FRMR XLOSBA

FRMR XLOSBA

DRAGON EYE

By

April Foote (granddaughter) &

Mike Cornish (grandfather)

Art By Sarah Richter

Chapter one - Missing

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. The came to protect Irish Viking gold. It is hard to tell when they first appeared it was certainly after the Vikings settled in Ireland. In the early days The Viking conducted raids on towns and churches for gold and treasure but later they established their own settlements at places like Waterford and Dublin and they became strong enough to rule. Sometime in all of this the dragons first appeared. They are drawn to the smell of gold lust. We know this because many Norse words have been incorporated into the Irish language and Viking coins became the stuff of legends.

It is in Ireland that Viking gold coins led to the discovery of the dragons. The Vikings wanted gold, they stole it, they mined it. Their rampant desire seems to have brought the dragons. Where they came from before has never been discovered but the old stories are very clear. You lust after gold and the little dragons came and bite you. That part is universally agreed. What happens next is much less clear.

Generation after generation in our family have recounted the story of a pot of golden coins guarded by dragons in a cave not far from our town. Generation after generation have searched for the treasure. Generation after generation of women have lamented while their husbands, brothers and sons have wasted their time and effort with nothing to show for it. Some never returned. The only sign being a pool of blood.

Our Grandfather was no different. He was a Professor of History and had spent most of his academic career researching ancient documents for the time of the Vikings. “Seanathair, Why does everyone talk about Leprechauns at the end of the rainbow when we talk about dragons in a cave?” I asked him before he too disappeared.

“Well.” he said. “I think that Leprechaun is derived from an ancient language meaning rabbit like horse. Lepre meaning like a rabbit and Chaun is horse. I believe that the dragons are small. I suspect that everyone has been looking for a large cave because they think dragons are big.”

That was few days ago when Seanathair had filled a backpack with ropes and climbing gear and had disappeared. He hasn’t returned and everyone is worried. In the end my brother Dylan and I decided to go look for him.

First I went into Seanathair’s study hoping I might find a clue as to the direction he had taken. There was a reddish glowing liquid on the desk. It looked like like blood but it was strewn through with gold flecks. Beside the liquid was an ancient books its pages were sticking out in a misshapen jumble of torn corners. The cover was had once been highly polished timber but age and use had worn and scratched it to a dull dark brown. The title was carved into the surface. It was clearly some ancient language and it looked like the Rune symbols were filled with the same glowing reddish liquid.

Below the symbols was a dragon’s eye that seemed alive. I was too scared to touch it. I carefully opened the book looking for something that might tell me where Seanathair had gone. The mysterious reddish liquid moved around the symbols without slipping out. I felt a sense of menace and foreboding and a strong urge to shut it up again but I was determined to find my grandfather. In the middle of the book, some sort of map had been stitched into the spine and could be folded out, I took the book out to my Grandmother “Mathier, do you know what this is?” I asked. “It was top most on Seanathair's desk so it must have been the last thing he was studying.” A droplet of the reddish fluid fell to the floor.

“Oh No!” cried Mathier, “That’s ancient Norse” A look of dread flashed across her face “I told him to leave well alone the old fool. Here let me have a look.” With shaking hands she took the book from me and read the title. “It reads ORMR which is Norse for Dragon.”

“There a map inside.” I explained and we spread it out on the table. It was very old with all these weird symbols. It was difficult to work out what was what.

Dylan was looking over my shoulder. He cried out. “I think that’s Apollo’s Ridge.” Pointing at a recognisable feature. As we scanned the map we recognised other familiar landmarks of the hills behind our home. One particular feature seemed to be crowded with symbols. “I don’t know what this all says but it seems very important.” Dylan suggested “I think we should go there “

I let out a cry at a sharp pain on my arm. When I looked there was a bite mark. What had bitten me. I looked around to see a tail as the creature returned to Seanathair’s study. Dylan and I raced into the room but whatever it was it had disappeared. Dylan took up a poker by the fireplace and we started to search the room in earnest. After about fifteen minutes we had found nothing at all.

I was feeling very peculiar, sort of faint and my blood was on fire. I felt I was burning inside. I collapsed on the floor as Dylan come over. “Sis are you alright.” He asked as Mathier came in to see what was happening.

“Give her air.” She commanded. I felt a gentle tapping at my cheek. I groaned and looked up. “Oh my dear it’s happening. It was a dragon that bit you and it climbed back into the book.”

Dylan was peering over Mathier shoulder. “Your eyes they have changed.” He exclaimed. He helped me up and we went to the bathroom. My eye were no longer my own now my dark eyes were flecked with gold and the pupils were like a cat. I looked down at the bite on my arm it was almost healed as a small droplet of blood fell to the floor. It had the same golden flecks.

I could smell EVERYTHING. I could smell Mathier’s perfume, and Dylan’s deodorant and I could smell their fear. I was scared too but I also felt energy and power. I wanted to go outside. Then I heard a voice. It was Seanathair. “Come granddaughter you will be safe.” I spun around looking for him but I already knew he was in the book. This time when I looked at the eye it seemed friendly and caring. “Just walk toward me.” he commanded. I took a step toward the book and could feel a strong pull. ‘No!’ I thought ‘I don’t want to disappear.’ Instead I turned and ran out of the room and out of the house. Instinctively I ran toward the hills heading toward the place Dylan had noticed on the map.

I hadn’t gone very far when a gorgeous young man stepped in front of me. “Well hello there.” he said in a sing song voice. “Where are you off to in such a hurry.” He was so beautiful but I needed to get to the cave and figure out what was happening to me. I moved around him and took of at a full sprint. It was breath taking how fast I was moving I mean I could tell I was moving faster than a car. I ran and ran feeling the power and energy amazed that I was not tiring.

I came around an outcrop and there to my amazement stood the young man. To all intents and purpose just out for a sunny stroll. To be there he must have moved faster than me. I stared at him. “You’ve been bitten.” I challenged. He just smiled. “So.” I asked “why are you following me?”

“To stop you entering the cave.” he announced. “If you enter the cave you will become a dragon just like your grandfather.”

“How do I get cured?” I was thinking that I needed to do something to neutralise the dragon venom.

He smiled with sympathy and said. “There is no cure. You either stay as you are or you become a dragon.”

“There are only a few of us.” he explained. “If you are bitten and are after the gold you become a dragon if you don’t want the gold you stay like this.”

“I can never go back.” I asked. He nodded. “How long will I stay like this?”

“I don’t know but I’m one hundred and fifty years old.” I was stunned he didn’t look a day over twenty. The only tell tale sign was his eyes. “Quick.” he said suddenly “We need to move the dragons are coming. He turned his head toward the rocky outcrop. I could see what looked like large bats flying toward us. “They come to capture you.”

We took off sprinting fast.