Dragon Kiss

A Damning Claim

Chapter One Part Seven

However I am too far away from home to rely on the Sacred Animals for protection. I have been beaten and starved among other things. But due to my healing abilities I have no scars or marks on my body. I can feel the ice around my neck healing me from where the slave collar continuously cut into my neck. I felt the deep red marks on my neck before the ice covered them in order to heal me. I would heal faster if I hadn't been starved so much the last few days. Most of the time I had to steal food in order to eat, it didn't bother me. Those who bought me over the last ten years didn't take much notice of my theft anyway.

My last mistress lied and had sent me to die. She was a new edition to our household and was petty and extremely jealous of any other woman around her. She had me beaten for looking at her one time even though I was almost never in the same room with her. I could tell she saw me as competition. But when the masters wife died suddenly he began looking at the female servant's and slaves differently. His eyes were mostly on me. Unlike other slaves it didn't matter how much I would get beaten my body would always heal and leave no scar. If I were to ever be released from slavery no one would ever know I had once been a slave.

I follow the prince to a large mansion in one of the noble districts. He motions me to follow him inside. I'm not sure why I am here but I will follow him it may be the only way I will find out what he wants with me and why he freed me from being a slave. The inside of the mansion is beautiful and I can practically smell the gold in this place. It must have taken a lot of gold to build this mansion and even more to employ all of the servants I see.

"Welcome home Your Highness" a servant bowing to The Prince "Shall I tell Lady Sarra you have returned?"

"No."

The servant then looks at me surprised and when she looks at Nala she backs away with a look of fear on her face.

"Follow me" The Prince says to me and he heads towards the stairs.

Is this place his residence? If so, why did he bring me here? I follow him up the stairs and down a few corridors. He enters a room. It's a bedroom and it looks like it's not being used by anyone. There are very few things in the room but it's clean and ready for use. The prince closes the door behind me.

"Why did you bring me here?" I ask.

"I know where you are from," he says simply.

"Do you and where would that be?"

"You are from Wintervale."

Ok now I'm surprised, how does he know that? My people tend to keep to themselves and out of the affairs of other Kingdoms. It ensures that we are left alone during wars and other disagreements. Also my people live in one of the most dangerous places in the world and also one of the coldest. Because of all of the Snow Leopard's that roam Wintervale and the whispers of Ice Dragon's freely wandering around the area outsiders don't fare too well. Ice Dragon and Snow Leopards aren't the only beast to wander around my homeland either.

"How do you know that?" I have to ask.

"Well a few years ago many of your people came here and demanded that we return those we had stolen from their home. They said that if we refused they would ice over our entire Kingdom. My father dismissed them and not too long after that we received reports that three of the villages near the Wintervale border had been overrun with ice and snow and many people were trapped inside the villages unable to get out. And there were reported sightings of dragons in the area during that time. A few days later my father was approached again. He was told that the people of Wintervale were not for our personal use. They demanded that we stop raiding their villages and return all of the people who had been stolen from there. They said that if we refuse to comply the ice and snow would continue to slowly cover our entire Kingdom."