I Think I Fell In Love With Her The Moment She Called Me "Peasant"

PART 2

Fauve stopped singing and let go of my hand. We stood in front of the castle gate. “So how do we get in?” I asked. She tilted her head and whistled. I looked around in the air, waiting for another bird to come down and land on her finger. She whistled again, kneeling down and sticking her hand through the gate's bars.

A moment later, a white husky appeared and quietly waited as Fauve spoke. The husky lifted his head and stared at me before nodding and digging in the snow under the wall. Fauve stayed as she was, while her other hand found mine again.

            The jingle of keys came with the dog’s footsteps as he reappeared and dropped the keys in Fauve’s outstretched hand. She nodded in thanks and stood up, unlocking the gate and pulling both of us through. Surprisingly the gate made no sound and we locked it back up again then reburied the keys. Wordlessly, we followed the husky across the courtyard of the castle to another gate on the side. He stopped and bowed to Fauve before retreating. “What do we do now?” I said. As far as I could tell, this was the exact same as the first gate.

            “We walk in.” She pushed the gate open effortlessly and led the way to the castle's crawl space, which we found our way into. It was dark and damp, but not entirely cold. We slithered in on our stomachs, reaching a point to stand up in. Slimy square stones made up the walls to the dungeon, and cages and bars lined the aisle on either side. We came to a cell near the end with the bars ripped out and bent inward. A pair of shoes lay inside. I stopped and stared at it, thinking of Fauve’s bare feet, while she let go of me and ran ahead.

            “Why are you back?” A hissing voice came from further on. I looked up from the shoes and slowly made my way after Fauve. “I set you free.” The voice hissed some more and I heard the scrape of claws on the stone.

            “I came to return the favor.” Fauve’s voice sounded almost unfamiliar. I crept my way up to them and hid behind the wall. Fauve stood in front of a dragon, trying not to shake. The dragon was sitting down in a big stone room that was the size of the rest of the dungeon.

            He was big and had scales that were a dark purplish color. His wings were folded on his back and looked to be black. The green in his eyes circled his pupils; they were the size of my whole head.

            “How?” The dragon tilted his head, baring the amount of teeth in his mouth. “You can barely speak to me.” More hissing followed, and Fauve’s breath was the only sound she made. “Why would you, chambermaid? There’s no good for rescuing a dragon you can’t even talk to.” The dragon waited for Fauve to respond. “Speak, chamber maid. Speak!” the dragon roared, and blew out fire towards the ceiling, adding to the charred black spots on the net-like cover.

            “Why do you want to know so badly why it is she wants to free you? Why haven’t you freed yourself? A net is what’s stopping you?” I spoke up, the dragon’s eyes locking in on me.

            “Ah, a Dragon Speaker. What a gift it is that the chambermaid has brought me.” The dragon smiled and crawled forward until his foot was right in front of Fauve. “I haven’t spoken to a Dragon Speaker since…ever. What a special occasion this is.” The dragon smiled again. “What is your name, Dragon Speaker?”

            “Skander,” I said, stepping out from behind the wall and walking up to Fauve. Her gaze jumped from the dragon to me, no longer any trace of fear in her.

            “And the chambermaid?” The dragon tilted his head toward her.

            “Fauve,” she answered, looking back up at him.

            “Fauve and Skander have come to rescue me.” The dragon widened his eyes before stepping backwards into his room, pacing back and forth. “It’s a plan, set in motion by the one by the name of Fauve, to free me in hopes of another plan; for the one by the name of Skander.”

            The dragon stopped in front of us. “Dragon Speaker, do you know who you are? Do you know why you’re one blessed to speak to us? Have you come to save me, or is there a patron in the castle above that spins a tangled web inside your thoughts?” His voice became lower, and the next words were barely comprehensible. “Or is it simply because of fair Fauve, who has crawled inside your heart?”

            The dragon stared at me, the reflection of the two of us in his eyes. He blinked and spun around in a circle, stopping to breathe fire on the net ceiling above him and to claw at it, tearing a hole just big enough to get someone my size through. He stopped once again and spread his wings out, reaching from wall to wall in the room. He looked back at us.

            Fauve took my hand again and began to screech. In a minute, the flaps of wings and the mirrored screech of dozens of birds was in the air. They circled in groups according to species and began to tear at the net. “It won’t be enough.” The dragon looked up and swung his tail at me, picking me up and throwing me through the hole.

            I looked down, seeing Fauve narrow her eyes at the dragon and him shrug, looking back at me. I stood up, walking across the net and coming to a tree growing on the side of the walls. Presumably, it was where the chambermaids would feed the dragon from when there weren't any prisoners. The branches were strong and close enough for me to grab. I clung onto one and looked back at the dragon; he stuck his hand through, holding onto me as he pulled.

            The tree came in through the ceiling, and I hung from the dragon’s claw with a hole in my shirt. Fauve’s birds flew off, some cawing at her as she cawed back. “They would've heard that in the castle. The queen probably saw us sneak inside. We have to go,” she said from the ground.

            “Who said anything about bringing you?” The dragon looked down at her; Fauve and I froze. “I’m kidding.” The dragon rolled his eyes and placed both of us on his back. We clung onto his scales as he flew out of the dungeon and above the castle grounds, where they were waiting for us.

            Arrows and spears were thrown into the sky; the dragon sneered and breathed fire out at them, laughing as he flew higher in a circle. The circle spiraled down, making me dizzy, and the dragon breathed down on the queen's people, terrifying them.

            “What happens now?” I asked, feeling Fauve wrap her arms around me.

            “Well, peasant, I suppose we follow the dragon.”