Chapter Three
Morwen's eyes rapidly adjusted to the low light and she found it easy enough to follow Kazul across the side of the mountain. They'd only gone a hundred yards or so when the dragon stopped in front of a shadowy maw. "This is it," Kazul said, her deep voice echoing off the rocks. "Come inside."
An image of her schoolmates' trickery bloomed in Morwen's mind and she planted her feet, determined to ask a few questions first. What came out of her mouth was a rather undignified, "Are you going to eat me?"
Kazul made a low rumbling noise that might have been a laugh. "Is there any reason I should eat you?"
"No. I haven't done anything to deserve that," she said, hiding her shaking hands behind her back.
"Then I'm not going to eat you."
"And what is this place?" she persisted, gesturing to the wide dark mouth of the cave.
"I told you; it's a cave that's safer than your little campsite. No one lives here," Kazul said, her voice softening. "It's a place for patrols to rest if the weather is too dangerous for flying. It'll be empty, though there might be some food left over. Woraug likes to have a snack whenever he's patrolling. And I don't mean a human snack," she added.
Morwen chewed her lip, thinking. "All right," she said after a moment. "As long as you're not going to eat me."
For an answer, Kazul disappeared into the cave, her great green tail slithering behind her with the rasp of scales on stone. Morwen followed.
The cave was dry and clean, its floor sandy and its walls smooth brown stone. Kazul said a soft word and a gentle light flowed throughout the cavern, seeming to come from everywhere at once without irritating Morwen's eyes. Kazul gestured that she should sit on one of the boulders lining the cave, and curled herself around another boulder with a contented sigh.
"Now, Morwen, tell me your story," the dragon said. "What are you doing in the Mountains of Morning? You're a bit young for adventures, aren't you?"
"I'm eleven," she said, stung by what she thought was an accusation. "And I can take care of myself."
"You were doing reasonably well against those rock snakes," Kazul conceded. "But you probably would have lost the fight eventually. The mountains have more dangers than a pair of snakes; I'm surprised you weren't attacked by the mountain trolls we've been fighting for the last few years. But what I want to know is, why were you camping in the mountains in the first place?"
"I told you," she said as politely as she could. "I'm traveling to the Enchanted Forest. I had to go through the mountains to get there."
"And your parents let you travel alone?" Kazul asked, frowning. "I'm no expert on humans, and dragons age differently than you, but isn't eleven a bit young for a journey like this?"
"I don't have parents," she admitted. "They died when I was little."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Kazul said quietly. There was a pause. "You must live with someone."
Morwen sighed and told her about Mistress Piroska and the school, careful not to mention her schoolmates.
"You ran away from your school?" Kazul asked when she finished, tilting her head to one side.
"I wasn't running away!" she protested. "I was just… running away." Her shoulders slumped. "The other girls were making fun of me and I wanted to be somewhere else." She clapped her hands to her mouth, embarrassed by her outburst.
"What were you going to do when you found the forest?" Kazul asked.
She shrugged. "I don't know. But people say that it's a good place for anyone who wants to be left alone."
"Children who wander into the forest don't always have an easy life," Kazul said. "They don't usually die- the forest looks after its own as well as it can- but you don't have to be dead to be enchanted or go hungry."
"What do you think I should do?" she said, pressing her lips together so she wouldn't cry.
Kazul lowered her enormous head to the ground so she was looking up at Morwen. "I think you should go back to school. Don't let the bullies drive you away from an education. Don't give them that power over you. I'll go with you," she added. "Maybe they'll leave you alone if you arrive in the company of a dragon. Then you can study hard, become a proper witch, and leave them behind when you're grown."
"Do I have to?" she whispered.
"You don't have to do anything," Kazul said. "But I think you should do it." Before Morwen could protest any further, she said, "Why don't you sleep for a while? You can think about it in the morning."
Morwen nodded. Sleep was the best idea she'd heard all day.
oOoOo
The first rays of sunlight streamed into the cave, falling on Morwen's face and rousing her from a pleasant dream, of which the only thing she remembered was the smell of cinnamon on toast. She blinked and realized the dream was only partly her imagination. Kazul lay in the doorway, her unblinking eyes fixed on Morwen, who hadn't realized that dragons smelled like warm cinnamon. Yet another reason to stay with Kazul.
As if she'd heard Morwen's thoughts, Kazul raised her head and looked around. "Good morning, Morwen," she said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you." She sat up, untangling the blanket from her legs. "Did you keep watch all night?"
"Most of it. All was quiet," Kazul said. "Now, you should eat something and we can talk about what you're going to do."
Morwen nodded reluctantly. She really didn't want to go back to Toure-on-Marsh, and she tried to think of arguments against it as she refilled her water container at the closest spring, shook out her clothes, and made herself presentable.
When she came back to the cave- after dawdling a moment by the spring to wash her face and hands- Kazul was waiting.
"I know you think I should go back to school," she said, before Kazul could get a word out. "But I don't want to. If I didn't have to see the other witches, I'd go back- I never would have left- but I can't get rid of them."
"Sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do," Kazul said. "As long as you live through the next few years, it'll be worth it. You'll be a fully-fledged witch, and able to make a living on your own."
Morwen hunched her shoulders and rested her arms on her drawn-up knees. "You sound like my mother used to."
Kazul chuckled. "Probably because I've said similar things to my own children. And to my grandchildren. Most of them are more stubborn than you."
She looked up. "You have a family?"
Kazul nodded. "They're all grown and living on their own. But I've never quite lost the habit of giving advice to people who need it."
She dropped her head on her knees. "I have to think about it. I really don't want to go back to school."
"I know," Kazul said quietly. "But think about it anyway."
So she did, nibbling on the bread Kazul had obligingly toasted for her and comparing her life at the dame school to her imaginings of the Enchanted Forest. She was safe, though unhappy, at school. She never had to worry about the roof over her head or the food on the table, and she was getting an education. Her classmates were annoying and she hated their taunting, but they hadn't done her any physical harm. She wasn't likely to die from their teasing unless she took their words to heart and harmed herself, and she didn't think that was likely. After all, they were only stupid little children and she, Morwen, wouldn't give them the satisfaction of breaking her down.
A life in the Enchanted Forest would be the exact opposite. She would be free to do as she liked, but she would have to worry every moment for her safety. She wouldn't eat unless she bought, gathered, or grew her own food; she wouldn't have a place to sleep unless she found one; she would never have a moment's rest for years and years, and unless she had a massive stroke of luck, it would never get any better. She might know enough about magic to survive, but she didn't know enough to make her life any more comfortable than that.
Living in the Enchanted Forest would put an end to her education. It was unlikely that she would get another place at school or an apprenticeship when she had no money to pay for either. That was a stopping block, to be sure. Morwen frowned. She liked books, liked to learn new things, and besides that, magic was useful. She turned ideas over in her mind for a few minutes, wondering if she could learn magic informally from the people she met in the Enchanted Forest. But that depended on pure luck, and while Morwen didn't mind taking a risk, she wasn't sure she wanted to take a risk that was likely to leave her starving or murdered.
But she would never have to hear Celia's teasing ever again. It was a tantalizing thought, and she wasn't ashamed to admit it to herself. Arguments for both plans warred back and forth in her mind.
The sun was fully up by the time she said to Kazul, "I've decided. I'll go back to school."
oOoOo
A/N: All right, ladies and gentlemen; you've made it this far, so I'm going to assume you're enjoying the story. If that's the case, and you want more, head over to my profile for more fanfics and information on purchasing my original fiction, now available on Amazon.