Page 51 of Redeeming the Dragon

“What is this?” I gasped, confused at the abrupt switch between the cave and this new landscape. Jolting upright, finding my feet, I batted at the white, powdery stuff clinging to the front of my jacket. “Where am I?”

“Have you never seen snow before?”

The voice, as cool and crisp as the winter air, lashed me. I spun towards it, having no idea what to expect. Had I been expecting what I saw, I think my mouth would still have dropped open.

“Close your mouth, girl,” the being commanded. “What you are seeing—apparently for the first time—is snow. And the one with whom you are speaking is Braisley, queen of the fairies.”

Chapter 30

Obediently, I tried to close my mouth. I was compelled to swallow hard, for, despite the landscape’s frozen moisture, my mouth and throat were suddenly dry. I had seen snow before—rarely. What I had never seen was,

“A…fairy?” I echoed stupidly.

The woman smiled a quick, humorless smile. Only she was not a woman. Not a mere woman, anyway. She was certainly female. Her long, golden hair, streaked with red and covered by a wispy veil, as well as her feminine form clad in a silvery-white gown proclaimed that. However, the gossamer wings sprouting from her back, the six-sided snowflake embedded in her forehead, as well as the tiara made of ice, asserted that she was far more than a mere woman, as did the aura of power and strength emanating from her.

“Where are you from?” she demanded, stepping closer. Her manner reminded me of a cat stalking its prey. I did not necessarily sense harm, but I clearly sensed that, if I were to do anything of which she disapproved, she would strike me down where I stood.

“I…I am Lorna, from the Jeweled Isles,” I stammered. Swallowing again, I drew a breath, determined to firm my voice and collect my courage. “I was in a cave. Somewhere. I am seeking a place. I asked a mirror for help. A magic mirror. It brought me here.”

The fairy, as she’d proclaimed herself to be, halted a few paces away. This close, I could see tiny snowflakes swirling in the air about her. Her green eyes were bright as jewels, and her features rather sharp. While her face was not truly beautiful, she was the most majestic creature I’d ever beheld, outside of Kidron in his cursed dragon form.

“That is as strange a story as I’ve ever heard,” she announced, looking me up and down, from head to toe. “And yet, I detect nothing of The Evil about you, nor any shadow from the Dark Powers. Furthermore, the way you materialized out of nowhere, here on Cleyton…”

Waving a hand, she encompassed our surroundings. Till this point, I’d not even taken the opportunity to see where I was, beyond a world of snow and ice. Now, the fairy’s wave invited me to look, and I did, fighting the urge to keep my jaw from dropping again, since she had already ordered me to close my mouth.

Mountain peaks surrounded us, highlands of jagged rock, rugged clefts, and craggy cliffs. Snowcapped peaks and passes were dotted with towering evergreen forests. And in the midst of it all, looming over the hilltop on which we stood, was a palace hewn from ice. All about the castle darted teeny fairies, like wisps in the wind.

“…There is magic to you,” Braisley was saying, “though of what sort, I cannot tell.”

I compelled my shocked gaze from the ice castle, the mountains, and the forests, back to her.

“I…I do not know, either,” I replied, stumbling over my words. “I…”

I stopped. What did I, a mere girl from the Jeweled Isles, have to say to the queen of the fairies? If she wished to crumble me to dust, shecould do so on a whim. Rather than explain myself, I waited for her to ask the questions.

“You mentioned a mirror,” Braisley said, edging closer, her wings fluttering lightly. “You named the Jeweled Isles, and you said you are seeking a place. Perhaps you’d best start at the onset, girl, and tell me all.”

I couldn’t keep from glancing longingly at the palace. To be fair, it appeared far more a place of winter and chill than shelter, yet, despite the warm clothing I was grateful I’d chosen, I was unused to cold temperatures of any sort and found my teeth chattering.

“Is there—shelter?” I asked. “It is so c-cold here, my lady.”

Braisley’s thin lips quirked in another humorless smile. This time, I glimpsed a hint of sympathy in her sharp stare.

“I invite no one into my palace,” she said. “But I can help.”

With that, she waved her arm again, trailing snowflakes like miniature diamonds that winked in the sunlight. In an instant, a shimmering dome appeared, starting from her fingertips and descending to the ground on either side of us. Faster than a breath, we were encased. Beneath my feet, the snow vanished, green grass popping up from rich, black soil to replace it. A warm zephyr, much like the tropical breezes of my home island, heated the air, stilling my chattering jaws and erasing the goosebumps that had popped up on my flesh.

“Your magic is astonishing,” I breathed. “Thank you.”

The fairy nodded. “The spell will only last as long as I maintain it,” she said. “Tell me your story, girl.”

With no other recourse, and realizing the mirror must have sent me here for a reason, I started at the beginning and told her everything. I even confessed, to my shame, my part in ruining Kidron’s chance of salvation, hanging my head in embarrassment as I admitted my folly. Ifinished with the tale of requesting help from the mirror to find where Kidron had gone—somewhere east of the sun and west of the moon.

At the end of my recital, Braisley was silent for several long moments. She stood with her fingers steepled beneath her chin, clearly deep in thought. I waited, aware of my inferior status to this powerful creature, and determined to show her respect.

Finally, lowering her hands to the sides of her silvery-white gown, she said, “That is a remarkable tale, Lorna of the Jeweled Isles. Well do I recall the dragon prince who fled his father’s oaths. I could not free him from the Scraggen’s magic, but I told him where he might hide to be safe.

“I can tell you this,” she went on, pacing to the edge of the dome and back, her gown’s trailing hem swishing about her ankles, “there is a great deal of mystery and magic in this tale. For one, I am ignorant of this Moonswept that lies east of the sun, west of the moon. It must be far indeed for neither my fairies nor myself to have heard of it.

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