To RandomFanAuthor- AH. YES. NEVER. EXCELLENT.
To HoO Fan- heheheh
To all- I hope you're all well, stay safe!
If it wasn't for Festus, they wouldn't have made it. He shot through the straits, wailing for his master. They landed on the beach of an island, about two hundred feet from the strait, spilled into the sand. He spread his wings, readied his legs to leap.
"No!" Calypso yelled, slipping in the sand, spitting it and hair from her mouth. "Festus!" She launched forward, fingers sliding and then catching on his plating. She could hardly see for crying, hands fumbling for their packs. She released one without realising, it fell painfully onto her foot. Festus dithered, looking back the way they had come. He roared, a sheet of fire billowing mournfully from his throat.
Louisa had gone from green to grey, breath fluttering, eyes closed. She lay on her back, one arm draped over her chest, the other splayed in the sand. Calypso worked quickly, setting her arms in splints and bindings, hiccupping and sobbing. Numbness writhed through her chest, doubled with too-much, she felt too-much. Leo had been right in front of her, she had only blinked, he had been right there.
Now he was gone. His dragon was itching to go back after him, stomping and pacing through the sand, roaring, screaming, streaming with fire and spilling oil.
She dripped nectar into Louisa's mouth, mumbling incoherent prayers on instinct.
Festus tried to help, realising the situation. He bundled to the water's edge, scooping sea water in his jaws. He raced to Louisa, letting his mouthful tumble over her head and shoulders. She stirred, coughed. He snuffled her hair, nudged Calypso.
Calypso had gone still. Festus clicked at her, but she did not understand him. His translator was gone.
The dragon gently butted her again. When no response came, he huffed. He burrowed his chin into the sand, nipping the scruff of Louisa's jacket. He did not lift her, walking backwards slowly and dragging her to the water, nosing her into the surf.
Calypso joined them on cotton-packed legs. She could distantly hear Charybdis and Scylla, the pull and roar of tonnes of water, the delighted chortling of a fed reptile.
It wasn't until Festus bit the back of her shirt did she realise she stood knee-deep in the water. The dragon crooned, ruby eyes reflecting her pain, understanding with something that struck her as human. She touched his cheek, moving robotically. Her vision fell to Louisa. Normal colouring was slowly returning to her face. Her fingers twitched and she grimaced, arms slow to heal. Calypso leaned down, pulling her a little more into the water, arranging her arms so they were more submerged.
She sat next to her, shivering in the chill of the water but glad for it. She had not completely numbed.
Festus curled up on the sand behind them, puffing smoke from his nostrils, a moan rattling somewhere in his chest. Grief.
How long they sat there, they could not say. They listened to the monsters, the clashing of the angry waves further out and the gentle lapping around them. The sky began to lighten on the horizon. Stars faded as daylight seeped over the expanse above. It was not calm, Calypso could say that. It was a void. That was the best word for it. Void. She could not bear the warmth of the sun as its light grew. Leo had been her warmth. She wanted it from nowhere else.
The calm, the void, was broken by Louisa. She inhaled as though she had forgotten how to breathe, sitting upright. Her arms crossed across her chest, trembling and coughing, wheezing. Calypso reached for her, brushing a missed bit of sand from her hair. Festus rose, ambling off. He returned to drop the used pack between the girls, pressing his nose to Louisa's back in greeting.
Calypso fed her ambrosia quietly. Combined with the water, Louisa was shedding the splints in the time it took for the sun to reach its full glow.
"Where's Leo?" She rasped, splashing seawater in her face. Calypso sat back, laying her hands in her lap. She could only shake her head, words fluffing on her tongue.
She expected denial, defiance, fury from Louisa. It was her default.
Instead, she went eerily still. She looked back at the strait, frowning. Her gaze travelled up the cliff, squinting in the sunlight. Calypso could see something working behind the sea green. The water churned around her waist, falling onto the sand with increasing hunger. Festus snorted at the waves, batting it with his claws.
Louisa finally looked at her. The expected defiance was there, amidst the rising temper. "Give me your sword." She instructed.
"What for?" Calypso croaked miserably. Louisa looked back at the clifftops, jaw bunching.
"She's taken from the wrong person. 'N' I'm gonna make sure she regrets it."
