She helped pitch their tent every night with fewer and fewer fusses each time. After marching in her worn shoes all day, there was nothing she wanted to do more than wrap herself up in blankets on her side of the tent and fall into a deep slumber.

In a few days, the western ocean came into sight and Blutgang brought his army to rest on the sand. Once everyone was settled, Blutgang, Belmardina, Theodar, and a few other soldiers travelled a short distance to a nearby cave. The entrance was completely blocked by heavy rubble.

Belmardina sighed tiredly. “Alright. What’s the big secret? How can I remove these rocks as a two-inch dragon?”

Blutgang tapped his halberd against the stone. “Should be easy enough. You see, there were people here—humans, who we were helping here a few months ago. They were blasting the cave further within the tunnel to get to a gold vein. They did the explosive work and we moved the rubble for pay. Unfortunately, someone made a mistake and the cave fell in at the entrance.”

“Okay.” Belmardina shrugged. “I still don’t see what you want me to do.”

“Of course not!” He clapped a heavy claw to her back and she nearly fell over. “I haven’t told you yet. That’s just the history. Come closer, milady.” He moved her closer to the wall, “get on to your belly.”

Belmardina pushed away from him and stood back. “My dress is already ruined and you want me to ruin it more?”

“There’s gold in there, my little queen. If we can open the cave, you can have several new outfits.” He said, wrapped an arm behind her and moved her close to the wall of debris once more. “On to your belly, please.”

Belmardina had learned that while she was stubborn, her king was even more so in his own, stern way. So, she reluctantly got onto her belly before the cave’s blocked entrance and he joined her. “See that?” He pointed at a little opening in the collapsed borders, about two and a half inches wide.

“Alright, I see that if I transform, I can fit through there, but what then? It’s not like I could lift the boulders any easier from within.” She said, propping herself up on a hand, her face dour.

Blutgang propped himself up as well. “That’s half the work—getting in. I’ll show you the rest.” He gestured to Theodar, who handed him a mirror. Blutgang took it and held it so that sunlight hit the glass and echoed it into the blocked chamber. “Look again.”

Belmardina lowered herself to the ground once more and saw, about twelve feet within, kegs of powder partially buried by more rubble. “See the barrels?” He asked in her ear.

“Yes, I can see them… then, you want me to crawl in there and light those on fire?” She could hardly imagine herself doing such a thing.

“That’s the gist of it. It should be enough power to knock the teeth out of the mouth. The reason we never returned here before was that we couldn’t figure out how to light it from the outside. We tried lighting sticks and poking about in there, but the wicks are completely out of reach. It’s also very damp, and our fires only tended to make it halfway through.”

Belmardina sat up onto her knees. “I couldn’t possibly—I mean, why don’t you just… blast the rocks from the outside?”

“That would push the boulders further in.” He said simply. She was beginning to hate how simple and truthfully he put things—possibly because it was hard to argue her way around clean and clear language.

“Then…” she mused, “why not tunnel into the cave from under the sand?”

“The rocks go too deep. This is the only way.” He said. More simple language that annoyed her.

“I won’t do it!” She stood up and marched several yards away.

Blutgang stood as well. “Very well. You’ll have to earn a new wardrobe some other way.”

She felt her ruined dress hanging on her as the thought of new clothes passed through her mind. A little over a week ago she had been the duchess’ daughter; finely dressed, well-fed, the world at her feet. Now she was the bedraggled Queen Kraat—nothing to her name but the title. Maybe if she had a few new dresses she would feel better…after all, all she had to do was crawl into a cave and light a fire.

“Okay… okay…fine. I’ll do it. But…you’ll be nearby in case I get stuck?”

“I’ll be nearby, but there’s not much I can do if you get trapped. You’ll have to be careful.”

Belmardina gulped. She held her arms above, pressed her palms together, and felt wind travel through her body as she began to transform; the world got bigger about her as she became the smallest dragon known in all of Dru.

She crawled out of her dress which was now much too big, and looked up at the beaked faces standing over her. She was indeed, two inches long. Her coloring was red with darker red banded stripes along her body. Her head held two toothpick-like yellow horns and from her back came a pair of yellow wings. She expected her husband to laugh at her tiny form as Derek Stylez had done the night of her courting ball, but he did not move a centimeter.

He knelt next to her and gestured at the hole. “I’ll hold up the mirror to give you light. Once you’re ready to light the wick, tell me so we can all get clear.”

She nodded her pebble-sized head and slowly entered the crack in the wall. It was indeed very damp, and even though she was a two-inch dragon, the walls were still too close for her comfort. As she crawled through, her mind raced through all the outcomes that could kill her: she imagined ten-ton boulders falling on her, her fragile body getting caught in the explosion if she did not run fast enough, and the simple thought of getting wedged in the tunnel to die of starvation.

She hoped Blutgang would shout words of encouragement after her, but he was silent as the grave, and she could only hear the crashing of ocean waves nearby. She knew he was there, however, because he kept the light from the mirror steady.

At last, she made it to the powder kegs and climbed about them, searching desperately for a wick to light. As she climbed, she realized she was shaking from fear. She wished at that moment that she could run to her mother and hold her close, but even if the duchess was near, she had been cruel to her mother in recent years; no love could pass between them as it stood.

She paused to take a breath. When she opened her eyes, she saw a wick standing high and dry against a slab of grey rock. “I’m going to light the wick!” she yelled. She was afraid, but as scared as she was, she was even more afraid of staying in the dark a moment longer. She stole her way up to the wick, puffed her lungs a few times until the friction within created a burning in her chest. Quickly, she spat out a flame and the wick came to life with light.

She heard the pitter-patter of her clawed feet on the rocky floor as she ran for her life. As soon as she burst into the light of day, she felt herself swept up by clawed hands. In another moment she heard the roar of boulders waking from slumber and leaping into the air. She shook with fear within the safety of the closed fingers about her.

Finally, the fingers opened and she saw her husband’s beak above her, his green and yellow eyes as unreadable as always. She uncurled herself and looked for the cave—she saw it about thirty feet away, cleared of rubble. “You did well!” He shouted so that everyone could hear.

Kraat soldiers gathered about them, cheering. Belmardina slowly realized they were not just cheering; they were cheering for her. The chanting of “Queen Kraat, Queen Kraat!” rolled through the air like thunder. She swelled with pride and stood on her hind feet.

Blutgang looked down at her, and she was interested to see a look of surprise on his face. “What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing.” His expression changed quickly to a smile. He put her gently down onto the sand of the beach and she changed herself back into a human. In her excitement she had forgotten she was not wearing any clothes, but Blutgang was quick to fix her mistake, taking his turquoise-colored cape from his back and placing it over her body.

While the soldiers continued to cheer for their new queen, Theodar came to stand next to Blutgang, who watched his wife galivant about the crowd with a gentle smile on his face. “Was it just me, or did she grow nine or ten inches as a dragon before she turned back into a human?” He asked curiously.

“I saw it too.” He replied, as simple as ever.