Free Vixen by Finley Aaron Page B

arm!”
    “What’s wrong?” Ion casts one last look around to make sure there are no other yagi, then turns his full attention on me. “Your arm?”
    My mouth is open in a silent scream of pain as I attempt to turn my arm to see the back side. Something cut me or grazed me or set the back of my arm on fire. It’s like a hundred zillion stinging nettles, except they’re not content to just sting the surface. The pain is shooting through me, down my arm and through my body.
    Ion sets his swords down and takes gentle hold of my wrist, angling my arm so we can both see the gash in the moonlight.
    He sniffs it.
    A look passes over his face. I’d call it regret or horror, but it’s more like the pall of death. I didn’t know until I saw it on his face that the pall of death had a look, but there it is.
    “What is it?”
    “The yagi have a neurotoxin in the spines on their arms and legs.” Ion sounds sick, utterly sick.
    I’ve heard of it, of course. I’ve been trained to avoid it. I should have avoided it. I know better, obviously. I mean, sure, we’ve always bested the yagi, and maybe I’ve underestimated how dangerous they really are because of that, but none of them have ever touched me before. None of them have ever touched any of us, because you can’t let them touch you, or something like this might happen.
    “They injected their venom into my arm?” I ask, meeting Ion’s eyes.
    “Yes.” He drops my arm and pulls off his jacket.
    “But, it’s fatal. It’s always fatal. It killed my grandmother, my parents’ dog, some old dragon my sister-in-law knew…” My voice fades.
    Ion’s stripping off his shirt. For a second or two I wonder if maybe he’s going to use the shirt as a tourniquet, or something. But mostly I’m thinking that I’m going to die.
    I’m going to die.
    I have, at best, a few days left to live.
    This is not going to improve relations between Ion and my parents.
    Ion’s stripped down to his boxer shorts. “I’m going to turn into a dragon. Can you hold on to my back?”
    I want to change into a dragon, to show him that it’s not necessary for him to carry me, but when I try, nothing happens. It’s just like when I tried to change when the yagi wails had frozen me, except I’m not frozen now, but I still can’t change.
    “I can’t change into a dragon!” I gasp, panting from the failed effort.
    “It’s the neurotoxin.” Ion doesn’t look surprised. “Can you hang on to my back? We should hurry before more yagi arrive.”
    “Right. Okay. Sure.” Pain is still radiating out from my arm with an intensity that blurs my thoughts.
    Ion changes into a dragon. He’s a gorgeous dragon, a magnificent silvery green, the scales of his back dark like aged copper, his belly almost as white as the scars that mar it. He gathers up his swords and clothes, then crouches down near me. I do my best to climb on, but my injured arm is nearly useless, and it’s all I can do to hold on tight with my good arm while he flies us back to his castle, landing on the balcony outside the ballroom.
    There he changes back into a human, opens the double glass doors, and strides inside.
    I follow, shuffling slowly, still stunned by all that happened.
    Ion pulls down one mammoth set of silk curtains before walking back over to me, dragging them behind him.
    “What are you doing?”
    “I need you to trust me. We’re going to have to hurry. I don’t have time to explain everything. Once the neurotoxin enters your system, it’s only a matter of time before it takes its full effect.”
    “I’m going to die.” If I’m whimpering a little, that’s understandable, right? Because the pain shooting through me is crazy intense, and also I don’t want to die.
    “Listen.” Ion places his hands gently on my shoulders. “I believe there is an antidote to the venom. I’ve tried before to get Eudora to tell me what it was, but she wouldn’t. We’re going to go to Eudora now and ask her how to heal