up and releasing me when I’m standing on trembling knees. Then it strokes a lock of my hair behind my ear, in the same way I often do myself if I have no hairpins.
“Thank you,” I manage, not sure if I’m out of the woods yet. “That was close.”
The swamp monster makes her way over to the tree where Caronerax is writhing and hissing and spluttering and cursing.
I run over as fast as I can on legs that are still weak.
“Stay still,” I urge him. “I will free you.”
His wrists and ankles are dripping with ichor where the steel wires have cut into him. As I untie them, I notice they’re not that tight — it’s his own movements and attempts to get free that have done the damage, and the wires cut all the way in to the bone.
When he’s finally free of the wires, he takes a step past me and shields me from Marshie.
“What do you want?” he seethes up at the shadowy blob.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I say and stand next to him. “It’s just Marshie. She saved us.”
All six eyes are trained on us.
I force a smile and wave. “Thank you, Marshie!”
The swamp creature lowers her main body-slash-head and focuses her six eye stalks on the dragon.
I jab my elbow into Caronerax’s side. “Give her a smile.”
“She’s a monster,” he mutters. “I don’t want to lead her on.”
“She understands the situation,” I whisper. “Be nice to her.”
The dragon reaches out one hand, palm upturned and dripping with ichor.
Slowly, Marshie raises the end of one tentacle from the ground and puts it in his hand.
He curls his fingers around it. “Thank you.”
The tentacle withdraws, then carefully reaches forward again, the tip of it stroking along his hair and face, briefly pausing at the hairpin, then down to his chest, prodding the scales and gently passing underneath the injury that’s now seeping ichor again.
For three heartbeats Marshie looks at us. Then she calmly withdraws all her tendrils and tentacles and moves away, in the direction of her swamp, not making a sound.
“Goodbye!” I call after her, waving.
To my joy, she apes my wave with one of her tentacles before she vanishes in the dark night.
Caronerax turns to me, his face dark, and looks me up and down. “Are you injured?”
“Not on the outside,” I tell him. “But I was scared.”
“I am too weak to protect you,” he seethes. “Ridiculous! Pitiful! I was taken prisoner and tied! By simple humans!”
“They threatened to kill me,” I remind him. “You had no choice if you wanted me to live.”
“In my dragon form, I would have… I would have…”
“You would have burned them all to a crisp before they saw us,” I finish for him. “I know. But remember that you are not well. You did more than anyone else could have.”
Grabbing his hand, I hold it up. “And you have even worse injuries now. We have to find more of the healing paste. But I don’t want to stay here anymore.” I’m trembling all over, and not from cold.
“Wait here,” Caronerax says and quickly walks around the clearing, checking on the cavemen and taking all their weapons. “Most of them are still alive,” he reports when he returns, dumping all the swords and spears on the ground. “Only one or two are dead, with split skulls.”
He picks up one sword after the other, breaks each blade over his knee, and tosses the pieces away.
He breaks the spears, except one, which he gives to me. “I think you need this. Clearly, I’m incapable of protecting you properly. Now let’s go.”
I grab my fur pouch, and we quickly make our way out of the clearing and into the woods, walking as fast as we can, not saying a word.
Neither of us want to stop that night. We walk until morning, take a short break when we come across a creek where I can drink, then keep walking.
In the morning sun, I can tell the woods are definitely becoming more jungle-like. There are no pine trees anymore, and it’s getting more clammy and humid among the trees.
I should probably start to look around for familiar places, or landmarks I have heard of or seen on the big map the girls have made. But I never paid the map much attention. I was always focused on only going home to Earth.
That was my problem, I suddenly realize. I was too busy dreaming of home. I never made the effort to get to know