A Summer of Thorns
JESSIE Chapter one: Taken
I blinked, unable to comprehend what I had just witnessed. Seconds passed, seconds that turned into minutes, minutes that spanned for eternity as I sat by the fire, thinking that perhaps I was finally going crazy. All signs of sleep left when I first saw the elf riding dragon-back, but as I peered helplessly into the darkness, hearing the babbling brook mockingly whisper my name, I grew weary once again. At first, when I jumped up and grabbed the flashlight, Zach followed my gaze with his own light, but when I began to pan through the forest, he sighed and stared into the fire once again. Eventually, I resigned myself to the same fate, and Zach unquestioningly took up the main guard. My eyes grew heavy, but I managed to see Zach's body tense once and relax. I looked at the watch on the log between us. Only two more minutes. Zach went to wake the next two watchers, and my heart pounded as I realized that I was on my own for the time being. I breathed in to sigh, but was suddenly cut off from air and carried silently through the forest. I could hear the new watchers mumbling to themselves and imagined Zach plopping into his sleeping bag, thinking I had done the same. Bumps and sudden jolts sent daggers of pain through my arms and thighs, so I knew better then to struggle. I was choking on something, and every shake of my body drove the daggers deeper into my flesh. My throat screamed, by I could not open my mouth. It vaguely occurred to me that I should be panicking, but I felt strangely thankful. When I could finally breathe again I was too busy coughing and gasping for air to scream. I heard a sickening thud as a blood-covered scarf fell to the ground. It was my scarf, and my blood. Dizzy, I followed the path of the scarf with my body and lay, sprawled out on the pine needles.
Chapter two: Attempted Escape
I blinked. The world blurred, but I fought it, searching for my friends, the fire, and my sleeping bag. I struggled to get up, but my limbs felt like lead. My head was pounding, and I finally had enough air to cry out. Extra liquid coursed through my body, and I had no choice but to relieve myself then and there, weeping as I pulled my pajamas up securely around my waist. I crawled away, wincing as pine needles suck to my clothes and brushed against my wounds. Tears were drying in sticky clumps on my face, and I knew I was helplessly lost. I was not alone, though. I looked back, briefly. The dragon's head was about three feet across and four feet long. A pair of large, reptilian eyes sat on the side of its face.
"Dear girl; child," I knew the dragon was speaking to me, but he wasn't looking at me. I struggled desperately against the cool earth until I felt a cold pr!ck in my back, and I lay down, helpless.
"She's suffered enough." said a deep clear voice. I managed to lift my head to see the elf, standing in front of me, looking at the dragon.
"She won't come." The dragon breathed. In reply, a brisk language flew from the elf's lips, sounding like waves crashing onto a cliff during a storm. I was astonished, but I let my head fall, just listening.
"I know." The dragon interrupted. The elf seemed taken aback. A single word escaped his lips. There was a pause, and the dragon removed his claw from my back. Next, I watched in muted terror as the dragon opened his great mouth and lunged for me, sinking his teeth into my flesh and lifting me from the ground. I recognized the sensation. I had been carried the same way when I was kidnapped. Darkness assaulted my vision, but I still felt my heart leap into my throat as we lifted off, then come plummeting back down about ten minutes later, when we landed. Again, the fear I should have felt was converted into a wild kind of contentment. I waited, and somehow I knew we were entering a cave.
Chapter 3: Breeze
I used the time being jostled through the cave to contemplate my situation. I was seventeen, alone, approaching my senior year in high school, and living in a dream, quite literally it seemed. I believed in two things and two things only. I took strength from knowing how I had survived as long as I had, and if my honor made me weak and predictable, I held up my head ever higher. But that small bit of inspiration I had gotten from watching that movie, The Gladiator, usually left me in times of peril, and now I was struggling to keep my wits about me. I was trying very hard to convince myself that what I was experiencing wasn't what really was, that I was still on my fourth summer backpacking trip, and that everything would turn out okay. But it was hardly working.
An eternity later, I was bombarded with bright light and sudden sight, and then dropped roughly on my knees in a field of grass. A warm breeze played briefly with my hair.
"She's not going anywhere," said a strange voice, one I didn't recognize as either the dragon or the elf.
"You've got that right. I've been kidnapped, carried in the mouth of a dragon, taken through a hole in a mountain and . . . . And I'm not going anywhere, unless it's back home." I replied lamely, surprising both myself and my companions.
"Rest child, you're hurt," commanded the dragon.
"I wonder why," I muttered
JESSIE Chapter one: Taken
I blinked, unable to comprehend what I had just witnessed. Seconds passed, seconds that turned into minutes, minutes that spanned for eternity as I sat by the fire, thinking that perhaps I was finally going crazy. All signs of sleep left when I first saw the elf riding dragon-back, but as I peered helplessly into the darkness, hearing the babbling brook mockingly whisper my name, I grew weary once again. At first, when I jumped up and grabbed the flashlight, Zach followed my gaze with his own light, but when I began to pan through the forest, he sighed and stared into the fire once again. Eventually, I resigned myself to the same fate, and Zach unquestioningly took up the main guard. My eyes grew heavy, but I managed to see Zach's body tense once and relax. I looked at the watch on the log between us. Only two more minutes. Zach went to wake the next two watchers, and my heart pounded as I realized that I was on my own for the time being. I breathed in to sigh, but was suddenly cut off from air and carried silently through the forest. I could hear the new watchers mumbling to themselves and imagined Zach plopping into his sleeping bag, thinking I had done the same. Bumps and sudden jolts sent daggers of pain through my arms and thighs, so I knew better then to struggle. I was choking on something, and every shake of my body drove the daggers deeper into my flesh. My throat screamed, by I could not open my mouth. It vaguely occurred to me that I should be panicking, but I felt strangely thankful. When I could finally breathe again I was too busy coughing and gasping for air to scream. I heard a sickening thud as a blood-covered scarf fell to the ground. It was my scarf, and my blood. Dizzy, I followed the path of the scarf with my body and lay, sprawled out on the pine needles.
Chapter two: Attempted Escape
I blinked. The world blurred, but I fought it, searching for my friends, the fire, and my sleeping bag. I struggled to get up, but my limbs felt like lead. My head was pounding, and I finally had enough air to cry out. Extra liquid coursed through my body, and I had no choice but to relieve myself then and there, weeping as I pulled my pajamas up securely around my waist. I crawled away, wincing as pine needles suck to my clothes and brushed against my wounds. Tears were drying in sticky clumps on my face, and I knew I was helplessly lost. I was not alone, though. I looked back, briefly. The dragon's head was about three feet across and four feet long. A pair of large, reptilian eyes sat on the side of its face.
"Dear girl; child," I knew the dragon was speaking to me, but he wasn't looking at me. I struggled desperately against the cool earth until I felt a cold pr!ck in my back, and I lay down, helpless.
"She's suffered enough." said a deep clear voice. I managed to lift my head to see the elf, standing in front of me, looking at the dragon.
"She won't come." The dragon breathed. In reply, a brisk language flew from the elf's lips, sounding like waves crashing onto a cliff during a storm. I was astonished, but I let my head fall, just listening.
"I know." The dragon interrupted. The elf seemed taken aback. A single word escaped his lips. There was a pause, and the dragon removed his claw from my back. Next, I watched in muted terror as the dragon opened his great mouth and lunged for me, sinking his teeth into my flesh and lifting me from the ground. I recognized the sensation. I had been carried the same way when I was kidnapped. Darkness assaulted my vision, but I still felt my heart leap into my throat as we lifted off, then come plummeting back down about ten minutes later, when we landed. Again, the fear I should have felt was converted into a wild kind of contentment. I waited, and somehow I knew we were entering a cave.
Chapter 3: Breeze
I used the time being jostled through the cave to contemplate my situation. I was seventeen, alone, approaching my senior year in high school, and living in a dream, quite literally it seemed. I believed in two things and two things only. I took strength from knowing how I had survived as long as I had, and if my honor made me weak and predictable, I held up my head ever higher. But that small bit of inspiration I had gotten from watching that movie, The Gladiator, usually left me in times of peril, and now I was struggling to keep my wits about me. I was trying very hard to convince myself that what I was experiencing wasn't what really was, that I was still on my fourth summer backpacking trip, and that everything would turn out okay. But it was hardly working.
An eternity later, I was bombarded with bright light and sudden sight, and then dropped roughly on my knees in a field of grass. A warm breeze played briefly with my hair.
"She's not going anywhere," said a strange voice, one I didn't recognize as either the dragon or the elf.
"You've got that right. I've been kidnapped, carried in the mouth of a dragon, taken through a hole in a mountain and . . . . And I'm not going anywhere, unless it's back home." I replied lamely, surprising both myself and my companions.
"Rest child, you're hurt," commanded the dragon.
"I wonder why," I muttered