Dragon Dream

by Elena Van Peborgh

  I recognised her voice and saw her standing in the entrance of the sleeping cave when I turned my head. She entered and went straight to the corner where there were some more blankets and pillows. She put another blanket over me and spread her own blanket over the ground. I was still cold, but I was grateful she had given me an extra blanket. I just hoped my fingers wouldn’t be fully frozen when I woke up in the morning. I would still fall asleep; I would even fall asleep if it were freezing cold. I was just afraid my toes and fingers would freeze off. I was used to a little bit of cold, but I was further north now.

  I woke up when someone kicked my side. I immediately felt a painful sting through my side when I turned around. I quickly moved my fingers and my toes and was relieved I could still feel all my limbs. Lilith looked impatiently at me. She folded her arms over each other and pursed her lips.

  “Come on. Get up,” she ordered in a clipped manner.

  I quickly removed the blankets and sat straight.

  “Fold the blankets nicely and put them in the corner with the rest. Take your pillow, too. And when I say you need to put them down, it means you can’t throw them.”

  I rolled my eyes when she turned around. I wondered for a moment if she was in a bad mood. Or maybe she just liked to snarl at everyone every morning. Maybe she just enjoyed ordering everyone around each morning. But I still followed her orders without giving a snide remark. I folded my blankets quickly and properly; there weren’t any weird folds.

  Lilith waited at the entrance of the sleeping cave in the meantime. Carefully, I put my blankets and pillow down so she wouldn’t get snarky, and when I was done, I followed her to the showers and toilets.

  The ladies’ room was round and in the middle of the room there was some sort of fountain with washing tables around the outside. There were several buckets filled with water standing against the wall. There was an opening in the walls at the left and one at the right. A sheet hung in each opening. I knew the toilets were on the left and that the showers were on the right thanks to Adam’s tour yesterday. Lilith said it was a waste of time to pour a whole bucket into one of the washing tables.

  “It’ll be better if you just wash your face a bit. Maybe you can also wash your arms and legs a bit as well,” she explained.

  I walked towards one of the buckets and put my hands in the water, it was freezing cold. Out of reflex, I pulled my hands back.

  “Are you that sensitive? Everything turns cold here. The nights are freezing, especially during winter and the water is also cold. I wonder what you’ll do during winter. I think you’ll freeze. Luckily, you still have some time to get used to the climate here.”

  I knew she was laughing at me. I was just a shape-shifter; a Lower even. I was placed way lower than they were. Maybe they thought we got treated better by the druids from The Capitals than they were by the mountain druids. Or maybe she thought we couldn’t stand the cold at all because the communities were situated more towards the south. But she didn’t know the shape-shifters were left to their fate, and that we barely got any help. We could be happy with what we had. The dragons got treated better by the mountain druids. It could also turn very cold in the communities. I was used to the cold, but it became a bit warmer in the communities around this time of the year while it was still cold here in the mountains. I was already used to the warmth slowly starting to permeate through the communities.

  I had the urge to throw a bucket of water in her face but tried controlling myself. I had done enough already yesterday and wanted to behave today. I rolled up my trousers and washed my legs. Next, I washed my arms and hands, and finally threw some water on my face. Some more girls entered when I had finished. They weren’t fully awake yet, so they were rather calm and barely noticed Lilith and me. We headed to the mess hall, but nobody had arrived there yet, so we went to stand in a corner.

  “Did we need to get up this early? There’s no one here yet,” I said.

  I wasn’t complaining; I was actually used to getting up early. I did have the impression it was earlier than the time I usually got up myself though.

  “Hmmm... That’s the first time you’ve said anything about that. I had gotten the impression you were reasonably well awake for this time of the day. I always get up around this time. I need to. Otherwise, the rest of the dragons need to wait for me and then they will complain I am late again.”

  The giant dragons entered the room at that moment. Zoran looked at me shortly while smiling. I knew he was wishing me good luck. I probably needed it. I was still very nervous. The group of fire dragons entered right at the time the giant dragons had sat down at their table. I quickly counted them. There were twelve in total. Lilith waited a bit longer until most of the fire dragons had been seated and then joined the line.

  In the meantime, a lot of other dragons stood at the side as well. I went to sit down at the same table as Lilith and vaguely noticed my friends joining us as well. I was way too nervous to pay attention. I didn’t know what they were talking about, I wasn’t listening.

  Seventeen

  I had agreed to meet Isaak at the apple and pear plantations after breakfast. I was the first one to arrive there. There was no one else present at the plantation yet but I didn’t need to wait long until Isaak showed up.

  “We need to wait a little bit longer until someone arrives who works at the plantations. I need to be certain someone can verify you’ve been there,” Isaak announced to me.

  I was a bit disappointed. I would rather start right away, eager to take the tests. But that remark had told me a little bit more. I knew now I would have to run to the fields at the bottom of the mountain. I would probably have to run back up afterwards. Emma showed up a few minutes later.

  “Are you going to take the tests, Tatiana?” she asked.

  I couldn’t answer; I was too nervous. I could only nod. Emma and Isaak agreed she’d have an hour to get all the way down. So I would only be able to start after that hour. As I had suspected, I would need to run all the way down, search for Emma, and give her a message. She would give me an answer, and I would need to run back to Isaak then to give him her answer. Exactly one hour after she had left, Isaak gave me the message I would have to pass to her.

  “Tell Emma she needs to be careful with the corn,” he said.

  That was the sign I could leave. I had one hour to complete the test.

  “If Emma takes an hour to go down, you’ll easily be able to run down and back up in that time,” Isaak said.

  I didn’t worry about the time limit. I didn’t know how far it was, but I had excellent stamina. I could do this. I decided to run at my normal pace on the way down and run a bit faster during the last bit.

  I didn’t have a clue how long it took me to get there, but it felt like time had gone faster than I had anticipated. I had cleared my thoughts while running, only focusing on the test. I immediately spotted Emma and ran straight towards her.

  “Emma!” I yelled to draw her attention.

  That helped because she immediately turned around to face me.

  “Can I give you a message? Isaak has asked me to give you one.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “He said you need to be careful with the corn.”

  She smiled. “Well, actually, the corn isn’t the problem.”

  I frowned for a bit. Was that everything? I could easily have made up that answer myself. “Is that everything?” I asked.

  “Yes, just give Isaak that answer. Return to him quickly.”

  I remembered there was a time limit. Damn it. I had wasted a little time. I turned around quickly and ran back up. I knew now how far I had to run and actually it wasn’t very far. I needed to catch up some time, so I ran faster now than on the way down.

  I wasn’t even out of breath when I reached Isaak. He seemed to be a bit surprised but quickly recovered.

  “Well, actually the corn isn’t the problem, Isaak,” I said to him.

  He raised one eyebrow and smiled. “
I first thought you hadn’t gone to Emma, but that’s exactly the answer she must give. Do you have any idea how much time you took to complete that test?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t have any clue what my time was. Isaak had kept the time with surgical precision. He was still holding the stopwatch and handed it over to me. I blankly stared at the numbers. I didn’t pay much attention to the seconds, they weren’t important. The display showed thirty-eight minutes. Isaak had given me an hour to complete this test, and I had completed it in almost half of the allotted time. He took the stopwatch from me.

  “Well, that’s the fastest time I’ve seen so far. Now, we still have some time left. We can do the second test already,” he said.

  I nodded heavily. We still had a while before it would be lunchtime. I wanted to take the second test. He led me to the room where Bernardus and I had arrived after getting out of the flying orb. Isaak called this room the central hall.

  “Okay, I want you to follow a certain route and once we get there, you need to repeat the sentence I will give you in a minute. I want you to repeat that sentence literally word for word. Every word needs to be spot on.”

  I nodded in understanding.

  “I’ll first tell you what route you’ll need to follow. I want you to start here, pass through the central place and pass by the sleeping cave where I sleep.”

  “Sorry, but I don’t know where you sleep. I sleep in the same cave as Sil, Jenna and Emma,” I interrupted.

  He knew the three girls, of course, and also knew where they slept. He explained how I would be able to get to his sleeping cave from mine.

  “We can use that actually. Once we have reached my sleeping cave, we can pass by yours. Then you can return to the central place again. Next, you need to pass by the apple and pear plantations and from there you can head to the strawberry plantation. Finally, you need to go to the area where Lilith left her bag yesterday. Understood?”

  I pondered it all, I went over the whole route I must follow in my head. Central place, Isaak’s sleeping cave, then mine and then back to the central place. Next would be the apple and pear plantations, then the strawberry plantation and finally the place where Lilith had left her bag yesterday.

  “Okay, I can do that. What’s the sentence I need to remember?”

  “The roses don’t grow well anymore, and they don’t have a nice red colour anymore. Maybe we should use a different type of fertiliser. Please pass this on to Rufus.”

  I found the sentences they used for these tests didn’t make sense at all. It sounded like it was some kind of code or secret language. I wondered if they even had roses. I hadn’t seen one yet. There was probably no one called Rufus either.

  I didn’t hesitate to leave though. I was pretty sure this test was only about me being capable of following and remembering a route. But maybe Isaak secretly kept the time; he was still holding the stopwatch.

  I took the shortest route to the central place and then went straight to Isaak’s sleeping cave. Next, I passed by my own to return to the central place. I had kept up my fast pace for a while, but I needed to run through small halls on the way to the apple and pear plantations, so I slowed down a bit now. I also slowed down because I couldn’t see anything. I still couldn’t run as quickly as I wished while running over the small path to the strawberry plantation even though I was outside and could see my surroundings now. The path was perilous; it was bumpy, and there were loose stones everywhere that I could stumble over, so I had to pay close attention to my feet.

  “Wouldn’t anyone ever fall here?” I sarcastically murmured to myself.

  I quickly looked sideways to my left, straight into the abyss. If I tripped, I would fall into it. I loved that the dragons lived this freely and didn’t worry about falling, but sometimes they seemed to have suicidal thoughts. I was glad I wasn’t afraid of heights at all. I didn’t have the reflex to stand still when I saw the height. My focus returned to my feet again.

  Finally, I reached the strawberry plantation. I quickly glanced over my shoulder to check if Isaak was still following my trail and he was. I was a bit worried now. I had never been on the strawberry plantation, so I didn’t know this place. Luckily, I immediately noticed the opening to go back inside the mountain; I would quickly find my way back if I were inside. I now needed to head in the direction of the mess hall. The only problem was that I didn’t know which way I had to take now I was inside. It was a chaos of hallways. I looked to the left and to the right; there was an opening in the walls every few feet. I internally prayed I would quickly come across something I would be able to use to orientate myself.

  I suddenly came into the corridor that led straight to the mess hall. I didn’t know how I had ended up here, but it didn’t matter; I had searched for a spot I would be able to recognise and had found one. This was where I was supposed to be. I remembered Lilith had let me turn into another hallway yesterday evening so she could put her bag in some kind of alcove. I still remembered which hallway that was. I was so excited when I saw the niche. I jumped up and down a few times, seeming to be doing a little dance of joy. My rational side nagged at me to stop doing that, telling me it would be better to remember the route I had followed so I would be able to take the same way again another time.

  “You’re fast,” Isaak interrupted my thoughts.

  That was a rather stupid remark. “You knew that already, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but I was hoping you’d only arrive here around lunchtime. It’ll still be some time before we can eat.”

  “We can follow the same way but in the opposite order. First, we’ll pass by the strawberry, apple and pear plantations to go to the central place. Next, we’ll pass by the sleeping caves to return to the central place again. And finally, we’ll end up in the central hall.”

  I had meant that as a joke, but Isaak seriously considered that idea. “That’s actually not a bad idea. You can do that,” he said.

  What had I done to myself? I was such an idiot. I didn’t protest though. I did as he had ordered me to do and followed the same route back to the central hall in the opposite order. It was finally lunchtime when we arrived there. We quickly ran in the direction of the mess hall. Isaak suddenly turned into a wrong corridor, but I followed him. He had taken a wrong turn on purpose. He led me to the place where Lilith had left her bag last night. There were still some bags left.

  “George, Lilith and I are messengers and we leave our bags here before we eat. We always meet here at the end of the workday, that’s why we call this the meeting place,” Isaak told me.

  “And you return here to pick your stuff up again when you’ve finished eating.”

  “Yes, indeed. There are still some extra bags left here, like you can see. But I believe you owe me a sentence.”

  Oh, right. The sentence. I had almost forgotten about that, but I did remember the sentence.

  “The roses don’t grow well anymore, and they don’t have a nice red colour anymore. Maybe we should use a different type of fertiliser. Please pass this on to Rufus.”

  “Perfect. That’s exactly the sentence I had given to you at the beginning of the test. You’ve passed two tests now.”

  “How many tests are there?” I asked.

  “There are three tests. You only need to pass the final test now. But we should eat first.”

  The mess hall was pretty full already. My friends were all seated at their table. I was happy to see they had joined Lilith, and I hadn’t even asked them to do that. I quickly shovelled some food onto my plate and went to sit across from Lilith with a huge smile on my face.

  “Wow, your mood has suddenly changed. You were so nervous this morning and look at you now being relaxed,” Adam noticed.

  “Tatiana, tell us about the tests,” Emma said.

  Everyone was curious to know if I had passed some of the tests. I noticed the tension on their faces.

  “I’ve only taken two out of the three tests. I only need to pass the final one now,
” I told them.

  Their reaction was delighted and full of congratulations.

  “What was your time?” Lilith suddenly asked.

  I was a bit surprised. I hadn’t expected this question. But I knew what she meant; she was asking me how long I had needed to complete the first test. “Thirty-eight minutes.”

  Everyone was struck with silence. It was suddenly very quiet at the table.

  “Wow, you’ve established a new record. I had the best time until you came around. I had needed forty-two minutes. Congratulations,” Lilith said, being the first one to break the silence.

  Then chaos erupted. My friends were so excited when they heard this. They asked me how I could have been so fast. A lot of people came to stand around our table. Everyone wanted to know what the commotion was about. I quickly glanced over my shoulder to the table in the centre of the room. I anxiously looked at Zoran. What did I have to do? I felt awkward now; I was the centre of the attention. Zoran noticed me looking at him, said something to the other two giant dragons and then stood up. He quickly reached my table.

  “Leave the girl alone. She just got here yesterday. I know it’s huge news a shape-shifter is capable of becoming a messenger, but can you please spread this news at your own tables?”

  The crowd spread out quickly. They obeyed him immediately and went to sit at their own respective tables again.

  “Thank you,” I said to him.

  He smiled. “I’m the leader of the dragons for a reason.”

  I nodded. I still remembered the conversation we had had yesterday and what he had told me. He turned around and returned to his own table.

  “You’re getting used to this place. You’re becoming a part of the society of the dragons,” Bernardus said.

  I quickly turned around so I could face him. Revan sat next to him. I only realised now the two druids hadn’t said a word the whole time. “Oh yeah, I love it here. I want to stay here for the rest of my life. I will pass that last test and become a messenger. I’ll become a real dragon.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I’m proud of you. I’m sure Flora is proud of you as well.”