The Dragon Of Neverhollow

There weren't always dragons in the valley they all disappeared out of nowhere 20 years ago and they haven’t been seen since not until… Today.

I’m Khali princess of Neverhollow Valley, I’ve been obsessed with the dragons and why they left since I was little, my father the king has always warned me not to go searching for anything on the dragons cause they are dangerous… agreeing with him is the easiest thing to do since mother died mysteriously 20 years ago, I do ask my father how she died but he always says the same thing… she disappeared out of nowhere and her body was found later in the week by the waterfall it was the guards who found her but no one could figure out what had happened so they just blamed the dragons and then the dragons disappeared.

I always agree with my father, but something has never been right with the story he tells me of what happened to mother and the dragons. I’m always searching for clues when he’s not around or I’m in the valley looking around to see if I can find anything that would lead me to the dragons or what happened to my mother, the Valley and Waterfall are behind some mountains so when you step out of Neverhollow castle it takes about half an hour to get to those mountains from the kingdom.

The Valley is still apart of the kingdom tho no one but me visits it because it’s forbidden after what happened with my mother. No one knows I go there because I sneak out of the kingdom without any ever seeing me. Today is the day I’ll visit the Valley and hopefully figure out what happened all those years ago.

Pacing around my bedroom I think to myself “why does my father keep so many things a secret and why aren’t any of us allowed out of the kingdom I just want to know why? What’s so dangerous about the Valley that’s just beyond the kingdoms walls” I grab my carry bag and head out of my room, I bump into my father as I walk down the castle stairs towards the entrance.

“Khali where do you think you are going?,” he asks me with his arms crossed a scowl across his face. “I’m heading into the village to help some of our poor subjects.” I tell him with a smile across my face, he seems to have gotten angrier but the look on his face.

“Do you not know what day it is today Khali!?” He says raising his voice to the point it echoes throughout the entire castle. “Yes father, it’s is my twentieth birthday and tomorrow is the day of mothers death,” I say looking down at my boots… fathers looks at my feet and then back at me. “Visiting the people of kingdom? Hmm seems to me you are dressed for an adventure, but that would be hilarious… As no one is allowed outside kingdom walls the cost for someone to go against that is immediate banishment even for you,” my father says looking directly into my eyes, probably seeing if I my face shows any signs of worry from what he had just said. But I’ve taught myself to remain confident at any given moment. “Yes father, I know it is wrong for any to cross the kingdom gates but our guards who keep watch, I promise I am just visiting our people and I don’t want my good shoes to get messy,” I say walking past him towards the entrance.

“Okay. That is fine, be home before the birthday ball so you can get ready to grace everyone. Do not arrive at the ball in what you are wearing it would be an embarrassment,” he states as I step out into the kingdom. He and I look at each other for a second I nod yes to what he had just said and went on my way.

I walk towards the poorer villagers while my father stands at the castle entrance watching me to make sure I was doing as I said. After he sees I was telling the truth he walks back into the castle and closes the doors. I take the opportunity to sneak toward the kingdoms entrance, making sure no one can see me but I still need to distract the guards just outside the walls of the kingdom. So I grab a couple of rocks and throw them the opposite direction to where I will be going.

Both guards walk over to wear the sound came from and I quickly rush past them towards the mountains before they can see me. I get away every time surprisingly sometimes are harder to get out than others.

After walking for twenty minutes I finally see the Valley, just as I past through mountains I notice something in the distance. It looks like the shape of the dragon in the sky… But it can’t be dragons got banished 20 years ago. Well 20 years tomorrow “what is it” I think to myself as I step in to the Valley and can see it clearer, it is most definitely a dragon I can tell as it’s getting closer and closer to the ground.

“What are doing here!,” I ask angry, confused and somewhat scared that it may kill me as they did my mother. “My father banished you creatures after you killed my mother,” I say to it, it lands on the ground and walks towards me. I slowly start to walk backwards not knowing what’ll happen… But then it stops and says loud enough for me to hear. “Stop! We Dragons have never harmed anyone,” it says and I cross my arms and walk toward it.

“If that is true why did my father banish you all and how did my mother just die out of nowhere,” I question. Confused as to why a dragon has appeared out of nowhere and is claiming that no dragon has ever done any bad to humans.

“Your father. He does not speak the truth, trust me you must uncover what truely happened that day,” it tells me.

“What? How could that be my father is the king, he’s meant to be the most trusted out everyone in the kingdom why would he lie,” I ask. The dragon sighs and gestures me to walk with him, so I do follow along side him anxious to know what really happened that day.

“I was not there that day but my mother and father were and I’ve been here living in a cave up in the mountains since that day… my father and my mother never came back and I have been here ever since not knowing where to go,” the dragon tells me his story of what he remembered from that day, he was a young dragon at that point a dragon that needed to be cared for but his mother and father weren’t around anymore and no one knows why.

After talking for hours by the waterfall with the dragon I realise I had been gone for hours and hours… my father will be furious the ball would have already started and I needed to sneak back into the kingdom.