Aster's eyes fluttered open. Her hands felt a hard surface below her and she moved her head to see it.
She was lying on a large boulder. Severed ropes lay around her, and she was being sprayed with some mist from a nearby waterfall.
She sat up and examined herself. Her baggy, frayed, black dress held on by its own rope was still on her. Her chestnut hair was still done up in a loose ponytail. She seemed to still be alright, but her wrists were covered with congealed blood.
She sighed and tore strips of cloth from the bottom of her dress. Stepping off the rock, she soaked the strips in some clean water and tied them over the wounds.
Suddenly she froze. She had heard a noise behind her. For a moment, she played the fool and started towards the waterfall, wading out in the water as if she didn't think there was anything wrong. A second passed, and she took her chance and dove behind the deluge of water.
Aster tripped when she realized that there was a huge opening behind the waterfall instead of solid rock. She sharply sucked in a breath through her teeth as she realized she had cut her palms on some jagged stones below her.
Picking herself up, she sat on a drenched rock and awaited her eyes to adjust to the gloom. She couldn't see her new wounds, and wanted to examine them before worrying what had been out there just then.
Her back was to the darkness, and she almost didn't hear a breath behind her. Thinking that it had just been the water making noises, she went back to poring over her scratched hands.
"Not too spry on your feet in the dark, are you?" a deep voice inquired.
Aster stood up instantly and faced the gloom. She looked towards where the sound had come from, and realized that it had come from near where she'd expect the roof of the cavern to be.
"Who are you? Come down from there and let me see you!" she demanded.
Her eyes went wide as the huge, scaled, horned head of a dragon dropped down to her eye level and grinned.
"A d-dragon!" she cried. She fell backwards and hit her backside on another stone. Wincing, she rubbed it and realized how close she was to a monster. Scrambling back and out of the cavern and onto the shore, she didn't realize until she bumped into someone that she wasn't getting too far too fast.
"So, here you are!" She looked up. It was the dragon slayer! She was saved!
"Yes, hiding here after the whole 'maiden sacrifice' fiasco in the village," the dragon returned, coming out of the waterfall and lying on the ground not five yards away from where Aster lay. He was huge! Close to twenty feet high and almost fifty feet long! His accent was decidedly Scottish, she observed.
But it didn't matter what extraction he was or how big he was, because she was saved! Saved, saved; this man would kill the dragon and she'd go home and sock Alfred one so hard, he'd go back to last week, and…
"You didn't 'serenade' this one, did you?" the slayer demanded, sending Aster out of her happy thoughts and into quite a new plane of confusion.
"No, not yet. Haven't had a chance to, Bowen; the lass was faint up to just a minute ago," the dragon laughed.
"Well don't waste your time. The whole plan was a flop; the 'maiden sacrifice' thing apparently worked. Now, if word gets out across the country, you'll be singing to an entire audience of sacrifices on a regular schedule!" Bowen raged. He squatted down and washed his face in a pool of water while continuing.
"We need to get moving before we're beaten by word of mouth. Pack up and let's go. There's a village to the west that might still be in the dark in regards to our plan." Bowen stood and checked his sword. Sheathing it again, he looked down at the amazed Aster, whose mouth hung open at this passage of words.
"Oh, and Draco?" he said, still looking at Aster.
"You called?" the dragon returned.
"You gotta eat this one. We can't let her go." Bowen turned and started to walk towards his waiting horse that stood by a tree close to the stream.
Aster snapped herself out of her daze and tried to plead her case. "Oh no, I swear! I'll never tell a soul! Never! I'm not ever going to return to that village, and I swear on my parents' graves that I'll not speak a word of this to anyone! Please!"
Bowen didn't turn back, and the dragon didn't make a move.
"We've gotta kill you one way or another, girl," Bowen stated coldly. "You're too much of a wild card. We've got big plans and another girl running around spouting the truth isn't good. One is already too much. There can only be so many 'wandering idiots' around here," he explained.
Aster's eyes filled with tears as she realized he wasn't joking. He was completely serious.
"Well can you at least knock me out first?" she implored. "I don't want to see it…"
Bowen shrugged and picked up a fist-sized rock. He made for her left temple, but suddenly the dragon's voice filled the clearing.