Chapter Twenty-Eight

Orinda refused to come out of her room. She would not even speak to Arabella. Arabella and Denrisi sat at the table and ate lunch from the food bag. Mavie jumped about sampling this and that. Stig took his to go. He kept running outside to check the water level. He would come back in and tell them how high the water was. Then he would snatch more food and rush back out.

"I hope that I was right about the water stopping," Arabella said. Denrisi covered her hand with his.

"If it does not stop, then rest assured that a new river will spring up from the lake and make it's way to the ocean," he said.

"The ocean?" Arabella said. "I have only read about it in my books."

"We can go see it soon, if you wish," he squeezed her hand. "I can take you anywhere you want to go. I remember that as a young girl, you wanted to see new things we can spend the next few years fulfilling that wish." Arabella nodded. She still looked thoughtful and had not smiled since Koaner had been trapped. Denrisi looked at her with a worried expression on his face.

"Arabella," he place a hand along her chin and turned her head towards him. "What is bothering you, sweetheart? Besides all this." He waved his hard around in a circle. Arabella sighed.

"I do not know where to start," she said and looked down at her hands. Denrisi reach out to her and clasped her hands in his.

"Just start," he said smiling at her. She swallowed hard.

"Koaner is my grandfather," she said.

"I know," Denrisi said.

"I have fire dragon blood in my veins," she said.

"I know," he said giving her hands a little shake. It was enough to get her attention.

"You know?" she looked at him. He was smiling at her. "How do you know?"

"Well, it is in a dragon's nature to pay attention to lineages," he said.

"Oh," she looked down again. "Then you know that he is my father as well."

Denrisi let a small laugh escape him. Arabella looked sharply at him.

"I have a story for you," he said. "A real scandal." Arabella's expression showed that she did not really want to hear it. "Long ago, Queen Gitta was seduced by a fire dragon. Unbeknownst to King Burhardt, the daughter that was born from that union was not his. The Queen made sure that the next child, a daughter, was his. She never told a sole that the first born was half dragon."

"My mother," Arabella mumbled. Denrisi nodded.

"Princess Orinda and Princess Alys both grew up beauties. Orinda had a talent for magic, which had never appeared in the royal family before. I can tell you that, Orinda hid this talent well from her step-father." Arabella removed her hands from Denrisi's grasp. Stig had come in sometime earlier and was sitting on a chair with his front paws braced on the top of the table.

"Along comes a handsome prince, a younger son who was a handsome and brave warrior. All these stories have to have a handsome prince," Denrisi smiled widely at her, his dragon teeth were showing. "Anyway he courted Princess Alys, but he secretly seduced Princess Orinda." Arabella's head snapped up. "Orinda was sent away, because by the time that she found out that she was carrying that Prince's child, he had already married Alys." Arabella's mind raced. She seemed to have trouble making the connection that Denrisi was pointing out to her.

"Arabella, that prince was Waldemarr," he said. "And that baby was you. You are the daughter of King Waldemarr not Koaner."

"That is why mother was so angry with him," Arabella said. "King Waldemarr knows I am his daughter." Denrisi nodded. "But why did he not tell me when I was at his camp?"

"That's because you mother cast a spell on him to keep him from speaking of it," Mavie chirped in. Arabella pointed at Mavie.

"You knew," she said. Mavie bobbed her head. "What else do you know?"

"I know the reason everyone thinks you are the child of the fire dragon," Mavie said. She puffed her feathers up. "Lady Orinda had to produce a father for you, since she could not tell everyone that King Waldemarr was your father. So since Lord Koaner was close at hand, she told everyone that he was your father."

Arabella covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders started to shake. Denrisi knocked his chair over in his rush to get closer to her. He wrapped his arms around her as he knelt in front of her.

"Arabella, do not cry," he begged.

"I'm not," she pulled her hands away from her face. She smiled and then started laughing again. "This is absurd. What twisted mind came up with such a plot anyway?"

"My vote would be Koaner," Stig piped up. "Sounds like his warped way of thinking." Arabella sighed and frowned again.

"I always thought that my mother was a strong person," she said. "Now I find out that she had strong magic, but was weak willed. She has caused a lot of unhappiness." Arabella held up her wrist that was wrapped with the black pearls. "What should I do about her?"

"Break the pearl," Denrisi said. "It will not take away all of her magic, but it will take away her connection with Koaner and his magic."

Arabella could not remove the pearls fast enough from her wrist. She wanted nothing to do with the fire dragon. It was bad enough that she had his blood. She pulled the dragon gem from the strand and placed it on the stones of the fireplace. She took the silver candlestick from the mantle and slammed it on top of the gem. It did not even scratch. She did this over and over again. Angry tears ran down her face as she tried to crush the thing. Finally she put the candlestick down. Denrisi kneeled down and kissed away her tears. Then wrapped her in a gentle embrace.

Once Arabella had calmed down, he took the gem in his palm. His hand grew and changed into a dragon claw. He squeezed and when he opened the gem, a fine powder trickled out. His hand changed back.

"Only a dragon can destroy a dragon gem," he said. There was a sudden crash behind them and they whirled around. A thin middle-aged woman sat in the middle of the table. Her blond hair was streaked with gray. She looked at her hands as if she could not believe that they were hers. Stig teleported onto the table and sniffed her. The woman jumped and moved off the table away from the weasel.

"Mavie," Stig said. "I thought you said your were a beautiful young woman." He squinted at her.

"I am," she said. "Or I was. It's been a long time." She still looked shocked. She rushed over to Orinda's mirror and stared at her reflection. Tears streamed down her face. "I'm not as pretty as I was once," she mumbled. She ran her hand over her face. Stig put his front paws on the mirror and studied Mavie's reflection.

"Well, you are still pretty, just older," he said. "So it was dragon magic that transformed her into a bird?" he asked Denrisi.

"Yes," he said. "I expected that it might be."

"So if we find the dragon gem that holds Stig as a weasel, we can turn him human too," Arabella said excitedly.

"Hey now hold on," Stig said. "I have two issues with that. One, I might not be a human. Two, I am a whole lot older then Mavie, so if I was human, I might come back as an old man." He glanced in the mirror, "An ancient man. Nope, don't even bother with it."

Arabella looked disappointed and nodded.

"I was hoping to reward you for all your help," she said.

"I did not ask to be rewarded," he said. "You being happy with dragon-breath there makes me feel rewarded. I told you that I loved you once, and the love of a weasel is something special. I did everything because of that love." He looked at her intently. "Though if you feel like you still need to reward me, you could leave me the food bag."

"Oh some reward," Arabella laughed. "I leave you the food bag and you will eat yourself to death."

"At least I would die a happy weasel," said Stig smiling at her.

"Done the food bag is yours," she leaned down and kissed Stig on the muzzle. He looked extremely happy. "Mavie, what of you?"

"All I ever really wanted was to be human again," she said slowly. "Do you think that I could stay here and watch over the Lady Orinda? I know it sounds strange but I still feel I own her my life."

"All right," Arabella said. "It would make me happy to know that someone had the care of my mother. I will be back to visit her. Who knows she might even come out of her room to see me."

Arabella reached for Denrisi's hand.

"Are you sure that you do not mind that I am part fire dragon?" she asked him.

"I think that it is wonderful," Denrisi said taking her into his arms. "It means that you will have an extremely long life ahead of you. It is more time that I have with you." Her kissed passionately.

"Can we go see my father?" Arabella asked. Denrisi nodded. "I would like to visit with my new sister as well. That is, if Prince Lann has awakened her."

"Well he's had all night," Stig said gruffly. "He would be a poor excuse for a hero if he hasn't kissed her by now. I'm staying here."

"Why?" Arabella asked.

"Well I think Mavie might need a bit of help to start with," he said. "Also, the prince is a pain. He irritates me."

"That is because he can out eat you," said Arabella. "Honestly, I don't know how you two can eat so much."

"I'm still staying here," he said. Arabella picked him up and hugged him close to her face.

"I love you, Stig," she said. She rubbed her face in his fur.

"I will see you when you come to visit," he licked her cheek.

Arabella pounded on her mother's door.

"Mother," she yelled. "I am going to see my real father. I am also going to make sure that my sister is free from your curse." Her announcement was met with silence. "I will be back after I marry Denrisi." There was a thud on the door as if Orinda had thrown something against it. "Bye mother," Arabella whispered. She turned to Denrisi. He took her hand and they left the castle.

At the gate they turned and waved. Stig was in Mavie's arms and they were both waving as Arabella climbed onto the air dragon's back. He pointed his nose northward and leaped into the air. Arabella looked down at the beautiful blue lake that lay shimmering in the sunlight. The lake was deep enough to discourage random travelers. Cardew would remain a secret. It would remain her mother's prison. Arabella leaned down and hugged the back of Denrisi's neck. Together they flew on to Kuhlbert and King Waldemarr.