NaNoWriMo 2005: 20501 Words

When Pearl woke up in the morning she was alone on the forest floor. She wondered briefly if the appearance of the unicorn had been only a dream, but she was in a part of the forest she had never seen before. It was different from the forest around the Temple. The trees were widely spaced and their trunks were so thick that it would have required three of her to reach all the way around most of them. The sun shone through the cover of the leaves more brightly here, and she could see patches of blue sky above. Pearl stood and brushed leaves off of her dress, feeling renewed and refreshed, as if the whole world lay before her and anything was possible.

Of course, she still did not know where she was going. Nor where she was now. At the speed the unicorn had been going last night, she must be miles and miles away from the Temple-- safe, for now. The important thing, she decided, was to keep moving. So, choosing a direction at random, she set off again, enjoying the feeling of not having to do chores in the Temple, of not being afraid of receiving an unexpected kick or slap. There were squirrels capering in the nearby trees, and she paused to watch them, laughing for the pure joy of it.

She realized that she was hungry, but she'd gone a day without food before. There was no need to worry yet; she'd keep her eyes open, just in case. And she didn't mind the long walking, either. There was so much to look at, so much to see that she had only heard of growing up in the Temple. A few times she surprised a group of deer, and on some of the hills she crossed over tiny waterfalls. If she grew tired she would stop in the shade and rest until she was ready to move on.

Sometime in the midafternoon Pearl came across an apple tree. She ate her fill of fruit there and picked two more apples to carry with her for later. All in all, she thought that this was indeed one of the happiest days she could remember.

Then she saw it. It rose directly in front of her, grey and forbidding and more solid than anything she had ever seen before. It was the borders. The wall rose so far above her head that she had to crane her head back to see the top. To either side it stretched as far as the eye could see. Eyes wide with awe, Pearl stepped closer, close enough to touch the rough surface of the border with her hands. It was cold to the touch, the lines between the individual stones weathered away so that they were barely visible. Its age showed in other ways, too-- moss and lichen and ivy grew over much of the wall, and a few of the stones, she could see, were crumbling in places. Yet this did not detract from the power of the place. Pearl had the distinct impression that this wall had stood and would continue to stand here, in this spot, for all eternity. The feeling swept over her, making her feel very small and very insignificant, yet not in the way she felt small and insignificant in the Temple. Here she felt special, too, one of a great many people to have touched this place before her in its history, but one of very few to have touched this place in her lifetime. And beyond this wall, just a breath away, was the realm where the Gods walked. She could almost touch them.

Pearl did not know how long she stood there with her hand to the wall, but at last she backed away and paused to think. The border wall was imposing, it was true, but it did mark a distinct path, and she'd been looking for a direction to go. This way she would at least be sure that she was heading somewhere.
She would follow the border for a while, and see where it would lead her.

***
For what may have been the fifteenth time that hour, Herel snorted in indignation. Talwyr pretended not to hear, but Belan turned in his saddle and glowered at him.

"What is it, Herel?" he asked in a voice made slightly vicious with irritation.

"Riding a unicorn!" Herel exclaimed to the world at large. "Who ever heard of a child riding a unicorn? Everyone knows that unicorns never let people ride them, everyone knows that!"

"Except," Belan pointed out, "that that is exactly what we both saw."

Talwyr chuckled quietly, and that only served to upset Herel even more.

"We must have been mistaken," he stated matter-of-factly. "It was very dark, and we were in an unfamiliar area."

"It was not dark around that unicorn," Belan sighed, slipping into a reverie. "It practically glowed. And besides, Lord Talwyr believes us."

"That I do, my boy," Talwyr spoke at last. "That I do. The tracks and traces of their passing are plain as day for those who have the knowledge of such things. I am certain that it was Pearl you saw and that we are going in the right direction and that eventually we will find her. I only fear that you were not the only ones who witnessed this miraculous vision last night, and that others will find her first."
Belan silently spurred on his horse and Herel, snorting again, urged his mount into a trot to keep up.

"Who ever heard of such a thing?" he muttered darkly. "Miles from home chasing down a child on a unicorn. I want to go to bed."

"You are, of course, free to turn back if you would prefer," Talwyr told him.

"Don't be ridiculous!" the priest snapped. "I couldn't find the way back there by myself! Besides, I'm under orders of the Lady. Turn back, indeed."

Talwyr smiled into his beard. He might be able to make something of this lot yet.
If only Pearl would show herself, so that he could stop worrying so.

***
Walking along beside the border wall in the deepening night, Pearl watched the stars. They amazed her. Sleeping in the little dark room in the Temple every night, she rarely got to see stars at all. Now, on this cloudless night, even the glimpses she got of them between the tops of the trees were enough to take her breath away. There were so many. How could the sky be so big, to hold so many stars? Could she hold one in her hand, or would it burn or freeze her fingers off? She wondered what the stars were. People said different things about them-- that they were the spirits of the dead, or the tears of the Gods, or other kingdoms like this one far, far away. She knew that some of the sparkles of light that at first appeared to be shooting stars were actually the sky dragons. In the day they couldn't be seen, but at night their fiery trails across the sky were visible all across the Kingdom.

Strange-- here, on the very borders, they looked closer than they ever had before. The one she could see now was tracing erratic patterns in the dark sky. Pearl wondered if she was getting closer to the mountains, where the dragons were still supposed to live. She had never seen the mountains, except in pictures in Celwyn's books sometimes, when the priestess was in a good mood. The prospect of seeing them in real life excited her. Would she have to climb them?

At the thought of climbing what Celwyn said were great towers of rock, Pearl suddenly felt very tired. She would sleep, she decided, here where she could look up and see the stars looking down at her. In her hand she still held one of the apples she'd picked from the tree earlier in the day; she would save that for breakfast in the morning. Smiling, the girl settled down onto the soft, short grass.

All at once, she became aware of a strange sound. It was not quite like anything she'd ever heard before-- the closest she could come to describing it was like a very strong wind whistling through the empty corridors of the Temple at night. Only louder-- much, much louder, as though it was very rapidly coming closer.

On icy winter nights in the Temple, when no one could go outside without freezing on the spot, sometimes priests, priestesses, and even servants would gather around the fire and tell stories. If Pearl stayed back in the shadows, sometimes she could hear them. One in particular, she remembered now with piercing clarity, had been about a fearsome monster that roamed the borders and made a noise like... like... well, it probably sounded a lot like this sound. Pearl could not move. She stayed absolutely still, her eyes frozen wide open, and prayed harder than she had ever prayed before that whatever it was would pass her by.

Then a light burst into her vision, brighter than the festival bonfires lit across the countryside at midsummer, almost as bright as the sun itself. The noise shook the earth as it swooped overhead-- sometimes winding one way, sometimes another, but as surely as the setting sun heading down. Pearl leapt to her feet. She knew, now, was this was: it was a dragon, the sky dragon she'd seen earlier careening wildly over the treetops. Even as the realization hit her the bright ball of light ceased to be above the treetops at all, but dipped below them and out of sight with a tremendous crash.

Without even thinking about it, Pearl ran in the direction of the place where the dragon had disappeared, the uneaten apple dropping from her hand. A short distance into the unfamiliar forest, however, she stopped herself. What precisely was she doing? Wouldn't the smart thing be to run away from the fearsome dragon? But curiosity soon overcame her doubts. She'd never seen a sky dragon; she didn't know of anyone who had, including Lady Celwyn or Lord Maddeg. There were some who said that they sky dragons weren't even real. How could she not take just one little peek? This one might even be hurt-- she didn't see how anything could crash into the trees like that and not be hurt. Then there was the horrible noise it had been making-- it sounded sick or wounded to her. And if it was hurt-- well, then maybe she would be able to help it.

Once this thought occurred to her, she couldn't turn back. But she did creep forward more cautiously now, bit by bit moving toward the place from which smoke drifted through the trees and odd noises still reached her ears. She braced herself to run away at the slightest hint of immediate danger.

And so Pearl came into the clearing newly created by the fallen sky dragon. The air was thick with smoke and permeated by a horrible smell-- a uniquely dragon smell, the girl thought, as she had never smelled anything like it before. A number of trees were on fire, their leaves crackling high above or flickering with flame in patches on their trunks. She had to climb over a fallen maple that impeded her progress, splintered in half by the horrible creature's landing. Four or five other trees had met a similar fate. And one of them... one of them was bent nearly double over... a form, indistinct through the clearing smoke.

Pearl had a hard time describing it later. It was... greyish in color with smooth skin and sort of round, from what she could tell. It had wings which were spread, and what might have been a tail. But other than these things, it had no distinct features. It was not at all what she would have expected one of the majestic sky dragons to look like-- but then, she'd never seen one before, or met anyone who had. Who was to say that this wasn't the way they had always appeared? It was, at least, certainly very big. The great creature was not moving at all, and she didn't hear breathing, although noises she didn't like the sound of at all still emanated from it. Uncertainly, Pearl moved closer, and gasped.

Immediately she slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound, but she hadn't been able to help it. She could see the dragon's eye. It had only one, in the center of what she supposed must be its face, though it had no neck that she could see. Below that the face curved down to a point where its nose and mouth must be, but-- oh, that eye! It was wide open, blank and hollow, reflecting the shadows of the forest back at her. It looked dead. Pearl felt tears brimming in her eyes, already stinging from the smoke. A sky dragon-- and there were so few of them now, magical creatures from the dawn of time-- a real sky dragon lay before her, dead. It was almost more than she could bear.

Then she noticed something odd. There was a crack in the dragon's eye. A series of long, spidery cracks, in fact, almost as if it was made of glass and it had almost shattered with the impact...

It was glass! Pearl could see that, now. If she looked beyond the shallow reflection of the trees she could see more smoke billowing, and shadowy shapes beyond the eye and... the little girl's stomach turned over.

There was a hand.

A small hand, a child's hand, bleeding, pressed up against the glass eye of the dragon. The scream she wanted to let go choked within her throat, and all that emerged was a horrified squeal. There was a person in there. The dragon had eaten a person and it was still there... alive.

She stared at that hand for what seemed like an eternity. None of this made sense, or maybe she just couldn't think clearly enough to make sense of it. It did not make sense to her, really, that the dragon had eaten someone and she could now see that someone through the dragon's dead glass eye. But that didn't matter now.

All that mattered was that there was a child in there alive, and the dragon was dead, and its eye was made of glass. She knew what she would have to do. Pearl ran to the edge of the clearing, where she found a heavy branch felled in the dragon's wake. She could barely lift it by herself, but somehow she managed to drag it up to that dead glass eye. She aimed for the edge, as far away from that small hand as she could. Then, eyes closed, sobbing uncontrollably, she swung.

The glass eye shattered. The sound was sharp and cruel to Pearl's ears. She dreaded what she would find when she opened her eyes but, when at last she brought herself to do it, she saw only dark, empty space where the glass had been. Pearl dropped the branch, dreading what she knew she had to do next. As best she could, she cleared the glass away from the edge of the dragon's eye and reached inside. Her hands touched empty air. Moving them down she felt something hard, with many things protruding from it-- teeth maybe? or bones? It didn't matter. Lying across the dragon's hot, burning nose on her stomach, with both hands she groped into the eye until she touched the warm, living hand. She seized that hand in both of her own as though it was a lifeline, all that connected her to shore as she floated in a dark and terrible sea. She thought she felt the hand give some pressure back.

With all of her might, all of the strength she had and more, Pearl pulled. A few times it seemed as though the child was stuck or her strength would give out, but she refused to surrender. It didn't even occur to her that she was putting herself in danger by lingering here, or that the fire in the treetops was spreading, or that the smoke was making it harder and harder to breathe. Though she could not define exactly why, she knew that this moment-- right now, right here-- meant everything. Everything depended on her being able to save this person whom she had never even met.

And then she was kneeling on the ground some distance away from the body of the sky dragon, and the person she had pulled from the dragon's eye was lying in the grass beside her. It was a boy. He looked about her own age; his skin was slightly darker than her own and his short hair was dark enough to be called black. He was covered in soot and smoke, his clothes almost as ragged as Pearl's; there was a large gash on his forehead and he was bleeding from a dozen places... but he was breathing. He was alive, and he lay as if sleeping.

Now Pearl did notice the fire in the trees overhead. Burning branches were beginning to rain down onto the forest floor. Pearl didn't think she could move the boy any further. Pulling him free from the dragon had taken everything that she had, and her hands were already bleeding from the glass. The smoke was making her dizzy.

Just then she heard the boy moan, and she looked down to see him open his eyes and stare at her, confused. "You're all right now," she told him soothingly. The boy seemed to believe her, for his eyes closed again and his face returned to blissful, blank unconsciousness. Pearl had only a second to worry that he might be dead before something else registered in her mind. Hoofbeats. There was a horse coming.

It was either someone come to rescue them or someone come to take her back to the Temple, caught up with her at last. She struggled to get to her feet, to run, maybe, or to defend the boy if she needed to. Even now, she was not going back to the Temple without a fight; she refused to. The feeling came to her again that, either way, she was going to die.

The demonic vision that burst into the clearing, though, sent her reeling back to the ground again. Mounted on a roan horse, the figure of a man, covered head to toe in armor which reflected the flames in a glowing red. He held a drawn sword over his head and charged at the dragon, uttering a vicious cry. Pearl tried to scream again and found herself choking on the smoke, the world around her a swirling cloud of grey and red. Suddenly the frightening man on the horse was riding back toward her, shouting something. There was a blinding flash and a deafening noise, and the velvet silence of darkness took her.

***
When Pearl woke up, she was in a bed. She had never slept on a bed before, and so it took her some time to realize that she was awake and not still cushioned softly in sleep. What brought her fully out of sleep was the feel of a soft breeze blowing across her face and the white light of day shining through her eyelids. Somewhere nearby, the silence was giving way to the sound of birds singing. Pearl opened her eyes and blinked in confusion. This was certainly not her room in the Temple.

She was in a room she had never seen before, except maybe in her dreams. The walls were paneled with a light-colored wood. On the opposite wall was a small desk, and a rocking chair was in the corner near an open window. Billowing white curtains framed a neat, flowering garden with the forest behind it. Pearl herself was lying in a big white bed, stuffed with feathers. It was like being on a cloud. She sat up slowly and felt sharp pain stab at her with a suddenness that almost made her gasp. It burned her like fire.

All at once the memory of the night before washed over her. The burning dragon with the horrible dead glass eyes and the boy she'd dragged from inside the creature's body and the armed man on the horse... It all seemed like a dream, now. But the bruises on her body and the cuts she could see crisscrossing her hands told her that it had been real. She looked around the beautiful room again. Maybe she had died, and this was the land of the Gods. But no, she wouldn't be feeling pain if she was dead. Which meant that she was alive. Pearl smiled. Alive was a good way to start the day.

And not just any day, she realized. It was her birthday. She had lived through the night, and now she was eight years old.

Pearl pulled the covers back and slipped out of the bed. For the first time, now, she noticed that someone had dressed her in a clean, white nightgown, much nicer and softer than her greying shift. There was a bow tied at the collar. And, she thought with a shock, the nightgown wasn't the only thing that was clean. She must have been given a bath while she was asleep-- there was no dirt on her hands, her legs... There was a round mirror hanging over the desk and she ran to it. Yes, her face and her hair were clean, too! In spite of a few small cuts on her cheeks, she was practically shining! Pearl looked around the room again. Was this what it was like to be a normal little girl?

Her gaze drifted to the room's closed door, and she found herself afraid to open it. What if the whole room, the nightgown, everything were to vanish the minute she stepped outside? What if whoever had brought her here decided to take her back to the Temple?

Now that she thought about it, who had brought her here?

The man who had ridden into the forest with his sword drawn had been a knight, she knew that now. She had never seen one of the knights who guarded the borders before, of course, but she knew that they rode horses and had swords and wore armor. And she knew that one of their jobs was to fight off dragons. And another was to rescue maidens who were in danger. Especially maidens who were in danger from dragons. Now that she was free from the Temple, Pearl figured that she might be considered a maiden, or at least be mistaken for one. So, if the knight had rescued her, he might have taken her back to his house. That would make sense.

But... what if she was wrong? And where was the boy? Surely the knight wouldn't have left him there. He might be dead, Pearl thought. But, no, he couldn't be. She wouldn't believe that. She wished desperately that somebody would come and tell her what was happening and what she was supposed to do.

As if in answer to her prayers, she caught the sound of a familiar voice beyond the door. She couldn't make out the words, but she would know that voice like ancient music anywhere. It was Talwyr. And as long as Talwyr was here, she was safe.

Pearl slowly opened the door and peered into down a hallway lined with other doors, all closed. The end of the hall opened into a large room, lit with sunlight from six windows-- two on each of the three walls that faced outdoors. Near one of the windows a man stood holding a baby. In the center of the room was a great table where Talwyr sat with a golden-haired woman and two men Pearl recognized, with a sinking heart, as priests from the Temple. But Talwyr looked up as she emerged from the hallway and smiled at her, and she knew that everything was going to be all right. She smiled back.

"Good morning, little Pearl," the old wizard greeted her. "Or good afternoon, I should say. Come here, child. There are some people here I'd like you to meet." Shyly, Peal stepped forward to stand beside Lord Talwyr's chair. He indicated the two priests. "This is Belan and this is Herel. From the expression on your face I gather that you are already aware that they are priests in the Temple." The one called Belan looked friendly and very handsome; Pearl remembered that he played the harp and she'd always thought that he was rather nice. Herel, on the other hand, she did not remember much at all. He did not look very happy to be there. As if reading her thoughts, Talwyr added, "You needn't worry, child. They aren't going to take you back. They were helping me to find you. Lady Celwyn was quite worried, you know-- you running off like that. Not to say that I'm anything but glad that you did." He winked. "Well done." Pearl couldn't help but smile. "This," Talwyr continued, pointing to the kind-faced man holding the baby, "is Corbin. Sir Corbin, I should say, though I knew him when he was no bigger than you, Pearl. But nevermind." Sir Corbin-- who, even Pearl had to admit, looked too boyish yet for the "sir" to fit him, despite being so tall and muscular-- had bright blue eyes and brown hair that, in the light, showed traces of red. He was holding the baby so gently, yet there was something in his bearing that seemed familiar...

"You're the knight!" she exclaimed. "You're the knight who rescued us from the dragon!"

Sir Corbin grinned and bowed his head. "No trouble, my lady."

"Corbin and his lovely wife, Niama," here Talwyr bowed his head to the lady seated with them at the table, "were kind enough to bring you here after the incident with the... dragon, and then give us shelter for the night when we came here looking for you. Niama is an accomplished healer, which is why you are up and about today."

Pearl thought that Niama was one of the most beautiful ladies she had ever seen. Her hair fell down her back in a golden braid, framing a fair face with green eyes and a shy smile. "And finally," Talwyr continued, turning back to Corbin, "the dazzling young beauty in the arms of Sir Corbin is their daughter, Nieve." Pearl couldn't see the baby from where she was standing, and she thought it might be rude to crane to see her. Besides, there was a question she had to have answered.

"Where is the boy?" she asked. "The boy..." Suddenly, in her mind, the phrase the boy I rescued from inside the dragon's eye sounded stupid. "The boy who was with me. Is he all right?"

Talwyr's countenance hardened to seriousness. "He will be," he answered. "He is here, Pearl, and he will not die."

"Did you find out his name?"

For the first time, Niama spoke. "No, Pearl, we haven't. We were hoping you might know. He was hurt much worse than you were, and has not been awake long enough to say anything yet."

"He didn't say anything to me," Pearl said. She looked up at Corbin curiously. "Is the dragon dead? I thought he was before, but..."

Corbin, Niama, and Talwyr exchanged looks, but the priest named Herel merely threw his hands up in the air. "Dragons! All I've heard since we left the Temple is made-up stories about unicorns and dragons! And in speaking of the Temple, why aren't we taking her back there? I thought that was the whole point. I don't like this, I really don't. Lord Maddeg will have our heads."

"Herel, for the last time," although Belan was plainly frustrated, his voice remained gentle as it always was, "we are acting under the orders of the high priestess, and so Lord Maddeg can't punish us. And we're not taking her back there because--" he stopped abruptly, looking at Pearl. "Well, it should be obvious why we're not taking her back there. You can't say you like what they did to... And anyway, you saw the trail of that sky dragon the same as we all did. And the unicorn as well."

"You are right on one count, however," Talwyr said to Herel, which appeared to come as a surprise both to Belan and to Herel himself. "It is time for you to return to the Temple."

Belan balked. "Both of us, Lord Talwyr?"

"Yes, both of you. I'm sorry, Belan. You did well, but your work here is done and Lady Celwyn has need of you at the Temple. I am not merely saying this, I mean it in earnest. She has great need of people who will be loyal to her now."

"We will be loyal," Belan agreed. "You may depend upon it." He rose, and dragged Herel into a standing position as well. They bowed to Lord Talwyr and turned for the door.

"Thank you," Pearl called after them. "Thank you for helping Lord Talwyr find me. And thank you for not taking me back."

Belan bowed to her. "May the Gods light your path, Pearl," he said.
Herel looked embarrassed. "Yes. Quite."

Then they were out the door. Corbin handed the baby Nieve to Niama and went to help them.

Talwyr stood watching out the window, deep in thought, as the two priests departed. Pearl had many questions to ask, but knew better than to interrupt a powerful wizard when he was thinking. At last, when Corbin had come back in and the two riders had disappeared down the trail through the woods, he turned to Pearl and said, "Now is the time for us to talk about dragons."

***
Herel and Belan rode much of the way back to the Temple in silence. Only once it was broken by Herel, who quite spontaneously turned to Belan and said, "The girl... she's just a normal little girl. I mean, all clean and everything. She reminds me of my sister-- I had a little sister once, who died." He sighed heavily. "Talking to her, seeing her like that, what gets me is... she's just a little girl."

Belan nodded. "No one is more blind than he who does not wish to see."

"Are you quoting some holy text at me?" Herel asked irritably.

"I'm not sure," Belan answered. "Maybe, but I can't remember which one."

"Well, whatever it is, stop it."


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