A Dragons Favor

I raced down the path marked 'dead mans cliff', if anything happened to her I would murder that man myself. A few miles down the path there terrain became rocky and it was clear that this area didn't recieve a lot of visitors. I stopped silvermane next to a tree with a fallen log beside it. Taking off her saddle I sat it upon the log, I wasn't sure how long it would take to get to dead man's cliff she may as well be comfortable. Silvermane started grazing on the long grass as I made my way along the boulders that littered the path to the cliffs. Soon enough the path became so rocky I was crawling across most of it, I then heard the sounds of a high pitched whinny. A horse way out here amongst all these boulders? As I climbed the biggest rock yet I saw her. Floras horse, Elaine, her white coat reflected the sun's rays making it difficult to focus my vision. She was stuck, her reins snagged on a log trapped on between two boulders. How on earth did Flora get her up here?? Walking towards the mare I held up both my hands and tried to calm her down.

" Easy there...whoa girl.. I'm here to help." I coaxed her softly. Soon I was close enough to snatch her reins, I pulled her head close caressing her neck softly.

"Let's try to get you out of here."

When I glanced down to get my footing I noticed a large cut on Elaine's foreleg, I would have to patch that up as soon as I could an infection could cause her death. We moved over all the boulder painstakingly slow, soon the path started becoming clearer we were getting close to where I left silvermane. As we approached the tree silvermane pranced over playfully, happy to see her old playmate. I grabbed my extra tunic from the bag I brought and tore off a few strips, soaking one strip in a nearby stream I started to clean the blood from Elaine's leg. Once the dried blood was cleaned I took the remaining strips and bandaged her leg the best I could. Taking her saddle from her back I noticed she had sores from her long journey, the princess could be so inconsiderate. Elaine and Silvermane took refuge in the shade of the large oak tree,

Heading out once more over the boulders I started to prep the scolding Flora would receive from me, you'd think a princess would at least show a little responsibility. I had again made my way to where I found Elaine, I looked around for any clues as to where the princess would've gone. Then I saw it, her trademark mess, the crust of the bread loaf she packed herself. Even out here all alone she expected others to clean up after her, I groaned as I made my way over mountains of jagged boulders. At this rate I would be stronger than the blacksmith when we returned. A large gust of wind met my face as I approached the edge of the cliffs, the breeze felt good against my sweaty brow. I pulled out my sheep stomach pouch that held my water and took a good long drink. There was a small path, barely large enough for a small child, that wound it's way under the cliffs. That had to be the way she went. Bracing myself I started down the path, I had to cling to the rocks that lined the cliffs and only my toes were able to stay on the path. My heart raced as I made my way down, one false move and I was a goner no wonder this was called dead man's cliff. I wondered how many people have died trying to travel this route. Making my way down the path I noticed it started to become wider, the path opened up into a large cavern. Resting in the shade the cavern offered. I heard it, a stifled sob.

Rubbing my hands together to rid them of the soreness they now possessed I calmly told myself,

"Its speech time."