Dessert

Her name was Dessert. She lived in a castle on the edge of a cliff overlooking a deep, golden sea. Thick grass grew all around and up the sides of her castle, claiming it by degrees. A rough stone path cut a jagged scar across the sea of undulating green, ending at a cottage on the edge of the forest. The forest stretched on for miles stopping at the knees of the Horned Mountains.

Dessert lived in the uppermost turret of her castle because it had the best views. Each morning she awoke, doused in a pot of honey gold rays that streamed in from the eastern window. In the evening, warm tendrils of pink and orange fire licked the walls and danced merrily with her around the room. Some days she would walk from one window to the other and run her finger along the ledge and think, "I am the luckiest girl in the world."

Unfortunately for Dessert, she didn't realize she was most definitely not the luckiest girl in the world. In fact, she was doomed from the moment her silly mother let her name drop like a sticky curse on her newborn daughters yellow curls. At that moment, a wicked dragon stirred from his thousand-year slumber at the sound of her name. Two days later he stole her away and imprisoned her in the castle by the sea.

Dessert's life was full of empty purpose. Every morning she walked down a hundred and twenty-seven steps to the back door leading to the stone path. She gathered flowers and mushrooms and herbs and placed them in a linen sling worn across her body. Her curls bounced jubilantly and butterflies played tag around her head as she made her way toward the cottage by the forest. By the time the sun reached its zenith, her sling was laden with goodies and she stood expectantly at the cottage door.

"I'm here!" Dessert trilled happily. She hoped this time she would be allowed to go inside the cottage.

"Drop the sling girl." A low gravely voice gave the same command it had for all the years of her life. Dessert untied the knot at her shoulder and let the sling drop on the stoop. the door opened a crack and a razor sharp talon flicked through and pulled the bundle in. Dessert had become accustomed to her strange life. Still, she shuddered at the sight of the claw. She turned away and moseyed back through the yard. Twilight shuffled in and she found herself once again at the door to her castle. it opened immediately and she ascended the hundred and twenty-seven steps to her room.

That night she dreamed for the first time. A young, beautiful girl soared high above the golden sea on an emerald throne atop a scarlet dragon. The dragon was hungry. It reared and bucked attempting to dislodge the girl and the throne. The girl laughed, and as she did, tiny diamonds dropped from her mouth onto the hide of the scarlet dragon. The dragon roared in pain while the diamonds burst into orange flames all along its back. The girl gathered the flames up in her arms and buried her face in their warmth. They smelled of cinnamon, and she inhaled deeply. The dragon roared in fury and thrashed its body more forcefully to throw the girl and her laughter off its back. It didn't realize, with all its thrashing, that it was headed for a cliff. The young girl pulled her head out of the fragrant flames just in time to see the danger.

With a jolt Dessert awoke, sweat trickled down her neck and she trembled. It was dark and she was afraid. Her heart pounded against her ribs, and from the corner of her eye she noticed a faint glow from the western window. She walked to the window, paused then stretched up on her tiptoes, wary of what she might see.
The cottage windows glowed amber and crimson against the backdrop of night. A figure, long and sinewy paced from one end of the lit room to the other. The figure stopped and grabbed something from the floor. Dessert watched in horror as the figure tossed a long-eared creature above its gaping maw full of razor sharp teeth, and gulped it down in one bite. Her had flew to her mouth and she stumbled away from the window, falling to the floor. With arms wrapped tightly around her knees she rocked her body and thought to herself, "My neighbor is not human."

Dessert watched the far wall grow from varying hues of gristle to a tawny gray. Dollops of light pooled around her body and warmed the room. Her head swam with images from the night and she didn't know how she could face her day. But she was compelled by habit, and moved through the motions she knew so well, finding herself once again at the bottom of the steps. With the sling knotted firmly at her shoulder, she reached a hand forward to push open the door. Her heart thrummed like the fervent beat of hummingbird's wings.

Suddenly, the door wrenched open, brutally ripped from its hinges. Dessert could not even muster a scream as a large claw gripped her around the middle and dragged her from the gaping hole. A red, crusty eye smoldered inches from her face, and in it she could see death. The dragon tossed her high above his head into the bright morning light. Laughter rippled out of his mouth and her body arced downward. His jaws clamped shut. He gulped. A ripped square of linen clung to one notched tooth. He sighed contentedly and murmured to no one in particular, "That was absolutely worth waiting sixteen years for." He smacked his lips and flew off to his mountain cave for another thousand years.