Druids of the Valley

There weren’t always Dragons in the Valley.

We had always been relatively peaceful people. The Druids of the Valley were kind, open to outsiders, and very giving when it came to our plentiful crops. We provided food for the whole continent, and we spent our days living wholesome, full lives. That changed, though, when the Dragons rode in.

You see, Druids could wield natural magic. Some focused on horticulture; those were our farmers and medicine makers. Others specialized in animal husbandry. Those kinds were our ranchers and guards. Then there was my family. The O’Brien clan was as old as the hills themselves and were the only Druids able to harness the four elements. We used this gift to water the vast crops, and to move land if we needed more space, always mindful of the impact we had on the world around us. We were leaders in the Valley in so much as we were the ones that literally shaped it. We had generational gifts. Every generation had four children, and those children would each receive a gift at birth, passed down from the closest living relative who was old enough to pass it along. I had dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles. I was the only exception and one-of-a-kind, which is why the rumble of Dragons was descending on our peaceful Valley. My generation’s powers all fell to me as my father’s only child. My mother snatched my arm and started to pull me towards our small house, even as every other member of my family ran towards the noise.

“Ma, I have to help them!” I called as she dragged me closer to the little cabin.

“Not this time, Saoirse. They’re coming for you,” she panted, her wild chestnut hair falling into her face as we ran.

Dread spread through my veins. No, this can’t be happening now. There’s no way they could know, not so soon.

I tugged my mom’s arm, forcing her to stop and face me. “Okay, I get it. Let me get us there quicker.”

She nodded, her warm brown eyes, the same shade as mine, worried. For me. I couldn’t stand that and what I had to do now.

I took a deep breath, then dropped down to one knee, my hands spread on the fertile soil my family had always tended to. My fingers warmed and a soft green light emanated from my skin. The earth coiled around them, then up and around my arms. Lifting up, the ground beneath us started to move. My mother was propelled towards the house, and I was shifted backwards, vines growing around me, lifting me up and away from her.

“No! Saoirse!” my mother screamed. The sound wrenched my heart, but I couldn’t hide from my fate any more than she could make me. To be sure she didn’t try to follow me as I left, I grew more vines around the house as soon as she was in, enclosing her in a cage that no Dragon could penetrate.

Turning towards the ever-growing rumble, I urged the Earth to guide me towards the frontline of defense, determined not to let them down.

Dozens of O’Briens, Doyles, Sullivans, and Walshes lined the pass that led into our Valley, forming an impenetrable phalanx between the incoming invaders and the rest of our people. Spying my family break off into groups of four, coordinating elements to have maximum impact, I directed the vines wordlessly to drop me in front of my grandfather, Oisín. His eyes widened almost comically when he saw me, and I thought his face would get as red as his hair. “Saoirse!” he admonished. “Your mother was supposed to take you to safety.”

“And have me miss all the fun? Not likely, Granda,” I quipped to hide how my knees were shaking.

“You can’t be here, a stór. You aren’t ready, and they can’t find you.”

I met my granda’s piercing eyes, letting my determination shine through. “I couldn’t stay away, not when I can help. Ma’s safe, I made sure of it. I’ve been training for this moment; you’ve made sure of that. Please let me help make everyone else safe, as well.”

He groaned, passing a hand over his face to hide a small smile. “Just like your da, you are. Fine, but you do exactly as I say, child.”

I nodded emphatically, turning with my grandfather as the noise of the Dragons crescendos and they crest the final hill into the Valley.

The sight was terrible that day, and every day since. The large bikes they rode were gruesome. The dragonbone metal had red streaks from the unlucky creatures they were stolen from, and the faerie-fueled engines rumbled with an unnatural roar. The Dragons themselves were more terrifying, though. Their scaly hides glistened with sweat and viscera, and their hoots and hollers were almost enough to make me shrink back. Only my grandfather, standing tall amongst the defenders of our Valley, kept me from moving. If he wasn’t worried, then neither would I be.

Granda raised one arm, then shouted, “An chéad scuad! Ionsaí!”

The groups of four that had been hiding among the hills jumped up, and my cousins attacked as one. Air whipped already blazing fire into a frenzy, and tidal waves crash over shaking ground to disorient the Dragons in the lead. Their battle cries rose to startled screams, and they started to break formation as the ground beneath them fractured into unpredictable fissures. Unfortunately, the confusion didn’t last long. With a bellow, Dragons behind the initial wave shifted their bikes so that large, dragonbone wings popped from the sides. With hard flaps, the rest of the Dragons ascended into the air, away from the worst of the water and earthquakes.

“An dara scuad, anois!” Granda exclaimed, and several Druids lifted into the air, helping others to fly with them. I started to join them, but Granda held a hand out in front of me. “Not yet, a stór.”

I grumbled but relented to Granda’s wisdom. This wasn’t the first time he’d faced the Dragons, so I had to trust his judgement.

In just that moment, the second attacking squad had almost taken out all of the Dragons in the air. They were sparring with a few trickier ones when a deeper, more horrible rumble sounded just over the hill. A thunderous screech pierced the air, and everyone trembled. Even Granda covered his ears in fright as a monstrous, gargantuan flying Dragon crested the hills around the pass. It had to be half the length of the Valley, if not more, and made completely of dragonbone. The number of lives ended needed to create such a huge, resource-draining contraption had to be astronomical. I couldn’t comprehend that much waste and death. Sadness flooded my system even as fury warred throughout me. How dare they take so much from this Earth just to kill more beings.

Granda’s hand clamped around mine, and I realized I was shaking head-to-toe, and an eerie purple light was emanating from me. “Saoirse, even you can’t stop that thing,” he said, a deep sorrow twisting his rugged features.

“Yes, I can,” I said calmly, much calmer than I felt. I felt as if I could rip the world apart, one Dragon at a time.

“No, a stór. Not yet. You will someday, but today be not that day. I am truly sorry.” That deep voice that held so much love for his huge family, that yelled orders in battle with the utmost confidence, was now so full of grief that it almost stopped my heart. No, this couldn’t happen. I opened my mouth to argue, or perhaps to draw breath to jump into the fray as the giant Dragon bellowed an unholy fire on a line of my family. But the air stopped around me and froze in my lungs. My eyes caught on Granda’s, and I was shocked to see tears spilling from the green depths. I shook my head even as I struggled to breath. “I am so sorry, my child. Please know that we love you, and you will understand one day.”

I tried to lift an arm, to summon some kind of magic to stop him, but with the air stopped around me, I could barely move. Then, the next moment, I was hurtling up and away from the scene. The air around me carried me farther and farther away. I could see the battle in the Valley for just a moment, just long enough to see the Dragon bellow more fire over my family. Then, I topped the mountains around the Valley and was propelled away from the only home I’d ever known; the only family I would ever have. Towards what my grandfather decided was a safer destination for his late son’s only child and heir.

I left the Valley of Druids to the Dragons, my heart breaking the entire way.