glimmer

There weren't always dragons in the Valley…

No one knew where they came from. At first, no one knew what they were at all. In fact, the whole village thought it was a pack of wolves stealing our sheep. We only started getting concerned when it was more than the usual Packwood, Steele, and then on one unfaithful night, a child was taken. So we sent out our strongest and bravest men into the Valley to find out what was taking them. Out of the 20 people that left. Only one came back.

When he came back, it was odd. The story says that his flesh was black. Burnt as to a crisp, and he was cackling! As he walked, he kept saying, “lizards, the massive lizards. Almost as big as our houses.” And he just kept muttering the same thing over and over again. No one actually knows what happened to him, as he died shortly after due to not being able to get medical attention for his burns.

After that, they would send anyone who volunteered, but when they didn't come back, which was a death sentence. Our elders ended up having a meeting together one day and decided to call them Dragons. As it turned out, these giant lizards came from a village named Dragonheart. Soon after, people stopped volunteering to fight these Dragons. They started putting up with it as a punishment, which was a death sentence Because other than that one person that came back, no one has ever come back from going to fight the Dragons.

And that was over about 50 years ago. Now, that brings us back down to the present day. Now to me, my name is Ira. And I've just been sentenced to go hunt the Dragons. Why? The official reason was because I stole a loaf of bread to help support my family. The unofficial reason is that my family has refused to let my sister wed one of the elders' sons. Yatter isn't really interested in him. And my parents are the type of parents who will not force their children into marriage, although they have only two daughters. And supposedly, that's all daughters are suitable for, is for us to just marry into a wealthy family, to upgrade the family status. Our parents stand on a different foot there.

So the elders “sentence me too”. Hunt the dragons to put pressure on my family to force me to marry Emily; there was no point for me to feel sad for myself once their sentence was given; there was no way out of it.

I’m not sure about this one, as half the village is outraged by this punishment. I can hear some of them say that it’s too harsh of a sentence for stealing a loaf of bread. While the others are trying to remind them that I'm a female. The punishment of hunting dragons is only reserved for a bigger crime than stealing a loaf of bread.

Don’t get me wrong, we have different punishments for females: they are sent to the training area but as enslaved persons for a year or two. But they always come back. I think this is really setting the village off as this has never happened before. Like I said before, the villagers only knew of the official reason for me being punished, not the real reason. Plus, I also think that the elders hate me because I question everything that they are and all their silly little rules.

I clear my voice to get the villagers' attention. When I had them all look at me, I said

“I, for one, am happy that they have sentenced me to hunt dragons, this way, I can show the men what they have been doing wrong all these years.”

I know it sounds a little cocky, but what choice do I have right now? I have just been sentenced to death, and either that or I would be crying.

I felt myself breaking down, but I had to stay strong for my sister. I looked at her, and she was crying enough for us.

I let the officers grab my arms and drag me to the blacksmith. Where I would have the hot poker. The symbol of a dragon hunter is just a simple dragon head. The emblem of Dragonheart village. I hissed as they pressed the red hot poker into the flesh on my right forearm. Once that was done, they brought It up to my nose and said I better get used to burning flesh because that would be the last thing that I would ever smell.

I frowned that I wasn't planning on dying, but then again, who can tell what would happen?

I can take one more last look at my family as they pass me through the village again. They had put shackles on my left wrist, knowing that the pain of the right one would be too painful for most to endure. They shoved my right arm Up to my forearm into the water to cool it off. They dragged me in and put me in the holding cell. They will then move me to the training centre in the middle of our villages tomorrow. Then we'll have two days of so-called training. I don't actually know what happens on these “training” days, but I can tell you one thing, there is nothing that can prepare you to fight a dragon. We don't know how to handle them either because we have no clue where they came from.

Just before they shot me in the hole that they called the gaol. I took one look, one more look at the sun and prayed to the gods that I survived this so I could help protect my sister from that hideous man of the eldest Grandsons.

As I shut the door, my thoughts were that my sister would never be with that man. Until my last breath, I will be trying to prevent this. I don't know how to now. I'm being sent off to hunt Dragons. I can not let this happen.