THE DRAGON'S CURSE

This story isn't complete, my first attempt

THE DRAGON’S CURSE

 

 

     The woman with the long brown almost blond hair, was just standing there reflecting her past as she was watching her reflection in the clear blue water of Lake Vanora, which she did a lot those days.  She glanced up and saw the outline of her home of Townsend Castle. 

     She now knew that the castle wasn't her real home.  She had merely been taken in when she was a small child.  How she ended up there, she had no idea.  However she now had to leave the only home that’s she’s ever known.  Her family thought it was best for her to leave, due to the fact that she was cursed.  They thought that one day she may cause them harm, so they were turning her away. 

     The woman, Lady Kelli Townsend, was cursed at the young age of 4.  A man, with whom she never knew, drew a rather large dragon across her back.  This had been very painful for someone so young.  The large wings spread between her shoulder blades.  The tattoo contained many vibrant colors.  It was done with magical ink, which changed Kelli into a dragon by night.  She turned into a beautiful white dragon with large wings, long barbed tail, and the most unusual blue eyes, which wasn't normal for a dragon.

     Kelli couldn't remember much of the man, but she still could remember how painful it had been.  She never knew why it had been done until a few years ago.  She found out that only someone with royal blood could change into a dragon.  If your blood wasn't of pure royal blood, then you wouldn't change at all.  The purpose for the curse was that you became the next guardian of your people, and since she didn't really belong there, she had to find where she did belong. 

     Kelli was training to be a knight so she could protect herself by day as she knew she was now faced with a long journey to find her real family.

     Kelli was also told how to break the curse.  She had to find a rare red stone.  To her understanding, this was in a faraway place.  It was in the mountains of this place.  It was in a place called Fanta; she didn't know this was in the land where she truly came from.  It would take her months to reach this place.  She needed the stone and true love in order to break the curse.  She was pretty sure that would be impossible to achieve since she wasn't in love with anyone at that point in her life.  She wasn't sure she would even find the stone, let alone reach where it was located, or at least not on her own.  She had no one to help her.

     Kelli had 4 weeks to train herself to use a sword.  She already knew how to ride a horse better than anyone in the kingdom, including her two brothers Hanan and Hazlett.

     Kelli knew she would miss them all.  She would miss her brothers, mother and her two sisters Penelope and Wilona.  They were the only family that she had ever known.  She had wondered if her real family was still out there somewhere, alive and wondered what they were like.  She wondered if they would accept her or turn her away.  She knew though that they probably couldn't accept her the way she was either.

     “Kelli!” Someone called her name from across the green field.

     She glanced in the direction the voice was coming from, and when she did, she saw her younger brother Hazlett.  She wondered what he was carrying on about.

     “Hazlett, what are you doing here?” She asked, as she came back to the present.  They all still talked to her, but didn't include her in any of the family outings or talks.  She even most of the time ate alone, in her rooms.  “Is something wrong?” She thought that’s why he called out to her.

     “There’s nothing wrong, I was just looking for you.” Hazlett told her.  Out of all the others, the two of them had always been closest.

     Kelli remembered the day he asked her if changing into a dragon hurt her or not.  She had always told him the truth even though she hesitated in telling him the truth about that, the truth always won out.  Changing was always quite painful.  It was something that she never could get used to.

     “Why were you looking for me?” She was curious to know.

     “Are you really leaving in a month?” He wanted to know.  He didn't want her to leave; she was the only one who listened to anything he said.  He still considered her family, since he did grow up with her, if nothing else she was his friend.

     “I don’t have much of a choice.  I have to at least try to break this curse or I will never be free to have a normal life.  It’s too painful to live with this forever.  Please try and understand.  I’m not leaving because of you and the family; I’m doing this for myself as well.” She told him.  She knew what he was feeling, she was feeling it too.

     “I do understand that.  You’ll forget me.” Hazlett told her, as he got all choked up.  He would miss her so much.

     Kelli walked closer to him then, “How could I ever forget you?  You've always been there for me.  Someday you’ll find someone and get married, but you’ll always be my little brother.  Always remember that.  One day I may even return, once the curse is broken.” Kelli told him, and then she placed a hand over her heart, “You’ll always be in my heart just as I’ll always be in your heart.”

     Hazlett couldn't deny what he was feeling, he threw his arms around her, “You’ll always be my sister no matter what mother tells me.  You've always been there for me too.  The world is a dangerous place, Kelli.” He said as he drew away to look at her.  “Do you really think that you’ll be okay out there?  I could go with you to protect you.” He told her.  He didn't want to be there without her.  He had seen her with a sword, and knew she wasn't very good with it, or at least she wasn't yet.

     “Hazlett, I know you want to protect me, but now it’s my time to protect myself.  Besides, you may be needed here, not that Hanan is about to get married.  Mother and the girls will need you.  You will be the Lord about the place.  It’s your duty to protect them.” Kelli told him. 

     “What about you, though?  You’ll be alone; who will protect you?” He asked her.  He was worried about her. 

     “That’s my job.  I have to take this journey.  It’s my destiny, not yours.  You will have your own destiny to follow, Hazlett.  Someday you will know what it is, please.  I will be here another 4 weeks and hopefully I will be ready to protect myself.” She didn't want to leave any more than she knew he wanted her to go.  She had a great distance to cover.  Besides she had to tell him that because she knew that it would be hard to protect herself, let alone him too.

     “You don’t want me with you, do you?” Hazlett asked of her. 

     “It’s not that, I believe you are needed here more.  Even though I am a friendly dragon, I still may not always be aware of what I may do out of desperation.  I want to also protect you.  I may not be able to as a dragon while I’m on a hunt.  It would be safer for you to stay here.” Kelli told him.

     “Are you saying that you would eat me?  I don’t think you would do that.” Hazlett told her.

     “When I’m in dragon form, I’m not always aware of the things around me.” She told him.  He gave her this look.  “I’m serious.  Besides, I don’t want anyone to see me change.  I will be back, Hazlett.”

     “Yeah, maybe one day.  You don’t know how long this will take.” He told her.  He didn't quite believe her about coming back one day.  He figured she was just saying that so that he would stay there.  ‘It could take her the rest of her life to break this curse.  I may never see her again.’ He thought to himself.  ‘She’s the only true friend that I have.’

     “You would be surprised by the amount of distance that I can cover.  It wouldn't take long to come back, if I’m needed.”  She could tell that he didn't quite believe her.  “I’m not leaving forever.”

     “Okay.” He simply replied.  “Do you think that you’ll ever find out who your real family is, or where you came from?” He was curious to know what she thought.  “That is if you want to know.”

     “I don’t know, I haven’t thought much about that.  I have wondered ever since I found out that they were out there.  I wondered why I was separated from them in the first place.  Maybe they didn't want me, and so they abandoned me here.  I just don’t know.” Kelli told him.  She hated to even think that, but it had crossed her mind.

     “You were very young, they must have had their reasons if they just left you.  Don’t take it personally.  Maybe they did it to protect you.  Did you think about that?” Hazlett told her. 

     “You’re probably right about that.  How’d you get so smart?  We should get back, you know how mother worries.” Kelli told him.  She wondered if she still worried about her like she used to.  She figured that she did.  She did raise her as her own daughter, even though she knew that she wasn't her child.  Kelli knew that she had loved her.

     For the next four weeks, Kelli trained to be a knight.  It was very hard work.  However it was for survival.  She had no choice but to train.  She learned to use her sword very well, once she was able to lift it without any trouble, but it did help once she had a lighter sword made for her. 

     Hazlett was there to encourage her on.  He even gave her some pointers on what to do when she had to actually use her sword against an opponent.  They fought together as they did so many times in their sword plays as kids but now they had real swords and not ones made out of wood.  He found that she actually was ready to face the world outside of the castle walls.  It still didn't change the way that he was feeling about her leaving.  He still didn't want her to leave but now he understood that she needed to do this for her own sake.

     It was hard on all of them when they finally had to say good bye to each other.  Kelli had tears in her eyes; she was leaving the only place that she had ever known, and now had to face what may lay outside of the castle.  She had never been on her own; this was the only life that she has ever known.

       Kelli had never been on her own, and therefore she didn't know what to expect, or who she would run into.  However she still looked forward to her journey.  She had never been away from the castle.  She was excited about her journey but also quite scared, because she didn't know what to expect.  A woman traveling along was never a good thing, or changing into a dragon for that matter.    

     The first day out on her journey, Kelli hadn't crossed paths with anyone, which she thought was odd but she was also relieved.  She stopped for the night, because once the sun went down, she would once again change.  She wasn't looking forward to that.  She never did.  She neither could nor ever would get used to that.

     Kelli hid her belongings in the brush, near the area where she would set up camp.  She then collected some wood so she could build a small fire once she changed back to her human self again the next morning.  Kelli had once seen herself as a dragon, in a mirror.  She didn't think that she looked too terrifying but she figured that she did to other people and she hated that fact.  She didn't think that it was right that she had even been chosen to be the guardian.  She never knew why she had been chosen in the first place.  ‘Why did they select a woman anyways?’ She had often asked herself.  As far as Kelli had heard about the legend, not many women were selected.  She didn't know why that was though.

     As Kelli stacked the wood, she could see the sun going down behind the hills; soon it would be time for her transformation.  It was something that she always dreaded.  However there was nothing that she could do to stop it, not until the curse could be broken, which she didn't think would ever happen.  She knew that her chances weren't good on even reaching her destination.  She knew it would be a hard task to accomplish.  She didn't know how high the mountain was that she had to climb, let alone who she may encounter along the way, to the mountain.  She knew her journey would be long and dangerous.  She didn't even know if she could climb the mountain.  She knew that would be a task in itself.  She had never done any mountain climbing before.  She wondered if she was in any kind of shape to tattle a mountain.  She knew that she had the strength in her arms due to her sword training.  Besides, she figured she could wait until she was in dragon form to reach the mountain top if she had to.  She knew though that many before her had never made it to the peak, at least according to the legend.   

     Kelli could feel herself changing as her last thoughts faded away.  Her bone structure was changing.  She then felt the worst of the pain as her wings took form.  It was a pain like nothing she had ever felt before, nor any that she would ever feel.  It was far beyond words.  She cried out in pain, it was bad.  She could feel all her bones changing in her body.

     Once Kelli completely changed, she took flight.  She had no idea as to where she would go.  She had no idea what she would find in that particular area, since she had never been there before.  She needed to look for her evening meal.  She flew in the direction that her human form had been traveling that day. 

     All there was in the area was nothing but trees as far as the eyes could see.  She knew that she was thick in the forest.  She didn't know what she would encounter there.  She had heard stories of this very forest.  She had been told by her older brother that there were many dragons there, and that she should never find herself there.  He had never told her what the dangers were; only that she should never go there.  However now she had to in order to get to where she had to go.

     After much searching, Kelli spotted a small group of soldiers there in the woods.  She wondered why they were there, but she knew that she couldn't get too close to them.  People were always trying to harm her when she was a dragon.  Apparently a dragon was quite valuable if one were able to hunt them down.    Dragons were quite rare in those parts.  There have been reports of seeing dragons but not for many years now.

     The dragon’s shadow crossed over the small camp of soldiers far below. 

     “What was that?” One man asked.

     “I don’t know.  It was huge though.” Another man replied. He thought he had just imagined it, but since his friend too had seen it, he couldn't have imagined it.  He wondered if it was something that planned to do them harm or not.  He felt that whatever it was, was watching them.

     “It came from above us.” The first man replied.

     “Was it a dragon?” The second man asked.  He didn't think that was possible whatever it was, he knew that it was quite large.  He wondered if it was going to attack them or something.

     The first man Pierre spoke, “There haven’t been dragons in these parts for a very long time.”  He wondered if it was possible that it was a dragon.

     “Then what could it have been?” Ivan, the second man replied.  He knew it must have been a dragon.  There was no other explanation for what they saw.  It was getting dark, so he realized that it could have just been shadows playing tricks on their minds, in fact he was hoping that was the case and not a dragon.  He didn't want to have to deal with a dragon.  He knew they were no match for a dragon.

     “It’s just the shadows.  The hot sun may have caused this.  It was probably nothing but just in case, we should post a guard to keep watch tonight.” Pierre told him.

     “That’s a good idea.” Henry, the Captain replied.  “We don’t want to be caught unaware.  We will take shifts, relieving every 3 hours.  William, you will go first, then Pierre, Ivan and then I.”

     Kelli had no intentions of staying anywhere near their camp.  She was far too hungry anyways, to care much about them.  She wondered why they were even there.  ‘Are they a hunting party or are they looking for someone?’ She thought.

     About a half hour later, Kelli spotted some rather large rabbits, so she swooped in and grabbed as many as she could grab up before they scattered.  She knew that they would have to sustain her until she was in human form again.  She knew they wouldn't be enough but they would have to do.  She hated to hunt for her food in this way, but either way, she would have to hunt for her food rather she was in dragon form or human form.  She truly hoped that she could break this curse so she wouldn't have to do this anymore.  She didn't even know what a normal life would be like for her since she had never had a normal life before.

     Once her meal was over with, Kelli once again took flight.  She went to check on the small group of soldiers.  She wondered why they were there.  ‘Are they looking for something?’  She thought.  ‘Maybe I’ll have a little fun since it seems so quiet in the small camp.  Besides their kind has been causing me trouble since I was a small child.’ Kelli remembered that her mother tried to keep her inside when she first found out about her change but she found out that was even more dangerous.

     When Kelli first found out that she changed, it freaked her out so much.  At first she thought that she would stay in that form, but then she changed back to being human again.  She didn't tell anyone about what had happened.  She didn't know how often it would happen either.  She didn’t know what people would do if they found out.  Kelli’s siblings never knew until they were older, and that had merely been by accident.  She hadn’t wanted to change but she did, she couldn’t control what was happening.

     As Kelli flew over the camp, she could see how quiet things were.  She swooped in low.  No one moved in the camp.  Apparently they hadn’t heard her at all.  She didn’t know how they wouldn’t have heard her, because when she flapped her wings, it could get quite loud. 

     Kelli decided then to make some noise.  She made a loud screeching sound.  The soldiers then flew to their feet to check out what all the commotion was about.  They wondered where the sound had come from or what had made the noise. 

     “What was that?” William wanted to know.  The sound scared him. 

     “I have no idea.  Are we under some kind of an attack?”  Pierre asked then.

     “I bet it has to do with what we saw earlier today.” William told the others. 

     “Whatever it was, it appears to be gone now.” Henry told his men.

     However they had no idea that Kelli was just overhead, watching them.  She was hoping that they were traveling in another direction than the direction that she was going or they may cause her trouble.  She still wondered why they were out there anyways.

     Kelli headed back to her camp sometime later.  She knew the sun would be up soon, and she would be changing back to her human form.  Once she was human again, she had to be on her guard more.  She didn’t know how much danger she would encounter.

     The next morning Kelli changed back to her human form.  She put her clothes back on.  She had to get ready for a new day of her journey.  She managed to catch a rabbit for her morning meal.  She was really hungry by this time.    She took her time in skinning the rabbit and cooking it over her small fire.  She only made a fire long enough to cook her meal. 

     Once Kelli’s meal was over with, she headed out again.  She was walking when she kept hearing this humming sound.  She kept looking around but had no idea as to what the noise was or what was causing it.  She didn't feel like she was in any danger, it was more of a calming feeling than anything else.  However she still wanted to know what it was she was hearing.  She was curious as to what it was. 

     Kelli decided to sit down for a moment.  She had been walking a while, and felt she needed the rest.  Besides, she figured this would give her a chance to look around to see what was causing the noise that she had been hearing. 

     As Kelli sat, the humming sound got closer and much louder.  She again looked around her.  She couldn't see anything out of place or anything, so she couldn't figure out what it was.  She thought she liked the humming, but still wanted to know if it was safe or not.

     “Hello!” She called out, and then realized that wasn't probably a good idea.  She stood up again.  She wanted to be alert to any trouble by calling out.

     Kelli then heard the rustling in the trees near where she was.  It was then she realized that she couldn't hear the humming anymore.  Kelli then went into the wooded area nearest her.  It was then she saw a soldier come into the area where she had been sitting.  He removed his helmet.  It was then she got a pretty good look at him.  She was mesmerized by his good looks.  She could tell that he was about her brother Hanan’s age.  She wondered who he was, and wondered if he was alone. 

     The man had wavy brown hair.  She figured he had muscle to carry the sword he had.  She knew how heavy a sword could be.  She wondered if he was there because he had heard her call out. 

     “Who’s there?” He then called out.  He had heard a voice call out.  “I know you’re there; show yourself.”

     Kelli wondered if he was referring to her.  She figured that he probably was.  She didn't think it was a wise idea for her to come out of the trees to reveal herself.  She knew nothing   about this man, or if she could even trust him.  Besides, she couldn't reveal her secret to anyone.  ‘He must have heard me.’ She thought.  

     "Come out of there.  I heard you call out, so I know you're there.  I won't hurt you."  The man Lord Raylon, said.

     Kelli still wasn't sure what she should do.  She decided that if he was alone, she could probably take him if she felt a need to.

     Kelli walked out of the wooded area.  She then saw the surprised look on his face.  She wondered what that look was for.

     "You're a woman?" He said, surprised by her appearance.

     "The last time I checked, I was." Kelli said to him in reply.

     "Who are you?" He was curious to know.

     "I can't tell you that, I don't know you." Kelli told him.  She knew that she couldn't reveal too much to a stranger.

     "My name is Lord Raylon.  I came from a far off place.  I've been searching for my brother, Henry.  And you are?" He asked her again.  He just wanted to know her name, he didn't care if she told him anything else.  He thought that she had the most incredible blue eyes that he had ever seen.  "Are you out here all alone?" He didn't see anyone else.