Chapter 3.3

Chapter3.3

Rei hadn't thought of the other solution until the older dragon had washed out the cloth. "You can go," the guard said, pointing to the door. He felt overwhelmed and overcome by pain. Elgatos hadn't treated his back yet, but Rei didn't want him to be there anymore.

The latter wanted to say something else but then decided otherwise. The last time he had said something, he had gotten caught up in a problem, so now it was better to remain silent.

"Come back in two hours so we can give her food again," he asked Elgatos, giving him a pleading look. Rei appreciated his suggestions and hoped for his assistance, although they had just had a minor disagreement. He was the one the guard trusted not to hurt Quinn unnecessarily. Elgatos, unlike the others, had a soft hand.

She needed to get something to eat regularly. "And please bring warm tea and soup. But not too hot. The tea should contain the soothing and pain-relieving herbs," he instructed Elgatos.

The latter nodded. He had considered making the suggestion to mix numbing herbs into the tea to make it easier for them to get the food into her, but he wasn't sure if that would go over well. He also didn't know if she would even drink the tea. To him, Quinn seemed like a lifeless doll at the moment, which was probably due to the cold shock. The fact that Rei had warmed her up so quickly would have probably even killed her as a human and had now put additional stress on her body.

Realizing he wanted to say something, the guard made a hand gesture indicating Elgatos to speak. He wanted to hear advice. After all, the dragon had already more or less walked women before coming here and coming under Rei's supervision.

"If she drinks the tea, this could be used to instill a numbing agent that might allow us to administer her food normally," he suggested slowly and carefully. "Something to numb her panic and make her docile."

Thoughtfully, he glanced at Quinn and finally nodded. "It's fine to dull her fear, but I don't want to make her docile by doing so," Rei said, standing up to light the fire again. Due to his ice breath, it had cooled down considerably in the room. It was very uncomfortable.

Rei hoped that Quinn's fear of eating would subside, and she would start eating food on her own. Using the uncomfortable method every time was time-consuming and not the best solution. Moreover, this meant they could only give her smaller portions.

Rei took some logs from the holder on the wall and threw one of them into the fireplace. This stirred up the ashes and spread them over Rei's wounded, loose skin. The pain it caused even made him yelp softly before he frantically tried to wipe the ashes away.

Elgatos, who was still in the room, rolled his eyes, grabbed a cloth, moistened it, and placed it on the spot where the ash had hit Rei. Then he pushed it to Quinn and took care himself that the fire burned adequately again. However, without saying a word.

"Everything is going fucking wrong," Rei grumbled grumpily, wiping the remaining ash off with the cloth. Since Quinn was there, everything was going haywire. Yet, not even a day had passed since their arrival.

Rei watched with satisfaction as the older dragon lit the fire. It was good that he was there and had helped wordlessly. "Thank you," Rei finally said as it crackled in the fireplace. "Come back later and bring stupefying clothes, please," he asked Elgatos.

"Also the tea?" the latter asked, not having received an exact answer to that yet. In small quantities, the herbs would ease her anxiety. Still, in large amounts, they would make her barely aware of what was happening around her. Many dragons used these to make women docile so they would not fight back. Elgatos wondered why the stone dragon hadn't used this on Quinn.

"Yes, but not too much. She should be able to control herself," Rei replied with a sigh. Feeding her like a doll again was not something he wanted to do.

Elgatos nodded and disappeared from the room, leaving her alone.

He could not have guessed that Quinn had awakened in the meantime and had overheard them. However, she lay there almost motionless with her eyes closed.

Since Rei assumed that Quinn was asleep, he turned to his body. Silently, he now washed out the rest of his wounds that he could treat himself. Among them was his face, which was agonizingly painful and itchy. He was not allowed to scratch if he did not want to make it worse.

He would not die from the injuries, and that had been the reason why he had taken care of Quinn first. Every second counted for her, while for him, it didn't particularly matter how much time passed.

Something was stirring on the bed, and when he looked up, he could see that Quinn had laid down on her back and was looking at him.

Briefly, the guard glanced at her but did not speak. Wordlessly, he continued with his work as the comfortable warmth slowly drove the cold from the room.

He would not die, but the pain was unbearable and could even put him out of action for a while if it spread over his entire body.

And he couldn't afford that if he had to keep order here.

"I'm sorry you got hurt because of me," Quinn whispered softly.

Snorting, he glanced at her again. Reminding her that she had claimed it wasn't her fault before, he refrained. It wouldn't do any good, and Quinn had no idea of his weakness. So it was better to say nothing at all about it.

The otherwise beautiful blue patterns on his skin, which were also all over his body, looked disfigured by the black spots the wind and ice had caused.

Quinn continued to watch him, making up her mind. She had heard what he had said. Had listened to the entire discussion and was glad that she would probably soon be rid of this leathery thing. But at the same time, she was afraid of what would happen. So scared that she was already feeling sick again, and the food was threatening to come up.

Rei didn't care that the young woman was watching him. Since she wasn't in pain at the moment, he could take care of himself. Again and again, he applied a pungent-smelling medicine to the cloth with which he rubbed himself. He also worked his face carefully with it, although he had already doctored it.

He treated his almost black fingers last. It would take a while until they were back to normal, but at least he could still move them.

The peace and silence were pleasant as long as he could listen to the sound of the fire mixing with the cruel wind from outside. Again and again, it pushed violently against the windows, and it was as if it had made it his business to tear them off their hinges.

"Would you explain what is happening to me?" asked Quinn quietly. She only had the information from the other women, but they had rarely spoken. It was under penalty of law, and so she had found it difficult to get details.

Her fear would not diminish if he explained. But if she wanted to know, he would not hold back, for she had a right to know. Rei was not very delicate with such things but said what was true. Even if it wasn't pleasant. "What exactly do you want to know?" he asked without interrupting his work.

Quinn lowered her eyelids as if she didn't want to look at him. "Why do you need us human women to have children?" she asked quietly. So far, she hadn't seen a single female dragon.

"Because real dragon women only give birth to barren men and very rarely to barren women. Human women who have been transformed can give birth to fertile dragon women. But also fertile men," Rei replied.

So the whole thing was just to preserve the race so that it could continue. The effort to do this was huge, even though the possibility of getting fertile dragonesses was so slight. Indeed the young woman could imagine that it was no fun to walk others and wait forever for the longed-for child.

Quinn's gaze wandered to the ceiling. "What do you mean transformed human women?" she asked tonelessly. "I won't be a dragon after all."

The guard stood up and walked toward the closet where two of his uniforms still hung. He had not been able to fit these in his new bed-chamber. "Half-dragon would be more like it," Rei concretized. The infusion of the dragon's blood transformed her, and she was no longer human. But not a full dragon either. And yet, these women were vital to the race, so human women were considered sacred.

"Couldn't you look for volunteers? I'm sure many women would like to be made into something like that," she muttered and then began to cough.

Rei took out her uniform and began to change. "Water is on the table," he remarked.

Looking for a volunteer was not very easy. Very few would want a change if they knew what they had to suffer through. Which also went without saying. No one wanted to turn into something unknown and possibly have a bad man looking out for them.