The Curse Beyond the Horizon

There weren't always dragons in the valley, before them there were eggs, and before them was mating season. Countless dragons; male and female looking for that special dragon to make a family with among a sea of endless bachelors and bachelorettes in the multiple thunders. One of the eggs, would soon be one of three protagonists, a little runt with the light scales of its mother and the stubbornness but playfulness from its father.

It slowly, but surely emerged from its baby blue egg and stretched its tiny wings as it let out a yawn, instead of being greeted by warm smiles and hugs from its parents, it saw the scaly, towering backs of them with the colossal, majestic wings stretched out a massive threat came hurling down.

The little dragon was shook to its core that terrible day, but now it lived with a boy who lost an arm and both of his parents as well. He wore a prosthetic arm made out of melted metal and sturdy wood; though even with it, he couldn’t really pick things up with it. He had his late father’s scabbard and sword strapped around his back. He wore his late mother’s armor proudly.

“We needn’t dwell on the past, Ella,” He told his faithful dragon companion, who was clinging to his wooden shoulder, “we need to find the princess and remove the cursed item from her possession.” He was oblivious to Ella, who was observing the skulls and bones in the sandy valley with its baby blue hued eyes. It let out a soft, solemn growl before laying its white chin on his artificial arm.

Her adoptive father, Brian, had his hazel eyes filled with determination and focus as they continued to walk through the valley. Ella’s ears perked up in alert and looked around when it heard someone break a rib of a fallen dragon. Brian reached for the bronze hilt of his late father’s sword as he stopped his stroll and turned to face the approaching footsteps. Beads of sweat began to string downward on his face; ready to roll down his face to break apart.

There the duo saw a hooded figure with a bow and pack of arrows; the bow was clearly loved like the hooded cloak since both were equally worn out. Despite this, the bow was still pretty sturdy. The purple hues in the hooded figure’s cloth was fading and starting to become a more grayish purple in color. The hooded figure sat on their black Clydesdale who proudly wore its reins and saddle. Its dark gray eyes stared at Brian and Ella as if it were silently judging how skinny they looked.

The hooded figure got off their steed and gently petted its muzzle before drawing an arrow themselves; ready to defend after Brian drew out his sword. “Are you an ally…or are you…?” Brian began to ask. “A foe?” The hooded figure finished the question as the two stared at each other ready to fight. The two circled each other with weapons still at the ready. There was a silence at first, Brian’s eyes shifted shakily as he waited for an answer. The hooded figure noticed Ella and sneered with envy in the shadows of their hood.

“You have a dragon?!” They suddenly exclaimed causing Brian to jolt in surprise and lose his composure and focus. The hooded figure removed their hood revealing to be a girl with medium length black hair as opposed to Brian’s short length black hair. Her hair was tied back by some old rope to create a ponytail. Her complexion was tan compared to Brian’s fair complexion. Her eyes were green like two emeralds polished. She then observed Ella in awe. “Wow, what a handsome dragon!” She continued to admire Brian’s dragon companion much to his perplexity. “Uh, Ella’s a girl.” He attempted to correct the zealous archer.

This caused the latter to snicker and snort at Brian’s comment. “It’s a male, you goof,” She insisted, “notice his slightly muscular arms.” She then pulled out a journal and flipped through the pages and showed a sketch of a male dragon next to a female dragon sketch. These sketches only raised more questions for Brian who was slowly becoming skeptical. “If you’ve never seen a dragon before, how do you have these sketches and a whole journal dedicated to them?” He asked with his eyebrows knitting to become furrowed. “That’s the thing,” The archer said sheepishly, “it’s not mine; I found it with William here.” She said as she patted William who nickered in agreement.

Brian had no choice but to agree with her and after analyzing the journal for himself; it indeed looked older than the four of them. He then returned the journal to the archer. “Well, me and Ella would love to stay around longer, but we need to leave; we are on a quest to find the princess to—.” Brian began to say to the archer. “Save her from the highest tower?” The archer chortled sarcastically. “No, we have to find this cursed item in her possession and remove it.” The archer’s green eyes lit in excitement and intrigue. “Ooo! Fun! Take me and William with you, please! Please! Please!” She exclaimed. Brian stopped in his tracks and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I rather travel with just Ella,” Brian insisted stubbornly, “I needn’t an overzealous dragon fanatic and her horse on this already tedious journey.” He concluded with a sneer. The archer furrowed her eyebrows and let out a heavy sigh. She then held out the journal with an insistence gleam shimmering in her eyes. “At least take this with you,” she begged, “please.” Brian looked at her and noticed the big puppy dog eyes and quivering lower lip. Brian let out a defeated sigh. “Very well,” he said softly, “I suppose I could do that for you.” With that reluctantly said, Brian took the journal from the pleading archer and rubbed its ancient cover with his thumb. The two said their goodbyes as tears rolled down the archer as her and William took their leave.

Ella snorted in disappointment before nudging his adoptive father.

“We can no longer delay, Ella,” Brian reminded the disappointed dragon, “we need to press forward and save the princess.” They then started to head off in the opposite direction of the archer and her handsome Clydesdale. As the duo continued on their journey, the weather was not at all kind to them. It threw harsh winds and rapid raindrops that acted like spears when they hit their bodies. When there wasn’t any heavy rainstorms, there were harsher snowstorms and nearly gave the two of them frostbite right there and then. Miraculously, they found a cave to rest the snowy night in. A stubborn Brian tried to start a fire without his dragon’s help.

Ella was after all still sour about Brian’s decision of refusing the archer joining them in their journey. Brian looked up after creating a crackling and warm flame. “Don’t give me that look,” He said with a tired sneer, “we need to this alone, just the two of us.” Ella turned away from Brian to look at the blizzard outside the cave. Brian sighed and leaned on the ground to open the journal with one hand. “Looks like we just need to climb up from here.” He said to Ella who continued to keep his attention on the windy blizzard as Brian closed the journal with his prosthetic hand.

As the two slept later that same night, the guilt that Brian concealed began to gnaw at his insides; causing him to squirm and stir in his sleep. He squirmed as if a swarm of ants were crawling on his skin and in his clothes. He kept squirming, until morning came and he woke up with dark bags under his eyes. Ella dropped a piece of meat into the fire; burning it in the process much to Brian’s disgust. “I should really consider renaming you, Ella,” He said through his disgusted expression, “after all, it’s a little strange to have a male dragon with a female name.” Ella snorted out some embers after pulling out the blackened, but cooked meat out of the fire. After they ate shared the blackened meat, Brian began to climb up the mountain that led to a worn out castle tower.

“Why couldn’t it be low to the ground?” He thought to himself in exhaustion, Ella simply flew to the top and waited for Brian there. While he waited, his ears flicked when he heard something crunching the white snow behind him. He turned around and beared his sharp teeth at an approaching figure armed with a crossbow and shot Ella when he attempted to tackle the huntress. Ella collapsed with his heart pierced and its blood staining the white snow. The huntress then made her way to the dragon’s dying body and hid it in a snow bank. With a smirk, she walked over to the edge of the cliff while wiping the dragon’s blood onto her chest and tearing up her clothes slightly.

She then made her way to the castle tower herself after reloading her crossbow. She then heard Brian pant as he finally reached the top. She then played her innocent card. “Oh my, you’ve traveled far to come and help the princess too?” She asked with a stereotypical damsel voice. “Spare me the theatrics,” Brian said with a scowl, “and get out of my way.” He then started to walk past her until the huntress aimed her crossbow at him then sadistically chuckled. “I don’t think so,” she taunted, “I will be the one to save her majesty, and you can’t stop me from doing so.” Brian only replied with an annoyed snarl and drew out his hand me down sword and charged at the huntress.

The huntress shot her arrows at Brian looking furious. “Why couldn’t you let me go with you!?” She exclaimed. “What are you talking about?! I never even met you!” Brian angrily argued back. The huntress knocked Brian’s sword out of his hand and swept kicked him to the ground; aiming an arrow to his forehead. While he was down, Brian kicked her in the shin making her miss her attended target by a literal hair. Brian sprang to his feet and kicked the huntress back while he landed on the ground below. The huntress staggered back and wiped off some blood, the two continued their fight; both growling like two dogs fighting over a lone bone.

The huntress aimed her final arrow at the side of Brian’s head while Brian tried to restrain her with his prosthetic hand. “Any last words?” She asked with a snarl. “Just two,” Brian replied, “heads up!” He said before knocking her out with his forehead causing her to use up her final arrow. Brian then headed off to the tower that awaited him up ahead. As he ran, he came to a halt when he noticed a “bleeding snow bank”. He looked back at the tower that was so close he could feel the warmth inside. Despite this, he went to the snow bank only to find his old companion dead much to his heartbreak.

“Oh Ella,” he said with his voice breaking, “I’m so sorry, I’ve been so stubborn and worked up over this whole quest, please…forgive me…” Although his tears didn’t heal or bring his companion back to life, a brilliant glow occurred from inside the castle’s tower and he went inside fixated by the radiant glow and overall baffled by his existence. He went up the stairs and found the source of the glow; he knew right away that this is what needed to destroy to help the princess. Through his tears, he broke the item and the glow faded away. Brian fell to his knees still crying over losing his only family left. As he cried, the former cursed princess made her way to her savior and dried his tears. “Dear knight, why do you come to me with these melancholic tears?” She asked softly.

“I just lost someone very close to me…I am sorry for crying in your presence, your majesty.” He managed to say through his tears. The princess knelt down to his side and consoled him. “Well, seeing how you saved me,” she began to say, “perhaps I could grant you one wish, like bring back your family or something.” Brian looked up drying his tears with his fleshy hand and sniffled. “No, I couldn’t ask you to do that, your majesty,” he rejected sorrowfully, “after all, I’m sure they would want me to keep moving on.” That’s what Brian ended up doing after completing his quest, he found the archer and returned the journal.

From there, he apologized for his coldness toward her and the archer heard the sincerity in his voice, but saw melancholy clouding his eyes. She hugged him to comfort him; not bothering to ask the details of why he was so crestfallen. The two hugged each other for a while before breaking the hug. Brian then made his way back to his home to continue his life with a friend, but alone at home. Twenty years later of spending time together, Brian was happily married with the archer girl with a daughter they named Ella the Second, who was told the story behind her name; inspiring the girl to go on her own journey.