Chapter 10

Mary just stood there and watched as Lady Jade ran up to the dragon and hugged its long, scaly neck.  Had she really said father?  Mary couldn’t believe it.  But that’s what she had said, and if she had said it then it must be true.

Brad whispered, “Lady Jade is a dragon.  I can’t believe it.”

“What’s not to believe?  Didn’t you notice that she was different than the rest of the humans?” Russell asked.  Mary glanced at him.  He didn’t look shocked at all.  He had probably already known, she decided.

“Well yeah, she acts differently, but I just thought that that was part of her personality.  I didn’t think that it meant she was a dragon,” Brad replied, scratching his head.

Russell turned to Mary.  “You don’t look well, Miss Mary.  Would you like some water?”

Mary found that it was a little hard to talk, but finally she croaked out, “Yes please.  That would be really helpful.”

He went through his bag and finally found a small water bottle, handing it to her.  She gladly took in, and drank every last drop.  By the time she was done, Lady Jade was walking back and said, “My father says that they’re ready for us in the Misty City.  We can go there as soon as we’re rested.”

“Sounds wonderful, my Lady,” Russell replied, bowing slightly.  “I think Miss Mary needs to rest a little longer than we do.  Doesn’t she look pale?”

Lady Jade looked at the girl with level eyes.  She said, “Yes, she does.  Why don’t you go back with my father right now?  Then you’ll be able to sleep while we ride there on our horses.”

“I’ll be fine,” Mary said quickly.  She was a little afraid of the dragon, and she didn’t want to ride on it back to the Misty City, whatever that was.

“Don’t be silly.  You need to get your rest, and you can’t do that on a horse.  Don’t worry.  It will be a smooth ride if Dad is flying,” she replied confidently, taking Mary’s bag off of the saddle and handing it to her.  Mary took it, her hand shaking, and walked to Lady Jade’s father, the big red dragon.

When she got up to him she heard him say, “I won’t eat you.  I’ve never eaten a human before.”

That made Mary feel slightly better.  Still, she was nervous about riding on something she didn’t even know.  But Lady Jade, Brad, and Russell weren’t going to leave until she had flown away on the dragon’s back, so she climbed up and sat down between his wings.

“Hold on tight,” he said.  She did, more afraid of falling off than she was of the dragon itself as he took off and started flying towards the heart of the mountains, where she was sure that no other human had ever been before.

It took only a few minutes to get to the Misty City from the field, but to Mary it felt like hours.  She had her eyes tightly closed the entire time, and she only opened them once.  All she could see was white, as if they were in a cloud.  Which they probably were.

When they were getting closer to the Misty City, Lady Jade’s father said, “Look, Mary.  We’re almost there.”

Mary opened her eyes a little bit.  At first she could only see what she had before, pure white.  But after a while she could see shapes, and then colors, and before she knew it she was looking at a giant city in the highest parts of the mountain!  The buildings seemed to be part of the mountain themselves.  The only reason Mary could ell the difference at all was from the huge windows and doors that only the dragons could use.  They would have been too big for everyone else.

Mary kept her eyes open after that, not even noticing the height or that she was riding a big scary dragon.  It was just so pretty.  Soon they went to the biggest building, which Mary thought was the palace, and the dragon landed in a big courtyard.  All of a sudden there were other dragons there.  Most of them were saying, “King Gregory, King Gregory, you have returned.  Where is Princess Jade?  Who is this human?”

The big red dragon chuckled and explained, “Yes, I’ve returned.  My daughter is going to be a few more hours.  She’s still in her human form, and she’s leading her other companions here.  This little human wasn’t feeling well, so she was sent on ahead with me.”

Mary slid off of his back and clutched her bag close to her, afraid again.  There were so many dragons, and they were all so big.  They scared her a lot.

Then the red dragon, King Gregory, said, “You should all get back to work.  I’m sure you have some things to finish up before dinner.”  Taking the hint, the other dragons left the courtyard.  King Gregory turned to Mary and asked, “Would you like something to eat, or do you want to go to your room first?”

“Can I go to my room?” Mary asked timidly.

He nodded.  “Of course.  I’ll take you there.  But I have to go for one second.  Wait here.”  Without telling her why he had to leave for a little bit, he left her alone, leaving through a side door that she hadn’t noticed before.

She only had to wait a few seconds, like he had said.  When the side door opened again, Mary saw a somewhat older human man with bright red eyes instead of a big dragon.  She looked at him, shocked.  Was he like Lady Jade and could change into humans?  The book that she had read had said that changing shape was strange for dragons, but was it more common than the book said?  She was getting confused.

“Hello, Mary.  Is this better?  Do you like me as a human better than as a dragon?  I’m sure it was a shock to you, to see a dragon coming out of the mountains like that,” he said.  Mary thought that he kind of reminded her of her grandfather, only a little younger.  And not as crabby.

“Yes, that’s better.  I’d never seen a dragon before,” Mary explained.

He laughed.  “I didn’t think you would have.  Not many other humans have.  Russell and some other people that help us work in the human world are the few who have.  Now, your room isn’t too far from here. . . .”  King Gregory led her to another side door, this one small and human-sized.  Mary followed him, still holding onto her bag tightly.

King Gregory was right.  It wasn’t very far.  There was only one turn that she had to remember to take, and it was the first door in that hallway.  He opened it with a little key, which he then handed to her.  “I hope you like staying here.  It’s kind of small, but I don’t think you’ll be bothered by it.”

Mary walked in and thought, ‘Small?  He thinks this is small.  This is bigger than my entire home!’  It took her a little while to find her way around the place, but eventually she found a bed that was bigger than her bedroom at home and her own little bathroom and kitchen.

“This is really nice,” she said to herself.  “But it’s way too fancy.”

“I’m sorry you think that way,” said a new voice.  Mary jumped and quickly turned around to see Lady Jade standing there, smiling.  “My father is trying so hard to please you.  I don’t think he realized that you aren’t used to palace life.  Do you want me to ask him to change your room?”

Mary shook her head.  “No, it’s fine.  I don’t want to be any trouble.  How did you guys get here so fast?”

“There’s a little shortcut that Dad doesn’t know about.  We took it and got here in no time at all!  Now, why don’t you and Brad go and explore the palace a bit while Russell and I get settled in?  I’m sure you don’t want to sit here and do nothing all afternoon, do you?” Lady Jade pointed out.

Mary nodded.  She didn’t like having anything to do.  It made her nervous for some reason.  So she went out to the hallway where she saw Brad leaning against the wall.  When he looked at her she asked, “What do you want to do?”

“I want to look around the palace a bit.  It’s so big there’s got to be something interesting in some dark corner,” he said.

She gulped.  “Dark corner?  I don’t like the dark.  It’s scary.”

He laughed.  “There’s nothing to be scared of.  It’s the same room as it is when it’s like, you just can’t see it as well.”

Mary thought about it for a little bit.  “Well, when you say it like that, I guess it doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Good.  So let’s go exploring,” he said.

“Now?” she gulped.

Brad rolled his eyes.  “Yes, now.  What other time would we do it?  Lady Jade and Russell are going to be done unpacking soon, and then we’re going to be busy talking to King Gregory and the other dragons.  The only time we can explore the palace is right now.”

Mary sighed.  “Okay, but don’t let me out of your sight.  I get lost easily.”

He silently nodded and walked down the hallway to the stairs.  Mary remembered that those stairs led outside.  She asked, “Why are we going outside?  I thought you wanted to explore the palace.”

Brad smiled slightly.  “I did, but then I remembered that I saw a wishing well on the way here that looked pretty, and I wanted to show it to you.  And I don’t like being in palaces.  All that fancy stuff all over the place makes me nervous for some reason.”

Mary giggled.  “You could have just told me that you wanted to get out of the palace in the first place.”

“True.  I guess I just didn’t think of it.”

Laughing, Mary and Brad walked down the stairs to a door.  Once they got to the door, Brad had to lead Mary through a courtyard with lots of bright flowers and stained-glass windows, with a wrought-iron gate on the far side.  When they walked through the gate, Mary’s eyes widened.

Brad smiled at her.  “You haven’t seen this before?”  She slowly shook her head, taking in the sight before here.  Right in front of her was a huge waterfall, and she was sure she could fit two hundred of her houses in it, that’s how big it was.  There were tons of little rainbows in the mist, which was so thick in some places that you could barely see.  Around her were hundreds of dragons, and with the big waterfall behind them, they didn’t seem so scary.

Mary ran towards the water, laughing.  Brad was right behind her, and soon he ran past her, leading her to where the wishing well was.  Brad had been right.  It was really pretty.  Just like everything else in the dragon’s city.

Mary raced to the little stone wishing well, slamming her hands against the smooth, sparkling stone.  Leaning over, she shouted to Brad, “It goes down so far!  I wonder how deep it is?”  She leaned over even further, trying to see how far down it went.

“Mary, don’t lean over so far.  You’re going to fall in,” Brad pointed out.

“No, I won’t!” Mary laughed.  She thought she saw a little bit of water at the bottom, so she leaned over a bit more.

That’s when she started to fall.

Brad tried to catch her by grabbing onto her shoulders, but she was too far in, and he ended up falling as well.  Thankfully, the well wasn’t a real well.  It was only a wishing well, so it wasn’t as deep as Mary had thought it was.  By the time Mary and Brad hit the bottom, they were waist deep in water and only had a few bruises on their elbows.

“Ow,” Mary said, trying to look at her elbows in the dark.

“I told you that you would fall it,” Brad said.  “But you didn’t listen to me.”

“I should have.  How are we going to get out?”  Mary asked.

Brad looked around the well, trying to see the way around.  It was too dark.  He couldn’t see anything at all.  “I don’t know.  I think we might be stuck.”