The Witch and the Dragon - Beta

Chapter Three

When she opened her eyes, the stars were winking into view and the moon was cresting the horizon. The terrain below was shadowed and unfamiliar. Dragon flight was ridiculously faster than any horse, and they'd been flying for hours. Were they even in the same kingdom anymore?

Flying, she thought in amazement. She was actually flying. If she wasn't going to be eaten she might actually be enjoying it.

Then a note in their travel changed. The dragon's wing beats slowed and the wind dropped; they were landing. The dark earth swooped up to meet her. Alannah pressed her eyes closed and braced for impact.

It didn't come. The talons loosened and she dropped two feet to the ground in a sprawl of white satin. How undignified. "Thank you for that," she muttered.

She scrambled to her feet and brushed herself off. Her ridiculous dress was stained black with mud and her dark hair was a tangled mess. She straightened her shoulders and turned to regard the dragon. It turned so it was looking at her side-on, its visible eye narrowed. There was a single, thin pupil in it, splitting the orb in two.

They lied to me.

She jumped. That voice had been inside her head. They stood on a low cliff which sloped into a dark cave, like an eyrie. It was deserted. Except for the dragon. She eyed it warily. "Was that – that wasn't you," she said, feeling foolish. "... Was it?"

The dragon snorted. Who else did you think it was? The voice was deep, gravelly. Male?

"No one told me dragons were telepathic," she said.

They lied to me, it said, again.

A dragon was speaking to her. Alannah shook her head and wondered if she'd live to tell anyone about it. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "Who lied?"

Your villagers, he - it - said. It was distressingly easy to think of the creature as a person. It lowered its head and inhaled. The satin of her skirt rustled. Its nostrils flared, easily as big as her hands. You're not a princess.

"Hey, keep your nose to yourself."

And unless I'm mistaken, you're not a maid, either.

"That is none of your damn business," she hissed.

Why did they think you would be a suitable sacrifice?

The dragon was watching her, and she got the impression again that it was amused. It was toying with her. Well, two could play at that game. Alannah shook out her voluminous skirts and straightened the floofy bits on her arms. "Well," she said, "you didn't exactly give us much option." It didn't matter how she felt about her village, no one else got to talk them down. "In case you hadn't noticed, my village isn't exactly rolling in princesses."

Or maids, I take it?

"Are you going to eat me or what? If not, you can just take me home," she added, quickly. "Or at least point me in the right direction."

The village is days away by foot.

Alannah sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that."

The dragon reared back and spread its wings. A familiar shiver ran over her skin. She'd recognise that feeling anywhere: magic.

The dragon's figure wavered, then shrank. Its scales paled and turned to smooth skin. Its wings and tail disappeared and its horns shrank to the size of a ram's. Before her eyes, the dragon transformed into the figure of a young man.

Alannah gaped. "What – How did you do that?"

His thin lips curled in a smirk. "Magic," he purred. "A transformation spell."