Spirit of the Dragon

“There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.” He said with a somber expression that made the wrinkles in his weathered face grow deeper beneath his bushy gray eyebrows and peppered beard that framed his chiseled jaw. Her father was handsome and wise, like any merchant sailor should be to navigate the violent seas. Diona turned her attention back to the ocean where the stars danced over the face of the water in fleeting glints. All the stars were out tonight, and the ocean swayed the ship with gentle rocking waves creating a calmness she wasn’t used to, but even with its lulling oscillation, she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. In just three days they would be home and she’d be able to see her mother again. At only 9 years old, her father wanted her to begin joining him on his journeys. He and her mother had been unable to have any more children after she was born and so he had no son. But that wasn’t an issue for them, they loved her just as much as they’d have loved a son and her father taught her all he knew. Like he was now about the dragons.

“Papa…” she hesitated unable to put her question into words and knit her brow together. He gazed down at her patiently and smiled softly. His eyes were the color of storm clouds but held with them a gentleness that offered assurance as she searched for the words she needed, “where did they come from?” She was unsure if that was the question that would get her the answer she was looking for, but it was the closest thing to it she could think of. She wanted to know all about the dragons. Every kind of dragon and the special powers they possessed. They were beautiful. All the sizes of them, all the shapes they came in, winged and non-winged. She loved them. Her mother had once told her she’d been able to talk to one. Their neighbors in the village laughed and called her mother crazy. Diona had never seen a dragon that could speak but believed it to be true and hoped that one day she, too, would be able to speak to a dragon. Then she really could know all there was to know about them!

“It is said that long ago dragons lived before even humans came into the world. After the humans were created, they all lived peacefully together. Then one day an evil spirit appeared to one of the dragons and took him around the earth to show him the favor bestowed on the humans by their god. The dragon became jealous and angry. In his anger he tricked the humans to betray their god so that he might receive the favor instead. But in his deception, he angered the great and mighty spirit who cursed both human and dragon. The dragons would forever fear us, and we would struggle to live only to die.” Diona frowned for a moment repeating his story in her head. He’d answered the question she’d asked but not the one she’d meant to ask. This left her with more questions.

“But, Papa we don’t struggle.” He let out a hearty chuckle.

“No, but much has happened since then dear little one.”

“What’s happened? And aren’t the dragons angry with us for them being cursed? And why do we live in the Valley but not with the dragons when they are there too when other people use dragons?” The questions came out as a never-ending sentence leaving her father laughing at her once again. She knew he delighted in her curiosity but always felt silly when he laughed at her like that. Her cheeks began to burn as heat filled them with embarrassment. He reached out and tousled her short, black hair before she could bat his hand away.

“Much happened.” He gazed out to the water as the wind began to blow snapping one of the sails taught and ruffling the white fur collar of his coat. The humorous expression had left his face as he thought. “Those are stories for another day, young one.”

As he spoke the man in the crow’s nest began to shout, “Ahoy! Ahoy! Somethin’s fast approaching on the starboard side!” Sure enough as she and her father looked over their side of the ship a large shadow under a hill of water shot directly toward them and soon crashed into the side of their ship knocking everyone to the deck.

“Man overboard!” She heard the shout as she hit the deck hard on her shoulder.

Waves crashed around them, and a deafening roar reverberated through the entire ship silencing all the men around her for a brief moment before a cacophony of sounds filled the air. She pushed off the deck and swirled her head around to find her father and praying he wasn’t the man who’d been tossed overboard. Men shot bullets into nothingness, cannons were fired, commands shouted, and men ran quickly from one side of the ship to the other as one by one the waves grabbed and swallowed them. But her father was nowhere.

“Papa!” She called into the noise but couldn't hear her own voice.

“Abandon ship!” Another voice yelled as the ship was struck again with a heavy blow from something unseen. The deck beneath her rocked and her legs were swept from underneath her sending her jaw colliding with the hard floor.

“Captain!” A shout from above caught her attention and she rolled over to see her father by the helm shooting his pistol at something rising out of the water. Her eyes widened and she pushed herself into a sitting position as the water receded from a large scaly pale green jade-faced creature with eyes like fog staring directly at her father. Plum feather like scales fanned from its cheeks and burgundy spines rippled down it’s back as it rose from the water. The creature’s head was as large as their ship and its body seemed infinite beneath the water.

“Leviathan! It’s Leviathan!” Men shouted and she heard them begin diving off the ship and abandoning her father.

“Papa!” She pushed off the deck to a stand and sprinted toward him only to slip and fall hard yet again. “No! Papa!” He didn’t look. He couldn’t hear her. The water dragon curled its lips showing its awful, threatening fangs and her father unsheathed his sword pointing it at the giant creature. “Papa!” She shouted again, louder, but he still didn’t flinch. The dragon opened his mouth wide and roared into the air, then her father lunged forward. The creature’s head moved quickly, jaws closing around her father’s body, then sank back into the darkness of the ocean, leaving silence in its wake.

Tears streamed down her burning cheeks and her chest squeezed. Water began to surround her as the ship sank lower. She yelled into the night for her father to come back but no audible words reached her ears. Why had he done it? Why did he leave her? She yelled again until her stomach forced its contents out into the ocean that now surrounded her. She coughed and paddled to the nearest floating barrel, just realizing the ship was almost gone. As she looked around, all she could see was the crow’s nest and a few floating boards.

“Help!” She yelled into the silence. “Papa!” She sobbed and then struggled and kicked managing to get higher onto the barrel where she could pull the lid off. The barrel was empty, so she clumsily climbed in, nearly dumping herself back into the water again. Her thoughts swirled and took her between her conversation with her father and overwhelming grief where sobbing would overtake her. The more she thought, the angrier she became.

~~~~~

“Will she wake up?” The soft voice of a woman stirred Diora and she blinked her eyes. The bright firelight in the room her made her squint while she tried to make out the blurry surroundings.

“Apparently.” Replied a gruff male voice. Two blurry figures appeared over her and she continued to blink until their faces came into focus.

“How are you?” The woman asked. She had a round face and donned a kind expression as she gazed down at Diora waiting for her answer.

“Where am I?”

“Yer in Hodgeborg.” Said the man. Diora’s eyes clicked over to the plump red bearded man with frizzy and equally red hair and bush eyebrows.

“Hodgeborg.” Diora repeated. Hodgeborg was the city her father’s ship would port at on their return. How had she gotten all the way back to Hodgeborg? Did that mean she was asleep for three days?

“Aye, it’s a sync port…” he answered.

“I know.” Diora interrupted, “How long have I been here and when did I arrive?”

“We found you two days ago on the coast,” it was the woman again, “today is the third of Alms.” Alms. It had only been twenty-four hours since the ship had sunk. How had she gotten all the way to Hodgeborg in twenty-four hours? Diora pushed up from the straw bed she’d been laying on.

“Easy, now.” The man placed a hefty hand on her small back. Memories began returning of the dreadful night when Leviathan appeared and tears began to sting her eyes.

“Were anyone else found with me?”

“Fraid not.” The man answered and she turned her eyes up toward him unable to stop the tears from spilling over, again.

“Dear one,” the woman leaned over her and embraced her, “I’m sorry. Did you lose someone you loved?”

“My….hic….my….hic…my Papa!” sobs and shaky breathing took over as she buried her face in the woman’s shoulder. The woman sat on the bed with her and held her as Diora replayed the events. When her breathing slowed again the woman gently pushed her away and wiped the tears away with her thumb.

“Now, would it help to tell us what happened?”

Dragons. Dragons were to blame. Would it help to tell them?

“Our ship was attacked… by a dragon.” The two eyed one another.

“Do you know your name?” The woman faced her again and Diora nodded her head.

“Diora. Diora SinClair.”

“Very good.” The woman nodded, “Now, do you have any living relatives?” Diora straightened suddenly feeling hopeful.

“My mother. My mother lives in the valley East of her.”

“Mormant Valley?” The man asked hesitantly.

“Yes.” Diora turned her eyes to reach his haunted gaze and soon felt the blood drain from her face.

“Oh, little one.” The man said quietly shaking his head side to side, “Mormant Valley was attacked jus’ yesterday by a firebreather. There were…ah… no survivors.”

Diora felt a lump climb into her throat and a deep pressure behind her eyes as she collapsed back onto the bed and curled into a ball. This couldn’t be happening. Had she ever met a kind one? Really? Or were they kind because people controlled them? Why were they here? A dragon had killed her father. Another one killed her mother. She closed her eyes as the vow formed in her heart, she would learn all she could about them… to hunt them and annihilate them.