Cohen of the Rebellion

Volume 2 - Chapter 1 Dragon Surgery

Translated by Tianic

Edited by LtBeefy

Wilder’s bellow alerted the knights and the speedy cavalry made whirls left and right to surround us. The beautifully armored and sworded knights glared at us. Wilder squared his shoulders, sword in hand, without the least bit of intention to back out.

A silver knight put the reins and rode along. Disregarding Flynn and Carey’s disliking look, his eyes roved over me from behind the mask of his House.

“I know you,” The knight lifted and showed his elegant face, “You are Cohen Kheda.”

“You know me?” I replied in a choky voice, “So what? Mr. Nice, wanna kick my ass?”

“HAHA, never mind.” He smiled, “I mean you no harm, my men either. How about this.”

Mr. Nice bit his long finger and removed the thick knight glove, and offered me his hand, “I apologize!”

“You don’t need to do that, leave.” I was too weak to do any handshaking.

His bannerman touched the hilt and shouted, “How dare you! You are talking to his…”

“My name is Fischer.” He glanced at the Bannerman and the latter went silent, “I know you are wounded and perhaps in a bad mood.” He then leaned forward to reach my hand and shook it.

“One against three,” Fischer straightened up, hand in one pocket searching, “To my surprise, you are without magic and not trained for combat.

“I’m dying if you are still interested,” I said.

“This is for you.” Fischer handed Flynn a vial, “It’s not going to cure you, but it could make you feel better.”

“Appreciated,” I didn’t look any different, “We have a schedule.”

“Then farewell! I hope we’ll have a chance to meet again…” He summoned the knights around, not even bothering about my rudeness, and rode away.

“Who was that? He’s like 15, 16 tops.” Carey wondered.

“How could I possibly know?”

Just as I was about to take a rest, there was a loud noise mixed with the sound of magic which came from not far beyond. Multiple explosion and sounds of painful yet clear rumble made me as irritated as a startled horse.

“What was that?” I asked Winslet.

“Sounds like a dragon.”

“Dragon? Was that the thing that flew over earlier?”

“Perhaps.”

“I’ve never seen one.” I got curious, “Let’s go check it out.”

“Okay.” Flynn took off and dashed to Uncle Maiza, my head guard.

Thus lead by Uncle Maiza and a few guards, our group altered directions and headed towards where the sounds were happening.

As we got closer, the sounds became clearer. Maiza made a sudden stop and held up his fist to stop us as he went up ahead alone.

“Dragons are mighty and can discharge magic without enchanting…” Winslet said, “Mother told me that they are intelligent and possess a very different ideology. What seems normal in the human world will not work with them. Furthermore, dragons are very proud creatures; thus they are rarely seen.”

“Young lord, don’t go!” Maiza rotated and informed besides my carriage, “The men and a white dragon, they’d both be dead by now.”

“Is it really a dragon?” I asked, “A white dragon?”

“Yes, a white dragon, my lord. But it’s dangerous; I can’t let you go.” Maiza looked absolutely determined.

“Just let him go…” Flynn said in a soft voice.

“No way!” Maiza said, “I will not!”

“Flynn,” I said with a smile, “If you want to make a demand of Uncle Maiza, you need to approach his soft spot. Like for now, you must have the water handed over and speak loudly like, “Uncle Maiza, have some water.”

“Is that so?” Windsor jumped off, and on her toes, she raised the water bag, “Have some water, Uncle Maiza!”

“My lord…” With water in hand, Maiza said with red eyes, “Guards, shield His Young Lord’s carriage!”

“If things go wrong, you take the Young Lord and run,” Maiza whispered to the driver.

We then saw a battlefield covered by traces of magic and in the center, the white dragon. The grass was uprooted with multiple craters and black soil. Scattered bodies of knights and horses lied on the ground, and an ice pillar was melting in the distance…

Dragon, is that a dragon in the circle? Massive body and strong wings. Under the bruised white body was the same scarlet blood…

It seemed to have sensed our arrival, it opened its eyes, black, with depth and stared at us.

The driver was stiff as if he was frozen…

“Hold on!” I stopped Marfa who wanted to kick the driver away and ride for me instead, “Hold your horses.”

“Help me get off.” I told everyone who was stunned, “Help me off!”

Maybe they knew I was determined, Wilder and Moya carried me and approached the dragon. The white one flapped its wings, struggled and gave up.

“This man is alive!” Jack, who was following up, pulled a man on his feet, “He’s the guy who called himself Fischer!”

“This man is not dying.” Our accompanying mage said.

“Save him!” I watched Fischer, unarmed, pale yet handsome face… I recollected the vial he gave me and made my mind to help.

“Multiple fractures detected.” Maiza pointed to the white dragon’s chest and said, “The lethal one is here, the Dragon Sword caused that wound.”

“Dragon Sword?” I was puzzled and asked. I knew Dragon Saber, but it’s not from this world.

“Yes, the full name is Dragon Slayer’s Sword, it’s a weapon invented by the dragon slayers; it is coated with a special material. Because of the dragon’s mightiness and their ability to apply advanced healing spells, the wounds will close up almost instantly.” Maiza explained, “However if wounded by such a rare blade, their spell will lose its efficacy. The cut will not heal and will continue to bleed until death.”

“Why would anyone invent such horrible weapon?” Windsor asked face paled.

“Killing a dragon will give the killer great fortune and honor.”

“Therefore to kill a dragon and be proud. What did she do that make you do this to her!”

A majestic and robust voice sounded from the vast sky.

I looked up and found over ten various dragons silently hovering above us. God knew when and where they appeared.

Immediately, my ears were filled with the sound of swords drawing.

“You may leave! Except for that human!” A red dragon landed and elevated his proud head, “We are aware you have nothing to do with this.”

“How could you know?” I asked, “We haven’t talked!”

“Dragon don’t need language to communicate.” The red dragon said, “Our dying friend has informed us.”

I looked over to it, the white dragon’s eyes were still deep, yet a piece of calm was added to.

“Can you save it?” I asked the red dragon. Perhaps I had a soft part for dying creatures because of my current situation.

“She was hit by that filthy weapon hundred of miles away from here. There’s nothing we could do…” The red dragon sounded sorrowful, “We can only take her home in the hope she could make it there.”

I see, then she’s like me. Never thought anyone could be facing the same fate.

“What about him?” I asked.

“The dragon slayer?” The red dragon’s eyes grew sharp, “He must be responsible for his actions, he will die.”

I headed down and examined her wound, it was a typical trauma. The sword pierced shallowly into the skin from the lower side. Wound surface wasn’t large… It was supposed to be done during an intense movement. The bruise was heavily indented…

“If you can offer help,” I talked to the red dragon, “I may be able to save her.”

“Save? Spells are worthless for such wounds.” The red dragon leaned closer his head, which made Maiza tensely separate us by standing between.

“I could try,” I said facing Maiza’s back.

The red dragon raised his head, and gazed down into my eyes from above; I gazed back.

“Fine! You’ll get all the help you need!” The red dragon stretched its body and shrunk unexpectedly; within a second it had transformed into an old man, “What do you need?”

“I… I need a clean space,” I was in a loss by his transformation, and a bit stammered, “...and tools, besides that…”

“You requests will be satisfied.” Red said after hearing my requests, “If this turns out of no use, you will be granted the right to leave safely due to your honored respect to life.”

“You can call me Ray,” Red dragon stepped forward and took my body from Wilder’s arm. Another dragon transformed and drew nearer. I nodded to Wilder, and told Ray, “We may begin.”

Without any sound, a white glowing sphere took shape around me. It shrunk and seemed to stabilize the air inside. Finally, the white ball brought me, Ray and the white dragon inside…

“Let me know her body structure,” I said to Ray.

Ray gazed at me with his eyes and pictures of bones, muscle, and blood appeared in my mind.

They had been communicating in such way; that’s very novel and convenient.

“Now, open her skin by this point with your sharpest tool.” I tried with all my gestures.

Another human-formed dragon sliced three cuts upon the wounds according to my requirement.

“Lift that part of the skin… right, first check for the internal lesion.” The dragon who held the scalpel shook his head then I said, “No internal lesion, so then it must be the blood vessels! There are two major vessels somewhere around, find them.”

“Got it…”

“Did you pay attention to the blood flow direction?”

“I did, what’s next?”

“Find something to stop the blood flow…”

The dragon moved slightly and fixed a few clips onto the vein. His nimble and skillful hands took my breath away.

“When a dragon bleeds, will it coagulate?” I asked Ray.

“It will! And it’s pretty fast!” Ray did his utmost to help me, without even using his psychic communication.

“Then it must be something else that’s stopping the coagulation!” I pondered and recalled what Uncle Maiza had taught me, “Check for foreign matters!”

“There’s something gray!”

I reached over and checked closely.

“Can you get rid of these?” I inquired.

“Should be easy!” Another dragon switched the scalpel to his left hand and his right hands submerged into the wound. A finger flared with white light, and in a moment, the finger was out, covered in gray…

“These things are sticky, but I was able to remove them all.”

“All of them?”

“Positive, no missing parts.”

“You’re done, go and clean your hands. Get another skilled hand here!”

The dragon left without a word…

The following dragons were instructed to remove dead vessel and muscle; then they were replaced by parts taken from another dragon’s body. After a series of spell healing and sewing, I was pale and sweaty all over...

I leaned aside the white dragon’s head and gazed over to the third human form dragon, watching him finish the last treatment, and said, “How about now? Never thought you could live, right?”

White dragon said nothing and closed her eyes.

Pardon me! It’s your lifesaver who’s talking to you!

“Leila doesn’t talk much,” Ray said, “In dragon’s age, she’s merely a kid.”

I was about to comment on this when a swallow of blood erupted as my vision dimmed down.