“He’s got every right to voice his opinion. We’re all thinking the same thing.” The speaker was a woman about my age who would have been attractive was it not for the way hatred twisted her features.
“What is wrong with you all? Julianna hasn’t done anything to you, Lisa, or you, Aluss. You weren’t out there yesterday. I was. I saw what she’s like. She chose to risk her life to save mine. They’re not all bad people on the other side of the mountain.”
“You are such a fool, Ash,” replied Lisa. “She didn’t kill you then so she could find out where we live and bring her family back to slaughter us all. You’re such a sucker for a pretty face.”
“You’re wrong!” Ash’s hand tightened around mine. “Come on, Julianna.”
I had no choice but to follow him and leave the others behind. He took me along the same track we’d walked down the previous day, moving at such a pace he was almost dragging me.
“Wait up!” I said, barely able to keep up with him.
“Sorry!” He turned and kicked a rock behind us. “I’m just so angry. They knew you were going to join us and they treated you like that anyway.”
“How can you expect them to treat me any differently? I’m more surprised at the way you treat me.”
“What do you mean?” His eyes softened as he looked towards me. There was a hint of something in them, not fear exactly, but worry.
“My people killed your father and countless others and yet you treat me with such warmth. I don’t understand it.”
I saw him glance behind me to see if there was anyone in earshot.
“I want you to understand that I don’t blame you for the death of my father.”
“The others do.”
“Aluss looks mean but really he’s just stupid. He’s all brawn and no brain. He likes to flex his muscles and throw his weight around but you’ve nothing to fear from him.”
“What about Lisa?” From nowhere a surge of jealousy rose up within me. It was as though just saying her name gave her some connection to Ash. I couldn’t even begin to fathom why I cared, but I knew that I did. I almost didn’t want to hear what he was about to say.
“Lisa was my girlfriend.”
“Was?” I knew it was none of my business but I couldn’t keep myself from asking.
“We dated a while last year. She cheated on me with Aluss.”
“Oh,” I said, not knowing how to respond. I couldn’t deny that a feeling of relief rushed through me, as undeniable and as strange as the jealousy I had felt moments before.
We walked in silence around the perimeter of the little village. Once on the other side, the terrain was more rugged than the farmland. Soft rolling hills covered by the greenest grass and hundreds of pretty pink and red flowers made a valley for the clearest stream I’d ever seen to wind through.
We crossed the stream, stepping on flat stones that had been placed there for that very reason. As we strolled up the low hill, a couple of dragons took off by the cliffs, a large gold one followed by a smaller green one. They flew closer to us, getting larger as they soared above our heads.
“That’s Aluss and Lisa,” said Ash
“Where are they going?” I squinted into the sun as they disappeared over the cliffs at the opposite side.
“To hunt,” he replied, sitting on the soft grass. I followed his lead and sat beside him, trying not to flatten any of the flowers as I did.
I gazed out over the village, seeing the farmland in the distance.
“You have cows and pigs. Why do you need to hunt?”
“We do farm, but it’s not enough for us. You’ve seen the size of us when we are dragons. It takes an inordinate amount of energy for us to change forms. We have huge appetites. Most of the food we eat is hunted. Aluss and Lisa will bring home a few goats between them, or maybe if we’re lucky, a couple of the wild buffalo that live on the plains on the other side. After lunch, another group will go out hunting and we’ll eat whatever they bring back for our dinner.”
“There are a lot of you and you so easily outnumber the people in my village. Why don’t you...?”
“Why don’t we kill your people?” He finished the question so that I didn’t have to. The shame I felt was so overwhelming that I couldn’t look at him. Instead, I gazed at the broken stem of a flower on the ground near my feet—anything to stop me having to raise my eyes to his.
“My people do not kill. We hunt for food but we do not hunt out of malice. You and I are the same really. Yes, I have the power to turn into a dragon but that doesn’t make me a savage beast.”
“I don’t think you’re a savage beast,” I said, flashing my eyes towards him to find almost a smile on his face.
“But yesterday you did.”
“Yesterday I didn’t know you.”
“And therein lies the solution.” He picked a flower and handed it to me, taking me by surprise.
“Thank you,” I replied, taking the flower from him. It was one of the red ones, with a long stem and six perfectly shaped petals. I didn’t have to bring it to my nose to smell it; the whole field was filled with the fragrance of these flowers. Nothing remotely like them grew on our side of the cliffs. “These flowers are so beautiful. They’re perfect in every way.”
Ash just smiled which made me blush. It occurred to me that this was the first time in my life that a boy had given me flowers. I turned my head away to hide the color in my cheeks and went back to the conversation we’d been having before he’d handed the flower to me.
“What do you mean by solution?”
“It’s easy to kill someone when you don’t know them. Even easier when you believe them to be dangerous, and yet hand a man a sword to kill an equal, someone they know, and the job is a much harder one. You wouldn’t kill me now because you’ve taken the time to get to know me.”
“I didn’t want to kill you yesterday when I didn’t know you at all.”
“Ah, but you are like that flower in your hand.”
I could feel the blush deepen in my cheeks at his words. I’d called the flower beautiful. Was he saying the same about me?
He lay back on the carpet of grass, his hands behind his head. I followed his lead and lay back next to him, gazing up into the pale blue sky and enjoying the heat of the sun on my face. A small dragon with a yellow belly flew overhead.
“What do you see?” asked Ash as the dragon soared across the sky above us.
“I see a dragon.”
“Yesterday it was a dragon. What are you seeing now?”
I looked at the dragon once more, tilting my head to follow its path. Above its belly, its skin was a dark red. Something about it caught in my consciousness. I’d seen that color already today.
“I think it’s your sister.”
“Lucy. Yes, it is. She likes you. When I told her last night that a villager from the other side of the cliffs was staying with us, she was so excited I had to order her not to go barging into your room. She’s been begging to be allowed to fly over the cliffs since she first learned to talk, but she’s too young. It’s dangerous for her over there.”
I thought back to the whirlwind of red hair and the exuberant little girl I’d met only a couple of hours before. She was so sweet and full of life. Would the slayers really have killed her? With a heavy heart, I knew that we would. We’d had smaller dragons brought to our village before. Why hadn’t it occurred to anyone that these smaller dragons were nothing more than children?
“This needs to be stopped! Your sister should be free to fly wherever she wants without fear. We have to do something about this.”
“That’s why I brought you here. So you could see who we really are. Do you think you’ll be able to convince your people that we are no threat?”
I looked back up into the sky as I pondered Ash’s question. Lucy had disappeared from view. My father was a proud man and he was set in his ways. I’d been brought up a slayer, as had he and all the other villagers. However much I’d like to tell As
h yes, I wasn’t sure if I could change centuries of hate, but as the small dragon flew back into view, I knew then that I’d do everything I could to try.
Chapter Nine
The sky darkened as a dragon blocked out the sun overhead.
“That’s our cue, come on.”
I sat up to see Aluss and Lisa pass overhead. Both had something in their mouths.
“Cue for what?” I rubbed my eyes and yawned. We’d spent the whole day lazing on the grassy hillside amongst the flowers, enjoying the sun and chatting effortlessly. It had been the most blissful way to while away the day and I didn’t want it to end. Not just yet.
“Dinner. You must be hungry. You didn’t even get breakfast this morning.”
“Do we really have to go back now?” My time with Ash had been perfect and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it to end. I felt so comfortable around him. He listened when I talked about life on the other side of the cliffs without passing judgment, and he told me about his father and what a great man he’d been. Despite the fact that I was starving, going back to the other dragons meant I had to share his company and I wasn’t ready for that. I liked having him all to myself. It felt as though going back amongst the other dragons would change everything although I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.
Unfortunately, my stomach didn’t have quite the same thoughts and betrayed me by gurgling loudly.
Ash jumped to his feet, holding his hand out to me. I’d held his hand before but after spending the day with him, it suddenly felt different. Before, he’d been either guiding me somewhere or offering support. This time it felt like something more. I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet, telling myself that he was only helping me up. It would have worked if he’d have let go once I was upright but he didn’t. How was it possible for all my nerve endings to congregate in just one place? I had never been so aware of the palm of my hand before. His was warm and his touch made me feel safe but nervous. It was only as we walked back through the village that I realized he’d not given me the tour we’d set out to do in the first place.
In the distance, roaring flames lighted the cliff fronts in a warm orange glow. It caused me to pause.
“That’s Aluss cooking the food,” Ash said, gripping my hand tighter at my hesitation and pulling me forward.
The same group of dragons I’d seen this morning was sitting around the campfire. Even from a distance, I could sense an easy familiarity between them. It made me feel like even more of an outsider. Nerves took over as I recalled the way some of them had spoken to me this morning. I slowed my pace as we got close.
“I can’t do this. I’m not really hungry.”
Ash stopped and turned to me. “They’re good people, really. Old prejudices die hard but that’s why you need to stay strong.”
“Their hatred towards me is understandable.”
“They’ve been less than welcoming but they don’t hate you. They just need to get used to you. I won’t let them hurt you. I’ll be there with you the whole time, right by your side.”
My nerves dissipated slightly but I was still scared when we joined the circle. The chatting stopped and everything became silent as they all turned their eyes toward me.
Lisa threw me a look of pure loathing as I took a seat on one of the rocks, doing nothing to allay my fears. I gripped Ash’s hand harder as he sat next to me.
Edeline walked toward me carrying a plate heaped with food. Whatever it was smelled delicious. Flame-cooked meat had never looked more appealing. There was also bread and salad on the plate she handed to me.
She addressed me while everyone watched. “I trust you had a good day?”
“We did. Thank you,” I replied nervously. I felt like I was center stage with all eyes upon me, or like prey waiting to be devoured in the midst of hungry carnivores. Either way, it was disconcerting to have everyone looking at me, waiting for me to say or do something.
“I have an apology to make. We all do,” began Edeline, loud enough for the whole group to hear. “Ash is very important to us and it has long been a dream of his to unite the dragon folk with the slayers so we could all come to understand one another and live in some kind of harmony. I must confess to thinking it a harmless daydream on his part and dismissed it as such. Yesterday, his dream became a plan when he brought you to us, and I for one felt uneasy about what it actually meant. We’ve all lived under the threat of your people for so long that they have become almost mythical. We’ve all suffered losses as a direct result of what your villagers have done and it has made us both angry and scared. However, we as a group have come to realize that if we treat you the way that we ourselves have been treated, then nothing can possibly change.
“Ash made it very clear that you had the chance to kill him and you made the decision not to. I know of your custom of having the first kill on your eighteenth birthday and I understand how important it is to your people. It is a rite of passage. It must have taken great strength of character and compassion to choose to let Ash live, therefore we must offer the same compassion to you. We’ve all had a talk and we would officially like to welcome you to our land. You are a guest of Ash’s and that makes you a guest of all of us.”
I peeked around to see Ash beaming next to me. Edeline’s speech had left me more than a little overwhelmed. I carefully placed the plate to my side and stood to give her a hug. Somewhere, someone in the circle began to clap and then one by one, everyone else joined in, first by clapping, then by stamping their feet in a cacophony of noise sounding like the center of a thunderstorm. When I let Edeline go and the noise had subsided, Aluss came up to me.
“I’m sorry about the way I treated you,” he huffed. “I was wrong.”
I gave him a shy smile and then, without thinking, gave him a quick peck on the cheek to which he grinned stupidly back at me. It was only when I sat back in my place that I noticed Lisa staring at me with such hatred that goosebumps sprouted on my arms and a shiver ran down my spine.
“See, I told you everything would be fine,” whispered Ash, making me turn my eyes away from Lisa. I wasn’t so sure. Okay, on the surface I had been accepted, but I still had Spear to worry about and the way Lisa looked at me told me that not everyone was so easy to forgive or to give others a chance.
The sound of music suddenly cut through the air and I looked up to find that some of the dragon people had started to play a lively jig by the side of the fire. Their instruments were completely alien to me—sets of wooden pipes, drums, and stringed instruments I had never seen before—but the music they played was joyous and fun and I couldn’t help but tap my foot as I ate my dinner. Now that the awkwardness was over, the dinner had almost turned into a party. The elder dragons were drinking something that looked suspiciously like mead and the younger ones danced around to the music.
“Is this a special occasion?” I whispered to Ash who had already finished his food and was now clapping along to the beat.
“Just dinner. It’s like this every night. Don’t you have meals like this?” he asked, his eyes focused on the band.
The only times we ate like this was when we slayed a dragon but I could hardly tell him that. As I looked around at the group of people, it struck me how at ease they were together. Laughing, joking, eating and dancing as one family. The sense of easy cohesion and community between them made it very easy for me to have a sense of belonging. It felt wonderful but I knew that I didn’t belong. These people were my sworn enemy, ingrained in me since birth, and thoughts of belonging to them were dangerous. And yet, when Lucy came to me and held out her hand for me to dance with her, I couldn’t help but laugh and follow her onto the makeshift dance area that was really no more than a circle of well-worn dirt.
She giggled as I spun her around and around, under my arm and then both of us together. She loved every minute of it and if I was honest with myself, so did I.
“Can I have this dance?”
I stopped spinning Lucy to see Ash waiting patientl
y by my side. Lucy grinned and backed off to go sit with her mother. Dancing with Lucy had been effortless and a whole lot of fun. Why was it that the thought of dancing with Ash made my stomach turn to mush and my knees turn to jelly? He took my hand and spun me around in much the same way I had with Lucy except this time it was slower.
At some point, the music had changed from a festive jig to a slow dance. With his free hand, Ash grabbed my waist and pulled me close, leaving me no choice but to drape my free arm over his shoulder. The closeness between us was electrifying and terrifying at the same. I’d danced at slayer parties many times but never like this. I could barely breathe with excitement. The closeness of his body against mine scared me but made me feel both warm and safe, like being in the center of a hurricane of new emotions.
“Tomorrow is my day to hunt. I want you to come with me.”
I was glad that my head was resting on his shoulder so he couldn’t see the expression on my face. I rearranged my features so I didn’t look so shocked, then pulled back to look him in the eye.
“I can’t fly!”
He just grinned lazily back at me. “No, but I can.” He gave me a wink and pulled me back to him. I wasn’t sure if the thumping in my chest was from nerves about tomorrow or the thrill of the now.
Chapter Ten
I barely slept a wink that night. Every time I closed my eyes I could feel myself soaring through the sky. As I finally drifted off to sleep, I woke with a jolt, free-falling through the sky only to find myself safe and warm in the bed.
The morning dawned in much the same way as the previous one, with all the dragons eating breakfast together around the huge campfire and the wonderful smell of food cooking. I gave Edeline a warm grin as I sat in the circle with the dragons. Lucy immediately came over to me and gave me a hug, and even the others smiled at me and said hello. As I looked around at the group of thirty or so people, it struck me once again just how close they all were. Every meal was like a party—festive, friendly and full of fun although the band was no longer there. I looked around for Ash and found him at the other side of the fire talking to two young men. He turned and saw me so I waved, thinking he’d wave back. Instead, he brought the two men over to meet me.
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