The Phoenix Stone

Chapter Thirteen

I was examining an iridescent rock that was stuck to the wall of the ravine when suddenly I heard wingbeats and felt long sharp claws wrap around my middle.

My words wouldn't work and I could hear a gravelly voice in my head saying, "You are not scared. You do not need to scream." I tried to push around the voice but it was controlling me. Inwardly I screamed.

Nobody had noticed that I had been lifted up above them until the dragon gave a triumphant roar that caused a mini rock slide in the ravine. I couldn't see their faces, in fact, they were nothing but tiny dark specks in contrast with the bright white snow.

As the dragon carried me over the mountains it stopped controlling me. As soon as its presence left my mind I could scream, and scream I did. After a few minutes of being perpetually terrified of high up we were I finally spotted a cave. Sure enough, that's where the dragon was headed.

As the dragon flew into the small opening of the cave I wondered how in the world had I ended up here? So many things had happened and so many things were still going to happen.

The cavern was immense and had several openings that most likely led to other caverns. I was also met with the sight of dragons, real life, full size, dragons. Dragons of every size, shape, and colour. What I assumed were the younger ones flew around near the top of the cavern, squeaking loudly all the while. The larger dragons lounged around in little groups of about five or six and filled the cave with deep echoing grumbles.

My dragon hadn't landed, nor put me down yet and its claws were starting to dig painfully into my skin through my thick coat and dress. We swooped through the huge cavern and into a wide passageway that led into another enormous cavern, that although big, not as big as the first one. Inside this cave was a huge dragon about a quarter of the size of the cave. It made a deep, ground rattling rumble when it saw me in my dragon's claws.

I was placed on the ground more gently than I had expected and when we were standing in front of the giant dragon, my dragon bowed its head deeply. I assumed that this gigantic golden dragon was the leader of the dragons.

The enormous dragon made a short guttural noise before nodding to the other dragon. It lifted its head again.

Now that I was on the ground and not being held by the dragon I could see what it looked like for the first time. It was a metallic sky blue but its horns were white and its eyes were a piercing yellow. It didn't look like a man eating monster but when it opened its mouth to yawn I decided otherwise. Its teeth were each the length of my forearm and came to a sharp point at the tip and its claws felt like they were almost as sharp as the teeth.

I rubbed my sides where its claws had gouged me. The scratches were oozing with blood but the bleeding wasn't too bad. I ripped a strip of cloth off the hem of my dress and began wrapping it around my middle, trying to stop the bleeding completely. The sound of the ripping startled both dragons who snarled at me but for some reason I didn't flinch.

They made a few grunting noises that I assumed were a conversation then looked at me with their piercing golden eyes. Under their fixating gaze I stood, not breathing, not moving, not even thinking, just waiting. Waiting for anything and everything.

Finally they exchanged a look. A look that I couldn't read. With a nod, my dragon left the room leaving me and the big dragon alone together.

It looked at me again, its deep golden eyes glinting in the dim fire light. Through the silence a gruff female voice emerged in my consciousness. "So you are one of the puny two-legs that provoke us constantly. I have seen you many times but never talked to you."