Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon's Bait, Selendrile, Alys or the cave they are in... In fact, I don't own anything. Mrs. Vande Velde is the master behind this great masterpiece.
Hope everyone enjoys this new story. It was fun writing it, and hopefully the next chapter will be just as fun. I look forward to reviews and such! Thanks for reading!
Chapter 1: The Journey
"Well, then, in that case, I will."
How those words had changed her life. Alys had now accompanied Selendrile for three and a half weeks. And right now, she had no idea where they were. Selendrile had flown her all around the countryside ever since she had agreed to stay with him.
Selendrile had not really been a talkative companion, but he provided her with shelter, food, and clothing. At times though, especially in the middle of the night, when she was the most exhausted, he would disappear for a few hours at a time, then reappear as though he had only been gone a couple of minutes. During these times, he left Alys in an abandoned barn, a house, or a cave. He would light a fire, hand her the bag that held her clothes, food, and blankets, and tell her to stay, then leave without another word.
Usually she would try to sleep during these times, although she was afraid that someone or something would come across her. Despite the fact that she kept telling herself that she had had enough sleep during the day when Selendrile was forced to become the dragon and sleep, she would somehow succumb to her tiredness. After the adrenaline had worn off after she had been accused of being a witch, she found it was much harder to sleep all day, but even harded to stay up all night traveling with Selendrile, except for the few hours that he vanished.
And everytime she asked him where they were going, he always replied, "to my home land", and when she would ask where that was, he would just smile.
Alys sighed, pulling her rough-spun wool blanket closer around her. She was in another cave that Selendrile had placed her in while he went off once more. It was late autumn now and the nights were growing colder. The fire that Selendrile had set for her and the blanket were just enough to keep her teeth from chattering. What would she do when winter began to set in for sure and the snow came? Surely Selendrile didn't expect her to survive in those conditions of the freezing weather.
Maybe he was taking her to his homeland so that he could set up a perminate home for them... at least she prayed that he would not leave her alone, on her own. Alys knew, for certain, that if Selendrile left her, she would not survive for long. Selendrile was the only person in the world whom she could actually depend on, since all of her family and true friends were dead.
But hopefully, Selendrile couldn't leave her anyway... but as Alys thought about it, the less she was sure. Selendrile didn't seem to really care about anything. The last time she had actually been able to read his expression was when he had asked her not to leave him when he had been shackled by Atherton and was dying.
Suddenly there was a sound in the forest, outside of the cave Alys had taken refuge in, and she stiffened. Less than a minute later, Selendrile walked in, carrying two more blankets, another sack of clothes, and still another sack of food... and a loaf of bread. He set it all down at the mouth of the cave and turned to study Alys.
"Welcome back," Alys said softly, eyeing the sack of fruit and bread. She had not eaten anything since breakfast that morning, which had only been a small, beaten-up apple. In other words, she was starving.
Selendrile, for the first time that week, smiled at her and asked, "Are you hungry?"
Alys smiled back, nodded and replied, "Famished."
She was about to get up from her slumped position against the cave wall, but Selendrile bent to pick up the food and brought it over to her. She took the food and immediately tore off a piece of the mouth-watering, delicious bread. Stuffing it into her mouth, she watched as Selendrile added two more logs of wood to the now smoldering fire. She wanted to offer him some of the food, but everytime she asked him, he would say that he had already "fed", and she didn't really like to pressure him and question his lack of nutrition... though she suspected he ate everytime he went out without her.
Selendrile reached for one of their bags and brought out a small cup. Then he began to walk back further into the darkness of the rear of the cave, cup and bag in hand.
"Where are you..." Alys began to ask him, but he disappeared once more. Alys shrugged and took another bite of bread. It will not be the first time he has run off and not told me where in the world he was going.
She had almost finished the bread when Selendrile came back. The cup he had taken with him was now filled with some kind of steaming liquid. He handed it to her and as she smelled the fumes, she realized it was tea. But where did he find the tea leaves? Surely he had not stolen the them.
When she took a sip, she tasted something very, very sweet. She jerked her head up, her confused and yet delighted expression telling him all he needed to know. He smiled.
"The sweetness you taste is called sugar. I had guessed that you had not ever had any before, so I thought you might like it."
Alys just stared at him, then took a another, longer sip. It tasted so good. Alys asked, "Where did you get it?"
Selendrile shrugged, "Some lord's stable, about twenty miles from here."
Alys choked on the delectable tea at his words, and Selendrile looked at her as though she were insane. Alys ignored his countenance and yelped, "You stole this from a lord?!"
Selendrile reached into the bag that had held the cup and tea leaves, and pulled out a much smaller but bulging bag. Alys guessed that it had more money it. But when he tossed it to her, she noticed there was no clattering of coins as there should have been. It landed on her lap, and she cautiously opened it... to small, sparkling crystal cubes.
She took one out and examined it closer, awed and entranced by the way the fire glinted off of it, like the sun on new-fallen snow. Curiously, she touched her tongue to it, but pulled back almost abruptly from the foreign sweetness and exquisite taste of something she had never known existed.
She test-tasted it again and then popped it into her mouth, savoring the essence of the small cube and the moment. She sucked on the cube for a small time till it became a round ball in the middle of her mouth. Then, she experimented with the hardness of it by cautiously biting down until it became a crunchy powder. She swallowed the rest, relishing the aftertaste of such a tenuous pleasure.
Selendrile had been watching her, an amused look etched all over his passive face. But now, he bent over to grab one of the extra blankets that he had just brought back with him earlierand laid it down close to the fire. He sat down on the floor, leaning against the cavern wall.
Suddenly, even though she didn't know if it was out of the cold or being perturbed with Selendrile watching her like that, a chill went through Alys and she shivered. She pulled her blanket closer around her, realizing that the warmth the tea had provided was now nonexistent.
Selendrile noted this and picked up another blanket, opening it up to her, he said, "Come here."
Alys, wondering why he was being so nice to her tonight, wrapped her blanket around her shoulders and got up, walking over to him. She sat in front of him and he put the second blanket over her lap, covering her to her feet. Then, another big surprise tonight, Selendrile wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back against his warmer body.
Alys stiffened at first, unused to such close proximity to anyone, but once the warmth of his body seeped into her cool one, she relaxed, letting her head fall back against his shoulder. His arms held her tighter and almost immediately, Alys felt much warmer.
"What's the plan for tomorrow?" she whispered to him, watching the light from the fire sparkle against the stone cave wall. She licked her lips, remembering the luscious tidbit of sugar as it dissolved in her mouth. She eyed the bag now vacanted on the other side of the cave and wondered what Selendrile would say if she asked for another one.
Selendrile paused before answering, then whispered back, "Completing our journey."
Alys hoped he didn't mean that they would end the relationship between them there too. Alys had become dependent on Selendrile's hospitality, and she didn't like the idea of being on her own. Maybe she could survive without him, but if Alys had a choice, she didn't want to find out. "Where are we?" she asked instead, hoping that he would finally answer the question she had been asking him for three weeks now.
"France, about a hundred miles from my home."
"Why did you want to bring me here?" Alys had been wondering about it since the first day he told her they were going to his homeland. If he just wanted to get rid of her, she wanted to know. But then, why would he bring me all this way just to get rid of me? Unless he plans to give me up to the dragon-king as a tribute. But that seemed silly even to Alys. He had already said that maidens were of no importance to dragons. But then why did he bring me here? We both know that I am too much trouble to him than I am worth... Perhaps it would have just been better for both of us if he had just let the wolves eat me, or let the villagers burn me.
But these depressing thoughts had nothing to do with what Selendrile said next, "I want you to meet my family."
Now when Alys thought about, she hadn't really thought that they were many other dragons in the world. At least she hadn't thought that there were many shapeshifting dragons like Selendrile, but it was stupid of her not think that there were more. "So there really are others? More like you?"
Selendrile laughed, "Alys, surely you didn't think that I am the only dragon."
"Well maybe not the only dragon, but the only golden dragon. You told me that they were not very many of you from the beginning... I guess I just never thought about it before."
Somehow, Slendrile's arms tightened around her and she relaxed completely, sighing contentedly. "What are they like?" Alys asked aloud, "What is your home like?"
There was a short silence, but Alys was beginning to feel the effects the warmth of the fire, blankets, and Selendrile's body induce her, whispering promises of rest and luxury.
"I want you to be surprised tomorrow, so I'm not going to say anything tonight. Besides your tired." His hand began to caress her hair, starting from her scalp then running through to her chopped-up, uneven ends, and back up again to repeat the process.
Alys' eyes drooped, but she poked him and tried to catch his hand in order to make him stop skimming his hand through her hair. "I don't want to go to sleep. I want to learn more about you. Like, how old are you really?"
Selendrile laughed in her ear, dropping his head lower to the base of her neck. "Do you really want the answer to that?"
Alys yawned, nodding, "I think it's only fair that you tell me something about yourself. I know nothing about you, but you practically know my entire life's story." Alys recalled the time when she had sat in the barn with him and had told him everything about herself, and she remembered how he had seemed so uninterested and bored. Not that she blamed him, her life had not been very eventful... till the day that she had been accused of being a witch.
Selendrile sighed. And Alys wondered what he would do if she really began to get on his nerves. But instead of telling her off, he said, "The golden dragons do not age as normal humans do, as you know. I am not seventeen. Actually about more than three times that age..."
"Times?" Alys asked, confused, "What does that mean?"
Selendrile smiled, "I guess you've never been taught math before either."
"I know how to add and subtract!" Alys declared, proudly. Most of the children in the village, especially girls, were not taught mathematics. If your family didn't own a shop or sell crops, then there was no need to teach the children how to add and subtract above the number twenty. Alys could proudly say that her father had taught her how to count to a hundred.
"Adding and subtracting are not the only ways of math. There is also multiplying and dividing."
Alys yawned once more, "I'm too tired to learn anything tonight... just tell me how old you are."
He didn't anser and Alys couldn't stop herself from drifting off into the black oblivion of sleep. But as her breathing slowed, she could have sworn she felt Selendrile brush his lips over the top of her head and murmur, "I'm 68 years old."
When Alys awoke, a large golden dragon was taking up almost the entire space of the cave, and when she looked outside... she saw the first frost, the sign that winter was very close.