“Yes, he’s still generating heat. Hook me up; I’m going with you.”
Bryn’s heat must be why he isn’t covered in snow. The relief at finding him alive is outweighed by the fact that he’s been out here for hours, and there’s so much blood. My tiger snarls, desperate to leap down there to check on our dragon, not happy when I resist the shift.
“We’ll lower you one at a time,” Ethan says as he gives Jet a nod.
Jet helps Doc P into a harness, the jaguar’s cheeks pink as he does his job efficiently.
“Raj, you know what to do.” Ethan hands me a rifle.
Usually my job on rescue missions is to attach the person to the winch so they can be hoisted up to the helicopter. That’s not possible with Bryn still in his enormous winged form, so I’ll assist the doctor in any way I can. Once Bryn’s back in biped form, we’ll get him on board.
The moment my feet touch the ground and I deem the surface stable enough to disconnect from the winch, I wade through the snow, checking around me for any indication of enemy dragons we might have missed. There’s nothing, so when I reach Bryn I hurry over to his massive head, my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest.
His eyes are closed so I touch his snout with my gloved hand, rubbing back and forth, willing him to wake up. The eye closest to me snaps open as his giant body tenses and a warning rumblecomes from his chest, but he calms when his gaze locks on me. Then he nuzzles my hand, the barest of movements.
I let my rifle hang from the strap and strip off my bulky gloves. ‘I’m here. I’ve got you,’ I sign, not sure how well he can actually see me. With this amount of blood everywhere, I’m sure he’s in a lot of pain.
Doc P rushes across the snow, not sinking in the way I did. He slips beneath Bryn’s wing, strips off one of his gloves, and lays his hand on Bryn’s scaly chest.
I narrate to Bryn what’s happening, trying to keep my hand movements steady even as my fingers stiffen up in the freezing temperatures. ‘Doc P is with me. He’s checking your condition. We have a helicopter. Can you see the searchlight? The whole task force are here to rescue you. We’ll get you to safety.’
Bryn’s huge red eye flickers, his attention drifting as his snout seeks my hand again. I rub it, the warmth emanating from him keeping my fingers from going numb.
“How is he?” I ask Doc P as Jet joins us, eyes trained on the sky, rifle at the ready.
Doc P’s jaw tightens. “He has severe lacerations, several broken ribs, and a partially collapsed lung.”
“Fuck.” My tiger growls, still desperate to shift so we can better protect Bryn, but it’s the wrong choice up here on a remote mountain where any threat would come from the sky.
“Quite. He should have been up and flying under his own power by now, but his natural healing hasn’t kicked in.”
My heart clenches. “Why not?”
Doc P meets my eyes. “The foreign magic from the explosion severely compromised his immune system. Until it recovers, he’s more vulnerable. I apologise. I should have expected that. I should have warned him.”
“No one’s blaming you for not realising,” Jet says without looking down, his voicefirm.
As terrifying as it is that Bryn is severely injured and won’t heal on his own, Jet is right.
“We don’t expect you to be perfect, Doc. I trust that you did your best for us that day, and I’m beyond grateful that you agreed to come on this rescue mission.”
Doc P stills for a moment. Then his eyes flick from me to Jet before he refocuses on Bryn. “Raj, once Bryn is safe and healed, I’ll check your immune system as well. I didn’t pick up on anything when I healed you on the way here, but I wasn’t looking for this.”
“No rush.” We have bigger priorities right now.
Ethan joins us on the ground, eyes trained on the sky in the opposite direction to Jet, rifle raised. “Ayo’s put a temporary dome ward over us. We’re protected if the dragons come back, but it’s not mobile.”
Meaning we’ll be exposed when we move. “Can Bryn shift back?” I ask Doc P. I want to get Bryn out of here as soon as possible.
Doc P doesn’t lift his hand from Bryn’s chest. “With my assistance, yes, although it’ll cause him significant pain.”
Before I can reply, Cal’s voice comes over the radio. “Papa five-three, Papa one-seven, over.”
Ethan taps his earpiece. “Papa one-seven, go ahead, over.”
“The PRN just contacted us to say this airspace is about to become highly dangerous. They’re recommending immediate evac, over.”
Shit. We have an arsenal of weapons in the helicopter, but we’re still far too exposed out here and with Bryn so badly injured, we don’t want to get caught in the middle of whatever is about to go down. As reluctant as I am to cause Bryn additional pain when he must be in agony already, I need to get him out of here and to a safe place so that Doc P can do what he does best. My tiger agrees, nudging me to hurry.
