Lou
Hallie sang as she tended to the small wounds on Lou's wrists. His back had healed, but he had new wounds now. She washed his hair and gave him fresh water and a cloth so he could wash his body. But Lou didn't respond.
"I'll wash you, okay?", she asked softly.
Lou's head was empty. He felt like a mere observer. Life slowly flowed past him. Hallie continued to sing. A children's song that Lou didn't know. She peeled him out of his dirty clothes and gently ran the wet cloth over his skin. Lou looked at her hands, he could vaguely see the outlines. Hallie sang on and on. She carefully rubbed him dry and wrapped him in a large cloth. Then she picked out clothes he had left in the cave. A pair of trousers and a tunic. Both were too big for him. Hallie wanted to keep the clothes in case he came back. She was right. "Come. We're going to put you in this, okay?", murmured Hallie. "Warm and clean. Just what you need!"
Lou stared in front of him and let her have her way.
In front of the cave, two sorcerers, dragon riders, were arguing with several dragons. The Wise Men demanded Lou's surrender. But the dragons resisted. He heard hisses and roars. "You should be on our side! Not on theirs!", a dragon suddenly roared loudly. "Your loyalty belongs to us! And Lou is with us now!", growled Bojan. "Shame on you!" Lou flinched. They spoke in rumbling voices of thunder, perhaps to make them seem more threatening to the wizards. Lou flinched for a moment.
"All right!" Hallie stroked his back, extinguished the small campfire, and led him back to his pillows. There, the rest of the dragon family listened to the argument. Like a puppet, Lou let himself be guided, sat down on one of the pillows, and took the piece of bread that Max handed him. He didn't eat it.
"What's going on?", asked Hallie, looking at the cave entrance. "Why do the riders argue with us? Especially the RIDERS! They are committed to us. Where's Remy? We couldn't hear everything in the tunnels."
"The Wise Men want us to bring Lou back. They claim that the gods want them to sacrifice him. The wizards are just doing their duty or something." Connie rolled her eyes.
"As if the gods would demand that!", snorted Sally. "Besides, the Wise Men want to come here in person. It's about our further cooperation, about the incident at the execution... They demand our stones as compensation. And Lou. So that the gods do not rise up against us as well."
"Nonsense!", growled Max. "The gods love us. I've never understood people's faith." At the same time, Harper crept up to Lou and sat down next to him without touching him. Until now, the young dragon had stood rumbling in the cave entrance. Now he looked at Lou with loving eyes. But Lou ignored him. He was just watching. It didn't exist. Just one observer. The quarrel in front of the cave slowly subsided.
The wise always want the best for the city. I was supposed to be dead. Lou stared at his hands. He was still holding the piece of bread. Why were they still able to move? Why should he eat? Would the gods punish his family? The dragons?
"There's no curse and no sacrifice!", growled Connie.
No. You're wrong.
"I know, child", Hallie nudged Lou's hand in which he held the bread. "Eat."
For what?
"Lou? Is everything alright?", Harper asked.
Was everything okay? Certainly not. After all, he was still alive. The gods would be angry. Lou shook his head. He blinked and slowly awoke from his dream-like state. As if he had to follow Harper's voice into reality. "I've lost my sparklestone." Instead of his beautiful stone, he held bread in his hands. Bread didn't glitter. "It's gone." It was the first Lou had said in hours.
"Gone? I'll get you a new one", Harper promised immediately. "An even sparklysparklier one!"
"No", Lou whispered. "That wouldn't be my sparklestone."
"And what about Remy?" Hallie repeated the question that hadn't yet been answered. "Narcisse? Renan? Basil?"
"Gone!", said Bojan. He now returned to the cave. The wizards and the other dragons had already left. Lou couldn't hear them anymore.
"My sparklestone is gone. Remy is gone. Narcisse is gone... It's all my fault!", Lou muttered.
"What?" Shocked, Harper shook his head. "No. Nothing is your fault. They'll be back for sure!"
"Hm." Lou continued to stare at the piece of bread instead of eating it.
"Lou?"
"Yes?"
"May I hug you?" Harper sounded uncertain as he asked this. "Will you forgive me?"
Lou didn't understand the question. "What should I forgive you?"
"The kiss", Harper replied sheepishly.
"Hm... I think so." Why would that kiss be important? Lou should have died. But he lived. That was wrong. He was a living dead. Lou wished himself back to the dream-like state. Everything was easier there. But he remained in reality. Hallie was still arguing with her husband and Harper's siblings. They all stood in the cave in human form so as not to frighten Lou. As usual. But Lou wasn't afraid. He didn't feel anything. There was only a gloomy emptiness.
"May I hug you?", Harper asked again.
"Yes." Why would a hug be of importance? So Lou allowed Harper to pull him towards him and wrap his arms around him. The next moment, Lou was wrapped in white feathers. White feathers with a hint of orange. He rested his head on Harper's shoulder and stretched out his free hand towards the soft feathers. In his other hand, he held the bread, that wasn’t sparkly.
I want my sparklestone back. Is he in Remy's house? Or do the wise have it?
