Page 6 of Eliza's Cursed Dragon

Gift of true love, my ass, I thought. No woman would ever want me if I turned into a dragon at night. And vice versa, there was no woman in the world I would ever trust with this kind of secret. She would wield too much power over me. The damn witch had just sentenced me to a life of loneliness and fear.

Eliza

Three days had passed since we found the hut by the lake. My brothers were able to hunt some game and caught a few fish. My responsibility was to search for berries and edible roots. All in all, we ate well, not like we had at our father’s palace, but none of us went hungry. Best of all, our hideout spot was so concealed that the guards—who were still searching for us—rode right by us without spotting us.

The nights were cold and we slept huddled on the rotting floorboards with no blankets or pillows, but our combined body heat kept us comfortable.

“We need to figure something out for the winter,” George said, sounding older than the carefree boy of only a few days ago. “We need better clothes and blankets.”

“We’re not gonna be here for the winter,” Caspian asserted.

“Oh no? What are we going to do? Storm the castle?” Richard challenged.

“Exactly, we—” Whatever Caspian was going to say next was interrupted by a large black crow landing only a few paces from where we were standing.

“What?” George startled.

The crow started emitting black smoke, which swirled around it, growing and growing, until a form materialized. Constancia!

“You!” Caspian cried out and ran forward to attack our stepmother.

She languidly lifted her hand, palm out, and Caspian was flung backward as if he had run into an invisible wall.

“Caspian,” I cried and hastened to his side.

He looked at me stunned as he tried to get up on unsteady legs. I reached my hand out, but he waved me off.

“So, that’s where you’re hiding,” Constancia’s voice was melodic and sweet as always.

She clasped her hands behind her back and walked around us in a circle, tsking, “What am I to do with you naughty kids?”

“What do you want?” Richard countered, since Caspian was still trying to regain his senses.

“What I have always wanted: you out of the way,” Constancia singsonged. Her expression toward us was that of a schoolteacher chastising unruly pupils. “I could simply kill you, but that would make me… an evil stepmom?” She laughed at the last part.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I kneeled down by Caspian’s side, while our other brothers huddled around us. All the fight had left Richard, yet his defiant glare remained fixed on Constancia.

“No, I think I will have some fun with you.” She stopped and raised her palm again, mumbling something as black smoke poured from her hand toward us, encircling us. Fear choked me and my fingers dug into Caspian’s arm, while William cried out and held on to me for dear life.

“With shadows’ cloak and gloomy night, transform to birds, a fearsome sight. Ugly and dark, feathers in black, take form of a crow, never to turn back.”

My fear grew with each word she spoke, but the fear wasn’t for me, it was for my brothers. My beautiful brothers. I wanted to embrace them all one last time, to show them what they meant to me. It felt as if my heart expanded, as if my love for them warmed me from the inside out, growing from the center of my being like a white mantle that encompassed each one of them. I closed my eyes and focused only on my love for them. That was all that mattered.

“What?” Constancia shrieked, ripping me from my trance-like state.

Quacking sounds surrounded me. Where William had clung to me mere seconds ago, there were white feathers now. A long neck embraced me and fearful, oh-so-human eyes, stared up at me from the face of… a swan. A beautiful, white swan.

“Oh, William,” I sobbed.

More angry quacking broke out, as ten infuriated swans flapped their wings, long necks thrust forward, and rushed at Constancia. She cackled maniacally, black smoke rose, and she turned back into a crow before my brothers could reach her. Taking flight, even her cawing sounded like laughter, creating goosebumps all over my back.

A few of the swans tried to fly up and follow her, but two only made it a couple of feet into the air, before they landed back on their feet, even angrier than before.

I looked down at William snuggling into me, making the most pitiful sounds, and Caspian still on the ground, his eyes filled with defeat.

“Oh, my brothers,” I sobbed, “my beautiful brothers.”

At once they all turned, squawked, and hastened to my side. I spread my arms out and they sought shelter in my embrace. Long necks enfolded my arms, my legs, my torso. Beaks gently nudged me as eleven pairs of very human-like eyes stared back at me. That’s when I realized that I was still in my human form, untouched by Constancia’s curse. Well not entirely untouched, my former deep-black hair was now streaked with white. I didn’t understand why I had been spared, but sadness for my brothers overcame me and I sobbed hard for a long time, engulfed in the warmth of their feathery bodies. Tiny hearts hammered against me and reminded me of how fragile my brothers now were. It would be up to me to protect them.

---