with his words. ‘It seems his willpower deserted him the moment he reached the top, and he’s just thrown up the contents of his stomach.’
‘I hope he recovers quickly…’
‘Draco!’ The boy who had been following the dragon emerged at the top of the cliff and immediately set off towards the reptile. ‘Is everything all right?’ His gaze betrayed a strong conviction that things were far from all right.
‘Yes, yes.’ Draco tried to brush him off whilst checking the mobility of his limbs, just as he’d said earlier. His shoulders were working as usual, so he couldn’t see the slightest problem. ‘No complaints.’
‘Don’t try to wriggle out of it.’ The cadet lunged at the dragon and quickly closed the gap. The startled reptile didn’t even react when the boy grabbed his left arm and yanked it upwards. ‘It’s not all right,’ he assessed, biting his lip. ‘It’s very bad.’
The dragon looked down and realised what was going on. The skin from his wrist to the tips of his fingers on his left hand had been torn away to the raw flesh, and small shards of rock were embedded in the tissue. Blood was streaming down his hand, falling in heavy drops onto the ground. It looked awful, even by the reptile’s standards.
‘I’ve bloodied my whole sleeve,’ Draco stated calmly, gently freeing himself from the cadet’s grip. He then began dispassionately to pull out the sharp pebbles, knowing that if he didn’t, the healing wound would be a real nuisance and a potential source of infection.
‘We need to treat it properly,’ said the boy who’d pointed it out, shuddering as he watched what the dragon was doing.
‘Do you have anything with you, Eric?’ Sheth looked deeply concerned, to say the least.
‘No, I didn’t take anything.’ The cadet looked around somewhat nervously, watching as more people made their way up the ladder. ‘Maybe someone took something…’ He trailed off when he saw Cedric heading their way.
‘What happened up there?’ Retfield cut straight to the point.
‘I don’t know.’ Draco shrugged. ‘I was walking
