Chapter Eleven

Darkness surrounded Arabella. She felt the sensation of floating. Warmth surrounded her. She moved. Pain coursed through her body and she moaned loudly.

“Shhh, sweetheart,” a voice whispered. A cool hand touched her forehead. She sighed and drifted deeper into the darkness.

She opened her eyes. She was flying over the desert. Her hair was whipping back behind her. Her curls stretched down to her feet. She wore only her lace dress. The moon hung full in the sky. It shone so brightly that she could not see the stars behind it.

She was searching for something. She could not remember what. She spread her arms wide. There was Cardew.
It rose from the desert like a large scar on the desert. The black towers poked into the sky. Arabella landed in the courtyard. Every thing was silent. She opened the hall doors and entered.

Inside was a crowd of nobles. They stood still as if frozen in place. The King and Queen sat at her mother’s table. Food filled their plates. She looked closer. Worms and bugs crawled on the table and walked over the food.

They were talking to eat other, but she could not hear them. The King ripped off a piece of bread and slowly brought it to his mouth. Spiders crawled in panic across the piece.

Arabella tried to speak but when she opened her mouth now words came out. The King chewed slowly and thoroughly. He swallowed.

Arabella turned and walked up the stairs. She found herself climbing the tower stairs. Her mother sat in the tower. She was feeding an ugly little red toad. Her mouth held out small rose buds and the toad shot out its long tongue to gather them.

Her mother turned to her. She kept feeding the toad.

“Arabella, where are you?” she asked.

Arabella opened her mouth to speak, but her throat was dry.

The toad suddenly began to swell. It grew until it was the same size as her mother. It swallowed her mother in one noisy gulp.

“No,” Arabella yelled. The toad was still growing. Arabella jumped out of the tower window. She flew to the rooftops below. She looked up the creature was had crawled out after her. It kept growing. The roof crunched below it. It fell into Cardew.

Flames roared out of the hole. The heat scorched Arabella. She leaped into the air, but discovered that she could no long fly.

A huge dragon covered in flames flew out of the hole. He hovered over Cardew. Flames dripped off of him catching the ground below him on fire. The dragon fire began to melt Cardew.

Arabella ran to the edge of the roof. She was too high to jump. The dragon fire touched her and her skin caught on fire.

She screamed in pain and heat. Flames entangled her clothes and hair. She watched her skin turn black. Her screaming continued as her skin dropped off in burnt pieces of charcoal. She wanted to die; she needed to die.

“Help me,” she shrieked. “Denrisi help me.”

She dropped into darkness again. This time it was cool and soft.

“Arabella,” Denrisi’s voice echoed through her mind. “wake up.”

“I can not,” she replied. “I will hurt too much.”

“Please,” he said. “You must wake up.”

Arabella dropped deeper into darkness. She did not dream and lay still for a very long time.

Arabella opened her eyes. She stared up at a light blue silk canopy. The material looked like the sky outside. It draped around her. Her hands burrowed into a large soft blanket.

She stretched her hand out and felt fur. She sat up slowly. She was in an enormous bed that was covered in white fur. Pillows surrounded her in fluffy clouds.

Her hair fell across her shoulder in a long braid. Someone had brushed it then tightly braided it. A blue ribbon entwined in her hair. She pushed the covers back. Satin sheets slid smoothly past her feet.

Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a little ‘oh’ of surprise. She was dressed in a long flowing gown of blue silk. Her hand and ankle was bandaged neatly as well.

Someone had bathed and dressed her. She stood up. The bed took up most of the room. She could not see any windows, but it was bright inside the room. The walls were covered in pale blue and white silks. Not a piece of wall showed through the coverings.

The only other pieces of furniture were a small table and a backless stool. Both were wrought with gold leave and white fur. She hoped that it was not weasel fur. She took a step and fell to her knees.

Her hands sank to the wrist in deep fur. White fur covered the floor. Arabella pulled herself up onto the bed. She was surrounded by luxury, but she still felt horrible. Her skin still hurt. It was still a fiery red.

She sat on the edge of the bed. She could still feel heat radiating off of her body. Her throat hurt from thirst and her stomach cramped. It growled. She was surprised to find that she was hungry.

Arabella stood again. She walked carefully on the fur carpet. Her bandaged ankle was still tender to walk on. She limped to a curtained door. She pulled it back and stepped into a large cavern.

She froze. The cave was huge. She looked up and could not see the top. She was standing in front of a tent-like structure set among the stalagmites. She realized that this was why the walls were covered in silk; they were silk.

She hobbled to the center of the chamber. Her foot touched something metal and cold. She looked down at a gold coin. She bent down and scooped it up. On one side was the crowned head of some unknown king. On the other side was a large tailed peacock. Both crowns on the king and bird looked the same.

She heard metal clinking off of metal. A few pieces rolled from her left and hit her feet. Arabella froze. The fear she felt was the same as when she faced the bear. Two deep breathes and she forced herself to turn to the left.

Gold and gems were piled up in a small mountain. They sparkled in the eerie light of the cave. She found that she had trouble raising her eyes to look higher. She gulped. She knew what she would see.

One top of that pile laid a dragon. At least one myth about dragons was true; they slept on piles of treasure. Denrisi lay curled up. His spiked tail covered his nose. Small plates rose from the nape of his neck. They grew larger as they followed his spine. Then they tapered away by the time they reached the end of his tail.

Arabella considered sneaking away, but she did not know where the entrance was. One thing was certain; she could not climb the walls of the crevice in order to escape. She wanted to meet Denrisi so badly, but now that she was looking at him she was not so sure.

Denrisi sighed deeply in his sleep. His tail twitched sending an avalanche of coins down the side of his horde. Arabella threw the coin onto the pile. It tinged as it landed. The dragon’s ears twitched. She had not noticed his ears before. They had been disguised by his whiskers.

One blue eye opened. Arabella froze. She let the panic full her. The dragon came fully awake. He lifted his hear. His tail slide down to cover his forefeet.

“Arabella,” Denrisi rolled her name around on his tongue. It was like he tasted her name. He seemed pleased with it, because he gave a large smile. His large canines were as long as Arabella’s hand.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I am better,” she looked up at him.

“Well that goes without saying,” he arched his back and pushed his feet forward in a long stretch. “You were in a pretty bad shape.”

Arabella took a couple of hobbling steps backward when he caused another avalanche of coins. The dragon looked at her sharply. He seemed to be focused on her feet.

“Come and sit with me,” he offered.

Arabella shook her head.

“I can not climb that,” she gestured toward the gold pile.

The dragon reached out and lay his forefoot palm up in front of her. In that position, his large claw looked more like a hand.

“Get on,” he said.

Arabella looked at him then at his claw. She swallowed hard and sat on his palm. He lifted her slowly then set her down on top of the pile. He offered his tail for her to sit on. She sat, then leaned tiredly back against his plates. It was quite comfortable.

“I can not quite believe that you are Denrisi,” she said cautiously. She did not know where to begin. She was terrified of offending him.

“Why?” he asked simply.

“In my mind you were a wizard,” she felt him shake.

“I supposed I had a tall pointed hat and a long white beard,” he laughed.

“Well you had the hat not the beard,” she smiled. The dragon laughed harder. It was hard to believe that she had amused a dragon.

She looked down. It was a great view of the cavern from up here. She could see her tent a little ways off. She realized that she was higher then the tent’s roof. A large dark passage way led off to the side of the cave. She thought that it might be the entrance.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“We are in my lair,” he growled.

“Yes, but where is that?” she looked at him closely. Was he getting annoyed?

“Inside Mount Tully,” he said.

Arabella turned to him to stare.

“Mount Tully?” she questioned

“Well yes, inside a mountain,” he said.

She waved it away.

“Of course,” she laughed. “But Tully? Why did you call it Tully? It does not seem very dragonish after all.”

Denrisi looked at her seriously.

“It means peace in my native language,” he said. “I can here to find peace and I found Mount Tully.”

“Oh,” Arabella stopped laughing. “I thought dragons pillaged and plundered.” She picked up a coin. This one was rubbed smooth on both sides.

“Not all of us do that,” he stated.

“How do you explain all this?” she waved her hand over the horde pile.

Denrisi closed his eyes as if trying to block out a bad memory.

“There was a time when dragons where hunted,” he looked at her. “This,” he gestured with his claw. “This is what those men were carrying with them when they hunted me.”

Arabella’s eyes widened.

“But there is so much,” she commented.

“There were a lot of men,” he shuddered at the unpleasant memory. “On a good note, no one has bothered me since I came here.”

“No one but me,” she said. “I disturbed you three years ago. You thought I was a ghost.”

“No, you disturbed me thirteen years ago,” he said. Arabella looked at him sharply. “I felt you. You had a great desire to fly away and see new things. I remember.”

“I was only eight,” Arabella said deep in thought. “My flowers had died. The desert dried them up. It seems silly now, but I cried over those flowers.”

Denrisi looked at her.

“You were in the crystal ball,” she pointed at him. “How is that possible?”

“A part of my magic was touched by the crystal ball,” he tilted his head as though listening. “When you touched to crystal it touched me. I could hear you and feel you.”

Arabella put her hand on her heart.

“All those dreams,” she broke off.

“I felt them, yes,” he said. “You hurt so badly. I had to find you.”

“You were looking for me?” she looked at him shocked.

“Yes,” he nodded. “I even flew to the edge of the great desert. I looked in every pass that was full of snow as well.” His eyes glistened with tears. “I could not find you. I was out searching for you when you fell into the river. I heard your screams.”

He laid his chin on the pile of gold.

“I was frightened when I seen you fall. You were swept from my grasp a couple of times. Then you went under and did not come back up.”

“My foot got caught,” she said softly.

“I nearly panicked,” Denrisi crinkled his nose. “I rescued you as carefully as I could. I would have had you safe far more quickly if that silly little bird had not attacked me.”

“That was Mavie,” Arabella said. “Thank you for not hurting her.” She clasped her hands together and looked at them. “I had another companion with me, Stig, a weasel. He lured a bear away from me.” A tear fell onto her hand. “I hope he is all right and safe.”

“Here,” the dragon scooped her up. He carried her to the entrance to her tent. “I will go looking for you companions. If I find them, I will bring them here.” He took a step away.

“Denrisi,” Arabella called. He froze listening. “I am thirsty and hungry.” She felt badly for bringing it up.

He turned back to her. He pointed at a damaged leather chest sitting beside the tent.

“Look inside. You will find everything that you need,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said. “Where are my old clothes?”

He pointed to the other side of the treasure pile. He walked toward the gap in the cave wall. Arabella went to the trunk and collected some food. She even found a bottle of milk. She went back in the tent. She lay down after eating and rested.