“Certainly!” Isaline rose to her feet, and we went outside.
I spent the rest of the day in a flying crash course. Mother took me up into the sky high enough that I could see the tops of mountains around us.
“The most important thing to remember when flying is that the wind is your ally. Feel how it tugs on your wings?” She held hers out flat without flapping them.
I followed her example. The air pushed under my wings, lifting me higher.
“Good. Now, look down.”
I complied and gasped. “We’re moving!” The mountains below dragged toward my right. Or rather, I was dragged toward my left by the wind.
“These are air currents,” Mother explained. “You can fly through most of them, but some can be surprisingly strong, especially those that pull into storms, so always make sure to feel the air around you. Now, tilt your wings down. We’re going to dive.” She snapped her wings to her side and dropped like an arrow, nose pointed to the ground.
I’d been terrified of heights my entire life, worried I would fall. And now my mother wanted me to drop toward the ground on purpose? That pit in my stomach that dragged me toward the edge, the part of my mind that made me wonder what it would feel like if I just … let go …
I could finally do it.
I closed my wings against my back—it was as simple as dropping your arms to your sides—and fell. Air rushed over my scales, my insides quivered with delight, and the wind whistled in my ears.
“Now open your wings and catch yourself!” My mother’s voice was distant. She was far below me. I watched as she flung her wings out to her sides and jerked to a sudden halt.
My attempt was far less graceful. I shot my wings out, just as I’d seen her do, but the instant I did so, I tilted sharply to the right, overcorrected, and rolled left before I finally managed to right myself.
Mother laughed, the sound like pebbles tumbling down a slope. “Not too bad for your first try. You will, of course, need more training. There’s a lake this way. It will provide a soft landing for what we’re going to try next.” She tilted her wings to the left, and an air current carried her in that direction.
I shakily followed her, not confident in allowing the wind to carry me. Not quite yet. The clouds parted, revealing a wide rolling meadow with a lake surrounded by trees on one side and nothing but grass on the other.
“I want you to start taking risks.” Mother moved her wings. This close to the ground, the wind didn’t have enough strength to hold up our heavy dragon bodies any longer.
“I know it’s going to be frightening for you because you’ve spent your entire life on the ground. In everyday flight, what I’ve taught you will be sufficient.” Her blue eyes studied me. “But I know you want to go after this Gerard person, and that means you will probably be fighting in your dragon form as well. I must admit, teaching you to fight as a dragon in a few days’ time isn’t sufficient. I worry about you going into battle without enough experience.”
“But it’s better to go having learned something than knowing absolutely nothing.”
She sighed and nodded. “I agree. Which is why you are going to practice some maneuvers.”
Mother directed me to fly as fast as possible toward the lake and, as soon as I met up with the tree line, to spin to my right or left. My body wasn’t used to being in a dragon form, let alone intentionally shifting it suddenly off-center. More than once I hit the water and spluttered to the surface.
“Again,” Mother would direct.
And again I would try.
This continued until my mother finally stopped me at the shore and directed me to the still-rippling surface.
“Look at yourself.”
I looked down at my reflection. Water dripped from my scales into the water, distorting my image. “I see me.”
“You see you as what?” she pressed.
I looked over at her reflection to study her brown scales, the way her horns twisted away from the sides of her head toward her tail. I shifted to my own reflection. I had the same horns, the same shaped face, only I didn’t have a beak nose like she had. The same blue eyes, though. We had that in common as well.
“I look similar to you?” I glanced at her.
Mother chuckled. “Yes, you do. I’m trying to give you a deeper lesson. Look again. Are you a human?”
“No,” I scoffed. “Look at me.” I hinted with my chin toward all of me.
“I see you. I’m trying to get you to see yourself.”
I moved my lips to one side and returned my attention to my reflection. The water had calmed, and now the surface reflected the image of my dragon face.
“Elisa, you have to trust yourself as a dragon now. You grew up in a human body, that is unfortunate, but you’re holding yourself back. You’re afraid. What are you afraid of? Falling? You hit the water ever time. And even if you hit the ground from the height you’ve been flying, it would only sting or take your breath for a few minutes.” She stepped closer so her side brushed mine.
“I’m afraid of failing,” I admitted. The sunlight warmed my scales, and the water gradually evaporated off them. On the breeze, I smelled hot sagebrush and tree sap. I curled my claws, feeling the soil cave beneath my feet. “The woman who raised me, I was never good enough for her. I wasn’t allowed to do things because I was the crown princess.” I scoffed with bitterness. “She didn’t even let me go on horseback rides unless it was my birthday or the spring celebration.”
My mother’s tail wrapped around mine. “You could never disappoint me, Elisa.”
“You say that now. I’m bound to do something that—”
“Elisa.”
I turned and faced my birth mother.
“You’re young. You can’t possibly have all of the answers now. Even I make mistakes, and I’m positive that queen has too.”
“She did sort of steal me,” I conceded.
Mother grinned. “That she did. And now you’re going to go up there in the air and do this again. Because you can. Because you are the daughter of Isaline the Guardian and Rowen the Caretaker.”
“Caretaker?” I balked.
She laughed. “He isn’t fond of it, but it’s stuck. He’s the one who taught the trees to speak, you know. He’s always had an affinity for nature, but he can tell you about that himself later. Now. Try again!”
I flew up into the air and to the rocky section on the edge of a hill. I’d been using it as a reference point to turn and fly back to the lake. I knew I wasn’t a human in a dragon body. I’d always been a dragon.
With renewed confidence, I bolted for the lake. When my toes brushed the tops of the trees, I tilted to the right with all my might, kept my wings straight out, and turned sharply. This time, I didn’t hit the surface of the water. I didn’t lose my balance. I was finally able to trust in my wings, my arms and legs, and my neck and tail.
Now I knew I was a dragon, and I wasn’t going to be stopped.
Twenty-One
I sat in the meadow at Dormir’s side, watching the morning sky lazily stretch and wake. Clouds strolled by below us like curly wool, shielding our view of the valleys below. The rising sun transformed them into a painting of fire—bright yellows fading to orange, pink, and lavender. The sun seemed to push the blanket of the night sky off and welcomed us with open arms.
Dormir rested his hand on my knee, and I had my head on his shoulder. “How did your training go yesterday? You were too tired at dinner to talk much.”
“It was difficult,” I admitted. “But I’m already much better at flying. Mother taught me how to roll in the air. She said it’s particularly helpful when someone is throwing fireballs at me.” I giggled and sat up. “I also know how to turn now without losing altitude, and I can use the air currents to help me fly.”
“All in one day?”
I flinched.
“I’m not an expert by any means,” I confessed. “But at least now I won’t fall out of the sky if I have to turn.”
Dormir laughed.
I shoved his shoulder and rolled my eyes. “Father is going to try and teach me how to breathe fire today.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Now that would be something I would like to learn.”
Dormir looked at me.
I looked at him.
We both erupted into laughter.
He had a way of making me feel completely at ease. Gerard and I never sat and talked like this, not that we were given much of an opportunity to do so. He’d been too greedy to get his hands on the spring stone and never cared about me.
The sound of boots crunching grass drew our attention behind us to my father Rowen.
He nodded his head. “Morning. Are you ready, Elisa?”
I scrambled to my feet and dusted off my trousers. “Ready as I’ll ever be! How does this work, exactly?”
“We can’t practice up here because of the children.” He gestured to the fae boys and girls running about the meadow, climbing the trees, and swimming in the pool beneath the waterfall.
“Of course not. The meadow where Mother trained me to fly?”
“Can I come and watch?” Dormir requested.
I transformed into my green and yellow dragon form. “Climb on!”
It didn’t take long for us to fly down to the meadow I was at the day before. Still, it took me a solid three hours before I was able to burp up my first fireball, and it struck a nearby tree and completely engulfed it.
Father and Dormir couldn’t stifle their laughter.
I threw them both a glare. “You aren’t helping.”
“Fire breathing should be as natural for a dragon as flying,” Father said, still chuckling between words. “Don’t think too hard about it. We want to focus on the fire, not your specific powers, which is what I think you’re trying to summon.”
“Wait, specific power?” I looked to Dormir as if he could help.
He lifted and dropped his shoulders in a shrug.
“Every dragon has a different power. Your mother, for example, can manipulate the earth. She can summon rocks from the ground, or break the ground, and even create a golem if she has the time.”
“And what about you? Mother said you taught the trees to speak.”
He grinned. “I’m a nature dragon. I can do anything with the trees, but I also take care of flowers and shrubs.”
“If you’re both dragons of earth, are my powers going to be related?”
“Not necessarily.” He pointed to Dormir with his tail. “For example, Dormir is a fae. All fae can use magic to an extent, but some are gifted to be more powerful than others, like the royal line. However, not all humans are the same, correct?”
I furrowed my brows. “I think I follow what you’re saying. The stable boy at the castle, Philip, he doesn’t want to be a stable master like his father. He has other skills and wants to pursue a different life.”
Father beamed. “Exactly! Only with dragons and magical powers.”
I giggled.
“Now, fire. It comes from your belly, not your chest. Think of a time you got really upset, where does it fester?”
“My heart?”
He shook his head. “Really mad. Mad enough to break something.”
I thought back to when I tore the dining room apart, weeks ago. The anger had burned in my chest, like that time I got a severe cold … but it festered in my stomach. That’s where my roar had come from too.
I faced the still-smoldering tree and drew a breath so deep even my belly expanded. Then I let it go. The acrid taste of boiled eggs rolled over my tongue and out my mouth, and with it a stream of fire that set all of the nearest vegetation ablaze.
“Wonderful!” my father praised. “That’s perfect. Now that you know how to breathe fire, let’s practice with battling.” He flew off into the air.
I hesitated. “You want me to breathe fire at you?” I gaped.
“How else will you learn how to attack?”
“We’re going to destroy this entire meadow!”
Father turned in a lazy circle, traveling around the burning mass of trees and back to Dormir and me. “It’s due for a good burn anyhow. Fires help bring new life. Just try to avoid the trees.”
“Avoid the … Father!” I instinctively pulled my wings around my face when I spotted a ball of fire hurdling toward me. It hit my wings, but they acted like a shield, and all I could feel was the heat, and then the smell like charcoal.
“Good! Now, in the air.”
I gave Dormir a sideways look. Luckily, he was at a safe enough distance he was able to run and not get hurt. “We should get him to safety.”
“Then two targets to keep safe. The trees and your lover.”
“Father!” I whined again, but in honesty, I didn’t mind his teasing. It was a relief from the royal passivity I’d had to deal with my entire life.
This was the kind of training Mother had mentioned the day before. Training for battle. I had to remember to trust my body while dodging fireballs or drop attacks from my father and then return with my own attacks.
It was frustrating. He landed almost every strike of his claw or blow of his fire, and I only managed to strike him on the tail once. Exhausted, I landed on the ground beside the lake. Most fire had disappeared into the air, but a few had struck the ground and started small fires in the driest areas of the meadow.
I panted, a twinge in my shoulder with each breath.
“We can be done for now,” Father said, landing at my side. He walked into the water to cool off and get a drink. “You’re doing well.”
“Well? I can’t even hit you!”
He shook his head. “Elisa, this is only your second day of training. You’ll have a lifetime more.”
“Except we’re supposed to leave and stop Gerard, remember?” I pointed out.
“Of course. But you’re nowhere near ready to face him.” My father tilted his head, giving me a sincere look of apology.
I didn’t even want to look at Dormir and see his disappointment.
After lunch, we returned to the meadow and practiced again, this time without Dormir to watch. He had to stay behind and talk with his mother about leaving to fight Gerard. I did a little better but not much.
That night, after dinner, Dormir and I walked to the waterfall.
“How much longer are we going to stay here, Elisa?” he asked. “I know you can sense the feeling of standing on the edge of a dagger, waiting to slip.”
I had sensed it since we went the opposite direction of my castle and reluctantly nodded. “I do feel it. I just … don’t feel ready yet. There’s still so much I don’t know.”
He stopped and put his hand on my cheek. “There’s a lot of time for both of us. But not for your kingdom or your people.”
I shook my head. “Or yours.” I looked up at the night sky. “Give me one more day. Just one?” I asked.
Reluctantly Dormir agreed, and he pulled me into his arms, warming me from the chilly mountain air.
The next day, however, a horrible blizzard attacked the mountain peak. Magic protected the meadow, but Father forbade us from doing any flight training.
“No dragon can fly in this,” he explained.
So he tried to get me to practice whatever “special” magic I had. I didn’t seem able to do anything. I couldn’t call upon the earth, or the trees, or manipulate stone, or anything. I even tried talking to the flowers, but it didn’t work. And even though Dormir only watched, I knew he was growing restless.
The next day, the storm was still at full intensity.
I went to my father, wringing my hands. “I know you said it’s dangerous, but I have to get down to Griswil. I have to get to the castle.
I should have listened to Dormir and not prolonged the inevitable.”
“You couldn’t have known the storm would come,” he insisted, though he got to his feet from his position on the couch. “And you did need the training. We could practice—”
I put up my hand. “No. No, we need to go.”
He sighed. “Elisa, I know you are worried, but it’s like I said. You can’t fly through that storm. None of us can.”
“And what if that storm doesn’t relent?” I demanded.
His brow furrowed. “All storms relent.”
“Unless it’s a magical storm. Quist told me Selina, the sorceress, she’s real.” I took a big breath. “What if she’s causing the storm?”
Father shook his head. “Why? You know you aren’t cursed, and didn’t you say Quist told you Selina wasn’t involved? Why would she stop you from coming down?”
I opened and shut my mouth. If Selina really wasn’t after me, he was right. She would have no reason to keep us from leaving the mountains.
I slumped down into a nearby chair. “I should have left two days ago.” I put my face in my hands.
Father came over and pulled me into a comforting hug. “You needed to learn how to be a dragon. You needed to know how to fly and fight. You made the right choice.”
“What if I didn’t?”
“But what if you did?” He let go, and I looked up at him. “This Gerard fellow seems rather intelligent. If he has taken the throne, as you suspect, he would have anticipated battle right away were you still alive. He left you for dead, and now that this much time has passed, he must feel confident that you and the faeries have all been successfully eliminated. You have the element of surprise on your side.”
I started. “You’re right!” I jumped to my feet. “We can use this time to plan.” I paced the floor. “I think we should have others come. Of course, only if they choose to. I don’t know if Gerard has his army here or not.” I stopped. “If we can have dragons hide in the trees surrounding the forest, the armies of the faeries with them, I can go in and speak with Gerard. I could ask if he is willing to give up peacefully.”
The Dragon Princess: Sleeping Beauty Reimagined (The Forgotten Kingdom Book 1) Page 18
