Chapter Ten

The strap slipped up over Arabella’s arm to her elbow. She grabbed it with her other hand before she slipped out of its hold. Her wounded palm burned. The tree shifted again. It leaned out farther looming over her. A vision of her falling, with the tree crashing down on top of her, filled her thoughts.

Arabella whimpered fear paralyzing her. If she could cast one of the air spells, she would summon a wind to carry her up off the cliff face. Then she thought that if she could perform magic then she would not be here at all. She would have just cast a transportation spell on Lann and send him back to his princess. Better yet, she would have stopped the spell that put Rosalina to sleep. She would have been able to fix everything her mother had done.

She would be able to save herself at the very least. She gasped for air; her chest felt tight. She closed her eyes to block out the situation. She took several deep breathes. Then she began a small levitation spell. There was a snapping above her. She glanced up hoping it was Stig. Instead she was showered with pebbles and dirt. The tree was slowly loosing its grip on the cliff.

“Stig,” she screamed. Nothing; she did not even hear the roar of the bear. The tree groaned. Arabella untangled her arm. She now had two hands on the strap. She gave up on casting the spell. It would only tire her out. She needed what strength she had to try to safe herself.

She let go with her wounded hand. She pulled herself up a few inches and then grabbed the strap above her other hand. When she let go with her good hand, the strap cut into her palm. The pain fogged her mind for a moment. She moaned between gritted teeth. Blood started to run down the strap and her arm.

The pain was intense but she knew that she could not let go. She put her good hand above her hurt one. Looking down she could see herself in the clear water far below. She doubted that she would survive a fall from this height; even she landed in the lake. She inched up the strap farther. She could almost reach the bag.

She was panting again. She stamped down on the panic she was feeling. If she could make it to the tree root, she would be able to stand on it. From there she could reach the top of the drop off and pull herself to safety.

“Mavie? Stig?” she shouted. She was worried that maybe the bear was now munching on weasel tidbits and picking his teeth with bird feathers. She let go with her good hand.

It hurt so much. Her arms felt like they were pulled out of her shoulder sockets. Her wounded hand was being sliced in half. There was so much blood.

The tree gave a loud groan and shifted again. Arabella found that she was looking at the sack at eye level. She fell a foot then jerked to a stop. Her bad hand could not keep her grip.

She fell. Arabella screamed. She kept on screaming until the air was knocked out of her by the water. It was cold; very cold.

She started kicking. She could not touch the bottom of the lake. She thought she could push herself up like she did at the pond in Cardew. There was nothing to push against. She panicked and reached for the surface. She kicked still trying to find the bottom.

Her head broke the surface of the lake. She managed to gulp two breathes of air. She went under again. This time she did not go down as deep. The wet layers dragged at her and slapped against her leg as she kicked toward the surface again. She reached for the brighter top of the water.

She panted and gulped air. Her lungs were hurting. She was dizzy and her head hurt. The light changed and she thought she saw a large shadow skim across the lake’s surface. She splashed. She could not believe it. She was farther from the shore then when she first surfaced.

Her clothes weighed her down. She kicked for the surface again. Her foot hit colder water. Her leg entered it; she found herself pulled entirely into the cold patch. She surfaced again and found that she was moving across the lake. She was heading towards the south end of the lake.

She never read of a lake that moved like this. She was in a river. She realized she was caught in the current. She moved rapidly away from the shore. The exhilaration of her staying afloat was crushed by her rapid movement away from shore. She was moving farther and farther away from Mavie and Stig.

Mavie flew into sight. Arabella lifted an arm but had to quickly put it back down. She was bobbing up and down in the water. She shouted but Mavie did not hear her.

Arabella seen the log right before it smashed into her. It doubled her up. Her side cramped with damaged muscles. She was under and the log tumbled over her. She swam to the surface again.

She coughed and spit out water. She could not breathe. She tried but she could not catch her breath. The pain was intense. She could not remember hurting so much. More debris in the river started to bounce off her. Smaller sticks smacked into her.

An enormous log loomed in front of her. It was riddled with sharp branch stubs. Arabella tried to kick away from it. She knew that she was about to be impaled. A stray sunken log caught her foot and the current pulled her under. She doubled back and pulled at her foot. It would not move.

She pulled away pieces of the log. Blood clouded around her foot then was washed down the river. She was running out of air. She looked up and could only see darkness above her. Night must have fallen. Desperate for air, Arabella kicked the log with her free foot. It gave up the hold on her ankle.

She kicked for the surface. Her ankle adding more agony to her already pain filled body. She broke the surface and gasped for air.

She was grabbed around her ribs and lifted out of the river. She went straight up. A strong wind beat down on her. She looked at the think holding her. It was a gigantic hand. The skin was a deep gray that looked black. Each of the five fingers were tipped with a sharp long claw.

She tilted her head up and found herself gazing at the underbelly of a large gray dragon. She realized that night had not fallen while she was underwater. She had seen the shadow of the huge beast from under the water. They went high with each wing stroke.

“No,” Arabella screamed.

Mavie flew up to her and started dive bombing the dragon’s head. He veered to the side to avoid the little bird. She dived at the underside of his chin. He jerked his head back. This jerked Arabella around. Arabella could see the determined look on Mavie. She was determined to make the dragon drop Arabella.

They were now higher then the drop off. The next wing flap carried them higher than the tree tops. Arabella’s stomach churned. She was higher than the tallest tower in Cardew. At first she wanted the dragon to let go. Now she hung on, hoping he did not do so. The fall would definitely kill her.

Mavie took another run at the dragon’s eye. He dodged away.

“No, Mavie stop!” yelled Arabella over the rush of wind. “Go get help.”

Mavie heard her and broke off the attack. She darted into the safety of the trees. The dragon did a long slow turn over the river. They were high enough that Arabella could see that the river bent around the base of the strange mountain and continued onto the west and south.

Arabella started to feel the cold. She had felt numb in the river, but now the cold of the air threatened to freeze her. Her wet skirts were stiff against her legs. She let out a low moan and the dragon put on a burst of speed.

He went straight to the crack in the mountain. The mountain grew. It was larger than any of the other peaks surrounding it. Fear ate at her. The crack loomed.

The dragon stopped flapping. He folded his wings. Arabella thought they would surely fall and crash into the walls of the crack. Amazingly they sped forward even faster. Suddenly the gap widened and the dragon spread his wings.

They nearly came to a stop. He powerfully flapped upward. He lifted his front feet high and curled his back leg under his body. He carefully touched his back feet to the ground of a stone ledge that jutted out of the mountainside. He took a couple of steps on his hind legs then touched down with his free front claw.

He still clutched Arabella to his chest. He began to walk into the mouth of a dark cave. His awkward hops jarred Arabella so much her teeth clashed together. She began to kick and squirm. It startled him.

“Thought you had passed out,” he mumbled. He gently set her down and uncurled his claw from around her.

Arabella swayed and started to loose her balance. The dragon reached out to catch her, but Arabella jerked away from him. He let her go and she sat down hard. Tears filled her eyes. She wiped her tears away with her sleeve. It was nearly dry, but very stiff and cold.

The dragon sat back. His long neck arched forward as he studied her. Arabella looked back at him. His head was triangular. He had bluish-gray antlers growing from the top of his head. His face was framed with long whiskers.

His blue eyes were a color that was bluer than the desert sky. As she looked into his eyes, she felt she was drowning again. She could not breathe. His eyes sparkled like blue jewels.

She looked away. When she looked back, he seemed amused. There was a smile hovering on his face. He looked ready to let that smile free. The corners of his mouth curled up and his eyes crinkled a bit.

The sky was darkening quickly. He would soon be difficult to see. His skin looked as if it was covered with fine scales. The scales turned color as he shifted. The color shifts went from a deep blue to a gray-black hue. His wings sprouted out of massive shoulders. There were neatly folded along his back.

Arabella’s head started spinning in earnest. She put a hand to her forehead.

“Tell me something,” she looked at him in the failing light. “Are you the dragon who burned the land to the north?”

He shook his head. His whiskers floated around his face.

“That was Koaner Rhakan,” her voice quietly said. Arabella stared at him. Did she know him?

He looked directly into her eyes.

“My I have your name?” he asked. That voice. Arabella closed her eyes.

‘Arabella, the gold fairy,” she whispered.

“Ah,” he sighed. “It is my pleasure to meet you,” He bowed his neck low. “I am Denrisi Isriru.”

Arabella stared at him in disbelief. Denrisi was a dragon? Her world spun then turned black.

“Arabella?” Denrisi’s worried voice was the last thing she heard before she hit the hard cold stone of the cave floor.