The Peasant Queen

"There weren't always dragons in the valley. Once there was no war and no death. Once the inhabitants lived in harmony with the natural order, giving more than they took, and taking only what they needed. They lived under the watchful eye of Mount Kokomo, the smoking giant that rose skyward at the northern end of the valley, whose ashes gave them fertile lands that never failed to bare, fruit-heavy orchards, cedar forests so thick that the air was inundated with the sweet scent of sap, and the healing water from springs high in the mountain. Despite their richness of resources, the people of the valley lived in poverty under the rule of their king's greed. Royal soldiers came to the valley and collected their goods as tax, leaving them with little to live on. The summer that Kokomo mountain heaved its last breath marked the arrival of the first dragon- goddess, Nathifa."

A dozen of wide, curious eyes gazed at her in anticipation, hanging on to the storyteller's every breath.

"And what happened next, Morowa Leefa?"

"Oh, you know what happens next," Leefa responds casually.

A cacophony of little voices squealed in protest, exclaiming, "but we want to hear you tell it, Morowa Leefa."

“Alright,” she said gently earning a gleeful silence from her audience.

“In summer the dragon goddess Nathifa, the first Morowa was a girl of no more than sixteen harvests. She was smart, an apothecary apprentice. Her eyes were large, brown as fertile soil, and flecked with gold like amber stone. She kept her thick cottony hair in two braids that hung down over her ebony shoulders as is our tradition.

The arrival of Nathifa created waves of fear and interest in the palace. The great beast had made its home in the depths of smoky Kokomo mountain and everyone knew that dragons kept a hoard of incomparable wealth. Now the King began to show a keen interest in Kokomo valley, watch towers were built to keep an eye on the Kokomo mountain in which the dragon had settled. Soldiers came, bringing violence and illness down upon the villagers. The illness spread rapidly.

________

Like every morning that summer, Morowa pulled a strip of fabric to protect her lungs from the air outside and then stood at the entrance of her family home. She wondered if this was the last time she would see her parents alive. Most of the elders in her village had been in similar conditions which meant the only thing she could do was get to work on treating the ill. There were other things to worry about, of course, but Morowa could only push them to the back of her mind. Things looming over her like the thin layer of ash that covered the ground and dirtied the air; the rumors of a dragon living deep in the caverns of Kokomo mountain; the abuse and theft the village suffered at the hands of royal soldiers— it was all dwarfed by the urgency of saving her people from the vice-like grip of this new disease.

Madam Alfa’s cabin sat deep within the cedars, a sign of hope at the end of a beaten path. The journey was now dark and ominous beneath the ash-overcast sky. An outpost along the way housed royal soldiers who were assigned dragon watch. Unfortunately, they were only good for drinking themselves useless and harassing those who passed. Morowa was glad when the cabin came into view, its inviting presence offering respite from the eerie silence around her.

“Greetings, Madam Alfa,” she called upon seeing the hunched woman stirring a bubbling pot sat in a clay oven.

Madam Alfa hummed absently and waved a hand for her to sit. Morowa had never lost her childhood fascination with the wrinkled healer’s ability to boil up a cure for almost any ailment one could acquire. Wall after wall of shelves bowed under the weight of yellowed tomes full of herbal treatments and medicines and the ceiling was a canopy of plants and fungi hung to dry. Madam Alfa shuffles a bowl of steaming liquid to Morowa and tips her hand up, signaling that she should drink.

“What is it, Madam? Is it to prevent the ash from causing a cough,” Morowa asked even as she tipped the steaming liquid to her lips obediently. Madam Alfa narrowed her eyes as if making sure the girl didn’t miss a single drop.

“It’s breakfast,” she said gruffly after she was satisfied that Morowa was drinking properly. “I know you did not have any before leaving home this morning.”

Morowa’s eyes dropped to the soup, cheeks warming at her own transparency in the presence of her master’s wisdom.

“Eat, we have much to discuss.”

Morowa obeys but her attention is drawn to the volumes stacked upon tables, chairs, and the floor throughout the room. She had never seen such disarray in Madam Alfa’s presence, a hotwire of anxiety shot through her at the implications. This is what one see’s when hope dwindles, when all prayers have been prayed, and the best treatments bare no returns. Morowa felt her eyes begin to burn and she placed her empty bowl by her feet on the floor. There was so much that she wanted to ask but couldn’t form the appropriate question in her mind. Thankfully the swing of the cabin door drew her attention. Madam Alfa hums at its occupant and places a bowl of soup on a stack of books.

“Mmm, Khee, eat.”

Morowa stands, looking at Madam Alfa’s grandaughter with desperate eyes, seeking answers. She was only born a few harvests before Morowa but their differences are stark. Khee bares broad shoulders and ducks when entering through the door. Dozens of braids fall below her ears, colored with an earth-red balm the same color as her skin. Khee heaves a basket, heavy with herbs and roots, from her back to the floor. A string of fresh hare pelts follow. She has no gift for healing like her grandmother or Morowa but can name herbs by touch, locate medicinal roots just by checking the soil's moisture, and she can hunt on moonless nights— only needing the whisper of paws on the forest floor to have her arrow greet her prey. Yet, Morowa noted, this woman of strength and courage would not look her in the eye.

Each moment felt like an eternity as they waited for Khee to finish her morning meal. Madam Alfa and Khee were both women of few words so when the time came for Madam Alfa to share the withheld information, Madam Alfa was succinct.

“Our treatments are failing, Morowa.” Her teacher gave her an unwavering stare and repeated the grim truth, “Our treatments will continue to fail.”

Morowa opened her mouth to protest but was silenced by Madam Alfa’s raised hand.

“Last night I scoured this library in its entirety.” She added, “there are no sensible solutions.”

Morowa wanted to protest, to stand and demand that the search be done again, to do anything but accept defeat. Madam Alfa stood and moved slowly to her desk, beckoning Morowa to follow her. Open, upon her desk, was a text so ancient the language was indecipherable to Morowa. The pages were curling, the ink had faded to a yellowish hue, and the script sparked a sense of nostalgia within her while simultaneously being vastly different from anything she had seen before.

“I came across an entry about Draconic healing; it's rumored that medicinals cured from dragon scale would eliminate even the most relentless of diseases.

“But I thought it was all just a rumor created by the soldiers to scare us,” Morowa replied, never taking her eyes off of the pages in front of her.

“The signs spell dragon, I’ve kept a watch of my own.” Khee’s voice nearly startled Morowa, sounding much closer than where she remembered her sitting before.

“You can scout dragons,” Morowa asked in surprise.

“Not scouting, just watching for things that are connected to dragon behavior.”

Morowa didn’t know if the dragon scale would heal their people of the disease afflicting her village but she thought that dragons being magical beings that live for thousands of years had to count for something. Only the Gods could create a being of that magnitude.

“I will leave in the morning,” she said resolutely, “I will cross the valley to the Kokomo mountain and I will sneak into the dragon's cave and I will bring back a dragon scale.”

“Do not be rash, girl, dragons are god-like beings. This journey could bring death upon, not just you, but our entire village. Once a dragon is angered there's little that can be done to pacify its wrath.”

“Then I won't be found out. I am skilled, I know how to remain unseen.”

“How would you? You are a child who can barely defend yourself,” Madam Alfa asks vehemently, standing taller than she had in years. “I would not have you leave here on such a deadly journey alone.”

Morowa quieted.

“I will go with you, Morowa, to the mountain,” Khee said. “I will follow your instruction as long as you make it clear what needs to be done. It will take many nights to reach Kokomo so I can be useful in setting camp.”

“If you insist, I will not reject your offer.”

“You are not permitted to leave until you have created a plan that I approve of. This is no mission of martyrdom,” Madam Alfa commanded.

“Yes, Madam Alfa.”

The day melted into night as Morowa and Khee prepared for their journey. The trip would be further than Morowa had ever traveled in her life and it was bound to come with dangers. Khee fell into logistics with ease, supplies, food, weapons, tools— everything was accounted for and it eased Morowa’s worries. When Morowa stood to return home Khee stood as well. Khee escorting her home after dark had become a habit for them. The sky was dark and hazy ever since Kokomo’s activity, sadly no stars could be seen through the dust. The duo arrived at the main road of their village and Khee turned back towards the woods pointing toward the sky.

“Do you see that?”

Morowa peered at the tree tops and noticed the darkened sky faded into a dusty rose towards the northern part of the sky.

“Yes.”

“That is a sign of a dragon,” Khee said, pausing for so long that Morowa assumed the conversation was over. “Dragons only travel and hunt at night— you can see the glow of their flame on the skyline when they do.”

“How much do you know about them,” Morowa asked, fascinated by Khee’s trove of knowledge. She watched her as she continued to look skyward.

“Dragons have always stirred something within my mind. I’ve done my share of research on them.”

Morowa gazed at the sky again, knowing that the deep pink light pulsating at the skyline would remain with her through the night, coloring the background of her dreams.

________

When the sun began to rise over the horizon, filling the sky with its hazy, muted rays, Morowa had already had a breakfast of roasted apples and tea. A gentle knock on the smooth cedar door moved her from her parents beside and when she stepped onto the path outside of her cabin she saw that Khee was waiting with their rabbit skin bags stuffed full of supplies.

“Morowa,” Khee began with hesitation, “are you sure about this journey?”

“What do you mean?”

“As Mother Alfa said last night, dragons are notoriously unforgiving of intruders. If you are caught you will not leave with your life. And its wrath may find its way back here.”

“I will not be found out.”

“I mean no offense, my question was not one about your skill, just an expression of my concern for your well-being and the village.”

A comfortable silence surrounded them in the cool morning air. The usual morning bird song was absent after the birds took flight after the eruption. With a palpable solemnity, they both gazed at their village, knowing that this could be the last time they would see these familiar cedar cabins and all of the people that were asleep within them.