There were fewer people near the dangerous animals. It seemed only the brave ventured into the heart of the zoo where all the terrible beasts were kept. When a nearby lion roared, Giselle latched onto Christian's arm in fright. It seemed she was not one of the brave, rather one of the foolhardy who cowered in the face of danger. Apart from the large golden lion there were trolls and goblins who glared at us with red eyes and sharp teeth. We passed monstrous alligators, shifty wights, snarling dire wolves, and a pacing bajang. As we passed, the bajang lunged at us in its cat form only to be stopped by the bars. Irately the beast still reached for us through the bars with claws outstretched. We rounded the large area that had been cleared for the dragon. It was a pine drake like the one my brother must have fought. Pine drakes were small as far as dragons go, but it still made me shudder to think Andrew had to fight one. The dragon was curled up on a mound of burnt grass and appeared to be resting. Apart from the dozens of guards that patrolled the zoo, twenty stood around the dragon lest it should wake and try to break free of its heavy chains.

This area of the field even seemed darker and gloomier. While the sky was still a perfect blue with fluffy white clouds lazily gliding by, the brightness did not seem as strong near the center of the field where they kept the dangerous animals. It had something to do with the fact that everything was so close together. There were not broad areas to walk in between the enclosures and cages with animals making them seem to loom higher. Briefly, it reminded me of another area where tall building towered over narrow alley ways that I had run through.

"How were all these animals caught?" I wondered aloud to redirect my thoughts. Some of the more fearsome beasts seemed too dangerous to be caught and contained in a zoo for people to look at. The mockery was one of those dangerous animals. We had not come across it yet, and I hoped that we would not see the beast at all.

"The men who caught them must have been so brave." Giselle purred as she laid her head against Christian's shoulder. She was still clinging to his arm and he did nothing to shake her off. I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes at her obvious flirting.

Christian did not seem to mind the attention, however, and he readily responded with tales of brave knights who captured the dangerous beasts. I was amazed at the bravery and ingenuity it took to capture the animals we passed. I would have never thought to lie some of the traps that Christian was describing. For each different animal there was a different weakness and trap to be set. Most times, the creatures were caught by master hunters who tracked monsters for sport.

While Christian was telling us about a particularly menacing looking sea serpent that was gracefully coiling around and around in a large tank, there was a scream. All three of us dashed around the bend to where the scream had come from. A huge black bull minotaur seemed to have charged a girl so forcefully that the bars holding it in were bent. The girl who had screamed was now lying on the grass where she had fainted. A few other people had run to see what had happened and soldiers were subduing the beast. The girl stirred and moved the arm that was covering her face. I recognized her; so did Giselle.

"Paislee?" Giselle exclaimed upon seeing her friends face. "What are you doing? Where is Posey?"

Paislee sat up and brushed a few stray hairs away from where they had fallen. Christian gallantly helped her up and immediately she wrapped her arms around Giselle and cried. "Oh, Ellie, it was so terrible. I was just looking at the big cow man when the horrible thing just ran at me. I thought for sure I was going to die. I very nearly did. Posey said that she did not want to look at the animals today so I came here alone. I got lost and ended up in the middle of all these horrible animals. I just wanted to see the fairies and unicorns."

Awkwardly, Giselle patted the smaller girl's back. She was not used to being so violently squeezed and cried on. "Are you alright?" I asked. As far as I could tell, she was not physically hurt. The thick bars had stopped the charge, thank goodness. Paislee just nodded against Giselle's shoulder.

"Come," Christian said gently, "I know the way to the fairies and unicorns. We can take you to them. There are also mermaids."

Paislee sniffed and peeked at the prince from where she had buried her face in Giselle's shoulder. "Mermaids," She squeaked.

Christian nodded. Paislee dried her tears and tried to fix herself up for the prince. She checked that the large pink bow on her head was straight and dusted off the skirt of her dress. She smiled as Christian gestured towards one of the paths between the animals. We began walking again; this time away from where the minotaur's cage stood. Paislee did not let go of Giselle's arm for an instant and looked around at all the other animals with wide eyes. This allowed me to talk to Christian.

"That was very nice of you to offer to show her the way back." I said as we walked.

Christian shrugged as if saving damsels in distress was something he did every day. "I'm surprised that creature dared charge in such a small space. I have never heard of such a thing. Normally bull minotaurs only attack so violently when provoked."

I giggled, "Perhaps it was threatened by that big bow on her head."

Christian laughed along with me as he guided us away from the dangerous animals and towards a place I could see a small herd of striped deer calmly grazing in their fenced off area. It was brighter and more cheery now that we were back in the open away from all the close-set cages and roaring animals. Ahead I could see our destination. In another fenced off area stood about seven unicorns of varying colors. Upon seeing them, Paislee let go of Giselle and ran ahead. In the seconds it took the rest of us to catch up, she had already coaxed a pale pink unicorn with a white horn over to the fence. I went over to stroke the long horse face along with Paislee. I had not seen many unicorns up close before. Its hair was silky smooth beneath my fingers. With a shake of its long ivory mane the unicorn decided it was done getting attention and trotted off.

"They are so pretty." Paislee breathed as she watched it leave.

"I think they are fine enough to look at. I think I prefer the dragons though." Giselle shrugged. She turned away from the fence to look at what else was around. "What's that over there?"

Christian and I turned to look where she was pointing. Paislee never took her eyes from the unicorns and was trying to lure another one over. Giselle was pointing to an impossibly tall animal with large brown splotches along its long neck and body. I recognized the unique neck and knobby legs from a book I had read years ago, but I could not remember what the animal was called.

"That's a giraffe," Christian answered.

We left Paislee with the unicorns and went over to see the tall giraffe. It was wandering around aimlessly in its area.

The rest of our time was spent wandering the outer ring of the zoo. We did not venture into the dangerous center again. Giselle did not stop her shameless flirting, but she was not opening attacking me so I barely minded the way she clung onto Christian. He was still conversing mostly with me except when Giselle drew his attention by asking a question. She had learned that he loved to explain things and an easy way to divert him was to ask questions. We passed all sorts of various creatures. I did not see the white peacocks again. Christian said it was because they had been taken away because they were meant to be a part of his sister's wedding. When he informed me about them, Giselle proudly declared that the birds were her idea.

In the late afternoon as the sun was setting, we left the zoo and returned to the Gilded Leopard. Giselle said her goodbye to the prince and boldly gave him a light kiss on the cheek. I started to make my exit as well, but Christian stopped me.

"Ebony, if you could spare a moment. I have something I wanted to ask you." I returned to my seat and nodded. He continued, "As you know there is another ball tomorrow night. It is a match and that means that couples are to wear matching outfits to it. I was hoping that you would do me the honor of being my partner in the match."

My face nearly split from my wide smile as I quickly agreed. "How shall we match tomorrow? Should we wear the same color?"

Christian chuckled. "The matching is a bit more coordinated than just colors. I will send a dress to you tomorrow morning that will match my outfit. I am so glad you agreed. I cannot wait until tomorrow night."

Short baby chapter this time.

Just to clarify, I changed a name here. Paislee is from the ball clique. She's Posey's twin sister. Her named started out as Karis, but that wasn't working like I wanted it to so now it's Paislee.