Kathy

We’ve been walking all day. We’re very close to the light now. I can’t actually see the tunnel exit – it’s hidden round the last few bends. But the glow from outside is overwhelming. The heat too. The light is constant – day and night, it seems, are things of the past. We’re going to stop here. We’re both too tired to face whatever’s out there. We’ll do that tomorrow. If there is such a thing any more.

We spoke a little to begin with, my new companion and me. She kept staring at me, as if she’d never seen a dragon before. I suppose she hadn’t. I broken the silence by telling her my name.

‘That’s quite a mouthful,’ she said. ‘I won’t even try to pronounce it. I’m Kathy.’

‘Is that a common faery name?’ I said. I didn’t tell her the name reminded of another, one I had almost forgotten.

‘I wouldn’t know. I’m a human being.’ And that settled it. She was no longer a faery to me but a woman. ‘Can I call you Mona?’ she added.

‘If you like. Do you know how you got here?’

Kathy lowered her soft brow in what I took to be a frown. Human expressions are sometimes hard to read. ‘I was potholing. The ceiling came down and we got separated. I don’t know what happened to the others. I had no choice – I had to keep going. The tunnel opened up and that’s when I heard … well, you. I followed the sounds until suddenly I hit a slope, and my legs went from under me and … Mona, if you hadn’t rescued me I’d have dropped into that damn rift.’

‘Why were you in the tunnel to begin with?’

‘I told you – I was potholing.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘I explore caves for fun. It’s a hobby.’

I laughed. I don’t think she understood why. Humour doesn’t always translate.

Kathy clapped her hands together. The sound echoed off the tunnel walls. ‘So – d’you think that’s the way out?’ She pointed towards the light.

‘You seem very composed for someone who has narrowly avoided death, lain unconscious for a whole day and come face to face with what I imagine you must regard as a creature from myth.’

‘What can I say? I like extreme sports. Besides, it’s a fair bet this whole thing’s a dream.’

That’s when I saw it: the glint of hysteria in her very human eyes. She was in shock then. Stretched to snapping point, with only her inner strength holding her together. If ‘extreme sports’ means what I think it does, inner strength is something she’ll have plenty of. For her sake, I hope that’s true. If my hunch is right, we’ll both need all our strength before this is over.

‘I can’t fly,’ I said. ‘The passage is too narrow here. We’ll have to walk.’

‘Suits me,’ she said brightly. ‘After you, Mona.’

And so we set off, dragon and woman, walking side by side through a dank tunnel that sloped steadily upwards, towards a faintly orange light that never changed. We walked until we could walk no more, and now we rest. Kathy is asleep, her head resting on my tail. Soon I’ll be asleep too.

Tomorrow we’ll be out of this tunnel and back in the outside world. I think I know what’s happened now. The trouble is, that means I have no idea what we’ll find.