Kingdom of Ash and Dragons

Thalira (15 years ago)

“Please, we must go back,” I begged, pulling at the rough hem of my shift. “Father will notice we are gone from the palace gates soon. He will be angry with us.”

My three older sisters did not even look back at me. They walked ahead with straight backs, their silk slippers stepping carefully over the damp soil. Vivienne, the eldest, laughed a cruel, high sound that made the birds fly from the trees. Her hair was the color of spun gold, with a face as smooth as carved marble, but her eyes were always cold like winter ice.

“Shut your mouth, Thalira,” Vivienne said, not bothering to turn around. “Father is busy with the war council. He does not care about what a little maid does in her spare time.”

“But the sun is setting,” I pleaded, my bare feet stinging as I stepped on a sharp twig. The dirt was caked under my toenails. “The forest is dangerous at night.”

Princess Rosalind turned her head, her dark brown curls bouncing against her shoulders. She was the prettiest of the three. “The forest is only dangerous for things that do not belong here. You, however, look exactly like a wild animal with that hideous hair.”

Princess Cassandra, the youngest of the three but a few months older than my six-year-old self, snickered. “She’s stupid to have thought Father loved her because he smiles at her when the Queen is not looking.”

We walked deeper into the thick woods. The canopy above grew so dense that the golden sunlight could barely reach the forest floor. I shivered, my arms wrapping around my small frame. Two years ago, my late mother’s younger sister had led me through these same woods and I had lived with hatred from the Queen. I was always forced to do the hard labor meant for grown servants and older maids. My fingers were always raw from tilling the hard soil of the palace gardens.

Suddenly, Vivienne stopped. She turned around and looked down at me with absolute disgust. Before I could take a step back, Cassandra stepped forward and shoved me hard against the chest.

I gasped as I hit the dirt, my knees scraping against the rough stones. I began to weep, the tears hot and uncontrollable against my cheeks.

“There,” Vivienne said, crossing her arms over her expensive silk bodice. “You are right back where you rightfully belong, mud princess. Your mother rejected you by dying the moment you were born, and the gods rejected you by bringing you to us. You are nothing but a maid.”

She added. “You will find your way home on your own.”

Fear sized me at the idea of being here alone.

“Please don’t leave me here,” I sobbed, holding my dirty hands out toward them. “I do not know the way back.”

My sisters laughed heuristically before Rosalind turned to the two heavy-set palace maids who had followed us into the woods. “Hit her. Teach her not to look at her betters with such filthy eyes.”

The maids did not hesitate. One of them stepped forward and kicked my thigh, while the other slapped my shoulder. The pain flared through my small body, making me curl into a tight ball on the ground as they kept hitting me. My sisters did not even watch the end of it. They simply turned around and walked away, their laughter echoing through the trees until it died away completely.

Seeing that I wasn't fighting anymore, the maids too stopped and ran off.

I lay in the dirt for a long time, crying until my throat was dry and raw. The thorns and sharp rocks had torn into my thin clothes and scratched my skin. My stomach growled with a fierce, terrible hunger. I hoped and prayed that they would feel bad and return for me, but as the darkness settled over the forest, I realized no one was coming.

I scrambled to my feet, trembling from the cold night air and started to wander blindly through the towering trees, trying to find any familiar path that would lead me back to the palace walls. Every shadow looked like a monster, and every rustle of the leaves made my heart leap into my throat.

When strength was failing me, and as I attempted to sit for a while and cry again, a tiny, low groan cut through the silence of the night.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat. I covered my mouth with both hands to stop myself from making a sound as different thoughts ran through my mind.

A wolf?

I picked up a tiny stick from the floor, the groan came again and I jumped.

My legs shook with fear, but a strange, deep pull inside my chest urged me to move forward. I parted a thick bush of wild berries and peeked through the leaves.

My eyes went wide, and I gasped, my hands flying back to my mouth as the stick fell off my hand.

Lying in a small clearing on the crushed grass was a white large beast.

It's the familiar figure of the firelords. The Dragon.

It was the most magnificent creature I had ever seen, its scales shining like pure pearl even in the dim moonlight. Its beauty almost blinded my eyes, but it was in a terrible, desperate state. A massive gash ran across its side, and thick, dark blood was pouring out of the wound, soaking the green grass beneath it.

The dragon, a creature we only see by chance, heard my gasp. It let out a weak, rumbling groan, its massive jaw opening slightly to reveal rows of sharp teeth to scare me away. I flinched and stumbled backward, falling onto my bottom and scraping my palm against the dirt. I winced from the fresh pain, but my eyes stayed glued to the beast.

My eyes darted around to see what might have harmed it, and that was when I noticed a trail of dark, heavy blood behind it. The dragon had been running for its life.

Suddenly, the distant sound of shouting and heavy footsteps echoed through the forest. My heart hammered against my ribs. I scrambled forward on my hands and knees, quickly grabbing handfuls of loose sand and dirt to cover the dragon's blood trail near the clearing. I ran along the path it had taken, kicking dirt over the dark red stains as fast as my small arms could move.

The voices grew louder. I looked down at the trail, realizing my cover-up was not enough. Without thinking, I picked up a sharp rock and sliced the palm of my hand. The pain was sharp, but I ignored it as my own bright red blood began to drip heavily onto the soil.

I ran in the complete opposite direction of the clearing, letting my blood create a fresh, distracting trail that led away from the hidden beast.

After running a short distance, I circled back through the thick brush, grabbed large, heavy ferns and fallen leaves, carrying them with my small, scratched hands to cover the white dragon’s body as it lay weak and helpless.

I hid behind a massive oak tree just as three human soldiers carrying heavy iron swords and leading two smaller hound-dragons burst into the area. The hound-dragons sniffed the ground wildly. They paused at the edge of the clearing, but then they caught the scent of my fresh blood trail leading away to the left.

“This way!” one of the men shouted, pointing his blade toward the path I had faked. “He went this way! Follow the blood!”

They ran past our hiding spot, their heavy boots thumping against the earth until the sound completely vanished into the distance.

Seeing that the danger had passed, I rushed out from behind the oak tree and approached the massive white dragon. It did not try to snap at me or growl this time. It simply watched me with golden eyes that were filled with pain and exhaustion.

I placed my small, dirty hand gently against its snout. “Poor thing,” I whispered, my voice trembling as I looked into its fading eyes. “Please calm down. Do not be afraid of me. I will save you.”

I walked over to its side and pulled back the leaves to check the wound. The gash was deep, and the flesh was torn terribly. It was losing too much strength. I stood there, my mind racing. I knew what I had to do, but it terrified me. This would be the very first time I would ever attempt to use the power hidden deep within my soul. My Aunt had warned me so many times to hide it from the world, telling me I must never use it, even if my own life was in danger.

But looking at this beautiful, dying creature, I closed my mind to her warnings. I could not let it die.

I patted the dragon’s neck gently, taking a deep, shaky breath. I closed my oceanic blue eyes and focused on the warmth buried deep inside my chest. I called out to the magic I had hidden for so long, pulling it to the surface.

I placed both of my hands flat against the dragon's bloody wound.

A bright, brilliant silver light suddenly exploded from my palms, radiating directly into the torn flesh. The energy of the power was so immense, so heavy and violent, that it felt like it was ripping the strength right out of my bones. I gasped as the power flowed out of me, my vision spinning into darkness as my energy drained completely.

The white dragon let out a soft, light groan as the light faded. The wound was not fully healed, but the bleeding had stopped, and a sudden rush of strength returned to its massive body. It lifted its heavy head, looking down at me as I struggled to keep my eyes open.

In the distance, the faint sound of shouting men began to return. The soldiers realized they had been tricked.

Using the last bit of my consciousness, I weakly gestured toward the open sky above the canopy. “Go,” I whispered, my voice barely a breath. “They are coming back. Leave me here and go.”

The dragon stared down at me for a long, quiet moment. The look in its golden eyes felt like a profound silent thank you. It gently nudged a massive, fallen oak leaf over my small body with its snout, using it like a warm blanket to shield me from the cold ground and the eyes of the returning men.

Just as my world went completely black, I felt a sudden, sharp sting right around the side of my neck, like the prick of a tiny needle. Then, there was only silence.