Dragon Blood

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. Hirea city had been the heart of the region. Our once bustling capital, now forsaken and desolate. Though it had been nearly a decade since dragon-fire scorched the earth of Hirea, every day since had felt like a waking nightmare.

The window of my small bedroom creaked as I opened it slowly, and I paused listening for footsteps outside my door. Good, Tosh didn't hear. I hate lying to my brother, so I try to avoid him in the mornings whenever possible. Five years my elder Tosheen was always acting as though I was a child, seemingly forgetting I would be turning eighteen in a few months.

Feeling as though it took forever to get the window open, I rushed at the last minute, my foot accidentally hitting the bookshelf beside my bed. I winced as I heard a loud crash, no time to waste now. I was incredibly grateful that we didn't have a second story. As soon as my feet hit the ground I ran, nearly tripping as I attempted to jump over the untamed hedge between my bedroom and the road.

“Hey! Where are you going? You know we have a door right?” Tosh leaned out the window, his thick eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

“Gonna be late! Bye!” I yelled as I hurried down the road and out of sight, glad I had taken the time to hide my hatchet in my bag and not anywhere Tosh could’ve seen it. Tosheen had been under the impression I was still attending a program at the local Academy of Science and Nature, a college I had dropped out of over a month ago. As soon as I was out of sight I dipped under the foliage hanging around dense trees and down the trail I’d traveled a million times, forged by my feet alone. Entering my Eden, a near-perfect circle of trees surrounded me and the tall grass shifted in the cool October air. Across the clearing from where I had entered, a quiet riverbank bubbled over wet stones. The only spot in Lyria where I truly felt safe from the eyes of the Court.

I had discovered the sanctuary when I was younger and adventurous, still holding hope there was a way out of Lyria, and believing I could get far away from the Court. Stupid child. I spent almost every day there teaching myself to fight. Useless tactics to try and distract from the crushing feeling of being trapped in a city with no future.

Tossing my bag down I quickly built a small fire close to the river’s edge to make my breakfast. I had always felt so at peace here in the brilliant green of the plants, a stark contrast to the dirty gray buildings of the city. I stared into the flames of the campfire, an all too familiar heat against my skin. Hearing the crackling of the cedar logs brought back painful memories of my childhood home crumbling to ash. Dark emerald scales reflected my terrified face as I stood barely seven years old and my city screamed as it burned to the ground.

The shrill whistle from the tea kettle alarmed me and brought my senses back to the present. Blue sky above and dark clouds on the horizon boasted a late afternoon storm, there was an uneasiness I couldn’t shake. Probably just due to Sacrifice.

Sacrifice was the worst part of the year, and today felt longer than most as all of Lyria waited for the announcement. Every one of the city's inhabitants held their breath as they waited for the poor soul to be named and ripped away for the Feeding. The Court had stepped into power shortly after the fall of Hirea, each year selecting a citizen at random as a sacrifice. Protection for the price of a life.

No one would fight against the decisions of the Court, after all “to fight against the Court is to fight against the people.” As it said on giant posters hung on nearly every building from here to Grand City. As if the endless stream of propaganda wasn't bad enough, the Court's guards were everywhere in the city…sure to put down anyone who disobeyed. I dreamt of a day when I could be free, Tosh and I living on our terms, safe from the reach of the Court, the thought so vibrant I could taste it. But as with most dreams, it is completely unattainable.

After finishing my tea, I put out the fire and started sharpening the blade of my hatchet, preparing to spend the next several hours working on throwing. I felt a tug on the small tight bun my short hair was twisted into, pulling me from my thoughts. I whipped my head to look, finding myself staring into the face of my long-time friend Bahrin. His expression was an annoyingly adorable grin. It had only been a few weeks since Bahrin had returned from living with his uncle in Charterec, four years spent to get him focused on eventually taking over the family business. It seemed as though the efforts had been in vain since he continued to goof off and chase girls rather than work.

“Whatcha up to?” He smiled, baring his slightly crooked teeth. Rin was charming, with his dusty blonde mop of curls, although keenly aware of his chiseled good looks. Much different than the awkward, spindly thirteen-year-old boy I remembered.

“What's it looks like?” I said sarcastically, gesturing at the scarecrows in front of me. I noticed his bow and quiver. “Looks like you came prepared.”

I hadn't been expecting Bahrin today, the only other person in the world who knew of my private domain. Bahrin turned and set a small bag of red apples down onto the ground, one tumbling out. He must have come straight from the orchard. I noticed that next to my bookbag lay my book of dragons. An illustrated bestiary, I studied it frequently, determined to know everything I could about the creatures. It must’ve fallen out when I grabbed my hatchet. The cover was black with scorch marks but still legible. I tried to be nonchalant as I walked over, using the heel of my boot to sweep it under the open flap of my bag, as he bent to retrieve the escaped fruit. The book is one of my most prized possessions. I used to think I would one day use the information in it to slay the creature that killed my parents and the life I could have had in Hirea…but it seemed hopeless now.

Clouds started to gather over our heads and a cool breeze picked up, tossing the fall leaves around as they rushed through. The hay bale I used as a rest made the air smell sweet.

“You’ve made some changes since last time.” He poked curiously at the portly middle of one of the four scarecrows I had set up as targets in my first weeks there. “You still haven’t told your brother about this place?”

“Hell no, he wouldn’t understand.” Shaking my head and preferring to focus on throwing my hatchet. I put some distance between my target and myself.

“You think he’d try to stop you?” Rin waited for me to answer, his blue eyes making a heat rise in my cheeks. Probably just annoyance at him for barging in.

“Maybe… What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have work today?” I let the hatchet fly and the scarecrow jiggled as the metal dug deep into the straw padding of its target. Bahrin sighed as he stepped closer to me and readied his bow, close enough I could feel the heat of his body, I couldn’t help but watch his muscles working through his tunic. Catching myself staring, I stepped back.

“Technically, but I’m not here to talk about myself.” He forced a smile and I pretended to gasp.

“For once?” I joked and he fained a laugh.

“Yeah, although now that you mention it, yesterday I meant to find you and talk your ears off about this stunning gal in Charterec. And I do mean stunning.” He winked, tossing an apple from hand to hand, then over his shoulder and catching it behind his back. Ever the entertainer. Bahrin continued, “Seriously, you’ve been so distant recently.”

“I’m surprised you noticed with all the ladies you’ve been romancing.” Just the thought of keeping up with that many relationships seemed exhausting to me. Rin made a face. He was right, I had been distant, I had devoted my whole life to learning how to fight and about dragons, only to face the facts. It was useless. My life would be determined by the Court. Left to work or breed until it was my name called for sacrifice. My only value was to benefit them.

Releasing an arrow from his grasp and it whistled through the air, making a satisfying thwip as it hit the target. Bullseye.

“I see your aim has improved.” I mocked, trying to lighten the mood.

“If only I could say the same about your jokes.”

I paused, unsure if I should tell him at all… but it’s Rin… I wanted so badly to feel the connection that had felt lost since his return from Charterec. Worth a try right?

“I just feel...” My breath caught for a second, he motioned me to get on with it.

“Nothing will ever change. I just wish I could do something to stop the Court. There has to be more to life than this.” I shrugged attempting to shake off the heaviness of the truth I spoke and retrieved my hatchet for another throw.

“You gotta look at the bright side, I mean it’s not all bad right? Food, shelter-“

“A never ending sense of dread. Abuse, control…”

Something moved in the trees by us, a flutter of movement and a blue jay flew out and away in search of food. A thought struck me unexpectedly. Jayko… I had been so young, I barely thought of him at all anymore.

“What if I find Jayko? He knew my family… he survived the attack on Hirea. He could have answers.” A friend of my father, Jayko had helped in the fight against the dragons, barely surviving. He had made it to Lyria just hours after Tosh and I, and spent months recovering before sneaking away in the dead of night. Guards of the Court were here the morning after.

“If I could get out and find Jayko, I could find out about my family, and maybe about how to get away from the Court forever.”

“That would be the stupidest thing you could do. You could get yourself killed. What would even be the point?” Bahrin’s frustration became more evident as he spoke.

“I’m not stupid. He was like family, he could help us get away from the Court.”

“Was he? He left you, Amira. He left you behind with the Court!”

My chest ached and I could feel a lump rising in my throat, preventing me from speaking.

“Let’s see what Tosh thinks of your master plan. You don't think he’d tell you the same?” He was right, Tosh would lose his mind if he knew I wanted to leave. Especially to find Jayko, a man that had abandoned us.

“Look you don't have to agree with me, just keep your mouth shut about it.” I sighed, irritated by Rin’s overreaction, and quickly grabbed my bookbag to storm off, trying not to let on how much his words stung. I stopped dead in my tracks, I had forgotten my book. I turned back and there he stood, thumbing the crisp black cover as he flipped through the book's dry pages.

“What the hell is this?” His words had a chill to them I had never heard from him before, and he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Give me that.” I grabbed at the book and he held it out of reach. Damn him for being so tall!

“Tell Tosh tonight about it all. The training, finding Jayko, the book. Tell him tonight or I will. Maybe he can talk some sense into you.”

Damn it! I couldn’t believe he was going to tattle like a child.

“I’m taking this. Call it insurance. Tell Tosh before you get us all killed for contraband.” He tucked the book tightly against his chest and charged out of the clearing. My eyes began to water against my will as I stood alone with all the horribleness. A moment that seemed to drag on for an eternity.

By the time I got home, Tosh was placing the final dish in the center of the table. I was greeted with the delectable smell of a roast, the moment I opened the front door to the large cabin Tosh and I shared with our adoptive uncle Rich. A kind widower, Rich had taken us in after Tosh and I arrived in Lyria, caring for two broken children the best way he knew how. Dinner was an important event every night, after all the terrible things we had gone through. A time to sit and relax and be together, an excuse to pretend as though our life is normal. The warmth and smell of the cabin nearly made me forget how mad I still was at Bahrin. Throwing a bomb in my life and trying to force me to tell my brother everything, stealing my book. I felt naked without it, I’d had the book since I was a child. Sneaking it out of the Court’s burn barrel had been no easy task.

“Amira! Good, I almost thought I’d have to go hunt you down.” Tosh said it like a joke but I knew he would do it. After losing everything Tosh had dealt with his trauma by trying to be a father figure to the extreme as if pretending it didn't exist would make it so. I dealt with my trauma in normal, healthy ways. Like sneaking around, lying, and learning to put a man in the dirt…okay so maybe not super healthy. Tosheen towered over the table, smiling as he carefully placed a pitcher of water in the center of the display. He looked very much like my father from what I could remember, an enormous man, who despite being kind could seem intimidating.

“I wouldn’t miss it even if I could.” I teased, making a face and he snickered.

“Yeah, you know better.” He joked back. Despite all the teasing, we did enjoy each other’s company. I took a seat at the table ready to dig in, I was starving after the day I’d had.

“Did you hear about the sword that went missing from Charterec? They’re saying it was stolen.”

His eyes were bright with excitement, things like that seldom happened in these parts, especially with a sword of that caliber.

“Oh, sorry I forgot to ask. How was school?” He was truly interested and I didn’t want to lie to Tosh but I couldn’t stand continuing at the academy. Being a tiny shack offering only a few programs on animal husbandry and selling yourself by working your life away, academy was certainly a stretch. Schooling had become extremely limited to ensure we stay domestic. It’s easy to control those who know no better. I shifted in my seat, and quickly piled food onto my plate, hoping my uncomfortableness would go unnoticed.

“It was good. How’s Raina?” I said her name in a sing-song tone and batted my eyelashes excessively. Raina was Tosheen’s girlfriend, and possibly the prettiest girl in Lyria. She was built like a goddess, with the face of an angel. I felt like a toad when I was around Raina.

“She’s really good.” A flash of a smile, and that was that. Tosh didn’t talk about himself much.

“I would be too if I looked like that.”

Tosh stuck his tongue out at me, and I returned the favor.

“How’s Bahrin?” Tosh said his name in the same sing-song tone, it sounded silly to hear from my brother's gruff voice. I felt my cheeks flush instantly, confident it was solely due to the fight Bahrin and I had. Or the ridiculousness of the picture across from me, a grown man who closely resembled a grizzly bear batting his lengthy eyelashes just as I had done.

“Why would I know or care?” My voice dripped with far more attitude than I’d intended. I dug into my steaming food, instantly regretting being so hasty to stuff my face as my mouth endured the piping hot temperature.

“Like you two aren’t joined at the hip.”

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head no. It was true, there had been a time when Bahrin and I had been inseparable. But since Rin had gotten back, things had been weird, like trying to force on a favorite shoe that no longer fit.

“What was that? I can't hear you?” I garbled past my food.

“It’s your mouth that’s full, not your ears. Unless your sudden hearing loss is caused by all the crap in your ears from having your head so far up your-“ he was cut off by the entrance of our uncle. The wide innocent smiles stretched across our faces quickly vanished when we saw Rich’s somber expression.

“What happened?” Tosh stood as Rich stared down at the food.

“The Court has moved up the sacrifice. They’re saying he had something… Amira…They took Bahrin.” Before the words were fully out in the room I was up and out the door. Large raindrops fell, sitting on the surface of the dry dirt and making the ground slick. The first real rain of fall, after an abnormally hot summer.

Calling for me to slow down, Tosheen was close behind me but he sounded far away. They must have found my book on Rin. I didn't stop running until I reached the city center. The evening was illuminated by the glow of torches as the entire town was crowded to watch. The guards dragged Bahrin from his home and away from his mother's grasp. Shouting and hollering for them to leave us alone the crowd shoved at each other but no one dared make a move at the guards. Two men held Bahrin tightly by the arms his hands secured behind his back, the toe of his boots dragging on the hard-packed gravel. His face was twisted in pain as the guards forced him onward. His boot caught on a piece of uneven ground and he stumbled as they neared the rusted jail coach. A shabby metal carriage reinforced just enough to keep the sacrifices from getting away if they tried. The loud thwack of the baton hitting the muscle and flesh of Bahrin’s back made me cringe and I lunged forward but felt someone grab me.

“Hey! Stop!” I yelled to be heard over the pouring rain and the frustrated voices, trying to pull away from Tosh but he held my arm tighter.

“Amira no!” He barked, fear heavy in his words but I didn’t care. It was my fault they had Bahrin. I had to do something. Ripping myself away, I rushed to Bahrin as one of the guards threw him against the wall of the cell holding him firmly and another opened the back.

“Amira get out of here!” He yelled when he saw me pushing my way through the crowd. I reached out close enough to touch him, and at the same time a guard pushed me sending me backward, another sent the baton down against Bahrin’s head and he collapsed. Tosh was by my side, helping me up as I watched with horror, a hollow pain filling my chest as anxiety latched onto my gut. It took two of the guards to throw Bahrin’s limp body into the back. I didn’t notice the muddy water and blood soaking my tunic sleeve at first, a minor but uncomfortable gouge from a rock where I’d landed. I was overwhelmed with hatred for the Court, the town for allowing this treatment for so many years, and at myself for keeping that stupid book.

The sounds faded until only the animalistic sobbing of Bahrin’s mother could be heard as his father held her tightly. One by one people disappeared back into their homes, to gradually slip back into compliance until it's their names or their loved ones. It was never going to stop. I watched as the carriage shook and wobbled, heading down the long road toward Grand City where the Court would prepare Bahrin for the Feeding.

I wouldn’t let it get that far.