Sebastian’s wing joint throbbed violently. For a creature that doesn’t move much while sleeping, he felt like he had spent most of the night laying on his back and right side. Giving himself a shake to loosen up tense and sore muscles he heard an ear-splitting shriek and felt a searing pain arc through his entire right side as the wing snapped painfully back into place. Confused about the shrieking, he clamped his snout shut and the cry was suddenly cut off.
The fact that he had expelled any sound at all was a shock to him. He was still young enough that the vocalization shouldn’t have occurred. It was a symptom of maturing into breeding age. He had yet to find a suitable mate, though he kept having thoughts of Eldrick. Only the pheromones of a suitable mate would trigger this portion of his development. As far as he knew there were no other dragons living in the area.
Leaving his room, he approached Sergei. "It just snapped back in but I am afraid there may be other damage to the tendons and ligaments. It hurts something fierce. The pain isn’t as bad as it was this morning when I first woke up."
“I will do what I can. I am not too familiar with draconic anatomy," Sergei's brow creased. "I am going to assess the injury as I would any of my livestock. That is the closest I can get to your physiology; I am sorry my friend” replied Sergei uncomfortably.
Examining the wing joint and checking the muscles and tendons Sergei muttered, "I can't find anything wrong. There is some swelling which should dissipate over time."
The joint and surrounding muscle tissue was tender to the touch which was much to be expected, icing it should help he figured as it had with Sergei's hip.
A sudden realization dawned in Sergei's eyes. "My shoulder no longer hurt like it did the other day, in fact, there is a serious lack of pain in my shoulder and it vanished with your ear-piercing cry this morning." He scowled as he turned his attention back to Sebastian. “How did you know we needed your help yesterday? Neither of us were in any condition to call for help and you were miles away.”
"To be honest, sir, I had a feeling of dread from the farmhouse I could not explain. It spurred me on to get here as fast as I could. I can't afford losing good friends."
“I think we may have some sort of bond which I have not heard of before. When you let out that cry this morning the pain in my shoulder vanished. It hit me three days ago as I was waking up and caused me to fall from my bed and dislocate my hip, which Eldrick had to pop into place," pausing he rubbed his chin. "We can craft a makeshift ice pack for that before we head out to deal with the moose," he indicated Sebastian's wing. "I would also suggest you rest it today but tomorrow begin strengthening those muscles with short flights over the next couple days. I would never have suggested you trying for a moose if I’d known it would be that dangerous for you," looking contrite he turned toward the other room. "Eldrick time to get out of bed and attend to the livestock they have been neglected long enough. Jemima is going to be a very ornery cow today and the chickens are likely to become broody. Also, when was the last time you mucked out the stalls?”
“Sorry sir, I will get right on it then I will start breakfast. I don’t know what happened yesterday” responded Eldrick contritely.
“Yesterday was not your fault. It seems that we have acquired some unknown enemy. I awoke to a very cold bath our friend placed me in due to an extremely high fever. If he hadn’t arrived when he did, I believe neither of us would have survived. Now off with you, Sebastian and I have our own work to attend to. Call us when breakfast is ready, we will be in the meat shed,” scolded Sergei.
Heading for the kitchen, Sergei snagged a blanket from the cabinet. He came back out with his skinning knife, cleaver, filleting knife, and a small pot and a blanket for the ice pack Returning to the front room he signalled he was ready to proceed.
Once outside Sergei dug the pot into the snowbank, placing it between Sebastian's wing joint and back. Using the blanket he tied it in place. The placing was awkward, but the cooling effect was palpable.
Climbing out of the tunnels to the moose, Sebastian noticed it was frozen to the ground. Inhaling sharply, Sebastian prepared for a quick blast of flame to release the moose from the frozen snow. Nothing. Complete shock and apprehension flooded through Sebastian. His body was changing and there was no way he could control it. He needed to find the source of the pheromones soon. There was going to be some very serious issues which could cause some problems with the current living arrangement. He had about six months to find the source or his body was going to enter a severe moulting phase.
Putting that thought aside Sebastian set about cutting the moose free from the ice so that they could get it into the meat shack and begin the butchering process.
