Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia, C.S. Lewis's Stepson does. All I own are the characters that Lewis didn't come up with.
Chapter 25
Fire
Suddenly, the world spun around and Petra found herself in total darkness. The air around her was thick, and smokey, earthy smell to it. She crinkled her nose at the smell, looking about for something – anything. Where was she? Was she now dead? This didn't seem to be Aslan's Country.
Finally, Petra thought she sighted some light off in the distance. Since she had nothing better to go by, she began walking in the direction of the perceived light. On and on she walked, seeming to make no progress – for the glimmer she thought she saw never seemed to grow any closer, causing her to believe that it was merely wishful fancy.
Petra was just about to give up on this endeavor when the darkness exploded with orange-red light. Accompanied with this light was an intense heat and the smell of smoke. Fire. Petra stiffened with fear.
When the light died down so that she could see what caused it, she screamed.
There before her was a huge red and black dragon with evil black eyes.
"Oh, there, there," said the dragon, with Amber's voice – though it was somewhat deeper. "Don't cry. Haven't you ever wanted to see a dragon before, dear?"
Hearing Amber's voice steadied Petra. "I thought I defeated you – destroyed your magic."
"Ah, but you did," said the dragon, making a rumbling in its throat that Petra took to be laughter. "You did defeat me. But, here we are, both caught between life and death. I can torment you however I wish here – even without my magic."
A thought occurred to Petra at these words. "But couldn't that mean that I could torment you as well?"
"I suppose you could, if you knew how," said Amber, in what seemed to be a thoughtful tone. "However, I could decide to put an end to all of this and go ahead and …"
The thought wasn't finished for, at that moment, the dragon opened her mouth wide, and a fire issued out, surrounding and consuming Petra.
But there was no pain to this fire, no smell, no heat … only flavor. She could taste the fire. It was not a hot flavor, not spicy … it was more bright, pure, full. She could not come up with the words to describe the fireworks of flavor that she tasted.
She opened her eyes to sunlight and the sight of Sandai's worried blue eyes. She tried to say something, but could only make a small moan. The taste of the fire was still in her mouth. She hurt, but the pain seemed to be rapidly fading.
"It is good to have you back, Princess Petra," said Sandai.
"Back?" questioned Petra, having recovered her speech, but her mind was a fog.
"Hush, you need not worry about that right now," said Sandai.
"But …"
"Right now, you need to rest. Queen Lucy's Cordial does wonders, but your injuries were severe," said Sandai in a firm voice. "You need to sleep. I have others that I must now attend to." Sandai's face disappeared from Petra's line of sight.
For several minutes Petra foggily tried to sort through what Sandai had said, and through the disjointed memories. However, at last, sleep overtook her, and she closed her eyes, drifting into more pleasant dreams that the ones that she had previously traveled through.
Author's Note: And here's chapter 25. Yes, it's been a while. I've been working on other projects, and this one fell to the wayside. Please leave a review and tell me what you think!