Chapter 5
The End?
Jikson looked around the room. I quickly glanced around, noticing that the room was pretty plain. It had gray stone walls and a stone floor. I noticed that there were a few doors leading out of the room. A door opened and out came a dragon. He nodded and motioned for Jikson to bring me toward the door. Jikson lifted me from the ground and carried me to the dragon. It stepped out of Jikson's way and let him enter the room. The dragon closed the door behind us, and I found myself in a small room. It had some nice fur rugs on the floor and pushed up against the wall was a small table. Other than that, the room was bare. Jikson set me down on the table and pushed me back against the wall. I thanked him and scooted a little so that I was leaning against the corner where the two walls met. Jikson walked over to the corner right of the door and sat down. He sat like a wolf and began panting. I maintained my composure, even though I was scared to death of the creature.
"I'm sure you're very curious about me. We'll speak of Sir Teran later. What would you like to know about me?"
I tried to relax but found myself breathing in short, small gasps.
Jikson stood up and studied me. He seemed to notice my breathing as well. Suddenly, I felt something tighten around my throat. It had been there all along, but I hadn't noticed it. Now, it was tightening at a rapid rate.
"Something has me.....hugh!" I tried to say.
Jikson backed against the wall and stared at me. I struggled with something I could not see. It had me by the throat. I tried to breath, but I couldn't. I tried to wriggle from its grasp, but to no avail. Jikson just stood there staring as I continued to struggle. In one movement, he yipped and grabbed the doorknob. With a growl he yanked open the door and slammed it shut behind him. I was left in the room by myself. I was suffocating. I couldn't breathe, couldn't scream, couldn't breath... It released me! I fell off the table and landed on the hard stone floor. I took great gasps, while frantically searching the room for the creature. It jumped on me. I swung a fist and, by some miracle, hit it. It was so hot, it burned my hand! I screamed just as the thing covered my mouth. It burned my lips, the skin around my mouth, everything! I lifted my right leg and kicked straight up. I hit it. The creature let out an ear piercing howl. I screamed because of the unspeakable pain that shot up through my body from the cut in my leg. The thing grabbed my neck and squeezed, pinning me to the ground. I gasped and grabbed my throat. I tore at the hands clutching it, but the creature was too strong. It let up again. I had a bloody nose. The blood ran down my right cheek and dripped on the stone. I heard Topaz silently cry out to me. I told her to get away. I told her to be careful and that I loved her. I believed that I would die. The door swung open. The creature grabbed my neck and lifted me from the ground. I dangled in front of the door, being held by seemingly nothing.
"Jikson, what has her?!" demanded Teran.
"Sir, I don't know!!"
I cried out in pain as the creature took a finger and began burning through my clothes. It quickly went through my clothes and began working its way into my back. I screamed, trying to reach behind me. It had me in the place I could not reach. The rest of the creature was cold as ice. I wondered how that could be. My neck was numb, yet my back burned. The thing wakled forward, carrying me toward Jikson and Teran. They jumped back and watched as I was carried from the room. I continued screaming, searching, trying to find the finger that was slowly burning through my back. The creature dropped me. I fell toward the ground, but it caught me before I hit. Whatever the thing was, it liked scaring me. I felt its fingers around my neck again, but this time they were hot. I cried out to Jikson, but the creature only tightened its grip. With one last cry, I fell limp in the creature's grip. Its fingers grew cold, and I fainted.
"Wake up," said a dragon.
I knew the difference between a dragon's voice and any other creatures. It was scratchy and bold. I felt dizzy. My head hurt, and my legs stung. I opened my eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the darkness.
"Don't look for me, all your looking won't help. I'm not here, in the sight sense."
My neck felt awful. I nodded to show I understood, but that brought on much pain.
"Come on," he said.
I felt as if I had to. It was more of a command than an invitation. I wearily stood to my feet. The thing growled and began walking away from me. It continued growling, letting me know where it was. I followed the growls stumbling over rocks and bumping into walls along the way. It hurt, but I needed to find light. I could barely see anything. I pitched forward and screamed. I fell. I fell and fell. Luckily, I fainted before hitting whatever was below me. Just before fainting, I heard the creature cry out,"I am the true Teran Mei. I am avenging my father. The same thing you are experiencing will happen to that traitorous dragon posing as me. Of course, you won't live to warn him."
I woke on a sandy beach. The place was deserted. My neck was broken. I didn't want to move anything. A lone dog wandered down the beach. To keep from going unconscious again, I studied the dog. It was a border collie. Border collie's are great for herding animals and learning tricks. I smiled, realizing that this would probably be the last thing I would see before dying. An idea came into my head. I closed my eyes and changed into the border collie. Still exhausted, I sighed and went back to sleep.
I howled. My shoulder hurt badly. I jumped to my feet, but my right front leg gave way. I looked at y paws and remembered what and where I was. Standing in front of me was the border collie. I growled back at it, trying to intimidate it. The dog lowered its head and got ready to pounce. I couldn't move fast enough. It slammed into my side just as I turned to run. I fell against a jagged rock. The dog jumped on me and opened its mouth, staring at my neck. I tried to fight back, but I wasn't experienced. This dog had been in many fights before. It bit my muzzle. I kicked with my front paws. I hit the dog in the chest. It jumped right back and dove for my neck. I had a lot of fur there, but it didn't stop this dog's teeth. I cried out in pain. The dog worked and worked to hurt me. I kicked it in the stomach. The dog fell to the sand momentarily, giving me just enough time to get to my paws. I dove at the dog. It jumped back, watching me slide on the sand. The dog jumped forward and grabbed my neck in its teeth, then jumped back. I jumped up, amazingly tired, and jumped as far as I could. The dog dodged me and I fell into the water. I felt paws on my neck. I struggled to get out of the water. The dog wasn't smart enough to hold me underwater for very long. I got a breath of air and scrapped with the dog in the sand again. The dog grabbed my ear and yanked. Its teeth pierced the skin and made a gash down my left ear. I yelped in defeat and fell to the sand. After all I'd survived. After all the things I'd endured. I was going to be killed by a dog! For some reason, the dog also gave up. It growled at me, lying in the sand, and kicked sand at me. With a triumphant howl, the dog nipped me one last time, then sauntered off down the beach. I closed my eyes and panted until I fell asleep once more.
"Is it alive?"
"I can't tell, let me get a closer look."
Warm gentle hands on my neck. Oh, they felt so good. Checking me over. Feeling my wounds.
"Arreeey!" I yelped.
My wounds were still very tender.
"My goodness, what happened to it?"
I felt well enough to open my eyes. There, standing above me, were two people. Real humans! There was a man and a woman. The woman was checking me over, making sure I would be okay. The man stood there, staring down at me. They looked to be somewhere in their forties. The guy was about five foot, six inches. The woman looked to be about five foot, three inches. The man had a gentle manner and looked kind. The woman seemed nice enough and smiled when she saw me open my eyes. The man was in pretty good shape. Let me just say that he didn't have a belly on him. The lady seemed in good shape herself. Both had slightly peppered hair. I searched both their faces, trying to pick u some hint as to what they were thinking. Wondering what they would do with me. Searching their mannerisms to see what they would do. Finally, the lady stood up and took a step back. She eyed me carefully.
"So, what should we do?" asked the lady.
"Why don't we take the poor girl home? Seems the only right thing to do, doesn't it?" asked the man.
The woman looked at him and asked in a surprised voice,"You really mean it? You don't mind having a dog around?"
The man seemed to ponder this. He shifted his weight to the left side of his body and scratched his chin. I didn't want him changing his mind. I needed food, water, and somewhere to rest. Quickly, I struggled to my feet. My right front paw hurt, so I hobbled toward the man. I knew how to get what I wanted. A lick to his right hand, a whimper, and a look that would break anyone's heart, I immediately made up the man's mind for him.
"Might as well, dear," he said.
The lady smiled and walked to me. She checked my paw, looking into my eyes, and studied my torn ear. After a moment, she picked me up. My legs dangled as she supported my chest and just in front of my back legs. I whimpered, hoping that would get them to hurry. It worked. They carried me off down the beach. I figured it would be a long time till we were back at their home, so I took a little nap in the woman's arms. I didn't wake again till we were home.
[Topaz!] I screamed through my thoughts.
I jumped to my paws and stood stock still, waiting for an answer from my daughter.
[Oh Mom! Are you okay? I've been calling you for hours!] cried Topaz.
[I'm so sorry dear! I've been through so much, I must have slept through it all. Please, don't worry about me. But, tell me, what's going on? Where are you? Are you okay???]
I could hear Topaz crying as she said [I'll be fine, Mom. Just come get me soon, okay? I'm afraid something awful will happen. I'd better go, it's dinner time. Do hurry, won't you? I'm not that old, you know. I don't know how much I can handle. Hurry! And I love you!!]
I let out a mournful howl and silently yelled [I love you dear! I'll love you forever! I'll be there as soon as I can. Just hold on! I won't be there for a while, but I'll make it! Hang on! Just hold on! I love you!]
There was no reply from Topaz, and I felt awful. My daughter was gone. What would I do? How would I save her? I'd figured something out a long time ago. I'd discovered that I could not grab anything solid and move as fast as I possibly could. If I did such a thing, the solid would be broken into bits. It would be like someone pulling as hard as they could on one end while the other end stayed right where it was. Eventually, the object would be torn in two. Which meant that if I tried to run in and run out with my daughter as fast as I could, I would kill my daughter. I felt bad about not being able to do anything right at that moment, but I knew I would find a way to get her out later.
"Bambi?" came a tiny voice from across the room.
I shook my head and turned around. This was really the first time I'd ever seen the room I'd been sleeping in.
The room had fuzzy, royal blue carpet with egg-shell colored walls. It seemed to be the bedroom of a little girl. There were teddy bears lined up on her blue quilted bed. Her bed was to the right of a basket. I guessed I'd been sleeping in the basket. It had a blue pillow in it. There was a closet about three feet in front of my bed on the right. The doors to the closet were closed.
"Bambi, are you okay?" said the voice again.
I looked toward the door and found myself staring at a girl about six years old. She stared at me and looked about to cry. I was instantly attached to the little girl.
She was wearing denim overalls with alight blue shirt. She had blonde hair cut to her chin and the prettiest blue eyes you've ever seen. Her arms were wrapped around a dog stuffed animal that looked a lot like myself. I wanted to comfort her right then and there, for she looked extremely worried.
"Honey, what's going on?" came the woman's voice from down the hall.
I took a step and looked down. My front right paw was bandaged. My nose and ear stung. I had a bandage wrapped around my side. I limped toward the girl and whimpered. I reached the door and look up at her. She dropped the stuffed animal and stooped down to look at me. I turned a circle, causing her to giggle.
"Eliza? Darling, where are you?"
"In here, Mommy!" cried the little girl.
The woman's head came around the corner and looked at the two of us. The girl pointed at me and looked up at her mom.
"Look, Bambi's better!"
Eliza's mom laughed and said,"That's not Bambi. Bambi's a deer."
"Mom, I want to name her Bambi. Can I, pretty please?"
The woman looked down at me, shrugged her shoulders, and said,"Why not? Go ahead, we'll call her Bambi."
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