Ta-daaa! A new chapter arrived! I hope you like the story so far. The characters in this story are mine and you shall not steal them.
(This story is dedicated to my boyfriend/fanfic author/artist Tsukiryoushi, who likes this story and I continue it for him. Thanks, Zach.)
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Chapter Three: Chestnut Wingfire
Hours seemed like forever since Amarelle
was abducted from her home. She had stopped screaming hours ago, but
she was still frightened when she found herself in the claws of the
dragon. They were flying over the land but she was so scared refused
to open her eyes.
When she had finally opened her eyes, she saw
that they were heading towards the high mountains; Malevont flew into
a cave that was right on sight on the mountain. Inside the large
cave, there he drops the princess. The girl was facing face-down on
the cavern floor, and she was shaking and sobbing quietly. Using his
claws, he carefully turned her over and her tear-filled eyes met
his.
They watch each other for a few moments, and they neither of
them spoke until Malevont opened his mouth, "Dry those tears,
human. No wife of mine will cry like a weakling."
Frightened by
his monstrous voice, she got on her feet and ran to hide behind a
nearby boulder. Malevont glared.
"If you wish to hide from me,
so be it," he growled. "But you will learn to face me, and fear
me; and you will stay with me for the rest of your life."
"I
want to go home!!!" Amarelle screamed. "I do not want stay here
with you!!"
"SILENCE!!!! I will not succumb to your
whimpering!"
"Please! I want to go home!"
He roared so
tremendously that Amarelle had to cover her ears. The cave's walls
shook back and forth Malevont lashed his heavy tail.
"You are
being stubborn, human. You shall be taught a lesson: Three days and
three nights, you will stay here with no food. There is a little pool
of water beyond the cave but that is all you are going to get. Three
days and three nights, you will have no companion to be with you. I
shall leave you now, and bear in mind, if you are behavior is not
changed by the time I returned in three days, you will suffer."
Then
he spread out his wings and flew out the cave, and then he rolled a
giant rock and shuts the entrance. Darkness filled the cave, and
Amarelle grew frightened. She ran to the entrance and tries to move
the rock, but it was so heavy and it didn't even move. She screamed
and begged Malevont to release her, but the dragon paid not attention
to her pleading. Fresh tears flow down her cheeks. Her fist kept
hammering on the rock until her knuckles started to bleed. She winced
in pain and she stopped, deciding she must try to save her
strength.
Remembering the dragon's words that there is water
beyond the cave, she follows the direction but since she couldn't
see through the dark, she steps into a small hole which is filled
water. Feeling terribly thirsty, she cups her hands together and
raises some water to her lips and she drank them. After her thirst
was quenched, she finds a smooth ground and she laid on it. Then she
fell into an uneasy sleep.
During the next
three days of solitude, Amarelle had been sitting in darkness,
drinking only water, and wishing for something or someone to come and
rescue her. During these three days, her fear of the dragon Malevont
grew to hate. During these three days, she felt very lonely and how
she wished for a companion. She missed her father the king terribly
and also Ellyn. Whenever she thinks about them, tears would form on
her eyes and she would cry for hours.
On the third night, the
giant rock rolled over and Malevont walks into the cave. He saw the
young princess sleeping on the floor, and she was a pitiful sight.
Her clothes and face were all dirty and she looks very thin. He
noticed the bruises on her knuckles and her heavy face as she sleeps.
Not wanting to wake her, he gently lifts her in his claw and he
carries to her to another place.
When Amarelle woke
up the next morning, she found herself in a large, comfortable canopy
bed. There was a magnificent dress of fine silk waiting for her on a
chair nearby. She noticed the room is small and round and that the
only furniture around is the bed, the chair, a table with a bowl of
fruits, and a wardrobe. There was a door next to the wardrobe, and
sunlight poured into the room from the open window. She gets up from
bed and hurries to the window. She realized that she was in a tall
tower surrounded by large trees as far as her eyes can see. Then,
from a distance, she Malevont flying towards her and he stopped in
front of the window. As he hovered in mid-air, he inspects her.
"You
look very well now," he said. "From this day on, this will be
your new home. As you can see, I gave you anything you need to
survive for along time. Everyday, you will wear new dresses from that
wardrobe, and if you want to wash up, that door there would lead you
to a wash room and a kitchen. If you need anything to eat, you will
take a fruit from that bowl there. In case you ever need to entertain
yourself, you will find books underneath your bed. You are confined
to the tower and you will not venture out. I will come to visit you
three or four times a week and I will bring you gifts and food (in
case the bowl run out of fruits). Do you have any questions?"
"I
have," Amarelle said. "If you despise humans so much, why are
giving me special place to live in if?"
Malevont snorted. "You
are forgetting that you are my young wife."
"I am not your
wife!" Amarelle shouted.
"You will soon act like one," he
told her. Then he flaps away from sight.
Amarelle watched the
dragon leave until she was entirely alone. She looks down at herself
to find that she is filthy from dirt and dust. Remembering where the
wash room was, she goes to the door, twists the knob and finds
herself in a stone-walled room. She sees a tub made of ivory. As she
draws the tub with water, she began to undress…
After a good
hour of cleansing her skin from filth, she puts on the dress she
found by her bed. It fitted her and since she had there was no mirror
to be found, Amarelle assumes that she looks elegant.
She spotted
the fruit bowl again and the sight of the apples, grapes, and pears
whetted her appetite. Realizing she had not eaten for three days, she
grabs an apple and bites it rather ravenously. She only finished one
half of the fruit when she suddenly remembered that she was a
princess and it isn't proper and lady-like of someone of high birth
to gobble their food down like a hungry lion.
"To Hell with it,"
Amarelle muttered. "There is no one here, not even my father, to
scold me how I eat."
The mention of her father made her drop her
half-eaten apple and she breaks down into sobs. How much she missed
him, and her home, and her good friend Ellyn; and it made her sob
harder.
"Hey, who's
crying?" asked a small voice. Amarelle looks around to see a small
squirrel crawling from under her bed. The squirrel has a chestnut-red
fur and big brown eyes. Its eyes gazed on the princess for one moment
before he began to speak,
"Hello! My name is Chestnut."
Amarelle
screamed and backed away. "Demon!"
"No, wait! I'm not a
demon!"
"Demon, I say!" Then in her horror, Amarelle picks up the fruit bowl and throws it at the squirrel's direction. It missed him; the fruits rolled all over the room. Chestnut raises its tiny paws and motions her to be calm.
"Do not hurt me,
please," he squeaked. "I am not here to harm you."
Amarelle
watches him with skeptic reluctance before she allows him to sit on
her arm.
"I am sorry to scare you," she apologizes. "It's
just that I have never seen a squirrel talk before."
"We all
talk," Chestnut stated. "The reason you never hear us speak in
human language is because humans never listened carefully."
Amarelle
considers this for a while before she can speak. "My name is
Amarelle--"
"That name is stupid!" Chestnut interrupts.
"What does it mean?"
"I don't know, my father gave me that
name on the day I was born."
"Then your father is stupid."
"My
father isn't stupid!" she shouted.
She tries to grab him but Chestnut was too quick for her. He jumps from her arm and lands on her bed. He looked at her with a frightened expression.
"I am terribly sorry,
I won't insult you again," the squirrel said. He looked very
sorry indeed. Amarelle couldn't stay angry at it anymore so she sat
on the bed next to it.
"I was taken away from my home," she
told the squirrel.
"Ah, you must be Malevont's new wife."
"How
did you know about that?"
"I know Malevont, but not too well;
I lived in this Enchanted Tower since as long as I can remember,"
he explained. After a pause, "I was a dragon once."
Amarelle
stares at him at disbelief. Chestnut lets out a melancholy sigh.
"A
long time ago, I was a powerful dragon like old Malevont. I guard
rare treasures and kill those who try to steal it. I was known as
Wingfire back then until the day I ran afoul with a witch. She…
transformed… me… to…a … SQUIRREL!!"
A fat tear
fell down his small cheek and he sniffed. Then he broke down into
loud sobs. Amarelle covers her mouth to stifle her giggles.
"And
since then, I had to hide to escape from the humiliation. I even
changed my name. I do not want to give my dragon friends the
satisfaction of myself being cursed into small squirrel. So I locked
myself away in this Enchanted Tower and lived here for the rest of my
days. Well, Malevont knew I was living here so he told me that he
wants to keep his new wife here since his late wife-dragoness Maran
is dead."
"Do you know how can I escape from this Tower?"
Amarelle asked, hope rising in her chest…
"I am afraid not,"
Chestnut sighed sadly. "You can never leave this Tower. There is
spell to conjure a stair but I do not know how to do it. And the odds
of escaping are slim because the Enchanted Tower is surrounded by an
Enchanted Woods. It is full of spirits who will lure away from the
trail, deadly traps, and goblins that will eat you even before you
cry out for help. Those who enter the Woods can never get out and
they are lost forever. I am sorry but I think you are confined to
this Tower."
"But I do not want to stay here," Amarelle
protested. "I do not belong here."
"Well, go and complain to
Malevont instead of me," Chestnut suggested impatiently. "He
abducted you in the first place."
"And I shall do that."
While
Amarelle goes to pick up the fruits that had fallen to the floor,
Chestnut watches her as he think. She looks too pure and naïve
yet I sense a strong spirit inside her, he thought. Boy is she
Malevont's taste…
End of Chapter 3
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Aww, poor Chestnut! His pride has been destroyed. Hehehe…
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