Magic of Love

Legal:  See Prologue

Authors Note:   Ummm, ok, yes, its been a very, very long time, and I sincerely apologize, but after a summer out of state and moving houses, I'm finally back on track.  The story is still the same, just now I'm actually updating chapters.  Sorry to all of you who have emailed me constantly about updating, I'm truly sorry – this chapter is dedicated to all of you!  Now, as I promised before, this chapter is from the dragons perspective, I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 8:  Back to the Mountains

            [This starts when the dragon took flight out of the garden maze – chapter 7 was what happened to Alaria after the incident, this is what happened to the dragon, sorry for any confusion!)

            Knowing he had to get himself out of there as soon as possible, he let the feeling of Change settle upon him and resumed his real form.  He pulled his head back and extended his golden wings, ready to strike at the man who had just come running about.  The stranger grabbed an arrow out of his quiver and loaded it.  Tensing himself for the arrow about to come, Lascaryus was startled to see the human princess throw herself upon the archer, knocking the arrow off course.  Taking the opportunity to escape, Lascaryus launched himself in to the sky, sending the human girl a faint message below: to find him.

As he took wing over the palace, Lascaryus couldn't help but wonder how strange the events of the past few hours had been.  He had first come to the palace in hopes of finding the human girl whom he had stumbled upon in the woods a few days before.  He had constantly felt a pulling sensation in his thoughts and had dreamed of the human kings palace for the past three nights.  Lascaryus decided to investigate the girl, before the dreams drove him insane.   When he reached the palace, he took a human form and donned the costume that would be most comforting to him, one resembling a dragon.  He clocked himself in a shield of mist, to avoid as much detection as possible and easily evaded the guards and pages running around the palace.  He took a deep breath and whispered for a grace of good luck for what he was going to do.

Lascaryus entered the ballroom from the top of the stairs, scanning the crowd to see if he could find the girl with the dark hair and piercing grey eyes.  However, with all the men and women attired in a array of blinding costumes, he felt his exasperation rising, thinking he would never find the girl.  As he glanced out amongst the sea of humanity, his eyes rested on a swan, a royal swan at the matter.  The girl moved with the grace of an swallow and seemed to float on the air as she twisted and turned in time with the music.  As he watched her, wondering at his own feeling of enthrallment, the girl glanced over at him and stopped dead.  Lascaryus could feel his breath catch and his heart stop.  Here was whom he had been looking for.  The large grey eyes stared him down and pinned him in place.  As he watched her move toward him, he could sense with his own heart beating in time with the girls, drawing her ever closer to him. 

He watched her approach, drawing closer and closer to him.  As she reached the dais stairs, she was grabbed by a man in a fox costume, causing her to break eye contact with him.  Knowing he would be discovered soon, Lascaryus turned and fled back through the main doors and out in to the night. 

A shift in the wind patterns drew Lascaryus back from his memories of the night.  Glancing about him, he realized he was now flying over the forest where he had first met the human princess.  He couldn't help but feel a moment of pleasure as he recalled how he first gazed in to the grey eyes, however, the feeling quickly turned to a bit of annoyance as he realized what had happened since then.  Lascaryus banked to the right, shifting his large wings slightly, sending him upward to the mountains and flew on for a good half an hour.   

The rocky terrain became steeper and steeper till even a sturdy mountain pony would have trouble climbing it, as the land met a smooth shire cliff the rose for several hundred feet.  Lascaryus beat his wings faster and faster, digging in to the air currents to help him power himself up the cliff.  Finally, after several tiring moments, he gracefully landed on the edge of the cliff, shook out his wings, folded them and ambled up a few large stone steps and walked out on to a large platform, out of which radiated several paths.  He turned on to the left foremost path and wandered down the rocky cliff till another branch in the road, and another, each time choosing the slippery steep path with easy.  The paths became higher and higher, drifting upward in to the clouds.  As Lascaryus drifted through a slip of cloud, he came out on to a network of caves, strangely placed on the high mountain top.  Taking the fourth cave on the right, he strode down in to the cave till he came to his own dwelling.  Squeezing though the small cave entrance, Lascaryus could feel himself relax as he crawled in to his own home.  Whispering a spell of light, Lascaryus let his eyes adjust to the growing illumination and was surprised to see that he wasn't the only one in his cave.

"Would you care to explain where you've been and provide a reasonable defense for you absence?  Or would you just rather stand before the Counsel and explain it to them instead?" An angry voice threaded in from the growing light…

Well, not much action or conversation in this one, but I can guarantee there will be some in the next.  Once again, sorry it took so long for update.  Let me know if you have any questions, concerns or comments.  The best of luck with the beginning of school, you will hear from me soon,

As always,

            ~Dragonsong