Dragon Queen

Safe House

    Back in the tunnel, the children were becoming impatient waiting for the guards to return.  The nannies searched their apron pockets for a snack to quiet them down.  Pooling their resources, they were able to give the children all some snacks to keep them occupied for the moment.  

    The two remaining guard stood blocking the tunnel entrance.  Their unease was becoming more obvious with each passing moment that the first two guards did not return.  They began to whisper between themselves, trying to come up with a contingency plan for if the others' didn't return.

    After another half hour with no sign from the first two guards, the two guards who remained turned to each other and nodded.  They walked back to where the women and children were resting.

"Time to go,"  one said. They held out their hands to assist the nannies to their feet, and waited while the children were situated.  "We're going to split up now, we think that will give everyone the best chance to get away.  We have no way of knowing what could be waiting for us, but it's going to start getting dark soon, and it will be much more dangerous then if we haven't found shelter."

    One of the women squeaked as if imagining what they could encounter in the wild after dark.  The other spoke up, "There is a small cottage a half hour walk from here to the north.  It is where I am meant to take the princess if ever the tunnels were used.  Whether or not it is still standing...."  her voice faded away and she merely shrugged her shoulders.  It was their best bet, and they would have to find out together.

    Keeping the children together, they made their way to the end of the tunnel.  The guard crouched a bit as they entered the sunlight for the first time in many hours.  As they entered the brush, the roars of the dragons could again be heard, having been muffled by the walls and roof of the tunnel while underground.  As they reached the edge of the brush, the guards bent down to whisper to the women, "The plan is for one group to head northeast and then cut back to meet at the cottage while the other group does the same, but starting to the northwest and then cutting back.  We should be less noticeable in smaller groups."  

    The nannies nodded their heads in understanding, and attempted to separate the children.  The princess immediately began to fuss and cry when she was made to separate from the other children.  Her nanny tried to comfort and shush her until finally letting her go back to the others.  She turned and looked at her guard in despair, "she's going to draw them to us before we get 10 yards if she's not with them!"

    Exasperated, the guard shrugged his shoulders, and motioned for everyone to just stay together in one group.  He led them all around the meadow before them before turning to head north.  Every few minutes, a dragon would fly overhead, casting its shadow, or the roar of one could be heard before the beast began to breathe its fire down upon someone or something.  The tension in the group was so thick it could have been cut with a knife, but they managed to make their journey without more than a whimper here and there, too quiet to give them away.

    As they got closer to their destination, the mood in the group was becoming more optimistic.  With less than 10 minutes until they would reach the cottage, they began to have hope.  As they moved through the trees, the light around them seemed to brighten; they were approaching a clearing.  When they reached the edge of the brush, it was clear that it was not just a meadow they could skirt around and continue, they had reached the river Eures.

    A soft gasp escaped one of the women as they stood there gazing over the slow moving river.  In this particular spot, the river was usually easy to cross as it was quite shallow with many rock outcroppings that created tiny tide pools and mini rapids.  It was terrain even small children could navigate with ease.  There was only one problem.  A dragon had decided it had found a great place to bathe and rest there in the shallow river.  The sun glinted off its deep red hide, and one of its wings trailed off in the water, floating over one of the mini rapids as though it were driftwood.  

    The group of them stood transfixed by the sight for a moment, before the guards motioned everyone to back away from the edge of the wood.  They crouched down about 25 yards into the wood to plan their next move. 

    "What do we do now?" whispered the princess' nanny.

    "For now, we will stop and rest here for a short bit and see if the monster leaves.  I'm sure the children could use a nap or something,"  one of the guards replied quietly.  The men helped arrange the children around the nannies so they could get comfortable enough to rest; the nannies leaned against the trees around them as they were large and provided some level of comfort as well as shade.

    The day stretched into evening, and the children began to rouse from their naps.  The guards had taken turns resting and standing watch so that each of them would be at their best if they were to have to encounter this dragon.  Huddling together as a group, they all crept toward the river to see what fate awaited them.  Stopping back from the edge of the wood, the women and children crouched down to remain hidden while the guards continued creeping forward to peer towards the river.  

    Yawning, the red dragon stretched cat-like as the water from the river glistened off its hide.  The guards kept watch with bated breath, waiting to see its' next move.  The dragon looked around as if taking in the scenery, making the guards duck down lower.  Pausing in its perusal, the dragon sniffed the air as if searching for something.  Appearing satisfied with itself, the dragon raised up out of the water, and shook its wings scattering water droplets throughout the river clearing.  Raising up on its hind legs the dragon took flight, lazily flapping its way down toward the valley.

    The guards looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.  They stepped back in the brush to bring the nannies and children forward into the clearing.  Each of the children had a hand gripped tight in the larger hand of one of the adults as they all began the slippery crossing through the river. The first part of the river was fairly easy going as there were many rocks jutting out of the water with nice flat surfaces that had been worn down by the passage of the river flowing by.  As they neared the far shore, things got a little dicey as there were more areas where they had to wade through water up to knee high on the adults.  Trying to keep the children from getting too wet, they attempted to carry them through the deepest of these areas whenever possible. It was through one of these more shallow areas that they ran into trouble.  The children were wading through as the water was only halfway up their calves, when one of the children stopped suddenly and began to cry.  The guard holding his hand tugged a bit trying to get him to move on, but with no luck.  He just began to cry harder.  The closer of the two nannies came to assist.  She tried to pick him up, but his foot had gotten stuck between some rocks under the water. They worked together to wiggle his foot free, finally working it out of the hole.

    Unattended, his sister had kept creeping forward toward the nearing shoreline, entering deeper water as she went.  With a cry, she slipped and fell, starting to float down the river.  Her nanny let out a shriek as she reached out her hand as if she would be able to magically bring the girl to her.  The guard who didn't have one of the children in hand, scrambled as quick as he could over the intervening rocks to reach the child as she slipped farther and farther away.  He began to gain on her as she was passing some driftwood.

    "Grab that branch!" shouted her nanny, her eyes wide in fear.  The girl reached her tiny hand out and caught hold of the branch, but it was not sturdy.  The wood began to c***k as the girl began to cry all over again.  Just as the branch was breaking off completely, the guard reached her, and lunged to grab her before she could begin to float off again.  Safe in his embrace, the girl continued to cry, as he brushed his hand through her hair.

    "There, there, little one, you're safe now!"  he murmured as he held her close.  Making his way toward the riverside, the rest of the group was running down the bank towards them.  As they climbed out of the river, her nanny grabbed her from the guard and wrapped her up in her own cardigan to help her warm up.  

    The other nanny spoke up, "Let's move, everyone.  We're close to the cabin now, and its starting to get dark."

    It had indeed began to get dark outside as the group made their way into the woods on the far side of the river.  Dragging their heels, they made their way through the brush.  After about 10 minutes of trudging through the forest, they spotted the cabin through the trees.

    "We're safe, finally!" exclaimed the princess' nanny.  "Let's hurry, I can't wait to be in front of a nice warm fire!"