Disclaimer: My Wishing star is pathetic...
Onto the next chapter!
Again, I lied, no idea how many parts this will be, here's part three, and let's see how far it goes past this...
Chapter Thirty-Six
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Bowen actually gaped at Draco's head, staring into the completely serious glowing Amber eyes before looking further down the dragon's body.
Or at least what he could see of it.
The dividing stone wall between the large chamber and the entrance one was about three feet thick, and all that Bowen could see of Draco was his forelegs, his forelimb shoulders, his neck, and what Draco could show of his chest when he lifted his neck up enough in attempt to free himself.
By the looks of it, either Draco's spine was what was lodging him in the opening along with his ribs, or Draco was just too...
Bowen snorted too himself, knowing due to the better living instead of constant fear Draco had put on weight...but enough to get him...stuck?
It was taking a lot of Bowen's self control to keep from laughing.
Draco growled when Bowen's shoulders shook in failed suppression of his mirth, the dragon clawing furiously at the stone as he tried to drag himself forward and get free.
"You. Have. Got. To be kidding me..."
Draco rolled his eyes, groaning at Bowen's comment before wincing.
"Believe me, I wish I was, this is not comfortable to say the least."
Bowen stood staring a moment longer, watching Draco try unsuccessfully to shove himself back, only succeeding in leaving himself trying to pull air into lungs that were constricted in unmoving ribs.
"Damn, you're sure in there tight."
"I know."
Bowen rubbed his hand over his face, then moved it to the dragon's shoulder, trying to calm the building rage that could bring down the cave onto them if Draco grew too worked up.
"...*sigh*...just...hold still..."
"Oh, like I have free mobility at the moment Bowen."
He ignored the jibe, heading towards the cave mouth.
"Where are you going?"
"To get help and keep you from further embarrassment."
"Bowen. Wait!"
The man stopped on the far side of a rock pillar, out of Draco's line of sight, hearing the heavy sigh that barely managed to not echo badly in the cavern.
Bowen didn't like to admit that some of Draco's emotions actually made it to his half of the heart, the connection supposedly one way, but Draco hadn't been that close at all to Einon, and the tyrant in turn was unknowingly and viciously closed off from the dragon. The man paused as the dragon's emotions threatened to overwhelm his thinking.
Draco was not only mad and severely embarrassed, but also...
...scared...
"I'll be back in a minute Draco, gotta keep the two hot heads from coming back in and send Geoff for help."
A relieved huff of air was his reply, then a low mutter that made Bowen snort.
"Oh, I hope he doesn't bring back Kara."
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Geoff turned when Bowen exited the cave, but didn't stand up, having more fun trying to reach a neat colored rock for Colin just over the cliff edge.
"Colin."
"Yes Father?"
"Time for you to head back."
"What about you? And where's Draco?"
"Draco's hunting, and I need to go find him."
"Oh, okay."
The boy started down the narrow path along the cliff, just enough room for a person to walk comfortably while it was dry.
Drake didn't look to happy, "Where-"
"He's still in the cave."
Geoff got up then, the stone in his hand, "Then why-"
"Draco's got himself wedged in the opening between this chamber and the other big one, Drake, you folded your wings in on accident and none of us noticed."
The young dragon looked down, trying to ignore the heat inflaming his cheeks.
Bowen kindly patted his shoulder, smiling to calm the dragon.
"It's alright Drake, Draco shouldn't have tried to squeeze through."
Geoff snickered once, then calmed down, impressing Bowen with his level headedness, "Who do you want me to bring back?"
"Hewe and Eynron, he may have a temper but he's not stupid, don't let Kara know, just use the hunting excuse, covers us for several hours if need be."
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The sky was clouding over a little by the time she made the climb that mid afternoon, her husband and Eynron working their way through the other side of the caverns with the teenager, the young dragon having chosen to return to the monastery to avoid anyone else going to look for them.
Elaine lowered the hood of her cloak as she let her eyes adjust in the dim cavern light, listening to the heavier than usual breathing of the almost immobile dragon, she was quite partial towards Draco, not just because of his aid in the rebellion, but the dragon had a good heart and decent personality that made it hard for anyone to dislike him once you got to know him.
The gruff, solemn attitude was to keep himself from getting hurt by ones who didn't truly care, the dragon clung to those he knew were his true companions, not wanting to let them go or branch out much further in case he was hurt by someone else.
The dragon had known such pain too many times.
Elaine gave the dragon a warm smile, nodding her head to Bowen as he rubbed the dragon's shoulder to keep him calm.
"Hewe, Eynron, and Geoff are on their way to the other chamber, Drake's keeping that Liane girl at the monastery and Brother Gilbert helped contain Kara with a scroll on dragon lstories."
The man smiled, nodding his thanks as Draco let his head drop back to the stones, chins scraping on the rough rock once more, if he wasn't careful he'd chafe it raw.
Elaine patted the dragon's muzzle then jumped back as the dragon suddenly snorted loudly, jerking his head up and thrashing slightly.
"Calm down Draco."
The dragon didn't seem to hear him, straining to get free.
"Oomph!"
"What?"
"Something punched my stomach." Draco wheezed, trying to breathe deep enough to ease the ache.
"That was probably Eynron, try not to move too much, you'll hurt one of them." Elaine soothed, then they all looked up at the ceiling as a few handfuls of pebbles and dust fell and clattered on the floor.
"Bowen?"
"Geoff? What are you doing up there?" A small hole slowly formed, releasing mostly dirt as Geoff widened it enough to see partially into the cavern.
"There's another hole down into the other side, thought this would be faster than running all the way around multiple times, the walls are too thick to yell."
Bowen nodded, watching Draco shift uneasily.
"Tell Hewe to get on one side of Draco, Eynron the other and leave a hand on his flank."
Geoff nodded before disappearing, the reply being Draco stopped moving as he knew where the other men were.
The teen reappeared in the hole, Elaine smirking a little at how oddly the boy looked, much like a gopher.
"Hewe's on Draco's left, Eynron the right."
The dragon nodded, letting his head drop back down as Geoff left to listen to the other hole before calling down to Bowen.
"Uhh...Hewe wants you to go over there, won't say why, saying you'd need to see something before they do anything."
Bowen waved him off, glancing to Draco.
"I'm free for the afternoon, Seyarra can keep her sisters in line, besides, the girls are having more fun with a few other noblewomen, my grandsons attract a lot of attention."
The man nodded gratefully to Elaine, the faint pleading in Draco's eyes for Bowen to stay fading as Elaine slid her cloak off, folding it to pad the dragon's chin as he relaxed.
"I'll be back in a bit Draco."
The dragon nodded, leaning his head into Elaine's hand as she rubbed her hand over his snout.
A few minutes later, Draco jerked slightly, relaxing after a second, Elaine figured Bowen had gotten to the other side.
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"Bowen? We've got a problem."
The man glanced to Hewe, then followed Eynron's gaze while Hewe stayed at Draco's side, the two backing away from Draco.
"He's literally too damn big to go forward, his ribs won't fit and his wings are in the way. I'm thinking the muscling over his ribs that aid flight is what's lodging him in there, Draco's gotta come back this way to get loose."
Bowen nodded, then looked up to Hewe as the man leaned on Draco's hind leg.
"His scales are also catching on the rocks, got some lard from the local butcher in a few sacks on my gelding at the other end, should make it easy for him to slip out."
Eynron nodded, "I'll get those while Bowen gets to...well, the rest of Draco."
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Draco groaned deeply, the noise echoing in the cavern and earning a shout from Hewe via Geoff as the dragon's tail thrashed briefly as Bowen told him the verdict.
Bowen rubbed the dragon's nose comfortingly, not seeing Elaine's soft smile at the two, Draco stilling and relaxing under Bowen's hand.
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The ship slid into the harbor with countless such trips of doing so as it's back up, experience and long years of traveling was mostly directing the massive vessel.
The crew had handled the sea salt soaked and brine tar coated ropes too many times to count, the lines flying out from their coiled hangings before the knots were tied in the well worn creases of the ropes.
Dock workers were a little wary of the newly arrived ship, having seen absolutely no sign of the merchant runner for over a year. But the sea trade reliant port soon resettled for the evening, all lied well in the harbor.
As the captain in his foreign leather boots, black breeches, leather belt that held keys, a dagger, a money pouch and a sword, long black cloak, and hat, stepped down from the gang planks, the heavens unleashed a torrent of rain, blowing off winds from the violent Northern seas and turning into a right storm sea gale, anything facing the winds would be soaked and chilled a in seconds.
He looked up, black shoulder length hair that fell to his shoulders tied to the back of his neck to leave his storm gray eyes free to look around, his crew could handle itself, the ship's cargo could wait a bit longer before being unloaded, it had lasted over a year as it was.
Now it was time to find his land bound daughter.
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Draco moaned uncomfortably, shuddering hard enough to almost knock Bowen over if the man hadn't grabbed one of the horns in Draco's six-crest.
Geoff repeated Hewe's complaints, but Bowen ignored it. Waves of disgust rolled off Draco from the heart, and Bowen fought to keep down the sandwich Elaine had brought for him.
Least to say Draco wasn't enjoying the feeling of the lard on the scales and hide of his abdomen, even going as far as wincing when the cold stuff brushed his normally sensitive wings that were now reacting to just air brushing them, the dragon was still extremely tensed.
Elaine's ears strained to hear the directions from Geoff, Draco needing to move a wing so far if he could, or hold his breath that let some of the scales relax; but she also heard the low, soothing murmurs from Bowen to Draco, the man keeping the dragon from panicking and moving enough to bring the cave down.
"Sshh...easy Draco...s'alright...just stay still...it'll be over soon...it's alright...just stay still Draco..."
Elaine grinned, no one upon seeing Bowen and Draco like this could say that dragon's were cold, Hell founded creatures, especially with how Draco moved his head to keep Bowen upright and Bowen always left a hand on the dragon no matter what.
"Bowen!"
"What Geoff?"
"Whenever Draco's ready, try to go back. Hew and Eynron are braced on the other side."
The man waved Geoff away, rolling the sleeves up on his tunic before sighing softly.
"Alright dragon, ready when you are."
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Bowen lay partially on Draco's foreleg, entire body sore, and not just from Draco's pain, he and Elaine had shoved against Draco's chest and the man was pretty sure Hewe and Eynron had been pulling as hard as they could.
Draco was gasping for air, wincing as muscles spasms rocked his frame; Bowen reached up tiredly, brushing a few tears away from the dragon's face before rubbing the dragon's aching forelimb.
"Only thing we can do, is wait for Draco to lose the muscle mass keeping him pinned, he's in for wait."
After close to half an hour of straining and shoving...
Nothing
Draco hadn't moved a damn inch.
lol
It's kinda fun torturing the characters...hope you enjoy!