by Ashley Frost
CHAPTER ONE
The Black Menace is the most feared dragon in the world. He resides in the High Mountains and rules the Everstone clan. Across Gaia, there are tales of him felling kingdoms on a whim, slaying armies, and inflicting terror wherever his wings soar. Strangely, he is also known as “the Peacemaker” or “the Messiah.” Academics attribute the relative peace in the highlands to the treaty he forged between the two kingdoms surrounding the mountains.
Constance wrapped her fingers around the lizard’s head and crushed it. Quick and humane, like how her mother taught her.
“Esrea misreagou,” she muttered, speaking the ancient chant. A bluish light swirled from the lizard and curled around her fingers—it’s soul. Soul magic was an archaic art. Few knew of its existence, much less how it worked. Every animal had a soul that could be re-purposed, even a small lizard.
She breathed out a soft sigh and waved her fingers over a concoction she had brewed moments ago. The herbal mixture glowed, then dimmed, welcoming the power the soul provided.
The soul would have to make up for the insufficient herbs.
A tapping sound echoed from the hallway and a frail-looking man, her father, stepped into the cottage. “We’ve done it again,” he said with his willowy voice. She worried for her father’s health. The stress of caring for the village’s sick made him weary, as much he tried to hide it. Eduard hung his tattered coat over a moldy chair before rushing over to place his hands on Constance’s shoulders.
She swept the dead lizard aside, hoping he didn’t notice the small droplets of blood on the table.
“Is it me, or are yer brews becoming more potent? Madame Soren’s little boy walked out of the infirmary today all on his own. He couldn’t even sit up a mere day ago.”
Guilt boiled in Constance’s chest. She had tried to not make that brew too strong to be inconspicuous. She had harvested the souls of almost half a dozen large insects for it. The boy had suffered from a fever. He could have recovered on his own eventually, but as quickly without her intervention. The soul magic made all the difference.
Uneasiness swelled in her chest. She forced it away and attempted a smile. “Madame Soren must be happy.”
Witchcraft was feared in most regions. Nobody knew that better than she did. She should not be relying on it so much.
“You wouldn’t believe it. Madame Soren left with her son almost glowing with joy. Can you imagine that woman, glowing? She’s always wagging her crusty ol’ finger at someone, nagging about how rude they are or something like that.” He shook his head, still smiling. “You’re a miracle worker, Constance my dear. What did you use in that brew again?”
“Sparroweed.”
Eduard cocked his head. “We have enough of that?”
Truth was, they didn’t. Their funds ran low and herbs cost a lot of money. Eduard giving away medicines for free hardly helped their situation. “I used the last of it,” Constance lied.
“Again? I swore I bought another batch last week. And sparroweed is a very common herb. It shouldn’t have been that potent.” He placed a finger on his chin. “Maybe Madame Soren’s son wasn’t that sick after all.”
She pursed her lips and grimaced. “I doubt he was. I’ve seen him running about a lot. He’s a healthy boy.” She lowered her head. “Too bad about the sparroweed, though. I used the last of it. The cold seems to be about this time of year. It’s getting chilly.”
“Well, luckily, Madame Soren was kind enough to give me some coppers. She’s one of those richer folks. Can’t say the same for most people in this village.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’ll go to Everndale to get more of them supplies tomorrow. Anything else we’re running low on?” The city of Everndale was only two hours away on horseback and Eduard traveled there often.
“I think I can manage with what we have,” she lied again, not wanting to worry her father.
While Eduard looked away, she peered into their medicine cabinet. Most, if not all, of their herbs were running low. Hopefully, that would cease to be a problem after today.
She had a plan, albeit a rather silly one.
But if it pulled through, Eduard would never have to worry about not having enough herbs again. Dragons bless them , he would even be able to eat proper meals. Their family hasn’t tasted meat in months.
Karsi, her mother, burst into the hut, waving her arms. “Did you hear?” The woman was usually plumper, but there hadn’t been as much food available this year—the harvest didn’t go as well as planned. An unfortunate skirmish with bandits had left a third of the crops burnt.
The shortage left most farmers hoarding what little food they had. Karsi’s wide girth had narrowed, though the gleeful rosy tint on her cheeked remained.
“Sit your pretty bum down,” Eduard said. “You’re going to drop those flowers. Why are you carrying them anyhow? Aren’t those the last from the garden?”
“I’m helping out some of our neighbors. It’s happening again. Can you believe it? Five years have passed with us barely noticing.”
Eduard furrowed his brows, still confused. “What happening? Can you be clearer you damn woman?”
“The Offering , nitwit.”
Constance swallowed. She was well aware of the event.
“Girls from all over Yvrdeen are here today, lining themselves up for those dragons. Nina and her friends are gathering flowers to try and pretty up their daughters.”
Eduard widened his eyes in surprise, then chuckled. “Even if you give that girl a dragon’s load of flowers, it’s not gonna pretty up her face.”
Karsi scowled. “Be a little more respectful. You shouldn’t be making fun of people.”
“It’s not like she’s here.”
“It’s not nice to talk behind someone else’s back. I know for a fact that doing so will make your tongue fall off.”
“Well, that’s obviously a myth and not a fact,” Eduard said, softly, so Karsi didn’t hear. “Your tongue hasn’t fallen off yet.”
Many girls dreamt about marrying a dragon. Every so often, one of those magnificent creatures flew over the village. They stayed above the clouds most of the time, so a dragon was a rare sight.
They exuded power and commanded to be feared and respected. Despite their frightening presence, the girls yearned to belong to one of them. Perhaps being loved by a creature so powerful was tempting, but Constance never understood the appeal.
The females had to be taken from their families. Sure, they could visit, but only once every five years, when the dragons came down for the Offering. Constance always wondered why they weren’t allowed to visit more often. Karsi and Eduard were her life. She couldn’t imagine staying away from them for so long.
And yet, she was volunteering herself for the event today.
The dragons paid handsome sums to the families of the chosen girls. Her parents tried to hide their problems with smiles, but if they didn’t earn more money soon, they’d have to close their medicinal practices and start farming. The villagers would have to live without any healers.
People didn’t think much about medicine, and it was easy not to. Sickness only came once every few months to each household. The villagers were relatively healthy. So, most households didn’t save for healthcare, and when the time came to fork out expensive sums for herbs, they couldn’t.
Eduard was kind enough to treat them for free, but that took a toll on their own savings. He used to work in Everndale, and city folks paid well. Most nobles resided in Everndale, and they had heaps of money to waste. Eduard used to have enough savings, but those ran dry eventually, considering the hefty price of some herbs.
“Nina is so eager to send her
daughter off,” Karsi said. “It’s the money, I’m sure. She has plenty of sons. What is one daughter if she’s got so many sons as back up?”
Eduard harrumphed. “We only have one daughter. And I ain’t sending our girl off to marry one of those…” He drew circles in the air with a finger. “…things.”
“I’m going,” Constance said softly, but her proclamation fell on deaf ears.
Karsi nodded. “Our daughter is too good for one of those scaly damnations.” Only her parents would address dragons as “damnations.” The rest of the village revered them as gods.
“Too beautiful,” Eduard said.
Constance scratched the back of her neck. “I really appreciate the praise, but—”
“Too smart,” Karsi chimed in.
Eduard made a grunt of agreement. “Our daughter is one of the most intelligent women I know. Always has her nose stuck in a book.” Eduard threw a log into the fireplace, then shot them a look of surprise. “I almost forgot.” He went to the chair where his rucksack sat and fished out an object. “This is for you. One of our patients just finished reading it. She gave it to me as payment.”
Constance accepted the tattered book. Excitement crawled through her despite how ruined its papers looked. Books always piqued her interest and new ones weren’t easily affordable. She tried to read the title, but the cover was too worn out. “You really should start accepting money as payment,” she grumbled. She appreciated the gift anyhow. She opened the book and there was the title, printed on the first page: Rayse, The Black Menace, Accounts of Dragon Keep and Its Feared Ruler.
“It’s about dragons,” she said, disheartened. Dragons were interesting, but she figured most accounts of them were false or greatly exaggerated, even the written ones. Dragons weren’t known to have many encounters with the human world, except for the Offering.
“The patient was Laliyah’s daughter. Ma-Marie, was it? Or Maria?” Eduard said.
“Marzia,” Constance corrected.
“Ah yes. That’s the name.” He pointed to the book. “Well, she’s your age, and she was reading that. So, I assumed you’d like what ordinary girls are into.”
“I’ll read it.” She smiled faintly.
“You don’t like it, do you?” Eduard scratched the back of his head. “I forget you’re not too ‘ordinary.’”
Constance narrowed her eyes.
“I don’t mean it in a bad way!”
“I know, Papa. I was just teasing.” She and Marzia were friends. Marzia was the quiet type and read a lot like she did. Unlike her, however, Marzia hung around with their other people more than she did. Constance tried to mingle with them, but herb-brewing usually took up most of her day.
She heard Marzia had volunteered for the Offering this year, which was probably why she had chosen this book to read.
Constance ought to give it a look through as well. There could be some truths between the false stories. A dragon might choose her after all, as unlikely as it seemed.
“I should get going,” Karsi said. “Nina is waiting.”
“Honestly,” Eduard said, “why can’t she get flowers from someone else? Our backyard looks like a desert now. First the herbs, then the flowers. What? Are they going to take the grass next?”
“Oh, shut up. Stop being so selfish. You hardly ever go to the backyard anyway.”
“I like to think about it.”
“Have some imagination, then.”
“Um,” Constance said, standing up.
Her mother peeked her head around the entrance. “Yes, sweetheart?”
Eduard glanced up at her curiously.
“It’s… nothing. I wanted to wish you a safe trip. There are dragons in the skies, after all.” She didn’t have to courage to confess her plans the second time. Mentally, she sighed as she sat back down.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Karsi said. “I’m too old to get picked.”
Eduard rolled his eyes. “I’ll say.”
Her mother shot him a threatening glare, then exited the hut.
***
Songs from harpsichords and violins danced through the air. The village looked like someone had poured a bucket of rainbows all over it. Wreaths of flowers hung from thatched roofs. Her neighbors drooped ‘Welcome’ signs over their front doors, eager to invite the winged gods to their village. A full moon glowed in the night sky, warming the decorations with a bluish light.
Constance found the whole event twisted, in a way. The dragons only descended to take the daughters of these homes, but everyone worshiped them as divine beings. Her neighbors should be beside themselves with tears, not interlocking arms and dancing around fires.
Then again, the dragons did provide huge sums of money. She was lucky her parents didn’t view her that way, but many villagers saw their daughters as commodities.
She paced toward the fields where they held the gathering. Unfamiliar faces crossed her paths. Some of them wore funny hats and clothes that looked too thin for the cold weather. Nobles, she assumed. They’d only visit such a place for the Offering. The city lords would never choose such a rundown village to hold an event this grand, but the dragons had the power of decision. The dragons wanted to hold the event here, and so the nobles had no choice.
She scanned the crowd for her parents, but a shrill voice interrupted her. “Constance! Over here.”
Three girls, including Marzia, sat next to a fruit stall. They had donned their hairs with over-the-top garlands and ribbons.
Constance needed to tell Karsi and Eduard about her plan, but her friends were waiting. How could she say no? That would be terribly rude.
“Oh dear. Your hair looks awfully plain,” Josephine said.
Constance pinched a lock of her dull, brown hair. Should she have spent more time on making herself look presentable? It hadn’t crossed her mind. No dragon was going to pick her now. She heard some girls used red tints from rose petals to make their skin more appealing. She should have given that a try.
Josephine pulled her to a nearby chair and sat her down. The twenty-year-old picked up a strand of her hair. “Let me help you braid this. You need to look pretty for the dragons.”
“Constance isn’t going to volunteer as a sacrifice. Goodness no,” Anna replied. “She’s our village’s talented healer. What would we do without her?”
“Are you all volunteering?” Constance said, wary. She wouldn’t know what to do if all her friends disappeared to Dragon Keep. She’d be left all alone…
…but then again, she could be the only one leaving. She still found it difficult to think of herself getting chosen. She wasn’t pretty like the other girls. She wasn’t sure if Josephine’s last-minute efforts would help much.
Anna laughed. “Of course not. I still must help my parents out in the fields. They said they’ll only let me go if they have enough children for picking cotton, but the whole village knows they’re too old to be having any more children now. It’s a shame, really. I’ve always wanted to be picked by a dragon.”
Josephine sniffed. “They’re giant lizards. I don’t get what’s the big deal about them.”
“But you’re the one always talking about them,” Constance said, almost turning around before Josephine nudged her head back.
Anna waved her hand. “Her mother is sending her sister in her place. Says that Josie here is better at keeping the ledgers.”
“I’m older,” Josephine whined. “I came out first, so I should get to go first. Marzia is the lucky one here. She’s getting sent off.”
Marzia fiddled with her thumbs and looked down.
“She’s nervous,” Anna confided.
“They’re giant lizards, like you mentioned,” Marzia said. “The books say they eat humans.”
Anna dismissed Marzia’s comment with a wave of her hand. “You read too much.”
“What if they take away the girls not to marry them, but to eat them? Have you ever wondered about that?” Marzia shivered.
Josephine sho
ok her head. “Nonsense. Stop making up things, sweetheart. We’re all told—”
“Yes, but nobody has seen Dragon Keep. It’s all written accounts and hearsay.”
Marzia’s speculations were making Constance nervous too. She rested a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Not many girls get picked anyway, so you don’t have to worry.”
“You’re jinxing her,” Anna spat.
“I’m not. I’m just stating the truth. Not many dragons come to the meeting. And even then, not all of them select girls.”
Marzia nodded. “She’s right. That’s good, isn’t it? I read in a book that, averagely, only four girls are taken each offering. Look at how many there are here.”
They all paused a moment to study the competition. Tens of women of marriable age passed them each second.
Anna casually slapped her friend on her shoulder. “Are you chickening out now? Yesterday, you were blushing and worrying about the flowers in your hair.”
“Well, fantasy feels much different from reality. And this is starting to feel increasingly real,” Marzia said before gnawing her lower lip.
“Can’t you just tell them you don’t want to go?” Constance asked, second guessing her own decision.
“No, unfortunately.” Marzia said. “They’ve submitted my name to the magistrate. They’re expecting us to be there. I read that in the past, too many girls backed out and they didn’t manage to find enough sacrifices to offer the dragons. That year, not a single girl was picked and I don’t think the dragon ruler was very happy about it. After the incident, the city council decreed all girls who missed the event after submitting their name were to have an ear cut off and imprisoned for ten years.”
“An ear?” Josephine said, cringing. She brought her fingers up to the side of her head.
“I rather like my ears,” Marzia said.
So, no backing out . She should have done more research before sending a pigeon to the officials. Maybe the pigeon didn’t make the flight.
She doubted fate favored her as much. Steeling her resolve, she clenched her fist. The village’s sick needed Eduard’s practice to continue running. The money from the Offering was their very last hope. What would the ill do once they ran out of sparroweed and other herbs? She refused to back out.
