The Dragon's Curse, Part II
The king gave Roshil time to think over his offer. He walked out of the forge, escorted by Master Grund. Once the king had left, Master Grund walked Roshil back to the office.
Roshil’s heart pounded in her ears. She felt sick. Why did a dragon want to talk to her? What help could anyone be to her? No, she didn’t care. She didn’t want to talk to a dragon. She never wanted to see another dragon again.
“What do you think?” Master Grund asked.
Roshil shook her head. “I don’t want to. I don’t want to. No. No, no, no, no!”
Visions of fire clouded her mind. She heard her mother screaming for her to stay hidden. To protect her brother. People were running everywhere, trying to escape before it came back for a second pass. Its eyes glistened in the light of the fires it had created. Its call broke through the panic, reaching out through the dark.
“Roshil.”
Her mother grabbed her shoulders and shook her. Roshil tried to tear her eyes away from the dragon, but it was coming toward them. It was coming to take her away and make her a monster.
“Apprentice Roshil!”
She drew a breath when she heard Master Grund’s voice coming out of her mother’s mouth. Roshil blinked, and the office in the forge came back into focus. Tears were running down her cheeks. Master Grund sat in front of her, his hands on her shoulders.
“Are you back?” he asked.
She nodded, her mouth too dry to speak.
“Good. Thought I had to get the medics involved for a minute.”
Roshil shook her head again. “No, no, no. No hospitals. I don’t like hospitals.”
He guided her to a chair and had her sit down.
“Breathe. For now, focus on breathing.”
Roshil did as she was told, taking a breath, and letting it out. It was all in the past. The dragon couldn’t get to her. Master Grund wouldn’t let it. And Aonva was always there for her. Roshil didn’t think her friend would be helpful in a fight, but knowing she was there made Roshil feel better.
What about this new dragon? What if it attacked her? Who would be there to protect her? Would Master Grund be there with her? Who could protect her? Not even her mother could stop a dragon. What chance did anyone else have?
“I don’t want to meet the dragon. I don’t want to meet any more dragons.”
“No one’s going to make you,” Master Grund said. “But consider that no human understands what’s happened to you.”
“I don’t want to be alone with it.”
“You won’t be. I will be with you every step of the way. As will His Majesty, Lord Velal, and Lady Emgard. Both of them have experience fighting dragons.”
Roshil nodded. She’d been unconscious at the time, but she’d been told how those three had fended off the dragon the last time.
“Apprentice Roshil, I know you’re scared, but this might be your only chance of understanding what that thing did to you. Most dragons won’t talk about it. If there’s one that’s willing to, then maybe it’s worth it. You’ll never be alone with it. If she so much as looks at you like she’s gonna try something, I’ll kill her on the spot. I promise you that.”
Roshil shook her head. She knew Master Grund meant it, but he didn’t understand. No one could stop a dragon.
“You don’t understand!” she shouted. “You can’t stop it! Not even my mother could stop it!”
“I’m not asking you to meet with the dragon that hurt you,” Master Grund said, keeping his voice down.
She shook her head again. She was starting to feel dizzy.
“It doesn’t matter. They’re all the same. They all want to hurt me!”
“That’s enough, then. Take some time in here to relax. I’ll be outside.”
He wheeled around and started for the door. He paused before he left.
“I know you’ve made up your mind, but anyone else you wanted by your side would be with you.”
He waited for her to say something, but she didn’t want to keep talking about it. The more she thought about it, the worse it got.
“I’ll tell His Majesty that you’re not interested.”
Roshil nodded, but kept her gaze on the floor. She flinched when Master Grund closed the door.
What good would meeting a dragon do? It couldn’t fix her, could it? No, no one could. And dragons didn’t want to fix her. They wanted to hurt her. No one could stop them.
She rubbed some of the scales on her back. More and more kept appearing. What was next? Wings? A tail? She didn’t want to keep changing. She wanted it to stop before it got worse. But it didn’t. It only got worse, and no one could stop it. Not Master Grund, or Master Ekla, or Lady Emgard. No one.
She could hardly stand the sight of her own reflection. Her eyes were wrong. They were supposed to be her mother’s eyes. Now it was as though that thing stared back at her, laughing at her, full of glee that it’d ruined her. People hated her because of what that thing had done to her, and she was being asked to talk to another one. What was stopping it from doing something worse to her? They couldn’t stop a dragon. No one could!
I’m the only one who will ever love you.
Roshil closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was finished thinking about it. She left the office and went back to her furnace. Sure enough, someone had moved the poker to the other side of the forge. She walked over and grabbed it, noting that people were staring at her again. Fine. She could ignore them.
When she returned to her furnace, she stuck the poker back in, then reached for her hammer. With that, she got back to work, putting the dragon out of her mind.