“Deal. Ready for some food?” he asked, getting up to retrieve the food on the spit.
“Yes. I’m starving!”
The two of them settled into eating the roasted rabbit and sweet, tender apples. After only some broth and bread for days, with nothing at all in the day or so prior to that, it tasted like the best meal she had ever tasted.
“How about some wine? I have some stored for special occasions.”
“Is this a special occasion?”
“Yes. We are celebrating our new friendship.”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on. There are no rules here. It’s just you and I. We can do whatever we like. Society has no hold over us here.”
“You’ve talked me into it.”
An hour and two large vessels of sweet, red wine later, Penelope felt a calm she hadn’t experienced in days. She and Kergot talked well into the night before retiring to bed. It was still awkward being in bed with a strange man and fully clothed, at that, but in some way it was also a comfort. She slept without the nightmares for the first time in a very long time.
CHAPTER 5
More than a week passed during which Penelope continued to lack the ability to shift. She grew frustrated with not only the loss of her dragon, but being confined to the cave and the ledge inside the waterfall where she could not be seen.
“I need some fresh air,” she told Kergot.
“By all means, Pene,” he told her, addressing her by a pet name that she had always resisted from others, but found she didn’t mind from him.
“No, Kergot. I need to go further than the ledge. I want to walk through the meadow. I want to fly!”
“I know you do. Your feet are much better. Perhaps it is time we seek out the woman that did this to you and put things right.”
“I don’t think I have a choice. I can’t go through life like this. I feel so helpless.”
“Then we will leave tonight, when it gets as dark as the clay beneath our feet. It is a long way back to the village on the other side of the pines. It is better to fly.”
“What are you talking about, Kergot? You know I cannot fly.”
“No, but I can, and you can ride on my back.”
“I’ll feel ridiculous riding on the back of another dragon.”
“Perhaps, you will be able to fly back on your own. I know you hate all of this, but we need to be smart about this. We will fly in and surprise the woman in the night. We’ll get the answers we need from her.”
“I’m frightened.”
“I know. I can feel you,” he replied, walking over to take her hands in his.
Penelope’s heart thudded wildly as he held her hands, looking down at her kindly as he spoke.
“We will find a way to get you right again. We will fix this, whatever it takes.”
“I hope so. I haven’t felt such a lack of control over things since my parents died.”
“You’ve never told me. What happened to your parents?”
“A story for another day. We’ve enough on our plates for today, I think.”
“I fear that you’ve led a life that has been more than unfair to you, Pene. I hope I can give you at least some of what you’ve lost, back.”
“You owe me nothing,” she told him quietly, looking down at the floor.
Kergot raised her chin to look at her. Meeting his gaze, she searched his eyes for any signs that he might betray her as the last one had. What she saw there was only compassion and, perhaps, a hint of something else that she wasn’t willing to admit might exist between them so soon.
“Never, Pene,” he said quietly, addressing her unspoken thoughts. “You will always be safe with me.”
“Kergot,” she began to say, but her words were cut off by an unexpected kiss.
She knew she should pull away, but she found that she lacked the will to do so. Instead, she leaned into him, allowing him to search her mouth hungrily. They lingered there, tasting one another with wild abandon until Kergot finally pulled away.
“I’ve been dying to do that for days,” he confessed.
“I’m glad you did, but let’s leave it at that for now. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, and I don’t want to start something that will only go badly for one or both of us.”
Now, it was Kergot who had no words. He opened his mouth to speak, but seemed to think twice about whatever he had been about to say. Instead, he closed his mouth and reached for her hand, lifting it to his lips to kiss it softly.
“As you wish,” was all he offered.
After the sunset, they began to make their way back through the tunnels toward the entrance that had brought them here.
“Why not fly directly out through the waterfall?” she asked.
“It has gotten chilly outside, and you’ll be cold enough on my back without being soaked through by the water from the falls. I don’t want you catching your death from a chill.”
“I see,” she replied, feeling bad that she was causing all this trouble when it could be so much easier for him without her.
“Stop that,” he said, suddenly whirling around to face her in the middle of the tunnel.
“What? Stop what?”
“Seeing yourself as a burden to me. You are not a burden, Pene. If anything, you’ve given me something to look forward to each day. I enjoy you being with me. Stop thinking that you are anything less than a companion that I want by my side.”
Pene looked at him. His ability to read her thoughts was still something she found startling and though she had learned to block out some of it, she often found herself forgetting to do so. Moments like this served to remind her that she was an open book to him.
“I will try,” she replied, smiling awkwardly.
“Don’t try. Just accept it. I have grown to care about you in this very short time, and I don’t want you thinking that I would be better off without you. At this point, I would only be worse. I would spend my time searching for you and trying to bring you back home to where I know you’d be safe.”
“Okay, Kergot,” she said simply.
She could see that he was aware of the uncertainty that remained, but he turned and began moving forward down the path once again. Before she knew it, they were back at the opening where they had entered the week before. The smell around them was horrible.
“What is that?” she moaned, recognizing it as the same scent he had put down when they had entered.
“You don’t know?” he asked.
“No. Why would I?” she replied.
“Really? In all your years as a dragon, you’ve never smelled your own urine?”
“What? That’s disgusting!”
“I can’t believe you’ve never smelled it before.”
“I’ve never gone around relieving myself while in dragon form. If I had to go, I waited until I returned to human form, and that is certainly not a smell that I experienced, ever!”
Kergot laughed and pushed through the bushes that hid the entrance, letting her walk through, her nose still curled up in disgust. Once they were out, she took a deep breath of the fresh air and looked up at the starless night above. There was only a tiny sliver of moon, and the clouds had swallowed any stars that might have been above them. It was almost pitch-black, a perfect night for flight.
“Are you ready?” Kergot asked.
“As ready as I will ever be,” she groaned.
“Okay. Just hang on tight once you are on. I will try not to jolt you around too much as we go. It is so dark out here, I should be able to go right in over the forest and be hidden by the night and the trees below. We’ll land at that old, abandoned farm near the town center and walk in from there.”
“It will have to do,” she replied.
Kergot began stripping down, pushing his clothes into a bag and handing it to her to strap over her back. She looked away, flustered at the sight of his naked form, not looking back until she heard the sound of his mighty dragon breath piercing the night around them.
He was gorgeous, his emerald and gold scales shimmering in what little light fell from the heavens. Across his brow was an unexpected yellow streak that gave him the appearance of wearing a mask. Penelope giggled as the thought of him as a masked dragon came to mind. Slinging the clothes over her back, she climbed aboard and latched on the best she could, ready to take to the skies.
CHAPTER 6
Kergot landed with a thud on the back field of the farm that used to belong to a family he’d known as a child. They had been slaughtered there by a local group of thieves that had decided to take from them what they could, and there had been a struggle that ended in the deaths of not only the mother and father, but their two small children, as well.
Penelope looked around at the desolate farmland and dilapidated house that they had left behind. There had been no family to take their place and no one wanted to take over the property, fearing it cursed or haunted. The people here were all very superstitious and wary of anything they deemed out of the ordinary. That is why it had been so easy for them to treat Penelope as they had.
She turned her head as Kergot shifted back to human form, handing him his bag without looking back at him and waiting until he was dressed and had moved in front of her, so she could see that he was decent for herself.
“It’s still a mile or so into town. You remember where he took you to see her, right?”
“Yes. I know exactly where it is.”
“Here, put on this scarf so no one recognizes you. The element of surprise is to our benefit, and we don’t want to lose it. As many men as were after you in those woods, I fear a good many would recognize you if they saw you strolling down the streets toward her house, even at this late hour.”
Penelope nodded and wrapped the scarf about her head before they began making their way toward the town. She felt incredibly on edge, as if sensing something that wasn’t quite right about the situation. Perhaps it was just nerves, but she felt fearful of what they might find.
“It’s going to be okay, Pene. I promise you, we will get what we came for and get back home quickly,” Kergot told her, reaching for her hand and holding it in his own.
She smiled up at him, feeling somewhat better. She trusted him and believed what he was saying, but still, some small part of her was afraid. Of what, she couldn’t be certain, and the closer they came to the town, the worse it became. She felt like there were dozens of eyes on them, but there seemed to be no one in the streets. It was an eerie feeling.
Approaching the old woman’s house, they used extreme caution. Kergot led the way, keeping her tucked safely behind his back as they went. When they arrived, both of them stopped and stared at what they were seeing in disbelief.
“Oh, my God. Kergot. What have they done?”
“I don’t know. It seems that someone took more offense at having a potential witch in their midst than they did a dragon,” Kergot replied quietly.
They stood there, hand-in-hand, looking at the burned building that used to house the old woman who had slipped something into the drink she had given to Pene. There wasn’t much left of it, just a shell of stones that housed the ashes of what had once been inside.
If there was any doubt as to whether the old woman had escaped her inferno, it could be put to rest by the fact that her corpse hung from a single beam that stood outside the blackened frame. It had been burned, and on it hung a sign that read, “Witches not welcome.”
Pene looked around them. Everything else on the street looked perfectly normal in the dark of night. There were shops to the left of the burned house and more homes to the right. The ashes seemed to be cold, so whoever had done this hadn’t wasted any time in doing so once Pene was gone. Was it a punishment for letting her get away? Or perhaps a precaution to make sure she didn’t undo what had been done?
“What do we do now?” Pene asked, feeling completely dejected.
“We find your betrothed. Where does he live?”
“Kergot, please. I can’t face him after what he did to me.”
“You don’t have to. I will face him for you if I need to do so, but maybe he knows something about all of this that will help you.”
Pene nodded silently. She knew he was right, and as much as she didn’t want to see Peter, he might be the only one that could undo what he had requested be done to her. The thought of seeing him again caused a lump in the pit of her stomach, but she knew it had to be done.
“Lead the way,” Kergot whispered, and Pene began making their way back out of the town center, in the opposite direction from which they had come.
“It’s not far, we will be there in a few minutes,” she told him.
“Wait. Before we go there. Where did you live? Do you have a home in this town? Maybe we can go there and retrieve some of your belongings before we stir up any trouble,” Kergot told her.
“My house is in the opposite direction, on the other end of the shops. It was just a small room that I rented from a local shopkeeper. It adjoined his shops, and I’m sure he’s already rented it back out and tossed my things. It’s not worth the risk in going back there to see.”
“Are you sure? We can at least look.”
“No. There is nothing.”
Pene knew that wasn’t true. She had things that had belonged to her parents, but she would just have to let them go. They were most likely in the possession of a thief or whomever the shop owner had sold them to already anyway. Kergot was looking at her, and she knew she had not hidden the thoughts well enough from him from the way his lips were pursed.
“Pene . . .,” he began to say, but she waved him off with her hand.
“Let’s just get this done, Kergot. I want to leave this place as soon as possible. Let’s get this over with.”
Kergot nodded and began to follow her down the way again. They stopped in front of a rather large, stone house with rounded pillars. Pene could remember thinking it a handsome house, but now it just looked like someplace a man with too much money and too few scruples would live.
“This is it? Nice place. I take it that he is on the wealthier side?”
“Getting there. His parents are rich, and he will be too, one day, when they pass, I suppose. In the meantime, he owns a large mercantile that does quite well and affords him a nice lifestyle.”
“I hope he enjoys his life enough to want to keep it,” Kergot replied, obviously not impressed by the stately home in front of him or the man that dwelled within.
“Don’t hurt him, Kergot. As much as I need answers from him, and as much as he has wronged me, I did once love him and don’t want him hurt.”
“Do you still love him?” Kergot asked quietly, studying her face as he waited for an answer.
“No. I stopped loving him the moment they took what was precious to me just because he couldn’t understand it.”
“Well, let’s go get it back then,” he said, walking up on the porch and heaving himself against the front door so hard that the wood splintered and the latches broke, sending it flying inside the house.
Immediately, there were voices coming from all sides. Not just that of Peter, but of many men. Pene turned to see them approaching from all directions as Peter strolled sleepily into the room and looked at the two of them.
“They said you would come back here. I didn’t believe them, but here you are,” Peter said emotionlessly.
“Tell me what she did to me,” Penelope hissed at him, but he was too busy looking at Kergot.
“Who is your friend, Penelope? Is he an oversized, flying rodent, as well? Oh wait. You aren’t able to do that anymore, are you? I was afraid the potion had failed when you flew away, but the woman told me it was only temporary. The men said you were on foot when they lost you. Is this where you went? With this man?”
Kergot moved in front of her defensively as Peter approached, pushing her back toward the door and away from the men that had been sleeping inside, just waiting for Penelope to come back, it seemed.
“W
hat did she do to me?” Penelope repeated angrily.
“Why would I tell you that? So that you might find a way to reverse it? You are an abomination, as was the witch that took your demons from you. That’s all I wanted for you. I just wanted for you not to be the monster that you showed me. We could have lived a quiet life here together without worry.”
“Are you out of your mind? You went to a woman who told these men you have gathered around you. Do you truly believe they would have ever let me live in peace among them knowing what I was, even if I couldn’t overcome what the witch did to me? Did you see what they did to her for helping them? That’s some repayment for services rendered, I’d say.”
“She failed. She said you wouldn’t be able to get away after the potion was administered and you did.”
“Answer me this, Peter. If all you wanted was the removal of my powers, why did you allow her to bring those men into the house to capture me? What were they supposed to do with me?”
“They are merely instruments of the Lord, brought in to absolve you from our sins. They would not have killed you. They won’t kill you now. They are only trying to save your soul. Some lashings and perhaps hobbling to keep you from running again should see you back on the right path in His eyes.”
“You would have let strange men beat and maim me just so that you could feel you were right with God?” she asked incredulously.
“I love you, Penelope. I was only trying to do what was right and what was pure. I’m glad you came back. Now, we can finish this. You shouldn’t have brought your friend, though. We’ll be forced to take care of him, as well, and, of course, we’ll have to take extra measures with you if it is found that your purity is no longer intact. It would be a shame to find that you have given yourself like a whore.”
“Whore? You dare call me a whore? How can you stand there and claim you are on the side of what is Godly when you are threatening two innocent people merely because you fear them?” she screamed at them.
“Oh, dear. I see that I’m too late to save you,” he said calmly, motioning toward the men that surrounded him on either side.
Awakening The Dragon (Exiled Dragons Book 9) Page 3
