Forest Kingdom Trilogy 1 - Blue Moon Rising

overhead, and listened to the falling rain. 'Dragon, do you think there's something . . . wrong with me?'
    'No. Why?'
    'It's those damn Ladies-in-Waiting. They make me feel like a freak because I don't want to get married and settle down to raising a family. I'm not ready for that. Not yet.'
    'Then don't,' said the dragon.
    Julia scowled. 'It's just that sometimes . . . sometimes I wonder if they're right. If there is something wrong with me. All my friends and most of my sisters are married, and they seem happy enough. Mostly.
    Maybe they're right. Maybe I am missing out on something. I just don't see why I have to give up being me to get married. I'm supposed to marry Harald, but all he wants is a combination lover and serving-maid. Well he can forget that for a start. And if he gooses me one more time I'll raise his voice with a well-placed knee.'
    She broke off, and frowned thoughtfully. 'You know, that's part of what I mean. If I'd said that to a Lady-in-Waiting, she'd have had a fit of the vapours and called for her smelling salts. Being blunt and direct isn't just unfashionable, it's unfeminine. Do you think I'm unfeminine?'
    The dragon chuckled. 'Julia, I'm hardly an expert on human behaviour, but it seems to me that if you'd been just another helpless domesticated female, you'd never have survived the Darkwood. Or your journey through the South Wing this afternoon.'
    'Damn right,' said Julia. 'So why can't they just leave me alone?'
    'You're a Princess,' said the dragon. 'You have responsibilities. Even I know that.'
    Julia sniffed disdainfully, picked up a straw from the floor, and chewed on the end. 'A Princess. And because of that I'm not supposed to think or feel or hope? Because of that I have to take orders from everyone on how to dress, how to talk, how to act? Because of that I have to marry a man I don't love?
    I'll see them rot in hell first!'
    The dragon slowly turned his head to get a better look at her. 'We've finally come to what's really bothering you, haven't we?'
    'Yes,' said Julia quietly. She looked at the straw in her hand, and threw it away. 'Rupert should have been back ages ago.'
    'It's a long trip, there and back. And from what I've heard, the High Warlock will take a lot of persuading.'
    'I should never have let him go back into the Darkwood. You know what that place is like.'
    'Yes,' said the dragon softly. 'I remember.' He flexed his wings slightly, and Julia reached up to scratch the recent scar tissue.
    'Do you still have nightmares?' she asked suddenly. The dragon shook his head. 'I do, sometimes. Only now I dream about Rupert, dying, alone in the darkness.'
    'Rupert can take care of himself,' said the dragon.
    Julia sniffed. 'You could have fooled me.'
    'Do you love him, Julia?'
    Julia stared out the open stable door. 'Looks like the rain's finally going off.'
    'You haven't answered my question.'
    'I know.'
    'Humans,' said the dragon, and chuckled wryly. 'If you care for him, why not tell him?'
    'Because he's not here! He went off and left me behind!'
    'He could hardly take you with him into danger, could he?'
    'He could have if he'd wanted to! I'm as good with a sword as he is! Anything would have been better than leaving me here. He's not coming back, dragon, I know it. The demons finally got him, and I wasn't there to help him ...' Julia pressed her face against the dragon's side, and let the tears come.
    The dragon lifted a wing and wrapped it gently round her, holding her close until the tears finally slowed and stopped.
    'You're tired,' he said softly. 'Why don't you go back to your room and rest?'
    'I don't want to go back to my room,' Julia said to the dragon's side. 'I'm afraid of the dark. Of the demons.'
    'Then stay here with me. Sleep. You'll be safe here, I promise you.'
    'Thank you,' said Julia, so quietly only a dragon could have heard her. She settled herself against his side, riding his slow breathing, and soon she was asleep.
    'Humans,' said the dragon, affectionately. He lowered his great head on to his tail, and waited patiently, watchfully, for the night to pass.

Chapter 5
    THE DARK TOWER
    Deep in the Darkwood, in the hidden heart of the unending night, there lay a clearing. Far above, the inward-leaning trees bowed down to darkness, mingling and intertwining their gnarled, misshapen branches until the bower was safely protected from the light of day. Phosphorescent lichens spotted the tree trunks, spreading a dull, eerie, blue light. Fungi and oily mosses