"Still not awake yet?" Ibis asks his daughter softly the next morning as she was checking the bandages again.

"Unfortunately not, but it's more like he's asleep now." Reyna responds as she finished tying off the fresh bandages around the human's eye and stands up to stretch. "And he seems more comfortable using my lap as a pillow too."

"I've noticed, but try not keeping yourself in that position too long, your legs will cramp, and eat something as well. I'll be heading out for a bit to check on the dragons guarding the Spire outside, stay here and wait."

"I'm not going anywhere, relax." Reyna mutters as he stepped out and turned her attention back to the human. Aside from last night, he had shown no signs of awakening at all, and all morning Reyna had been attempting to see if he actually would wake up with gentle shaking, making loud noises by banging her knives on that dented shield she found outside, but it was like he just slipped back to being unconscious again.

I could try shocking him awake. No that was a bad idea, especially if she wasn't sure if the amount of electricity would kill him. Or she could ry applying a small amount of electricity to the spell, just enough to feel like a strong static shock. Ibis probably wouldn't approve, so she was back to square one of finding a way to wake him up.

After a while, Ibis had returned to tell her that the dragons were fine and he had checked the perimeter around the Spire for any signs of those soldiers and found nothing so far.

"You know, if we do find any what are we supposed to do with them?" Reyna asks her father as she adjusted the human's head to be laying on her lap. "I mean with this one he's injured and not responding, but what are we supposed to do if we find a live one that either still in that creepy rock form or back to their normal selves?"

"Well the queen instructed us and the dragons to capture them and send word to her so they could alert the other human kingdoms." Ibis answered as he sat down next to her. "And she warned us to be careful as well, they are dangerous."

"Yeah I know, I was down there on the battlefield myself while you were off who knows where looking for dragons. So what exactly are we going to do with the human, when the queen returns?"

"I'm not even sure, but assuming he awakens we should probably be prepared in case he attacks us."

Reyna gives a scoff. "Are you kidding me? He's probably going to be in loads of pain, who knows if he can even sit up, let alone attack us. We have to at least help him."

"I know what you mean, but it's best to be cautious. Even a wounded beast can be as dangerous as a healthy one." Ibis points out.

I wonder... what were you doing all the way out here so far from your home? Reyna wonders as she turns away from her father and gently brushes aside a lock of the human's dark hair from his face. Was he really a part of that monstrous army that attacked the Spire? The scars that he had on his body kind of resembled cracks similar to the ones the soldiers had on their skin where you could see what looked like fire inside of them. If he was a part of that army, how was he going to react to being saved by the enemy?

As her fingers gently brushed across his forehead, the human's uninjured eye suddenly snapped open and gave a loud scream that startled the two elves. He sat up in panic, panting loudly and clutching at his chest and his injured eye with a groan, now starting to feel the pain from his barely healing wounds.

"Well good morning to you too." Reyna mutters as he falls back on her lap with a loud groan. "Yeah I did you that he would be in pain when he woke up, really should have gotten something to numb all that."

"I agree." Her father murmurs in response. "Well at least he seems to be okay for now."

"Where... where am I?" The human asked, placing his hand over his chest where one of the arrow wounds were and winced. "Why...why am I like this? What happened to me?"

"You don't remember anything?" Ibis asks in surprise. "Like before you fell unconscious?"

The human looks down to see the multiple bandages covering his chest and looks back up at them to shake his head. "No I...I don't. Who are you?"

The two elves look at each other skeptically before looking back to the human. "The ones who healed you, you were lucky my daughter found you while she was outside." Ibis answers, gesturing to Reyna. "She found you clinging to life with three arrows stuck in you, you're really lucky to be alive."

"Th...thank you." The human said looking up at Reyna. "I...why?"

"Well, I didn't think it was right to leave a human to suffer like that." She responds. "And it would have been unfair, especially since humans and elves are no longer at war with each other."

"Wait, why would we be at war?"

Oh boy.

"Ibis, could we...talk in private?" Reyna asks, gently raising the human's head off her lap and setting it back down on the folded blanket. "Just rest, I'll be right back."

Sending her urgency, the mage nods and motions for her to follow him to the archdragon's chambers. Once he was sure they were out of earshot of the human, he turned to his daughter with a nervous expression.

"We have an enemy soldier in our care who apparently has no memory of the battle, you think we can trust him?" He whispers. "He could be faking it, but that'd be easy to figure out."

"This amnesia seems genuine." Reyna says with a frown and rubs her chin in thought. "I'm not sure how he lost his memory, but it may have been from the fall that didn't kill him. He did have a bit of a head injury when I found him, which thankfully didn't kill him. And he truly does seem like he had no clue about our kind being at war with each other."

"Well whether or not he's faking it, we still have to tell the queen once he returns and we have to find out where he came from to send him back." Ibis states. "I know it seems cruel, but the dragon queen was very specific about what we are to do with the enemy soldiers who escaped-"

"While he's in this condition? Are you mad?" Reyna asks, now starting to feel a bit defensive of the human. "He needs medical attention, we have to at least take him to one of the villages for proper treatment to see if we can fix this amnesia and make sure his wounds and head injury don't get worse! We can't just abandon him like this Ibis!"

Before Ibis could respond, they heard a loud roar that shook the room followed by a startled yelp from the human and little excited yips of a baby dragon. The dragon queen and her son were home, and she did not sound happy.

🍃🍃🍃

"Explain to me again why there is a human in the Spire." Zubeia says sternly as the two elves and human stood before her. "I don't recognize his smell, and I certainly didn't see him among the other humans when I had awakened to find my son alive."

"I found him outside the Spire your majesty, I couldn't just leave him there." Reyna says, stepping forward. "I am only guessing he was a part of the enemy army, but he seems to have lost his memory from a head injury."

"Step forward, human." The dragon queen ordered. The human stepped forward meekly until he was right behind Reyna, looking down at the stone floor in terror. Zubeia carefully lifts one claw and gently pushes Reyna to the side and lifts the human's head up to examine him before taking a whiff and snorts in disgust. "He reeks of dark magic, but I don't think he was that dark mage that tried to kill my baby."

"He looks nothing like the mage, and I've seen him during the battle so I can confirm that." Reyna assures her as Azymondias flies over to them, chirping in greeting. "What do you suggest we do with him my queen?"

"Remove him from the Spire at once." Zubeia responds, frowning at the human, who ducked nervously behind Reyna. "Take him somewhere else. As glad as I am that humans helped return my baby to me, this one reeks of death."

"I'm not dead!" The human protests before Reyna slaps a hand over his mouth.

"He's still recovering from his injuries, where do you suggest we take him?" She asks as Azymondias tries sniffing the human's leg.

"Perhaps to your village, no one would know who he is and what he has done." The queen suggests as she reaches forward with one talon to gently move her son away. "He'll be safe there while he recovers, just don't tell anyone what he had done."

"My queen, are you sure?" Ibis asks, stepping forward. "He was a part of the enemy army, is it safe to take him into the village where the elves might attack him if they found out what he had done?"

"Not if we stay quiet about it and keep it a secret." Reyna points out as she stepped forward. "Queen Zubeia, if you allow it, I wish to be the caretaker for the human until he recovers. Once that is done I can return him to the human kingdoms myself and help him find out where he came from."

The dragon queen was silent before she looked down at her son, who gave a small chirp before she looks back at them.

"I'll allow it. If the human can't recover his memory by the time his injuries are fully healed, take him to Katolis and talk to the young king." She lowers her head to be level with the three of them and looks straight at the human. "I expect you to be on your best behavior little human, and not cause any trouble for these two or their family."