Disclaimer: This story is written by Pippinslova aka Petra van der Ploeg. Nothing in this story may be copied or taken without the written approval of its writer.

Rating: PG

Plot: A story drenched in romance and fantasy... At least in my eyes! :cmon:


The curse of Dragon’s Lake
A short story by Petra van der Ploeg


As she walked across the icy lake, memories of what happened flooded her mind.
“It has only been a year and a half ago,” she whispered as she held a little bundle closer to her chest, “A year and a half ago, this was my home…”
The wind blew around her, causing her to shiver even though she was well dressed for the wintery season.
A soft jabbering made her smile and she looked down at the bundle in her arms.
“Do you remember, my dear baby Savannah?”
Two bright blue eyes gazed upon her and made the young mother smile with delight.
She walked further until she reached the middle of the lake where she held up her left hand, made a round figure with her slender fingers and then touched the middle of the round figure. A small cloud, not larger than the palm of her hand, appeared in the middle of the circle she had drawn in the sky.
The woman looked at the baby in her arms and smiled.
“Now, this will be our little secret okay?”
The little girl just looked up at her mother, entranced by the colouring the cloud gave her upon her face. The woman touched the pink cloud and within a flash, it
disappeared, leaving nothing of its presence behind except a mysteriously appeared warm and thick blanket which lay now on the icy floor before them.
“Here we can sit in warmth and I will tell you my story. This is very important Savannah. I will tell you this story on every one of your birthdays, so you will not forget what a miracle your presence is.”
As she sat down on the blanket, she unwrapped the little one and laid her down on the blanket.
“This will keep you warm,” she whispered and smiled as the baby looked up to her again, “Oh, time does fly doesn’t it?”
She took a deep breath, looked around and took in the surroundings.
“It’s still as beautiful as it was in the year 1600 B.C.,” she sighed and then looked down at her little one, “The year that you were conceived my darling.”
As she started telling the story that would be told only in legends in the future, her memories came back and she could still see everything happening right before her eyes…
“I was so in love with him. His name was Aeglironion, or Craig as you would call him in this day and age. He was wonderful. So alive, so sweet and so brave. We fell in love instantly. But of course, as you might understand, a Unicorn Princess like myself wasn’t allowed to fall in love with a Commoner. There was not an ounce of magic in him, but he brought enough magic in the love we shared. The only time we ever were truly together, was the early spring’s night that you were conceived my love.”
She sighed and remembered the look on his face as they had spent that night in a deserted barn.
“Times were hard. There wasn’t a lot of money and we barely got through every day life. My father was forced by Dûrion, to sign a paper that said I was to become his wife when I turned 21. Dûrion was the son of the Dragon King, a man so dark of heart, that anyone feared to be around him. A quality that was also traceable in his son.”
The young woman shivered, smiled down at the little girl and touched her cheek.
“You can imagine the anger Dûrion felt as he found out, my heart had already been given out to someone else. Aeglironion told me not to worry. He told me he would take me far away from our countries, so that we could be together. I would’ve followed him anywhere. But Dûrion found him before we could set our plans into action.”
She shook her head and a glinstering of a tear shone from her eyes.
“He let his men capture my love and imprison him for the rest of his life. I pleaded every day, I gave Dûrion my word that I would marry him and stay with him forever, but he declined with the words: ‘If I can’t have your heart, no one can.’ I could never give him my heart, as it was already another’s. He refused to believe this and told me to stop talking about my one and only. But I could not. I kept begging him to release Aeglironion. I kept asking him to save his life. Until one day, Dûrion had had enough. On a midsummer’s day, he took me down to this lake, which used to be the Dragon’s Lake. This was the lake, where dragons were born… Out of the fire in their mother’s bodies, they were born in here, where they would ease down, stay for three weeks, before they’d set off to explore the world. Only one week in the year during the hottest days of the year, the lake would be frozen like it is today. Only one week, and in that same week, Dûrion took me here. It’s still as beautiful as it was then…”
She looked around and sighed, remembering what happened decades ago.
“Dûrion forced me to forget about Aeglironion, and to marry him. But I could not and I told him why: I was carrying his child. I was carrying you. He could see in my eyes, that it was impossible for me to do what he asked and now with you in my belly, I wasn’t pure anymore. So he cursed me and changed me into a slender white tree, right in the middle of this lake. Right were we are sitting now.
Over the years people forgot the story about the missing Unicorn Princess. Over the years, all magic disappeared because all dragons were dying out. You see, dragons are the key to magic. When they are born, magic explodes all around them, bringing the earth in balance. The dragons needed the water of the lake for their young ones to be born, but Dûrion’s cold curse had set the lake into a permanent state of ice. No dragon could ever been born again in this lake, because such evil had taken place in it.
I knew there would only be one person who could set me free, but he would not appear as he was back then. I knew he would travel through many lives and mine would stand still until we met again…”
Lovingly, she took the baby up in her arms and smiled tenderly at her.
“I was glad you were with me, as I could swing my branches in the wind and cross them over you, to protect you from anyone who tried to do us harm. They came with axes, they came with saws, but never could they hurt us, since we were protected by magic. Dark magic, yes, but still, protected.”
“And then I came,” a voice from behind them said.
She turned around, smiled brightly at the sight of him and hugged him close as he stepped towards her. “And then you came,” she whispered, after which she softly kissed him on his lips, “The one I had been waiting for.”
She looked down at her baby and said: “This is Craig… Or Aeglironion, my dear Savannah, at least, he was many, many years ago.”
“I remember,” he whispered as he held her close and placed his lips onto his daughter’s forehead, “I remember everything. I can still feel our love before Dûrion took it from us. I think that is what led me to you. I graved for just one more of your delicate touches.”
“Your hand on me and I was set free… Three months pregnant, carrying your child.”
“Whatever force had driven Dûrion to his curse, our love is stronger than that. He forgot that I wouldn’t stop until I was with you again…”
The woman nodded and sighed.
“It was a midsummer’s day when they had asked me to remove the tree in the Icy Lake, and I accepted. But as I put my hand on you, memories flooded my mind and the magic of our once shared love flew through my veins again…”
“You remembered…”
He nodded and continued: “And then you changed. The tree disappeared, the ice started melting in the hot sun and I found you as we both sank through the broken ice.”
“The curse had been broken,” the woman whispered.
The little girl looked from her mother to her father and then giggled as only a young child could. It warmed their hearts and they were once reminded that one thing could never break in this world. Love.

The End

Oh,Iloved this! I gotcompletely sucked into this beautiful taleof yours, really,it was amazing!

:bow:

Hey sweetie,

I read this gem of yours yesterday but because I was at uni I could not reply to it.
So I have come back to it now that I am at home to give you a decent reply.

I really loved this story of yours.
The descriptions were very good and the lov story is very tragic.
I love the theme of; love conquers all and of course I adore the fantasy aspect in it.
This story also reminded me a bit of another story. The one about the swan princess. I think you know it..it sure has the elements of transformation and forbidden love in it.

Anyways I loved this and I think this story would be very suitable for a long fic to.

:hug:
Dana

Thanks guys! :hug: I'm so glad you liked it!!!
And Dana.. are you suggesting I'd take up yet another story in my list of stories-to-write? ;)

xxx
Petra