Sunday, 14 October 2012

• [Dragon Story Fiction:] Olivia's Awakening

  Hi there, internet, it's me again. Here is some fiction. This is the middle of my epic Still-Untitled-Dragon Story, and in this part a Dragon actually appears!

  So here's a quick back story. There's a Dude and there's a Princess and they got married and were happily ever after sort of stuff. Except then, the Evil Prince Igor invaded the kingdom. He killed the Dude and tried to convince the Princess to marry him. She refused, since, you know, he's evil and she's not into evil guys. So he then put her in the dungeon and proceeded to attempt to crush the pitiful attempts at rebellion.
  

  All is not lost, however. The Princess has been rescued! In this section, she comes to as she is being carried. Who has rescued her? It is a mystery, unless of course you've been following along in the story. HERE is a link to everything else I have posted here, which isn't much but there it is. Feel free to comment, either positively or otherwise. :)
  

  ~*~

  
  
  Olivia was aware of movement, that she was being carried. She opened her eyes – a supreme effort – and saw only darkness. Vaguely, she wondered where she was being taken, who was carrying her, and why. Soon enough, however, sleep was impossible to resist, and she found that these wonderings vanished from her mind, forgotten in the haze of sleep.
  

  
  
       When she awoke again, it was cold. Her nose was cold, and she was certain her face was red with the chill, but the rest of her was warm. As her awareness increased, Olivia found that this warmth was due to the fact that her body was wrapped in some warm, soft material.
       ‘Is it winter yet?’ she wondered. She had been so long indoors, in her tiny stone cell – had it been days, weeks, or months? Had the seasons changed?
       It certainly felt cold enough to be winter. The wind seemed be blowing stronger and cooler than she had felt ever before. She could now see dim but faintly bright lights in the far distance.
       ‘Stars,’ she thought, ‘those look like stars.’
  
       She was still moving, she realized, for the wind was rushing around her too quickly to be standing still, unless there was some ferocious storm brewing, but she was not on horseback. Certainly, no horse had ever before moved so smoothly, without a single jolt. Someone, presumably the same individual who had carried her earlier, was holding on to her. She could feel arms around her.
       Something moved, the darkness shifted. Olivia could now see a great sphere of white light, much closer than those distant pinpricks.

       She gasped aloud in surprise. “The moon!”
       The person holding her seemed to have heard her, for she felt him shift now behind her. She became aware of an arm, wrapped about her waist, and of the physical presence of her companion behind her.
       There was another shift in movement, as though they were going downhill, and then abruptly ascending once more. The wind seemed to blow even stronger than before. Olivia let out a little cry of alarm, and in response the arm that held her seemed to grasp her now more tightly. Shortly afterward, they seemed to level out again, and Olivia dared to attempt to understand her situation a bit more.
  
       She was seated as though upon a horse, her legs apart and straddling something which she supposed to be the cause of the movement. From her seat she detected little movement, however, and there were no jolts nor rippling muscles as a horse would make while galloping.
       She squinted through the starlight, and saw only some oddly shiny material beyond where she sat. The moonlight might have been enough to allow her escort to navigate, but it offered Olivia few clues as to where she was going or who was taking her there.
      Suddenly, an object appeared in her line of vision. At first it was unclear, but she soon realized it was a canteen, a small bottle made to carry liquids on journeys. The cap had already been removed, and so she took the jug in both her hands to drink. It was warm to the touch, which surprised her as she had expected only cold water. Cautiously, she brought it to her lips and sipped. A sweet, warm liquid with a very pleasant taste met her tongue, and Olivia now drank eagerly, for this hot tea mixture was one she greatly enjoyed.
       The warmth spread through her, and she easily swallowed several gulps before her now more alert state made her question further. How did her escort know she liked this drink? Was it a lucky guess, or did it indicate a greater knowledge of her, and her likes and dislikes? Was this a rescue, or something else entirely?

  

       After a few moments, her pause in drinking was assumed to mean she was finished, and the person behind her reached forward to retrieve the container. The hand, encased in a fur-lined leather glove, was all that Olivia could see of this individual, and it was certainly not enough to determine identity. Though it would have been quite easy to whisper some word of assurance in her ear, considering how closely they sat, no sound was made. Olivia though that if a fur-lined hood had not encased her head, she might have easily felt her companion’s breath upon her ears, but no words were spoken.
        They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, Olivia occasionally feeling the arm that held her tightening as they rose or fell like the waves on a ship. So much of the situation was incomprehensible that she at last decided it would be best to wait, perhaps for daylight, in hopes that all might be explained when she could see properly.
  

  
       At long last, the skies began to lighten, gradually allowing some visibility into the world. Olivia thought she could see some pine needles and leaves when she turned her head to the side. The oddly shiny material directly in front of her grew shinier with the increasing light, and curiously enough seemed to be a bright shade of blue. It was not smooth and sleek either, but rippled and textured, almost like scales….
       “A Dragon!” she exclaimed, the realization coming to her suddenly. She could see now that his neck stretched out long before her, and when she turned her head to the side she could see wings, rising and falling.
       He was blue, a brilliantly sparkling blue, which she had not known to be a color found in Dragons. The only ones she had seen in person had been brown or black, save Li Tan’s dragon, Alorno, who was a deep, forest green. She had never thought to ponder the range of colors in which the species might be found.
  

       The understanding of her method of transportation led now to other realizations as well. If she was on the back of a Dragon, then her rescuer must surely be of the Dragonya, the mysterious Dragon Riders of the northern borders. As to why the Dragonya might have taken her from the capital – and Igor – was another question, as well as how the feat might have been accomplished. Certainly, relations between the Dragon Riders and Damoery had never been perfect, although with Li Tan’s work they had been largely peaceful since her brother was King.
       Igor’s arrival changed all that, but to what end? If the Dragonya had taken her from Igor, did this mean they were allied with Martin? Had the king now retreated to Edyon from Provia and engineered such an action? Was it the doings of Adara, her cousin and the queen of the North? Friendly though Li Tan had always been – especially with Jakob, Olivia thought it unlikely that the Dragonya might have interfered on their own. For centuries, they had made it a policy not to interfere in the matters of other nations, and they had kept that policy.
  

   

  
  
       Not long after the sun had risen, the blue Dragon set down in the midst of trees. Exactly how this was accomplished, Olivia was uncertain, for as soon as the trees began to crash around her, she squinted shut her eyes and dared not open them again. There was still no jolting now, not even when they had landed.
       The arms which had been holding her now easily lifted her from her seat on the Dragon’s back, causing her to briefly cry out in surprise. A moment later, she found herself standing, somewhat unsteadily, beside the giant beast.
       Beneath her feet was soft grass, and around her were pine trees stretching to the sky, which was lightening as they day arrived. Olivia looked for clues to her location, but the forest could have been anywhere, and there was nothing to distinguish this forest from any other in the world.
      

       She turned back toward the Dragon then, for she had not clearly been able to see the whole of him from her perch on his back. He was long, as nearly all dragons were, with scales of a shimmering blue the color of skies. His massive wings were folded down beside him and his tail, which was easily as long as his body and then some, stretched around, curling around the clearing like a boundary to this space that would be their campsite.
       His head was easily twice her size, and his large golden eyes, reflecting sunlight and shadows, peered sleepily at her as he rested it on a pillow of soft pine needles conveniently placed nearby. This attention made Olivia a bit nervous, but she met the Dragon’s eye for a few moments before he let them fall shut. Undoubtedly he was tired after the long flight, as he seemed to soon drift into sleep.
       Olivia looked now for the Dragon Rider who had brought her here, but saw no one else in the small clearing. The Rider had said not a word to her, not a sign of communication save to give her the hot tea and lift her down from the Dragon.
   

       “Hello?” she called into the trees. No answer came. There was only the faint chirping of insects and the rustling of tree branches in the gentle breezes. It was warmer her than it had been flying through the cold night sky, and the sun was helping to warm it further.
       “Perhaps he’s gone to find food,” Olivia said to herself, somewhat optimistically. She glanced back toward the Dragon, who opened one eye briefly at the sound of her voice and then shut it again, returning to sleep.
       “Although, it would have been nice if he’d said something,” she added in a mildly annoyed tone. Shivering, more from fear than cold, she wrapped the borrowed cloak around herself and though that she might be tired. Her legs certainly did not enjoy the standing, after so long spent sitting in her tiny cell.
  

       She went, at last, to sit beside the Dragon, wondering if he might protect her from any wild animals or bandits. His presence, at least, was likely to discourage any approach. The Dragon did not seem to object to her presence, and so she sat beside one of his massive front legs, and leaned back against his scaly stomach. He was surprisingly warm to the touch, and the gentle movement of his breath while asleep soon lulled her into sleep as well.
  
  

   

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