it at me.” The dragon turned his copper glare at Kirra, flaring his spines again. “This is your fault.”

“Oh, hush,” Kirra said, waving her hand. “Just be glad I didn’t really want to hurt you.”

“I am, actually,” Alvaranox said, pulling his head back a little. His neck curled into an S. He lowered his voice as if trying to hide his words from Nylah, splaying his ears. “Unlike the Old Lady. She used to beat me unmercifully.”

“I did no such thing,” Nylah said, laughing. She shook her finger at the dragon, then put her hand on Kirra’s back, grinning. “One time I kicked him in the stones, and he won’t let me live it down.”

Kirra’s emerald eyes widened in surprise. “You really did kick him in the stones?”

“When we were both young,” Nylah admitted. Her hazel eyes flicked to the dragon’s, lingering for a moment. Best she could tell, he was still young.

“For no reason!” Alvaranox said. He grinned at Nylah and thumped his tail. He lifted his paw, and made a show of inspecting his now stitch-free scar. “I was innocent.”

Kirra didn’t believe the dragon for an instant. “What’d he do to deserve it?”

“Nothing,” the dragon said, swiveling his ears to the sides. “…Nothing she didn’t deserve just as much.”

The two women continued to talk while they ferried unused supplies to a chest kept in the dragon’s sleeping chamber. “As I recall it, he was angry at me for embarrassing him in front of the city by mistake. So rather than talk about it, he caught me bathing in the lake, hoisted me up into the sky, and tossed me naked into a nearby hay pile.”

Kirra’s jaw dropped. She whirled on her heel to face the dragon, a mask of frozen astonishment upon her face. She looked as though she wasn’t sure if she should be horrified or amused, and so decided to go with both. “You did what?”

“It’s not as if I carried her for miles upon miles…” Alvaranox gestured with his wounded paw as though testing it. “She had this secluded spot she used to bathe in, so I went there, snatched her out of the water, and tossed her into a hay pile. It was about the worst thing the collar would let me get away with.”

“I’d have kicked you too!” Kirra’s jaw hung open as she glanced back and forth between the dragon and the woman and finally just burst out laughing. “You two have to tell me more of these stories.”

“You should have seen his face,” Nylah said, laughing. “I’d never have guessed a dragon could go so cross-eyed. Or flush so deeply around his ears.” Nylah nudged Kirra as the two woman shared a laugh. “I’m telling you, you should have really nailed him a moment ago while you had the chance.”

“Thank you very much, Nylah,” Alvaranox scoffed, lowering his head to glare at her. “What lovely advice you always give my newest handler.”

“Oh, I’m only playing, Alv,” Nylah said, reaching out to stroke the pebbly scales of the dragon’s jaw line. “If I didn’t consider you a dear friend, I wouldn’t make such playful threats.”

Alvaranox murmured, closing his eyes as he leaned into her touch. “I know.” A smile crossed his snout, and he flicked his tongue across Nylah’s fingers. “Thank you, Nylah.”

“For what?” Nylah asked, taken aback for a moment.

“For…” The dragon grunted, pulling his head back. “For treating me like I’m just one of your friends.” Then he glanced at Kirra too, emotion shining in his copper eyes. “You as well, Kirra. Believe it or not, it…well…you understand, don’t you?”

Kirra laughed, and rubbed the golden spot at the end of his nose. Then she tried to wrap her arms around his head and hug him to her chest the best she could. Alvaranox smiled, lifting a paw to rub her back a moment. He wasn’t sure if she truly understood what he was trying to say.

In truth, he didn’t mind those sorts of threats. It made him happy they trusted him enough to say things like that. Neither of them would have ever said that sort of thing when they were first appointed Handler. No one else in town would dare threaten the Guardian Slave in such a way. But to Nylah and Kirra, he was not the Guardian Slave.

He was Alv, and he was their friend.

The long weeks spent recovering from his wounds had made that more clear to him than ever. The way they talked to him, the way they acted around him, it was not the way a master acted around a slave. It was not really even the way a human would act around a dragon. It was the way they’d act around a close friend. Someone they were comfortable enough around to say whatever was on their mind, to act however they wanted. Hell, Nylah and Kirra were probably the only two women in all the world to say those sorts of things to a dragon.

“I am happy to have you as my friends,” the dragon said, forcing the words past a throat that was suddenly tight and an unexpectedly dry tongue. “I wanted to say that.”

Kirra hugged him harder, and Nylah smiled, moving to do the same. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and though they felt a little bonier than Kirra’s, they were every bit as warm and comforting. The dragon flared his wings to enclose his two friends, hugging them in return. Silence settled upon them in a comforting cloak.

“We are happy to have you as our friend too, Alv,” Nylah said, her voice a little raspy. She let his neck go, and turned away from the dragon to wipe at her eyes. “I am only sorry that it has to be under such painful circumstances for you. If we could but set you free…”

“I know,” Alvaranox said, easing away from the women. “And the knowledge warms me more than you likely realize. Your friendship has made an intolerable situation far more bearable for me.” The dragon lowered his head, and promptly rolled his tongue across Kirra’s cheek. “That goes for both of you.”

Kirra made a face, laughing and pushing the dragon’s golden-spotted muzzle away. “Could have done without the dragon slobber!”

“Dragon slobber?” Nylah turned around and took a step back, but it was too late. Alvaranox was already upon her. Before she could cover up her face, the dragon licked her cheek as well, laughing as he did so. “Oh! Alv!” Nylah shoved at his snout, wiping her face with her sleeve. “You know I hate it when you do that by surprise!”

“Yes,” Alvaranox said, grinning. “I do. Now…if you two hags will excuse me, it’s time for me to test my paws and my wings.”

“Hags?” Nylah huffed, putting her hands on her hips. “How dare you, Dragon!”

“Go tend your roses, Old Lady!”

Nylah simply laughed, shaking her head. “And he wonders why I twist his ears all the time.” Nylah patted the dragon’s haunch, her amused grin soon widening into a warmer smile. “Now, be safe, alright? Don’t overextend yourself.”

Alvaranox nodded as he took a few slow steps. His foreleg felt weaker than expected. When he first put weight on it, a blossom of pain in his paw caused the dragon to suck in a breath. His leg trembled, and he shifted some of his weight to lean against his other limb. “Still a little weak.”

“It will be for a while,” Kirra said, coming alongside the dragon. “But you should get your strength back in it fast enough.”

“Good.” Alvaranox walked forward, pushing through the heavy hide blankets serving as his door. “Walk me outside?”

“Delighted to.” Nylah rubbed the dragon’s haunch, and then followed him out into the sunshine.

Outside the sun had not yet reached its zenith but already the world was warm and bright. The breeze was heavily scented with the sweet aromas of myriad wildflowers fed by the recent rain. The dragon looked around for a path of ground that had thoroughly dried out, and made his way towards it. He limped a little at first. It was a strange thing to realize walking normally would take some getting used too. He made a wide circuit, walking in a circle. Nylah and Kirra both followed him at a distance, observing the way he moved.

“Feels odd,” Alvaranox said, looking over his wings at the two women behind him. “Like learning to walk all over again.”

“Not too painful?” Kirra walked a little closer, crouching down to study the dragon’s limb as he took a few more steps. She glanced under his belly. “Everything looks alright. No sign of any bleeding from your wounds.”

Alvaranox snapped his head up. “Were you expecting bleeding?”

“Not really,” Kirra said, straightening.

Alvaranox growled. Nylah quirked a gray brow at the younger woman, and Kirra realized that wasn’t the sort of reassurance she’d meant to offer. “I mean, that is, we didn’t really think you’d start bleeding. But when you first started to move, there was always the chance that something could pop open, and you…well…”

“I would say quit while you were ahead, Kirra,” Alvaranox said, shifting a little to curl his spined tail around Kirra’s middle. “But I recall what that lead to last time. So instead, I shall just say shut up.”

“Right,” Kirra said, going a little red. She peered down at the dragon’s tail as he coiled around her, then reached out to grasp one of the lightly curved spines. She tugged it back and forth a few times. “You can let me go now.”

“Alright, stop tugging on my tail spine.” Alvaranox uncurled his tail from her, taking a few more steps. “Those are anchored to the bone you know.”

“Are they really?” Kirra glanced at Nylah, who simply shrugged. “I shall have to adjust my notes then.”

“You do that,” Alvaranox said, turning around to face the two women again. He smiled at them, his stomach suddenly twisting in delighted anxiety. “As much as I would like to stay here and alternate between thanking you for taking such good care of me and insulting you mercilessly, I do believe it is time for me to go.”

“Go?” Kirra blinked, hooking some red hair behind one of her ears. “Where are you going?”

“The skies are calling him,” Nylah said softly.

Alvaranox turned his head to peer at Nylah. A smile spread over the dragon’s pebbly green-scaled muzzle. He was surprised she remembered that saying. Even to the dragon it seemed like ages ago when he had first come to trust her. First come to call her friend. When they had laid in the sunshine near his previous sleeping chamber, and he confided in her that he feared that his slavery was slowly driving him to madness.

I cannot be locked in this place, Nylah. The skies are calling me. I must be free.

“I cannot set you free, Alv,” Nylah said, gently taking the dragon’s chin in her hands. She spoke nearly the same words she had that day ages ago, when he truly came to trust her. “But neither can the collar keep you from the skies. Go and dance with the clouds until it calls you back.”

Alvaranox smiled a little more. He leaned in and nuzzled her cheek, and her ear. He knew she didn’t want to be licked, so he showed his affection in a much drier way. But the affection was there just the same. A soft purr crept from his throat and rumbled in her ears. Then he turned his head and nuzzled Kirra just the same before stepping back.

“To the skies, then.”

Nylah took Kirra by the hand and gently tugged her off to the side so the dragon would have room to ascend. “If you’ve not returned to town by nightfall, we shall take that to mean you’re sleeping on your island.”

“That is the plan,” Alvaranox said, flaring his wings. “Peace and quiet and solitude at last. No more cranky old ladies and rambling younglings yammering in my ears at night.”

Alvaranox smiled to himself, took a deep breath. The dragon bound forward, and launched himself off his powerful hind legs. He flared his wings and for the first time in ages, beat them against the air. Alvaranox ascended in a tight spiral above Asterryl. When he could see the whole city stretching out beneath him as gray smear upon the green land, he threw back his head and roared.

Let all of Asterryl know they had their Guardian Slave back.