But for Aladron

There weren't always dragons in the valley. Before Aladron there wasn’t much of anything in our little dent between the Great Mountains. I still remember the day they came in all its vivid detail; all I have to do is close my eyes and I'm right back where it all began.

I remember thinking he was the most handsome boy I'd ever seen. Watching Aladron as he sat at the cliff edge overlooking the village, I was overcome with a deep longing, one I immediately knew to be love. Love like the grownups knew. Love that had been bestowed by the gods. I was sixteen on that evening, thinking of marriage and children. A light breeze, cooled by the ice capped peaks above us, blew his strong locks of gold over his face, and feeling driven by the hands of fate I moved to clear it from his eyes. Aladron turned to face me and with a flutter in my belly I leaned in to kiss him.

I stopped short. His eyes were cold and distant. Still the same deep blue with flecks of yellow. Still fierce and intelligent. But they lacked the tenderness and the sparkle that had bound me to him. He almost looked sad.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm going away."

Those were the only words he spoke for a long time. My face felt hot behind the eyes and I remember thinking of the pain in my chest "by the gods this must be how it feels to be stabbed."

Aladron had sunk to his haunches and was staring across the valley and through the pass where the last rays of sun were disappearing.

"I'm nearly eighteen," he began. "I care deeply for you Melvira, but I have the blood of a warrior. I must go beyond the mountains, join the great army and fight for honor. Only once I have earned my scars will I be a man worthy of your grace and beauty.”

He tried so hard to make his words sound noble. I was meant to grow faint with admiration of his strength and bravery. I think he even flexed his exposed muscles. Somehow I remember him looking more chiseled at that moment.

His words held no glamor for me. I only thought of two things. He cares more for glory than for me. And no one ever returns from the war.

He reached for my shoulder, a gesture meant to comfort me, but it had the opposite effect. Jumping suddenly to my feet, I brushed his hand away and ran.

Tears clouded my sight as I dashed further up the mountainside. My young emotions drove me despite the danger I knew I was putting myself in. The sun was sinking below the horizon, darkness closing in rapidly. The cliff fell away below me, jagged rocks and tangled roots clawed at my feet from the growing shadows. Despite all this, I ran.

"Melvira! Come back, it's getting late, your father will worry if I return without you."

I could hear Aladron's voice and somehow it sounded like it was upon me. Maybe a play of the sound over the cliff face, maybe the crisp dusk air. But the suddenness of it was jolting and unthinking, I turned my head to look for him. My foot landed hard on an uneven surface, the ankle popping loudly, and a bolt of pain surged up my leg. My knee hit first, the momentum pitching me to the side. Then I felt nothing.

I stood at the foot of the tree of dreams as I had every night gone. But the tree was different this time. I shook my head thinking maybe I was seeing double. Maybe the blow to my head had been hard enough to make my vision blurry even in the dream world. It can’t be! I assured myself. If I was seeing the second doorway then I had achieved my Rite. I had been recognized by the gods themselves. I stepped closer to the massive tree, stood directly between the two doorways knowing which one I must open. I wished to just slip quietly through the first door and enter the Fairyland. I was terrified of the new door, of what it would mean to face the gods. But no one turned down their Rite. I took a deep breath and pushed open the second door.

She was tall, at least three heads over me, and her cloak shimmered like the sun on smooth water. She wore a hood that covered most of her face and I could not see her eyes. Her voice, when it came, was like harp strings. Melodic and deep, vibrating my very being.

“Kneel before me, my child,” she sang. “Kneel before Orelia and make your wish.”

I tried to think hard on what my wish was. I could visit the gods from now on when I slept to ask for guidance. But this was my one wish. The thing I desired most for my life. I realized with a sick feeling that all my thoughts swirled around Aladron. Angry thoughts at first like wishing for him to be killed, but asking the gods a vengeful request was known to backfire on the asker. Then I thought to ask that he be made to fall in love with me again and to not go away, or that the events of the night be wiped from memory. But my heart wasn’t in those requests. Finally, I settled on my answer.

“Great goddess Orelia, I wish to be protected from harm and that I may never be broken again in heart and body.” I shivered, suddenly becoming terrified that I had made a great error. Should I not have asked for something selfless that would have brought blessings on my village and family? But I had already spoken my wish so I closed my eyes in Orelias splendor and awaited my answer.

“My child Melvira, what you ask will be granted. Never shall harm befall you, and never shall your heart be broken again. Be wise with these gifts.”

She lifted her hands and something poured from them, falling down like a waterfall and drenching me. I was moving away from Orelia, back towards the door, then through it. I watched the Godland fade from view, and then the tree was growing small.

I sat up with a start. I lay on the ledge far below the trail, the cliff rising above me and falling away at my feet. I rubbed a painful knot on the side of my head, gasping when my hand came away red and sticky. I pressed my hands to my ears trying to alleviate the grating snarl in my ears, but when it actually quieted i looked about to see its source.

Behind me and to my right lay the maw of a dark cave. In it stood a giant creature, one that I knew of from legends but whose incarnation I had never dreamed of seeing. A dragon stared down at my battered little body and I stared right back into its red eyes, not fearing it. I knew it was Orelias gift. There were smaller sounds then and I got to my knees, crawling forward with my head low so as to show the beast I was not a threat. In between the Great dragons clawed feet, a youngling was trying to stand. It stumbled about and made odd noises like a newborn lamb. I slowly extended my arm to the dragon, then spoke in as calm a voice as I could muster.

"I am Melvira, I mean you no harm."

The dragon ceased her growl, and bowed her head to me. Then in a voice that I could hear yet that had no sound, the dragon answered back.

"I am Ember."

I open my eyes again and reality floods back in. That was an endless time past it seems. Five exhausting years for the sake of accuracy. Ember is asleep behind me, her son taking the day watch. We are hunted and scorned. Chased by dogs and men with burning torches and silver tipped arrows. Turns out the dragons hadn’t been Orelia’s gift after all.