Page 16 of Redeeming the Dragon

You are leaving me? Where? Where am I? And where do you go?

I cannot answer that,the dragon replied. His long neck coiled about, snake-like, as his face turned to mine. His golden eyes gleamed in the half-light.

You will be safe, Lorna. You will be cared for. But you will not see me for some time.

“I will not— What? What does that mean? Are you not going to eat me? Or use me as a slave?”

In my head, I heard a low, humorous growl.

You’d be a mere mouthful,the beast replied.And you are not my slave, but my…

He stopped. I waited. His what? He’d taken me from my life and brought me here—for what purpose?

My honored guest,he summarized quietly.

“Guest? What sort of guest am I, ensconced in a cave in the heart of Aerisia? What am I to do? Where am I to go? How am I to have food and sustenance? What am I—”

Enough.The dragon’s firm word echoed in my head, smashing my questions.You will be looked after. Farewell, Lorna.

“Farewell?”

Before I could say anything else, the glow in the dragon’s belly vanished. We stood in total darkness, save for the shimmer of his scales and the gleam of his golden eyes. Then, in a wink, those were gone too.

“Dragon?” I lifted up my voice and called for him. “Dragon, what is this? Where are you?”

No answer. I couldn’t hear him anymore. Couldn’t sense his presence.

Dragon?

Walk on.

I heard the two words in my head, like the fading whisper of someone retreating into the distance.

Walk on, Lorna. Walk on.

Walk on?

What if he were having me walk on to my death? Into the jaws of a monster, or off the edge of a precipice? Into a hidden snare with blades that would leap out to cut me in half?

That makes little sense,rationality inserted.If he wished to kill you,hecould have devoured you already. He could have let you fall off the Wailing Cliffs or dropped you into the sea. He hardly brought you all this way simply to kill you.

Unless I’m to be a sacrifice,I grumbled in protest.

A sacrifice to what? To what could he possibly wish to sacrifice you, other than himself?

There was truth in that, but I couldn’t help remembering the dragon saying he lived in this forsaken place because it was safe, implying someone—or something—in our world posed a threat to him.

I shivered in true fear, then pressed on. No hope for it. I had to obey. It was either obey or sit here in the darkness and wail over my predicament.

Gathering what shreds of courage remained after the past couple of tumultuous days, I edged towards the cavern wall until I could drag my hand along it as a guide, feeling my way. I moved in total darkness, battling down my fear, deliberately placing my waning faith in a mystical beast that I had no reason to trust.

Walk on, Lorna. Walk on.

His words were the refrain pounding in my head, guiding my feet.

Walk on, Lorna. Walk on.

I did. Step after step, until…to my surprise and immense relief, I saw a gleam of light.

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