The Untamed

Chapter 1

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. At least that’s what they would like for you to think, my mother would say, crouched over her cauldron as she stirred. The dragons had always been there, all that had changed was that humanity could now see them. I stood at the edge of the wood, careful to stay out of sight as I watched the city’s occupants as they threw their belongings on carts, fleeing the city. Would they make it out of the valley in time? Would their desperate flight prevent the inevitable? Gripping my basket of herbs, my knuckles were white in anticipation. I’d never seen a real dragon before.

Turning, I made my way back to my mother’s house. Pulling my shawl more closely about my head I passed through the flock of chickens and around the few soldiers that milled cautiously about the yard, refusing to enter the house. They said not a word to me.

“We’ve always known there were dragons,” mother’s voice filled the house, “as far back as our family line goes, they’ve always been here.” She grumbled into her brew. I nodded purely out of habit, before handing her the herbs she’d requested. I then dutifully went about collecting the chicken bones from an earlier visitor off the table.

The captain of the guard was not amused by mother’s tales. “I haven’t time for your superstition’s old woman, the beast will be here by nightfall, and I have been tasked with clearing the city.”

She cackled at this, leering up at him with her gap-toothed smile. “Then you should hurry away little man, I haven’t time to entertain you this afternoon.” So, saying she turned back to her brew, humming to herself.

We didn’t often get visitors, and those that did dare approach the little house carved into the mountainside, were wary of my mother. They would bargain for little talismans or potions before scampering from the house, eager to escape. The captain seemed unfazed or more likely unaware, of where he was.

The captain looked helplessly at me, “Child, have a care for your grandmother and tell her to leave the valley.”

I looked up then, allowing my shawl to fall away. Grinning at how his face morphed into horror at the sight of me, his hand fell to the pommel of his sword. My crimson eyes met his as I smiled, “My mother doesn’t often change her mind sir, but we appreciate the concern.” For the first time the captain seemed to take in his surroundings, and perhaps realize why his men had refused to accompany him inside this obscure hut. From the bones hanging from the ceiling to the lights that floated midair, one had to wonder how he’d earned his rank. His eyes remained fixed on me, his feet stumbling back on their own accord. I smirked, I loved to watch humans like him squirm.

To be fair, his reaction was deserved. My kind generally did not survive long. After hatching, we were either crushed by our mothers, or the fire in our blood consumed us. I had been lucky, my mother had stumbled upon my nest and witnessed my hatching, she had taken me in, keeping me alive purely by her potions. “You see captain,” my mother said never once looking away from her brew, “why should I fear another dragon?”

The captain let out a nervous little squeak before sprinting from the house, his men fast on his heels.

Mother tsked under her breath, “Well-meaning men, who assume they know best, those are the most dangerous child. Never let your fears have as much control over you as his do him. Fears like that lead to savagery. It wasn’t a hundred years after realizing dragons existed that humans, fearing what they might do, slaughtered the riders, an entire race,” she snapped her bony fingers, and a small flame flicked above her hand before winking out of existence, “Gone like that.”

I nodded, returning to my task of clearing the table. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before. In the two hundred years since the riders had been obliterated, the dragons had grown wild and were then hunted down for sport. Humans had rid themselves of the riders, but now had to face the matter of contending with uncontrollable and powerful beasts. They were not the great mythical beasts that had been before, now they were wild animals pillaging and plundering as they saw fit. Still, I could not suppress the giddiness that had taken hold in the pit of my stomach at the captain’s first mention of a dragon heading this way. For the first time in my fifteen years, I might see one of my own kind.

As the sky grew darker, my spirits continued to soar. Mother lifted her concoction from the flames, bedding the coals, there’s no reason to attract undue attention to themselves she said. She handed me my portion of the brew. “Eat child, or it might hear grumbling of your stomach.”

Taking the offered bowl, the two of us went to sit on the front stoop, each keeping our eyes trained on the sky as it grew steadily darker. The clouds where stacked high, like pillars holding up the sky, blocking out what little light remained as the sun continued to fade. My mind drifted away at the idea of finally catching a glimpse of the creatures that were my natural family. The wind battered against the house, moaning through the trees as they twisted in unnatural circles overhead. “Are you sure we will be safe?” I couldn’t help but ask, “Is this a good idea?” my heart fluttered in my chest despite the sinking feeling in my stomach.

She looked at me with a crooked grin on her face, “We’ll know soon enough, fear should not be ignored but it should never be given complete control over a person’s decisions.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“You’re not? Well, I am, I’m afraid this dragon might burn my home to the ground and me along with it! How is it one so young as you isn’t afraid?”

“I . . . I suppose I am, just a little bit.” Surely my kind would not be so wild, I moved to say more. At that same instant, a deafening roar ripped through the sky, filling the air. I clapped my hands over my ears. Mother said something, but her words were lost as another roar echoed through the valley.

There was a flash of light high above. I stood up; I could have sworn I saw a wing tip appear from the clouds before disappearing from view yet again. The onslaught of the rising gale tore at my hair, mother tried to speak again, but her words were lost. Where was it? My heart beat faster in my chest. She grabbed my arm, tearing my gaze from the sky I looked to where she was pointing. There was a light. Something, or rather, someone was in the forest, and they were moving, running toward us. The figure tore through the forest, a torch in its fist, in an instant he breaks through the forest edge, and stand before us.

A second roar thundered overhead, this time sounding more frustrated. “Impossible,” mother muttered before waiving her hand the torch immediately flickered and died leaving us once more in darkness. The boy, he couldn’t be much older than I was, stumbled before falling to his knees. I crept closer; only did I notice the blood running down his face. The forest shuddered and groaned all around. The boy looked at me before his pale blue eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed. Mother was at my side in an instant. She motioned for me to take his arm as she took the other. Together we drug him into the house.

Once inside mother hurried to close the door and cover the windows. Urging the fire back to life, I took to lighting candles to better see. “Child,” she said crouched over the boy, “fetch some water, be quick.” She handed me the pail. Retrieving my shawl, I darted outdoors. The sky had grown nearly black, the gale still tearing through the surroundings. I sprinted for the well, my eyes still on the sky. Where was it? I hurried to haul up the bucket. There was an ear-piercing screech above, followed by an eruption of fire, as the city went up in flames. My blood ran cold as, for a brief instant, the entire body of the beast seemed to glow behind the clouds, it hung above the city its massive wings flapping to keep its massive body in the air. I could barely make out the shape of it, as its body winked out of sight. A jet of fire spewed forth from its maw, engulfing the city in a blue blaze. My chest clenched as my heart raced half in terror half in awe. The dragons of old were truly gone, and in their places were mere beasts of destruction and death.

Stumbling back to the house, the pail splashing its contents on my bare feet. Inside I hurried to mother’s side. The boy lay stretched out on the floor, just before the fire. His tan skin glinting in the firelight, the faint stripes of red stretched along his forearms, confirming my suspicions. He opened his eyes once more, blue eyes not of this world looked up at me before he fell from consciousness again. I looked at mother, “what is he?” I asked, the answer on the tip of my tongue, impossible as it might seem.

“A rider.”