From a Forest of Bone and Blood | Chapter Six
I was born on the northernmost island of the Archipelago to a mother who died giving me life. The island I was born on was the first of the Stepping Stones, the first island Veris raised from the sea in his doomed quest to be re-united with Femaya.
Father was distant - obsessed with the buttons and fabric that made up the life of a tailor. My older siblings were too old to care about the youngest one who tottered after them and quick to leave the nest.
They became soldiers.
I became a soldier as well. I didn’t say goodbye to my father. He would have forbidden it - as the youngest and the only child left he assumed I’d be taking over the family business, which I did not care to do. I left under cover of night - a cowardly, childlike move perhaps, but it is what I did.
I remember sailing to the mainland, my passage bought with hard-earned and long-saved coin. The wind whipped my hair into my eyes, stinging them.
I found a cause - hunt the dragons. Destroy them. We were led by a wizard, a mighty wizard whom I never saw, only heard orders from. We were a thousand men and women strong on a noble mission.
We were saving mankind.
We were on a quest.
We saw the young dragon alight on a tree branch and we stalked it. We saw that which would never be believed, a dragon reforming into a human shape.
It was a child. It was a beautiful boy child with dark hair and red lips. His eyes were like emeralds.
I knew he was about to die.
Half-breed, is what my fellow soldiers called him. Abomination, was another word they chose. The child ran; my fellows caught him and a woman who looked so like him that she could only be his mother.
They tied her to a tree and berated her as a woman who slept with beasts and birthed half-men monsters.
Sick. I felt sick by it all. I cannot remember if I tried to stop it.
I cannot remember if I helped with the murder of the mother and the child.
I’d like to say I didn’t do it. I’d like to say that I tried to help them escape. What I remember is staring down at their bloodied corpses while my face bled from scratches inflicted by the baby dragon’s claws.
I’d like to say I tried to help them.
It would explain why I was held down and beaten and then whipped, the skin on my back opening up to add more of my own blood to the soil and air, like an offering.
This was a war and I’d sworn fealty to the cause.
This was war.
I remember the murmurings - that the dragons were on the run and that their numbers were dwindling. The next dragon we were to pursue and rid the world of had managed to fly all the way out to the Archipelago and was laying waste the countryside next to Sheppardston.
We were impressed. Dragons are not known for their flight stamina due to their massive bulk. They can fly fast, but not far.
It makes them easier to hunt.
They exhaust easily.
We set sail for the largest island in the Archipelago - the Island of Mainsail - and landed in Southport. It was only a few days march to Sheppardston and the wizard who led us made arrangements with the Mayor for our sustenance while we fought the dread beast.
I remember the battle.
It was fierce.
The dragon had magic, and summoned golems formed of air and shadow to engage us.
I would have thought the dragon would use its golems to escape - to fly away under the cover of night.
Much like I had when I left my home, but the dragon stayed, spewing flame that seemed to burn only the flesh of my fellow soldiers, leaving piles of ash and un-burnt garments lying on the ground.
The wizard was throwing spells to combat the dragon and its golems, but to be honest we were at a bit of a standstill, our army and the dragon.
Mutual checkmate, if there was such a thing.
The bright light that surrounded us came out of nowhere, and I ran.
Once again the coward, but this time it saved my life.
My compatriots were screaming as they died - but no, they didn’t die, not completely. I watched as their legs turned to roots that sought the ground, rooting themselves into the earth as their arms grew high, turning into trees with blood for sap.
Some limbs did not become limbs. They separated from the bodies of the soldiers and fell, useless, to the ground.
My own voice was hoarse with screaming and I nearly escaped the bright light that was destroying us all, but I was enveloped.
I remember my feet leaving the earth.
I remember my entire body lifting skyward.
I remember everything going black as the light left and the darkness took over.
Chapter Five | Chapter Seven
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