There were not many sandy beaches on such a rocky island as Citadel was. Most of those were either hidden or hard to reach, nestled in the calm bays isolated from the incessant beating of the ocean waves. The Sleeping Dragon Bay was such a place, jagged rocks reaching almost a hundred paces into the sea, like a pair of arms, bending inward and leaving only a narrow passage, perhaps ten paces wide through which the sea flowed into the serene pool. Gentle waves caressed the rough sand of the beach protected from the raging sea by the almost cruel looking rocks that reached into the sea.
A narrow and twisting passage was the only way to reach the hidden cove from the island, the way barely wide enough to allow two men to walk side by side. It stretched for almost a hundred feet, the tall rocks overhead shutting most of the light away, only the noon sun having any chance of illuminating the cold and darkened passage. After the final bend rocks underfoot suddenly gave way to coarse, rough sand though the way was bared once more mere feet away from the passage’s end, by a huge smooth rock stretching the length of the beach. A single arch to the right was the only way to reach the sea beyond.
It was not until one reached the beach itself that the stone drew the attention to itself, the other side looking somewhat out of place due to its smooth surface, but did not have the gasp-drawing ability the sea bound side had. Shaped like a slumbering dragon the arch was revealed to be a passage under its mighty tail, its head resting upon a pair of clawed paws. Rough hewn, it was still detailed enough to arouse suspicion that it was either made by a hand of a man or that the legend of the Slumbering Dragon of Citadel was true. There were many versions of the tale, but all agreed in one thing. The dragon that slept after so many years had been a mount of a leader of men who had built the mighty fortress in the times long gone. Even though the legend was most likely just a fanciful tale the dragon still lay there, serene as the small bay it protected.
Valya was restless. This was not an irregular occurrence these days, seeing as her moodiness was ever present. She walked along the rocky shore, kicking stones, jumping over tide pools, and staring out at the waves with a generally sulky look on her narrow face. Ever since the beginning of summer she had felt a distressing frequency of extreme highs and lows.
Val looked around, realizing that she had wandered down the beach quite a bit farther than she ever had before. Even that inconsequential piece of trivia seemed to chaff her. Of course she was out here, walking around, doing nothing. It’s not like anyone was waiting around for her, waiting, longing to see her. It’s not like anyone was staring at a stupid blue chunk of rock every night thinking about her before falling into a thin, fractured sleep. Of course not. Only stupid teenage girls did that sort of thing.
She gave a random lump of rock a good solid whack with her boot and watched it bounce away and come to rest at the foot of a seemingly solid rock wall. Val walked over and knelt down, intent on picking the rock up and skipping it out into the ocean. She paused down on one knee, her skirt getting damp and sandy. She felt a cold breeze on her bare arms, much cooler than the air coming off the waves. Was it coming from a cave or something hidden away in this rocky face? She looked around, trying to locate a shadow or crevice that might indicate an opening in the rock.