Damsels and Dragons

Chapter 7 - People Who Care

We had followed my trail back to where I first got changed by that potion. All of my stuff was still where it had fallen.

Daniel picked up my shredded clothes. "What happened to these?"

"Uh well, after I-I transformed I tried to pick my stuff up, but…" I just looked at my big sharp claws.

"Ooooh yea that makes sense." He said.

Liv stopped him from taking a step forward. "Watch it, there's glass shards around."

"S-Sorry those were from the potions." I explained.

Millie walked over and inspected them with her gear. She used a tiny little thingy to pick up a tiny drop from a potion and dropped it into a potion of her own and swished it around. "Yea that was definitely a dispel magic potion. One was a simple healing potion, and the other was a regeneration potion."

Daniel was about to say something when Liv placed her hand over his mouth. She spoke, "So it does seem like the dragon trail ended here. Do you know which direction you were coming from before this?"

I looked at everything and thought about it. Raising a pointed claw, "That way… I think."

Liv checked and found my trail, apparently my foot prints were still in the dirt. "S-See I told you I was human, that was my foot print."

"Yea that’s a human foot print, but why were you barefoot?" Asked Daniel.

"I-I uh, didn't have shoes… I never went outside so Linda said I didn't need them." I explained embarrassed. They all had shoes and he made it sound like it was weird I didn't.

Liv lead us as we followed the trail. I hadn't been this way before so I ran into more trees making a very identifiable path. Eventually we came into the clearing with my home. The sheet rope I used to climb down was still there.

The usual guy asked, "Did you climb out a window? Why?"

That was an easy answer. "The door was locked. Linda locks it when she leaves to keep me safe."

None of them looked happy about that answer. "With the lock on the outside?" Millicent chimed in.

"Y-Yea that way the door wouldn't open for anyone but her. If no one else could get in or out then wolves, trolls, and tax collectors couldn't get me." When I finished saying that Dan fell over laughing.

Millie asked also laughing a little, "Why tax collectors?"

"Uh, well in a book I read there were these monsters called tax collectors and they took stuff from people to give to evil people. The hero took the stuff from the villain and gave it back to everyone while slaying the monster."

Olivia gave me a weird look, "You know tax collectors are people, right?"

"W-What?! There not people their monsters the book said so."

The other two were laughing hysterically. Millicent managed to stay standing but Daniel was rolling around on the ground. Liv tried to not laugh at me long enough to explain. "While some are bad people like bandits, they are still humans. Tax collecting is a job."

"B-But, that can't be right." This was all really confusing. The tax collector was a person the whole time? The book described it as big bloated and grotesque that’s how people described monsters usually.

"C-Can you guys not laugh at me." It was really starting to get to me and I was tearing up again.

"Sorry." Liv apologized. The other two also stopped laughing.

Thanks to the clearing around the tower I was able to stand at a proper height, on all fours of course. My head rose high enough to be between the second and third floor in height. I decided to stretch my wings which I couldn't do with all of the trees around. Moving them straight up the ends of my wings were taller than the five story tower.

Liv just looked up at me stretching my wings standing tall. "Wow Nissa you're a lot bigger than I thought. I didn't realize how much you were crouching down."

"Yea it's kind of terrifying- ouch what was that for?" Daniel said. Millicent had elbowed him in the ribs.

"S-Sorry." I crouched back down.

Liv spoke up, "Ignore him you look great standing up." She waited for me to stop crouching before she continued. "So I guess we'll take a look around your home if that's okay with you."

"Uh, sure it's not like I can go in anymore." I felt really bad saying that but it was true. Millicent can't fix me so I can never go in my home again. They all looked a bit sad too.

I watched as Millie walked up to the front door and just unlocked it. "She wasn't keeping people out, she was keeping you in."

I opened my mouth to protest but she had just opened it. What if a bandit had shown up? They could have just walked right in. "B-But why would she? She raised me." I curled up as I sat down. How could Linda do this, I thought she cared for me. I mean she told me I wasn't allowed to call her mom. I also wasn't allowed to say I love her either. She never hugged me, or anything the books said moms do for their kids.

There was one book I read about an evil witch who captures and enchants a princess. Is that it? Were they right and I was just a stupid monster kidnapped by a witch? I was crying, sobbing. I felt betrayed. She, she never even cared. I was just her prisoner.

I felt a feeling on my snout which I could smell was Liv. She was hugging me. I had never been hugged before. It was weird but not bad, it probably would have been nicer if I was still person sized. I don't know why but her hugging me made me cry more. She cared. Liv had helped me when I was dying, she came back with her friends to try and help me get back to normal. Now she was hugging me when I was sad. No one had ever done that before. I always got told boys don't cry and she said to be quiet.

A bit later I felt another person hug me. Daniel. I barely even knew him but he was hugging me too. A moment after, I heard a sigh and Millie hugged me as well. Why? I was a big stupid monster, but they cared. They cared about me.