Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 32

            “It’s too dangerous!”

            The rising and falling hiss sounded to Valerie like it might be laughter. “We arre not sso frragile asss you,” Faal said. “And we, Rissharal and I, will be able to hunt the oness who murrderred ourr childrren. It will alsso be sssimplerr to rrepay ourr debt in a warr.”

            Valerie frowned, her arms crossing over her chest. The thought of taking such magnificent creatures into a place where they could easily be killed sickened her. “You have a son. You should be back with him, helping raise him.”

            “My mate iss fine without me. And I rrememberr that without you, I would not have a ssson. Sso, little man, wherre sshould we brring you?”

            Isaac didn’t seem bothered about being called little. At least not by something the height of some houses. “There’s a camp of our people in the forest east of Merritty. That’s where we were going to head towards when…”

            Faal bobbed his head in an approximation of a nod. “Then we will take you therre. I think I will take you, little man, if you will take the ladiess, Rish.”

            Val, looking from one dragon to another suddenly realized what they meant. The shriek she let out made the other four jerk to stare. She started laughing and running between them all, almost hysterical with joy. Isaac sighed. “Since she was a kid, she’s always wanted to ride a dragon. You’ve just made one of her most impossible dreams come true.”

            “I sssee,” Faal said, eyes following Valerie’s path.

            Isaac shrugged and then grabbed her as she ran past. “Enough. You’re freaking everyone out.”

            She nodded, a huge grin plastered to her face. He rolled his eyes and dragged her over to Rish. Miette followed behind, gaze flicking everywhere, dancing to the ground any time it landed on anything scaled.

            Stopping in front of the grey-green dragon, he bowed. “Ma’am, if you would let us, I’d like to use some rope to tie ourselves to you. I worry about us falling in midair.”

            Rish jaw gaped open and her metallic hiss came out in short bursts, like she was chuckling. “Do not worrry, human. We arre people of magic. You will not fall off usss sso eassily.”

            Isaac frowned but Valerie beat him to it. “You mean you can do magic? Does that mean you can really breathe fire?”

            “It iss not that we do magic, we arre magic. We can contrrol ourr bodiesss. You will not fall. And yesss, we can blow firre frrom ourr mouthss sshould we choosse to.”

            “Then can-”

            Val was cut off by the hand Isaac used to cover her mouth. “When we get to the camp you can pelt them with questions. Right now, I’d rather get somewhere safe before you go into the dragon induced fit I know you’re only barely holding back.”

            “Fit?” Faal asked, stretching his head nearer to look over Valerie.

            Isaac sighed. “She loves dragons. Is obsessed with them really. You’ll understand. As soon as we land she’ll probably be asking you thousands of questions. Please don’t eat her. She’s normally not like this.”

            “We would not eat herr. Sshe iss polite. And sshe would tasste terrrible. Only the fat humansss are tassty enough to be worrth the trrouble,” Rish replied.

            He shook his head. “I wish I knew if you were kidding or not.”

            “It iss imposssible for drragonss to kid. We have no ssensse of humour.”

            The wicked glint in her gold eyes was not that different from the one that often appeared in his. It relaxed Isaac. If they were smart enough and civilized enough to find things funny and to tease then he thought he could handle them. “Right then. Let’s get this show on the road before Val goes into a dragon induced coma or something. If I hadn’t seen her running around like Paige at Christmas I’d have sworn it impossible so I can’t think there’s anything she won’t do at the moment.”

            Rish and Faal gave their awkward nods and dropped to their bellies, holding their legs half folded at their sides and their wings flat to the ground. Every step practically taking her into the air, Valerie manoeuvred her way around the draconic flesh until she could clamber up the leg and from there onto Rish’s back. Miette, with frequent glances at both dragons’ mouths, minced her way over and accepted the hand Val gave her to help pull her up. On Rish’s back, she wrapped her arms around Valerie’s waist and buried her face into her back. The tenseness of her pose told Val that she had no intention of moving until they were safely back on the ground.

            “Good,” Rish said. “You ssat in frront of my wing.”

            “I read a book where people rode dragons. Several actually. Most said that this is where you sit,” she replied, feeling that tickling sensation in her stomach again at the fact she was talking to a dragon.”

            Her only reply was a light hiss. Glancing over at Faal, Valerie could see Isaac sitting on his back, looking like a plastic solider placed on the back on a dog. She raised a hand to him and waved it excitedly at him. He lifted his hand in acknowledgement. As if that had been their signal, Rish and Faal leapt into the air. Miette screamed, Isaac froze, and over the thunder of the dragons’ wings, they could all hear Valerie’s mad, delighted laughter.