Monday, October 5, 2015

3


It had been twenty-two years since the last “choosing”. Of course I wasn't there remember it, but I'd heard the hushed stories. My father's younger brother found an egg at the edge of our village one morning as he went out hunting.. He could have left it where he found it for someone else to stumble across. He could have brought it to the Council so lots could be drawn, as tradition mandated. But he took it as his own.

No one will say it to my father's face, but I know a few think my uncle took the coward's way out. He didn't say his goodbyes. He didn't tell anyone what had happened. He penned a letter leaving everything he owned to my father, and he went out into the forest to die.

But no one can truly argue that he wasn't brave in another way. He took responsibility for what he had found... If he hadn't simply left, my father would have made them draw lots... Or my father would have taken the egg himself, despite the fact he had pregnant wife. My uncle knew this. Once I took the letter from my father's drawer. The last lines were. “ I have to do this. You have too much to live for, Korren. I love you.”

They found his body two days later. Killed by the dragon cub that had hatched.

He's buried under an old Balli tree by the river, with others who have died by dragons. It had been over thirty years since the last egg was left for us to find, but before then, there were deaths almost every year. Their graves remind us of their sacrifice. They remind us to keep watch.

People like to try and forget about the dragons. Dragons tend to stay higher up in the mountains, far enough away that they aren't part of every-day life. Occasionally a younger one will come steal a few sheep, but they tend to feed on the mountain goats in their territory.

Though they're formidable predators, they don't hunt us. They are about the size of a cow in height, though much more light-built. A war-party with spears and arrows could probably take one down if given the element of surprise. That is – if it weren't for their songs. They can sing humans into a stupor, and demand that we come closer... If they didn't sing, maybe we could fight them...

We don't fear the dragons as much as we fear finding their eggs. When an egg is found outside the village we have two choices – either kill the cub when it hatches, or allow the cub to kill one of us before its mother comes and reclaims it. The first isn't really much of a choice. If you kill the cub, a swarm of dragons will come and burn the whole village... 

And what if we leave the egg? What if we move it far outside our village and remove the threat that way? Then the dragons will come and choose someone for us. Mother - Child - Sole provider for a family - It won't matter to the dragons. Someone will be taken to die.

So an adult is chosen by lot, or someone volunteers. The last person to die before my uncle was an elder who volunteered in place of her son. My Uncle Jesh and too many others– they sacrificed their lives so we could live in peace. It has been this way for generations.

And then Jesh died, and my father tried to make a change.

He swore that no one else from his village would die by the claws of a dragon. He and the Elder Council agreed – if ever another dragon egg was left in the village, we would flee deep into the mountains and wait them out.

Finally, that time had come.


7 comments:

  1. Wait hold on what if they just left the poor egg alone? XD
    Give me more. Must have more. *flails*

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    1. Whoops - I said that in my notes, but not in this explanation. *Mental note* I need to edit that in...

      From my outline: "Dragons - being fair in their own minds - usually drop their eggs off in a village, so the villagers can decide who is "chosen". If they either try and kill the dragon cub, or the adult senses the cub has not "changed", the dragon parent will either destroy the village (in the case of the former) or simply steal someone (in the case of the latter.) "

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    2. There - I fixed it - *points at writing* - Yes?

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  2. Oh, okay, that makes sense. :)
    But what if they just dropped them off in the middle of the woods and, like, killed a bear and brought it for their baby to eat? O.o
    (Sorry, I like to make sure all bases are covered xD)

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    1. There is something that a dragon benefits from from human blood (I'm thinking that it gives them better control over humans. ) the first time they have it. So the dragons need the dragon cub to have that ability - otherwise, the dragons would be wiped out by humans, or at least be forced to move out of range.

      Here - Read all of this. ;) I'm still working it out in the story. ;)

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    2. http://za-dragon-story.blogspot.com/p/outline-mess.html

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