Plot Notes:
Act I:
Chapter One:
At the christening of a long-wished for princess, fairies invited as godmothers offered gifts of beauty, wit, and musical talent to the baby princess.
A wicked fairy, who turns out to be the Queen's sister, feels insulted because she was not invited. Her gift turns out to be a curse. The princess will prick her finger and die on her 16th birthday.
A good fairy, who is the wicked fairy's daughter, gifts the baby with living happily ever after.
In a rage, the king declares all spinning wheels to burn. Anyone in possession of a spinning wheel will be sentenced to death.
Chapter Two:
The evil fairy and her daughter flee across the desert. Here she creates a fortress in order to hide.
Hero at origination
Arabella studies magic. When she learns plant care she attempts to save her wildflowers from the heat in the desert but her magic spell fails.
Years later, she is just entering her teenage years. She cuts off her hair in an attempt to bring newness into her life. Her mother summons a snow storm. Arabella studies how to change the weather, but she can not conjure back the snow.
Chapter Three:
Arabella studies water magic. She experiments with a spell which fails and she nearly drowns.
Even though Arabella has studied magic for years, she discovers that she is unable to cast any spells. The gift to the princess seems to be her only and last piece of magic.
Arabella hair has grown back and she is now grown into an adventurous and courageous young woman.
Her mother notices that her daughter is now a grown woman and decides that it is time for her next step in her plan. It is 16 years later.
Orinda leaves for a week and upon her return she carries a man with her. Which she dumps on Arabella.
Chapter Four:
The mysterious man turns out to be Prince Lann. Arabella learns from him that her cousin Rosalina has pricked her finger and has fallen asleep. The kingdom is distressed and so is Rann. He is in love with Rosalina and even though Orinda is keeping him prisoner and in close contact with Arabella he does not want her.
Chapter Five:
A force moves the main character to leave origin. This starts the quest with immediate decision to act.
Orinda throws a temper and hurts Rann even though Arabella tries to protect him. This is where Arabella learns of her mother's ambitions for her.
Chapter Six:
Strong desire to go somewhere, to do something.
Determined to set things right Arabella gathers a few magical items and helps Lann escape Cardew. There is one map. Lann heroically (stupidly) refuses the map, so Arabella takes it.
They then split up. Lann goes to the North to free his beloved and Arabella goes south to try to divert her mother’s attention.
She crosses the desert without a problem. She must search for the pass out of the desert. She then enters the forest.
Chapter 7:
Arabella finds a ruined section in the cliffs and climbs up the piles of rock. She feels too ill to eat and discovers the burns on her skin from the over-exposure to the sun. She has sat under the desert sun all day before under the protection of her mother, but away from her mother she suffers from sunburn. Her hand is extremely painful and tender. She uses all the salve trying to sooth her burns but she can not doctor her shoulders and back.
She enters a scrub forest. As she walks through the trees they start to grow larger.
She also finds out that she is not walking in a straight line. She is starting to circle back.
She also finds a small bird tangled in a fine net. She frees the bird, Mavie, who has the magical ability to talk. Not a shock for her because she expects everything to be magic.
The bird repays her kindness by leading her out of the forest.
Chapter 8:
Arabella finds herself facing snow covered mountains. She starts climbing. Mavie starts to freak out because something is following her. They spot a weasel trailing them. Mavie convinces Arabella to hide and then net the weasel.
The weasel, Stig, can talk too. He sweet talks Arabella into freeing him. She does but Mavie is upset about having a weasel too near. Weasels eat birds.
Near the top of the pass, Arabella is burning with fever. Her skin is on fire. She lays down in the snow to rest and cool off. Stig fights with her to get her up and moving. She has to get down the other side before it get too cold. Her clothes are too light for travel in the mountains.
Stig gets her going and after she starts over the top of the pass.
Chapter 9:
It is late evening. It is getting chilly. It is almost snow type of cold.
The glacier end in an alpine meadow with wildflowers. Stig pesters Arabella to eat and of course to feed him.
She gets a good look at a strangly shaped mountain with a lake surrounding the bottom of it.
The travelers meet a bear in the high meadow. The bear has just came out of hibernation and is extremely hungry. A girl, weasel, and bird look like tasty morsels. He chases them across the meadow. At the edge, Arabella slips and falls and slides over the cliff towards the lake.
The bear turns on Stig and chases off after him.
Chapter 10:
Arabella slides down the muddy cliff. Mavie flies overhead shrieking with worry. Arabella looses her sack on the way down. It gets caught on a root. She falls the rest of the way down and splashes into the lake.
Too deep. Arabella is starting to drown. She goes down twice and then is scooped out of the lake by a huge dragon. Mavie tries to make the dragon put her down, but he takes her to the top of the mountain.
Arabella leaps up after the dragon puts her down. She is tired, burning with fever, and terrified. What if this was the dragon that burned the area around Cardew? Was this monster the cause of her flaming dreams?
The dragon reviles that his name is Denrisi. Arabella faints.
Chapter 11:
Arabella has fever dreams.
When she awakes she finds herself tucked in bed. Her clothes are changed and she is clean. Her wounds are tended to. She is still burned though and a bit feverish.
When she explores she finds out that she is in a large cavern. Laying on top of a pile of riches is a large dragon. He sigh and wakes up from his cat nap.
They talk. Arabella is still afraid. She asks about the first time that she heard his voice. And he reveils that he knew her long before that. (chapter 2, I think, the first time that she touched the crystal ball).
Denrisi disappears.
Chapter 12:
Arabella goes in search of the crystal ball.
It is evening and the moon is full. Arabella approaches the entrance to the cavern. Here she sees a man sitting at the entrance. He watches the sky.
After a bit Arabella discovers that it is Denrisi. He tells his story and of his curse, how his shapeshifting powers are uncontrollable after his mental fit with Koaner.
Chapter 13:
Together they have dinner in the little room. They also become close. Denrisi courts Arabells, but she is extremely unsure. When he attempts to kiss her, he hurts her sunburn and she pushes him away.
Denrisi misinterprets this and leaves suddenly. Arabella cries herself to sleep.
Chapter 14:
A strange man appears in Arabella’s chamber. He is darkly handsome. He simply picks her up. He carries her out of the room. They are confronted by the human Denrisi.
Two swords skewer him, and he falls. A pool of blood forms around him. Arabella screams.
Outside the man leaps off the mountain and turns into a gigantic dragon. He flies off to the north, over the lake, over the forest, and over the desert. He delivers Arabella to Cardew.
He changes back into a man, kisses Orinda and goes inside. Orinda looks at her daughter and then follows the man inside.
Arabella sits by the pond and weeps for Denrisi.
Chapter 15:
The next morning Arabella goes down to eat. Orinda is talking happily with the man. She finds out that this is the dragon Koaner.
Orinda gives Arabella an ultimatum. When she recaptures the prince, Arabella is to sleep with him and have his baby. He will then be killed off and the baby will be heir to both his and King Waldemarr’s kingdom.
After she leaves Koaner pushes his attentions onto Arabella. He hints that he might be her father, but as a dragon he has no problem becoming the father of her baby should she be unwilling to do as her mother says. His bloodline would strengthen the magic in the family.
Arabella is horrified and morally offended. She tries to sleep all day then after an uncomfortable dinner she flees to the north. This time she runs away for herself.
Act II:
Chapter 16:
Arabella enters the forest. She finds that she is cold because of the lack of cape.
She meets up with Stig and he is carrying the sack. He has a type of teleport magic.
At the other edge of the forest, they run across Waldemarr’s camp. He acts strangely over-friendly to her. He tells her that Lann went looking for the fairies to the East. He gifts her with a thick fur cape.
Chapter 17:
Waldemarr’s camp is attacked by Koaner and Arabella and Stig is forced to flee. They go into the east hoping to catch up with Lann.
Chapter 18:
They enter the deadwood forest. They walk through the mist. Frightened.
Meat eating plants capture them. Fight. Arabella discovers that she can lean on Denrisi’s magic. She casts a spell on her dagger that can destroy the plants. They use it to move on.
Chapter 19:
They must go through a mountain pass. This one is more dangerous. Slippery ice. And avalanches.
Then a blizzard hits. Arabella relies on Stig’s knowledge and they take refuge in a snow bank. Together they spend the night huddled together for warmth.
In the morning the snow is piled up and it is still bad outside. If they stay any longer then they will die in the snow.
They start off and Stig goes snow blind. They hit a glacier wall. There is something stuck in the ice. Arabella uses Denrisi’s magic again and creates a magic fire. It melts the ice and reveals a sliver sword. She takes it and the glacier breaks apart leaving their path free. Stig’s sight comes back.
This is very suspicious, he says. You don’t have this much bad luck unless someone is causing it. They both think it is her mother.
Chapter 20:
They come off of the mountain. They are confronted by a large river dotted with islands.
To cross it they must swim across. Stig helps her tie old logs together. It sort of floats.
They use it to paddle across from island to island. Stig is fearful that strange fish my eat him. The brave weasel reveals a fish phobia. They should all be eaten.
¾ of the way across Arabella is too chilled to continue. She is exhausted from swimming. The island they land on is volcanic.
They are attacked by a water monster. Luckily it can not leave the water. They hide in a cave that is full of sulfur and steaming water.
Inside, Arabella finds a magic staff. When she pulls it out of the ground things change.
The water starts to disappear. Once they go outside they find that the river has dried up into a small stream. The monster was actually a frog. Stig has no problem eating the offending creature.
The staff proves to Stig that someone is behind all the trials.
Chapter 21:
That night they see a campfire. After sneaking up they find Prince Lann with Mavie.
Lann explains how he came to travel with Mavie.
Arabella talks about the obstacles in her path. Funny that Lann did not experience anything like that.
The next morning they travel to the fairies. They declare that Lann must wake the princess up with a kiss. Arabella must stay with the fairies because Lann is the only one to break the curse and Arabella would only bring the wrath of her mother and Koaner down on him.
Arabella gifts him with the knife for the rose barrier and the water bag. She almost gives him the food bag but Stig throws a temper tantrum – weasel style.
They say goodbye.
Chapter 22:
The nice fairies turn on Arabella. She is the spawn of the evil fairy and the fire dragon. They are the ones behind the trials.
They hold a debate and then decide that she needs to die so they can break the blood chain formed by Koaner.
Arabella, Stig, and Mavie flee. The fairies each send their powers after them.
A wall of poisonous thorn plant chases them killing everything in its path.
Ice tumbles off the mountain, forcing them to climb up the slides.
Water boils out of the ground and they find that they are trapped on an iceberg in the middle of a boiling lake. The iceberg is melting fast.
She searches for a way to save them, but she has nothing that will help. Arabella sends Mavie and Stig to safety with the gear.
She is saved by Denrisi who shows up as a dragon. As he flies over the fairies, they flee.
Chapter 23:
The heroes are reunited.
Arabella shies from Denrisi. She is overjoyed, but is unsure of how to express it.
What happened to him? How is it he is still alive? By god he is angrier than he has ever been. He is still wounded even in his dragon form. Arabella gently tends to his wounds.
She tells him she loves him.
Act III:
Chapter 24:
Mavie and Stig fight. Mavie is in tears.
She was a spy for Orinda. She was the one who told her where to find Arabella.
She is so sorry. She asks for forgiveness. Stig just wants to eat her. Arabella forgives her, but makes her promise never to something so foolish...
She swears loyalty to Arabella, but she has already told Orinda where they are.
Orinda and Koaner show up.
Koaner taunts Denrisi into the sky to fight.
Orinda lectures Arabella and threatens to lock her away in a tower. This is what the other fairies were waiting for. They pursue Orinda, who takes off in her whirlwind. They all disappear.
Arabella is worried about her mother, but she is more concerned for her love.
Chapter 25:
Koaner and Denrisi exchange nasty words. They face off.
They hold a dragon battle. Air (lightening) dragon against fire dragon. The fight is a rough one.
Both dragons are severely wounded, but the moon rises and Denrisi falls from the sky. Koaner makes good his escape.
Chapter 26:
Mavie leads Arabella to a fatally wounded Denrisi in human form. He will not survive this time.
He is still incredibly angry at Koaner. He is also incredibly sad because he wanted to spend the rest of his long dragon life with Arabella. Now he will not be able to protect her any more.
Arabella cries. He tries to comfort her.
Arabella gives him a kiss. It turns into a magic spell that heals Denrisi’s magic. He comes passionately fully to life.
They exchange vows. He rises, naked, and claims the ice sword. He changes into his dragon form.
They chase after Koaner.
Chapter 27:
Koaner fled to Cardew.
Denrisi overpowers him and throws him into the desert where he creates a pit of lava to hide in.
Arabella’s mother had fled to Cardew as well. She locks herself in. The fairies are plotting her death outside.
Arabella defends her mother’s life. With a dragon backing her, the fairies give in.
Arabella sends the fairies away. She has Denrisi fly her to the spot where Koaner is hiding. She pulls out the water staff and slams it into the cooling lava. Water starts pouring out. The desert fills with water. Trapping the dragon under a very large lake as well as trapping her mother in Cardew.
Chapter 28:
Arabella tells Denrisi who Koaner is. Denrisi corrects her and tells her a story.
He is sure okay with mingling his blood with Koaner’s. He prefers this solution rather than the more violent one.
Next scene is the wedding between Lann and Rosalina. Denrisi and Arabella are married at the same time. Waldemarr is pleased that both his daughters are marrying.
Stig and Mavie go with Denrisi and Arabella. They are dropped off at Cardew.
Stig and Mavie are rewarded by turning into their true form – human. Stig likes the look of Mavie. Mavie is still leery of Stig. They are going to spend the rest of their magical lives guarding Orinda.
Denrisi and Arabella fly off to Mount Tully to live happily ever after.