Dragon Tamer - Book 1

Chapter 12

She couldn't tell what time it was when she woke up, a strange light was coming through her eyelids, but that was not possible unless she was outside.

She was also warm.

Too warm. She felt hot and clammy, as if it were the middle of summer rather than the start of autumn.

She panicked, wondering if she had dreamed the previous day, and she would wake up in the forest with no trace of the cave or the dragon.

She opened her eyes slowly, praying that she wasn't loosing her mind.

A huge scarlet claw was laying a foot away from her nose. She froze in fear. Before following the claw with her eyes and seeing that it belonged to a foreleg and that belonged to a large body of the red dragon.

For some reason she felt calmer. She still eyed the claw apprehensively for a while to make sure that it didn't move. Now she was fully awake (the fright of waking up next to a creature that could easily devour her in one bite having chased away the lasting dregs of sleep) she could discern that the dragon was breathing deeply, the sound vibrating threw the earth beneath her. It was a steady sound that seemed to suggest sleep.

Feeling better, Marcie slowly lifted herself off the ground, being careful not to disturb any of the small stones that littered the cavern floor.

She frowned, having realised that she could see more clearly than she could the day before, she glanced at the torch that she had rested against the wall and saw that sometime while she slept it had gone out, then how could she see.

She glanced around her and realised with a pang of dread that she had not just been sleeping next to the dragon, but sometime in the night it appeared to have curled itself around her, like an enormous cat. Its belly and rib cage were like a wall at her back and its head and legs and spiked tail a barrier at her front.

She quickly stuffed her blanket into her pack and slung it over her shoulders, then she stood back a little and assessed the situation.

After much thought, she cautiously stepped forward and placed her foot on the dragons tail. The dragon make no move to hint that it had noticed and its deep breathing continued unabated.

Using the spikes like rungs on a ladder she pulled herself up onto the dragon tail, still the dragon did not move.

Marcie took a deep breath and clambered over the dragon, its scales were like rock and in no time she landed on solid ground, she breathed out when the dragon still did not notice.

Then she looked around, what she saw took her breath away.

When she had first entered the cavern she had been distracted by her fear and the small amount of light that her torch provided. Now without either she could seen the cavern clearly for the first time, and she realised where the light was coming from.

The ceiling of the cavern was extraordinarily high, made from shear rock. And jutting out of the rock, seeming to grow out from it, were thousands upon thousands of crystals, branching off from one another and disappearing into the rock walls.

She knew what they were because Widow Dafne kept had a small one in her study which she used as a paperweight and Marcie had once asked her what it was. But unlike the one that Dafne owned which fit in the palm of her hand, these crystals were enormous and they also let out a white glow, which combined with the the sheer amount of crystals allowed for more than enough light to see by.

The effect was magical, Marcie stared at them, noting that they seemed to travel further and further back into the cavern which seemed to stretch for miles.

The glowing white light also added a new brilliance to the Dragons red scales which appeared to glitter like diamonds.

Maybe it was because she was so entranced by the beautiful cavern, but Marcie didn't realise when the dragon awoke.

Its breathing stopped, then changed so it was no longer rhythmic, and it blinked a few times. Its intelligent red eyes zeroed in on the human girl who was gazing in amazement at the glowing crystals that made up the structure of the cave, then it raised its head and yawned widely, displaying its wickedly long and sharp fangs.

The movement shocked Marcie out of her daze and she froze. But the dragon was not interested in her and instead lifted itself off the ground and stretched, a movement peculiarly similar to a cats, and then settled back down on the ground and began licking the scales on its forelegs with its forked tongue.

It was only after a few minutes that Marcie had the courage to move, she carefully turned her back on the dragon and - keeping her ears peeled to any sign that the dragon was coming after her - she walked the long way back to the entrance of the cave, the nearer she got the less the crystals glowed and she thought that they may need complete darkness to be effective.

The air became clearer and less humid and then she found herself on the ledge, the forest stretched out beneath her. She closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air, pleased to find herself back in reality even if the fantasy was just behind her.

She climbed carefully down the rock and it was only as she reached the bottom that her stomach rumbled, the excitement of finding the dragon and the wonders of the cave had made her completely forgotten to eat, only now that she was away from it all did she feel the aching hunger from not eating for several hours.

She grasped her bow and set off in search of food.