Free Aurora by Mark Robson Page A

down against the soft pillow with a groan and closed his eyes. Even with his eyes closed the tumbling sensation remained. It made him feel nauseous. What was happening? Was he
sick?
    Memories of the short trip through France began to flood back. The explosion. The pain. He was injured. Was it bad? Was he blind? Deaf? A surge of panic began to build inside him.
    ‘Calm down, Elian. I am here.’
    ‘Aurora! What happened? The world is spinning out of control. I can’t see anything.’
    ‘Relax,’
she soothed.
‘You are safe now. One of the flash-bang weapons in the other world exploded right next to us. You suffered a nasty wound to your right leg. I
can feel your disorientation. I do not understand the sensations you are experiencing. I will get Fang to send Kira to you now.’
    ‘Your voice . . .’
Elian began. He paused for several heartbeats before finishing.
‘. . . it sounds so weak. Are you all right?’
    ‘It is my own fault,’
she admitted
. ‘When the flash-bang struck, I panicked. I tried to form a gateway before true dawn. I succeeded . . . just. But it drained me
terribly. It was all I could do to fly the short distance to land here in the dawn dragon enclave. I will need to recuperate for some time before I fly again.’
    ‘I don’t think I’ll be ready to fly for some time, either.’
The spinning sensation was gradually slowing. Elian tried opening his eyes, but he was quick to close
them again.
‘I can’t focus and my head is full of noise.’
    ‘Neema and Shimmer have gone to fetch a village medicine man they think might be able to help,’
Aurora said, her voice surprisingly positive.
‘He has a reputation for
working miracles.’
    ‘Neema?’
    ‘Neema is a dawn dragonrider here at the enclave,’
she explained.
‘Her partner, Shimmer, is a particularly fine-looking dragon. His scales are most
attractive.’
    ‘Reeeally?’
Elian said, intrigued by her description.
‘Attractive! That’s the first time I’ve heard you describe another dragon in
that
way.’
    ‘Well,’
she replied, giving no hint that she had picked up on his inflection.
‘That is because Shimmer is more attractive than most. When your sight has recovered,
you will see what I mean. He has always been popular as a mate with female dragons from the day, dusk and dawn enclaves. He has recently flown Blaze. She is in the hatching cave brooding over her
clutch of eggs.’
    ‘Flown Blaze? What do you mean . . .?’
Elian began to ask. He stopped as his mind connected the phrase with the clutch of eggs.
‘No, never mind. I get the idea, but
you say Shimmer is popular as a mate. Don’t dragons have life partners?’
    ‘No, Elian,’
she said.
‘Our mating traditions are very different from yours. We live for a long time, so nature has restricted our urge to mate. Dragons spend much of
their lives travelling alone. When the urge does come, we may be a long way from the mate of our choice. Finding a suitable mate then becomes a matter of—’
    ‘Enough information!’
Elian interrupted, feeling his cheeks flush.
‘I think I get the idea.’
This conversation was straying into areas he was not
comfortable with, and he got the distinct feeling that Aurora was willing to explain things in more detail than he was ready for.
    ‘I do not understand your embarrassment, Elian,’
Aurora said.
‘Mating is a perfectly natural course of events for every creature, man or dragon. It is nothing to be
embarrassed about.’
    ‘No. I know,’
he replied, mentally squirming as he tried to think of a way of diverting her.
‘So have you ever . . .’
He left the sentence hanging, mentally
kicking himself for starting down this path.
    ‘Mated?’
she finished, her tone still matter-of-fact.
‘No. The urge has never touched me. It is not unusual amongst dragons for a female not to mate. When we do, we
tend to produce a lot of offspring. Blaze has over forty eggs hardening in the hatching cave. Perhaps a third of those