Playing With Fire

by Adrienne Woods et al.

  He was royalty and I had no idea whether he would still feel the same way about me if he discovered my secret.

  He finally stopped and we saw the outline of the dragon.

  It had knocked a few trees down.

  A hunter must have shot it while it was flying.

  Louie froze on the spot.

  “Let’s go.” I whispered, knowing fully well that the dragon could hear us.

  “No, wait. I have never seen one up this close before.”

  I stared at him. What was he saying. His father had held many in the dungeons, numerous times.

  “Never?”

  “I don’t go to the dungeons, Gwen. What part don’t you understand about the fact that I do not like what my father and brother are doing?”

  I fell harder. He had told me many times but right now, it was different. As if it was clearer. The meaning anyway.

  He walked closer.

  The dragon was hurt. My kind couldn’t heal dragons, only humans so it wouldn’t be any use for me to try and help him.

  He had passed out, his breathing was shallow and it was pure white. “It’s a snow breather. We need to get away from here, Louie.”

  “It’s hurt. I’m sure the hunter is closeby.”

  I caught the dragon’s eye staring at us. They were cunning and sly, would attack when it seemed to be down.

  Louie searched for the weapon that had brought him down but couldn’t find it.

  Unless it wasn’t shot down, had it just collapsed or was busy hunting itself. He wasn’t hurt at all, only faking it.

  Then out of the blue, the hulking beast got up and growled.

  I pushed Louie out of the way. My glare was fiery and I knew the dragon saw the slits in my eyes as I screamed at it, speaking in dragon tongue.

  Snow breathers were smart, but they weren’t brave like the other ten species.

  It growled some more and I growled back like a mad woman.

  I only smelled it now. She was female. She was afraid, and young like me.

  She turned away and fled into the night as I found Louie staring at me.

  I hid my face, trying to push my dragon sight away. Hoping he didn’t see my pupils.

  “Gwen, what just happened?”

  “I told you, it was not safe. You should be glad that she was a female and a snow breather, Louie.”

  He squinted at me as I started to storm back through the forest in the direction of the manor.

  I could hear him following me.

  “Slow down, just talk to me please. How did you know how to speak to it?”

  “Don’t.” I said. I was so upset that I had to push my own scales back.

  I saw it in his face already. The fear that I could communicate with that dragon was terrifying the wits out of him.

  “Gwen, speak to me. How did ….”

  “Delilah taught me, okay. She knows their language. That’s not the point, Louie. You don’t listen. I can’t do this anymore with you. I’m sorry.” I started to run back to the wall of our manor.

  “Gwen, what are you saying?”

  “The courtship is over.” I yelled and climbed the wall fast.

  He could never learn my secret, but after tonight it was bound to happen. He could’ve easily discovered tonight and then my family would be in danger. Father, mother, Delilah. Everyone that knew us would be slaughtered as it was treason of the highest kind.

  I broke down when I was inside my room.

  My love for Louie was deeper than the ocean. It would never vanish, but I couldn’t be with him. I saw it tonight in his eyes. Just for a mere second, the fear that I could communicate with the dragon, to tell it to back off, to go, I wouldn’t hurt her, and she had listened.

  I saw that fear and he would look at me the same way if he learned what I truly was.

  It would break me.

  * * *

  LOUIE

  * * *

  For the next few days I tried everything to get Gwen to talk to me. I send her numerous crows but they were returned without a word.

  What was so wrong with my curiosity? Did she label me that type of an idiot too?

  I had thought she would’ve wanted to help the dragon too and then out of nowhere she spoke to it in its tongue.

  I didn’t even know that humans could speak with dragons.

  What else did Delilah know?

  On the fifth day without getting word from Gwen I went to visit Delilah.

  I knocked on the door of her small cottage in the garden.

  She opened and stared at me with so much compassion. “Why?” I asked and she folded her arms around me.

  “I’ll make you some tea and then we can talk.”

  Tears blurred my vision as she led me to her small sitting room.

  There were a few chairs and I sat in one, as she went to make a pot of tea.

  I didn’t understand Gwen’s silence. How that one incident would just make her break it off. It wasn’t making any sense. It was driving me insane.

  I missed her. I needed her. In the short amount of time I had courted her she had become the air I breathed. I thought I knew everything about her, we talked so much about our lives, about our hopes and dreams, but not once had she mentioned that she could speak to dragons.

  I thought it was because of that. But I sent her a note saying that I didn’t care if she could speak their language, but she hadn’t replied. Just like all my other notes that were delivered after that night.

  “Your tea Louie.” Delilah said and sat down in the rocking chair that I built with my own two hands.

  “Why?” I said softly with my cup of tea in my hands.

  “Why what?”

  “Why is she so stubborn?”

  “Stubborn, that is what you got from all of this, that Gwen is stubborn.”

  I nodded.

  Delilah shook her head.

  “She is, she didn’t even want to hear me out.”

  “Hear you out, about what Louie. She asked you not to pursue it and you didn’t listen.”

  “She should’ve told me that she could speak to them. You should’ve told me that.”

  “And what be thrown in your father’s dungeon because we can speak their language.”

  “He wouldn’t do that. You are human, he would use it to his advantage if he knew.”

  “His hatred for dragons is much deeper than that. You of all people should know that. He wouldn’t see it the way you do. Your father doesn’t think the way you do.”

  “So what, it’s me then? She thinks I’ll tell him. Is that what you are saying.”

  She closed her eyes. “It’s much deeper than that Louie, much deeper.”

  “I won’t tell. Please tell her that.” I begged.

  “It’s not that she doesn’t trust you, it’s the opposite. In fact it’s harder on her than you think. She hasn’t taken any of it as easy as you assume she has.”

  “Then why, I don’t understand Delilah, please.”

  “I can’t help you this time. You should’ve listened.”

  “Don’t give me that nonsense. I love her with all of my heart, my soul. I feel like a broken man without hearing from her, without having her in my life.”

  “No, you sound like a mad man. Get a hold of yourself. It’s enough that your brother has this thing about her.” Delilah got angry. “She has made up her mind, you need to respect that.”

  “Don’t do this please. You are the only one that can talk sense into her. I’ll die with her secret.”

  “You say that now, but one day you might not feel the same way about her.”

  “I’ll never stop loving her Delilah, please.”

  She touched my face softly and I felt a tear running down my cheek. I was hopeless without Gwen.

  “Have you ever thought that it’s not her secret that she is trying to protect, but you, Louie? If this comes out, what would your father and brother do. Not just to her, but me who taught her their language, that told you all tho
se stories. It’s much more dangerous than you think.”

  “I won’t tell.” I said softly and carefully. Hoping it would sink into this old woman’s mind.

  “It’s not that easy, it’s deeper than you think. Go back to school. Be with your friends. You will forget about Gwen sooner than you think.”

  I grunted. Got up and left.

  How could I have thought that she would be of any help.

  Forget about Gwen, I couldn’t.

  The day before I left for school, I knocked on Philip’s door.

  He opened it.

  “Your majesty.” He bowed softly, but wasn’t surprised to see me. He knew the impact his daughter had on men.

  “Please Philip may I speak with Guinevere.”

  “I’m afraid she isn’t here. She left a few days ago.”

  I frowned. “Where did she go? Why?”

  “To get a break. I’m begging you please, just let her be your majesty.”

  I nodded and handed him the letter I had written her. “Please will you give it to her? That’s all I’m asking.”

  He nodded and took my letter.

  “Thank you.” I turned around and climbed back in the carriage.

  Why was she doing this. So what, she could speak their language, it wasn’t a big deal, but I kept hearing Delilah telling me over and over it was more than that.

  None of it was making any sense and it felt as if I was going to scream because I couldn’t understand any of it.

  Chapter 5

  GUINEVERE

  * * *

  Louie had just left. Father told him that I went away and my heart broke all over again when I heard his voice, begging to speak to me.

  My feelings for him were suffocating me at the moment. Not being able to be with him was killing me softly but I had so many loved ones to protect.

  He already knew that I could speak to dragons, and he acted shocked, who knew what he would’ve done if he found out I was a dragon.

  I couldn’t even fathom and a human’s love was nothing compared to a dragon’s love. We would die for the ones we love. I would die for him, father didn’t think that he would do the same for me.

  So as hard as it was, I had no choice. My secret, and other families’ secrets, was at stake here.

  The letter was on my dressing table. I’d been staring at it for a long time.

  Mother thought that opening it would only make the situation harder because I would want to answer it, but couldn’t. But I was dying to know what was in his letter.

  I got up from my bed and put the letter away. Not seeing it might make it easier.

  At least the crows had stopped.

  I picked up a book but it wasn’t enough to get Louie and his letter off my mind.

  My heart ached for him.

  At dinner, all I could think about was the letter.

  I hardly ate anything and it felt as if my entire body was shutting down without him.

  How could I have allowed this to go so far? I should’ve stopped it earlier.

  Father had warned me, but I hadn’t listened.

  He had tried to drill it in me, it’s why we choose partners that share our secret, because of the intensity of being a dragon. Humans would never comprehend any of it. They couldn’t understand us at all.

  I slouched walking back to my room and then fell on top of my bed.

  The letter was haunting me.

  I got up, opened the drawer and grabbed it.

  I tore it open and started with page one.

  * * *

  My dearest Guinevere,

  * * *

  I’m sorry. That’s all I can tell you since you won’t give me any answer or reason for you wanting to break our courtship.

  So what, you can speak to dragons. It’s not the end of the world. I actually think it is a genuine quality of yours. Who knows maybe one day it will become needed.

  I really don’t understand your actions. Are you afraid that I will tell my parents your secret? I won’t. I’ll rather die than let them know your secrets. Whatever they may be.

  Gwen, my darling, what happened that night that made you let me go so fast? I really want to know.

  Was it because I’m an idiot, or what?

  You know I care about you with everything I own.

  I’m sorry, whatever made you doubt me, it wasn’t my intention at all.

  I don’t want to lose you but I can’t sort this out if I cannot talk to you face to face.

  I’m on my way back to school, the address is below if you want to write and explain so at least I can understand.

  My eyes skipped through the rest, he wrote about all the things we had talked about. How he even went to Delilah to ask her to understand my actions.

  He actually felt better knowing that some humans could speak to dragons.

  He understood why Delilah came to know so much about dragons. A part of her knew them.

  He felt safer and looked forward to a better future.

  There had to be a better future.

  He ended it saying that his heart would always belong to me.

  * * *

  Love, always.

  Louie.

  * * *

  It had his royal seal and I cried my heart out. He still thought I was human.

  I wasn’t. I just looked human. It was my form bestowed on me to help me blend in, always blending in. Why did we get this form if we weren’t intended to be with humans. To help them, to care for them.

  I wanted to write back but what could I tell him.

  No matter what, he wouldn’t understand. Me speaking dragon tongue wasn’t the only secret I was hiding. What? I wanted him to know what I was without having to tell him. To hear his theories, to know the outcome.

  Would he still protect me, father, mother, Delilah if he discovered the truth?

  A part of me wanted to believe that Louie would accept us, but he was human.

  He didn’t love the same way I did, it might not be the outcome I wanted.

  The time wasn’t right for me. What did this mean, that I had fallen in love with the wrong person or being? Louie should’ve been a dragon.

  I visited Delilah every night and ended up crying my heart out. My dragon grandmother seemed to understand all of this.

  She would listen and tell me that time would make it all better, but how long was I going to feel less of a being without him.

  Time wasn’t changing any of my feelings.

  “Oh Gwen,” my grandmother stroked my hair as I cried my eyes out once more. “I was afraid that this would happen.”

  “Mother warned me not to go through with this. Father told me to make our courtship so unpleasant that he would lose interest…” I bawled the words out.

  “Shh, it’s not that.” Delilah said and I looked at her, shocked. What was she saying? I knew everything about our kind.

  “I don’t understand, what is it then?”

  “Sometimes we bond with humans too, Gwen. I think you bonded with Louie my sweet darling.”

  “What?” I didn’t like what Delilah was saying. Bonded with Louie, like a dragon bond. That had never happened before. Or at least not that I knew of.

  “You bonded with Louie like some dragons bond with one another. There is no getting over a bond, Gwen.”

  “This is never going to get better?”

  She shook her head.

  “I can’t live like this.”

  “You are destined to be with Louie.”

  “He will find out Delilah. He will learn our secret and what then. Mother, father, even you, would be in danger. I can’t do this.” I got up and ran out of her cottage, past the trees in a whirlwind. I could feel my scales pressing hard against my skin. I was going to transform whether I wanted to or not, and then it just happened.

  I darted into the sky as fast as I could to get above the clouds.

  A dragon cry spilled out of my mouth.

  I prayed that there were no hunters near by. I need
ed the wind, I needed the sky and I needed to find my happy place again.

  But with what Delilah just told me, I might never find my happy place again.

  * * *

  LOUIE

  * * *

  The first few months I was miserable. I didn’t want to be here anymore.

  I wanted to go home, to go and hunt Guinevere down, force the truth out of her. Force her to tell me whatever she was holding back.

  I knew we could sort anything out. She was the one for me, I wanted to marry her, to be with her forever but she was so stubborn.

  My last letter didn’t get a reply either and I knew the best thing was to try and get over her, but I couldn’t.

  How does one get over the only person who carried the same soul as you?

  It was impossible.

  My classes were keeping me busy and it was the only time I didn’t think so much about her. Hopefully it would get better. But at night I would dream about Gwen.

  It was the same dream. We were at the snow-breather. She was speaking to it, growling and I would wake up just as she turned around to glare at me.

  What she said to the snow-breather I had no idea.

  It happened so fast.

  Every night I had this dream and before I knew it, months had passed without hearing anything from Gwen.

  Had she even read my last letter?

  I was trying everything just to hang on.

  Rebecca was annoying too. She wouldn’t stop hovering over me and it was driving me nuts. Not in a good way.

  While at night, I always dreamed of Gwen.

  It was torture.

  The dream finally escalated. She was looking at me, but there was something different about her.

  I couldn’t put my finger on what was. It happened so fast and the next morning I thought about it the entire day.

  Why had she become so different in my dream?

  Was it because she could speak to dragons?