For an unidentifiable length of time, I wandered between a deep, restful sleep and a light semi-consciousness: not awake, but still somewhat aware of my surroundings. I had first a vague memory of Jane and the Dragon watching over me, then what seemed to be the kitchen, an image of Pepper scurrying every which way. I must have stayed in the kitchen for a long while, as many of these vague memories were of Pepper, with brief flashes of Rake, Jester, Smithy, Sherilin, and even Gunther. Jane always seemed to appear the most, but her visits seemed to grow less frequent and she seemed angrier as time went on. Eventually, Jane's visits all but stopped and my remaining patrons seemed more worried than ever. Finally, I had a groggy memory of Jane coming through the door, lifting me up and transferring me to Dragon's hands, followed swiftly by a vision of sky and lower Dragon, ending as we entered a cave.
The most concrete memory I experienced was staring up at a rock ceiling, the sound of a fire crackling somewhere to my left and the deep breathing that came from a sleeping giant, such as a dragon. I started to sit up, but felt a sudden pain in my shoulder, forcing me back to the small bundle of quilts that had surrounded me for years. I took a moment, breathing through my mouth, and prepared myself for the pain. I slowly lifted myself up, first getting a solid grip on the ground beneath me and then pushing up. I noticed immediately that my right arm seemed to have lost strength. I still couldn't completely remember why it was that my shoulder hurt, why my arm was weak, and why I was in this cave and not in quarters within the castle. I managed to prop myself up and found myself breathless. I took a moment, panting, before I tried to continue standing. I drew my legs in with very little effort and shifted into a crouch. I felt a sudden wave of pain, but I clenched my teeth and tried to ignore it instead of falling once more. I started to straighten my legs and my back, standing up, no matter how much it hurt. As I fulfilled my somewhat minuscule height, I felt the need to sit again. It was not the pain that hit me this time, but the dizziness. I stumbled backwards, reaching for a wall and finding it, and simply waited for my vision to return and hoping not to pass out so soon after waking up.
It took a few minutes, but eventually, I could see clearly. I was in Dragon's cave, as I thought. I had only been there once, but it was not the sort of place easily forgotten. It contained high-vaulted ceilings disappearing into darkness, stupendously large areas of space that were simply beyond comprehension, and the rattling sound that seemed to follow Dragon wherever he went that echoed deep into the catacombs of the mountain.
The large reptilian beast was sleeping in the eerie manner described in so many tales of dragons: one eye remained open. His bed was gold and gems, more stacked into a pile than would likely be seen in the same location for hundreds of years. I considered waking him, but somewhat unsure of what a dragon was like when awakened, I slowly walked toward the fire.
I sat next to the large flame facing the interior of the cave, realizing that I had grown cold in the moments I had been standing free of the blankets. Could it be this cold already? My most recent memories were of hot late summer. I would have to have been unconscious for moons for it to have become this cold. What could have happened to me that I had been unconscious for moons?
I heard the sound of a horse galloping. I turned around to see who was now present and saw the brilliant red hair of Jane. She climbed off of her horse and entered the half-darkness of the cave. A few steps in, her movements turned frantic. She rushed towards the sleeping behemoth, unconsciously turning her back to me, and jostled his nose. "Wake up, Dragon! Inez is missing!"
"She is not!" Dragon drawled in the way that most humans would in the morning, but with a faint fiery rumble that made him sound more like a dragon than I had ever heard him before.
"Yes she is! She is not in her bed!"
"She's warming herself by the fire. Nothing too alarming. Assuming she does not catch fire." It must take more focus than I thought for him to sound human.
Jane turned around and saw me. I gave an unnecessary half-wave. Her face immediately turned the color of her hair. "So...Inez...do you feel...okay?"
"Fit as a fiddle and twice as large. Why?"
"Well, everyone had been worried about you at the castle."
"I do not think there is much to worry about. I am fine. Unless there is something you are not telling me." I used the last sentence as a question, trying to discover how I had come to be wounded.
Jane seemed surprised by what I said. "Did you just say 'do not', 'I am', and 'are not'?"
"Yes. Why is it surprising that I would use such words?"
"You never used them before."
"How could I possible have been able to effectively communicate without using 'do not', 'I am', or 'are not'? They are rather common words!"
"Yes, but you said 'don't', 'I'm', and 'aren't', before."
"Jane, did you bump your head? 'Don't' is not a word. It sounds like someone tried to ram two words together and there were several casualties!"
"Yes, but you said that such things were common in the future! That, and 'rap', and great metal ships that flew! You told me about them when we first met, a few months ago!"
"A few months ago! What are you talking about! I have been living here since I was a child!"
"No! You arrived a few months ago in a strange purple portal!"
I was suddenly concerned for Jane and hurried over to test her forehead. "You do not seem to have a fever, but you are obviously delusional. Come, sit down in those blankets. You must be sick!"
"Get your hand off of me! I am not sick, you are! You cannot remember anything! You are banished from the castle and you do not even know why, because you can not remember!"
"I am banished from the castle? Why?"
"You tried to kill yourself! You are mentally unstable, or at least that is what Caitlyn told everyone!"
"I assure you, I have never had the slightest inclination to end my life. Is that how I got this shoulder injury?" I suddenly touched the area in question. If I had injured myself there, the pain would be enough to keep me asleep for moons.
Jane sighed. "You really do not remember? You had pierced yourself with my blade." She withdrew her sword, belted at her hip, in a fluid motion. She slid her thumb along for just a moment before pulling it up to show a small, red drop forming. "This sword was forged in dragon-fire. It can pierce even the scales of a dragon."
"It is true. That sword is the only thing I have seen that can injure me." Dragon interjected with this testimonial.
"We were concerned what the result of having a Dragon forged blade in your shoulder would do to you. Apparently, the result is amnesia. We were lucky that you had terrible aim: you not only missed the heart, but all vital organs. You did, however hit an artery, so it was a bit chancy as to whether you would survive for the first week or so. We assumed that you did it because of-"
"Stress. You had been working even harder than normal with Smithy and the Wizard seemed to have pushed you past your limit." This sounded logical to me, though I did notice the fiery glance that Jane and Dragon exchanged. I assumed that it was something Dragon did not wish to discuss.
"I am well now. Perhaps you should explain exactly what has happened."
Jane and Dragon exchanged a glance. Jane took a deep breath, and began.