Lest There be Dragons

There weren’t always dragons in the valley.

There didn’t use to be much of anything in the valley, really. Still wasn’t. There was one small town, hardly noticeable, at the north end, after the valley proper. The freeway didn’t pass through or anywhere nearby. There wasn’t a single HoJo’s or Notel Motel within miles of Amfield, which at one time catered to miners and their entertainment, namely hookers, saloons, a barber, and a town jail when the fun got out of hand. The mines closed, the silver run out, and the town grew to accommodate outdoor enthusiasts; rock climbers and hikers in the summer, skiers and snowboarders in the winter for the lucky few who could find work in town. The rest of the residents had to travel eastward to Haven to work at the Nike factory. There was still a town jail in Amfield, but there was also a small courthouse, a city center which consisted of one building housing city records and licensing, and in the basement a morgue big enough to hold one body in its refrigerator until the county coroner could make it in to do an autopsy, but that didn’t happen very often. When it did, it was usually because someone got too close to the tree line while skiing or lost his grip on a ledge.

But that was up the hill, north of the valley. No one lived in the valley itself. Birds lived there, as did the usual critters; raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, and the occasional big cat driven down from the mountain when people invaded every fall to hunt, but no people - or dragons- for that matter. The valley was inviting, but the invitation was to look, not touch. Its bucolic beauty was deceiving. The valley’s green trees and ferns, brown underbrush and grass, and reeds and blackberry bushes were often drowned out during the rainy season, creating a mosquito-ridden swamp. There was almost always a rainy season in the Pacific Northwest, so no one bothered to even try to build there. Why would dragons choose that valley if the rest of the population didn’t?

*****

“…. Trying to buy himself a spot in heaven or something.” Carl salted his eggs and popped the yolk. He was talking about the sheriff again, who was busy campaigning. Carl couldn’t help but talk about the sheriff’s pandering to the religious crowd, especially since they had gone to high school together and Carl knew the sheriff was nothing but a hanger-on. “The politics in this town, I swear…”

“Like that Karen in that song?” Delta Ward walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She held her cup under the stream of coffee, not willing to wait for the machine to finish burping out the brew.

“You got up late. You’re going to be late for school.”

Delta rolled her eyes at her mother. Late was one of her biggest potential sins. Late and lazy. “I’ll get there in time, Mom. I always do.”

“Wait. Back up. What did you say? What song?” Carl stopped eating, fork poised halfway to his mouth. His bite of egg slid off the fork and plopped into his lap.

“That oldies song. It was from one of those bands. Maybe the Beatles.”

Eleanor Rigby, Lucy, Lovely Rita, Michelle…. there were no Beatles songs with anyone named Karen. “What Karen? Which song?” Carl waited.

“That one where the lady goes to the store and tries to buy golden stairs to heaven, but the store’s closed and she calls the manager or something.”

Carl sat frozen.  

“What?” Delta asked. “You asked.”

“Do you mean Stairway to Heaven? Led Zeppelin? Are you messing with me?”

“Am I wrong? That’s what the song’s about, right?” Delta hid her face behind her coffee cup, eyes innocent.

“She does have a point, Carl. Think about it.” Cindy winked at her daughter. The best thing about Carl was he’d believe anything. The worst thing was his mullet. “Speaking of messing around, I meant to tell you both that the sheriff said there were Dragons in the valley, and until we know more, it’s probably best to stay clear.”

Delta stared at her mother. The worst thing about her mother was she could lie with no tells at all. “Now who’s messing with who?”

“Whom. ‘Now who’s messing with whom’, not who. And I’m not messing with you either way. You’ll see for yourself, I’m sure.”

*****

It was the last week of the school year. Delta and her friends walked to school slowly, not worried about getting to class on time. Everyone knew the grades were already in, and the teachers were more relaxed about the rules this time of year, anyway. Unfortunately, talk the entire way to school was about the Dragons. It seemed like everyone had already heard about them, and while it was recent news to Delta, her friends all had details to add.

Dragons were also the main topic of conversation at Lemming High that day. In soc class, the teacher had Wiki’d factoids—as he called them—and pictures. He displayed them on his big screen and lectured the students as if he was an expert. The takeaway was that Dragons were dangerous and best observed behind the safety of a monitor, such as his.

Lunch was no different. Delta was tired of all the talk, and she really didn’t care, anyway. What was the big deal? Del was sitting in the cafeteria with Annie, her best friend. The two girls had grown up together, as had nearly everyone in town. Not too many people moved there. Javin was the exception. He had moved to Amfield when he was in the 3rd grade. This was their senior year of high school, and he was still considered the new kid.

“You guys act like you’ve never seen a Dragon before.” Javin had moved to the town from Los Angeles and felt that everything in Amfield was inferior. The schools in LA were better, their teams more talented, their roads better paved. He even claimed their air was cleaner. Clearly, his memories of his early childhood were a little skewed. He took the seat next to Annie. “They’re actually pretty cool.”

“God, Javin. This is so old. You all are better, faster, taller, smarter, everything-er than we are. Maybe you should just move back there.” Delta stood up and loomed over Javin. At 5’ 5”, she could loom only when the loomee was sitting down. “Where’s Tweedle Dee?” It was rare to see Javin without Keiran. The two did just about everything together. Keiran had been the new kid until Javin had shown up in class.

“Wait. That makes me Tweedle Dum?” Delta raised her eyebrows and cocked her head.

Javin scoffed and, nodded toward the cafeteria line and pointed at Keiran. “He’s over there.” Javin looked like the school jock, short dark hair trimmed neatly, shorts and starter shirts no matter the season. He looked like he could pick up a Volkswagen by himself, and in fact, actually tried once. The principal had not been amused. Keiran, on the other hand, was tall, but lanky. His hair, while also dark, was long, rather than trimmed close. He was constantly having to stop and move his hair out of his eyes.

“Are you trying to say you’ve seen Dragons before, Javin?” This was Annie. She not so secretly had a crush on Javin. Everyone knew it, but no one said anything about it, least of all the pair.

“A couple of times, going through town.” Delta rolled her eyes again.

“They don’t belong here.” That was Annie again. Her father was the sheriff, and she, out of all the group, was a stickler for rules. “My dad said they think the land is theirs. There’s nothing anyone can do about it until they’re proven wrong. He said we’d just have to wait until something happens one way or another.”

How could the land belong to them? No one lived out there. There was no real house or anything. That was city property, no? Delta tried to wrap her head around the news. The valley had always been her go-to place. She spent most of her summers wandering around, imaging scenarios where fairies and leprechauns lived in the trees or trolls hid in the swamps. As she got older, the fairytales changed to daydreams more tangible, almost reachable. There was always an injured or lost man who instantly fell in love with her after she saved him from his deadly snake bite or from being trampled by a herd of wild boars. Herd? What was the collective noun for a group of wild boars? The valley was hers. She didn’t care what Annie’s dad said.

Abruptly, Delta stood, knocking her chair over, and stomped out of the cafeteria. Annie jumped up and followed.

*****

Later, on the walk home, it was Delta herself who brought the conversation back around to the Dragons.  “Javin, you said you’ve seen them before. What do they look like?”

“Uh, well, black and – “

“See for yourself.” Keiran had stopped walking and turned around. There was a distant roar, a deep rumble that got louder. Delta could feel it in her feet. In the distance, the sunlight caught the glint of sliver and gold, shining it back into their faces. Delta lifted her hand and shielded her eyes. The roaring intensified, simultaneously meshing into one growl while also individualizing. Delta turned and looked at her friends. Javin, Keiran, and Annie all stood with their hands over their ears, trying to drown out the noise. Delta looked back just as the first Dragon reached them.

One rider was alone in front of the formation, and the others followed in pairs, closely behind the leader. He was riding a low-slung, black motorcycle, red and orange flames painted on the tank. The bike had ape hanger handlebars. Delta recognized them from streaming old episodes of Sons of Anarchy. The rider himself was an older man wearing jeans and black leather chaps. He wore a black leather vest with a dragon insignia on the back. Across the top it read ‘Dragons MC’. Under the dragon patch it said ‘Everywhere’. The leather was well worn and pliable. The rider had longish gray hair and a full gray beard with a mustache. The riders that followed all dressed similarly, all with a leather vest and black leather boots, except the last rider, whose patch said ‘prospect’ along the bottom rocker.

It seemed to Delta that they were looking at her as they passed, but she knew they were probably looking at the kids standing around, covering their ears. The roar of the motorcycles faded as the formation disappeared around a bend, but Delta kept looking. She wanted to see more.

“That was so cool.” Keiran and Javin were chest-bumping and pumping their arms.

“Yeah.” Delta looked in the direction the biker gang had ridden from, then looked to where they had disappeared. She was hoping for a straggler. “Cool.”

“That was really loud.” Annie still had her hands cupped over her ears. She shook her long brown hair forward and smoothed it down to cover her ears. “My dad says you can tell by their vest that they’re outlaws.”

“How? How can you tell?” Delta whipped around. “Who says they’re outlaws?”

“Jeez, Del. Calm down. I don’t know how he knows. That's just what dad said.”

“I hope they are outlaws! We need something exciting in this town.” Keiran punched Javin in the arm. “Something besides Javin pranking the principal. Again.”

The rest of the walk home was in silence. The roar of the motorcycles seemed to echo in Delta’s ears, and she noticed Annie kept smoothing her hair down over her own, as if trying to muffle a sound that no longer existed. Keiran and Javin whispered most of the way back, and Delta looked after them when they suddenly announced they had other plans and broke off from the group, heading back towards town. Delta almost followed, sure they were going to find the Dragons in town, but a hand on her arm stopped her.

“We should stay away from them, Del. My dad says they do bad things to women.” They were at Annie’s house. She turned and walked up the drive and in her front door. Delta hesitated, looked back down the street, then turned and entered the house next door. She closed the door quietly behind her and went straight up to her room.

*****

Dinner was eaten standing at the counter. It was every man for himself night, and Delta chose a sandwich. She was almost done when her mother came in.

“I saw the Dragons today,” she said. She opened the fridge, bent, and started rifling through the contents. She opened a Tupperware container, sniffed, and tossed it in the sink.

“So did I.” Delta blushed. She turned towards the sink and finished her sandwich.

“You stay away from them, you hear me? Sheriff Reinhorn told me they’re one-percenters. That means they’re criminals. Just stay away.”

Delta went up to her room without answering.

*****

Delta was lying on the floor of her room, flipping through TikTok. There was no homework this close to summer break and she didn’t want to go downstairs and watch TV. TikTok kept showing her biker videos. The algorithm was scary.

“Watch this,” she told her phone as she tossed it on her bed, went to her bedroom door, and opened it long enough to yell, “Goodnight!” She waited a minute, closed the door, and tiptoed to the window. She grabbed a jacket, climbed out onto the porch roof, eased herself down, and ran across the yard, hunched over, until she was out of sight. She would take the back streets to the valley.

The walk was longer than she had expected. It was one thing to walk directly there through town in the middle of the day but sneaking through back streets in pitch dark took a bit longer. The night was thick, humid and dank. The moon was a mere sliver in the sky and the stars bright, but neither was enough to give comfort, much less light the way.

As Delta neared the last rise before the valley, she stopped to consider where the biker gang might be staying. She knew that valley, and she knew there were no structures solid enough to house a group of men. The only place she could think of was the old brick manor home from some long-dead property owner, probably the owner of the brothel or company store. Maybe even the owner of the mining company. The roof was long gone, having collapsed decades earlier, and none of the doors or windows were intact. It was fine for a little girl playing in the meadow on a hot sunny day, but definitely not much in the way of protection from mosquitoes or rain.

Delta followed the ridge to her left, staying out of sight from anyone on the valley floor. She could see in the distance, off to her left, a slight flicker of light, and moved towards it, staying behind shrubs and trees. As she got closer, the flickering light became the flame of a large campfire next to the old brick manor. Motorcycles were parked around the fire in an unorganized circle, with 2 bikes together, then 1 standing alone, then another 3. Delta could hear laughter and talking but couldn’t make out what was being said.

She crept closer, lower to the ground. She stopped at a vantage point that gave her an overall view of the campsite without fear of being heard or seen. She saw shadows back-lit from the fire as people walked past. Some were sitting in pairs, others by themselves. Someone was playing a guitar, quietly strumming. Every few minutes, someone would erupt in laughter, and others would join in. Delta wanted to join in, too. She wanted to belong. She almost stepped out, and actually shifted her position to move past the shrub she was hiding behind when she felt an arm snake around her waist and pull her back. She gasped instinctively, building up to let out a scream, but a hand pressed a cloth to her mouth. She couldn’t make a sound. She tried to donkey-kick behind her, felt her boot heel scrape down a shin, and heard a stifled grunt of pain.

“Stop!” a voice hissed into her ear. Delta immediately went limp. “You picked a bad night to come snooping.” Delta thrashed again, but the man holding her was strong, eerily strong, and she couldn’t move anything but her feet. He had her back pressed to his chest, his head tucked into her neck, and the arm holding the cloth to her mouth was hooked over her shoulder. Her head was turned to the right, and the pressure of the assaulter’s head kept it turned in that direction. She looked around, able to move only her eyes, and saw nothing that could help her. He was going to take her where he wanted, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Terrified now, she looked to see if the other bikers were coming toward her. They were acting as if she wasn’t even there, like she wasn’t about to die, like they hadn’t sent their guard or whatever he was to stop her spying. The laughter still rose and fell, and the soft voices kept talking. Even the guitar continued its languid campfire song. At one point, one of the biker shadows stopped and appeared to look in her direction. Delta could see his eyes brightly reflected from the campfire. Within a split second, though, he looked away.

The man’s arm tightened even more, dragging her back further into the trees and bushes. She tried to scream, tried to wiggle her way out, and tried to kick, but there was nothing she could do. The campfire receded, growing smaller as the man holding her moved faster and faster, away from the camp.

Just as the man was dragging Delta around a rock, cutting off her view of the valley, she heard the growl of a motorcycle start up. Another, then another also kicked over, and soon the howls of the engines overpowered all other senses. Even her abductor stopped and looked around in confusion. The engine noises grew louder and stronger. The kidnapper held Delta tighter, the cloth now so tight against her nose and mouth that it was suffocating her. She struggled harder, trying to break away so she could breathe, but the more she fought, the tighter he held on. The sound of the motorcycle engines came closer, and the darkness started moving in from the edges of her vision. She could hear her heart beating. It felt like it would explode from her chest. White stars burst into her field of vision. She heard a high-pitched whine and realized it was her attacker.

There was an explosion of light and heat. The growling was closer, almost on top of them. The growls grew stronger, and each time it got louder, the light got brighter. Just when Delta thought she was going to pass out, the pressure around her mouth and waist lifted. It didn’t fade, as if she had been let go. It felt more like the man had been pulled from her. She staggered backward with the pull, then fell to the ground, gasping for air. She still couldn’t see anything but bright light, but she couldn’t be bothered trying to look around. She felt as if she would never catch her breath. She rolled on the ground, grabbing her chest and digging her heels into the ground, trying to get a foothold on her life. Grating gasp after gasp finally filled her lungs and convinced her brain that she was not, after all, going to die at that moment.

Her vision cleared, and the muted sounds became crisp and clear again. She rolled to her other side, looking for her attacker. She turned just in time to see him being lifted in the air, screaming, each limb in the mouth of a different dragon. Dragons, not The Dragons. I’m hallucinating. Must be. The man was lifted 15 feet into the air before his joints gave up their hold, and he was ripped into pieces. The torso and head plopped to the ground. It sounded like a pumpkin being smashed open. Delta stared at the body, unable to move. A roar of excitement turned her attention up past the torso lying on the ground. She saw a dragon, black with iridescent green and purple scales, as tall as her two-story house, mouth open, ready to pounce on the morsel. In his excitement, his front claws kicked it away, and the body slid all the way to where Delta cowered on her side.

Delta couldn’t help but look. The body was smoking, singed by the fire released by the dragon as he pounced. Delta’s chest heaved in hiccoughing starts, trying to suck in air, but it felt like nothing could get in. Mouth open, ready to scream, all that came out was a high-pitched whine that echoed that of the man who, just moments before, had held her to his chest; the same man who was partially cooked, a meal for the dragon coming towards her. The dragon followed its morsel to where Delta was lying. It paused and stepped closer. It brought its face close to hers. She could feel hot breath on her face. It sniffed at her. She realized she could fit into its mouth with room to spare. Hot urine emptied from her bladder, and the whine turned into a scream. Now she would die, she was sure of it. Her vision darkened again, moving in from the edges as if someone had grabbed her from behind and was dragging her backward down a well. Just before her vision was completely lost, she saw the dragon shrink, compact itself, somehow fold its bulk into the frame of a man. She blinked hard and tried to stay focused. The naked man looked like the first rider in the group of motorcycles that had passed her on the street. Just before she lost consciousness, she heard, “Hey, guys? It’s her. Take your snack elsewhere.”

*****

There are dragons in the valley, she thought as she fell unconscious.