Page 71 of To Touch A Silent Fury

My heart skipped a beat as Iheardit. It was hard to describe; the word was unsure, quiet in my mind. A probe, a question. Did it even know it was speaking to me, or was it simply talking to itself?

I looked down at the thing curled up near my ribs. A light grey belly moved into a dusty periwinkle back. No hardened scales covered its flesh, only patches of harder skin near its spine and pebbling above its tiny snout. It breathed out, its narrow chest moving fast, and stretched, the thin skin of its wing a warm lilac.

I reached down and brushed a finger along his side. He made a little coughing noise, and his front claws splayed and then gripped onto my finger. In a second, he had my entire heart.

“Is he healthy?”

“He seems well. He will not leave you.” Yvon’s voice was near a whisper. “You, we measure, are not so well.”

I rolled my right shoulder and took a deep breath as I flexed my hand, and then my elbow. There was pain, but I did not seem to have broken anything in my arm. The relief of that was small compared to the growing heat in my leg.

I looked at Yvon. “How bad is my leg?”

Yvon grimaced. “The wound was deep. The leg will heal, in time. But you lost a lot of blood.”

I stared up at the dawn light as my stomach rumbled. “Have I been out all night?”

Yvon shook her head. “Four days.”

‘Four?’I signed. That explained the hunger.

She nodded as the Son in the corner let out a strange noise. I saw him watching my hands with distaste. I dropped them to my lap, but he was already glaring at Yvon.

“Why didn’t you tell me the Sons were Brothers?” I asked her softly.

Yvon sent a guarded look to the Son as he flinched from my question. He breathed out through his nose, his nostrils flaring like Vellintris’ had the night before. Then he signed rapidly to Yvon. I picked up a few of the nouns.Fate. Wrong. Fast. Bad.

Then, he signed for her to go outside. She signed back that she needed to reapply my medicine. He made a gesture of rebuke.

“What’s going on?” I asked Yvon.

“The Sons don’t like the way the Brotherhood imposes your Fates,” she said, and I could tell it was a huge understatement. “We found you close to death. I told them what you are and asked them to shelter you.”

“You told them?” I asked, betrayal lancing my gut. I didn’t want to be the Moontouched girl again, and I hardly imagined a cacof would be welcomed into their secret order.

“To protect you,” she explained. “Sons would not kill another Son.”

I let this sink in, sitting in the silence.‘Thinking,’I signed.

The Son made that noise again. I looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“You know our speech,” Yvon said. “They are angry.”

“Ah.”

I grimaced in quiet apology to Yvon. She’d taught me, traded with me, instructed me in the ways of the forest. And now, she had rescued me. I was alive because of her, and now I was causing her more trouble.

The Son gestured for Yvon to leave again, his cheeks reddening. I recognised the sign for‘cacof’and‘noise’, but the rest was signed so quickly it hurt my head. Everything seemed a little too vivid, the room’s colours distorted and too bright. The light of the room was dim, and yet I saw it all in perfect clarity. Myhead pounded, and I closed my eyes as the Son stormed from the room. Well, as much as one can storm without sound.

“I must leave,” Yvon said, standing up. “There is water and bread beside you, and we fed the dragon some grub. There is medicine, too. Apply it, if you have the strength.”

“Thank you,” I said. I opened my eyes again and touched her hand. Yvon stiffened. I felt her fear and agitation, and realised it was the first time I had touched her skin without gloves. I whispered, the sound barely coming from my lips. “I do not wish to be trapped here.”

Yvon breathed out. “They will send you away before you can even walk.”

I swallowed. “They will not make me stay?”

She knelt down and touched my hair, pulling a lock of mud-dried brown towards her. “They will notletyou. Be grateful they do not execute you. This place is for Sons. Now you are awake, they will not believe you are one of them.”