Chapter 23

The crystals began to appear after about ten minutes of walking, just as the light from the entrance had faded entirely. First they appeared as tiny lights high up in the ceiling then they slowly became more numerous, spreading across the walls in clusters until the whole cave was filled with them.

At one point Marcie found a lone crystal lying on the stone floor, about the length and width of her forearm, she picked it up and found it to be very warm to the touch and not as heavy as it looked, she considered it and the surrounding cave then placed it in her pack.

The air began to get warmer, but it was not the stifling heat that she had encountered the first time she stumbled upon the cave, she wasn't sure what that meant.

Dara, impatient to see his mother and, Marcie sensed, a little worried, grabbed her trouser leg and began to tug her forward again until she carried on.

Marcie still felt that lead weight drop in the pit of her stomach when she saw the Dragon.

It was probably its huge scale and how very small it made her feel, she was not used to being intimidated, but here she didn't really have a chance. She was reasonable sure that the Dragon would not harm her,however that did not make the threat any less real and she was still, as much as it pained her to admit, very afraid of the deadly creature.

She drew near and Dara raced towards his mother, love for the elder Dragon melted away some of her fear and eased her nerves slightly. The two Dragons touched their noses together and the Mother made a rumbling sound of pleasure that shook the walls and made the Crystals tinkle. The Dragon then turned its enormous head in Marcie's direction and leaned towards her. Driven by some instinct Marcie reached forward her hand and touched the Dragons snout with the tips of her fingers. Two enormous red eyes stared at her intently and she felt a stab of pain over her heart, the same place where the strange black mark was, she winced but held still, then the Dragon bent its head slightly in a nod and Marcie lowered her arm. The Female shifted her body until she was facing Marcie square on and lowered her head to lay on her front legs, her eyes never leaving the tiny human in front of her, then she held still as if waiting. The force of its gaze was a little unsettling but Dara came to curl himself around her legs so Marcie though she might as well make herself comfortable, she took off her pack and set it down, then took off her bow and quiver, placing it next to her out of habit and settled herself on the floor her legs crossed, Dara came and curled himself in her lap, he yawned flashing tiny but sharp fangs and snuggled in closer, closing his eyes.

Marcie looked up from him to find the Mother Dragon's eyes still on her, she thought that this may be a good time to get some answers. She opened her mouth but found she couldn't think of what to say, what did you say to a creature big enough to eat you in less than a gulp? The Dragon just carried on staring at her unblinkingly, it turned its head slowly to the side regarding her. Marcie took in a slow breath then breathed out.

"I..."she swallowed "What have you done to me?" she said quietly,

The Dragon blinked,

"I mean..." Marcie tried again, "I came here and then suddenly I wake up at home and I'm different, I can do things I never could before, I feel strange and I can feel Dara-I mean-your son, I can feel what he's feeling and I..." she trailed off. Dara, she realised, had fallen asleep, his breathing was slow and steady, his back rising and falling gently, he was very warm.

The Dragon eased its head forward more, until it was very near. Marcie again lifted her hand and placed the tips of her trembling finger's on the Mother's snout.

A pressure filled her head like the worst headache she had experienced, and through the pain she felt a presence that was not Dara enter her mind. She knew it was not Dara because it was huge.

She gritted her teeth and shared all she had and was feeling at the creature. It was hard. She kept on getting muddled with Dara's feelings and the seeming indifference of the mother Dragon.

Mostly she sent it fear. Fear of it and of herself.

The Dragon did not respond for a time then it sent her several images, so fast Marcie gasped and clutched her head. The images slowed and she was able to make sense of them.

The Dragon showed her Dara, dear Dara, surrounded by shining light, a feeling of love coming from him and behind him, a great shadow, so big it dwarfed him and indeed would dwarf his mother. A premonition of how big he would become? Marcie prayed not.

Then it showed her fire. Great swirls of fire, then the images grew smaller and she saw that the fire was being reflected in an eye. An eye with a green iris. Her own?

The fire grew and now it was no longer reflected but was now being held over a hand. The hand moved and the fire moved with it. Within the fire a shape moved, a human shape. A feminine human shape. Herself?

Then Marcie felt the Dragon moving around her mind and felt it pull a memory out and show it to her. A relatively new memory. A memory of her fist connecting with the solid trunk of a willow tree. Marcie felt her bandaged hand ache in response.

The Willow became a long bow, a long bow snapped, despite being made out of the hardest wood there was, then it became vaguely man shaped and was knocked down. Strength. How strong was she?

The Dragon answered all her questions as best it could, visually. Confirming those assumptions that were correct and ignoring the ones that were not.

Then it showed her the forest. From above.

She thought she might be flying, the tops of trees spread below her. Then she plummeted. Crashing through the canopy and flying quickly between the trees, so quick they began to blur and meld together. And the blurring trees turned into creatures. Creatures like those from Dafne's book of monsters, horse men and fish women and wolves with human forms and tiny little creatures with hairy arms and legs and many other creatures she could not possibly name.

As one all the creatures turned and gazed at a figure that stood in front of her. And she saw it was Dara. Dara with that great shadow behind him and again she felt that love radiate from him and towards him.

The images faded and Marcie was aware of Dara curled up on her lap. She scratched him under his chin, between his scales. He growled contentedly.

"So you're pretty special are you?" She said to him,

His mother sent confirmation.

Marcie patted him absentmindedly,

"...why me?" she asked, after a time.

The mother Dragon sent back confusion.

"Why me?" Marcie said again, putting a lot of feeling behind the words,

The Dragon did not react for a while but then Marcie felt an image seep into her minds eye.

A face. Her face.

But not as she had ever seen it.

In it she was terrified. Her eyes wide with fear, mouth open, lips trembling, sweat beaded on her forehead.

She held a torch above her head and it wavered as she shook with terror.

She watched herself back away and hit a wall, crumple against it, hiding her face.

Then she watched herself lift eyes still filled with fear but also determination. Watched her hold the mother Dragons eye for longer than the Dragon could remember a human ever holding her gaze, if her memory was correct. She had not met a human for hundreds of years.

The images faded,

"...Do you mean, that it was just because I was human?" she asked, still not understanding.

The dragon sent her the image of her scared face again and revealed a some more of her feelings. The feeling of recognition, she had seen this human before. Scared her away. But she had come back. Interesting.

"Because I came back? because I was scared but not scared enough to stay away?" Marcie asked, pleading with the Dragon to help her understand.

The Dragon just showed her the image again and more feelings that she could not interpret. She sighed with frustration.

Dara yawned on her lap. He opened one eye and surveyed his mother closely. Some of Marcie's frustration must have woken him.

He stretched and Marcie winced slightly as his claws pricked her.

He waddled over to his mother and nudged her head. She nudged him back, their eyes meeting. Marcie got a feeling of great sadness coming from the mother.

She reached out and placed a hand on the mothers head, "Why are you sad?" she asked her.

The mother tuned huge red eyes towards her and Marcie saw the cave. And saw the cave empty except for a small black dragon, curled up in the space once occupied by his mother and Marcie felt a great sadness. A sadness only heightened by Dara's own.

Dara made a terrible sound. A sound of grief. A wail and a scream. He climbed atop his mothers head and patted her and nudged her with his nose, refusing to believe.

Marcie felt tears gather in her eyes,

"You are dying" she whispered,

The dragon sent her  resigned confirmation.

"Why?" Marcie asked, over the sound of Dara's wailing.

The mother sent her a feeling of age. Of being so old and seeing so much. And of a life finally ending.

But she also sent love. Love for her youngest child. Special.

"Do you need someone to look after him?" asked Marcie tearfully, "Is that why..." she was unable to finish the question.

The Dragon sent back confirmation.

Dara climbed down from his mother and curled back up on Marcie's lap, his wail turned into whimpers. Marcie hugged him and let her own tears drip onto his scales.

Marcie roused herself enough, over the next few days to hunt. She found a good old buck and skinned and cured the meat, preserving the creatures great antlers for Damnion. And also some smaller deer to feed the mother Dragon and herself.

However the mother never ate much, nibbling reluctantly on a few morsels before drifting off to sleep again.

Dara tried to get her to play with him but she shrugged him off, seeming too exhausted to do anything.

So Marcie rolled stones across the cave floor for him to chase. Wrestled with him and shouted encouragement to him while he practised flying out in the open.

When the end did come, it was sudden.

One day, Dara was flitting over the forest, looping and twirling in the crisp early evening air when there came a great sound of shuffling from within the cave.

Dara quickly landed on the ledge, which involved him tumbling head over tail in the dirt before bounding to his feet and running to Marcie who scooped him up and darted to the edge of the cave entrance to peer inside.

A shape filled the darkness.

Then the weak winter light showed the deep red scales of Dara's mother.

Marcie pressed herself against the wall and the great dragon shuffled slowly past her.

Dara jumped down from Marcie's arms and ran to his mother elated, thinking her better. But Marcie looked into the mothers eyes and saw only death.

The mother slowly bent her neck down and pressed her nose to her sons, a last goodbye.

Her scales shimmered in a gentle breeze.

She reached her head up and beheld the great forest stretching before her.

Dara shuffled backwards, whimpering loudly, suddenly very afraid.

The great red Dragon raised herself onto her back legs, visibly wobbling with the effort. The scales on her back legs began to darken. And it was only as the darkness spread that Marcie realised it was not a trick of the light.

The Dragon continued to stretch, reaching up, slowly spreading is wings, all while the blackness spread up its legs, across its belly, reaching the end of its tail and spreading over its shoulder, creeping up her wings. As her wings became fully extended the blackness reached the tips then spread up her neck covering her face. Every red scale turning black. The blackness covered her eyes and a deep sigh left the Dragon's chest. So deep it appeared to conjure up a gust of wind from the east that swept across the cliff side.

Marcie's hair whipped around her as the wind blew, Dara lept into her arms again, his gaze fixed in horror upon what had once been his mother.

Gradually, the once great red Dragon began to fall to apart. Pieces flaking off bit by bit and carried off on the wind across the forest. Scattering across the trees. Until nothing remained.

Dara gave a last great wail. So sad Marcie was brought to her knees.

She hugged him to her as he cried and cried.