Cindrelline and the Dragon: A Fairytale Retelling by Secchia Marc

Author:Secchia, Marc
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

NOT EVEN THE CUTENESS of ten thousand kittens would wipe away the despair that gripped Cindrelline that day. She packed and waited for the Dragon to return. Going out there had to be tantamount to suicide. In the end, she sat on someone’s gilded footstool with her broken leg propped up on a small diamond-studded nightstand and set about organising the books and scrolls within reach. A few had been ripped and torn by talons, it appeared, but most were in good condition, except for the oldest records; a few she checked were over three hundred years old. Quite fragile.

What a treasure trove! The pirates must have been thoroughly annoyed to have a Dragon move in. Rather put a crimp in their plans for this treasury. If she were commander of a ship under the black flag, she’d be laying plans to come back and reclaim this vast loot.

Difficult to fight a Dragon who could turn invisible, however. That really stacked the odds against his enemies.

On that note, she should be smart and travel armed. While those ladies of Aunt Gretelline’s circle might break into a mild sweat at the thought of being kidnapped by a swashbuckling rogue, any practical girl knew exactly what they would be after and no, it was not romance. She chose herself a rapier from the veritable armoury and, on second thoughts, a pair of slim daggers that, to her eye, appeared designed for being slipped into a boot. Rather cunning. Feeling wickeder by the second, she reminded herself that she had no real idea how to use any of these weapons but still, chose a suitably horrid-looking serrated dagger for the other side of her worn leather belt anyways. That helped it to sit straight on her scrawny hips.

Absolutely the point.

Late that afternoon, she heard the Dragon scrape through the tunnel and suddenly, there he was, pouring down the steps and swaggering over to her in all his vast, lethal pomp. All at once, the cave seemed a far smaller, more perilous place.

He purred, “Lazy afternoon, Beauty?”

Back again.

For him, nothing had changed. He probably did not even remember what had transpired.

She sighed inwardly. “Ready to fly?”

“At once. Mind the foot. I’ve heard that people generally prefer to have two. May I remind you that should you attempt to escape, you shall become much less of a woman, very quickly.”

A bloody jest.

What a note on which to set out on the next leg of her journey.

* * *

Full of pep and vigour, the Dragon launched out over the sparkling lagoon. Cindrelline decided that she really needed to have a swim. So inviting. Too soon, however, they crossed over the reef to the darker, deeper waters where the swell was visibly stronger and the wind of his passage picked up. With many white and blue seabirds dotting the skies ahead, the Dragon appeared to make a decision to fly high, for he climbed until the ocean curved away beneath her and the crescent shrank to a tiny dot way in the distance.

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