6
She quietly entered the cave, dropped the food off on a dresser, and checked Daniel. He was sleeping soundly, his breath was regular and his pulse was almost normal. She grabbed her leather coat and headed for the top of the mountain.
Ah, my Lady.” Jake greeted her as she stepped out into the open.
Jake, my sweet friend. She strode up to him and placed her hand on his huge head, stroking the ridges along side his nose, she sighed. She could never quite get over how big he was, how magnificent he looked. Thank you for watching over us all.
It was nothing. You are all my family. Besides, Daniel is to be the rider of my Queen. Jake always saw things in the simplest form. There was no subterfuge with him.
You know when he wakes you will have to tell him everything. Jake continued, He will not rest till he knows it all, and I for one think that he will understand. He has a strong moral character; and I believe he is smitten with you! Of course it could be because he has the dreams!
Oh Jake! Be serious! I plan on telling him and I also plan on letting him meet you when he is in his own mind again. I am sure he will have a lot of questions for you. Just don’t scare him, let him get used to you first before you show him your full range of strength.
I know how to conduct myself madam. His mind is a strong one, and there are many things in there that I came across that could be of benefit to the community. He will be able to offer us ideas for better protection of the valley. Jake raised his head as if listening to someone. Ah, he stirs! You had better get down there before he wakes fully.
See you later Jake. Listen in if you want, but don’t let him know you’re there, he’s going to have to slowly get used to the idea. She gave Jake a hug and turned and made her way down the path to her cave.
It was very quiet when she entered. Daniel was moving his legs and he raised his right arm a bit and flinched and dropped it to his side. The wound was still sore, and would be tender for quite some time.
He drifted back to sleep and the woman curled up on the bed and was soon asleep as well. She woke early the next morning and quickly went to her dressing room and washed and changed. As she was coming back to check on him she could see he was waking also.
Daniel opened his eyes and looked around. He couldn’t see her standing there as she was behind him to the side. He checked his body, to see where he was injured. He raised the covers, and was surprised that his clothes had been removed. He tried to raise himself, but he was still too weak. He slowly looked around the cave, taking in everything.
This is some place, a sitting area with leather furniture, rugs on the floor. Things get more and more interesting. Somebody’s here, I can feel it.
“Is anybody here?” He whispered, as his throat was dry. “Hello?”
“I’m here Daniel.” She kept her voice low and slowly came around the bed to his left side and sat down. Her face was beautiful; concern showed as she asked, “How are you feeling?”
“I feel like a grizzly stomped me good,” he said with a sheepish grin. He looked at her and for the first time he noticed the real concern on her face. “Really, dear lady, I hurt all over, and my head is about to burst, but other than that I’m ok. Is Sally alright?”
“Yes Daniel, she’s fine, very worried about you, but fine. You saved her life.”
She smiled and Daniel felt his heart leap.
“If you hadn’t taken such quick action, she wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Was it all real, or was I hallucinating?” he asked her.
“It was real Daniel.” She said as she handed him two aspirin and a glass of water. She helped him sit up and he took the pills and swallowed the water quickly. She propped up two pillows behind him and he winced once as he tried to settle himself.
“And there really is a, a dragon?” He watched her intently for her answer.
“Yes Daniel.” Those eyes of his are boring right thru me.
“And he spoke to me in my head, in my mind?”
“Yes Daniel.” She said gently.
“And just when were you going to tell me about him?” He raised his voice in question.
“As a matter of fact, we were going to tell you in a couple of days. That’s why Michael came to you last night; we were going to introduce you to Lady Jennie, Michaels’ companion, first. Depending on your reaction…”
“There’s another one? ... gawgh…cough." Daniel coughed in surprise.
“Yes Daniel, and depending on your reaction to that shocker, we would have proceeded with a meeting with Jake.”
Daniel stared at her open-mouthed, eyes wide in surprise.
“I brought you some soup, no arguments. If you had any solid food right now you would just toss it. I’ll brew up a pot of tea; it will help settle your stomach. Then we’ll try some soup.”
“So, just how many of you have these, these ‘companions’?” Daniel was incredulous.
“Just Michael and me… for now.” She was busy pouring soup into a large mug. The tea was seeping in the pot, and she placed all of this on a tray and carried it over to the bed. “I wasn’t trying to be sneaky Daniel, but I have a community of people to think about. I couldn’t risk vital information getting into the wrong hands. I didn’t know you from Adam, I had to be sure.”
“Maybe if you didn’t run away from me every time I tried to talk to you, you would have known me better,” he said tartly, regretting it right away. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.”
She grit her teeth knowing he was right, "Don't be, it's the truth."
Daniel was surprised at her honesty.
She placed the tray on the bed near Daniel and then went around to the right side and helped him to a sitting position, propping him up with some more pillows. She went back around the bed and placed the tray over Daniel’s lap. Slowly he reached for and lifted the mug of soup to his mouth and took a sip.
“Hmm…. this is good, pardon me if I get messy. You know,” he said after a long breath, “it’s taking all my efforts just to lift this mug to my mouth. I can’t believe I lost so much of my strength.”
“It’s the poison; it has that effect on the human body. You’re lucky we got you to Jake in time. Even he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to burn out all of the poison in time.” She leaned forward and gently took the mug from Daniel, “do you want me to help you?”
“You won’t think any less of me?” He joked with her, but she noted he looked bushed already.
She laughed and moved closer to him. She took the mug of soup and held it close to his mouth, like a mother does with a small child. It was all done very matter-of-fact-like. He took a sip and leaned back.
“I have this particular image of Jake standing over me burned into my skull. On one hand its mind blowing; and unbelievably noble on the other.” His breathing was getting heavy now, “I want to tell him thanks, and have a long talk, and ask him so many questions…”
“Whoa! Slow down a bit! There will be plenty of time for that later. Right now you need to concentrate on rest and getting back your strength. This is very tricky to deal with. You can be fine one minute, and suddenly the bottom drops out.” She looked at the empty mug, “well, you certainly finished that quickly. Would you care for another?”
“Yes, please, it’s very good,” he quickly replied and then leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. “I am generally ready for everything; but this… I didn’t dream any of this. It came out of nowhere.” He looked up at the woman, “I’m sorry, I‘m babbling like an idiot.”
She watched him intently. “No, no you’re not; I understand exactly what you mean. Just rest and get your strength back Daniel, the rest will fall into place.”
Lord those eyes of his! Concentrate silly girl, concentrate.
She finished pouring more soup into the mug and returned to his side. “Here you go Daniel; there, take it slow and easy.” He drank it down greedily.
“Will you tell me all about him? How did you two meet?” He was staring at her to see her reaction. For a split second there was a pained look on her face, and then she covered it over and looked him straight in the eye.
“Well, it’s a rather long tale; do you want to rest awhile first?” Her voice was soft and soothing, he felt himself begin to slide. She was patting his leg, “I promise I won’t leave, and when you wake I’ll tell you everything.”
Daniel shook his head, “you may be right; I’m getting really tired all of a sudden.” He leaned back against the pillow as a sigh escaped his lips… ah, so soft, so comfortable, he felt himself slide into a soft darkness.
She sat there and watched for several minutes until he drifted into a deep sleep. She knew he would do this for the next day or so. Wake and be real alert for about an hour or so, and then tire quickly and fall asleep. The poison from the beast affected the body and spirit strongly. It attacked the body viciously and without let up. It took every ounce of strength that the body had to keep it at bay. When the fever finally breaks, the body’s reserves are so depleted that a lot of rest is required to build those reserves back up.
She also knew that during this time he would be susceptible to infections. He had to be watched carefully and isolated from everyone else. She decided to take him to the ‘town’, there he would be safe, there would be no one around and he could regain his strength faster.
Jake, he’s asleep again. He should sleep soundly for the next couple of hours. I’d like to get him to the town as soon as possible. I don’t want him to catch anything in his weakened state. She waited a moment and then continued, He is very inquisitive, and I don’t think it will be long before I ‘fill him in on everything’.
Do not worry yourself My Lady, I have already taken the liberty of getting Michael to bring out one of the trailers, and I have lifted it to the ridge. We have made a comfortable pallet inside and Steve and Big John will carry him to it. You wish to take him to your house, correct? Jake already knew her answer.
Yes, he will be comfortable there. It’s a great place to just relax, and forget about everything else in the world. She chuckled for a moment. And you can spend a couple of days sunning yourself and eating. I know you’ve been thinking about those sides of beef in the meat warehouse … don’t deny it!
I deny nothing!
You will also want to be close by after he and I have that ‘talk’. I imagine he will have a lot of questions for you. He kept saying that he didn’t dream all of this; so I guess that proves that he does have the dreams, and he does act on them. He seems very perceptive, and I believe that you are right; he will be able to see the truth in all of this craziness. Ah, here are the guys. We’ll be up shortly.
Big John, Michael, and Steve came into the cave. Steve handed her a small duffel bag. “I packed some of his stuff in there. I figured he would feel easier with his own stuff around. Michael says I get to fly with you guys. I really am looking forward to that!”
“Kate, is he doing ok?” Big John asked her. She nodded as he and Steve picked up Daniel and gently placed him on the stretcher. She covered him with a comforter. Grabbing what she needed, they began the climb to the ridge top.
“By the way Steve,” she said in a teasing voice, “you’ll get a ride back with Michael and Lady Jennie.”
“Yeah Steve,” Michael jumped in, “Lady Jennie says she would be delighted to take you back to camp. She really likes you; I think it’s all those compliments you keep giving her!”
They reached the top as the sun was rising to greet the day and sure enough the big trailer that they used for supply runs was on the mesa. Inside were Sam and Lucy. They helped settle Daniel on the pallet.
“Might as well make a run while we’re at it,” said Sam, “we can always use some beef on the table. And Lucy says she needed some things also.”
“Good idea Sam.” She smiled at him.
Jake roared and spread his wings. Is everyone ready? I would really like to get going.
Just about Jake. I will be there in a moment. She looked at the people in the trailer, “Jake wants to get going. Get yourselves settled, you know the drill.”
Kate climbed on Jake’s wing and made her way to the sixth ridge and Steve followed her and settled himself behind her. Jake stretched out his massive wings and took off with a leap. He circled around and then lined up on the trailer.
Steve was in heaven; he had a birds-eye view of the whole thing. He squeezed Kate around the waist in his excitement. “… oops, sorry!” She just laughed at his boyish excitement.
They had welded a large bar on the top of the trailer, in the shape of a ‘T’. It was a perfect device for Jake to grab; and it also made it easier to get supplies from the distribution center once a month. He flew in a wide arc and came up behind the trailer with his massive claws extended. He picked up the trailer effortlessly and glided off the mountain, towards the west. The trip took them less than 25 minutes.
As they came over the last mountaintop, Kate could see Michael lazily circling the small hill where the house was located. Jake, anticipating that this would be needed, had sent Michael earlier that morning to turn on the electricity, and to open the windows to air out the house. There was nothing running for cover, everything was quiet, and the house looked just like any other ordinary estate home on a hill. A week here would be all right, any longer and their safety could not be guaranteed. Jake was a great guardian, but even he had to admit that some things could get by him.
Jake set the trailer down in the street next to the house. They opened the doors and quickly got Daniel on the stretcher and into the huge house. Kate had them carry Daniel upstairs to the guest bedroom. She quickly made the bed and they placed him in it. Then she went downstairs with them and out to the trailer.
“I’ll come with you to the center. I’m going to have to get some food in there,” she told them.
Michael circled around and landed. He had two huge pouches on each side of Lady Jennie, who had a very smug look on her face. He got down and reached up and opened the pouches. Out popped a massive head, it was Tabs, and on the other side was Ash! They jumped down and started barking, tails wagging, and running around the two dragons. They were very excited; they had finally gotten to ride with Michael and Lady Jennie. Michael bent down and both dogs immediately came to him; he whispered something to both of them and stood up. They gave a quick yip, and both ran off to the house. They covered the porch in one leap and then they were in the house. Michael looked at Kate and smiled. She knew that he had sent the dogs to stay with Daniel while she was gone. She smiled a ‘thank-you’ to him. He just shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head and smiled.
Jake lifted them off and set them down at the food distribution center in less than two minutes. He then flew to the top of a building and spread himself out to sunbathe till they were ready to go.
The rest of the group went inside the huge warehouse. Sam and Lucy quickly got busy getting food supplies for the community. Kate went to the other warehouse first. She needed to get some clothes for Daniel, and she dragged Steve along with her, for sizing purposes. It would make it easier to pick out some things he’d wear with one of his men with her. They picked up jeans, tee shirts, some underwear, and a pair of pajamas.
When he was better he could get his own clothes. She also picked up some things for herself. She boxed them up and had Steve take them out to the trailer, and then set out for the food warehouse. She picked up what she thought he might like. She got some steak, and some canned goods, and juice. It would take a while for some of this to thaw, so she also picked up a couple of frozen dinners. She got cokes, tea, and bottled water and beer. She wheeled her items to a side entrance and quickly boxed it all up and placed it in the trailer.
She went and found the others. “Sam, I’m going to have Jake take me to the house. I don’t want to leave him too long; just in case of a relapse, you know. I’ll send Jake back to take you guys home when you’re done. I’ll see you in a week or so.” She waved good-bye and headed for the trailer.
Jake took her back to the house. You should be ok here. I do not see anything in the immediate area. If you need me, just call.