Writers Around the World - Anthology (Volume One) Read online

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  The cold night air brushed against her cheeks as she pulled her cloak around her. She had left with hardly anything except extra clothes and the food that had been given to her in her room meant for supper. She thought she would at least save the food until the morning as she snuck past the guards, who were too busy drinking to notice her.

  “Why did I think of this?” she asked herself out loud as she was a few miles away from the palace, trying her best not to turn back. She didn’t want to prove her mother wrong. She just wanted to find a dragon. “I should have stayed at home. It’s too cold out here.”

  “It is cold,” Enya heard a voice behind her. When she turned, she saw a man dressed all in black with black hair and light blue eyes that made her even colder.

  “W-who are you?” she asked,taking a step backwards. Callista had always taught her daughter to avoid strangers in fear of them hurting or kidnapping her since she was the princess, but Enya didn’t think about crossing strangers when she left the palace.

  “Well, princess, I would imagine you wouldn’t know me. I’m Hunter and ironically I am a hunter as well.”

  “Princess?” Enya exclaimed while asking at the same time. “How do you know who I am when I know nothing about you? Were you following me?”

  “What?” Hunter looked startled. “What do you mean?”

  It took a minute, but then he understood and fell to his knees.

  “Forgive me, my lady, for I call every woman I meet princess. I didn’t know you were really the princess. What are you doing out here anyway?”

  Enya hesitated on telling him since he was a stranger, but he was a hunter. Maybe he could be trusted. Maybe he could even help.

  “I’m looking for a dragon,” she admitted. He looked shocked as he took a step backwards.

  “And what are you looking a dragon for?”

  “I want to kill a dragon,” she whispered as she dug her toes of her right foot into the dirt. “That’s all.”

  “That’s all?” he questioned. “How can that be all? You’re talking about killing one of the worlds most terrified creature and that’s all you want? Well then, let’s go!”

  The man started to walk in the direction that she was headed in, towards another small village. There, she planned on getting some supplies with some money that she had saved up. Mother always allowed her an allowance to buy new things with, and she saved it  as she didn’t want new dresses, she just wanted weapons that her mother wouldn’t allow her to have.

  “Where are we going?” she questioned him. He informed her that they were just going to the next village for supplies. Already, she liked this man, even though she knew nothing about them.

  It wasn’t a long walk to the village that was made of little houses with straw roofs and pens full of animals.Enya didn’t realize that people lived this way when she was safe inside the stone walls of the palace. They found a small inn to sleep in and decided to stay there the night and leave first thing in the morning.

  “They’ll be looking for me,” Enya explained. “I’m the princess and they’ll be looking for me. They’ll think I’ve been kidnapped!”

  “Were there any signs of you being kidnapped?”

  Enya shook her head no as she didn’t think she left much of a trace of even being in her room that day, but she couldn’t be sure what evidence her mother would fabricate to get her back.

  “We’ll just keep going,” the man said. “At least until they catch us and I’m arrested. I’m Kieran, by the way.”

  That night, Enya got the best sleep in years.

  When the light broke through the window, Kieran was already awake. He threw off his covers, quickly washed with the water in the wash bin, got dressed, replaced the water, and then woke Enya to do the same. He left her alone as he went to get breakfast.

  By the time he returned, Enya was finished and Kieran was carrying a tray with eggs, bread, sausage, and bacon. After scarfing it all down, Kieran gathered some supplies from the townspeople, paying for weapons and food, although they didn’t have much for either. After seeing all of this, Enya vowed to give her monthly earnings to help towns like this. Surely it would be more use to them than to her.

  Enya gathered all the supplies with Kieran’s help and she thought she might fall over.

  “There is no way we can carry these each day, all day,” she exclaimed. Instead of carrying them, she paid someone a handsome price for two horses  and then they were on their way.

  “Well, where are we going now?” she questioned since Kieran hadn’t told her anything.

  “We’ll be heading for the mountains!” he exclaimed, pointing into the distance. “By nightfall, we’ll be at the base of the mountains and we can climb to one of the caves so you and I can take on a dragon together!”

  “That soon? I didn’t know there were dragons so close to the palace.”

  “There are dangerous things all around, Princess, but I don’t think dragons are what you think they are,” he told her as he pushed his horse in front of hers and smiled up as the sun hit his face, warming him to the bone.

  “What do you mean? My mother always said that dragons were dangerous and that there were brave knights who use to kill them, but not many knights came around too often anymore.”

  “Queen Callista was right one thing. There were knights that killed them and I’m assuming you want to be a fighter too since you want me to help you kill one.”

  “What are you talking about?” Enya laughed so much as soon as the words came out of his mouth that she could hardly say her own. “I never asked you to help me  fight a dragon, you just came along and assumed. I thank you for your help, but I am sure I can do it on my own. “

  “Well,” he began. “Maybe you can and maybe you can’t. I guess we will see and I will wait by for you to beg for my help.”

  He laughed at his own joke as he carried on. Silence befell the duet as the continued onwards. They stopped when the sun was high overhead for lunch and made small talk about the weather and the area around them. They were in a forest with trees nearly a hundred feet tall as they loomed overhead as if swallowing them whole. Their roots popped out of the ground, extending over and under each other. The two had to scour the land for an area to sit.

  After they were finished, they packed everything up and carried on their way, the horses had trouble getting over the roost, but they managed to get out of the forest and crossed the river. By nightfall, they were definitely at the base of the mountains.

  At this time, Enya was nervous. She didn’t know what to do. Should she really climb up the mountain with Kieran and head to kill one of the world’s most dangerous creatures?

  She did. Climbing off her horse, Kieran tied them to a nearby tree, hoping that they would actually come back alive. He gripped the sword at his side, waiting for something to jump out at them, but nothing did. Instead, he stopped at Enya’s side and waited. She was staring up at the mountain like it was going to fall over on her.

  “What are you waiting for?” he questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t know,” she replied, but she never took her eyes off of the mountain.

  “We should get going. It’s a long walk.”

  Enya nodded and they started up the mountain.

  “I should ask you something first,” he spoke as they were in mid climb. “Do you even know how to use that thing?”

  Enya watched as he nodded towards the sword strapped at her waist and laughed.

  “How could I not? I use to watch my brothers practice all the time. Thye’re all in line for the throne before I am, so of course they need to know how to fight. My mom says it’s too dangerous for a woman, though, and would never let me learn with them.”

  “She’s right, you know,” but Enya scoffed at him. She didn’t believe it, but she would show Kieran just how good she was with the sword when the time came. She would pierce through the dragon’s tough hide effortlessly and kill it. Then she would s
how Queen Callista that she was able to be a warrior too.

  The pair sat on the cold ground to take a break. They were sore, tired, and most of all, hungry. Pulling out some more of the snacks that they had bought from the villagers, they ate in silence. When they were done, each got about an hours sleep before they departed on their way again.

  The sun was just about to come out when they reached yet another cave. They were searching the cave on the side of the mountain quietly, looking for what they came for.

  Entering this particular cave was different though. As they entered this particular cave, the floor was littered with white bones of animals, picked clean. The room was quiet except for Enya tripping over the bones as she wasn’t paying attention. She got multiple “Shhh!” from Kieran, who was trying not to laugh himself at the Princess’s clumsiness, but then he stopped in his tracks. Enya managed to run right into him, landing them both on the ground in a fit of laughter.

  “Shhh!” Kieran got out,rather loudly, but he didn’t listen to himself after another burst of laughs, but then they froze as another unrecognized voice broke through.

  “Who disturbs my slumber?” the voice echoed through the dark cave as the ground shook. Enya and Kieran couldn’t see anything and wished at that time that they had brought tourches. Kieran was quick thinking and grabbed one of the bones on the floor, took off his scarf, and wrapped it around the bone. Afterwards, he grabbed two stones from the ground and used them both to spark a flame on the cloth. Lifting it up, both Enya and Kieran were wishing that they hadn’t come.

  Standing in front of them, but more like towering over them, was a dragon with blue, green, and brown scales. Its teeth were razor sharp and its eyes were pitch black, searing into Enya’s. The pair froze, neither wanted to move for their swords in fear of being eaten.

  “Well?” The dragon spoke again, questioning the two. “Who are you?”

  “I am Kieran,” the male spoke up. Enya looked at him like he was crazy. “I have escorted the Princess, Enya here. She wanted…”

  “I know what she wants,” Kieran was interrupted. The dragon then turned to Enya “Well? What are you waiting for? I have lived a long life, as you can tell. However, death would not be welcome. I sort of like my life.”

  Enya couldn’t speak.

  “You are going to kill me, aren’t you?”

  “Enya?” Kieran nudged the princess who couldn’t speak. She was in awe of the magnificent creature in front of her. He was a beauty, magnitude, elegance, and so much more.

  “Can I ask one question and one question only?” she finally spoke with a shaky voice.

  “You can ask anythiiiing you want, princess.”

  She took a deep breath before finally speaking, “Have you ever harmed a person?”

  “Never. I  only ever hurt animals and only then for food. Even then, I only need nearly one animal every other month to continue to live. I wouldn’t hurt a person. I do nothing but travel through the years, surviving a pathetic life, hiding from people.”

  “Why do you hide from people? You’re amagnificent creature!”

  “I hide because of what they would do to me,” he explained. “It would be the same thing you came here to do.”

  Not knowing what to say,Enya looked at the ground, removing her hand from her sword.

  “Poor princess. Do not fret. I have lived thousands of years. I have watched many kings and queens pass. Many princes have come to defeat me and have gone home after talking to me, leaving me be. I live a lonely life, alone and away from everyone and everything. I am the last dragon, doomed to live a lonely life, forever alone.”

  Enya stopped and thought about it. She took a look at Kieran with sorrow in her eyes before she replied to the dragon.

  “You won’t have to be alone,” she told him. “I will come with you and be by your side until I have passed away.”

  Then she turned to Kieran.

  “I am sorry that I won’t be returning with you. I can’t ask you to do the same. I am sorry.”

  Kieran stood for a moment, gathering himself before he replied, “I will come with you as well. Besides, you both might want company besides each other.”

  A smile played across the dragon’s lips, but then it disappeared.

  “I cannot ask you to do that for me, for it is a lonely life indeed,” he told them. “For those who travel with a dragon will never get older or sick, although they can die if their injuries are substantial. You shouldn’t give up your life for me.”

  “You don’t understand,” Kieran said. “I have no home. I would rather have a home with you than anywhere else.”

  “Me too,” Enya stated.

  “But you have a home, princess.”

  “I do,” she admitted. “But I am sure that my mother will be happy to know that I have finally found my place among friends. We can leave in the morning and travel the world together.”

  The dragon and Kieran nodded in agreement.

  “My name is Meus, by the way,” the dragon informed the pair.

   

  After they were all acquainted, they all grabbed a few hours sleep before heading off to see the world together. It turned out dragons weren’t as bad as their reputation. The were knowledgeable and kind creatures and Enya came to love Meus. It turned out she found her place with Kieran, Meus, and a sword at her side.