Chapter 8: Hold on tight

"They wanted to…" Pan was cuddled up in Brandon's arms, holding him for dear life.

 His heart. Those three brigands had wanted to take his beating heart and give it to the king. The blight on this land.

Someone who was so wretched, more than one rebellion had been led against him.

"It will be okay. Oh, I've told it all to the guards. Come now, just give the guards the image of those three, and we are going to get you somewhere warm," Brandon was patting Pan gently.

The pendant, which Pan did not want to touch, was in his right hand, and he was trying desperately to get Pan to let the image of those three be printed. 

"Just a little bit of mana Pan, just a little bit," Brandon said it with a heavy heart.

 He did not want for Pan to end up hurt. He did not want for Pan to have to go through this. 

Taking an image from one's memory always left a mark. But Brandon had not seen those humans very well. Had been too busy flying away.

Pan had to do this, or he was going to get snatched. 

Brandon, needed to sleep, too, and he had his patients to look after, besides. 

"Okay, okay, I can do this. I can, let's just get it done," Pan took in a deep breath.

 His right hand twitched. 

He did not want for it to shake so, but as he moved his hand towards the pendant he buried his face in Brandon's nape and then beat his collar.

Hoping that he wouldn't bite his own tongue off as long as he was biting the gambeson.

Pan touched the pendant and then immediately began to scream.

 First came the image of Annalee. 

She had done him the most damage, beating him up with the staff. It was the most painful to get her image out of his memory.

But as he turned towards Bran, who had kicked him while down, but only once, Pan whimpered. That had been a savage kick.

And finally, Alec. Alec who had shot him between the ribs.

"Just a little bit more, just a little bit more, Pan. You can do it," Brandon said, as he held his soulmate tightly. "Just a couple of seconds more.

Brandon looked on as Alec's face began to manifest on the paper. Soon the brigand was in full color, and Brandon gave back the pendant to the guard, as he hugged Pan and began to pet his hair. 

"It will be fine. It will be just fine. I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I'm so sorry, love," Brandon picked up Pan and began to walk around the room. 

He had felt the pain as well, but he had felt worse pain before. 

Oh, now that he knew what the humans had done to his soulmate, he wanted to rage. He wanted desperately to harm them. To kill them all.

 But he was not that type of dragon, and his peaceful status was going to become a thing of the past if he dared to break the king's law.

That evil man who had killed his own sister to take the throne...

Brandon had wanted to purge the land from his poison more than once, but the king was strong, having stolen the organs of more than one creature.

 Even the heart of a dragon. A heart, which apparently he had destroyed, and now...

 Now the king wanted Pan's heart.

"We can take it from here. And are you certain that they wanted the organ for the king?" the guard asked.

Brandon nodded.

"Then, as soon as we execute those three, you should pack up and leave, Brandon. We won't say that your Pan was the one chosen to get his organs stolen. Please, we can't protect you if the king comes here. But you're a dragon, and if you go to the temple, then, well, not even the king can catch you." 

Arnold was a good guard, a kind man, a father of two, and a loving husband. 

Brandon knew that if there had been any possibility for the man to protect him, he would have. 

"Arnold, I think I should go back to my cottage. To get Pan's apple sapling," Brandon felt as Pan stiffened inside of his hold.

Only to start to sobbing. 

"No, don't leave me alone! Please, don't leave me alone!" Pan's body was still wrecked from the pain of being kicked, shot, and even beaten up with a staff. He did not want to leave his mate's arms. 

He wanted to simply be taken away, flown away to somewhere safe. Maybe even the temple of the dragons, which only the strongest could call their home.

 "I'll leave you with Brunhilde today. She is a strong mage," Brandon said, as he began to carry Pan out. "And Arnold, thank you for everything!"

Soon, Arnold and the guards were rushing outside. Searching for the three brigands.

Not knowing that one of them was already in the village. 

0000

Annalee was standing before the clinic. It was no clinic, she thought to herself. 

This was simply a hut, maybe it was more generous to call it a house?

 The humans inside were simple servants, and yet there was one strong woman inside with a magically strong baby.

 Annalee went inside and then decided to pretend that she was simply a mother who wanted a kind word before she too began her battle with the grim reaper.

 A battle for the most precious thing she would ever get in her life. 

Not that Annalee could ever have children.

 Alec had taken that opportunity from her long ago, as he had thought that Annalee was going to leave him. But now, as Annalee stepped through the door, she had not accounted for one thing.

Brunhilde made a fireball, one that was invisible, and then shot Annalee in the head.

 As Annalee's head rolled from her shoulder and her real image was exposed Brunhilde held her child closer.

 The mage believed that Annalee had come not for Pan, but for her little Brenda.

She wanted to protect her little family. Her dear husband, Arnold, who had given her not one child, but two.

"The organ harvesters," Brunhilde said as she tried to lift herself in the bed. "Not even this village is safe anymore! I'll go with Brandon! He can protect me!"

 She only hoped that Brandon was as kind as he appeared to be, for she had known him only for a month.

But in this month he had shown her more care than the other healers did. The organ harvesters were around every corner.

Brandon was her only hope.