The search for Bayla

Bayla

There weren’t always dragons in the valley; the world used to be safe too. Now? Now the world is a wild place, trolls terrorizing villages. Forest creatures attack the merchants as they travel. I breathed in a calming breath banishing the dark thoughts. The flowers are in full bloom, the wonderful scents swept over me washing away the winter sorrows. I smiled with relief. Why couldn’t I do this every day? Surely there are healing powers in the wind, sky, and plants. The world is just so perfect and so peaceful. I danced through the meadow. Laughing to myself. Running my hands over the flower petals and their leaves. My hair pulling at my head trailing behind. The world is so magical. My foot touched something different.I looked down at my yellow shoes. I was standing on a flat stone. It didn’t feel right to me. The stone looked normal enough. I started searching, I don’t know what for but I could feel that there was something hiding here. There were more rocks smoothed out like stepping stones. I stood in the center looking down at them. It was a pattern where the stones are laid out in a specific way. I stood at the center lines of stone lead away stretching out in every direction. The wind dropped suddenly and the meadow was dead calm. I realized I was standing at the heart of the meadow. I was sure it was the exact center. How strange, I’ve been coming to this meadow for years and I never found this before. I reached down, touching the center stone. It was smooth but I pulled my hand away wincing. A drop of blood fell from my finger tip. dripping onto the smooth stone. I pulled out the offending thorn that had stuck me. I glanced at the rose bush nearby. Not a single flower was on it. I sighed, I'm making mountains out of shadows.

"Bayla?" I turned to see the best person in the whole world, Mable. She has been my best friend since our mothers put us next to each other as infants. I smirked at her.

"What ridiculous thing are you wearing?" I asked in my most reproachful tone I could muster, Mother would have been proud. She glared at me.

"Me?" she looked down at herself, clearly she saw nothing wrong. "I’m not the one running around in my undergarments. I should run down to the village and tell everyone right now. They will all proclaim you unfit to walk alone." I laughed, I was far from naked just my arms and shoulders were exposed. It was too hot for my dress.

"Oh Mable, you're so funny when you're mad. Why are you wearing that?" she grinned. Mable was wearing her best dress, a bright green with some lace around the neckline and sleeves to her wrist with lace around them. The dress's shape was plain but the material it was made from was delicate and soft. Her father ordered the material from Trinity Towers; it was a 3 week journey and was the Heart of the kingdom. Why would she wear it all the way out here?

"You’ll see, now get dressed, we aren’t supposed to be out here alone and we need to get back."

"Get back for what?" she smiled, and started walking slowly through the field singing. Mable had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. She could make a priest weep if she wanted. I pulled on my dress and raced after her. I didn’t lace it up till I caught up to her and started doing up the laces in the front. She rolled her eyes and started senching them up for me. My dress was brown. It went to my wrist and ankles and had itchy rough material. And the front dipped into a square cleavage that tightened around my waist. They were plain and boring, which was fine. These are my work clothes, I gave a look back at the hill as we walked away. I'll be back to find your secrets. I whispered in my mind.

***

Dragon"s Edge, it’s small, or so I’ve been told. I’ve never been further than the meadows.

"Why were you in the meadows? You promised you would stop going up there last year. Remember?" I grimaced.

"That was before the winter, you know me I just needed some fresh air, a little sunlight. What's the worst that can happen?" she looked up at the sky as if asking for patience.

"The meadows are the most dangerous place you can go. You know that, don 't you remember what happened too..." I groaned loudly

"Come on, Mable, it is not that bad. That happened 10 years ago. It's safe enough now." I've gone there every year, With Jay I might add, and nothing has ever happened." She looked at me surprised.

"Jay goes to the meadows?" she looked concerned. "Why?" I picked at an imaginary spot on my sleeve and ignored the question. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone I had promised Jay. It was the only secret I had from Mable. She was still giving me side-long glances.

"Don't tell anyone." I whispered she smiled and laced her arm through mine.

We were walking down the main street through town, really it was the only street, it had all the shops but you could duck down any path that branched off and would find a few houses and further out fields of freshly planted crops and Fat cattle. And just a little bit further the beautiful, magical, most wonderful place, the Meadows. I followed Mable on, I was surprised when she brought me to the back of my own house. I was done playing her game. I confronted her hands on my hips, scowling.

"What's with all the secrecy? What's going on?" she smiled smugly.

"Jay is coming to see you today and your parents thought it would be best if I got you so you can bathe and maybe wear something." she gestured at me before saying, "Nice." I stared at her, not understanding what she meant. Jay? Why would Jay want to talk to me? We are friends and he had been coming over of years and the three of us had been spending time together but why does he want to talk to me? Am I missing something here?

"Ummm, why do I need to dress up just to see, Jay?" We stared at each other, at first Mable must have thought I was joking but as she stared at me I could see comprehension and then horror on her face.

"Bayla, YOU know right!? Please, tell me you know!" I just kept staring at her uncomprehendingly. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open. "You can't be serious, Bayla. Jay is in love with you. He's coming to propose! He already asked your dad, LAST week. I was there when he talked to you about Jay. You said he was great and you liked him." This broke through the shock.

"I thought Da didnt like Jay and was going to forbid me from seeing him. Not checking to see if I want to get married." Mable threw her hands up in the air and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Honestly, Bayla, what did you think was going on when Jay started coming around?"

"I thought we were friends. He needed a friend. I didn’t think he was interested in me." I didn't understand the world was turning on its side. Jay? In love with me? It didn’t make sense, it didn’t seem right. Everyone knew, I suddenly realized the streets were crowded today everyone was outside watching us walk home they all knew and was waiting to see what would happen. I looked Mable in the eyes, I was ready to beg her to run away with me. To hide me, to save me from the mess I never saw coming. But as I looked at her I could feel the anger coming off of her in waves. I had never experienced so much hate and anger from her. She never seemed capable. I swallowed the suddenly intense lump in my throat.

"Jay, has been through hell these last few years you can't seriously be telling me that you were just stringing him along." My eyes opened in shock.

"What? No, never. I just thought,” I hesitated, “I thought he wanted to be friends?" The world seemed so strange and so different. I looked Mable in the eyes, I pleaded with her silently to understand, and begged her for her help. I don’t know if she understood but she must have, because she let out an enormous breath and said,

"All right you should get dressed, he could be here any minute." I nodded and looked away out towards the fields of wheat, and the forest just beyond. I want to run. The woods can be dangerous alone, would it be better then what waited for me inside?

"Will you help me?" she instantly softened, and gave me a weak smile.

I bathed and dressed in a blur; Mother was there and Mable, and her mother, Hetty. I smiled and talked when I needed to. I couldn’t shake this terrible feeling. That It’s all ending, my life will never be the same. My finger stung painfully. Mable must have sensed my fear and she would look at me questioningly like she was asking with her eyes if I was alright. I smiled at her but I could tell I did little to convince her. Mother dressed me in the nicest dress I owned. It was yellow and its bodice cut low. There was no lace but there were swirling patterns that ran down the skirt. My mother beamed with pride. She turned me to the small mirror in the corner. It used to be full length but the bottom half broke when I was small. Now all that was left was enough to see from the waist up. Yellow was a good color for me; it almost matched my golden hair. My cheeks were pail and I could see the fear in my eyes. My hands started to tremble. I clasped them together to try and hide it.

"You're so beautiful my dear, all grown up." I smiled truly for the first time.

"Thanks mother," she was so small she barely stood as tall as my shoulder and she was so thin she looked like she would blow away in the wind. She is such an innocent person, my mother. She believed in the simplicity of life. Why bother with fancy clothes or big houses? She truly believed that luxuries drove people away from each other. Hetty, squatted at the hem of my gown fusing with it. She was just a few inches taller than mother, and a lot wider, but she loved talking to mother everyday. Once when I was small she came banging on the door when everyone was asleep because she wanted to see mother . She hadn’t seen her all day. Hetty grunted as she stood and said,

"I can't believe little wild Bayla grew up to be such a beautiful woman." she turned and patted Mable.

"Don't worry sweetheart it'll happen to you too," she added like it was an afterthought. "Soon, I should think you’re too pretty for anything else." and she smiled so happily. Mable looked like she was going to say something but we all stopped when we heard movement down stairs. I could hear the faint sounds of conversation. Mother and Hetty started to talk at once.

"He's here!" terror pulsed though me, so feirsly there was a loud ringing.

"Are we ready?" they started rushing back and forth putting things away. I fought the need to run.

"Where are those pins?" Hetty handed pins to mother. I can’t do this, I want to scream.

"We don't need pins." I tried to move out of the way as mother threw them in a clay vase. I could run. It wasn’t so far of a jump out the window.

"Should we go down first?" asked Mother. I want to cry, everything is going wrong, Jay? He's just a friend isn’t he?

"Oh yes definitely." answered Hetty, “we go down and announce Bayla and then you come down, Bayla. Mable you should stay out of sight. I don’t know why you got all dressed up too. It's Bayla's day. You don’t see us putting on our best dresses." Mable looked embarrassed, but Hetty didn’t notice as mother and her both rushed down the stairs when Da called

"Honey, you are out of time, come down dressed or not." My Da was the best. I tried to breathe. I can do this. I can go down and tell everyone that I’m not going to marry someone I didn’t even know I was dating. I looked at Mable, I started to speak but she spoke first.

"I know you're thinking about saying no, but you can’t," she wasn’t looking at me, she was staring at the clay vase. We made it as kids together. It was lumpy and weird and pretty much useless. I made it with Mable and I refused to throw it away and try again. It was too precious to be tossed aside.

"You have to really think about it before you say no. You aren’t going to get another chance." she took a deep shuddering breath.

"He really loves you, Bayla. I’m sorry you didn’t know before today, but he's been crazy about you since we were kids. If you say no," She paused and closed her eyes before saying.

"He will never get over it. You would break his heart." I stared at her but she refused to look at me. What was happening today? What happened to my life? My world? I could hear faintly from down stairs,

"Bayla, there’s someone here to see you." we didn't move. I kept staring at Mable and she refused to look at me. A minute or two passed while we just stood there. Then there was an inpatient shout, which was also amazingly pleasant.

"Bayla!" I turned my back on my friend and went down stairs. Slowly, to face a world I no longer understood.

There was no one else in the room, just Jay. He looked nice. I had only seen him dressed up a few times, but he was wearing a new jacket. It was blue and soft looking. He must have saved for weeks to pay for it. Jay was very handsome I never noticed before. He has his thick dark hair swept back from his face. He looked at me with his kind dark eyes, the eyes that seemed to reach into your soul. He was fidgeting with his hands, he was so nervous it was like he forgot what he came to say. I stepped forward till I was a few feet from him. I couldn’t muster more than a whisper.

"Hi Jay," I looked down, I was overwhelmed with nausea. I tried to focus on Jay. This is my friend. He taught me how to fish, how to stalk a rabbit and ran with me barefoot through the meadow whenever I asked despite the danger. This is Jay, why am I so afraid of change? He coughed like he was clearing his throat.

Bayla

"Bayla, I came here because I want to…" before he could say anything else fear took over.

"Excuse me Jay I"ll be right back." I turned and walked briskly from the room. By the time I was outside I was running I never ran so fast in my life I didn’t notice the shops flashing past me. I didn’t hear Reaglen calling to me asking how it went. I didn’t see the Harrison twins trying to run with me, their little feet not able to keep up. I saw all of it but I could not understand any of it. If I went back to the meadow, to that place, then maybe just maybe it could all go back and not change so completely. I'm not ready to be a Wife. The thought slammed into me bringing me to my knees. I was in the meadow, my meadow. Wife? My stomach rolled, I threw up, convulsing till my stomach was empty, then I was crying great heaving sobs. How could I ever go back? I sat there staring ahead uncomprehendingly. Would it be so bad? Jay is my friend. Who better to be my partner than my friend? I stood up and started walking aimlessly. I was trying very hard not to think, just feel. I could feel the grass on my bare feet, I must have lost my shoes while I was running. I was standing on the stone center like before. A wave of calm swept over me. I reached out and picked a rose. It was the only white flower surrounded in a sea of blue and yellow. It was the only one, and it looked perfect. I felt so peaceful. I can do it, I can go back. I could hear faintly from a distance. "

Bayla it's alright!" My heart began pounding in my chest, more fiercely than before. Jay. I felt a gust of wind and I closed my eyes to let the strong gust wash over me, and I smiled waiting for him. There was such a wonderful pulsing feeling in my blood.

There was a strange growling sound that was all around me. What was that sound in the wind? Hard talons wrapped around me and lifted me into the air. My eyes flew open and I screamed as the monster carried me into the sky. I kicked and fought, my hands and feet bounced harmlessly off the monster's scally limb. I screamed out,

“Jay, Help me!”

It lifted me higher and higher into the sky skimming over the meadow below. The beast looked down and I caught a glimpse of its head. I understood what type of monster had me. I screamed even louder than before. I was going to die.

Jay

I stood on the front door step hesitating to knock. I had been standing there for a while. I didn’t know how to do this. What would I do if she said no? The very thought overwhelmed me. I turned and ran to the bushes nearby and vomited into the dirt. I straightened up, I actually felt a little better. I I fixed my new jacket and tie and marched to the door and knocked without hesitation. Panic raced through me. What if She answered, should I just get down and ask her here? On the doorstep? What if she slammed the door in my face? Or worse, laughed. The door opened, relief swept over me like water. It was, Mr. Brewskey. I gave him a quick smile.

"Hello, sir, I'm here to see Miss Bayla." I don't know why I'm suddenly acting so formal. He's heard me call Bayla, a she devil looking for trouble. He grinned at me and said in his loud booming voice.

"Jay, my boy, come in, come in." He pulled me inside and I stumbled in surprised at the strength the older man had. He didn’t look strong, he was built lean, he had to be, he's been a farmer his whole life and he was good at it. He was shorter than me, but it never felt like he was.

"Jay, I'm so pleased you came to see, my Very Beautiful Bayla," he leaned in and winked. Then laughed and walked into the living area me trailing behind him.

"Thank you sir, I appreciate your hospitality." again too formal. I’ve known this man most of my life. He waved his hand at me.

"Please forget all this sir nonsense. Call me Peter, We are practically family," I smiled gratefully at him then he grinned wickedly and leaned in close. "Unless of course she says no." the fear came rushing back, what would I do if she said No? He chuckled to himself and turned and called up the stairs.

"Honey, you are out of time, come down dressed or not." He winked at me, I gave him a nervous smile but it was hard to hold in place. I might need to throw up again. What if it all goes terribly wrong I shouldn’t be doing it like this. Bayla deserves better than this. Me springing the idea of marriage on her, what if she doesn’t want me? My mouth was suddenly dry. What if I’m about to lose my best friend forever? Then suddenly Mrs. Brewsky and Mrs. Wrightler. Were in front of me guessing about my new clothes and how handsome I am and what beautiful children we would have. The room began to swim. I nodded at them both, and smiled but I couldn’t find enough moisture to speak. Then she was calling for Bayla. Reality slammed into me.

"I’m sorry I think I need to go. Thank you for your time. Tell Bayla," I hesitated, "Tell Bayla I'm sorry," the women stared at me in shocked silence. I turned to leave but Peter grabbed my shoulder gently and said.

"It's ok to be afraid, son, you"ve had a hard go of it. The last few years but I know you love my little Bayla. I know she cares about you too. I don’t think she even knows how much she cares. I was so afraid when I asked my sweet lady. She almost had to drag it out of me. Even if it doesn’t go your way it's better than living your life wondering what if I had jumped in, instead of running away." I stared at him flushed. I felt my nerve coming back to me. I nodded.

"Thank you, I still want to see Bayla if that's alright." he looked at me with pride and nodded. The mom turned and shouted up the stairs surprisingly forcefully.

"Bayla," The dad waved at her.

"Come on, let's go, give them privacy for once." and I was alone. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. I can do this, I CAN do this. I looked up at the sound of the creaking floor. My breath stopped There she was. She was stunning in that yellow dress like the sunlight. Her golden blond hair laid out behind her. She's radiant, she's magic. The nerves came rushing back, what am I supposed to do with my hands? Would it look weird if I put them in my pocket? Wait, what am I supposed to call her? Should I say Miss Brewsky? Or Balya? Why didn’t I rehearse this?

"Hi jay." I looked at her eyes and suddenly I wasn’t so scared. This is Bayla, my friend. She stepped forward. I Felt like I was flying. I could smell the sweet breeze of flowers, she’s been in the meadow again. The scent would cling to her for days. My heart was pounding painfully against my chest. I cough to try and clear the sudden tightness in my throat.

"Bayla, I’ve come here because I want…" before I could say it she stopped me and with it my heart. The pain shot through me with surprising force. I couldn’t hear what she said. All I saw was yellow as she raced out. She's coming back, right? I stood there staring,

"Bayla?" I whispered her name. I stood frozen for an eternity staring after her. Then I’m running.

"Bayla," I cried. There was shouting outside people on the street asking what happened. I kept running. I know Bayla, I know where she's going. I’ll find her. She's scared I could see it in her eyes. I know I can do this better, she deserves better. I ran, I ran as fast as I could. She's going to the meadow. The whole town seemed to be in the street shouting their apologies or it’ll be alright. I pushed on and I was determined to catch up with her. Maybe, at the very least she will still be my friend? I reached the meadow and I could see her standing with her back to me, her head thrown back, her long blonde hair blowing in the breeze. Her hands relaxed at her sides. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Everything felt right, this is where I’m supposed to ask her. This place is so special to her, this place that takes so many lives. This is where ours begin.

“Bayla, it's alright.” I shouted but wasn’t because a massive brown dragon with two black horns on its head swooped down out of the sky at that moment and grabbed Bayla around the waist and lifted her off the ground. Her scream echoed through my chest. I could feel it in my soul. I screamed with her.

“Nooo!!!!”

I kept running, I have to save her, no not Bayla please anyone but her. I could hear her shouting my name. Please, Please not Bayla. The dragon rose high high into the air then flew around the mountain and was gone. Taking Baylas screams of terror with it. I sank to my knees staring at what had just happened. It was over so quickly, What had just happened? She's been to the meadow hundreds of times and this never happened. Why now?

I don’t know how long I waited for the dragon to bring her back. I waited and waited. Until I heard gasping sobs behind me I spun around hope leaping in my chest. It sank just as fast. It was Mable, she was clutching a pair of shoes to her chest. Tears streaked her face. She choked out in gasping sobbs.

"I..saw..what...happened…is..she dead?" she whipped her face and started crying uncontrollably.

“No, not yet.” I reached out and hugged her. I tried so hard to hold back my own tears, a few slipped through. Bayla, how am I going to find you?