The Queen of the Fire serpents

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. A time of peace and idyll existed before, but now the evil men, no, the monsters, who wielded these serpents of flame, destroyed the fabric of our lives.

I hid in the shrubs of the forest, a few yards away from the winding trail that was my daily path. My dark-green sari (length of fabric used to clothe women fastened by draping and knots), covered in mud, provided camouflage. "The strong-scented herbs I had harvested for the day should hide my own scent," I thought as I crouched under the dense shrubs covering me.

I could hear voices heading closer to where I lay hidden, and I held my breath as I tried to keep as still as possible. "I've heard that the trick to controlling the flames from Agni's mouth is to use the dragon bullhook to pull back the mouth while tugging on the spiked reins to direct the aim of the dragon flames," said one of the voices. "Only fools with weak souls need such tools to try and control the beasts and their flames. You don't need anything to control a dragon if you can use your soul to bind its spirit." said a deep and hypnotic voice.

Something about that voice made me want to see its owner. I was so mesmerized by that voice that it almost took a minute for the words to sink in. A human could control a dragon by binding their soul to its spirit??? I remembered the legends and old warriors' tales of dark magic and blood magic used by the dragon riders to control the beasts. I had also heard gruesome stories of animal and human sacrifices used to give riders control over the dragons. "Was it this dark magic that he referred to when talking about binding a dragon's spirit?" I wondered as I stayed still, trying to remain pressed to the ground and listen to that voice. "Come now! Normal people can't bind their souls to the dragons, can they? Isn't it only possible for the bloodline of the Royal Darshana family to bind their souls to the dragons?" said another man's voice. " Ye of flame and sinew, either beast or man but as one will you act." said the magnetic voice of the first man. As I strained to hear more of the deep timbre of his voice, everything fell silent.

I tried to listen for the voice, the sound of footfalls coming closer or moving away from where I was hiding, but I heard nothing. Everything around me seemed touched by an odd stillness; I could no longer hear the rustling of the birds in the trees or the creatures on the forest floor. "Have they sensed my presence? How??" I wondered. A few minutes passed. "Did they see me, or are they distracted by something else? What's happening?" I thought.

I resisted the urge to lift my head to look around and tried to press my whole body closer to the earth. The smell of damp mud filled my nostrils while I remained motionless for an eternity, but I still didn't hear anything.

When I could no longer resist the urge to move and look up, I decided I would try to make my escape. My heart thudding in my chest, I slowly lifted my head up to look around and found myself staring into a face. It was an arresting face, dark-skinned with a stubbly beard, a long sharp nose, broad cheekbones with a strong jawline, and a high forehead. However, the most arresting feature of his face was his jet-black eyes rimmed with reddish amber-yellow, like glowing embers under his thick black brows. As my heart froze in shock and fear, I saw his burning eyes widen and his mouth retract into half a grin and half a smirk. "Gotcha," said his deep hypnotic voice, and I felt two pairs of hands grab my arms and legs and start tying them up with jute rope.

"No," I thought. "No, this isn't happening…..this cannot be happening!" I thought as I struggled against the alien hands while trying to reach the small sickle tucked into the folds of my sari at the waist. However, the dark man with the hypnotic voice saw my hands trying to get my concealed weapon and quickly grabbed my hands with one of his while using his other hand to grab my waist. I felt the brush of his warm fingers on my hip as he quickly felt through the folds of my sari and found the sickle I used to collect my herbs tucked into the waist knot of my garment. He looked at my sickle with amusement and tossed it to the other man. The other man seemed younger, more like a teenager, clothed in a black veshti ( a few feet of woven fabric draped and knotted as clothing) looped between his legs. The deep-voiced man with the amber eyes finally stood up, and I could see that he was tall, wiry, and well-muscled with long thick wavy hair tied into a knot. He was also clothed in a black veshti looped between his muscled legs. "Make sure her limbs are tightly tied up and secure…. we don't want her to escape." he said to the younger man." I wonder how much she heard," he mumbled to himself. He stepped out to scan the surrounding area, returned to where I lay hog-tied, and stuffed a rag into my mouth to stop me from making a sound. He lifted me with ease, slung me over his shoulder, and started marching into the forest with the teenage boy leading the way.

I tried to struggle and squirm, moving as much as I could given the way I was bound, but his grip on me was so firm that it was challenging to battle that iron grip on my body. I lost track of time and could only see the forest floor beneath me. Hot tears stung my eyes as I contemplated my fate. "Would I be sacrificed in a horrific ritual to bind the soul of a dragon rider to a dragon? Or was I just captured to be a meal for a dragon instead?" I wondered as the rag stuffed in my mouth muffled my sobs. I noticed the forest floor opening up into grassland as he marched on, and suddenly, we stopped. I was dropped to the ground on my back and felt strong air drafts as I tried to look up.

I finally saw it. A dragon! A real dragon! The monster right in front of me had a wingspan big enough to cover the biggest field in my village. Its body was the color of young green rice paddy tipped with growing grain…. bright-green scales tinged with gold in the sunlight. It had horns and claws, which were a mix of copper and gold. Its mouth pulled back to show rows of teeth that looked like daggers. Its nostrils flared as it seemed to inhale to take our scents in and then exhaled tendrils of smoke. Finally, I looked into its eyes and immediately felt like my heart would burst out of my chest with shock, for I had looked into those same eyes right as I was captured. Jet-black eyes rimmed with reddish amber yellow, like glowing embers!