The Dragon's Keeper
Chapter 10 Shadows

I didn't realize that fear and relief caused hunger. But suddenly we were starving! I looked over at James.

"How about a break?" I asked.

"Best idea I've heard all day!" He jokes.

After Jamie rubbed the stone from the fairies, we sat down to have a quick meal and rest our aching feet. We enjoyed the softer breeze of the late afternoon. But we couldn't stay long, so we packed up Jamie's little sack of blankets and headed back out again.

We had been walking for hours when the sun finally started to set behind the Mystic Mountains, when we finally entered the shadows of the mountain.

A low moan slithered across a heavy fog, covering our feet. A sudden chill races up my spine. I looked around trying to figure out where it came from.

"What was that?" I whimpered.

"Don't know."

James didn't look as calm as he tried to sound. He looked nervous, but tried to give me an easy smile.

Eerie shadows crept across the surfaces of the rocky mountain. Darkness tried to surround us.

I huddled into James as he wrapped his arms around me.

"We will be okay," he whispered into my ear.

A whisper of "You will never be good enough!" echoed past us.

James froze and looked around. He pulled me even tighter as he started to tremble.

"That sounded just like my father." Jamie choked.

I saw tears start to form in his eyes, but I would not let them fall for an awful person like him! He didn't deserve it!

"Your father is a horrible man! You are so much better than him!" I told him while I took his face in my hands so he could look me in the eyes, and see the truth of what I was saying.

Midnight must have agreed with me because he nudged his head into Jamie's arm.

Jamie chuckled at the gesture and scratched the baby dragon.

"You're right. Let's go," he agreed.

Jamie pulled me along through the increasingly darkening shadows.

I was happy for his touch. It warmed me in more ways than one. It kept me grounded in the present.

I stumbled over a rock that I couldn't see.

"Ouch!" I grumbled, hopping up and down in a useless attempt to make my toe not hurt anymore.

"Are you okay?" Jamie asked.

I love how he is always concerned about me.

"Yeah, just stubbed my toe." I huffed and stomped on my foot, but it didn't help.

Midnight nuzzled my neck and purred.

"Thank you, Midnight," I whispered.

"She was a mistake! Take her from me," screeched a voice from the darkness.

My stomach dropped.

"Mother?" I ask.

I looked around to replace where her voice was coming from, but I didn't see anyone.

"You aren't a mistake! You are the best thing that has ever happened to me!" Jamie insists, while he wraps me in a fierce hug. "I love you, you know!"

"I love you, too James."

Holding onto each other, Midnight scooted ahead and purred loudly. Then he lights up like a candle, to show us the correct path.

A sudden cacophony of voices flooded the mountain base.

"You will never amount to anything..."

"Although, for the life of me, I cannot understand why. You are filthy..."

"You will always be a stable boy, you good for nothing..."

"I know you like it, Tasha. Why pretend you don't want me?..."

"If I catch you with her again, I'll whip you just like the horses..."

"What good is a kitchen wench if I can't have a little fun with her..."

"The only way to shatter your dreams is for me to break you just like the horses..."

I clung to Jamie and trembled in his arms. An emptiness opens in my chest at my own worthlessness.

I sobbed into Jamie's shoulder. Were the voices right? Was I really nothing? Was I not worth being loved?

My own mother didn't even love me! I must not deserve to live. I am nothing!

"They are right! I am nothing!"

"NO! You are my everything! It's me who..." James started.

How could he think such a thing? Doesn't he know he is the only person that matters to me?

"Don't you dare finish that sentence James!" I demanded. " You are my everything too!"

A sudden warmth moves through us and Midnight's light twinkled and glistened into the air.

A lightness filled me up as James pulled me in close. He kissed the top of my head and I sighed at the contact. This was all I needed. Tears dripped from my eyes.

I have never felt that cherished. So loved. It made my heart swell. I loved him so much!

"You are right. We are better together. And that's how it has always been, and how it will always be," he whispered in my ear.

His words sounded like a promise. I would keep it locked in my heart. Those words meant more than he will ever know.

All through the night, Midnight lead the way with his bright light. Love and comfort surrounded us. We were safe and happy. We would make it through this together.

By the time we reached the sea, it was way past midnight and we were exhausted.

We curled up into each other and a warm darkness lulled us into oblivion.