Mirka was running though the woods. She did not know where she was or where she was going. But she knew what was behind her and she would not go back to that. The chains on her arm, legs and neck were heavy, but she kept running carrying them the best she could. Thorns caught on her legs and arms, leaving scratches. But she kept running as she stumbled and fell in to the mud of a river bank. The thin toga they had put on her did nothing to keep the cold water from her. For a moment she thought she could not get up; she was starting to feel exhausted. But then the sound of baying dogs reached her.
She drew on strength that she didn't know she had and got up she ran into the river and using it to cover her sent, ran down stream in it before running out the other side. But her trick did not work she could hear the men on horse back catching up to her. They were only about hundred yards behind her. She ran until a link on one of her chains caught on a tree branch and pulled her back. She stumbled and smacked her head on a fallen tree branch. Her last conscious thought was that at least she had found a warm boulder to die next to.
The two men on horse back had seen her running and followed her to where she fell. One dismounted and walked over and checked for her pulse. "Well she still is alive. Do you want to take her back? If she wakes up she is still worth a lot of money. The scratches are not too deep they won't leave scars."
The other one sat and thought before saying "We might as well. She is still a virgin and worth a lot at the slave market. Here, I will come and help you get her up." Only after he dismounted did the large white boulder behind the woman move. It opened its eyes and had whispers of smoke come out of its nostrils. The dragon growled at the men. Its growl sent the horses in a panic, running though the forest. He raised his head and sent a jet of flame at the two men as they turned to run. With one of his massive front feet he gently picked up the unconscious woman. He spread his wings and took off.
"Should we follow it?"
"Are you fucking stupid? That thing is probably eating her as we speak. Let's go find our horses."
The dragon flew for miles until he spotted what he was looking for. He came to a mountain and he circled lower and lower as he went down for his landing. There was a clearing at the base of the mountain where a long house stood. On the other side of a band of trees there were several more longhouses grouped together. He could see clearly the two bodies that were running playful through the clearing that had its late spring flowers blooming. One was that of a woman and the other was the long body of a centaur. Their playful game ended as they saw him coming in for a landing. The woman went and stood by the centaur. They did not run from the dragon. On the contrary when the dragon landed on his three legs the woman came running forward.
"Isabella is worried," Rafa called out to the Dragon. "She wants to know if you are hurt."
The dragon shook his head and then sent a small fire ball down to the meadow starting a small fire so they could see the woman in is claws. While it would seem odd to others that the centaur was talking for the woman when she hadn't made a sound, Roger knew that Isabella was a mute and had special powers that allowed any one who shared her blood to hear her thoughts when she projected them.
"Now Isabella is pissed at you? She is saying how dare you kidnap a poor woman. That woman has probably died of fright at the sight of you."
The dragon set the woman down and changed into his human form. Rafa handed him a blanket that he and Isabella had been playing with. As Roger wrapped it around his hips he spoke. "I didn't exactly kidnap her. She was running away from some slavers. She hit her head and fell next to me while I was resting. The elves have moved to the other side of the mountain valley and it takes more time to fly across it. There may also be two horses on the run if any of your centaurs want to find them I can take you to the spot I last saw them. Can you help her Isabella?"
Isabella was gently picking up the chains and in the dwindling firelight, looking at the damage done to the poor woman's body. But she finally nodded. "Isabella doesn't want to do it here. Can you carry her to that longhouse?"
"Yes," Roger picked Mirka up and walked into Rafa and Isabella's longhouse. He laid her down on a pallet of furs that Rafa had pulled out and laid in front of the fire.
"Roger, do you want to stay here? I am going to go and wake Blake. He is our chief iron worker. Isabella wants those chains off of the woman as soon as possible."
"Sure." Roger was eager to see Isabella heal someone. He remembered how Isabella had healed him by just a touch of her hand but he had never seen it. A flash of anger went though Roger as he now saw the burn wounds that were on the bottom of the woman's feet. The slavers had burned the bottom of them to try and keep her from running away with out diminishing her value of beauty. Isabella wrapped a vine from a wandering Jude plant around the upper part of one of her arms. Then she placed her hands on either side of the woman's face. Soon Roger saw the cuts and scraps on the woman skin fade and heal but they showed up on Isabella. Then Roger saw the woman's feet heal and go from open oozing wounds to soft pink flesh. He heard Isabella whimper and went to comfort her but Rafa's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"If you touch her you will distract her. Do you want her to have those burns on her feet?"
"No" Roger said as he knelt down at Mirka's side to keep himself form wanting to touch Isabella again.
"Blake will be here in a moment. He had to get some tools and he knew Isabella would take a while."
They watched as a deep bruise started to cover Isabella's arms. Roger looked at Rafa curiously. "That is from the concussion she is healing. A concussion is a bruise on the brain. Isabella can't take the risk of losing control over her thoughts, so she makes the bruise go else where then she will channel it into the plant." As Rafa spoke the bruise faded from Isabella's arms and they could see the leaves of the plant darken as it took on the bruise. Then the vines started to fall off of the plant as the small scraps were also channeled into it then a long vine shriveled as if it had been burned. Only then did Isabella let go of the woman. She slumped over and Rafa caught her before she hit the floor. "I am going to take her to our bed she will be tired for the next few days."
As Rafa returned Blake entered the long house. He was a solid black centaur. He had a tool that came to a sharp point. He whistled when he saw the woman on the furs. "Has anyone claimed her yet she would make me a good mate."