Page 24 of Redeeming the Dragon

Well, and what if I do?I reasoned.

Yes, it was beautiful, but it was simply lying there: unseen, unused, unwanted. At least, if I were to take it and craft something with it, I was giving it the chance to become something useful. Something extraordinary.

Bolstered, I pulled it out, carrying it to the long desk. Neena’s gift, the sewing pouch, would come in handy now. I hadn’t expected to have anything to do with it. I’d been wrong.

Were I a heroine in one of the Sanlyn’s grand tales of daring and bravery and boldness, I would have invented a far more interesting method of escape from a dragon’s cave. I was not. I had simply the tools and opportunities given me—which were not much. I had mysewing accessories and I had this beautiful satin. I had the will to fight for the patience I normally didn’t possess, and I had the burning desire to go home. Putting these things together meant—

Sewing a gown.

Yes. That was the first step of my plan—to begin sewing a gown.

Carefully, I spread the fabric over the desk, admiring its richness and glow, entranced. In my mind’s eye, I was already designing what sort of gown it would be and how I would style it. What I would do with it after it was finished, I didn’t know. But the gown was part of my plan, and would also keep me busy so I didn’t go mad, locked in the dragon’s domain.

Snapping my fingers, speaking into the gentle silence of the cave, I announced, “I need thread,” I said. “A quantity of it, that matches this gown. I also need scissors, and…” I went on listing everything I would need. I supposed I was taking a chance that the cave would provide my wants, instead of merely my needs, but I’d barely finished listing everything when a whisper of a sound from behind alerted me. I turned. There, sitting on the bed, was a woven basket with a lid and handles.

I shook my head, smiling grimly as I walked over to fetch it. I popped the lid off and inside, just as I’d hoped, was everything I had asked for. Everything I would need that my sewing pouch lacked.

This is, indeed, a cave of wonders.

Gathering up the basket, I took it back to the desk and set to work.

Chapter 14

First, I had to think of a design. This was not easy. I cast my mind back over the few times I’d seen such luxuries, when Father or another Sanlyn merchant or trader had brought one home. Finally, an idea formed. An idea of a soft, swirling skirt, lightly enhanced by silvery threads. Of a bodice, open in a V down the back to allow for freedom of movement, embroidered with tiny flowers.

“This will be a great deal of work,” I muttered, as I stared at the fabric and the sewing accouterments before me. I sighed, withdrawing the scissors from the basket. And yet—what had I to lose? If this plan did not work, I would come up with another. This was not a matter of life and death, but of freedom and independence. Also, of having something to do to prevent me from dying of boredom.

To that end, I leaned over the edge of the desk, smoothing ripples out of the blue satin with one hand before pinning it down with my palm against the table. With my other hand, I positioned the shears against the edge of the fabric…and snipped.

That night, I slept an unnaturally deep sleep. However, dark dreams disturbed my rest. Dreams of running down gloomy, dank corridors. Corridors of stone that grew smaller and smaller until I was hunched over, fearful that they would press in so tightly they’d squeeze me to death. And yet still I ran, desperate to find something.

What did I seek?

I heard a heartbeat. As I scurried along, like a mouse down its burrow, that heartbeat pulled me to it, pounding in my ears.

I am coming,I thought desperately.Hold on. I’m coming. I’m coming.

But where was I going? To whom was I speaking?

I woke with a start, my entire body jolting on the mattress. The cave room that served as my bedchamber was dark during the night hours. So dark. Chilly. And yet…

Warmth. Beside me on the bed. I turned towards it. As my sight adjusted to the darkness, I picked out the outline of a figure resting beside me. His deep, even breaths meant he’d either not awakened, or else he was skilled at feigning sleep. I thought it was the former. What need had he to feign sleep? His prisoner was here, next to him, unable to flee due to the magic of the cave. Unable to fight for lack of weapons.

Lack of weapons…

In the shadows, I stared down at my hands. Or where my hands should be. Truthfully, the chamber was so dim I could not even see them.

“I have my hands,” Iwhispered aloud.

I glanced over at his sleeping figure. Could I do it? Did I dare? He’d not harmed me, beyond kidnapping and bringing me here. He’d not assaulted or violated me in any fashion. Although, were anyone to discover a strange man came into my room night after night and lay beside me, my reputation would be in tatters, whether he’d violated me or not.

I can’t,I thought, even as I briefly allowed my mind to picture myself climbing on top of him and pinning him down, my hands around his throat. Squeezing. Or picking up a pillow from the bed and using it to smother him.

Even as I accepted the fact that I didn’t have it in me to try and kill a sleeping man who’d done little harm, I also had to reckon with the fact that, were the endeavor to go astray, he would wake up and fight back. This might end with him on top of me, his hands around my throat, squeezing, or him holding the pillow over my face, smothering me.

Bad idea, Lorna,I told myself.Folly. Best to forget these foolish notions.

Nevertheless, I felt trapped and anxious. Perhaps the panic of the dream still vexed me. All I knew was I could lay there no longer. I had to get away from this man, even if it was only to sit at my desk, alone in the dark. I could likely breathe better there.

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