Chapter 3

On the third day Pae had a little more energy so that after Maghnus had finished with her, he went to hunt and after she counted to 500 she slipped the sandals on, wrapped blanket around herself and tried to make her way out of he caves. Unfortunately, Maghnus returned just as she reached the main opening of the cave. He had forgotten something and when he found her, he just grabbed her up walked back to his cave but instead of taking her to the nest, Maghnus took a deep breath and shot a stream of flame at the ground melting the ice and crating a big deep hole. He waited for a few moments for the steam to clear then took a handful of straw from the nest and tossed it down into the hole then waited for a few more moments all the while holding Pae to him very tightly. When he was satisfied, he tossed down a second handful of straw then he dropped Pae in after. "It would seem that I have to take more care to see that you don't wander off. When I am not here, you will stay in this hole." He moved from the opening so that Pae could not see him but he returned shortly. He tossed down a bucket, a sack with some food in it and a water skin. "If you are good I will take you out of there but we'll have to see."

Then Maghnus left again the only good thing was that Pae still had the blanket around her. The bad thing was very shortly it got very cold down in that hole even with the straw under her. She ate some and drank but already Pae could taste the water starting to freeze; scared and cold Pae curled up and started crying and calling for Sarrone to find her.

It was several hours later, Pae had stopped crying and was nearly frozen when she heard a noise and looked up. To her surprise, the head of a very small dragon looked in. "Who are you?"

"I'm Little. Why are you down in that hole?"

"The big dragon that lives here put me down here. Please help me. Can you help me get out?"

He looked around, "I have to go." with that the little dragon disappeared. The reason wasn't to long a wait. Maghnus was coming back. He didn't come to the hole but was doing something in the cave when Pae heard what sounded like another dragon coming in. "Maghnus, there is a question that I would like to ask."

"Why sister dear, what question could you possibly have for me."

She took a deep breath, "Do you have a half naked woman down in a hole in your cave?"

"What the hell!! Now why would you ask that?"

"Well I hate to say this but Little was in you room again. He told me that she has been crying. Brother Do you have some one down in a hole?"

"I don't..."

"Help me Please!!" Pae yelled before she could stop herself.

"What I keep in my room is none of your business sister and if I find that little brat of yours in here again I'll kill him! So, he better stay far away! Now leave me!"

"Brother, why are you being cruel? It would be freezing down there. Get that poor thing out of there."

"Sister, I have only just returned from hunting and would have if I was not distracted by you. I put her there so that she would not go wandering off into the caves. Now leave us!!"

The sister left but looked back for a moment to see if her brother was going to take the person out of the hole. Maghnus didn't move until she was down the passage. Then he turned to Pae. Maghnus reached down and grabbed a shivering Pae out of the hole, "Are you trying to get me up set? Are you trying to make me hurt you? You are to talk to no one, is that understood?"

Pae didn't say anything; she was shivering so hard that she couldn't get her mouth to work. This made Maghnus even madder and he gave Pae a hard shake and then tossed her into the nest and relieved his stress by taking her. When he was finished, he went back to preparing food for Pae to eat. Not knowing what was going to happen next she ate all that she could get down then tried to curl up to go to sleep but Maghnus had other plans again.

All of the time that she had been with Maghnus she had been crying out in her head for Sarrone to come and find her. Maghnus roared, "Stop doing that! I don't want you to call out to Sarrone. You've been doing it since you got here. Now stop!! He can't hear you because of the ice."

"Maghnus please take me back to him. I need him. And you're killing me. Please take me home." Pae pleaded in a small voice.

"Quiet!!! This is your home now and you will never ask to go back again is that understood!!" Maghnus yelled. Then grabbed Pae and gave her a hard shake making her scream. Maghnus yelled again for Pae to stop but the pain she was in made that impossible. Finally, he got up taking Pae with him, and moved to the hole and dropped her in. "When you have stopped screaming I'll take you out. For now, I'm going out."

"Maghnus please let me have the blanket. I'll be frozen solid before you get back, please." Nothing was tossed down and Pae could hear that Maghnus was leaving. Pae sat and wrapped her arms about herself and began to cry and again calling out hoping that Sarrone might be close enough to hear her.

Several hours passed and Pae had lain down and was all but ready to give into the cold when she heard a noise and looked up. Looking down at her was the little dragon. "Are you all right?"

"Little, please help me. I'm freezing to death. Please go get your mother." Pae said with chattering teeth. He waited for a moment then disappeared. Pae felt her heart fall as she though that the little dragon left because he had heard Maghnus coming back. Pae started to let herself fall into sleep. When she heard something strange. "Little what are you doing? You know your not to go into your uncle's..."

"But mother she's dying. She said so."

Then Pae looked up and saw a beautiful light copper dragon. "Please." Was the only word that she could get out.

"Oh Gods, what has my brother done? Human can you get up?"

Pae tried to talk but nothing would come out so she shook her head no. The mother dragon reached down gently and took hold of Pae and lifted her out of the hole. Pae was surprised though when she was not put down but held close to the dragon's body and taken out of the cave. Pae couldn't tell where they were going but after a short time, she was placed in a small nest then given a down feather comforter to wrap up in. It wasn't long until she started shivering and even those stopped soon; Pae was so nice and warm. That's when Pae looked around and found that the little dragon, who she guessed was called Little, was also wrapped around her.

"It's all right my dear. How are you feeling? Do you need anything to eat?" Said the mother dragon.

"I'm fine thank you. Thank you for taking me out of that hole. I don't think I would have survived much longer."

"If Little hadn't been where he wasn't supposed to be, I would not have known you where so bad off. Why did my brother keep putting you down there anyway?"

"One was to keep me from running away. The other was to punish me, I think. He took me from my husband because he wanted me." Shame filled her voice.

"Is that who you keep calling out for?" Pae looked at her with concern. "Do not look so stricken. Little is very sensitive to thoughts. That's why he went to you the other day. You seem to not realize that you're sending. You kept waking him up at night and during his after noon naps."

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know. I truly didn't know I was doing anything." Pae quickly glanced at Little.

"I would guess that you did not know you could do such a thing. So who is it that you have been calling to?"

"Sarrone, my husband. I don't even know if he's looking for me."

"Unfortunately it would take a human years to get here."

"But he's not human, Sarrone's a dragon. He's the guardian of a town near where I lived. He's been their protector for 300 years but the men from the village didn't understand how things worked and so came to my home. They killed my parents and tried to give me to Sarrone in the place of their chosen girl. Sarrone saved the girl and me and she was still willing to give herself to him but she had someone there that wanted her so Sarrone released her. Later he found another way that he could protect the village. He was away at the village because raiders were attacking. Your brother arranged it so that he could try and take me away. I had fallen in love with Sarrone and he's in love with me. Your brother came, told me that he had taken several of Sarrone's other women and either took them to a far away town or forest and left them or dropped them to there deaths. I don't even remember what I said to your brother to make him stop but he did and left. He returned later to apologize but we wanted nothing to do with him. He continued to come by when Sarrone was away until finally he just grabbed me and brought me here." Pae blurted out then curled under the blanket and tried not to cry.

"Did my brother ... well you know. Did he take what you were not willing to give?"

Pae nodded her head yes.

"I'm sorry. My brother is an idiot. Tell me has my brother heard your callings?"

"Yes." Pae said with a sigh.

"Then you need to calm yourself. I don't know truly how strong he is and I don't know when he is going to come back. I would guess that when you were scared or with my brother you were calling for Sarrone, yes?"

Pae nodded her head yes again. "Is there away for you to help me get home? I don't want to be trouble to you and your son."

"We'll have to see. Now I know you must be hungry by now so let me get you something then you should rest."

The mother dragon went over to what looked like a side of beef and carved a small piece from it tossed into the air and took a quick breath and blew flame at the meat. When it came down she caught it and placed it into a very small bowl, well it was small in her hand then brought it over and gave it to Pae. "Here you go. By the way what is your name?"

"I'm Pae. Thank you for the meat." Then took a small careful bite.

"Your welcome. I'm Seleena and this as you have guessed is Little."

"He is small but he is very young I would guess too. I owe him my thanks for saving me." Pae looked down at the little dragon and smiled. That was when she noticed a few things. First that is snout wasn't as long as she would have though and his clawed hands were less claw and more hand. He was sleeping as Pae and his mother was talking and looked quite adorable. But there was still something that itched at her mind about the little one. Finally, when Pae had finished eating the meat she asked, "Seleena, may I ask you something?"

"You may." Seleena had said from where she sat near the opening to her cavern.

"Is your son part human?"

Seleena just stared for a moment, "How did you guess that?"

"His snout is far shorter than I would think it should be and it even looks like it's more shaped like a large nose. His hands aren't as heavily clawed, as they should be. How did you get pregnant by a human?"

"I have many abilities. One is I'm able to change form, so when I was younger I would become a human female and go play in towns and cities. I found I quite enjoyed the company of men and often found myself surrounded by two or three at a time. It was during one of those times that I was off playing that I had lost track of when I was to be in season. I quickened and found myself with child. I came home and over the course of two years had to make small changes to Little so that when he was born he would look more dragon. Most of my people just think he's a runt but most don't look that close. I still love my little guy. He's not very strong when it comes to dragon abilities but when it comes to mind powers he's got some strength. Most of the males in my family are weak in the areas of magical powers so he kind a fits right in. I would guess that you would like to have Sarrone's child?" She look sad.

"Yes, but he told me that if I didn't get pregnant after the first time then it was unlikely that I would ever be. That still doesn't make me want to have his child any less."

"It's much harder for a human to carry a dragon offspring. They tend to be on the large side and take as much as six months longer to carry. Though I have heard that some develop just like a normal human baby would until after they're born then start growing. You shouldn't get your hopes up though."

"The only hope I have right now is to see Sarrone again."

Seleena was about to say something when Little jumped and raised his head. "Mother, Uncle is back! We can't let him take her back and put her in that hole again."

Seleena got up quickly, "Pae give me the comforter then lay down and let Little lay on top of you. I'll keep my brother out of here but you need to keep your mind clear. Don't think of Sarrone at all or my brother will know you're in here. Little you know how to block thoughts, keep her's from getting out, all right?"

"Yes, mother."

Seleena had already taken the comforter and tossed it to the side of the cave. Pae did as she was told and wiggled herself so that she was down into the straw of the nest then Little very gently crawled on top of her and laid down and pretended to be asleep. The last thing Pae saw was a strange opaque thing going up over the cave entrance. That's not to say that she didn't hear everything. Pae also remembered what Seleena said so she set her mind to simply listen.

"WHERE IS SHE? GIVE HER BACK!!" Maghnus bellowed.