Tobin hadn’t really seen what happened until Lescelli was already on the ground. As soon as she pitched forward, he moved to help her up and inquire about her well-being. But when his gaze drifted to what had struck her, Tobin pulled up short and his breath whistled past his teeth in a stunned exhale.

By this point, Lescelli had rolled over and laid eyes on it too, and he saw her stiffen. He hurried to her side and crouched down for a better look.

“Is that…?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed breathlessly. Lying prone on the cobblestone in front of them was a miniature version of the firebreathing lizards of history. Tobin had never seen a dragon outside books and films before, but the scaly hide and wings that were almost the same size as its body made it unmistakable.

It was a little difficult to see in the dim light of the alleyway, but its scales were a darker shade on the spectrum and it had light purple membrane stretched between the fingers in its wings. Two horns curled from the top sides of its skull and more, bowed spines travelled down its neck. Its eyes were closed and it wasn’t moving, save for the shaky rise and fall of its chest. The creature was barely bigger than the average housecat. But the true question on Tobin’s mind was what it was doing in Prewport of all places. He’d thought all the rogue dragons had been hunted down by now, but if there were any more, they were incredibly elusive and likely hidden deep in forests and canyons to the west where it was harder for hunting parties to reach them. A well-populated port town seemed like a bad place for dragons. He was fairly certain he remembered from history books that they couldn’t swim or fly for prolonged distances. The ocean border would only act as a natural cage wall for these lizards.

“Tobin, I thought you said that any dragons left had been hunted down decades ago,” Lescelli whispered. Tobin had heard sarcasm and anger and more recently, sorrow from his new friend, but fear was a new one and her tone was laced with it. Her body was rigid as though she was too afraid to move.

Tobin shook his head. “The war was chaotic and disorganized. They never knew exactly how many got away. Technically the hunts are always ongoing just in case. But the sightings have gotten incredibly rare. One was killed out west only a year ago, but that was the only sighting in the last five or six years, so we could only assume most are gone. But this…this is bad.”

Lescelli twisted to glare at him. “You think?! What do we do?”

Tobin chewed his lip as he examined the tiny creature again. It was a baby. Based on the size of it, compared to the descriptions of dragons that he was familiar with, it was still a hatchling, probably no older than a few months to a year – though he couldn’t be certain – and that was incredibly unnerving. Somewhere, there were dragons still surviving and doing well enough if they were breeding. It was the kind of thing he needed to report to his father, and quickly.

But then he noticed why the dragon had dropped from the sky. It likely hadn’t attacked or targetted Lescelli. There was a large bolt skewered through its wing. It had pierced through the membrane in two places so that the appendage was pinned to itself in a curled shape. Someone had shot it down, and if the braying of hounds rapidly approaching was anything to go off of, they were getting closer. He had a churning sensation in his gut warning him not to simply leave the reptile to its fate. He had no idea who might be hunting it or if they had malicious intent of raising it into a weapon.

“I think we should get it in the car and get out of here,” he admitted after a moment.

Lescelli’s brows rose and she stared at him with parted jaws. “Are you insane? You just talked about how dangerous these things are.”

“We also don’t know who’s hunting it or if their intentions are honourable. Plus, it’s a baby.”

“Yeah, which means it probably has parents nearby. I don’t want an angry momma dragon trying to rip us to shreds.”

“But could you imagine what it would do to Prewport if some small town hunter kills the baby for a reward but isn’t equipped to handle the parents?”

Lescelli sighed and cautiously pushed herself back out of snapping range. Not that the dragon had moved. It was unconscious. “What do you plan to do, Tobin? We take it with us and then what? Kill it ourselves?”

Tobin winced. He didn’t truly want to kill it. “Most of the dragons brought over in the war were adults. Maybe infants can be tamed. It’s hurt. It feels wrong to leave it here.”

“You want to keep it? Like a pet? Tobin, I don’t know about this,” Lescelli admitted. “Two weeks ago, you were preaching everyone should stay away from these things, that they need to be culled. Now you want to nurse one back to health and keep it like a puppy?”

Tobin shrugged and glanced back at the broken little animal lying in the path. They didn’t have much time to discuss this. “I just…ever since we talked about them at the library, I’ve been doing some additional research. There’s no question that they were giant and vicious and did a lot of damage. A lot of people lost their lives and several got free and went rogue, but…the thing is…I think some of it might have been our fault. I don’t believe the land they hail from is hospitable for people, but we did invade their nests, we brought them here, and we used them as war machines. Some of that aggression might have been learned. It’s unfortunate that those dragons do need to be killed, we can’t risk the lives of thousands of innocents. But it feels wrong to leave an infant to die like this. This dragon has probably done nothing wrong. It probably isn’t even old enough to hunt. And if the aggression was learned, maybe a young enough one can be trained to be docile and friendly.”

Lescelli hesitated. He could see the confliction on her features with her pursed lips and furrowed brows as she stared at the crumpled lizard. “I suppose it is a little cute,” she relented. “But how do you intend to hide it? What if it does get loose and hurt someone?”

“If it poses a problem, then I’ll resolve it myself. It just feels wrong to leave it like this. Someone dropped it from the sky with an arrow through the wing. It’s dark and windy, if they could make that shot, they could have made a headshot. This is crueller and makes me suspect they want it alive. Either as a trap for the parents or to train it. Neither option sounds better to me.”

“And what if it wakes up in the car? I don’t want a dragon trying to snap at me, not even a little one.”

That was a good point. Tobin wasn’t sure if flame was linked to age or not either. If it could breathe fire, even a small dragon could do a lot of damage in an enclosed space. Hatchling or not, there was no way the animal would trust them or be calm. He pursed his lips for a moment before spinning around and reopening the trunk of the car. He riffled through his bag until he found a belt. He pulled it free and hurried back over to where Lescelli was still crouched.

“Be careful, Tobin,” she warned apprehensively as he crept a little closer. The warning was appreciated, but unnecessary as he squatted and shuffled a bit closer to the small dragon. Its head was lolled to the side and it wasn’t moving, so he inched a little closer and then carefully slid his hand beneath its skull. The dragon didn’t move as he lifted its head from the ground, but its scales were smooth and warm in his palm. It wasn’t at all how Tobin expected it to feel. He began wrapping the belt around its snout and used the buckle to pull it tight around the back of the head so that it wouldn’t be able to pull it free. The makeshift muzzle was oversized and felt a little mean, but it was the best precaution he had.

Once it was secured, he carefully scooped the animal into his arms and stood back up. He made sure the injured wing wasn’t being compressed or jostled too severely. He was fairly certain that the pain could rouse it and while he was concerned at how out cold the creature was, he would rather it stay asleep as long as possible so long as it kept breathing.

“Tobin…this is a bad idea. I don’t imagine your father is going to agree to this, how are you going to keep it a secret? And where are you going to keep it? It’s going to need to eat and requires medical attention. Someone is bound to notice.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“That’s not a plan, Tobin.”

She was right, but the more he thought about caving, the tighter the knot of unease in his stomach became. He levelled his gaze at Lescelli. “Tell me to leave it behind and I will,” he challenged.

She stared at him for a moment and his heart raced. It was a gamble, but he had seen Lescelli’s heart more than once these past few weeks, so he wasn’t surprised when she scowled and scuffed her shoe, then grinned and nodded. “Alright, we figure it out. But we should go before the shooters catch up to us. I have no desire to sport a similar piercing,” she stated.

Tobin grunted in agreement and hurried back to the car with the dragon cradled against his chest. He slid onto the leather seat in the back of the car at the same time Lescelli’s door clicked shut.

“Where is your destination?” an automated voice asked through the speakers.

“It talks too?”

Tobin chuckled. “Yeah.” He leaned forward slightly and spoke up so that his instructions would be recognized. “Six-Twelve Sendway Court, Cardinal.”

“Accepted. Starting route. The estimated time of arrival is eleven-twelve pm. Would you care for the radio?”

“No. Thank you.”

The engine revved and then the vehicle lurched into motion.

“Alright, I’m a little impressed,” Lescelli consented. “Just a little, though.” She was looking at him, but then he saw her gaze drift down to the dragon sprawled in his lap and her expression softened. “How is it?”

Tobin shook his head. “Not so good.”

The small creature was actually a navy blue in colour and its scales glittered against the glow of the overhead light in the car. There was a steady trickle of blood dripping down its wing and Tobin’s palm was also coated in the substance. Instead of being the typical bright red that he would expect, the dragon’s blood had a coppery hue to it, but it was still unmistakable. He supposed the blood explained why the animal was unconscious. It must have hit its head pretty hard on the way down.

The realization made Tobin’s attention jerk back to Lescelli. “Are you hurt? I’m sorry, I forgot to ask.”

Lescelli waved a hand. “A few scrapes and bruises, but I’m fine. That bolt is going to have to come out. I don’t know if we should wait or not.”

Tobin grimaced. “If it keeps getting jostled, it could do more harm, but we don’t have anything to wrap it or keep it from bleeding out,” he agreed. “And it looks like it hit its head pretty hard too. At least it’s still breathing, the poor thing.”

“Probably going to have a headache when it wakes up,” Lescelli agreed. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll sleep through the drive. I don’t want to deal with an injured, frightened, cranky dragon while trapped in a vehicle like this.”

Tobin nodded.

“Here, lay it on this.” Lescelli shrugged her jacket off her shoulders and spread it out between them on the seat. “It’ll look suspicious if we leave bloodstains in the car.”

Tobin carefully shifted the small creature onto the jacket. As soon as it was out of his arms, Lescelli leaned over it to examine its wing. She clucked her tongue. “It must have been caught on the downstroke for the bolt to have passed through twice like this. It would have been downed instantly. I hope I at least broke its fall a bit. A direct hit from up in the air could have easily killed something this small.”

“Maybe they did intend to kill it, then?”

Lescelli shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think it matters. Tobin, I get wanting to help this little guy, but don’t you think we need to tell someone? If it has parents nearby, they’re going to be pretty angry very soon.”

Tobin nodded. “As soon as we’re outside Prewport, I’ll call in an anonymous tip about a sighting. That’ll keep people on high alert just in case. No one knows anything about the nurturing instincts of dragons. They might abandon their young, or they could be dead if this one was wandering the town alone. Their behaviour has been primarily reclusive since the escape, so this one might have just gotten too hungry and desperate if its parents didn’t come back to feed it.”

Lescelli hesitantly laid a hand on the dragon’s hide and her brows raised. “I was expecting it to feel rougher,” she admitted. “It’s warm. Tobin…I think we need to take the bolt out. We can bundle it in the jacket after and try to keep some pressure on it, but there are rumours about dragons back home too, and one is that they have an incredible rehabilitation rate. If the membrane of this wing starts to heal around the bolt, then it’ll hurt the dragon more to remove it and the holes in the wing may never close up. I imagine the membrane needs to be whole to fly. It’s like the sails on a ship or in a balloon.”

“You’re right,” Tobin agreed.

Lescelli gestured to the creature. “Hold it still. The road is surprisingly smooth, but I don’t want it to shift or freak out while I do this.”

Tobin hurried to comply. He hadn’t been expecting Lescelli to offer to remove the bolt, but he was quietly relieved. His hands were shaking and Lescelli struck him as someone with experience being calm in a stressful situation. She would probably be steadier.

He placed a hand on the dragon’s neck, carefully avoiding the blue and purple spines trailing down the back. They didn’t look overly sharp, but he didn’t want to find out the hard way. He also pressed down on the flank and applied gentle pressure while Lescelli carefully tilted the injured wing towards her. She grabbed the shaft of the bolt firmly and then broke the arrowhead off the top with a quick wrench of her wrist and a loud snap. The motion jerked the wing and as it did, the dragon whined.

The sound was soft and weak, but it made them both flinch and stare at the creature. The scaled lid of the one eye that they could see opened to reveal a vivid crystal iris. But it rolled up in the dragon’s skull and then slid shut once more and the creature fell limp again.

Lescelli’s breath whistled out between her teeth and she shook her head before focussing on the bolt once more. She moved her hand below the dragon’s wing to take hold of the feathered tip of the bolt. Just as fluidly as she had broken the top, she pulled the arrow back out through both puncture holes and the wing flopped free onto the seat. Another whine and some thrashing followed from the unconscious victim.

Tobin applied more pressure to its tiny body while being cautious that he didn’t restrict its breathing, while Lescelli slowly forced the wing to bend against its side. Then she pulled the sides of the jacket up around its body and zipped it shut. It was still baggy, so she pressed down to apply pressure too.

The dragon’s head tossed from side to side and its eyes opened again. This time, they stayed open just long enough to blink once before it was pulled back under again.

Lescelli sighed with relief as it fell prone again. “That went better than I had expected,” she admitted.

“It could have been worse,” Tobin agreed. “You seemed like you knew what you were doing though; have you had to do that before?”

“Pull an arrow out of a dragon’s wing? No, I can’t say that I’ve ever been in a situation quite like this,” she retorted. “But I do have some field training. You have to, in order to be a part of a crew.”

“Well, I’m glad one of us knows what to do. I guess I didn’t think this part all the way through.”

“I wouldn’t say you’ve thought any of this through, but you’re doing a good thing, so I suppose we’ll just have to wing it. Poor thing must be in a lot of pain to keep passing out like this. Hopefully we can get it back and treated quickly. Are you really meaning to keep it?”

Tobin nodded. “I don’t think we have much of a choice. It would be unethical to release it again; it might return to Prewport if we do and could do some real damage when it grows up, but I don’t want to just kill it either.”

“Well, for your sake, I hope these things grow slowly because otherwise, it’s going to get really hard to hide from your father very quickly.”

Tobin winced. “Yeah, we might have to get creative. I suppose that will have to be one of the first things we train it to do, after no attacking us, that is.”

“What will?”

“Staying quiet.”

Lescelli stared at him for another moment, then shook her head in exasperation. “This is quite the scheme you are dragging me into, Tobin. Don’t you dare drag me down with you or you’ll live to regret it.”