Dragons of Summer

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. The wide river and once fertile grasslands surrounding it, had seen a small community spring up. Slowly the people began to build in the valley, dams to control the spring floods and to harness the river's power. But over time, the people began to take too much from the land, the river began to run dry as they irrigated their fields, not for food, but rather for flowers, grown only for their beauty. The hill tops of the valley, once home to tall forests of ancient trees, had been cut bare leaving a desolate windswept vista.

The dragons answered the calls of the forest fairies, left homeless and dying. The people of the valley were, at first sightings of the dragons, in awe. It was an awesome sight to behold for those unlucky enough to have seen it, scores of dragons arcing down in flight from the clouds, diving into the valley, sunlight glistening off their metallic scales. And then the long nightmare for the people began, the dragons unleashed their fire, instantly setting ablaze the fields the farmers had so carefully planted, the flowers grown over centuries and carefully propagated by hand, each field an identical colour, a veritable rainbow in each field.

The dragons landed in the small villages, tearing apart roofs to loot the houses and shops. The most popular place for roosting dragons was always the tavern, claws balanced delicately on the roof rafters as the dragons drank from the immense copper fermenters, satiating their thirst. Quickly the people fled the valley, leaving all behind in their exodus from the dragons. Heading to the coast to join the fishing villages, or seek the large emptiness of the plains and the herding communities there.

Now, decades after the last fire in the houses along the valley went out, the fields are full of wildflowers, the river flows freely, and the forests are slowly returning. People still avoid the valley, rumours of dragons, eerie calls in the night, and the soft smell of the burnt wood still haunt the valley. However, some souls are either brave enough, or foolish enough to explore the valley.

*****

The two sisters crouched in the long grass as it wavered in the wind. The younger one, crouching slightly lower than her sister whispered “Aoifie, what do you see?”

Hair the same golden colour as the dry autumn grass slowly turned as Aoifie scanned the fields, looking around the valley “Not much....wait, there is something. I can’t quite make it out, it might be some ruins” She quietly pointed down into the valley so her sister knew which direction they were moving.

Aoifie slowly lowered herself into the grass more as they began to make their way down the valley “I don’t know why I let you talk me into this Shae, think of the stories, all those dragons” she whispered.

Shae smiled to herself, this was just like her sister, always trying to blame her whenever they got into trouble, whether it was stealing their Pa’s beer at the table, or forgetting to gather the eggs from the chooks in the morning. But Shae needed someone else on this adventure, and there was no one else she trusted more than her sister. Besides, even if she was a little timid at times, Shae couldn’t think of anyone who was a better shot with their bow. They made their way slowly along the valley, reaching a small stand of Poplar trees, Aoifie slowly raised up to get a better look of their surroundings, slowly scanning around her, she whispered “Ugh, this grass is too tall, I can’t see anything. Shae, we might need to turn around”

“Nonsense Aoifie, I’ll just climb this tree” Shae whispered back as she quickly scrambled up the tree. Despite being almost into adulthood, both girls were quite small for their ages, not for lack of food, their Pa and Ma put it down to the fact that neither one of them sat still for more than a minute. With her dark hair and green dyed clothes, it was hard to spot Shae as she scrambled up the tree, hidden among the new spring growth.

“Shae! Be careful, how am I going to explain to Ma and Pa that you were eaten by a dragon” Aoifie called out, half serious, half joking, as her sister surveyed the landscape.

Something not too far in the distance had caught Shae’s eye, it was a faint gleam, however it wasn’t a cold or silver gleam, it was a dull green with just a hint of a gleam to it “wait a minute” she whispered as she tried to will her eyes to see it more closely “there’s something there, maybe four hundred paces or so, it’s...well, it’s green, but it has a bit of a shine to it, I don’t know Aoifie, it could be something”

Shae wriggled herself down the tree, dropping from the last branch and crouching into the grass next to Aoifie. She gave her sister a grin, pointed in the direction she saw the gleam and nodded with satisfaction as Aoifie slowly started out.

They made their way cautiously along the valley, Shae slowly inched alongside her sister “This is just like that time we snuck up on the deer that the Murchinson twins were stalking” she smiled at her sister. Three summers ago, in an attempt to prove that they were as capable of stalking and hunting as the boys in the village, the sisters snuck out while two of the boys were going on their first hunt. They had draped a cloak between them and crouched through the grass, while they got closer to the deer, the sisters held up a pair of antlers. They carefully watched the twins take aim at a larger buck, and just before the boys were about to shoot, they snapped a twig scaring the buck away. They twins saw this new deer still sitting in the field, and decided to take a chance at it, luckily for Aoifie and Shae the arrow went clean through the cloak between them.

Aoifie smiled as well, “I still hear them telling everyone about the ‘Ghost Deer’ they shot after a few pints in the tavern”.

Shae was about to answer her back when she looked around, though it was well overgrown and decaying, she could immediately see they were in the ruins of a village. “Aoifie, look” she said as she slowly scanned around them. Moss covered logs, some toppled over, some still sitting neatly on one another, some rusted metal pieces scattered about, most either bent out of shape, or melted. Shae could hardly believe her eyes, her and Aoifie were standing in the middle, or at least at the very edge, of one of the last villages of the valley.

The sisters slowly stood up, forgetting the fears ingrained in them, the stories passed down generation by generation. They were standing in the middle of sacred ground, what was once the pride of their people. Their pride, and ultimately their downfall. They slowly began walking around, careful not to disturb too much, fearful, but respectful as well, knowing what this place meant to their ancestors.

Ruin after ruin, what were once houses for families, places of laughter and joy, turned to ash and ruin. Aoifie carefully clambered over a wall of blackened wood when she spotted it, her mouth dropped open, a meticulously crafted dome, easily taller than her Pa, green with age, the copper still gleamed in a few places. Shae had noticed Aoifie stop, and slowly came over to her, she had collected a few coins out of the ruins “holy....that is amazing. What is it?”

Aoifie slowly shook her head “it looks like the tops on Pa’s fermenters, but look at how smooth the copper is, no hammer marks at all” she ran her hand along the inside of the perfectly smooth dome.

“The question is, how do we get it back home?” Shae asked, looking closely at it.

“We don’t, there’s no way we could carry that, look at the size of it” Aoifie said, still running her hand along it, mesmerised by the smoothness of the copper.

“You two definitely couldn’t carry it, but I could, quite easily I would imagine” a loud voice boomed.

The sisters nearly leapt out of their boots as they turned to look up at the owner of the voice. Copper scales shimmering in the sunlight, talons tipped in ivory white gripped the remains of a low wall. Pearl white teeth shone as the mouth opened in what may have been a grin. Shae’s mouth hung open, for once, she was too scared to speak. Aoifie opened and closed her mouth a few times, finally gathering herself to mutter a single word

“Dragon!”