Dragon Slayer

“There weren't always dragons in the Valley, y’know…” Angren half-whispered into the dense evening air, not to anyone in particular. He sucked on his pipe noisily, the cherry embers of old tobacco glowing as he gazed out at the mountains surrounding the continent of Vakren.

“Yes, we know. Gods, do you ever tell a different story?” I barked, kneeling down in the dust-covered earth and grabbing one of the rabbit carcasses we’d hunted that day.

“Hmph,” he grunted and exhaled slowly, curls of grey pipe smoke weaving their way from his bearded mouth and dancing in front of the mist-thick clouds. I stood up and shuffled from one foot to another, slinging the rabbit over my shoulder and adjusting my pack, the straps were cutting into my skin now and my feet had begun to ache, not that I’d ever tell him that.

“You should have seen it though, Meya. Wildflowers scattered across the fields, the ewes were fat, we had honey every summer, real honey, y’know. You might have even worn a dress in those days. ” He let out a half-laugh and began to wheeze, spluttering on the acrid smoke.

“Meya in a dress, now there’s something I’d pay to see. No one cares about the damn flowers, Angren, shut up.” Kered glanced up from where he was now also kneeling down, busying himself with the rabbit carcasses, his dark hair caught in green eyes as he flashed a grin my way.

I forced my brows to furrow but looked down as a smile tugged at the corner of my lips, this was the usual order of things. Angren, all muscle and battle scars, bleating on about flowers while we tried to shut him up. I threw the rest of the rabbits over my shoulder, preparing for the descent back into the village from where we were up in the rocky mountains.

“There was more to life back then, y’know. More than killing dragons and scrabbling around in the dirt for something to eat,” Angren gestured at the carcasses as he spat, yellow and tobacco-stained, onto the ash-coated rock.

“Meya wouldn’t know, she’s never killed a dragon,” Kered teased in a sing-song voice, the man simply lived to antagonise me.

“Believe me, I’m ready for one of those beasts.” My fingers absent-mindedly brushed the hilt of my sword, I’d been training for that kill my whole life, I thirsted for it.

“Ah, she’s young. I didn’t kill my first until I was twenty one, she’ll get her chance,” Angren grunted.

Kered snapped back, “Time’s running out, only a few weeks until you’re twenty one.”

“Shut up,” The words spilled from my mouth before I could stop them, though I knew he would tease me more if he knew his jokes were getting to me. Though I was used to his jests, I felt a flare of anger rise up in me, this one stung a bit. It was true, it was our job to protect our village in any way we could, and everyone else had slain a dragon, except me. It’s not like I didn’t want to, those foul creatures had crawled out of the shadow when the continent of Vakren first fell into darkness and I couldn’t wait to feel my sword tearing into one, I just hadn’t been given the opportunity yet.

I followed Angren’s mournful gaze and looked out at the valley myself; most of the villages were now abandoned and razed to the ground, mere ash and dust from what used to be a bustling market town.

“Ah, you’re just kids. But it was dark days, let me tell you. First the crop began to fail, then we noticed a strange disease on the trees, that was when those foul things arrived from the far reaches of the world. In the beginning, it was only four-legged beasts and we hunted them well, but then the dragons came,” he swallowed and tapped his pipe on a boulder that sat next to us on the rocky outcrop and grey ash fell to the floor, joining the rest of the dust left by dragon fire and destruction.

“We saw it in the sky first, a peculiar shadow fell upon the village… the first dragon,” he spat. “We shot at it, wounded it, and it set the forests ablaze. Sheep turned to ash before our eyes and burnt bodies lay in the streets. It was dark days indeed, and the days that followed since haven’t been much brighter, we won’t have peace until we rid the land of those foul beasts… Pshh, you’re right. I’ll shut up.”

Kered and I shared a glance as Angren grabbed his pack off the floor and started on ahead of us, beginning the journey back down the mountain pass. Grey skies, that’s all it ever seemed to be anymore. The mountainsides that were once lush and green were now home to singed forests, charred bone and malformed, molten rock. We arrived at the village as the sun began to set over the hillside, bathing the leaden scenery in a sickly orange light. I imagined the glow of the first blaze that killed so many, destroyed so much, and although the night was warm, a shiver ran down my spine.

“Evening, folks. Was gettin’ worried when I didn’t see you come back ‘fore sunset. I’ve heard whisperings that a Silver Drake is about,” Callon, the blacksmith chattered away, setting his tools down for the night.

A Silver Drake. My heart thrummed in my chest as I remembered Angren telling me of these beasts, milky white scales, blood-red eyes, and able to unleash an inferno so deadly that they could obliterate anything in their path, whether stone, metal, or flesh. Silver Drakes were responsible for half of the bloody destruction in Vakren.

“There’s always damn whisperings, half of them amount to nothing, don’t believe everything you hear,” Angren huffed.

“I’m telling ya, folks seen it wandering in the wood, best to keep away,” Callon urged.

“If you say so, Cal. Night,” Kered threw a rabbit to the old man and he nodded in appreciation.

We set our weapons down by the door of our tiny home and busied ourselves with skinning and preparing the rabbits for a stew, putting the tasteless meal on to boil in a pot above the fireplace. Not many of us still had family alive after all the attacks, so we lived in haphazard villages and shared homes with one another made of what wood could be salvaged, prepared to move and rebuild at a moment’s notice.

We were Dragon Slayers by trade, I had just finished my training, and there were only three of us left alive to protect the village now. Angren was getting old, he had passed on his knowledge and it would soon be time for us to do the same to others who were willing. Kered often poked fun at me for being the only woman he’d ever known who wanted to fight back and do something about these wicked beasts, and I took the teasing because I knew I couldn’t be the only one out there in the world, it was just a matter of getting out of this dump and finding others.

The world wasn’t always like this, perhaps it could be like it once was, a place where things grow and darkness was confined only to those putrid corners of the world, it had to have come from somewhere, maybe it could go back there… I was dying to get out of Vakren and find a place that hadn’t tasted dragon fire, maybe see one of these flowers that Angren was always going about it, find people more like me… I was torn out from my daydream by an almighty bang at the door, causing me to splash the boiling stew on my lap and yelp from the scorching heat as I leapt up at the unwelcome intrusion.

“Who the hell is that?” Kered raised his eyebrow and looked over at the source of the sound, I shrugged and glanced over at Angren who frowned and made his way to the door.

Pulling the door open, a tiny figure stood doubled over, shaking uncontrollably. It was Alys from the village, a delicate little thing, but she’d always been kind to me. Angren pulled her into the house and sat her down on a wooden stool by the fire as her body was wracked with breathless sobs.

“Calm down Alys… what is going on?”

“Its taken him… its taken my boy… that beast!” she shook and wailed, her mousy hair a mess under her hood, looking like a waif of a thing between Angren’s thick muscled arms.

“Tell us what happened.” Angren spoke in a hushed voice.

“We were out behind the house, he was playing like he always does, I turned around and he was gone! I heard there’s a Silver Drake about, please… he’s only three years old!”

We glanced at each other and although I felt for her, I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes, old Callon was spreading dangerous rumours and getting all of the village in a fluster. It was almost impossible that a Silver Drake had taken the boy, but if it had, there was no way he was still alive. Angren looked into her doe eyes, pale blue and brimming with tears.

“We’ll search for him, Alys. Please just stay here inside the house, we’ll be back by sunrise,” she nodded and buried her face in her hands as he turned to face us. “Let’s start with the woods.”

Kered grabbed his sword, tying his belt around his waist and grabbing his cloak from where it hund next to the door as I followed suit and reached for my weapons. I looked at Alys and patted her on the shoulder as I left our home, offering the only thing I could think of.

“Feel free to eat the stew…”

I never was a good comforter.

We split up and agreed to search different areas of the charred woodland. What should have been fear turned to a bubbling excitement deep in the pit of my stomach, if there really was a Silver Drake in the woods, this was my chance to prove myself to everyone, to show them that I was capable of slaying a dragon.

Silently and with steely resolve, I made up my mind, I would be the one to find and kill the Silver Drake, if there even was such a thing around. The night air was calm now, and the moon and stars shone a pale milky light across the blackened earth. I darted between the wizened trees and moved at pace, the forest was a good size, and it would take me a few hours to get into its depths, but I was used to tracking and no stranger to being out in the woods for hours, so the time flew by as I searched between the trees for any sign of noise or movement. I was so focused on that dragon, looking for a flash of white, that I almost missed the child before me, wandering in the deep dark of the woods.

Alys’ little boy was plodding through the bushes ahead of me without a care in the world, babbling nonsense to the charred trees, the lad hadn’t even realised he was so far from home. I cursed under my breath and exhaled in relief, of course he hadn’t been taken by a damn dragon. Alys probably took her eye off him for far too long and he wandered off. I shook my head as I moved quietly towards him in the distance, not wanting to scare him on my approach, but as I stepped forwards my feet stopped abruptly and I stifled a gasp, he had walked into a bear’s nest. In the middle of the clearing, a bear cub rolled on its back among the dry grass.

Oh gods, its mother must be close by.

I scanned the area, squinting in the thick of darkness and pushed forwards towards the child, unsheathing my sword from its holster and grasping it firmly between both hands, on guard.

As I approached the clearing, the mother bear clambered out from between the blackened bushes, spotting the unwelcome visitor making his way excitedly towards her cub. My heart thundered in my chest and my breath quickened as I began to run now, watching in horror as she threw herself up on her back legs and let out an almighty roar. I was so close now, just a few metres away from the clearing, when a peculiar moon-shadow fell upon the earth, followed by a flash of white in the corner of my eye, causing me to freeze, as if fixed to the earth.

The bear stumbled back as the Silver Drake landed on the earth, causing the branches to tremble and a thud to echo throughout the forest. For a split second I had half a thought that it was smaller than I had imagined, now it stood before me and raised itself up at the bear who roared back in protection of her cub. With a sweep of its talons, it reached for Alys’ child, grasping him between its claws as he began to wail in confusion. It turned slowly to face the bear and let out a sound like nothing I’d never heard before. It was a deep, unearthly roar, stirring something deep inside me that felt like it had lain dormant for a long time. The bear yelped, grabbed its cub in its mouth and leapt into the bushes. Then the Silver Drake turned to face me.

Milk-white moonlight glinted off the silver of my sword as I raised it up towards the creature, attempting to hide my trembling arms as it stared back at me, my blade only inches away from its face. With shaking breath I stood before the beast, and my fear turned to wonder, I doubted if anyone had been this close to a Silver Drake before, and if they had, they wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale. Its scales were so white they were almost pearlescent in the starlight, gentle lilacs and pastel blue danced under the light of the waning moon. Its eyes were indeed red, a deep scarlet that bored into my very soul and made me feel weak at the knees. As I stood with the metal of my blade so close to the beast, I felt something shift within me. It stood before me now, able to obliterate me in a matter of seconds, tear out my innards, incinerate me where I stood, and yet, somehow it only looked sad. Its crimson eyes stared back at me and its long snout was soft, almost feminine looking.

I felt my life’s purpose fall out from under me as I gazed upon it, everything I had been taught and trained for swirled in my mind. With an ache in my chest I was hit with the dull realisation that I couldn’t kill the creature. My fingers slowly unfurled and I let my sword clang to the forest floor, staggering back a few steps. It reached out with its talon curled around the child who was now wailing and afraid, and placed him softly into my arms, where I held him tight as he buried his curl-covered head into my chest and sobbed. The Silver Drake bowed its head to me as I reached out with trembling hand, feeling sparks throughout my body at the electric that danced between us as my fingers made contact with its cool skin. It closed its eyes and let out a long, slow breath, then turned away and flew off silently into the night sky, leaving me standing, babe in arms, breathless, confused, and with a strange sense of heartbreak.