Chapter 9
The soft light of the afternoon shone into the window of the castle infirmary, Hunter sat up in his bed, his back bandaged. He looked to his left where Spyro lay on his own bed sleeping, the dragon hadn’t woken up since that brief moment during the march to the balloon.
There was a dark band of blackened scales around Spyro's neck, where the collar had been. What did that collar do to him? Hunter thought, he never told me about this.
He thought back to when the healers cut the collar off Spyro. Even they were shocked by what they saw. He couldn’t stop staring at this…brand. He could see bits of Spyro’s skin under the charred scales, almost indistinguishable from them, small bits of blood oozed out around it.
Why didn’t you tell me how much pain you were in, he thought.
Suddenly the door to the infirmary opened and Bianca stepped in. The rabbit looked at the two injured patients. Eyes wide, she rushed to Hunter’s side. “Hunter!” she said, tears in her eyes “I was so worried, when you disappeared along with Spyro I…I didn’t know what to think.
She reached out to hug him only for Hunter to flinch at her sudden movement in his direction. “Please”, he said, “don’t”.
“Right,” she said, looking at his bandages. “Your back, sorry.” She turned her head over to Spyro on the bed nearby. In addition to the black ring around his neck his body was covered in cuts from the whippings and beatings, all of which had been cleaned up.
“How is he?” Bianca asked.
Hunter looked over at his sleeping friend, who occasionally groaned and twisted, either from the pain or a nightmare. “The healers say he’ll be fine, no permanent injuries” Hunter said, his eyes locked onto Spyro.
“Thank goodness, “Bianca said sounding relieved, Hunter’s eyes didn’t waver from Spyro,
“Oh!” Bianca said. She pulled out a jar from her cloak, “when I heard about your injuries, I put together this salve, it should help with the pain,” she reached for Hunter’s bandages.
“I’m fine.” Hunter said defensively, turning back to her, “but he...” his eyes drifting back to Spyro. “Give it to him, on his neck”, Hunter said insistently.
“It’ll be more effective on your back Hunter,” Bianca said, her eyes darting to the dark spots on his bandages.
“But it will still help, right? Hunter asks, almost begging now.
“Yes,” Bianca said. “It’ll reduce the pain and help grow new scales back faster but I’ve only got enough here for one person.”
“Then him.” Hunter said sternly, “he needs it more than me.”
Bianca looked like she would protest one more time but instead she walked over to the purple dragon, who was still moving restlessly.
Kneeling down she reaches out and touches the burnt scales on Spyro’s neck “I’ve never seen burns like this before,” she muttered, opening the jar of salve and beginning to apply it to the dragon’s neck.
Behind her Hunter watched her actions tensely, noting every twitch of Spyro’s body as the medicine was applied. He spoke, “it was that collar they put around his neck to control his flame, it was torturing him the entire time and he never said anything.” Tears were in his eyes.
Bianca continued the application, gently rubbing the salve into the burned scales on Spyro’s neck. “A magic suppression collar did this?” she said, confusion in her voice.
“You have no idea what it was like in there Bianca, what they did to him, it was barbaric.” There was an intensity in Hunter’s voice, atypical of the cheetah, causing Bianca to stiffen up for a second.
She completed her task, and put the salve away before getting back up and turned back to Hunter who was still watching Spyro with concern.
Bianca steps in front of Spyro, breaking Hunter’s focus, a soft look in her eyes. “They did horrible things to you too Hunter, Spyro didn’t suffer alone.”
Hunter tried to offer a smile, but just barely. “You know me Bianca” "he said, leaning back against the wall next to the bed, making sure only his shoulder made contact, but still clearly in pain. “I can handle a few cuts.”
Bianca crossed her arms, giving Hunter a look of disbelief, then she dropped them. “I should probably get going,” she said, backing toward the door. “Get plenty of rest Hunter, I’ll see you and Spyro later.
Hunter shifted his eyes briefly to her and nodded.
As she turned to leave, a voice came from Spyro’s bed. “No! Don’t hurt him! Hunter!” he yelled,
twisting and turning, claws scratching at the sheets. “Please don’t die!”
He shot his head up, looking around the room in a panic, breathing heavily, eyes wide. For a moment it was like Spyro didn’t even see the room, his eyes darting from Bianca to Hunter.
“Wha…what?” was all he could get out before Hunter was hugging him tightly, having dashed to the other bed in an instant.
“It’s ok, buddy we’re safe,” Hunter said through tears. “We’re back in the Dragon Realms.” He held the dragon tightly, rubbing his neck. Slowly Spyro’s breathing returned to normal and Hunter relaxed his grip before letting go. He winced, the pain of his exertion catching up with his torn up back, he stayed crouched at Spyro’s level, ignoring the soreness under the bandages.
Spyro reached up to his neck and touched the place where the collar used to be, he flinched at the soreness of his scales but kept his paw on it and closed his eyes, savoring the moment. “You mean, it wasn’t a dream?” he asked in disbelief “The whole quarry, it was on fire? That was real?”
“No, it wasn’t a dream, we’re really safe” Hunter said, he looked around the room, almost as if he didn’t believe it himself.
Spyro then noticed the bandages wrapped around Hunter’s chest and back. “You should be in bed.”
“I’m fine, really. You just woke up, are you sure you don’t need any…”
“Hunter, get on the bed, please,” Spyro begged.
Hunter nodded and stood up, pain shooting through his back, “Ahh! he grunted, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth.
All the while Bianca stood by the door watching this display, her eyes glancing between the two shattered individuals.
She stepped out of the room, looking back one last time as Spyro continued to show concern, from every pained sound that came out of Hunter’s mouth as he climbed carefully onto the bed.
