The Valley, From Which We Came

There weren't always dragons in the Valley.

The Valley wasn’t always scorched to ashes.

The Valley wasn’t always dead.

But it was now. And had been for the last decade.

The Valley was once a beautiful place with trees to climb and birds always whistling a tune overhead. The Evergreens were always a lush green - winter being the exception - and the creatures of the Valley flourished. The Valley used to be my home, my place to unwind after a long day. It was a haven for me to go to whenever I was sad, scared, mad, or some other emotion I didn’t know how to control.

Now it was gone. Burnt to ashes. Demolished. Devoid of life. Desolated. And it’s all the Dragons’ fault. They had to come for their stupid land and gems. Like we ‘lowly’ humans had many precious jewels worthy of the ‘great’ dragons. We stayed in cabins and had to work for our share of food and resources. Our very clothes were once worn by animals and seldom by our ancestors.

Now we had even less. We had only each other and the bare essentials to survive. Now we had nothing. No home. No food. No water. Only the clothes on our backs.

When the fires came everyone scattered. So, most of us were also alone. I only had my sister, and she was gravely injured. With a gash on her leg, it was hard for her to walk. We weren’t aware of our parents’ whereabouts nor our friends. We had each other but now we were alone. I’ve never been outside the Valley and was questioning if I should leave. Should I stay and fight these beasts, or flee in search of a new life?

In the end, I decided to leave and start a new life with my sister, Amelie. We moved to the small town of Woodruff, which was south of the Valley, and found a small house and work. Once Amelie healed, she became a blacksmith, which she had to work hard to get the position for since she was a girl. I became a healer assistant and from time to time found errand jobs. We stayed at a quaint cottage on the outskirts of town.

This was our new life, and to be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. My sister and I have built a new way of living from nothing. We have a pretty good life here, but I still miss our old one. Amelie wants to stay and ignore the past, but I can’t. I want to set out one day soon to slay the creatures that stole our home from us.

Now here I was, 11 years later. Still working as an assistant to the healer. Doing what feels like the same thing every day. Wake up, eat, work, eat, bathe, sleep. But today was the day. The day I tell my sister that I will travel back to our old home and reclaim what was once ours. I know she will not be over the moon with joy, but I don’t want to slip away unless I must.

“Apprentice, bring me those Garlap vines.” Ms. Cherry told me, snapping me from my thoughts. I nodded and went over to a rack with vines neatly wrapped around them.

“How much?” I asked her.

“About half a vine.” She replied. I took my knife along with a healthily-looking vine and sliced it in half.

“Here you go,” I spoke as I handed over one of the halves.

“Thank you.” She said and turned back to her customer. I peeked outside of the wooden store and looked up at the sun. 6 o’clock. Almost time for me to go home. I wondered if Ms. Cherry would let me go early today? No, she’s got a customer right now. It’s only 30 more minutes anyways. I went back inside and sat down in a corner so I wouldn’t disturb business and waited until the customer left.

“Ms. Cherry?” I asked the elder woman. She was just putting away some herbs in the back. “Could I go ahead and leave, or do you need me?” I asked, shyly. Ms. Cherry was a kind woman, but she could be firm when needed. She glanced around the shop.

“You go ahead. I’ll just fend for myself.” The old woman joked.

“If you do need me here, I can stay.” I offered. Ms. Cherry waved her hand.

“No, no. I’m just teasing. You run along home. Tell your sister I said hello.” I smiled.

“Ok, then. Bye, Ms. Cherry! Have a good rest of your day.” I called back to her as I left. As I walked down the brick road, I noticed all the stands out today. There was the baker with his pastries and bread. There was the spice-dealer with his – well spice. The Jeweler with his trinkets. And the farmers with their produce. Different people all looking for the same thing; money. It’s funny, really. Before long, I came to a crossroad and took the path to the left, which led home. Once the brick turned to stone and the tress became abundant, I started rehearsing my announcement to Amelie.

“Remember when we used to run away and pretend to live in the woods of the Valley? We would climb to the tops of the trees during the days and spend the nights chasing fireflies.” I would pause there for a second. “I want that life back, sister. I want to have a simple life near the forest where we grew up. Where you got stitches and I got stings. Where we laughed and lived. So, I’m going to go back there and take back that land. We’re going home, I promise, and everything will be as it was.”

Soon, I was back at the cottage. It was manageable with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, an eating area, and an attic. We obviously didn’t have much when we came here so it was a clean and open place. I knocked and opened the door to find Amelie not home yet. I hope she doesn’t stay late tonight. I told her I wanted to discuss something important.

After a few minutes, I go to prepare the table for supper. I go to set out the plates and utensils and that’s when it hits me; I was supposed to get dinner. Seeds and Saplings! Amelie will kill me if I forget the dinner! I quickly rush to get my coat and shoes on then head out into the cool-colored sky. I run down to the farmers’ stands where they are just closing.

“Excuse me!” I panted to the closest vendor I could find. “I was wondering if you had any mutton or vegetables.” I huff out. The farmer had olive skin and a long white beard. He gave me a look before replying,

“Yeah, I got a bit of mutton left and some carrots and asparagus in the back. Just let me go get them. Wait right here.” He shuffled to the back and soon returned with 3 stabs of mutton and a basket of vegetables.

“I’ll take 2 cuts of mutton and a handful of carrots and asparagus.” I mustered a smile and after he told me the price, handed the man 7 silver pieces. I loaded them up in my own basket, thanked the man and returned down the road to the cottage. When I got there, Amelie was waiting.

“Where have you been?” My sister asked calmly, leaning against a kitchen cupboard, eyes stern.

“I almost forgot the things for supper, but I remembered,” I explained while sitting everything down. Amelie sighed and helped me cook. She chopped the carrots while I managed the asparagus and mutton. Shortly, we had dinner on the table and were eating.

“Did you make it back ok? No trouble?” Amelie asked me as we ate.

“Nope.” I shook my head, mouth full of meat.

“Well, that’s good,” Amelie replied. I swallowed my food.

“Are-are you mad at me? About the food?” I asked looking up at my older sister. She sighed.

“No, I was just worried.” I nod.

“Well, I'm fine.” I smile. Amelie seemed calm now. Maybe it was time. “Sister, do you remember when we used to run away and pretend to live in the woods of the Valley? We would climb to the tops of the tallest trees during the days and spend the long nights chasing fireflies.” Amelie gave me a look.

“I do remember that. I remember you always tackling me and us playing hide and seek in the tall grass in the evenings.” She chuckled, looking over at me.

“Yeah, that was fun. I almost forgot about that.” I smiled sadly. “I want that life back, Amelie. I want to have a simple life near the forest where we grew up. Where you got stitches and I got stings. Where we laughed and lived. So, I’m going to go back there and take back that land. We’re going home, I promise, and everything will be as it was before.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I thought I told you to drop this.” My older sister argued, the serene look vanishing. “We can never go back. Besides, we have a good life here, and I don’t want to risk that. Things can’t be the same and you know that. Please just forget it.”

“Why?! Why can’t everything be normal again?” I yelled.

“Because mom and dad are gone!” Amelie shouted standing up. “They are dead, little sister. Our friends are most likely dead too or we will never see them again.” She gave a sigh. “Just stop.” And with that, she walked to her room.

“You don’t know that...” I whispered and ran out the door. I ran as fast as I could, right into a tree. My body tumbled down, as tears flowed down my cheeks. Then I yelled. I yelled as loud and as long as I could. I yelled with all my might. Letting it all out, all my anger. Once I ran out of breath, I kept on silently shedding tears. While lying there I thought about what Amelie said. How could she even think of our parents being... gone. They could still be out there somewhere, alive and well. Maybe they were even looking for us.

I knew it was wrong to be mad at my sister, she was only doing what she thought was best, so I lay there, letting all my anger seep away. After a few minutes, I headed back to the cottage to apologize to Amelie. But when I went there, I was only filled with freezing terror.

The sight was a whole cottage engulfed in flames... and the sound of a sister’s blood-curdling scream.