The Kiss From a Dragon

by C. D. Pennington

  Before long, the mountains loomed large to her left. She did not have to travel as far as Kingham as another unmarked path branched west, so she took this as to travel more directly to the impressive mountain range. There was a small forest between her and the mountains, but the path seemed to go straight into it. She pressed on towards the towering trees.

  The dark clouds that had threatened rain since her departure finally began to shed their load as she approached the forest’s edge. Judging by the distance between her position and the mountains, she would be travelling through the woods for some time. The cover offered by the tall trees came at a welcome time. A rumble of thunder overhead signalled the rain to fall heavier, so Cerana urged Winter into a gallop, and they just made it to the cover of the forest before the heavens opened on them. Despite the natural protection the giant trees offered, the rain fell so hard that Cerana was getting quite damp, so she pulled over the hood of her cloak as they slowed to a canter.

  Cerana had not long entered the forest when the cloudburst subsided to a light shower. It was warm and muggy under the canopy of foliage from the tall trees, so she was glad to be able to put the hood down again as very little rain was now falling. However, there was still rain in the air as she could hear the spots hit the overhead foliage occasionally. She loved the aroma of nature after some rain. Everything took on a far fresher smell after a downpour, and she closed her eyes and held back her head to take a long, deep breath of fresh forest air. She was about to take another when Winter let out a short whinny that alerted her back to the path.

  About forty yards in front of them, just off the gradually narrowing path, grazed an almost entirely white horse, save for a few speckled patches of black.

  It was Snowdrop, without any doubt. Jana’s beautiful mare.

  Cerana could not believe her eyes, and ushered Winter towards her stablemate. The mare seemed to recognise Cerana when she was alerted to their presence as she hobbled over to them on unsteady front legs. Cerana dismounted and rushed to the stricken mare.

  “Hey girl, what’s happened to you?” she asked as Snowdrop nuzzled her. Cerana immediately saw the limp and obvious discomfort Snowdrop had at moving, but a quick scan revealed no blood, cuts or other signs of injury to the horse. “Where is your mistress? JANA? ALLERAN?” she called, searching for her sister in the immediate area but without reply. “JANA!” she yelled again, but still nothing. “What has happened to you?” she muttered under her breath, but the horse just regarded her with huge dark eyes. Cerana thought that Snowdrop wanted to tell her something by the look she was giving her, but the beautiful horse could not reveal any secrets she may keep.

  As Cerana stroked Snowdrop’s long, velvety neck, a noise from above startled both horses and they reared. Cerana managed to grab Winter’s reins, but Snowdrop had no such bridle gear, and Cerana was unable to prevent her from hobbling away. As she looked to the skies, a loud thrum could be heard from overhead. Even at ground level, Cerana could see the tops of the tall trees being pushed over like a massive wave. The wave was fast approaching her location.

  Thrum. Thrum.

  The wave neared, then passed over her along with an enormous, silent shadow that could be seen through the gaps in the treetops. She gawped at the spectacle as it suddenly changed direction and smoothly careered away, the vast shadow disappearing in the wave of trees.

  Thrum.

  The horses were terrified, and she struggled to keep hold of Winter’s reins, but there was little she could do for Snowdrop. As she turned to check on the horse, Cerana saw her limping off into the depths of the forest, as fast as her injury would allow. “Snowdrop!” she yelled, but she would not stop, and soon the mare vanished between the thick cover of tree trunks.

  Quickly looking around again, she saw the wave had stopped, and the forest returned to tranquillity. Gods, what have I just witnessed? Cerana thought. Something enormous has just disturbed the trees from above. Something almost silent but for the occasional thrum, like….like….like the beat of huge wings? It cannot be. No, surely not.

  But her eyes and ears had not deceived her. She was convinced. And the horses, too – they had reacted to it. There was nothing in this world that was large enough to disturb the tops of the trees like that. Nothing. There was only one creature she could imagine that had the size and agility to create such a spectacle. The one being she needed to cure Esteri.

  But dragons do not exist anymore. No, I must be mistaken.

  But how else would Esteri have contracted a disease that was only contracted from a dragon? Had she just witnessed the source of the ephylaxon that afflicted her sweet sister?

  Cerana decided on the spot that she must investigate, and quickly. The wave had abruptly ended, which meant that either it had flown off, out of the vicinity of the trees, or it had come to a halt in the forest.

  If indeed it was a dragon at all. It could have been anything. Or could it? What else could have made that sort of disturbance?

  Snowdrop was long gone - she had to take this opportunity now. She leapt onto Winter’s back and urged her in the direction of where the wave had ended, the horse galloping as fast as she could through the tree trunks. Cerana’s heart was hammering inside her chest.

  As they travelled deeper into the forest, away from the path, the undergrowth grew increasingly more dense. Large green bushes, huge grey boulders and fallen trees hindered their chase, and they had to slow down to avoid injury whilst still maintained as fast a speed as the conditions allowed.

  As they passed one such boulder, Winter stopped immediately and reared as the forest floor simply disappeared into an enormous crater, the mare throwing Cerana from her back onto the ground below. She landed on her left shoulder with a thud, immediately wincing with pain. She groaned and slowly rose to her knees, holding her shoulder. Winter had stopped just on the edge of a cliff where the forest fell away. If she had not halted, they would both be dead now.

  Cerana stumbled to the edge and peered over into the vast crater below. It must have been at least two hundred feet deep, and four hundred feet wide, almost perfectly oval-shaped. An emerald green lake rippled at the bottom of the crater, and not far from where they had halted, a beautiful waterfall cascaded into the lake below, a small rainbow forming in the torrent as it crashed into the expanse of water. A golden beach surrounded the lake, with lush tropical palm trees dotted along the sands. All around the crater, more lush palm trees and other exotic looking fruit-bearing trees adorned the slopes on huge aspects of rock that jutted out from the almost vertical cliff face. Cerana stared agape at the magnificent spectacle of nature before her, incredulous in its beauty. She would never have imagined such a vast, stunning area of tropical paradise could exist in an otherwise bland forest. It was almost like the area was from another world, and totally out of place in the dark forest. It was all Cerana could do for a few minutes just to drink in the magnificence of the scene below her.

  Her attention quickly turned to movement in the crater. Out of the corner of her eye, a flash of blue snapped her out of the mesmeric trance. But when she looked again, all was still. Had she seen anything? She squinted down at the source of the movement, which was about halfway up the crater, near to the waterfall, but she saw nothing. For a moment she thought she must have been hallucinating. In fact, the whole scene below her was more like something out of a dream. But there it was again. It was a person. Dressed all in light blue, walking up a pathway in the rockface. It was quite a way away, but Cerana could make out long golden hair, the same colour as the beach. The wave in the trees had ended somewhere near this mysterious crater, but now she had seen the colossal expanse, she could understand why.

  She wondered if this person walking in the crater had seen it too, so she cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled.

  “Hey!” she cried, her voice echoing across the expanse.

  Instantly, the stranger below stopped dead in their tracks and turned their head in Cerana’s direction. Cerana could
not explain why her heart had suddenly started pounding again, or why she suddenly felt extremely vulnerable. The stranger said nothing, but turned to face Cerana, lifting their right arm until it was level with their shoulder. From across the other side of the crater, a loud, booming crack sounded. Cerana’s head instinctively jerked around to investigate.

  She saw nothing except the edge of the crater and the edge of the forest. But when she turned her head back around, the person had vanished. She scanned the area, but there was no-one there. She briefly questioned if she was going mad, convinced she had seen someone. Maybe this was all some sort of illusion, a mirage. Was she dreaming? She began to question her sanity when the voice from behind startled her.

  “What are you doing here?” the accusing voice demanded.

  Cerana reeled around to face the owner of the voice, her heart thumping with the shock. Stood before her was the most stunningly beautiful woman Cerana had ever seen. And perhaps also the tallest. The exquisite young woman must have been almost seven feet tall, Cerana quickly calculated. Cerana was not a small woman, but this beauty towered over her. She was certain it was the same person she had just seen walking on the ledge, but how was that possible? Her face was pure perfection – high cheekbones, a small nose and full lips painted a deep crimson shade. Her huge blue eyes shone like cyan stars, and long blond hair cascaded down her back to her slim waist. A long, thick plait sat in the middle of her locks from the back of her neck. She wore a beautiful light blue dress that started at her neck and fell to her ankles. Elegant gold and silver patterns were embroidered down the silk dress, and a long slit from the top of her left thigh revealed a slender leg adorned by calf-length boots. A large oval shape was cut into her dress on her chest, exposing a huge sapphire pendant dangling from a slender chain. Cerana had never seen such beauty before. Esteri was stunning, but this girl was something else, she thought. Her staggering appearance and height stunned Cerana, who realised she was staring at the woman agape. Those piercing blue eyes regarded her, but there was not a hint of malice in them. They were kind eyes, full of intrigue.

  Cerana found her voice again. “How did you-”

  “Why are you here?” the beauty interrupted.

  “I…..there was something in the trees in the wood. I followed it here. Who are you?”

  “What did you see?” the stranger asked, ignoring her question.

  “The trees, they moved…..a shadow,” Cerana was having difficulty finding her words, this woman seemed to have her in an inexplicable trance. “And I heard something overhead, but quite what, I do not know.”

  The woman stared with large, unblinking eyes. Cerana thought she was trying to either work something out or read her mind, such was the concentration on her beautiful face.

  “And did you find what you were looking for?” she asked.

  “No, I just found this clearing here,” Cerana pointed towards the tropical crater below. “Then I saw you on the ledge. How did you get up here? Did you see anything?”

  “I did not, Cerana Proudstone.”

  Cerana was taken aback. “How do you know my name? Who are you?”

  “I see much.”

  Cerana was starting to get worried, who the hell was this mysterious beauty? “Who are you?” she asked again.

  “You must leave. Esteri will need you, Cerana Proudstone.” Cerana opened her mouth to blurt out how the hell she knew them, and what she meant by the comment. But as soon as she had finished speaking, the woman’s hand shot to the sky and Cerana felt a painless shock run through her entire body, instantly paralyzing her. She tensed her body, but she could not move a muscle. She was still conscious and aware of the woman walking past her, towards the edge crater below. In what seemed like just an instant, the paralysis ended as quickly as it had taken her. Cerana fell in a crumpled heap on the floor. She spun around, but the girl had gone.

  Crawling to the edge of the crater, Cerana looked all around her. She was alone once more, save for Winter who was happily munching on some grass as if nothing had happened.

  CHAPTER 24 – A Desperate Prayer

  “Nice try, you stupid little whore,” Tavlor growled menacingly as he stumbled towards her. He was still holding his hand to his crotch. “But it didn’t work, did it? Shame I gotta get this over with quick, or I’d give you the beating of your life for that.”

  Jana squirmed and grunted. Her spontaneous plan had failed, and now all she had succeeded in doing was aggravating the unstable thug.

  “Now where the fuck is me knife gone? Shit!” he cursed, lurching around as he searched for the blade he had dropped when Jana kicked him. Jana knew where it was; she had seen it when she desperately tried to wriggle away from the flames. It had fallen into another patch of straw. She tried to roll over and see where he was looking, but before she could summon the energy, her heart sank as he spoke.

  “Aaah, there it is!” he triumphantly exclaimed.

  She knew instantly that the knife had been found. All of a sudden, she felt like all the air had been sucked out of her. It was hopeless now. It was over. Jana stopped struggling and sank into the hard ground, crying softly.

  Tavlor groaned again, hobbled over to her, and turned her over to face him. She did not have the energy to resist. He grabbed a handful of her hair and lifted her head from the ground. Slowly, he raised the knife to her face, the point of the blade a matter of inches from her eyes.

  Jana was not about to give him the satisfaction of begging for her life. She stared into his eyes with hatred, suddenly no longer afraid. If she could speak, she would have told him to get on with it.

  Tavlor smiled a venomous grin, and slowly pushed the knife ever closer. Jana ignored it, instead concentrating on the unmoving glass eye.

  “This is for the beating you got us, bitch,” he hissed. “Now, there is no-one else who knows about what happened to your friend.” Tavlor’s grin widened even further. “Say goodnight, and it was such a- ”

  “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?” the shout from above startled them both, and suddenly Tavlor released her.

  “GET AWAY FROM HER, NOW!” Pelan Corr screeched as he quickly descended the ladder. Jana crashed to the hard ground.

  “You fucking idiot!” Pelan raged to his younger brother. “I told you she is not to be harmed or touched, especially by the likes of you!” Pelan pushed his smaller brother backwards, making him stumble and fall to the ground. “I should beat the living shit out of you, useless fuck. It’s your bloody fault we are in this mess as it is. Maybe I should kill you and be rid of you for good!” He towered menacingly over his brother, who was clearly terrified of his elder sibling. Tavlor must have feared a beating as he held his arm across his face in protection.

  Jana lay helpless on the floor, watching the exchange with her breath held and heart thumping. She never thought she would be so relieved to see Pelan Corr, her captor. He had suddenly become her saviour. But her terror had returned, nonetheless.

  “Get the fuck out of my sight, I’ll deal with you later,” Pelan yelled, yanking Tavlor up by his greasy hair. He punched his brother hard in the stomach, winding him. Tavlor doubled up in pain before crawling to the foot of the ladder, pulling himself up rung by rung. Pelan was seething and breathing hard; his fists tightly clenched as he watched his brother struggle up the ladder. When Tavlor eventually crawled out of the hatch and disappeared from sight, he turned to Jana who regarded him with terrified eyes.

  “I am sorry for my brother’s actions,” he said calmly, kneeling before her. “Did he harm you?”

  Jana shook her head vigorously.

  “Are you certain? You are not hurt?”

  Jana again shook her head.

  “That’s good then.” Pelan got up and lifted her easily from the floor. He dragged her to the wall and sat her up against it once more.

  “I bet you are hungry. Thirsty too?”

  Jana eagerly nodded and grunted through her gag.

  “I’ve brought you some bread
and water. Good job I did, too, by the look of things. Any longer and I think my brother would have hurt you.”

  Jana’s eyes lit up at the thought of food and water, and she grunted again.

  “You know the drill, no noise if I take the gag out of your mouth, okay?”

  Jana nodded, and Pelan untied the gag, revealing sore, red patches at the sides of her mouth where it had been forced open.

  “Thank you,” she said weakly.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he said ominously.

  Jana’s jaw hurt from being forced open for so long. She moved it around stiffly.

  “I need you to keep your strength up,” he announced, holding a water skin to her lips. She opened her mouth and drank eagerly, gulping down all that he poured. Water had never tasted so good to her. He allowed her a good drink before pulling the skin away and holding up a hunk of crusty bread for her. Breaking chunks of it off, he fed her the bread, and she ate greedily.

  “I have some good news for you,” he said. “But also some bad news. You will not be down here much longer.”

  Jana’s eyes widened at the news.

  “Don’t get your hopes up though,” Pelan continued. “You must realise I cannot just let you go as if nothing has happened. You know far too much.”

  “I will not say a word,” she croaked.