Chapter 10

She had made it to Lake Sudwick.

“We did it, boy,” she said proudly to Marelon, who was pawing at the edge of the lake and watching the fish swimming just out of his reach. She walked over to him, sitting down to take off her boots. Once they were off, she swirled her toes around in the shallows, laughing as Marelon chased the drops of water that jumped and danced when she moved.

She had never seen such a large body of water. She had grown up on the banks of a wide river, but even so, one could see across a river. They built bridges over rivers. She marveled that the shore on the other side of the lake, she could only barely make out a small town. She assumed it was the one Osmont had pointed out, and she made a note to avoid it.

“Hungry?” she asked Marelon. “I have a little meat and cheese we could share.”

She pulled her smallest knife out of her bag and unsheathed it. She used it to cut a small wedge of cheese and salted beef off. She put it on a napkin for Marelon, and he immediately began to chew noisily and purr loudly. She started to eat her own serving, and then took a little honey out of the jar she had purchased and spread it on to the hardtack. She let it sit for a few moments while she enjoyed the sun on her face.

When she finally bit into the hardtack, she gave a small groan, shocked by how big a difference it had made. The hardtack was softer and sweet, with a less gritty consistency.

Next to her, Marelon licked the honey that had dripped onto the ground in front of her. He didn’t seem to like it.

“I don’t think cats eat honey, silly goose,” she said. She glanced up at the sky only to see that, although the sun was not close to setting just yet, it was suddenly turning dark as if a storm was rolling in.

“Oh no,” she said. “A storm…”

Having grown up on a farm, Gwendolyn was pretty good at reading and predicting the weather. This looked like a late summer storm, the kind that came suddenly and explosively, and left just as unpredictably. Could be one minute or one day. Best thing to do was to find a shelter.

“We can’t go into town and get stuck in an inn, we might get caught,” she said to Marelon, but also to herself. “Let’s see if there are any caves around here.” She pulled out the large map. Sure enough, she saw, there were some hills that looked promising about a mile northwest of her position. Though they were only a stone’s throw from the little village across the lake, weighing her options, she knew that the only choice was to risk it.

“Well,” she said, “better than sitting out in the rain.”

She packed her things as quickly as she could, and to save everyone some trouble, she put Marelon away in the rucksack too. He protested a little, but she knew he was deathly afraid of storms. The last thing she needed was for him to bolt off and leave her chasing him through a thunderstorm.

She ran along, dodging trees, hoping to find a cave before the rain started. If she was really lucky, she would find it in time to gather some firewood.

On her way around the edge of the lake, toward the hills and close to the village, she noticed a large bed of herbs. Although she didn’t stop to examine it, she thought it must be a cultivated garden, with the herbs lined up prettily and little differently colored rags tied to sticks, apparently denoting different plants. She could only assume it belonged to a villager. She was still far enough from the road that she didn’t think anyone would see her, as she was keeping to the tree line. That had the added benefit of providing cover if it started to rain before she reached her destination. Once she had rounded the lake to the north side, she cut away and headed slightly west.

“Excellent,” she muttered as the hills came into view. Though most of them were small and made of loose dirt and grass, she saw a few with rocky outcroppings. Moving closer to the larger hills, she spotted two small divots in the rock that could mark caves. She chose the larger one, hoping that she’d find a space large enough to hold a fire comfortably.

“Meorrw,” came Marelon’s tiny meow from her bag.

“What’s wrong?” she called to him, not slowing down but reaching a hand around to make sure he was still properly situated.

He made no further noise, but she felt him shift against her. She had finally reached the little divot, perhaps four men wide and taller than her, but not massive. It was also protected by a large rock hanging over the entrance. She smiled.

Though it was hard to tell how big it was from the entrance, she could see that the cave went at least six or seven feet in, gloom obscuring the back of the cave such that she couldn’t tell exactly how far back it ended.

“Let’s grab some firewood, Marelon,” she muttered over her shoulder at her rucksack, turning on her heel and back toward the trees, which stopped a few paces from these hills. Above her, on top of some of the hills, a few groves of trees stood sparsely, but she didn’t want to waste time and energy climbing up there.

She chose a tall and knotty pine tree, with many low hanging branches and sticks at its feet. She had no axe, so she had to scavenge what she could.

Quickly setting down her bag, she rustled around inside to grab her cloak, much to Marelon’s chagrin.

Once she had pulled it out from her bag, she laid it on the ground and closed the bag, then stood up. She gathered the largest sticks and branches that had fallen from the tree first. Wandering a bit further along, she found a thicker tree branch that appeared to have been felled by an earlier storm. She dragged it back to the cloak. Then she grabbed pine needles from the ground, then a few leaves scattered around the trunks of nearby trees. Throwing it all onto the cloak, she felt sure she would be able to build at least a small fire.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t lift such a large supply of wood. She stared at the gathered wood for a moment trying to size up if she could drag it. After a second, she grasped the ends of the cloak nearest to her and pulled. A few leaves fell off the sides, but otherwise it worked. She gave another great heave and pulled, and soon she had passed the tree line.

It wasn’t long before she was back at the cave. She set her bag down and dug a small pit into the dirt floor near the entrance of the cave. She threw in a good amount of the wood and leaves, then opened her bag. Marelon hopped out, looking ruffled and put out.

He gave a small noise of protest, which Gwendolyn ignored as she struck the tinder and tried to create a flame. After a few minutes, and increasingly frustrated tries, she managed to muster a small flame.

“Ahh, there you go!” she exclaimed as it caught, growing stronger.

The cave, now lit by the firelight, was larger than she expected. In fact, even with the light, she couldn’t see the back wall.

Marelon went as far as where the shadow began, his hair standing up on end. He hissed.

“What is it?” she asked him.

A moment later, she heard a noise, a bit like tumbling rocks.

“A cave in, further ahead?” she mused aloud. She hoped not, she didn’t know how sturdy the cave was. She decided to ignore it and stick to the front of the cave.

Marelon came back to her, his hair still standing up on end. He rubbed against her, but when she moved her hand to pet him, he bristled and ran toward the back of the cave again.

“Stop that,” she chided him. “It might be dangerous back there.”

He ran past her, to the front of the cave, and out into the daylight beyond.

“Marelon,” she called. He didn’t return. “Come back,” she called as she darted toward the entrance. Emerging from the cave, she found him sitting to the side, but when he saw her, he darted off toward the trees, stopping just before them and turning back to her again.

She stood at the entrance to the cave. He sat at the trees. They stared at each other.

Finally, in a way that seemed almost annoyed somehow, he stood and ran back to her. Just as he brushed her leg, a torrential rain suddenly fell upon them, so fast and hard it was as though a bucket of water had been overturned from the sky.

Marelon jumped and hissed, then gave a yowl and skittered into the cave. Shockingly grateful for the deluge outside, Gwendolyn followed him.

Inside, he was pacing back and forth toward the back, where the shadows started again.

“Fine,” she gave a little sigh. “One second, stupid cat,” she said to him, pulling her light linen dress out of the rucksack. Once she’d changed out of the wet shirt and britches, she looked at Marelon with an annoyed expression for a moment, then laid the clothes out by the fire to dry.

Grabbing a thick, sturdy branch she hadn’t yet used, she stuck it into the fire to create a makeshift torch, first sticking one end out of the cave slightly to create a safe, damp spot at the end for her to hold onto.

“Let’s go see the big, scary cave-in,” she whispered. Marelon gave a little yowl just before she heard the rock-tumbling noise again.

Gwendolyn made her way carefully into the shadows. As the torch illuminated the space beyond the front of the cave, she saw no discernible back. In fact, the cave widened. And as she continued along, she found that the cave seemed to turn slightly. She followed the curve until it straightened out, widening more into what appeared to be a fairly large chamber. It was somehow lit, and after a moment she noticed that there was a small opening in the ceiling on the other side of the chamber, letting in light. Rain was pouring in and running along the wall, following it to the left and into a tiny rivulet which went to a tiny hole on the other side.

Marelon had been surprisingly shy, following behind her rather than leaving the way. He was now sniffing at the spot where this chamber widened, seemingly unwilling to move any further.

She stepped forward, and he cried out. Turning back, she saw he seemed distressed.

A second later the rumbling sound came from the opposite direction, now on her left, so loud and clear she thought the cave-in must be here. To her left, the chamber seemed to narrow again, and part of it was still obscured in semi-darkness.

She took one step forward, then heard a scraping noise. Out of the shadows of the left-hand side of the massive chamber came a claw. One second later, the largest creature she had ever seen. A dragon.

She jumped back so violently that she hit a stalactite about knee high behind her, screaming as she dropped the torch.

But the dragon didn’t move, nor did it seem ready to attack. It stood in a defensive position and stared at Gwendolyn. Marelon hugged the wall but made his way toward Gwendolyn. When he reached her, standing between her legs, he gave a small hiss.

The rumbling noise was coming from the dragon! Something like a hiss, she thought. A warning noise.

For a moment, no creature there moved. When Gwendolyn finally felt she could break eye contact, she noticed that the dragon held its left wing close to its body, so she couldn’t see it.

As quickly as she dared, with her hands visible in a show of peace, she slid her feet along the ground and shifted to see the dragon’s left side better. The dragon made that rumbling noise once more, but otherwise didn’t move. As she shifted, she saw it. Several arrows had punctured holes in the dragon’s wing. Though the dragon’s red coloration made it hard to see at first, looking more closely she saw dried blood in streaks by the arrow punctures.

Without thinking about it, she exclaimed, “oh, darling,” and she rushed toward the injured dragon.