Dragon Dream

by Elena Van Peborgh

  I heard someone chuckling behind Flora, but I couldn’t see that person because my mom, Flora and Vera impeded my sight.

  “Stay away from her, wolf! I won’t tell you again!” my father shouted from downstairs.

  “Leave him alone, Andrew. Don’t upset him please. Stay away from him!” my mom shouted to my dad.

  “Can you please stop yelling and screaming?” I asked, rubbing a hand over my forehead. My headache wasn’t improving.

  “I’ll go back downstairs and try to calm Andrew down,” my mom said.

  She went back downstairs, and Vera decided to follow her. Now, I could see the unknown person, but I had guessed it was Jon when my father had said the word wolf.

  “Hi, Jon,” I greeted him and nodded.

  “I’m so sorry for suddenly showing up in your house, but I was so worried about you. There was a party going on here, and I thought I had the right to be here too. So I kind of invited myself,” he responded. He grinned, and I smiled back.

  “Apparently it’s my party but I haven’t even seen an invitation myself. So don’t worry about them not inviting you.”

  “I hope you know you’ve taken a huge risk by coming here. Fortunately for you, this village is neutral,” Flora said.

  “I know it was risky, but I also knew this village was neutral. Tatiana’s dad is a lynx, her mom is a bear and her friend is a bird,” Jon answered.

  “Vera is a giant eagle. How have you found out about Vera being a bird and my mom being a bear?” I asked him.

  “Well, in the same way your dad knew I’m a wolf. He could smell it. You don’t smell like a fox because you haven’t been one for a long time yet. You haven’t transformed that much into a fox yet.”

  “I’ll check how things are going downstairs. But I do agree with your mom, Tatiana. I think it’ll be better for you if you sit or lie down,” Flora said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine,” I agreed. I turned around, entered my room again and sat down on my bed. “Sit down,” I said to Jon and he sat down next to me. “Well, this is cosy. This party is fun,” I grinned.

  “Is it true what you just said? Do you have a headache? Have you really fainted?”

  “Yes, it’s all true. I just woke up again. Tell me, how much time has passed since we last saw each other? I remember I got that wound then and that you brought me to my village.”

  “Tatiana… That happened three weeks ago.”

  “Shit!”

  I was so frustrated. I had been unconscious for two weeks.

  “Wait a minute. That’s impossible. It’s impossible I have been unconscious for two weeks,” I said. I needed to eat and drink, otherwise I’d die.

  “Maybe you’ve woken up a few times during those two weeks, but it was so shortly you don’t remember those moments,” Jon said, shrugging.

  “Why don’t I remember that?” I was even more frustrated.

  “I don’t know. Are you fully conscious now?” He snapped his fingers in front of my face a few times but that was very annoying.

  “Stop, that’s freaking annoying. I know for damn sure I’m awake. I’ll ask Flora or my mom what has happened.”

  “Yeah, about that… You have a nice family. Your father tried to kill me. I think he wanted to choke me.”

  I shrugged. “Well, that’s the price you pay when you attack innocent lower shape-shifters.”

  “Hey! I’m not the one who does that. You’re the only lower shape-shifter I’ve ever touched in my life.”

  I smiled. “I know. If you wanted to hurt me, you’d have done so already. But you’ve helped me more than you’ve tried to kill me. You’ve saved my life several times. But I get the impression my mom is protecting you. Why is she doing that?”

  “She’s only protecting me because she’s afraid of me,” Jon rolled his eyes.

  “Well, you’re very terrifying. You’re a big, black wolf,” I laughed.

  “They’ve never seen me as a wolf.”

  That reminded me of something. My tone was suddenly very serious. “Vera has. She told me she saw you when you brought me here.”

  “That reminds me... Is it Vera’s task to guard this village? I was watching her for a while, and I got the impression she was walking in rounds along the village.”

  “Huh? Really? I also got that impression because she’s always the first person I see when I arrive here.”

  “I had hidden myself among the bushes, but I think she saw me after a while. Suddenly, she yelled to reveal myself. I transformed to my human form and told her why I was hiding there. I told her I was looking for you. So she brought me to your house. I don’t think she knew I am a wolf until your father stood up and yelled the word wolf,” Jon told me.

  “Was he able to smell that so well?”

  He shrugged. “Apparently he was. I don’t know a lot about lynxes. Maybe they can easily recognise wolves because they are both higher shape-shifters. Or maybe he could tell I’m a wolf by the way I acted. I don’t really know.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “I already told you why. I was worried about you. Two weeks ago, I was waiting at the river, but you never showed up. I thought you were still recovering.”

  I nodded to confirm that. I had still been wearing the bandage during that time. I looked at my leg. I wore it again now, but it was green instead of white.

  “A week ago, I was there again, and I started to worry. When you didn’t show up yesterday, I decided to come to your village. I knew where it was. I knew I was taking a huge risk, but I was worried,” Jon continued.

  I examined him for a bit. “Are you sure that’s the only reason?”

  I didn’t know why I was so suspicious. I didn’t believe he was only here because he was worried. But I could be wrong. I just needed to be certain. I saw him doubting. “Has something happened?”

  I wanted to know what was going on with him. I had missed him a lot.

  “Actually…” He shut his mouth abruptly.

  “You can tell me. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.”

  “I’ve lied.”

  I didn’t show anything. My facial expression was blank. I remained calm. Telling lies wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He’d have his reasons for lying to me.

  “I don’t really understand. Why have you lied? What have you lied about?” I asked.

  “Do you remember I told you I’ll become linked soon? I hope you remember what that means. I’m used to using that phrasing.”

  I furrowed my brows. I didn’t fully understand what he was talking about, but I remembered he had said that, so I nodded. I wondered why he had brought that subject up again.

  “I’ve already known for a long time I’ll become linked to this girl. But I had never really thought about it until I transformed for the first time. My father asked me things about the linking and was preparing things.”

  He shut up again. I got the impression I should say something, but I still had no idea what this was about.

  “Don’t you wonder why he’s preparing things when the linking will only take place in two years?” he asked.

  I shrugged. I didn’t know how much time the preparations for an engagement required. When lower shape-shifters wanted to become engaged to someone, it was actually easy, but I could imagine higher shape-shifter would dramatise the whole thing.

  “The linking won’t take place in two years. It’ll happen sooner.”

  “So, when will it take place? Don’t lie this time.”

  “It’ll happen in three months. I’m not lying this time, I swear.”

  “You’ve known for a very long time this will happen. It needs to happen anyway. Why is it so bad? There might be some disadvantages because other people have chosen your partner for you. I know that choice is very important because it’s for the rest of your life. It’s better when you can choose your partner yourself. But there are also advantages. You don’t have to worry about finding a partner, and I presume you know that girl very well,” I
said.

  Jon grimaced and pulled up his nose. “Oh yeah, I know her very well. Her name is Chrystal. She’s one year older than I am.”

  “Why do you do that? Is she so bad?” I remembered him showing his disgust when he had told me about the arranged engagement before.

  “Well, she’s a bitch and crazy. She thinks she’s already the boss. Fame and power swelled her head. Although she isn’t known for good reasons.”

  “Oh good, then she won’t have to learn that when you become alpha,” I laughed. He poked my ribs. I tried to stop laughing, but it was actually funny. “Sorry, it’s just funny.”

  “I just want to run away,” Jon whispered.

  “Can you do that? If you can, just run away. But you must be certain.”

  He was obviously doubting and thinking about it. “I don’t know. I don’t think… I can’t. Not on my own. Will you go with me?”

  What? I was a bit confused. Did he really expect me to just run away with him? I had a nice house. I wouldn’t know where else I’d go to. He moved a bit and reached out his hand to me. He put his hand on my cheek. What was he doing? He put his hand under my chin and pushed my face up a bit. I couldn’t move, I was frozen. I didn’t know why I didn’t pull myself back. I blamed my dizziness. Or maybe I had been wrong about being awake fully. His face was so close to mine I could feel his warm breath on my face. I barely dared to breathe or blink. Suddenly, he moved even closer with his face. His lips touched mine. He kissed me.

  Eleven

  How did he dare to kiss me? I became furious. Suddenly, I was fully awake again. I could think and move again. I pulled myself back and slapped his face. I had used a lot of force, so I knew it hurt a lot. I was so surprised I covered my mouth with my hands and jumped up from the bed.

  “Get out,” I said and pointed to the door.

  “Tat…”

  “Get. Out. Of. My. Room,” I repeated.

  He hesitated and looked at me for a while, but I didn’t show anything. The expression on my face was as hard as steel. He stood up and walked towards the door. He stood still in the opening and glanced over his shoulder. I looked bored and folded my arms.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Get out of my room and never come back.”

  Finally, he left my room and I heard him walk down the stairs. I sat on my bed and covered my face with my hands.

  “You know I can still see you, right?” I heard Vera say a minute later.

  I was kind of surprised as I hadn’t heard her entering my room. I saw her leaning against the wall when I removed my hands.

  “I know.”

  “Is everything alright?”

  “Yes.”

  “If you want to talk about it, you know where to find me,” Vera said.

  I nodded as Flora entered the room. She held a big cup with green fluid in it. It reminded me a bit of a smoothie.

  Vera looked at Flora. “I’m going back home. If my mom has noticed the fuss, I’ll need to explain what has happened here. Don’t worry. I’ll make something up,” Vera said.

  She left the room, so I was alone with Flora now.

  “What’s that?” I asked Flora, pointing to the glass she held.

  “This? This is a kind of medicine. I’ve made it with herbs, vegetables and fruit. Look at your leg.”

  I glanced at my leg and saw a large square stuck exactly where my wound had been. It seemed to be some kind of bandage. I knew it was supposed to be spotless, but it wasn’t white anymore, it was more light green.

  “Do you put that on my leg?”

  She laughed and when I looked at her, I saw her shaking her head. “No, you must drink this. The bandage is green because I’ve put leaves on the wound. It was… infected. Somehow, you’ve hurt your leg by something sharp and then a rare but poisonous plant injected its toxins into you. Normally, it isn’t poisonous when you touch the plant with your bare hands if you wash your hands carefully afterwards, but the toxins had gotten in your bloodstream. Fortunately, I could treat you in time, otherwise you’d be dead by now,” Flora told me while she put the glass on my bedside table. “You’ll get better soon.”

  When she left the room, I took the glass and started to drink the green substance. It tasted weird but as far as I knew medicines always tasted weird and a bit bitter. I trusted Flora. She’d never harm me. She had actually saved my life. My mother entered the room and smiled when she saw me drinking Flora’s medicine.

  “Mom?” I asked when the cup was empty. I put the glass back on the bedside table.

  “What do you want to ask?”

  “I believe I’ve been unconscious for two weeks, but that’s impossible, isn’t it?”

  “You haven’t been unconscious during the whole time. You woke up every day for a moment. You stayed awake long enough so you could eat and drink. Sometimes you stayed awake for a bit longer so you could wash yourself. Flora and I helped you with that. Apparently, after you had fainted for the first time, you hadn’t woken up once during the first three days. Flora and I weren’t here yet; we had only arrived on the fourth day. You weren’t conscious then,” my mother told me.

  “Have you woken me then?”

  “Yes, Flora could wake you. I think she used special herbs because you seemed to be in some sort of trance. First, we helped you to wash yourself and let you eat and drink something. Then Flora examined your leg. Your right leg was completely purple. She removed the stitches, but the wound had already healed well so it wasn’t that bad to leave it open. Don’t worry. It was a good idea to ask for Mary’s help. She hasn’t done anything wrong at all. Flora said it was a good thing the wound had already healed a bit,” she continued.

  “Do you think I’ll be okay?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’m very certain you’ll be okay. Flora can give you the treatment you need. You seem to be a lot better already and you seem to realise what’s happening around you. The previous times you were awake, you seemed to still be half asleep.”

  “Yes, I know what’s going on and what’s happening.”

  “Can I sit next to you?” she asked, and I nodded. “What was that thing with the wolf?” she asked.

  I had to tell her everything. I couldn’t hide Jon anymore. She knew of his existence now, and she knew what he was. “I met him a few weeks ago. He didn’t attack or hurt me. He was friendly so we kind of became friends. When I got this wound, he brought me home. I swear he hasn’t done this.” I told her the truth. I didn’t know what else to tell her.

  “It’s very risky being friends with a wolf.”

  “Why? Because they’re higher shape-shifters? Aren’t you engaged to one?”

  I knew very well these words would hurt my mom. Her facial expression changed immediately, and she seemed to be sad. I regretted what I had said. She was always nice to me and she never forced me into anything.

  “I’ve got a personal experience with wolves. Almost nobody knows this, but I used to be friends with a wolf; his name was Anton. In the end, I realised he had only used me for his own purposes. He lied constantly, but I hadn’t figured that out at that time. He hurt me so much. He broke me. Did you know I was pregnant? My parents kicked me out of the house because of that. Luckily, Andrew was there to help. He risked everything by helping me and bringing me to The Third Capital to search for Flora. When the lynx community found out he was helping a bear, they didn’t want him there anymore so he couldn’t go back to his community anymore. He has literally sacrificed everything he had,” my mom told me.

  What? This new information was just overwhelming. I hadn’t known anything about this. I had had no idea.

  “What happened then? Am I actually the daughter of a wolf?”

  “No, your half-brother or half-sister was never born. Flora removed the unborn child and let Andrew and me stay in her house until she had found a better place for us to live. She knew there were mixed communities, but she needed to find one first. That’s how we got here.”

  “Why did
father help you? Were you friends with him before you got to know the wolf?” I wondered.

  “No, I didn’t know Andrew at all. I don’t know why he helped me. I was already wandering around for a few weeks. I was dirty, half-starved and dehydrated. I think he felt compassion for me and that in his opinion, he was obliged to help me. I know you think he acts superior, but he doesn’t think he’s better than all the rest.”

  Wow, I had a lot of respect for my father right now. I decided that from now on I’d try to be nicer to him and to listen more to him.

  “Why did you two get engaged?”

  “Flora said we were dependent on each other, and that we couldn’t go back to our own communities. We realised that too, of course. It was just easier. Flora has connected us to each other.”

  We sat quietly next to each other as I pondered everything my mother had said.

  “Actually, the lesson in that story is you can’t trust wolves. They use you. When they lie to you once, you can presume all the rest were lies too,” my mom said.

  “Even though it was just a small lie? I mean, Jon first told me he’d get engaged in two years but apparently, it will happen in three months. It isn’t that important.”

  “Jon? Is that his real name?”

  “No, Jon is a contraction of his birth name and his pack name. His birth name is James, but he has the name Avalon now.”

  “Oh, alright. I’ll tell you something. He is probably already engaged to someone. Anton first said his engagement would take place a few years later too. He then told me it’d happen sooner. In the end, the truth came out. He was already engaged for years. He even had a son. Flora did a background check on him.”

  I was scared now. My mom seemed to have gone through the same thing I had experienced. What if Jon had had the same plans as Anton? I was glad my mom had told me her story. It was very brave of her to tell me this, but now she had warned me. She didn’t want me to go through the same experience.

  Now I started to ponder this, I realised it had been a game for Jon. He had gained my trust and had charmed me like I was a little, helpless lower shape-shifter. He probably wanted to know how far he could go before this stupid, dumb Lower would see through his lies and deception. But I realised that now, and it made me furious. I had fallen for it, but I knew better now. I couldn’t believe wolves could be so sly and evil.