Chapter 30

Lilith still felt shaken; the Little White Dragon curled around Nidhogg like mist and planted another kiss on the Black Dragon’s lips.

Nidhogg stroked Lilith’s head with pampering warmth, like smoothing ruffled feathers in moonlight.

The Little White Dragon rarely showed such blatant softness; the scare had sunk deep like winter frost.

She hushed the trembling dragon with patient calm and licked the blood at her lip away like warm rain.

“Do you have any medical gear in your bag?” After the kiss, the Black Dragon cradled her like a nest, reached into her sling bag, and asked.

“A little. Here.” Lilith guided her hand through the small bag like a squirrel digging in moss.

Lilith didn’t carry much medical stuff. The Black Dragon hardly got hurt. Lilith’s self-healing was strong.

Serious injuries were rare like red leaves in spring.

Her storage space was tight, so she packed for lightness, like wind-ready travel.

They searched and only found a roll of gauze. No disinfectant. Just dry cloth like a lone ribbon.

“Forget it. We’ll make do.” Nidhogg tore the gauze and wrapped it around the wound, circle by circle like a white vine.

“Mm, it’ll heal even if you don’t touch it.” The wound screamed when touched; the Little White Dragon whimpered like a flute in fog.

She tried to tuck her leg away, like hiding a fin under waves; but in Nidhogg’s lap there was nowhere to flee.

In the end she got reeled back by the Black Dragon’s hand on her thigh, like a kite on a string.

“I know you heal fast. You’d mend without gauze, like spring grass closing over cuts.”

“But if we do nothing, you’ll ignore a heavy injury and plug it with Taint, then keep marching, right?”

Lilith looked away like a deer avoiding torchlight.

“See?” Nidhogg sighed, and flicked her forehead like tapping a tiny drum.

“Terrified of pain, yet when you’re really hurt, you rush ahead like a storm.”

“If you didn’t howl half the day over a pinprick, I’d think you faked it just to wheedle me.”

“Who’s wheedling you!” Lilith’s retort snapped like a spark. She muttered, “It just hurts and I can’t stand it… Moving hurts anyway.”

“Moving helps the Taint seep in, like ink into paper, and I heal faster.”

“Because you never nurse your wounds, you fear pain this much.” The Black Dragon sighed; fear coiled like a little snake.

“You nearly snapped your lower leg this time, brittle as bamboo.”

“To prevent aftereffects, you will rest. No walking till recovery.” Her decree fell like stone.

“But where can I even rest?” Lilith’s eyes went wide like lakewater. “We’re still underground in the Grand Mausoleum.”

“This place crawls with monsters like weeds after rain. With one leg, I can’t take those Undead knights.”

“I’ll carry you.” Nidhogg spoke like wind over rock, light and sure.

“You’re not heavy. On my back you’re just another pack, a swaying gourd.”

“When we rest, use your Taint as a cushion, like clouds under a bird. Just don’t bump the wound.”

“Easy for you to say.” Lilith snorted like a small sparrow.

“There are so many Undead under the Moonswallow Mist. What if we get ambushed?”

“Keeping you safe from those knights is easy.” Nidhogg didn’t look up. She tied a neat bow on the bandage, like a butterfly.

Then she turned the Little White Dragon and set her side-saddle on her lap like a rider on dusk.

“Now to deal with your chest.” She reached to undo her clothes like peeling silk.

“Wait.” Lilith grabbed her hand. Nidhogg met a face red as a tomato under sunset.

“I… I’ll do it myself.” Steam drifted from her head like a kettle. She snatched the gauze and turned, showing a thin small back like a willow leaf.

“Shy?” Nidhogg understood and chuckled like low thunder. She poked Lilith’s cheek, laugh caged like a cat with fish.

“You’ve let me see you inside and out. Why blush now?”

“Shut up.” Lilith glared; her cheeks puffed like a puffer fish. She tugged her clothes to bandage, pulled the wound, and drew a cold breath like winter wind.

“Ow. It hurts.”

“Give it.” Nidhogg took back the gauze and hugged the dragon, shielding her like a candle in rain.

She set her sideways again, unwound clean gauze, and wrapped her chest slowly, like moonlight bandaging night.

“What’s there to be shy about? We’ve done this before.” Her teasing ran warm as tea. “Heads up. Keep hiding and you’ll steam yourself cooked.”

“You’re awful.” Lilith rested her head against the Black Dragon, words light as falling snow.

“Yeah, I’m awful, the big bad.” Nidhogg smiled like a crescent. “And what are you?”

“I’m the little fool bullied by the big bad.” Lilith muttered, drawing circles on Nidhogg’s belly like a child in dust.

Lilith’s own belly had no extra flesh, soft as down. Nidhogg’s felt firm, muscles braided like rope.

She poked hard; her finger sprang back like a reed. Teeth clenched, she grumbled, “I shouldn’t have followed you. You bully me every day.”

“Even your stomach bullies me!”

“Such a little fool.” Nidhogg’s laugh rang bright as rain on slate.

Lilith did obvious silly things with solemn air, like a chick puffing itself up.

The Black Dragon had never met another idiot bullied by someone else’s abs, stones under a river.

“Even if you’re a fool, you’re my one and only little fool, a star kept in my sleeve.”

“You!” Lilith’s eyes flew wide like lit lamps. She thumped Nidhogg’s chest like a drum. “Shameless.”

“Heh.” The Black Dragon finished the wrap and turned Lilith around by the waist, like swinging a door on oiled hinges.

The Little White Dragon sat astride her thigh, met Nidhogg’s gaze like a deer, not sure what ride she meant.

“Want to rest a bit more? Or head out and find a better spot?” Nidhogg asked, her arms a harbor.

“Here’s fine.” Lilith glanced around. The Grand Mausoleum held no beauty, only a green-black sward like moss in shadow.

She had no strength left to move, bones heavy as wet clay.

She only wanted to sleep in the Black Dragon’s arms, like a bird under wing. “I’m a little sleepy. Can I nap?”

“Of course. I’ll watch the perimeter.” Before the words finished, the White Dragon had curled in her lap like a white kitten.

To avoid the wound, she stretched her right leg like a branch; the rest of her sprawled soft and purring.

“Sweet dreams.” Nidhogg scratched her chin gently, like combing silk, and left a kiss on her brow.