Page 1 of The Dragon Maiden
Chapter One
Valora
My feet hurt, my belly was empty, and best of all, my mood was foul. For almost a year, I had traversed thousands of miles searching for my brother, Ronan, always just seeming to miss him as I traveled from town to town. I desperately missed home. If I closed my eyes, I could almost recall the scent of my mother’s freshly baked bread wafting through the air, the perfect start to a morning. My stomach growled at the memory, protesting at the fact that I had nothing edible left in my pack. Yesterday, I’d run out of food and needed to find a place to purchase more. Hopefully there would be bread.
The Shadowvale Mountains, named for the clan that inhabited them, had been in view for a few days now. I knew if I followed their silhouettes, I would eventually come across a town. Mountains meant dragons and dragons meant villages. All dragons took up residence in the mountain ranges. There were five distinct ranges strewn across the continent, each governed by a different clan of dragons. Their kind had worked out a treaty ages ago that in return for their help and protection, humans would provide labor and goods for them.
Further out from the mountains, there were a few settlements, too far from the dragons’ watchful eyes. Due to the remoteness of those towns, they had more freedom on how to use their resources, only needing to provide goods or taxes. My village provided lumber for the Shadowvale clan. What they used it for, I had no idea. They lived in the mountains, so surely there was no need for buildings.
As expected, around midday, I came across a village. The houses were small and close together, arranged in a circle around the town square, where I assumed a market would be. As I approached, I could see stalls set up, but all were vacant. In the center of the town square was a platformed stage, but that too was empty. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Something was wrong, but I did need food. Otherwise, I would have to wait until I came across the next town.
To my surprise, only a handful of people were outside. On a lovely spring day like this, I would have expected children running around. The weather was cool with a nice breeze, a wonderful day to be out in the fresh air. In a village of this size, usually more people would be bustling about.
I could feel eyes on me as I walked through the nearly empty square, both from the people hiding inside, staring through their windows, and the few that were out with me.
Taking another look at the empty stalls, I approached the nearest person. He was a bearded old man, his hair peppered with a few black hairs. His leathery face was well-wrinkled, and his worn clothes had seen better days. As I walked over to him, he watched me with a dark expression.
“Excuse me, but is there anywhere I can buy food or supplies?” I tried to sound as polite as possible. He did not seem like the type who had much patience by the way he glared at me.
He looked past me before brushing by, hurrying into a nearby house and slamming the door behind him. I was shocked by his behavior, and when I turned to look at the other people in the square, hoping one of them would be of help, my jaw dropped as I realized they had all disappeared as well.
The feeling that something was off grew as my stomach turned from hungry gurgles to nervous roiling. Trying to remain calm, I began to walk out of town, resigning myself to another hungry day. The sooner I got out of there, the better. Hopefully, the next town would be more welcoming.
With my head down, I walked to the other end of the square, doing my best to ignore the prickling stares through the windows. People were not trying to hide their attention, children pressed their faces against the glass. My pack shifted, and something inside poked my back uncomfortably, most likely my father’s book of stories. I shrugged off my pack and knelt to rearrange the contents. My heart skipped a beat at seeing the charred book, one of the only things I had left from the fire. The other was my mother’s brooch, pinned to the inside of my pack so it would not get lost. I moved the book to the bottom of the pack, wrapping it in a blanket and shuffling a few other items around.
Suddenly, a large shadow passed over me and a gust of wind came from behind, blowing my raven hair into my face. I clawed desperately with one hand to try to see, my other hand gripped on my pack. Before I could look, I was swept off the ground. Immediately, my stomach dropped as I watched the ground quickly disappear from below and looked at the two green claws wrapped firmly around my midsection. I scrambled to close my pack, a few unimportant items already falling, plummeting through the air below me.
As I looked up, a scream erupted from my throat, disappearing into the wind. Above me was a scaly belly with two gigantic wings quickly pumping the air.
A dragon had kidnapped me, one that was in a hurry.
We were flying so quickly that my eyes watered, the wind instantly chilling me as it whipped through my clothes. The roiling in my stomach had gotten worse and I struggled to see straight. I guess for once being hungry did have its benefits. If I had eaten today, I was sure my stomach’s contents would have been expelled by now.
The scenery below sped by, the forest I had spent weeks traversing through passing in mere minutes. My eyes were glued downwards until all views of the ground disappeared entirely as the dragon took us through the clouds.
What use am I to this dragon?I thought.What does it want with me? Am I going to be punished for entering that village?A shiver went down my spine at my next thought and my stomach lurched.Is it planning to eat me?
Chapter Two
Valora
As soon as I had the pleasant thought of being eaten, the dragon entered a steep dive. Another scream of terror escaped me before I could stop it. I could feel my stomach moving to my throat, my mouth flooding with moisture. My hands gripped my pack in whitened fists as I struggled to hold back my vomit.
We came back through the clouds and I could see the ground once more. The dragon dove straight for the clifftops, towards an entrance high up on the rock face. It was a lone entrance as far as I could see, accessible only by flight. Based on how steeply we dove, that was where he was taking me, and as we approached, I closed my eyes, bracing myself for impact.
My heart quickened as I felt the claws release me. I tumbled to the ground, nearly face-planting on the hard, rocky floor. My knees and arms ached from the impact and my bag flew from my hands as I attempted to catch myself. Several moments passed as I caught my breath, trying to figure out which way was up. As I righted myself, my stomach heaved violently and I spilled its contents all over the floor, a bitter aftertaste left behind. Slowly, I wiped my mouth and noticed a pair of glittering, cobalt claws in front of me. These were different than the ones that had brought me there, but were no less sharp and dangerous. They would easily be able to slice me open if their owner was so inclined.
Leaning back on my heels, I looked up into the imposing face of a dragon. Smoke poured from his nostrils, his silver eyes shining ominously. Spikes protruded from his forehead and continued down his spine, towards a pointed tail that wrapped around his legs. A pair of giant, leathery wings folded against his shoulder blades, a darker hue than his deep blue scales.
From my abdomen, I felt a tug, and I placed a hand on my stomach, trying to calm my insides. In my periphery, I could see a gathering of other dragons, but my attention was fixed on the one in front of me—the one closest who could roast me alive and eat me if he wanted. I felt my mouth open into a gape, never having seen a creature of this size so close before. His glittering blue scales shimmered in the sunlight streaming from the entrance.
“I thought I told you to bring her here unharmed,” he spoke, his gaze shifting to look behind me.
I looked backwards to see a light-green dragon who looked almost ashamed, if I did not know better. The color of his scales matched the claws that had brought me there. His stature was smaller and thinner than the one standing in front of me, his spikes spaced farther apart.
“I’m sorry, my Lord, but I knew that you wanted one swiftly,” the green one said, his eyes averted.
“But not damaged,” the first one spoke again. “You will be punished for this, do you understand? You must be more careful in the future.”