Collin's Dragon

Collin’s Dragon

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley… until the day Collin fought back. It was a cold July day on the afternoon of his fourteenth birthday. He walked along the cobblestone path through the bustling marketplace at the centre of Iratus village with uncharacteristic aplomb. Collin proudly wore his newly sewn, bright green woolen tunic — a birthday gift from his mother — while cradling the intricate clockwork toy his grandfather had gifted to him in his left hand. His long brown trousers, cut an inch too long, hoping he’d grow into them as the year went by, dragged against the ground with every step.

All around him, the marketplace bristled with commerce. Burly merchants sat beside heavy oaken stands, announcing their wares to anyone in earshot. Except Collin. Most merchants stayed eerily quiet as he passed them by. No one wanted to risk scaring off potential customers.

Not that there was anything notably unpleasant about Collin, per se. Sure, he was scrawny, and had a few pimples here and there, but he kept himself clean and pleasant enough to look at. The only problem people had with Collin was his nightmares.

Nightmares plagued Collin for as long as he could remember. At first, they were nothing unusual for a young boy, monstrous dragons haunting his dreams through the night. But they didn’t stay in his dreams. Soon, his nightmares invaded his waking thoughts, manifesting in macabre hallucinations that drove him mad with fear.

Month after month the so-called “nightmares” increased in both intensity and frequency, his constant meltdowns became such a problem that the town’s alderwoman, Chantal Iratii, declared that the child must suffer from daemonic possession. Unwilling to associate with daemons, the villagers avoided him, well most of the villagers did, anyway. Encouraged by his mother, the young Jacob Iratii took it upon himself to lead the fight against evil by subjecting Collin to daily torment.

School days would begin with jeers. Daemon. Devil. Monster. The names became part of Collin’s daily life–evolving to become ever more inventive as the years went by. Despite the old childhood rhyme proclaiming that “names could never hurt me”, the constant ridicule triggered Collin’s hallucinogenic episodes, creating a kind of cruelty feedback loop. This became a daily game, with the children competing against each other to see who could send him screaming the fastest.

No one was better at the game than Jacob.

Jacob, having benefited from his mother’s example, was a natural leader. His charisma (as well as his family’s money) allowed him to assemble a gaggle of young boys and girls to assist him in Collin’s persecution. Together, the gaggle would circle around him, taunting him for hours, then burst out into laughter as visions overwhelmed him. Everyone except Jacob himself. Jacob simply stared balefully at Collin with disgust.

Nor were his teachers of much help. Collin’s episodes had caused so much disruption to their otherwise orderly lessons that most of them wished the child would succumb to the torment and never return. They never said this out loud, of course, but Collin could see it in their eyes as they turned a blind eye to his high-pitched pleas for help.

It was understandable then that as Collin strolled along the winding path through the marketplace, that his stomach cramped when he turned the corner to see Jacob and the gaggle huddled together playing at dice. His breathing sped up as he searched for a way past the boys without being seen. Only one option presented itself: Jackson’s bread stand.

Jackson was an oversized, pear-shaped man, with enormous hairy arms, a short ruddy nose, and a pair of silver trimmed spectacles hanging off his ears. Collin waited until another potential customer distracted him before making his move, slipping in behind his stand. The smell of freshly baked bread and yeast filled Collin’s nostrils as he stealthily crept along, keeping the stand between him and the gaggle.

“Oi!”, a brawny hand grabbed Collin’s tunic, yanking him back to the front of the stand. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Collin wrinkled his nose as the stench of day-old cigars and overcooked blood sausages assaulted his senses. “I… I was just…”

“Just what? Spit it out! What have you got to say for yourself? Thinking of helping yourself to a one of my splendid loafs of bread, perhaps? Well, I don’t think so! Run along now, can’t have you scaring away my customers. "

Jackson clenched an oversized hand around Collin’s neck and tossed him back onto the main path with a thud. One of the gaggle, surprised by the commotion, popped his head up from their game and pointed.

Collin pulled himself up and made ready to run off, but the gaggle, now aware of his location, mobilized with improbable efficiency. He soon found himself surrounded by smiling children, looking to transform him into their afternoon’s entertainment.

Jacob stepped out of the circle, sucked in the air around him and let loose a large green gob of spit onto the ground.

“Looks to me like the daemon added stealin’ to his list of sins. Didn’t ya parents teach ya any manners?”

“I… I wasn’t stealing anything!” Collin said.

“Aint what I heard. What about you boys? Didn’t ya’ll hear the baker accuse him of stealin’?”

“I did!”, one of the smaller children says.

Collin swivelled his head, hoping to catch Jackson’s attention so he could explain the situation, but Jackson was busy making a show of counting his wares.

“You ain’t callin’ Jackson a liar, are you?”

“Well, no… but…”

“Then you did steal something! I always knew you were a dirty thief! What’s that you got in your hand? Ya steal that too?”

Collin pushed the toy behind his back and shook his head. “I never! It’s a birthday gift from my grandad!”

“Yeah, like anyone in your family can afford something like that. Let me see it!”

“No! You’ll break it!”

“I ain’t gonna break it! I just wanna see it!”

Collin’s legs shook as he swivelled his head around the group, his darting eyes searching for a way out. His heart leapt when he found it–a small gap, just large enough to push his way through–right next to the mason’s son. He darted forward.

The wind rushed out of his lungs as Collin smashes chest first into the mason’s son’s oversized arm. An instant later, he is falling to the ground, his clockwork toy flying beside him. Pain shot through his arm as he slammed onto the cobblestone. His toy bounced off the road just out of reach, landing before Jacob's feet.

A terrible, maliciously toothy smile developed on Jacob’s face as he looked down at the toy. He gave Collin a look that sent a shiver down his spine, then raised his foot and slammed it down onto the toy.

“Won’t be needing that anymore, will ya daemon!”

Unbidden, tears blinded Collin’s eyes as he once again pulled himself up from the street. Seething, he turned to face Jacob and raised his fists.

“What’cha think you’re gonna do, daemon, fight me?” Jacob laughed.

Collin clenched his teeth. “Yeah.”

Silence fell upon the gaggle as they collectively held their breath.

“Well, what’cha waiting for? We both…”

A flurry of rage fuelled blows interrupted Jacob’s taunts. The first punch landed square on his nose, splashing blood down Collin’s tunic. Another followed, crashing into Jacob’s lower jaw, sending him reeling backwards.

Collin struggled to control his breathing as he squared off against Jacob, trying to decide what to do next.

Jacob wiped the blood off his nose and snarled.

“Ya know,” he growled, “my momma says I oughta kill daemons like you before you put the rest of us in danger. I’m thinkin’ it's about time I did the village a favour!”

Jacob screamed as he rushed towards Collin. Still in shock at his own outburst, Collin found himself unable to react, frozen in place as Jacob tackled him to the ground. The two rolled around, finishing with Jacob, pinning Collin beneath him.

“I’m gonna kill you, you daemon piece of shit!”

The first blow hammered into Collin’s jaw, dislodging one of his molars. Another blow landed as Collin ejected the loose molar from his mouth, pummelling into his left temple. Seizing the opportunity, the gaggle joined in on the fun, taking turns to deliver well-aimed blows to his ribs and stomach.

Jacob, unsatisfied by the progress being made by pulverizing Collin’s face, wrapped his hands around the young boy's neck and squeezed with everything he had. Collin’s vision turned red. He felt his head become lighter. He felt his consciousness drip away.

Moments later, Collin was sputtering out blood as Jacob's vice-grip on his throat relaxed. A dark shadow fell over the gaggle, whose eyes, as Collin became aware, were glued to the sky.

Jacob, the gaggle, and Collin covered their ears as a high-pitched roar echoed through the valley.

Collin turned his head to the sky.

Silhouetted against the sun was the largest creature Collin had ever seen… and yet it inspired a strange sense of familiarity. If asked to guess, Collin would estimate the creature's bat-like wings spanned half the size of the village. Its elongated neck ended at an oversized head, balanced by a long prehensile tail with a thickly spiked mace on the end. From his vantage point, Collin could barely perceive the creatures' four mighty claws, each one the length of a full grown man.

“D… dragon!” Jackson said as he pointed to the sky.

Hearing the creature named was enough to spur the villagers out of their stupor. Merchants abandoned their wares and sprinted off in every direction. A heavy stream of urine trickled down Jacob's pants, pooling inches from where Collin lay prone–the rest of the gaggle turned and ran towards their homes.

Light returned to the marketplace as the dragon swooped down towards the village, its wings forcing the air below it through the market with gale force speeds. It dived towards the villages council chambers–a simple stone longhouse with a thatched straw roof.

Another ear-splitting roar, this time accompanied by a hellish inferno emanating from the depths of the creature in a manner reminiscent of pictures Collin had once seen of a volcano. The council chambers never stood a chance. One moment they stood, the proud centre piece of the village government, the next all that remained were cinders.

Collin, surprised to discover he’d been holding his breath the entire time, let out a long sigh of relief as the creature pulled up out of its dive. Beside him, still paralyzed in fear, Jacob’s gaze fixated on the smoldering remains of the council chambers.

“We… we have to get out of here,” Collin said.

“No! I can’t leave her!”

“We’ll be killed!”

“I… I don’t care!”

Jacob’s legs sprung to life as he raced towards the council chambers. Collin remained still. The bruises the gaggle had inflicted on him burned with every movement.

The creature’s ascent reached its apogee. It released a rage filled howl, banked left, and lined itself up for another assault. Collin’s heart pounded as he realized its trajectory would take it right towards the marketplace.

A gust of wind knocked Collin to his knees as the dragon once again swooped down for the attack.

“Come and get me you… you bastard!”

Jacob stood at the centre of the road and shook his fist at the monster. Collin admired the young man’s bravery despite himself. Few would have the tenacity to defy a dragon.

His defiance was short-lived. The dragon screamed down to the market, knocking Jacob aside as if he were made of straw. Collin felt the ground tremble as the creature planted its feet on the cobblestone, its razor-sharp claws digging into the stone like butter. Jacob lay limp beside the creature’s right claw, too far away for Collin to determine if the boy was dead, or unconscious.

A cloud of sulphur and brimstone filled the air as the creature made several uncertain steps towards him. Collin took a tentative step back, wincing in pain with each movement. It was no use. Even struggling to keep its balance on the cobblestone terrain, the dragon was far too fast for him.

The dragon stretched out its neck and lowered its bulbous head, stopping with its nostril’s inches from Collin’s face. For a moment, the duo stood, frozen in time, staring each other down before the bread stand.

A puff of smoke blasted from the dragon's nostrils, breaking the spell. Collin’s eyes turned to saucers as the dragon opened its mouth, revealing row upon row of gleaming white, razor-sharp teeth. He looked down into the belly of the beast and felt a disconcerting realization wash over him.

He had seen this creature before. Every waking day of his life. This was the creature of his nightmares, and it had finally come to take him.

Collin closed his eyes, mumbled a prayer to the gods, and waited for the inevitable.