darkness rising ( complete )

...The Harder It Is...

* Hey! I realized I haven't done that much Huma or Bal stuff, so I'll try to have some more Uma and Harry and Ben and Mal moments in the next chapters. The book is coming to a close, which makes me a little sad because I love writing this story. But this is not the last Descendants book I'm writing, I'll be publishing another one after this, so you haven't seen the last of the VKs!*

Mal flew around for a while before landing somewhere in the forest. She walked for a while before looking up at the mountains ahead of her. They were towering and ominous. She felt a little nervous about confronting this mysterious voice herself. She knew she could do it, but she had never been anywhere dangerous without someone she trusted. This had broken her heart to leave Ben behind without telling him. She knew he hated when she was reckless. Evie, Jay, and Carlos were used to her recklessness, so there wasn't a problem with them finding out she had left.

Mal hadn't been watching her step and slipped on a rock. She caught herself before falling, but hurt her ankle pretty bad. Mal limped over to a tree root and sat down, massaging her ankle. maybe if she went back to dragon form, she could fly it off. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the scales crawling up her body like an army of ants, but the pain in her ankle took her focus away and she was unable to concentrate. The best thing she could do was sit in the tree and wait.

Again.

--

Mal woke up next to a warm fire. She almost forgot her ankle hurt and tried to stand but hissed in pain.

"Careful love," said a voice. "You don't want to damage it anymore." The speaker had a strong cockney accent. Mal looked around to see who had spoken and saw a woman sitting by the fire. She had brunette hair and a kind smile. She wore colorful outfits and had a lot of jewelry on her wrists and face.

"Where am I?" asked Mal.

"You're with the caravan love," said the woman, stirring something in a large black pot. "There's no need to worry. We promise not to hurt you."

"Thank you," said Mal.

"Are you alright dearie?"

"Yes," said Mal, sitting up. "It's just, this happened to me before. Except in a different scenario. Like deja vu."

"Strange," said the woman. "What's your name love?"

"Mal. Yours?"

"Call me Sophie. Please."

Mal nodded. Sophie grabbed a ladle and poured some of what was in the pot into a bowl and walked over to Mal. "Here, try some love. It will make your foot heal faster."

"Thank you," said Mal, taking the bowl. "I know I already asked this, but where am I exactly?"

"Your with the caravan sweetie," said Sophie.

"What's a caravan?" asked Mal.

"It's a group of carts that go town to town," said Sophie, going back to the fire. "They put on shows and sell things."

"What are you?"

"Gypsies dear," said Sophie with a smile. "We put on shows, entertain, the works. We just finished up in Anvia and we're headed over the mountains."

"I need to go to the mountains," said Mal.

"Oh dearie," said Sophie. "It's a hard journey for us gypsies and there are a hundred of us. But for only one? No, no, many have tried and many have died."

"Has anyone succeeded?" asked Mal, intrigued.

"Nobody has lived to tell the tale," said Sophie. "There are rumors of a dragon that haunts the mountains."