The Scales of Splendor-Chapter 2: The Place of the Dragons

Leola looked at her arm. Crimson stains began to spread like spider legs and then formed a larger collection on her chest. Aranand’s powerful breath blazed the Hest fighters. He incinerated the front line and forced the armored vehicles to retreat.

Leola was still conscious, breathing heavily. She held enough strength to direct the dragon back to the camp where the Costerlys strategized, trained, and relaxed. They also addressed wounds.

Gesta and Costerly could see that Leola was in distress. Guards ushered them to the nearest car so they could go back to the camp as well.

“Foot to floor, Ronaldo,” Gesta commanded.

“Aye, ma’am,” Staff Sergeant Ronaldo Jave replied.

Once the matriarch and patriarch arrived at the Costerly hospital, everyone knew what had to be done if Leola was to survive. Captain Peart Triakka brought Leola under his care. He ordered some enlisted military personnel to use their lasers to remove the scales from Aranand.

The slicing into the flesh of the beast produced a bluish glow like that of the hottest part of a flame. Aranand remained silent throughout the entire process. Jupita had roused from her sleep and saw the men and women in uniform extracting pieces from her father. She stayed quiet, too.

With enough of the scales collected, the team of fighters brought them to the emergency room.

“Alright, you’re going to have to keep awake, okay?” Captain Triakka instructed Leola. She nodded her head in agreement.

Captain Triakka took hold of the scales. They were still warm. He slit tiny holes in each of them which totaled twenty five. His assistants prepared a drip for the blue liquid to be transferred intravenously through Leola.

“First the disease, now this….” Gesta remarked. Her eyes filled with tears but not one fell down her cheek. She wiped them away and then stood up.

“Come on, dear. We’ve got to witness the power of these dragons again,” Costerly mentioned.

Captain Triakka and his team worked like day laborers removing shards of rounds that had exploded in Leola’s arm. With care, each piece reached a pan that tinged with every drop of piece of metal.

Leola winced a bit but the drip started and she felt a burst of relief coursing through her body. She remembered the feeling from the first time. Her hand stretched skyward and a smile crept onto her face.

Captain Triakka approached her.

“Miss Costerly, you are grounded from employing any dragons for battle indefinitely,” he addressed.

The smile disappeared from her face. “Aranand….”

Triakka looked down at the floor and then up again.

“You should heal in enough time to say your farewells to that mighty beast. Like his father, he preserved your life.”

“I know,” she replied with a sullen tone.

“We want to make sure your stay here is of the highest order. After all, you are like royalty.”

“What’s your name? I’ve never gotten a chance to ask you.”

“I’m Captain Peart Triakka.”

“Peart.”

“Yes.”

“I thank you and your team for sustaining me.”

“Aranand was the real star of this show. We just facilitated it.”

Leola grinned again but another tear fell. The contents of the scales assuaged her, kept her. At the same time, she knew that soon, Jupita would be an orphan.

“I thank you again, Captain Triakka and realize that I must give my glory to Aranand.”

Triakka nodded and then turned on his heels and exited.

Leola could sense the immense strength that had been under her. In her mind, the battle rolled on into infinity. Aranand’s wings and fiery breath all registered in her mind. Her own wound came in a distant third to what she contended with in her thoughts. She grasped both rails of her hospital bed. With the passing moments, she continued to keep pushing the ideas of defeat away.

She searched for a way to express her gratitude. In every way, she desperately wanted to hold onto the memories of the two dragons that had delivered her from death. That was finality, she knew. Once someone had died, the scales were of no use. In both cases, she could have perished.

Stay focused on the fact that we knew what to do with the dragons and the Hests failed to understand their meaning. Keep the idea that what we’re doing is right. Who was that Peart fellow? Will we get a chance to meet outside of these circumstances? Is he too old for me? After he left, I saw his information. He’s forty-two. That’s what the digital profile chart reads, anyway. That’s more than double my age. It’s got his professional number. How can I resolve to thank them all? She looked down at the glowing blue liquid and observed the wound that steadily healed and became like a clean board. She breathed. Her eyes rolled and she sat up in her bed.

Then, Gesta and Costerly arrived at her bedside.

“You mustn't continue to scare us like this, dear child,” Gesta said. She grimaced and felt the anguish of wondering about the status of her daughter. Costerly stood resolute and comforting.

“Mama, I know that I have been spared these times. I want to be part of the fight.”

“But you can’t be. Look at your—”

The wound had completely healed.

“Well, once again the strength of the dragons has prevailed.” Gesta grinned through pain plastered on her face.

Costerly approached his child.

“You have gone through so much. Your safety is paramount. Our love is deep for you. We will take care of you.” These words remained the most the man had uttered in years.

“I know, Pa. I thank you both. I’m going to do everything—”

“You will do nothing short of resting and keeping order amongst the people who represent this family,” Gesta snapped.

“That is where we differ, mother. I am going to make sure that I have the strength to face any enemy who may threaten what we have built. So, I will continue to proclaim just how mighty I can be on top of a dragon.”

“You didn’t forget that you almost were killed in battle did you?”

“Look around, mother,” Leola retorted. Sophisticated hospital equipment filled in spaces around the room. “How could I forget?”

“Then you will submit to our demand that you remain in the Costerly Compound without question…once you are discharged from here.”

“I love you mother, but I am an adult and I know how to best carry myself. My illness and injury are two separate things. I know my position in this world and it is to fight,” Leola replied with a hint of intensity.

Gesta sighed. “You’re going to be a grown up for a lot longer than your father and me. You’re going to have the opportunity to say that you dodged at least two death sentences. We just want to keep you safe until the day you tell your children that. Don’t you want that?”

Leola looked up at the ceiling. The tiles matched the life-preserving blue liquid.

“I hear you talking, mother,” she answered.

Gesta’s mouth turned into a pencil line on paper, straight and unyielding.

“Well, I hope that you can find the time to understand the severity of not falling in line with the Costerly Way.”

“I’ve known the Costerly Way for two decades. I love you both, but I must be the one who will change those damned Hests into civilized humans.”

“I want you to be all of that. We must take necessary precautions to ensure that you don’t—”

“Die?”

Gesta closed her eyes. She gritted her teeth almost to the point of chipping them.

“We want you to come out of this war knowing that we’re here for you with whatever endeavor you may choose, barring a fight on the battlefield. Your life is too precious to us.”

“Yes, I know. I feel much better now. Except for a few pangs, I feel totally healed. Once at a hundred percent, I’m donning battle armor and riding Sarlin. After what happened to Jupita’s mother in her failure to open her pod to her father’s demise on my behalf, I will represent the Costerly name to use these creatures.”

“Knock, let’s leave now,” Gesta mentioned.

She turned to her daughter.

“I want you to know that you are only hurting yourself. We are going to see that you get the best care possible, post this traumatic injury. We must be off, however. We love you. I hope you can understand that.”

Costerly and Gesta exited. A nurse came into the room.

“Wow! You’re looking great. Vitals are great, you’re stable,” Nurse Kellia nearly shouted. She was slightly plump with a cheery smile and dimples. Just as Kellia was fluffling Leola’s pillows, the young Costerly ripped the IV from her arm and bolted out of the door.

“Hey!”

In her hospital gown, Leola tip-toed around corners and darted towards the room that housed the clothing that people wore upon admission to the hospital. The access required a password which she had memorized on her first visit to the hospital. She grabbed her blood stained shirt. After donning her pants and boots, she trekked to where a sergeant stood guard.

“Sergeant Vellingham. Take me to the dragon’s lair.”

“But Miss Costerly….” The sergeant tried to protest but then she emphasized the bloody shirt.

“If you don’t comply with my command, you will look like this and there won’t be any scales to save you.”

Vellingham agreed with Leola and drove her to the place of the dragons. They arrived in good time.

“Thanks for that,” Leola replied.

“I’m just glad you’re okay, ma’am.”

“Wait here, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Leola walked through the nightscape, peering into the various lairs until she found him. The bluish glow of the broken scales proved to be stunning against the night sky. She maneuvered around the sleeping beasts and ventured towards Aranand.

“Hey, beautiful. I thank you for all of the help you’ve given me. Once again, you showed that dragons and man can be on one accord.” She ran her hands over the untouched scales.

“I know that your legacy will be carried on through Jupita. She is growing up so strong and powerful. One day, she’ll be as big as you. It’s amazing what you’ve done for me. I know I’m talking to a living being that cannot communicate back. But it feels like our souls are together. It seems as if we share a bond that is just so profound. You saved my life and destroyed those who wished to do me even more harm. I will always thank you for this.”

Aranand’s breathing began to slow. He looked at Leola in the face. He sniffed her and a dry laugh began to rattle in his throat. It was as if he recognized her. It was like he had known all along that this was the female fighter that rode on his back. He then straightened. Leola rubbed his head. Aranand sighed and his head dropped to the ground. Leola’s tears flowed. As strong as she was, the pain cut too deep for her to try to hold in her grief. Captain Triakka would not want to see me like this, she thought. She wiped off her face and walked back to the sergeant.

“We’ve got to report back to the hospital, Miss Costerly. You’re on missing person status.”

“Damn that. Take me home.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The Costerly estate was like a blend of a mansion and a skyscraper. Its vaulted walls reached to the sky in gleaming steel. The dragons didn’t only live in the lair. Younger ones guarded the place with gusto.

Leola spoke her name into the monitor and the gates opened. She and Vellingham traveled to the front doors.

“Thanks, Sergeant. I’m going to recommend you for a promotion.

“I appreciate it, Miss Costerly.” He drove away.

In the house, Leola showered and changed into fresh clothes. She went down to the armory and put on warrior gear. It was the same as the other get up but this time, the head gear and armor were black and platinum with black diamonds. Leola dismissed the alerts to her house and shuffled outside just as her parents came home. She searched for a way to get back in the fight.