Awakening The Dragon (Exiled Dragons Book 9) Read online

  Penelope looked at him with a shocked expression. It was quite inappropriate to have shared a bed with a stranger, for both of them.

  “Don’t be upset, Penelope. We both needed rest, and it was completely innocent. I’m afraid you’ll find that I don’t stand on a lot of what outside society deems proper in here. Still, I did nothing disrespectful toward you and never would.”

  “Fair enough, I guess. I was sleeping so deeply that I didn’t know the difference anyway, I suppose. I feel like I could sleep another day, in all honestly.”

  “Then you should do so. The rest will help you heal,” he told her, handing her a crust of bread spread with a sweet butter.

  Penelope ate it as if she was a street urchin who had begged for scraps. No doubt it was unseemly, but she was too tired and hungry to care much about that.

  “A very pretty street urchin,” Kergot replied, handing her some water to drink.

  “What?” Penelope asked, then realized he was responding to what she had been thinking and blushed.

  “Lay back down and get some more rest. I’ll stay with you, while you get some more sleep so that nothing bothers you.”

  Penelope nodded and lay back down in the bed, quickly drifting back into another deep sleep, but this one was not as restful as the last. Instead her mind drifted into nightmares, the same ones that had plagued her for years, but now they were joined by new ones. The last one sent her bolt upright in the bed, crying out into the dark that surrounded her.

  “Penelope? What’s wrong?” Kergot asked from by her side.

  She jumped, surprised to find him there. How long had she slept this time if he had gone back to bed as well?

  “Just bad dreams, that’s all,” she said.

  “I could feel them,” he replied.

  “Then you already know what they were about.”

  “Not really. It’s harder to reach within when you are asleep. Your mind isn’t as open. It was only during the last few seconds when you were waking,” he said, hesitating for a moment before continuing. “You were running.”

  “Yes.”

  She offered nothing further, and he asked nothing further. Instead, getting out of bed and lighting a candle. He brought her over a vessel full of fresh, cool water and a crust of bread with more of the sweet butter on it. She wondered if there was a way of blocking her thoughts from him. Apparently, he even knew when she was hungry.

  “Yes, there is a way. I will teach it to you when you are stronger.”

  “Why would you do that? Why would you teach me to prevent you from doing what you manage so easily?”

  “Because I hate always knowing what people are thinking. It’s intrusive. Sometimes, it is hurtful even.”

  “I’m sorry. I hope I haven’t offended you,” she said apologetically, not sure if even she was aware of all her own thoughts.

  “You? No, not at all. It has happened though. Sorry about the food, by the way. I’ve not had a chance to get out and hunt the past few days. I’m a little low on things.”

  “I’m sorry. I guess that is my fault,” she told him.

  “No. Nothing to do with you. My own fault.”

  “Why is that?” she asked between bites of the delicious, sweet bread.

  “Long story, just as I am sure yours is.”

  “Yes.”

  Penelope found herself focusing on anything but what she didn’t want him to see. Flowers from the fields, stars from the sky, anything.”

  “Now, you’re getting the idea,” he laughed.

  Penelope blushed. It was bad enough that he could read her thoughts, but he could also tell when she was trying to force him out. He walked over to a nearby table and set the empty water vessel on it before returning.

  “There are still several hours left until morning light. I’m going to need a bit more sleep, but if you’d like to get up and occupy yourself with something, you are more than welcome to do so. There are books near the back wall and some writing paper with quills and ink if you would like to write to someone.”

  Penelope looked up at him from where she had perched on the side of the bed. The area they were in could be considered a cave, for all intents and purposes, and as such, it was very cool in the night. The waterfall just outside the entrance, she was sure, lent to that effect. Still tired from all that had happened, she decided a few more hours of sleep couldn’t hurt.

  “Maybe at first light,” she replied, quite sure that she need not explain. He had undoubtedly followed along with her thinking as he pondered it.

  “First light it is, then,” he told her.

  They climbed back into his bed together, each turning in opposite directions and falling back into peaceful slumber. The dreams didn’t return this time. Instead, she slept peacefully, only waking as the light flooded the interior of the cave, casting wavy shadows through the flow of the water though which it filtered.

  “Good morning,” Kergot said to her as she blinked and sat up on the edge of the bed.

  Penelope looked up at him. He was standing nearby, already dressed. From the way he sat in the chair on the other side of the room, she guessed he had been watching her sleep. She studied his face for any tell-tale indication that he had done so and could see the faintest of blushes creep up his cheeks.

  “Are you going out?” she asked, getting her mind to shift away from wherever it might be headed.

  “Yes. Just for a bit. We need some supplies, and I thought you might appreciate the privacy to bathe.”

  “Bathe?” she asked, looking around for any signs of such an accommodation.

  “Yes. When you feel you can stand, I will show you.”

  “I guess now is as good a time as any,” she replied, struggling to get to her feet.

  As she put weight on her legs, she realized just how much damage she had done during her escape. They felt like jelly, weak and trembling. Her feet screamed like fire as blood rushed to the wounds. Kergot was up like a shot, catching her and holding her up to balance her.

  “Here. I’ll help you.”

  “Thank you,” Penelope replied, allowing him to ease her over the cold clay floor of the cave.

  They walked back to another small tunnel on one side of the large room, but this one was very short, ending in a small circular area. The air in here was tremendously warmer, heated by a large pool of water that seemed to have steam rising from it.

  “Here you go. It’s a hot spring that bubbles up from beneath the surface.”

  “Very nice for a cave, I’d say.”

  “Indeed it is. I’m not the first to inhabit it. I’ve found remnants of others. Drawings on the walls, things left behind, including at least one skeleton that must have passed to the next world in here.”

  “A bit morose, isn’t it?”

  “Life is a bit morose,” he shrugged.

  “I suppose so.”

  “I thought you might like to just sit in there for a while and soak, while I go find us some more food and a few other things. Should be some small game in the forest you came through, and there are some fruit trees there, as well. It will do us until we can get out and do some more serious hunting or venture into a nearby town.”

  Penelope hesitated. She didn’t want to be here alone. She was wounded and still unsure if she could shift, but she didn’t want him to think her weak. She nodded her head quietly.

  “Okay then.”

  “Penelope, I know you are scared. I don’t know who you were running from or why, but I know you are afraid of what or who might come after you. Even without me here, you will be safe. I will close the iron gates as I go so that nothing can get in here with you, and I will be back before you know it.”

  “You’re being too kind to me. I feel like I am taking advantage of your good nature.”

  “No. When you are better, you can earn your keep, or you can go wherever it is and just know you might return a favor to me one day. There aren’t many of us left, Penelope. It is best that we help one another if
we can.”

  “Fair enough then,” she told him.

  “Alright. I’ll be on my way then,” he told her.

  Penelope sat down by the hot spring as he turned to leave. About halfway down the tunnel, he stopped and turned back to her.

  “Penelope?”

  “Yes?”

  “If you soak a while and want some clean clothes, there are some ladies’ dresses that might fit you in that large bureau near the bed. Please don’t ask just yet. It’s nothing untoward, but not my favorite subject. Also, if you want to see if you can shift, just stand in the middle of the front room. There is plenty space for it there. I fit there in my dragon form, so you should.”

  “Thank you again, Kergot,” she replied, not knowing quite what else to say.

  She willed her mind not to think about the clothes or wonder where they came from. Instead, she watched as he disappeared down the tunnel and began to undress, slipping into the hot spring. It burned like fire against the cuts on her feet and scratches all over her body, but as she settled in to it, she began to feel some relief.

  She noticed a basket sitting nearby with some soap and a cloth in it and used them to clean herself and her hair before stepping out and drying off. Padding into the front room, she took advantage of her nudity and the privacy to attempt to shift.

  Nothing.

  She could do nothing.

  Frustrated, she walked over to the bureau and opened it. There were dresses hanging inside. They were simple, but very pretty. Penelope pulled out a dark-blue one and slipped into it. It felt funny to be in a dress without the usual petticoats and linens, but it was warm and dry. Though just a little loose on her, it mostly fit.

  She looked around for shoes, but found none, and hers were far too filthy to put back on. When Kergot returned, she would ask him for something she might clean them with as best she could. In the meantime, her feet were already aching from just the little while she had been on them. She retrieved a book from his table and sat in a nearby chair to read it, lighting a candle to see.

  CHAPTER 4

  The sun had begun to set in the sky by the time Kergot returned and Penelope had started to grow a bit worried by his extended absence. When she finally heard footsteps approaching, she held her breath in anticipation. It was only when she saw him making his way toward her that she calmed.

  “Were you getting worried?” he said with a smile.

  “Me? Of course not,” she lied.

  “That’s good. It took a little longer than expected. I had to elude some men who seemed to still be wandering about in hopes of finding something . . . or someone.”

  “They are still hunting for me,” she replied, her voice trailing away.

  “It seems so. How about I start us a nice, little fire, and we can discuss it while these rabbits and apples roast for our dinner?”

  “That sounds fair.”

  “Oh, here. I brought you some shoes.”

  Penelope looked at him curiously. She hadn’t mentioned her shoes, and where in the woods would he have found any to fit her. She had to wonder about where he came about these things, didn’t she?

  “The men had attacked a wagon that was traveling and left the woman’s things on it when they abandoned it.”

  “And the woman they belonged to?”

  “Won’t be requiring them anymore, unfortunately,” he said sadly.

  Penelope looked at the shoes he had extended toward her, a dead woman’s shoes. They looked warm and clean, hardly showing any signs of wear. No doubt they had been recently purchased, and she had not had them long enough to even break them in. Penelope took them from him and sat them beside her bare feet.

  “The dress looks lovely on you.”

  “Is it another treasure you found in the woods?”

  “No. Not the dresses. They were my mother’s.”

  “Oh, god. I feel so . . .,” she began, searching for the right word to express herself.

  “No, don’t. It’s okay. She passed away a few years ago. I didn’t have the heart to get rid of her things. I brought them here with me and stored them in the bureau my father had built for her.”

  “All these things in here? How did you get them here?”

  “Under the cover of darkness. I flew them in through the falls to the outer ledge and then carried them the rest of the way. Some of the larger things I built inside, and some I took apart and rebuilt once inside.”

  “A labor of love then,” she said softly.

  “Something like that.”

  “You’ve no mate?” she asked.

  “No. I’ve never had a mate. And you?”

  “I had a mate, but he was human. When he found out what I was, he couldn’t accept it, but rather than tell me and just leaving, he decided to end me, apparently.”

  “Why ‘apparently’? You aren’t sure?”

  “I’m fairly sure. That is why those men are after me.”

  “I’m not following.”

  Penelope sighed again. It was a painful subject, but one she supposed she owed him an explanation for if he was going to shelter here at his own risk.

  “We had been together for near a year and things had become more serious. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. But, I had never told him what I was. I thought I could live like a human, never tell him, but then I thought about what might happen if we had a child. If that child shifted before he knew how to control it or was it fair if I never told that child of his or her abilities? All sorts of things.”

  “So, in the end, you did the right thing and revealed yourself to him.”

  “Yes. He didn’t believe me. He thought I was just teasing him, so I took him out into a field at night where no one could see, and I showed him. At first, he merely marveled at it. He was fascinated and seemed to accept what I could do. I thought everything was fine.”

  “But, it wasn’t?”

  “No. He began to act odd, asking me all sorts of questions about my ability and speaking about how it was not natural. He began to question whether it was against God, if I was cursed. Then he talked me into going with him to see this old woman. She gave us drinks, said they were to cleanse our thoughts, to purify them for her to peer into our souls.”

  “And, you believed that?”

  “Absolutely not, but I thought he did, and that it was just an innocent, little thing that might make him feel more at peace with our situation. I had no idea he had even told her my secret. I thought she only knew that there was something he felt wasn’t wholesome, and the process of purification, no matter how useless, might make him feel more accepting of it.”

  “You compromised yourself in order to make him feel at ease with the situation.”

  “Yes, in a sense. I loved him, and I thought he loved me.”

  “What happened next?”

  “I drank the potion, and I began to feel woozy. Next thing I knew, I felt as if I was falling into some deep pit, falling and falling, ever further downward. I could still see around me, but it was blurry. I could hear voices, lots of voices. There was hers and his, but then all of these men joined in, and they were talking about me as if I wasn’t there.”

  “How did you escape them?”

  “I don’t know. I was drowsy, so drowsy. I felt like I was there, but somehow removed from what was happening to me. They carried me outside, and as soon as the fresh air hit my face, I shifted and took flight.”

  “That is how you got far enough ahead of them to run.”

  “Yes. My dragon form seemed to wash away some of the heavy fog that had been swallowing me up, but as I flew, something else began to happen. I found myself shifting again, against my will. I dove down into a clearing in the woods, barely getting close enough to the ground not to do too much damage when I resumed human form and impacted on the dirt.”

  “And you began to run,” he finished, stoking the fire he had been building so that it was fully involved.

  “Yes. I just ran until I wasn’t sure if I coul
d run any further. If you hadn’t happened along to help me, I would have dropped from exhaustion and they would have taken me.”

  “What do you think they wanted you for?”

  “I don’t know. Exhibition? Torture? Nothing I would have approved of, I’m sure.”

  “And, your betrothed?”

  “Just a mistake, a mistake I will never make again. I don’t think I could ever trust another human enough to confide my secret in them again.”

  “Probably a wise decision.”

  “And you? Why have you never taken a mate?”

  “As I mentioned before, there aren’t that many of us left here, and I don’t want to mate with a human.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t like them very much.”

  “But, you are half human,” she pointed out.

  “Yes, and it is both a gift and a burden,” he told her, putting the rabbits on a spit over the fire now that he had it ready.

  “I might as well be human,” she muttered.

  “Why? Because you can’t shift? We will find an answer for that. I will find this woman, and she will tell me what she has done to you,” he said angrily.

  “I can’t ask that of you. It is not your place.”

  “It is now. First, we have to get you stronger. Your feet need to heal and you need to see if this block on shifting will go away after some time has passed.”

  “You’ve been kind enough already. I will leave here come morning and get myself sorted out somewhere safe.”

  “Penelope, there is nothing wrong with letting someone help you,” he said, taking a seat in a chair beside her as the rabbits and apples continued to roast over the small spit.”

  “I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.”

  “Good, because you aren’t. I’ll feel much better knowing you stayed here until you are able to fully fend for yourself than I will if I let you leave and find something has happened to you.”

  “I just don’t want to bring trouble to you.”

  “Trouble has found its way to me all my life, I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.”

  “You are certain?”

  “Absolutely,” he replied.

  “Okay, but if I feel I am becoming a problem for you, I will leave.”