Dragon's Keeper

Shadows 10

After Jamie rubbed the stone from the fairies, we sat down to have a quick meal and rest our aching feet. We enjoyed the softer breeze of the late afternoon. But we couldn't stay long, so we packed up Jamie's little sack of blankets and headed back out again.

We had been walking for hours when the sun finally started to set behind the Mystic Mountains, when we finally entered the shadows of the mountain.

A low moan slithered across a heavy fog, covering our feet.

"What was that?" I whimpered.

"Don't know."

Eery shadows crept across the surfaces of the rocky mountain.

A whisper of "You will never be good enough!" echoed past us.

"That sounded like my father..." Jamie choked.

"Your father is a horrible man! You are so much better than him!"

Midnight must have agreed with me because he nudged his head into Jamie's arm.

Jamie chuckled at the gesture and scratched the baby dragon.

"You're right. Let's go," he agreed.

Jamie pulled me along through the increasingly darkening shadows.

I stumbled over a rock that I couldn't see.

"Ouch!" I grumbled, hopping up and down in a useless attempt to make my toe not hurt anymore.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just stubbed my toe."

Midnight nuzzled my neck and purred.

"Thank you, Midnight," I whispered.

"She was a mistake! Take her from me," screeched a voice from the darkness.

My stomach dropped.

"Mother?" I ask.

"You aren't a mistake! You are the best thing that has ever happened to me!" Jamie insists, while he wraps me in a fierce hug. "I love you, you know!"

"I love you, too James."

Holding onto each other, Midnight scooted ahead and purred loudly. Then he lights up like a candle, to show us the correct path.

A sudden cacophony of voices flooded the mountain base.

"You will never amount to anything..."

"Although, for the life of me, I cannot understand why. You are filthy..."

"You will always be a stable boy, you good for nothing..."

"I know you like it, Tasha. Why pretend you don't want me?..."

"If I catch you with her again, I'll whip you just like the horses..."

"What good is a kitchen wench if I can't have a little fun with her..."

"The only way to shatter your dreams is for me to break you just like the horses..."

I clung to Jamie and trembled in his arms. An emptiness opens in my chest at my own worthlessness.

I sobbed into Jamie's shoulder.

"They are right! I am nothing!"

"NO! You are my everything!  It's me who..."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence James!" I demaned. " You are my everything too!" 

A sudden warmth moves through us and Midnight's light twinkled and glistened into the air.

"You are right. We are better together. And that's how it has always been, and how it will always be," he whispered in my ear.

All through the night, Midnight lead the way with his arm light. Love and comfort surrounded us. We were safe and happy. We would make it through this together.

By the time we reached the sea, it was way past midnight and we were exhausted.

We curled up into each other and a warm darkness lulled us into oblivion.