The Golden Light
Part IV of V

As Ilith and Ahndeleck made it through the forest she could tell that her brother was hurt badly. They approached a clear stream and Ilith carefully dismounted, being sure that the horse was steady and that her mate could stay upright under his own power. Ahndeleck was leaning forward in the saddle slightly, the wound in his shoulder now did not bleed so freely and Ilith came to his side.

"How are you holding up, brother?" she asked with concern.

He turned his hazy gaze to her and shook his head slowly, replying, "Not too well, sekan...I think - "

He stopped suddenly and leaned further and toppled to the side. Ilith rushed forward and caught him, gradually lowering to the ground with him in her arms. She made sure he was still breathing and could tell that the arrow that pierced his shoulder was poisoned. She sighed heavily and looked at her mate, who stared back at her worriedly.

"Is he going to be alright?"

"I don't know, he's pretty bad off right now, it's not that far to our lair..."

"I can make it on this horse if you need to ride with him, but I'm not too sure about controlling it in the weakened state I'm in."

Ilith nodded and took the reins to the horse he was seated atop, tying it securely to the other horse's saddle. She then carefully helped Ahndeleck back into the saddle and Tigrath held him up as Ilith mounted again. Her brother leaned against her now heavily and groaned with pain. She sighed and gave her mate a reassuring kiss, then turned the horses to follow upstream to their lair.

= = =

Once within their lair and in their proper forms, Ilith made sure her brother was made as comfortable as possible before she takes care of her mate. Whimpering softly as she came into their sleeping chamber where her mate was curled up, several slashes across his back and wings plus a couple more upon his snout he received when he was in his wolf form and held in that terrible dungeon. She licked softly and tenderly upon the cuts of his muzzle, lifting her paw and stroking his cheek lovingly. He sighed and closed his eyes half way from the nice treatment his mate was giving him, no doubt at all she was worried and couldn't wait to get him back again...very happy she was able to, too. Watching as she placed her paw gently over his snout and a bright purple glow filled his vision, causing him to close his eyes for a moment until he felt her stroke down his muzzle with a finger. He opened and crossed his eyes slightly and could see that she neatly healed up the cuts, like nothing had ever happened to his snout in the first place. She then did the same for his aching back, stretching out on the ground and placing his hurt wings at his sides to get her full healing treatment. Once she is finished she nuzzles his cheek lovingly and croons at him, telling him to go ahead and rest and that she will be sure to get him something to eat once he awakens. He nodded and obediently lowered his head onto his paws and closed his eyes, falling into sleep rather quickly from his exhausted body finally able to rest somewhere safe and warm.

Ilith watched her sleeping male for a moment before she left their sleeping chamber and made her way slowly down to where her brother was, their lair was in several levels with their sleeping chambers in the lower ones to be sure to keep them safe as they slept. There were extra caverns to be a holding place for various areas, plus a sealed cavern she had created to hatch her eggs once she was ready. She came into a cavern with a large burning fire in the center, where her brother moaned quietly with pain and he slowly glanced in her direction and managed a slight smile. He could never keep from smiling when he saw her, his very wonderful sister who was now guarding him and caring for him in his pain-filled state.

She came around the fire and sat by his side, placing her paw upon his as she glanced over him, and her heart just ached from seeing so much pain in his eyes. She stood up and walked around him, coming to his shoulder where half of the arrow was still lodged, she had broken it in half while he was unconscious to make the extraction a bit easier to do...or at least she hoped it would. She could tell her brother was in a lot of pain and did not wish to put him through any more of it, but she had to get it out so she could figure out what was wrong with him. She sat upon her haunches and rubbed her paws together, and he gazed up at her a bit worriedly because he knew what she was about to do. She looked at him reassuringly and smiled softly, placing her paws over the wound and she sent a spell into his shoulder to numb the pain, it would make it easier on both of them this way and he laid his head back down as he sighed deeply. She then placed her paw around the arrow and sent another spell through it as she pulled it from his shoulder, preventing the wound from bleeding again once it was out.

She tossed that part of the arrow into the fire so she could now heal his hurt shoulder as best as she could. She watched as within minutes the wound began to affect the surrounding scales and skin, making it a sickly color and she could hear her brother groan rather loudly. She quickly went off to the side and grabbed a bag of powder which held a great healing magick within it, she held a bit between her taloned fingers and she sprinkled it within the wound and watched it turn the area white with its healing. She then sighed deeply and hid the bag once more, that would only hold off the effects of the poison for a few hours, which would give her a bit more time to figure out what it was that was in that arrow. She gazed at her brother and found him to be sound asleep, guessing the powder helped enough to make him relax. She came near the fire and saw the broken wooden shaft of the arrow burned away while the metal arrow head remained, carefully she clasped it in her talons and picked it out of the flames, breaking it in her hold and letting it drop once more into the fire. There it seemed to explode and turn the fire blue with its poison then it let out this most pungent smell into the cavern. Ilith quickly placed a barrier spell on the fire to keep that sickening stench there and watched with a bit of fascination at the images within the flames...there seemed to be a dragon that slithered within, which seemed to be racked with pain as if it were being tormented, and it slowly withered away and the fire itself burned out from such evil. Ilith's eyes widened at the sight and looked back at her brother, she knew she had to do something before it was too late, but what was she to do?