The sound of my breath echoed through the dark cave and played tricks with my imagination. I had spent a long time chained to the underground tunnels but I never seemed to get used to it. The sharp rocks cut into my flesh and I tried to shift my weight to stop the pain but it did not go away that easily. The magical collar the guards had put around my neck kept my wounds open to weaken me and hold me captive. As a dragon I had to heal fully to shift shape or shrink to a size small enough to escape through the tunnels. The worst part was not the pain though; the raging hunger was, a hunger stemming from centuries of near starvation. The guards all feared me and they rarely brought me something to eat, except for scrawny trolls they’ve captured spying on them.
I suddenly got the feeling that someone watched me, but I pushed it to the side. The sound and smell of the guards would have let me know they were near.
“I can help you.”
The voice startled me and I prepared to attack while trying to figure out where the sound came from.
“I’m not here to harm you,” the soft voice said. “I’m a friend of dragons, or at least those who don’t try to kill me.”
The words rang true, not because of their meaning but because they were my language. However, the curse I was under forced me to attack anyone who tried to cross the cave and enter the tunnel behind me.
“Show yourself!” I hoped the being would answer and let me know where it was.
“All I due time Mr Dragon,” the voice answered. “I want you to promise not to harm me first.”
The voice moved around the cave but I only caught air when I tried to catch it. The curse fuelled my hunger and turned into fury.
“I cannot!”
“You are cursed. I can lift the curse. I can feed you, quench your thirst, heal your wounds and free you.”
The words sounded like a miracle but I did not stop hunting the being while hoping to eat it.
“I’m giving you a bag, eat it, but don’t swallow it whole.”
The scent of fresh goat meat led me to a small bag and I did not know if I should laugh or cry. That little food would not even fill a cavity in one of my teeth. The bag crunched between my teeth and filled my mouth with flavours that I had almost forgotten.
“Wait a while and your hunger will fade.”
I did not believe it at first, it seemed impossible, but moments later the hunger stopped. At the same time the curse started to lose its grip on me and I became calm.
“You can feel it. Can’t you?”
“Yes.”
A faint light spread through the cave and a tiny figure appeared at the opening of a small tunnel. It removed the mask and veils covering its head and revealed the face of a little girl.
“Now I will help you with the thirst,” she said and put her hand in a small bag hanging from her belt. “Drink this.”
She opened a tiny flask, walked up to me, and I picked her up. The rage within me told me to crush her and eat her, but something stopped me. I held her up and she poured a liquid into my mouth. The liquid flowed like a river filled with flavours of all things wonderful and I knew she could help me.
“This will help me heal your wounds,” she said and poured another bottle into my mouth.
Childish joy filled me and I remembered how I used to play with my brothers when we were little. We would chase each other’s tails and bite them while making a mess out of our hive. I out the girl down while dreamy images of happiness filled me.
“You bewitched me.”
“I’ve started to lift the curse, that’s what you are feeling.” She put her tiny hand on my arm and sleepiness came over me. “It will hurt when I remove the collar. I’ll be as careful as I can.”
The pain she spoke of was nothing to what I had experienced before I met her and I fell asleep. Memories of my family and life in the hive, cool wind under my wings and oceans full with water filled my dreams. I dreamt of the happy day when the queen of my clan made me a Noraezean and gave me the freedom to explore the world. The places I explored danced past me in the dream, fields, mountains, woods and deserts. Last were the volcanic mountains and lava fields where he captured me. The pain of the magic collar around my neck woke me from my sleep.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you. Gaiztok’s magic is complicated to work against.”
The warlock’s name ripped through my essence like a sharp blade, he was the one who captured me.
“You’ve heard of him. I thought … it was so long ago…”
“I met him.” She washed her hands and dried them on her cloak. “The last I saw of him was when we chased him through the tunnels of At’a’hy.”
“But, he’s dead.” The girl chasing Gaiztok seemed impossible.
“Five centuries ago.”
“But, you are…”
“Much older than I seem.” She laughed and pulled a goat shank out of her bag. “Here, eat more. You’ll need it.”
The meat reminded me of my hunger and distracted me from my thoughts. I savoured the fresh meat whiles she walked around me muttering spells.
“You should be healed enough to shift now.”
The clothes I had when he captured me had been gone for ages, and I started moving the bones and debris on the trash pile to find something to wear.
“Don’t. I’ll give you clothes. All I need to know is your size.”
It had been a long since I last shifted and I barely remembered my size, but I drew a rough figure in the air of my size. She put her hand in the bag on her belt and pulled out clothes for me, one item at the time. For the first time I realized that the bag was too little for all the things she pulled out of it.
“I’ve never seen magic like that.”
“Ancient magic. I found it in the Haerahiriko catacombs while chasing Prince Piss.”
The memory of the nervous aristocrat made me chuckle. The fear from seeing his own shadow would make him wet his pants.
“I wonder what happened to him.”
“I found him and killed him. How large will your feet be?”
“You killed him?” It was difficult to think of the little girl as a cold-hearted killer.
“He was one of Gaiztok’s puppets. I stopped him before he did too much harm. Your feet?”
I guessed a size whiles I tried to understand how she could met Gaiztok when she was so young, then I found the answer.
“You are Efirny.”
“Not a full-blood. The High Council was upset to find out. I’m not allowed to set foot in the Sivasty region, not even to visit my children. My mortality might corrupt them.”
“The High Council,” I spat the words out. “Racist, arrogant, reactionary pigs!”
“You’ve met them too.” She smiled and showed me a pair of moccasins. “That’s the best I can do for now.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll wait in the tunnel.”
She left the cave and I started to shift. I was still weak and it had been a long time since I last used the shift shape magic. As a young Noraezean I shifted at the blink of an eye but this time I had to work on it for several minutes.
“My Lady, I’m done now.” She entered the cave again and I dropped to my knees. “My Lady, I can never repay the gift you gave me.”
Her laughter echoed through the cave and a thousand stars glimmered in her eyes.
“I’m not a lady. I’m Ehuxa the pathfinder.”
“I am Aramhokk Noraezean Hebda, your humble servant.”
Her hands touched my face with a kind of kindness I had not felt since I was a little hatchling.
“Ally, not servant. Please get up.”
My legs shivered from fatigue as I stood before her.
“Sit. I’ll make you a strengthening brew.”
Thankful I sat on a rock and leaned against the wall. She picked the things she needed from her magical bag and started a small fire.
“My troop will be here soon. Please, don’t tell them that I’m a woman. The Scarag don’t allow women in their army.”
Her brew simmered over the fire and spread the smell of better days through the cave.
“I promise.”
The thought of ever doing something harmful to my saviour made me nauseous.
“You need to make a choice.” She stirred the brew, filled a cup and gave it to me. “You can leave now, or you can join us. We are going to a tough battle, help is always needed.”
“I’ll follow you.”
The brew I drank filled me with more courage and bravery than I had ever had, but that didn’t matter, I would have followed her without it.
“Good!” She put the fabric over her face and put the mask over her eyes. “There hasn’t been a dragon in the realms in centuries. Having you on our side will be a great advantage.”
She told me about the world outside, the war they were fighting and where she was taking the troop. The sound of her voice turned to music and the words painted living pictures of things I had never seen. The complexities of the war did not interest me; I would repay my debt by fighting on her side. A person that frees a dragon cannot be bad. Her voice was what mattered to me, the tune it sang and the pictures it painted felt like paradise to me, and I wished it would never stop.
The smell of oiled leather armour and sweaty clothes gave them away before I could hear them. The troop she spoke of had arrived and she stopped talking. The cave filled with light from their lanterns but the world seemed darker, the magic of the first time I met Ehuxa was gone.
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