[Nell]: 226.Stories.The Fairytale.Part 4

Annabella sat there for a moment in stunned silence. She glanced at the backpack and was almost temped to sat; "Nice of her to drop by.", but somehow the situation called for a more distressed comment. Something like; "AAAAHHHH! MY SISTER'S BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A DRAGON!", though perhaps that was stating the obvious too much. No, she decided that the proper thing to say was; "…….", and that's just she did.
Now that she'd made up her mind about that, she was going to have to do something about the dragon. After all, she was the one to get Rimonda kidnapped.
But if she went home, she could get one of her older brothers to do it. They were big and strong, they could take care of it all so easily.
But the curse might just take care of them too, and she couldn't risk that. So she'd have to do it herself.
But she really didn't want to. She wasn't brave (or stupid) enough to go after a dragon alone, and besides, it was so much easier to lay here in the snow and try not to think about all those claws and teeth…
Suddenly she realized where she'd seen them before. Of course! That was the dragon that had carried off her second cousin two years ago! No, that one had been purple and the knight had killed it in a duel of wits. Hmmm, come on brain wake up…
Oh yeah! How could she have forgotten! It had been hauling that great, big, ugly pig around last spring! She'd heard about it from one of the people at the town square; apparently someone had been betting that hogs could fly, and using the dragon to make a tidy profit. It had been quite a sensation.
But then she realized that couldn't be it. She hadn't seen that dragon, or the other one either, for that matter. The only time she'd ever seen a dragon was when…
'The Evil Oun!' Annabella sat up. 'That monster! He's kidnapped my sister, and now I'll have to meet him in two days or else that dragon will use her as a chew toy!'
This thought made Annabella so mad that she got to work right away. She strapped on the extra pair of snowshoes that Rimonda had though to bring with her, and picked up the backpack. Well, maybe picked up the backpack isn't the right word to describe the way she had to wrestle that thing onto her back, then wrestled herself off the ground after falling over a numerous times.
"After being on twenty-one adventures, she would be the one to know everything to pack, and how to find me! How did she find me anyway?" Annabella asked the snowy white forest.
The forest said; "……."
"You don't know either, eh?" Annabella grumbled and began following Rimonda's tracks back to the path (it would only occur to her later that this might have been how her sister had found her), and then continued down towards the town.
She didn't want to enter the town of course; she didn't want to cause them ill. Besides, the citizens probably wouldn't let her in unless they had a death wish. She would give Zichak a wide berth until she came to the road. Then she'd follow it in the same direction the Eveal Oun had gone. Sooner of later she'd catch him coming back the other way.
Quite proud of herself for coming up with this pure, stroke-of-genius plan (in other words, it had come right off the top of her head), she quickly nicked round the town and headed off down the road.
Three foot-weary hours later, the plan was beginning to loose some of its glory.
The terrain was difficult enough for a girl of noble birth who'd never been out of sight of her own home before last night, without the mountainous pack on her shoulders. It towered above her head, the weight sending her stumbling back and forth across the road so much that she was going sideways more often than forwards. She was tired, cold, hungry, and now immensely sore too! What had the girl put in that backpack anyways?
Stopping in her tracks (which caused her to fall on her rump, again) she suddenly realized how stupid she had been. Dragging the pack to the side of the road, she began digging through its contents.
There was rope, matches, blankets, clothes, a rolled up bundle that looked like it might be a tent, a sleeping bag, mat, first aid kit, and enough food for at least three days; just some of the things she found in the gargantuan pack.
Annabella smacked herself on the forehead. She could camp right here and wait for Mister Evil One to come to her! No more walking!
That thought became her mantra, and then her prayer, as she tried to set up camp. By mid afternoon, she still couldn't start a fire and the tent was lying in a knotted lump to one side. So she tore at some beef jerky and a bruised apple, and found some warmer clothes to put on. Lucky she and Rimonda were about the same height!
'Rimonda,' Annabella sighed sadly to herself. 'I wonder what horrible things he's doing to you now. I'm so sorry I got you into this mess. I hate having to be the responsible older sister, I wish that I could be the younger one and put it all off as not knowing any better. Which I didn't, but I can’t use that as a proper excuse. Now I've got to save you when I can't even take care of myself! What a disaster. I really, really hope you're not being eaten by the dragon right now, 'cause I'd be very upset about that. Understatement of the year!'
Actually, Rimonda was doing fine, and was currently having afternoon tea with the Eveal Oun, and the dragon, but of course Annabella didn't know that. Just like she didn't know that bunch of snow trolls were sneaking up on her 'camp' until it was too late.
She was struck soundly over the head with a heavy piece of wood, and everything went from white to black.