A Dragon Tale

“There weren't always dragons in the Valley”, Said Anne, with a deep darkness in her voice as she walked towards the window, hiding her teary eyes. She didn't want Olivia to see her like this, at least not right now.

“You are speaking of the Devil’s Dyke, aren’t you?" Olivia asks while stepping closer to her.

There was something about her question that set Anne on edge. She looked like someone who was in a deep terror. Someone with a great burden that she just can’t move along with anymore and is dying to tell it off. Anne wiped her tears and turned around looking deep into Olivia’s eyes then signaling her to sit down over the old and rusty chair beside her. She took the glance and sat down as the chair creaked.

“It all started when the people of Weald turned to Christianity. They were the last of the people in England to convert. They began to build churches, and everyone was in a peaceful sight. At least that’s what we thought. I remember my grandmother telling me all these tales when I was of a very young age. It was almost amusing but very scary to listen to grandmother’s stories in the darkness of the night. We would somedays go to the valley and spend the night under the sky and that is where grandmother would tell us kids the legend of the Devil’s Dyke”.

“The legend?” asked Henry.

Anne was now looking at Henry, “Yes, the legend that changed everything”.

Olivia with panic in her voice, “Grandma, tell us more. You must remember this legend. It is a matter of life and death. This might be the ans-"

Anne looking outside the window with a deep sorrow in her eyes.

“Yes! Olivia. I know what this legend brings forward. It was just so harsh that it scares me to know that my grandchild will have to go through something so terrible or maybe even more terrifying. The legend has it that after the conversion of the people of weald, the devil was angry. He wanted to get back at the people of Weald and so he came up with a plan. A plan to demolish the entire village. The devil thought of digging the valley overnight and by the time he’ll be done, the entire village, its people, and all of the churches will drown in the flood. The catch here was that if the devil didn’t succeed by the rising of the sun, he will then have to leave to never come back. For some strange reason, that nobody to this day knows of, the devil couldn’t dig the valley in time and the people of Weald were saved. But that was not all”.

“What happened grandma?” asked Olivia with concern.

Anne walked towards the bench by the window and sat down while facing Olivia and Henry.

“One night, grandmother brought us all kids to the Devil’s Dyke for a new tale. She set us all in place and one by one, we all went to sleep over the grass while listening to the story. In the middle of the night, I woke up to very loud noises as if many people were screaming for their lives. I looked all around me, but no one was there. I had a very strong feeling that something was wrong. Whatever I was about to encounter, it for sure was not going to leave my side for a long time. I stood up and followed the noises. It was dark so I couldn’t see, but as I went closer towards the woods, I saw fire all over the place. The entire village was on fire. There was nothing left. There was no one left. Everything was burnt to ashes. A number of people met their fate that night and burned until were dead. I saw my friends, all of them burning to their fate and I could do nothing but watch them in pain. I can still hear them scream. Just when I was about to jump and save my friends from burning in the raging fire, I felt a strong force covering my waist pulling me behind. I screamed, LET ME GO! But grandmother never did”.

Anne, with tears in her eyes, was looking at one spot away. She looked like someone with a storm raging in the depths of her flesh. By looking at her, you could sense the pain in her heart caused by the visuals in her brain.

"What caused the fire, grandma?" Olivia asked with curiosity flashing through her eyes.

Anne, with her hands pressed all over her face. She tried to calm herself while wiping the tears away.

“It was something so terrifying that I, to this day suffer from nightmares. It has been haunting me for five decades now. I fail to describe the terror in words. That terrible night, When I reached the woods while following the screams, I saw something. I saw a huge creature with fire coming out of its mouth and nostrils. It had huge wings and was taller than the oldest trees in the village. I saw it and I know I did. It wasn’t a nightmare yet in that moment, I wished for it to be one. I was right behind it while they were setting our village on fire. They burned the entire village and flew away by spreading their huge wings. I set my eyes on them, but they were so fast that it almost felt like they disappeared in thin air. I couldn’t believe my own eyes”.

“Them? Grandma, how many did you see?” Asked Olivia, now frightened. Henry, also now nervous, set his eyes on Anne while consuming every word she uttered.

Anne replied while squinting her eyes, “I can’t tell because of the deep darkness, but I am sure that they were more than one… a lot more”.

Olivia now terrified looked like she was about to faint. Her face turned pale and her eyes tearing up. Henry saw it and immediately got up to calm Olivia.

“Henry? Will the same happen to us? Are we going to end up the same way? What about our child?” Olivia said while caressing her womb.