Touched By A Dragon

Prologue

I watched her dance between the ancient trees, her long, light brown hair swinging loosely around her tanned olive shoulders.  Her blue, laced dress was slightly blowing in the breeze. She was calling to me.
“Mike, come and help me,” she called.
I stood there and watched, unbearably helpless, as an arrow shot out of nowhere, aimed straight at her. I listened as it hit her square in the chest with a sicking sound when it sunk into her chest. 
“Mike!”  She screamed desperately.  “Come stop this from happening! Find the egg, save me.” 
Then she died. 
I woke up sweating and gasping for breath. I had decided that I had had enough.  These dreams had been happening for over a month. Always ending the same, she always died. But the thing was that I had absolutely no idea how to get rid of them. So I decided to tell my dad.
“Son,” he said, “can you draw me a picture from the part that you remember the most?”
I drew an exact picture of the part just before the beautiful girl is shot by the arrow.
“Do you know who that is?” He asked, shocked.
“Is a girl in a dress?” I replied, confused.
My father sighed in defeat. “Yes, but who is it?”
I looked at him blankly.
“You really have no idea,” He groaned.
“Nope, not even a little hint,” I said flatly.
“That’s Princess Lillianna, Daughter of the King,” My father said slowly, as though he saw speaking to a baby.
“So, what do I do now?” I said, flatly.
“Nothing, it was probably just a bad dream, forget about it,” My father shrugged, waving me away.
So I did, I worked in my father’s fields during the day and my sister taught me to read and write during the weekend because my mother taught that everyone deserves an education.
But my nights were still tormented by nightmares. I continued like this for three years, until one night, I decided that I couldn’t take it anymore. 
A bright, full moon shed light onto the tall trees being swung around violently by the moaning wind. I quietly tiptoed into the kitchen; I was fully dressed in the dead of night. I quickly grabbed two skins of water, some bread and a piece of meat. While walking into the bedroom; I put these items in a small knapsack that I used for carrying water when I was in the fields.  Now in the bedroom, I turned my attention to a small dresser next to the bed, being careful not to wake up my mother, I took the scissors and walked back into the kitchen. I realised that the back door was open. With a sharp intake of air, I clutched the scissors tighter and walked through the open door.
The wild wind tore at my loose hanging clothes; I could feel someone watching me. My heart was pounding in my chest, scissors raised I spun around to face the intruder.
“Kelly! What the, what are you doing out here?” I screamed, shocked.
“Following you, keep your voice down, you’ll wake mum and dad,” My older sister whispered.
“I nearly stabbed you!” I hissed.
“And whose fault is that?” She asked rolling her eyes. “You should be in bed, asleep.”
“Kelly, don’t tell me what to do, I’m 13 now!” I spat.
“I’m 15, now what are you doing out here in the middle of the night, fully dressed with scissors and a bag?” She questioned, speaking slower as she pieced together the information.
“Kelly, please don’t tell mum and dad,” I said, close to tears.
She stepped forward and wrapped her hands around me, hugging me gently. I fought back tears. She then moved to behind me and carefully untied my hair. My long, honey-blond hair reached my shoulders; Kelly slowly picked up mums scissors.
“Mike, is this really what you want?” She whispered, on the verge of tears.
“Yes, I’m ready Kel, I don’t want to be a little boy anymore, I want to go off and see what’s out there,” I whispered, choked up.
The scissors lightly tugged my hair and made a strange sound as it cut. I was glad for the bright moon softly illumining the scene. A few minutes later Kelly was finished.
“How do I look?” I asked running my hand over my now short hair.
“Like a man,” Kelly smiled sadly.
Just then a loud sound came from the bedroom, followed by my mother telling my father that we’d been taken.
“You should go before you get into trouble,” My sister said, downcast.
“It’s ok, I promise I’ll visit, I've worked at the palace before,” I reassured.
“You better,” She replied before lightly punching me in the arm.
I hugged her tightly, only for a second, before she could return the hug I let go and ran off, not looking back.
But this book isn’t about me. It’s not about my sister or even the princess, this book is about a place, a place lost in time.