12 Four Reasons

  The next three weeks merged in Sara’s mind. Between learning new things and working harder than she had ever before, the days flew by. Despite the work and the learning, Sara spent her day off exploring the valley and found that the rest of the valley was the same as what she had already discovered. Her resentment at being kidnapped never fully waned, but she began to appreciate the work that others had to do, now that she had to do it.

  At first, she resented some of the work she was called on to do, but seeing David do it with a smile made her question her attitude. One day, she asked him about it.

  “This is hard work, don’t you resent doing it?” Sara asked as they weeded the garden.

  David smiled, “Yes, and if I am honest, I do not like weeding a garden. It is difficult considering the size of my hands and the size of the weeds. However, the work needs to be done, and I try to remember that I should be grateful I am able to do the work.”

  “But you're big enough to make others do this.”

  “Yes, and I am, but you are not able to do the work for yourself, so I help. Besides, right now my job is to teach you, and the best way to do that is by example.”

  “So, once I learn to do this fast enough, you won’t help.” Sara was sure that she knew how to weed, so she guessed that it must be that she wasn’t fast enough, which caused him to help.

  “Correct, but then I will find something else important to do. The worst thing I could do is sit around and do nothing. My job,” David paused and looked up to the sky for a minute as if waiting to hear something, but finally he looked at Sara and said, “My job is to make life better not just for myself but for others, as is yours, Sari.”

  David went back to looking at the ground and pulling weeds. Sara just stared for a minute, considering what he said. Finally, after a minute, David looked up and said, “Sari, if you want a better diet, I suggest getting busy with the garden. Besides, I like a good vegetable soup.”

  Sara pushed the thoughts of being useful aside to try and find a possible ally, “You could make my life better if you let me escape.”

  David laughed, which caused Sara to turn red.

  “It isn’t funny. I am going to be queen, and I could do a lot more good there than here weeding this garden.” Sara said, throwing a weed she had just pulled at the feet of the giant.

  “You think so?”

  “Yes!”

  “So let us pretend,” the giant stuck one large finger towards the sky, “First, if I helped you escape, Draco would not be happy.” The giant held up a second finger, “Neither of us could hide from Draco forever. Especially, if you became queen.”

  “I have an army,” Sara said.

  “You think an army will stop a dragon?” David shook his head.

  Sara sighed, seeing in her mind an army roasted from the sky by the flames of a dragon.

  A third finger went up, and David said, “You are assuming that we could get back to your castle without dying or being killed. There are a lot of bad people out there.” The giant leaned forward and pushed his finger against Sara, causing her to fall over. “Can you defend yourself? I might be big, but I could only fight so many people.”

  Sara pulled herself up to her knees and looked again at the giant. She didn’t like this, but David was correct, again. She had never fought anyone and wouldn’t know how to defend herself.

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  Sara looked at David and had an idea. Seeing David ready to hold up another finger, she interrupted, “Could you teach me?”

  “Is that not what I am doing?” David said, waving across the farm.

  “Yes, but could you teach me to defend myself?”

  David looked at her, and then, to Sara’s terror, a rumble came from the cave as if in answer to her question. Sara sat, expecting Draco to come out and attack because he overheard their conversation.

  After a minute, there was no sign of an angry dragon coming out of the cave, Sara looked back at David and saw something she didn’t expect: a smile.

  “Yes, of course, I will, but I will have to do it on your day off,” David said with a smile still on his face. “It will be hard. I do not know what you are expecting, but this will be harder than what we are doing now. Are you willing to do the training?”

  “YES! Of course I will.”

  As if he knew the answer to the next question, David shook his head and laughed then asked, “Without complaining?”

  Sara started to say yes, but paused, causing the giant to laugh all the harder.

  “I’ll try not to complain,” Sara said, knowing that she probably would, but then frowned at the giant, not pleased that he would find her discomfort funny. David was still smiling, laughter shining from his eyes.

  Sara, wanting to change the subject, asked, “There was a fourth reason.”

  At that question, David stood up and began to walk away. “I have got something else that needs to be done. Finish up here, and one of us will tell you what to do next.” David took another step, finally, after a pause, gave his final reason, “You are not ready.”

  Sara stared at the back of the giant, who began to run towards the trees on the opposite side of the valley.

  “Not ready,” Sara wondered what that meant, but then looked at the work the rest of the garden needed and sighed. She went back to it as the weeding was going to take her most of the day, especially since David had left.

  As Sara worked, she thought about her conversation with David. What surprised her the most in this situation was the appreciation that she felt toward David. He did expect her to work hard, but never more than she was able to. He was always willing to answer reasonable questions. More than once, he stood between her and Draco. What surprised her was that he didn’t always stand in the way. Today was going to be one of those days.

  It was the end of Fifth Day, and if David kept his word, and she was sure he would, then the giant would teach her how to defend herself tomorrow.

  This was the beginning of her second month in captivity. She was tired and just stood after weeding the garden. David had been helping by showing her what to weed and how to thin out the growing plants, then left. David was back but had not dismissed her for the day. Sara assumed he was getting ready to, so she started walking toward what she was thinking of as her house. The picture of her taking a bath filled her mind when Draco came out of the cave and growled. Sara recognized the tone of the growl and knew that the dragon wanted her to get him something to eat.

  Instead of turning and facing the dragon, Sara clenched her teeth and kept walking. “You can get your own bird,” Sara whispered.

  The next thing Sara knew was that she had been knocked on her back by the tail of the dragon. The breath knocked out of her, and as she tried to get it back, the face of the dragon loomed right over the top of her. The smell, like that of burnt wood, flowed over her, causing her to cough. Sara tried to move, but Draco’s presence held her in place. She did manage to turn her head and saw David standing nearby doing nothing.

  Sara finally managed to cough out, “Yes, khhk, Sir, khkhkh, I will get it.”

  The dragon pulled back his head, and Sara rolled to her feet, just staring at David. She gritted her teeth and began walking towards the chicken coup. Five minutes later, Draco was fed and back in his cave. In that time, David hadn’t moved a step.

  Sara walked over to David and glared at him. When he didn’t say anything, Sara blurted out, “Why didn’t you defend me?”

  “Were you really hurt?”

  Sara realized that she hadn’t been. She was scared when Draco stood over her, but she wasn’t hurt. As far as she was concerned, that wasn’t the point, so she explained; “But he just knocked me over like he was my master or something.”

  “But he is.”

  “That doesn’t give him the right.”

  “So, what would you do with a servant in Rishona who refused to do their job?”

  Sara turned and began to walk away. This was another conversation she didn’t want to have. She stopped and turned toward David and asked, “Am I done for the day?”

  David smiled just a little, “I was going to have us do a little more, but since you had to do something for the king of this valley, I will let you go for the rest of the day.”

  Sara turned a stomped off. She mumbled, “What makes him king?”

  Sara didn’t say it softly enough because David answered, “The same thing that gives your lords the right to rule.”

  Sara really didn’t want to have this conversation, but as she walked away, part of her mind was examining how the conversation could have gone. She shook her head and moved a little quicker, but it wasn’t until she went to sleep that she finally put the question out of her mind.