Behind one of the last couple of trees that stood between the farm and the first set of houses was where she decided to do it. Looking back, she felt sad for the poor thing.
Behind one of the last couple of trees that stood between the farm and the first set of houses was where she decided to do it. Looking back, she felt sad for the poor thing.
It was comforting and warm to the touch, and it even felt to her like her best friend that she could talk to whenever she wanted or needed it, could hug it and play with it. The truth was, that little inanimated piece of flesh and metalic components was her best friend and confesor, even though it was just another part of her and even though it had no real feeling or sentience by itself. It was the child's imagination that gave it life, at least to her eyes, a very characteristic deed only treasures of her experience could make possible.
It was comforting and warm to the touch, and it even felt to her like her best friend that she could talk to whenever she wanted or needed it, could hug it and play with it. The truth was, that little inanimated piece of flesh and metalic components was her best friend and confesor, even though it was just another part of her and even though it had no real feeling or sentience by itself. It was the child's imagination that gave it life, at least to her eyes, a very characteristic deed only treasures with her little amount of experience could make possible.
But still, she had to do it. Fighting back the urge to just get away from there, she forced the limb to warp around her leg companion and began spiraling the dead plant's fibers around again and again and at last pulled with what little strength she could muster. After that she covered everything in her barely white dress, as the dirt always seemed to like attaching itself there, and began circling the dead animal's dried skins over her. Barely able to breathe was how she entered the only civilization she knew of.
But still, she had to do it. Fighting back the urge to just get away from there, she forced the limb to warp around her leg companion and began spiraling the dead plant's fibers around again and again and at last pulled with what little strength she could muster. After that she covered everything in her barely white dress, as the dirt always seemed to like attaching itself there, and began circling the dead animal's dried skins over her. Barely able to breathe was how she entered the only civilization she knew of.
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At the streets people didn't bother with a second glance, all they would see was the farmer's girl in her own business and then they continued with whatever they were doing. Even at the shop there was only a comment of how she shouldn't be using her father's garments, but that was all. The keeper wouldn't even remember to tell her father of that, and so the whole trip went without any memorable mark on the people's memory.
At the streets people didn't bother with a second glance, all they would see was the farmer's girl in her own business and then they continued with whatever they were doing. Even at the shop there was only a comment of how she shouldn't be using her father's garments, but that was all. The keeper wouldn't even remember to tell her father of that, and so the whole trip went without any memorable mark on the people's memory.
Again when she was far enough, she undid all the restrains, and even cut the rope in her desesperation to get her friend free. It was sorrow and bruised, a dark mark engulfing it like a vine would a tree before choking it to death. A little more time and she though it would have to be cut out, just like a decaying apendage in the stories of the few men that had gone to war. She suddenly realised just how important the little thing had become for her when the isles of stone and the desert of cheek flesh were divided by a river of tears.
Again when she was far enough, she undid all the restrains, and even cut the rope in her desesperation to get her friend free. It was sorrow and bruised, a dark mark engulfing it like a vine would a tree before choking it to death. A little more time and she though it would have to be cut out, just like a decaying apendage in the stories of the few men that had gone to war. She suddenly realised just how important the little thing had become for her when the inanimated isles of stone and the desert of cheek flesh were divided by a river of tears.
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When the moment finally came she was ready for it. Her mind hadn't been able to think of a good excuse that an old and wise man like her father would believe, so instead she decided to risk escaping again, not without leaving her normal decoy behind of course. The little one went in the still dusk to stray far deep below the dense cover of leaves, where no one would find her, even at the risk of getting lost. Just when the world was devoured by darkness again she was finishing to put all her human things in a small grotto at the base of the local mountains, the places that girls like her weren't supposed to be in at any given time according to the elders.
When the moment finally came she was ready for it. Her mind hadn't been able to think of a good excuse that an old and wise man like her father would believe, so instead she decided to risk escaping again, not without leaving her normal decoy behind of course. The little one went in the still dusk to stray far deep below the dense cover of leaves, where no one would find her, even at the risk of getting lost. Just when the world was devoured by darkness again she was finishing to put all her human things in a small grotto at the base of the local mountains, the places that girls like her weren't supposed to be in at any given time according to the elders.
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She didn't have to see it to know it was there. Unlike the other times the energy from the big round moon appeared to pass through blocked skies, layers of foliage and walls of stone to endow her of enough power to perform her change. It started with her tail, spreading the radiant blue all over her bare skin and leaving no patch uncovered. Then it moved to her bones and muscles, molding them like a strong fire would shape glass, and made them take a very different form from the fragile one she now had. Her mouth grew with impressive fangs that left no hole in the perfect row. Spikes, horns and fins surged to take their right places. Among all the rips and growing protusions a pair of strong yet very thin wings erupted and the once bruised and useless tail began to take more space, more muscle grew and fortified the the thickening bone until it was soon one of the most powerful tools this secluded land had ever lay its eyes upon.
She didn't have to see it to know it was there. Unlike the other times the energy from the big round moon appeared to pass through blocked skies, layers of foliage and walls of stone to endow her of enough power to perform her change. It started with her tail, spreading the radiant blue all over her bare skin and leaving no patch uncovered. Then it moved to her bones and muscles, molding them like a strong fire would shape glass, and made them take a very different form from the fragile one she now had. Her mouth grew with impressive fangs that left no hole in the perfect row. Spikes, horns and fins surged to take their right places. Among all the rips and growing protusions a pair of strong yet very thin wings erupted and the once bruised and useless tail began to take more space, more muscle grew and fortified the the thickening bone until it was soon one of the most powerful tools this secluded land had ever lay its eyes upon.
{{add|She had planned to use this little cave to pass the night, or any other hole available for that matter, away from everything and everyone that she might hurt.}} After all, she blamed herself for all the missing cattle and the burned building, even though she didn't really remembered having done any of that. The more time she thought about her curse and of how unpredictable it was, the more she blamed herself of all the problems that prompted in town. If she hadn't been able to change back completely the last time, what prevented her from going amok when she was a dragon and destroying everything? The fact that she couldn't remember what had happened in her first full moon only backing up her wild theories.
She had planned to use this little cave, or any other hole available for that matter, to pass the night away from everything and everyone that she might hurt. After all, she blamed herself for all the missing cattle and the burned building, even though she didn't really remembered having done any of that.
The more time she thought about her curse and of how unpredictable it was, the more she actually believed it was her the source of all the problems that prompted in town. If she hadn't been able to change back completely the last time, what prevented her from going amok when she was a dragon and destroying everything? The fact that she couldn't remember what had happened in her first full moon only serving to back up her wild theories.
Right at that moment, the idea of passing the rest of her days in a tunnel as a hermit didn't sound bad at all, it was even appealing. Being so far away into the wilderness and at the base of a mountain would assure her that no one would bother come close and that there could be various amounts of food available for hunting and recollecting alike. She wouldn't starve and she would ensure her deathly weapons won't be used to kill or damage the town. It would have been like that, but aparently stronger forces were conspiring against poor Lizzette.
Right at that moment, the idea of passing the rest of her days in a tunnel as a hermit didn't sound bad at all, it was even appealing. Being so far away into the wilderness and at the base of a mountain would assure her that no one would bother come close and that there could be various amounts of food available for hunting and recollecting alike. She wouldn't starve and she would ensure her deathly weapons won't be used to kill or damage the town. It would have been like that, but aparently stronger forces were conspiring against poor Lizzette.
Just when she had made her mind up and was ready to embrace her new life, a tremendous thunder shock the earth. Not a thunder, no, something of similar power and capabilities, but with a different nature. A roar, it had to be, just like that first dreadful time. It thightened the little one's heart to think of the implications of this unexpected event, she was now sharing grounds with another dragon. ''Presumably of your own creation too,'' the poisonous voice of guilt sliced at her inocent conciousness ''perhaps a survivor of the first attack that had scorged away the material's house and the safeguard of the winter wheat along with some of the villager's men that night that the void first revealed your wicked true form.'' Bearing the feeling no more, our little heroine dashed into the night to try and see if there was something she could do to protect her fellow humans.
Just when she had made up her mind and was ready to embrace her new life, a tremendous thunder shock the earth. Not a thunder, no, something of similar power and capabilities, but with a different nature. A roar, it had to be, just like that first dreadful time.
It thightened the little one's heart to think of the implications of this unexpected event, she was now sharing grounds with another dragon. ''Presumably of your own creation too,'' the poisonous voice of guilt sliced at her inocent conciousness ''think about it, perhaps it was a survivor of the first attack that had scorged away the material's house and the safeguard of the winter's wheat, along with some of the villager's men, that night that the void first revealed your true wicked form''. Bearing the feeling no more, our little heroine dashed into the night to try and see if there was something she could do to protect her fellow humans.
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{{add|A river span all around her vision, the tree trunks and leaves melted into a neverending tunnel of brown and green that only shivered every now and then when she needed to miss the obstacles, until she hit something.}} Having built up her ability to run through dense vegetation, were sometimes she could barely pass through the gaps or paths, Lizzette was certainly taken by surprise at this development. Forcing herself back into all fours, ignoring the inminnent headache that would surely develop later into a bump, she came upon a green view, but a very different kind of green than the one she was used to.
The figure in front of her was also composing itself, and then took notice of our little one. It was a litte larger than her, but not so that she couldn't see it at more less the same eye level. Before she did anything the other dragon had already positioned itself over a limp animal on the right, one of the town's sheep she noted, and was baring its fangs at her, signaling to not come any closer to its food. It was at this time that the two began to really stare at each other for the first time.
On closer examination she noted other differences besides the color and size. It was slender and had a rather skinny complexion, one would even dare to say that some bones were showing but its difficult to tell those kind of things underneath a layer of scales. The head didn't appear to have her fin-ears, and seemed to have seen enough battles as to have its right main horn torn almost from its base, and a few other scars of the like. This appeared to be the same to the rest of the body, some missing scales and spikes here, a set of cuts and dried blood there, but the most obvious wound so far, and one that even made our little observer flinch a bit, were the shredded wings that it was hauling limply on both of its sides.
The thin skin that should have been between each elongated finger wasn't there, and even some of those were broken to the point that some of the bone's white could be seen. The only untouched part was where the wings arms met the spine at its back, but even that looked weak as they didn't even have the force to at least lift them from the floor, making the gashes and wounds worse on the lower part.
It... no, he -as she noted from her nostrils when she had calmed down enough to make sense of what they were saying- had also finished examining her and had now taken a more relaxed stance, without bearing those pointy knives anymore, when he noted she wasn't interested in his dead animal, keeping an eye on it none the less. After a while of utter silence, even the air had seemed to calm down and waited for whatever would happen next, the green beast took a tentative step forward.
Lizzette didn't move or flinched from her place. What had once been determination and resolve to track down and deal with this creature quickly dissolved into fear and terror of what it might do to her when he began to circle around her, poking and smelling every now and then, sending a chill down her spine every time. It came at last to meet her face to face, if what dragons have can be called that way, their muzzles an inch from each others and he looked at her straight in her eyes.
The rough surface of pointy scales gave way to a stronger green in the eyes of the creature, her gaze was dragged by the continous flow and, like a river through a waterfall, it fell on the black slit that broke the monotony. In there she saw force, a force that had pushed through many barriers and crashed down many obstacle, a force that, despite having gone through so many things that now his body was slowly falling apart, was still as strong and as sharp as ever. It was that flame of will what made the smaller dragon back up a step. The green one just snorted and went to fetch his dinner.
The little weredragon was stunned to say the least. She had feared the creature because it was an animal, a beast driven by instincts alone that had no sense whatsoever, or so she had thought. Now she wasn't so sure about that anymore. After seeing that sparkle of life, of feelings, that can only by observed in sensible beings, she began to bear in mind the possibility that the elder's conception of dragons was entirely wrong. Which was confirmed a moment later when a ball of red splatered on the too distracted kid's foreclaws with an emty thud.
It was a chunk of meat, ripped off in a very crude manner as could be observed by the cords of scarlet flesh that clung to it like some kind of parasite. The green one just stared at her and waited. Our young one hesitated at first but then lowered her head until her muzzle's was just one quick bite away from it. She couldn't handle the sight for long, and just when she was about to get sick her nostrils catched the strong smell that clung near it.
It was by far the sweetest thing she had smelled. A combination of summer flowers bathed in warm light, cold water flowing from a spring, fresh pepper about to be served and a thinge of recently made leather came into her mind, and many other references to similar things were beginning to fill her spirit. Of course, this was in part due to the fact that she hadn't eaten a descent piece of meat for a while and her stomach was hollow and growling for food. Before she even noticed it, the juicy fiber was already traveling by her guts and a trickle of blood ran down the sides of her mountrous mouth.
The other one just smile upon her without the need to do all those complicated and exausting human facial movements. He had decided to have his meal while waiting for her to make up her mind. His fangs had just finished eating the soft tissue inside the bone and his lizard-like tonge was now searching the remotes gaps and fissures in his claws for any missing red stain.
When he was done he threw the carcass aside and, standing up, motioned her to tag along with him. Of course, all Lizzette saw was a pair of gestures and some growls that didn't have any meaning to her, so the other one, frustrated after the third attempt, bit her softly on her right forearm, without causing any pain or puncturing the skin, and dragged her from there. Eventualy the little scaly child got the meaning of it and presuaded the other one to let go of her, with a snap of her fangs, and they both tagged along in the silence of the night.
{{Separator|d}}
Some time later a grey wall came into view, the trees ending in the base of yet another one of the omnipresent rock giants. After some more steps of road, where Lizzette felt the first surge of jelousy of the other dragon's skills in using his claws on the rough terrain, they finally came to the entrance of his lair. It was located several meters from the ground below, a hole with a small protusion in the flat face of the mountain.
Although she had already been underground that night, there was a strange, yet reassuring, feeling emanating from the place. It had a warmness that increased the further you went, the moonlight illuminated all the dark stone around and it had enough room to open up the wings so one could dive down the cliff and into the valley infront. In other words, she strangely felt at home there.
Once he was sure there was nothing creeping inside and that no one was coming along the path, the big mass of green scales jumped into the other mass and made our poor girl stumble into the uneven cavern floor. She quickly stood up and shoot him a glance. He was just standing there, the front lower part of his body touching the black rock, his tail raised high up and his eyes begging to her. Just before anything else happened he was already gone into the maze of tunnels ahead.
She knew that pose, it was the same one the dogs that sometimes roamed the streets had whenever they are playing with one another. So, desiphering what her host wanted, she eagerly went after him.
{{Separator|d}}
As with any children's game, it comes a time when they eventually drain all their stamina and were just happy resting over the other's limp and ached body already with a wing in the dream's realm. And they would have dozed off if it weren't for a sound that startled the most experienced one of the pair and got him to take a quick peek down the only trail that lead there.
Lizzette's curiosity took hold of her. Making fatigue and exaustion aside, she also went to see what was going on, only to be stopped by his new friend. It requiered some rather loud growls and a very close snap of fangs to disuade the littlest one from venturing near the entrance. It only took a moment from him to know what was going on, and even less to disappear into the unknown.
After that things began to move very fast. Another roar made dust and some pebbles fall all around the little weredragon, which by now had her tail glued at the bottom of the first chamber. Then came forth some wild cries, and the metalic sound of blades being unsheated.
Screams and other nasty noises filtered into the dark shelter from the soldiers outside, among some softer growls, echoes that fainted a little more each time, and the unsettling chilling noise of fight. When all of a sudden it all stopped.
Taking the silence as a clue, the young ball of shivers gathered all the courage to go to the mouth of the cave, get her head out, low enough in the ground to not be too noticeable, and take a look at the narrow passage that sizzled all the way until there. She was just in time to see a half circle of shiny metal closing in with spears on her newest friend, who was barely keeping himself on the edge of the cliff right at that moment. He made one last blow, his daggers managed to split the wooden stick of one of the men into several pieces and sent the unfortunate one down the trail to gather up with the rest of his now decaying companions, before he looked up at her.
It only took an instant for her to see that light of his at his full power, more bright than anything else, before it went dead immediately, and with it the poor's creature hold on the edge. She ducked into the safety of the cave. She didn't have to see it to know what happened, the loud and horrible cracking of bones and other softer parts on the sharp inanimate figures below telling her a horrorific story without the need of her vision.
She automatically went into the corner she had been hidding during the whole event, curling until the tip of her tail touched her main horns in a futile atempt to protect herself. ''They killed him,'' she thought to herslelf, deep feelings buried since the day her mother left the world surging to the surface like a drowning man seeking air ''they just came all the way here and killed him. Just because he was a dragon.''
''I am a dragon.''
''They are coming for me, I can hear them''
''I don't want to be a dragon. I don't want to die!''
A soldier stuck his head to look inside, but the darkness once again covered the little dragon keeping it safe for the moment. The man walked away, for the moment.
''I'm just supposed to be the child of a farmer. I'm not special. Why me?!''
They fixed a torch from wood and a lonely cloth with oil that such expirienced travelers always carried for just this purpose. They slowly came back to the hole to see what was hidding in there.
''I don't want to die! I don't want to die...''
A cold glove touched her, and she retreated towards the wall even more. “I don't want to die” she said in a murmur.
“It's ok. The beast is already gone” the voice of a rather young soldier said. He came in slowly and hugged the weak and naked form of a human girl in front of him, a hug that she returned with a firm grip. The pure white light of the moon reflected over the knight's metalic armor and on the child's tears when he said “You're safe now”
=={{Separator|d|Several Full Moons Later}}==
The months passed and the legend of the dragon of Emdin's valley spread like fire on wood. It became the main song of many taverns and even one or two royal courts, but was soon forgotten by everyone, like all deed made out of blood should.
Lizzette's prayers were, apparently, heard by someone, and in the next full moon night nothing happened. No scales tearing soft skin, no muzzle taking over her cute face, no claws or wing tearing all of her clothes, nothing at all. This repeated month after month, season after season, year after year, until the mind of the now young adult had been softened and molded, like a rock in the rivers of time, making her forget all about her ability and the few moments she had been in possesion of it.
On the anniversary of the now full-time human, the one were she finally came of the age to be pronounced officially as an adult woman according to her people's customs and traditions, there was a huge celebration in town.
Tables as large as the height of the trees around them were taken out, she never found out from where, and placed into the open. The most expirienced women were in charge of all the food and drinks that would be served and the younger ones were put to make everyone in town presentable for the great ocaccion. The men put the lambs and the best hunt they had into the whole deal while the little boys helped every now and then with everything they could, which could be from carrying all the newly imported plates to just act as messengers in the whole sea of chaos that was becoming the once serene settlement.
While all this was being made, our now much older hero was being arranged by all kinds of women that she had only seen once or twice in her whole life, but that now threated her with the kind of attention and courtesy the maidens of the court would do to her real princess. The beautiful dress made of a purple so pure and a fabric so soft and strong that it had been by far the best present she would have dreamed of. Her father had told her when he had given the elaborately made piece of art to her that it was the least he could do before she became a full woman and had to leave to live with the gentleman she would soon be married to.
It had been fixed from the day her mother had died. A father without the aid and constant support of his right hand could have never been able to take care of a child and of his duties at the farm on his own. So, after a few negotiations with an outsider and an enormous amount of luck, he made a deal with a lord. The child would grow and, when the time was right, someone would come to take her.
That was the main reason why her only parent had aisolated her from the rest of the community, so she wouldn't be tempted by others, as the elders had told him. Now everyone was going to celebrate her birthday and make a whole farewell party in her honor. It was a bright day, but dark clouds in the horizon would ensure that this day would see the beginning of bad times in the valley and in Lizzette's life.
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After all the meat had been cut, all the cups had been filled at least once with wine and some songs had been heard and danced, the time of the first toast came. The indeed very proud father raised up, calming all the noise and making the drunks look at least a little more vivid, held his wooden cup high in the air and spoke.
“My fellows, we are gathered here in the celebration of my, no, our young one's call to her fair duty in the world,” she blushed when the words came forth, her father giving her a quick look before continuing “Tonight, in the eve of Lizzette's journey to make a man happy forever and ever, we have been called to show her how much she has meant to everyone. For her!”
“For her!” everyone exclaimed as they raised their respective breverage's containers and took a big gulp of the sweet nectar.
However, before the poor farmer could do the same he suddenly stopped halfway through. His lips never touched the border of the cup again as he went to see a shadow that had suddenly materialized from nowhere. Her only daughter wanted to see where he had gone, but the rythm of the party and all the attention she had made the issue slip off her mind for the time being.
“It is time” the shadow said, the twisted teeth and buzzard's breath taking the father by surprise for a moment before he could interpret the words correctly.
“What? You said until tomorrow!”
“The caravan is already here,” he said, pointing at more menacing looking monsters and beasts just at the edge of the woods “and my master doesn't like the idea of waiting. Patience is certainly not his virtue” he added with a lifeless chuckle.
He didn't even think of complaining, after all she was his by right now. So, defeated, he went to fetch for her only child.
“Come with me” he said blunty to her and didn't even bother answer any questions she threw at him.
“Here she is”
“Father, who is him?” she said without trying to hide her fear and repulsion of the thing in front of them both.
“He will take you to your new home”
“But, I tought I was supposed to leave tomorrow!”
“Things change”
“But my stuff, and the people...”
“You don't need anything where you're going,” the voice hurt her ears and felt like venom in her blood “and I'm sure they all know you're leaving”
Without any more excuses in mind and still in shock of the violent twist of events, she was easily hauled by the back side of one of various cages, more fitted to hold animals than for any person to travel in it, and was literaly thrown and knocked unconcious in one of the bars of solid and thick wood.
“Here's your gold,” was the last thing Lizzette heard and she saw the monster throwing her father a large bag of something metalic before her forced sleep began.
{{Separator|d}}
After the last of the caravan was heard going away among the chat and laughs all around the farmer, he turned and began to talk to the nearest person he could find.
“Do you think she will be safe?” he asked.
“Don't worry about her,” the other responded “I'm sure she will be better wherever they are taking ... what was the name?”
“Lizzette” he said in clenched teeth.
“Who?” was all he replied.
“I don't know,” he continued even when he knew this fellow's mind was anywhere except in the valley “Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do”.
“Stop thinking of it, your head will hurt like mines if you do it,” he then fell to the ground but continued nevertheless “You got your gold and the rest of us ours, and will be getting it as all as you live, that's all that matters”.
“I guess you're right,” he said, throwing all the contents of the bag next to his now asleep body “After all, only kids and drunks tell those kind of truths”.
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In the lonely barn, a poor mare was let loose, along with a handful of other similar animals, into the wildness to take care by themselves. A rope with a single knot in the form of loop hanged from the only piece of dead tree that could support it and the weight of a man.
As the night grew quieter, so did the breathing of one farmer in the valley.
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Revision as of 01:55, 30 March 2008
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}} {{#if:| — see [[:Category:{{{category}}}|other works by this author]]}}
It was the beginning of a long journey to the little girl that had drafted outside of his house and wandered into the very hearts of the woods. Panic had begun to consume her the moment she realized that the trail had long disappeared, replaced with uneaven and soft ground that craked now and then with some stray branch or leaf, and that the voice of her father had already been replaced with the terrorizing sounds of creeping creatures and hungry predators. As the realization of the perilous situation began to really sink into the poor child's mind and imagination, making every shadow casted a demon and every sound heard a possible hungry beast, fear began to take control of her actions and made her run with all her might deeper into the unknown, effectively cutting her from the rest of the world.
There, where the ground opened up to the sky and the mattress of grass was disturbed with the ocaccional boulder or small hill, was when her strength finally reached its end and her limbs collapsed into a tired ball near the center. For a very long time the only sound that was heard was a very loud crying, then the one of sobbing, and then there was silence until the first crickets began to play their song.
When the little one finally returned from the world of dreams she was received with a cover of darkness. At first she thought her eyes were closed, until the first set of amber spheres appeared on the horizon, followed by many others until she was surrounded by them. The alpha male, seeing the oportunity to catch an easy meal, was the first one to launch forward and was soon followed by the rest of the pack.
Just at that moment, the little girl screamed her lungs out, but instead of the ordinary high-pitched sound she had expected to hear, a roar came out of her throat, shaking the earth itself for far more time that should have even been possible. After that silence ruled over the clearing, followed shortly after by the busy movements of the retreating wolves. The little one didn't have much time to react to what had happened as a souring pain coursed through her body.
It started with her eyes, that went blind the moment she closed them, and spread through her head, neck, torso, arms, legs and ended in the very tip of her toes. It was as if her very skin was digging daggers into her muscles and her bones. She rolled over and hit the boulders many times, punching the skin and releasing the scales uderneath it. She trashed all over the place, making it easier for bones to reshape and flesh to realign for their new purposes. She had to hold onto the side of a low hill to steady herself as spines, claws, fangs, wings and tail made their way through. She finally collapsed on the ground when everything was over, panting softly from her new muzzle.
Her eyes finally found the energy to open up... and the world invaded her. Everything was sharp and focused, from the tanters of clothes she tore apart some meters away to the family of birds that was quietly resting on a branch in a tree half a mile away. The colors seemed to glow from things and she even found out some ones that hadn't existed before. At the end she managed to stand up, fix her gaze on the solid round moon that had just been revealed upon the world and roar at it until her lungs could take it no more and her long neck could go no further into the night sky.
That was the first time that Lizzette transformed into a dragon.
{{#if:d|{{#if:The Second Full Moon|
The Second Full Moon
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The day came sooner than usual for our little child. The soft bed and warm coverings kept the little one at bay in the dreams realm, where she dreamt of rocky landscapes with mountains so high that could have touched the very stars at night. It was the morning sun that finally made her eyes open.
She normally woke up before the rooster gave his morning call, and even before the first sun rays invaded the sky, so she could help her father with the chores of the farm. Knowing this, it was unsurprising that the first thing she did was to send every cover flying to the other side of the room and to put on her working clothes as soon as possible.
When she got out her father had already fed all the animals and was about to go see how the field was coming out. The first thing she did was to go apologize with him for having dozed off all morning, again. Being still a youthful, she had a propency to have bad dreams take the better of her, making her stay alert all night and recovering the missing sleep hours later at day. Her father understood and sent her to wash some clothes on the nearby river that helped feed the farm. She immediately went to the house, grabbed all the things she needed and headed to the North road.
He watched her go, and was grateful that she thought of last night of only a dream in that little head of hers, and even more grateful that, somehow, she had been able to find her way back to the edge of the woods that surrounded the little farm.
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Time passed as it usually does, and before anyone knew it thirty days and twenty nine nights had already gone by in the blur of monotony and hard work. The sun had hidden in the horizon long ago and the only audible sound so far was the crickets and other insects singing in a chorus just in the border of the tree line. That, however, was cut off shortly with the sharp edge of a whinny.
Lizzete thought, not for the first time, that work at the farm was endless. Even at night some of the animals get startled by something, usually a rabbit or a fox from the nearby woods. Our little one is used to this kind of nightly errands, as her father sometimes goes into town to attend some important matters and she's in charge until he returns the next day. Despite the blinding darkness, she moved as swiftly as she would have in daylight and was soon in front of the mare's stall.
The old horse poked her head out and received the little one with some friendly poking of her very dextrous and strong lips. She, in return, smuggled her a carrot which she immediately accepted and petted her on those spots in her long muzzle that she liked the best. The animal had always been skinny to the point of poking her ribs out and had never really been much of a help in the farm anyways, even in her youth days. What had saved her so far had been the girl's love, that made it impossible for her father to get rid of her.
At one point the little cotton hands stopped rubbing and the horse opened her eyes to see what the problem was. Looking back at the steam of pure white light that was coming from one of the largest holes that adorned the roof, she could see her small human falling around on the ground. Being confused at first, she tried to poke even more of herself out to try and see what was going on, but confusion quickly became panic in the blink of an eye when she noted that something was wrong, and the whinnies started again even louder.
There, on the ground, our little child was going through a process that she thought had only existed in her dreams, only sligthly different than the previous time. The scales were growing out of her skin much like thick hairs instead of ripping it to shreds and leaving it on the ground. The bones shifted and accomodated with ease and swiftness, the movements of the new limbs easily coming to mind as it happened. Tail, muzzle and wings sprouted from their confinement and stretched. The horns, claws and fangs grew out, disscarding quickly the old hair, nails and theeth. In a lot less time than the previous occassion, and without all the previous pain, the transition from one body to the other was complete and the little one saw the world again from behind slitted eyes.
Not having as good vision as a human, or a dragon for that matter, a horse has to relay more on other senses to see the world around them, especially the hearing and the smell. So when the animal in the stall didn't hear any screams or any other threathening noise and didn't catch any hint of a predator or other danger in the air, she stopped her own panic and began to aknowledge the girl in front of her. Her eyes told her something huge and threathening was laying there, but her other senses said it was her girl, confused and afraid, so she did what she always does in this kind of situations. Going to the front of the stall once again, she poke her head through the top of the wooden fence and began to tug her face with her very leathery and strong lips, feeling a strange cold and hard sensation on her skin.
Lizzette, for her part, had been startled at first. A rush of ideas and feelings came through her head. Confusion at why she was now scaley all over. Fear of what her father and the town folk would think if they saw her in this deary state. Panic at the prospect of being stuck in that form forever. Anger at having ripped her clothes apart to shreds, yet again. All of them spinning in her head and effectively making a draconic statue of her, until the soft nips came. Slowly, but effectively, the mare's touch began to relax the solid muscles until movility returned, and to melt away the ideas into a constant and stable flow until her head was a great deal clearer. Reason and calmness finally returned to the young, and a claw reached up and carefully continued the job where it had left it. After a while it was over, so the animal gave her a good night's kiss in the only matter horses can, with yet another nip in the tip of the muzzle just below the little horn, and retreted to the back of the only used stall to doze off.
It had been just what the little one needed. Someone who told her that it was ok, that nothing had happened. She was still Lizzette, the humble kid of a farmer, only in a different form. She wondered if this was what her father had said about great changes in her future earlier today as she yawned and began to make herself comfortable. After all, she had been awoken in the middle of the night.
{{#if:d|{{#if:The Third Full Moon|
The Third Full Moon
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Unlike the last time, the events of the other night came to the mind of Lizzette easily. It was in part thanks to the fact it was her second time around and, thus, she had a little bit more conciousness of her unique situation, and in part thanks to the cold breeze of the morning air. Before the farmer could get his first boot on she had already gone to put something to cover herself and was beginning her daily work. The torn fabrics and other indications of last night's events were never seen again among the hay and other wastes.
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That night, the kid decided to face her father and find out if her suspicions of the mysterious future planned for her were correct. But the time wasn't right, it seemed, as the farmer had lost track of the intruder that ate the eggs today and was in a pretty grim mood about it. So she decided it would be best to wait until he cooled down again the next day.
The sun hid and rose again, and the time came again when the little one and the older one were face to face enjoying some of the rather short-sized meal. She was about to burst free and attack him with all her questions and doubts that had invaded her mind, but something was amiss. He hadn't opened his mouth all day except to give her instructions and eat, so something must still be bothering his soul to keep him so serious and quiet. The girl decided it was best to let him be for the moment and let him arrange everything, as he usually did, by himself.
As the morning started she was received by a rather joyful hug and peaks in the cheek every now and then. Apparently her father had managed to outsmart the grey menace and show him who 'the real hunter was around here' acording to his very own words. Noting his glee and pride at having saved everyone in the modest farm once again, the young one didn't want to disturb him with her childish problems. In fact, she reflected, she might even end up disturbing him, like that one time she had cut herself on a pointy rock near the water and had ran crying to him. She still reserved that red face full of anger, with his veins poking out and eyes about to fall out of their place, for her nightmares. It didn't matter if it had just been for one second, nor that he had appologized later on, it still stung her small heart and brought sour tears out to think about it, and so she decided to wait and see if tomorrow was a good day to tell him.
But tomorrow wasn't a good day either, so she waited for the next day.
And the next.
And the one after that.
Until she realized that the time for answers would come when her father decided to give them to her.
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The weeks passed. The moon had been hidding her beautiful face until it had been completely dark one night, and was now just pulling herself together, as our little one thought the round one did when passing her stages, until it was the time. Tonight was it, the night were the moon gave her full light to the world until her brother came at day.
Even when she had been prepared, working with renown effort at day so she could go early to bed and wouldn't doze off when the time came. Even when she would be close to the house in a nearby opening that she often visited. Even when her father had gone to those sleeps were he reaked of the awful stuff that she should never touch and couldn't be awaken until well beyond the next day. She still was nervous, not scared however as that had faded away the last time, and a little too anxious.
The shinning one couldn't be seen in the sky anymore, which meant that his sister would come any minute now that the sky was empty and darkness was consuming it. She carefully disrobed, putting what scarce belongings she had on the base of a nearby tree. Making herself as comfortable as anyone could on the cold roughness of the bare ground, she let her body relax and absorb the stars' light, closing her eyelids and covering her beautiful blue orbs. The next second, she opened them, and the world had changed.
Curiosity overwhelmed her. She pull her hands up and saw claws instead, heavy blue claws floating on a sea of lighter scales. She turned her long and flexible neck back and found spikes, a river of sapphire spikes that ran from the shrine of her head, through the smooth surface of pebbles and on to the end of the tail. Moving around she found how natural it felt to move on ground an all fours like a wild beast, the thin but amazingly strong and semi-translucent wings balancing and keeping stability by moving side to side, and the long and thick tail trailing behind. She reached the small mirror on the ground that some would have called a pond and peeked at her reflection. Her head had changed noticeably, a muzzle had attached itself, lenghting her head and fusing her nose so that now only two slits at the tip of it remained, and gained most of the face; a set of small fins much like her wings adorned the sides of the form; two rows of very strong and sharp fangs infested her mouth and a pair of horns had made their way through the back of her head. Even with all the draconic features it was unmistkeable who the creature was, her eyes, although slitted, hadn't lost the expressiveness that divides persons from animals and hadn't lost the sky hue that kept the old ladies at town wondering if she was a witch.
It didn't matter she wasn't human anymore, her soul was still one of a child and, as such, she could stay fixed on her reflection fooling with her face all night. She smiled, a sight that would have scared away anything that had at least a little sense, but she just giggled at how it just seemed out of place in such a predator. She then moved her ears, a feat that was impossible to her before but now was as easy as if they were just another pair of fingers attached to the sides of her head, and she discovered how to control her hearing so that the fall of a leaf could pierce her like a thunder, even if it had been far away, and how to silence the world at will. The not-so-little-anymore child next sticked her biforked toungue out and moved it in the air a little like snakes tended to do, and, mimicking a snake, she slid it back in and proved with the separated bits of flesh around her mouth for a while. It would have continued like that, doing faces and wasting time, if it hadn't been for a little green friend that jumped just at that moment and interrupted the busy reptile.
It saw her. She saw it. It began to hop out of the pond as soon as it aknowledged its mistake and she followed in persuit a very short time later. As for the outcome, lets just say that catching frogs wasn't a challenge for the little weredragon anymore.
The night followed its course and, among the running, the games and the failed attempts to fly and breath fire, it ended much sooner than our little one had expected, like all good things tended to do in life. As soon as the first sun ray peaked from the mountains she bagan to shrink. Her horns and head spines thined and began to turn to the brown tone she was used to, her claws retreated and flattened until just her normal dirty nails remained, her tail and wings disappeared to whatever place they go when she's human, her skin absorbed all the scales back, and as the face, neck, legs and arms returned to what she was used to, normality ruled over the woods once again. She picked up her things where she had lefte them and went to catch on some sleep before her father would wake up, which wouldn't happen for still some time.
{{#if:d|{{#if:The Tenth Full Moon|
The Tenth Full Moon
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She had been extremely careful and lucky in her nightly errands so far. For the last five months she had gone through her metamorphosis, as one of them had been cloudy all night and the other one had been a moonless dark time, she had been sneaking out of the house either when his father was sleeping like a rock or when he was out minding his own business in town and didn't come back until the next day. But like many other things in her life, this wasn't something that was meant to hold up for much.
You didn't have to be a grown up to know when something's wrong. The animals, even the wild ones, had stayed silent all day long. The flowers and colors seemed to be out of place among the featureless gray. Even the sun had decided to stay off from the little mountain town, stepping away to make room to the colossal clouds and the collosal shadow they casted. All her father would tell her was to come along to the town square with him. He didn't even had to tell her to stay quiet as she already noted that no one needed words to talk, their faces told everything she needed to know and even more.
Her father went to meet with the other townsfolk, every single one of them with the heavy marks of age and work buried on their faces along with deep concern and fear of what the call had been for. The younger ones, however, had been put aside and were lead to a group of trees wide enough to cover everyone, not that it really made any difference at all.
“Come here children,” one of the elders say “come here and hear what I have to say”
Calling him an elder was mere formality of course. He still had the force to pin down a bull to the ground and his mind was easily as sharp as the horns of the poor beast. The only visible sign of age that could make it easy to track down in a crowd were his whites that made his hair a soft grey.
The children gathered around him and when every single one of the sons of the twenty families had arrived he began with a dry and heavy voice to pass down part of his wisdom.
“I know many of you are aware of the dangers that lay ahead of the tree line. The vastness of plants, the uncertain terrain and the nightmares and monsters that hunts those grounds is enough to make even the most brave men doubt before setting foot in it. Normally it's fine to wander in for a short distance to collect wood, as long as you keep to the paths. This, however, will no longer be possible as a new creature has arrived and made its lair there.”
This caught Lizzette by surprise, and her heart began to pund harder.
“Its strenght as powerful as twenty of the best knights of the king.”
She began to take in deep harsh breaths.
“Its armor so strong that not even a sword can break through it.”
She started to walk backwards, to retreat.
“Its wicked form can move faster than you can blink and can fuse with the shadows to make it invisible.”
She hit some of the others, who didn't seemed to mind as they were too deep in the words of the old one to even notice her.
“It can take down entire villages and towns from above, releasing its mortal breath and making fire rain from the skies.”
She came at last to the outside of the circle, her eyes never leaving the black eyes of his elder. He then looked at her directly on the face.
“This, my children, is a dragon.”
Just when the last word was spoken, her knees got weaker and her balance failed.
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The town was on the very limits of one of the many kindoms that plaged the world at the time, and as such it was cut off from the rest of the world. That's why a group of the bravest men had been picked up to send news to whatever authority was in charge of taking down the dragon that hunted the poor population.
Lizzette woke up some moments after the party had long left for the west. She had been carried all the way and put in her bed by the herbolary's orders. Everyone thought she had been so scared of the story that she backed away slowly and tripped, hitting her head and becoming unconcious instantly. Of course, with such limited knowledge in the ways of medicine, except for some old plant remedies, they didn't notice that she had actually fainted.
With her head still spinning and her toughts all mixed in confusion, our little one took some time to aknowledge what had happened, when memory came back to her she began to understand more deeply the problem she was now facing. Before she could do anything more, however, something more important took her attention at that moment.
Light slowly began to filter through the spaces between the wood of the roof. The girl, being very agile and quick, climbed one of the walls like a little squirell and took a better look through one of the holes. She could see the big white eye of the sky slowly coming out of her blankets of the clouds. She immediately let go, landing rather painfully, and ger breaths began to increase. With a little effort she could stand up, with some parts hurt from the fall, and began to set her bed, so that her father woulsn't know of her monthly trips to the woods, with haste.
When it was already filled with enough hay, she turned towards the door, when a pain gripped at her stomach. 'Not here,' she thought 'not now', but it was already too late.
Knowing of the inevitable, the only thing Lizzette could do was to take all her garments off, which she did and just in time. For the first time she wanted to stop it. She gripped her what she could of her arms in an attempt to hold the little daggers in place, but was unsuccessful as they pierces trhough skin. She tried to tense her muscles so that her bones could stay in place, only to find it came as an unberable pain. She curled up on the floor, more in panic and exahustion than to prevent the changes, and her soft body began to lose all her innocence and pasiveness to become sharp and dangerous.
For the rest of the world it took only the blink of an eye, but for the dragon laying on her room it had been some of the worst minutes, if not hours, of her life. But, if it wasn't enough already, she was cramped in confines of her own dormitory by her enormous size. She tried to see if she could squeeze trough the door without damaging it too badly but to no avail. She was stuck and could hardly move without bumping into anything.
“Who's there?” a very familiar voice announced from the other side of the wooden frame. Lizzette froze in place, just now realizing how much noise she had been doing. The next thing she heard before covering her eyes was the knocking on her door.
When no one answered he began to worry about thiefs and kidnappers, despite already knowing that there was no business for those kind of people in this particular house. This made him wonder later on if the extravagant imagination of her sweet little one had been hereditary, among other things, but for now he just tightened his grip on the hoe he had fetched from the tools stand, which was conviniantely located near the entrance so as to protect them from the spring rains. He almost ripped the thing from its hinges, more from the poor door's decaying quality than from his kick, and then looked inside.
In his rush the old man had forgotten to bring a candle and was now regreting his stupidity as the bedroom was one of the darkest holes of the house. The only source of light was coming from the moonrays that casted some serpents of white that were spreaded around, except in the corner but the farmer didn't note this. At the first sound of the dry soil moving under him with the first step something crawled on his right. Turning quickly, with weapon raised high over his head and ready to attack, he just saw a bed. He let the air out of the breath his was holding and droped his stance, this was when that particular thought about excesive imagination popped in. There was her little daughter, exploring other worlds, while he was wasting his time doubting her safety. He decided to leave her alone and made a long line on the ground while dragging his hoe behind him.
If he had stayed a while more he would have probably seen a tail crawling and trying to hide under the blankets, followed a moment after by the rest of the body, this time in a silent way. All her inicial doubts began to come back to the surface, questions she had thought solved began to tease her head again like if her father knew of her. The more she thought back to all those times she tried to confess to him her secret the more she doubted he had any clue at all. As if on cue she heard the sound of metal dropping on the table, no doubt one of those special talismans that were sold at the local shop to protect from any animal attack, not that they worked but the fact her father had bought one and had had it clinged to him told her about his fear to the dragon out there. The same dragon he had as a daugther and was now starting to cry until her yellow eyes dried out. With sorrow in her heart she fell to sleep with her head resting on the naked bed, the rest of her body circling the room and with only her wings scarcely covered with the wool fabric.
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As the sky cleared the next day so did Lizzette's mind. She now had a somewhat solid idea of the danger she was facing. She would have to go very far away on full moon nights, make sure no one sees her or follows her, and find a way to cure the curse. She still had no idea how she would do the latter or what kind of excuse she could tell her father in case he gets suspicious, but she still had some time before the next transition. As she began to stretch and yawn something hit the wall behind her. Turning around, she saw an extra appendage that shouldn't had been there stick out of her black covers, waving a good morning at her.
{{#if:d|{{#if:The Eleventh Full Moon|
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She stared in disbelief at the tail that extended a meter behind her, the soft pink skin merging with the smooth sky scales right at the base of her spine. It wasn't as long as in her other form, and instead of spikes emerging from the top of it, like the mountains did over the earth around the little town, it only had tuffs of short hairs running through it, a mere reflection of their original form. It twitched at her command as if it had been glued to her for a lifetime, and it even seemed to be able to tell her emotions as it was now trying to hide between her two legs, as would have done our little one if she could.
The one thought that was running through her mind was that this could not be happenning, that she should have returned to be a little child. Entranced by this idea, her heart almost jumped out of her chest when the front door opened to the morning with a loud noise and the farmer began his daily chores in the fresh air. This knocked Lizzette back to reality with a start and made her act quickly. Before her feet layed the still intact, although dirty, clothes from the night behind her.
She immediately saw an obvious problem even before trying them on, as such thing had been designed for a body that only had five protusions coming from it. Then the little snake attached to her, as if seeing her distress and trying to help, warped itself around her right leg, thight enough to make it pass unseen under the dress that had to cover her ankles but loose enough as to not make her trip while walking or moving at a quick pace. Once everything was back on she took a look at herself as best as she could, and although there was a slight bump on her rear it wasn't something too noticeable, at least not for her father. The man didn't even notice any difference when she passed by his gaze with a small bag of carrots hidden in her belly to take to the old mare, surely he wouldn't see anything different in her perfect small angel, and he didn't.
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She had a whole week to train herself mentally and practically in the arts of hidding her little new friend and now was the time to test them in her first errand to the shop. She had seen how the town's folk reacted to lizards, or witches' eyes and ears as they often called them, and had an alarming idea of what they might think of if they discovered her newest development. So she took all the precautions she could, warping the hard and overdeveloped worm thightly with a piecce of rope as to making it even less noticeable and adding an extra belt of animal hide, borrowed from her father, to her hip in an attempt to flatten the inevitable stub that formed on her back. She succeded, but the tightness was uncomfortable and her new muscles were beginning to get numb from the pressure. The little one couldn't bear to walk or even stand with all that on for long, and sitting or running were strictly out of bounds, so she decided not to put it until it was absolutely necesary.
Behind one of the last couple of trees that stood between the farm and the first set of houses was where she decided to do it. Looking back, she felt sad for the poor thing.
It was comforting and warm to the touch, and it even felt to her like her best friend that she could talk to whenever she wanted or needed it, could hug it and play with it. The truth was, that little inanimated piece of flesh and metalic components was her best friend and confesor, even though it was just another part of her and even though it had no real feeling or sentience by itself. It was the child's imagination that gave it life, at least to her eyes, a very characteristic deed only treasures with her little amount of experience could make possible.
But still, she had to do it. Fighting back the urge to just get away from there, she forced the limb to warp around her leg companion and began spiraling the dead plant's fibers around again and again and at last pulled with what little strength she could muster. After that she covered everything in her barely white dress, as the dirt always seemed to like attaching itself there, and began circling the dead animal's dried skins over her. Barely able to breathe was how she entered the only civilization she knew of.
At the streets people didn't bother with a second glance, all they would see was the farmer's girl in her own business and then they continued with whatever they were doing. Even at the shop there was only a comment of how she shouldn't be using her father's garments, but that was all. The keeper wouldn't even remember to tell her father of that, and so the whole trip went without any memorable mark on the people's memory.
Again when she was far enough, she undid all the restrains, and even cut the rope in her desesperation to get her friend free. It was sorrow and bruised, a dark mark engulfing it like a vine would a tree before choking it to death. A little more time and she though it would have to be cut out, just like a decaying apendage in the stories of the few men that had gone to war. She suddenly realised just how important the little thing had become for her when the inanimated isles of stone and the desert of cheek flesh were divided by a river of tears.
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When the moment finally came she was ready for it. Her mind hadn't been able to think of a good excuse that an old and wise man like her father would believe, so instead she decided to risk escaping again, not without leaving her normal decoy behind of course. The little one went in the still dusk to stray far deep below the dense cover of leaves, where no one would find her, even at the risk of getting lost. Just when the world was devoured by darkness again she was finishing to put all her human things in a small grotto at the base of the local mountains, the places that girls like her weren't supposed to be in at any given time according to the elders.
She didn't have to see it to know it was there. Unlike the other times the energy from the big round moon appeared to pass through blocked skies, layers of foliage and walls of stone to endow her of enough power to perform her change. It started with her tail, spreading the radiant blue all over her bare skin and leaving no patch uncovered. Then it moved to her bones and muscles, molding them like a strong fire would shape glass, and made them take a very different form from the fragile one she now had. Her mouth grew with impressive fangs that left no hole in the perfect row. Spikes, horns and fins surged to take their right places. Among all the rips and growing protusions a pair of strong yet very thin wings erupted and the once bruised and useless tail began to take more space, more muscle grew and fortified the the thickening bone until it was soon one of the most powerful tools this secluded land had ever lay its eyes upon.
She had planned to use this little cave, or any other hole available for that matter, to pass the night away from everything and everyone that she might hurt. After all, she blamed herself for all the missing cattle and the burned building, even though she didn't really remembered having done any of that.
The more time she thought about her curse and of how unpredictable it was, the more she actually believed it was her the source of all the problems that prompted in town. If she hadn't been able to change back completely the last time, what prevented her from going amok when she was a dragon and destroying everything? The fact that she couldn't remember what had happened in her first full moon only serving to back up her wild theories.
Right at that moment, the idea of passing the rest of her days in a tunnel as a hermit didn't sound bad at all, it was even appealing. Being so far away into the wilderness and at the base of a mountain would assure her that no one would bother come close and that there could be various amounts of food available for hunting and recollecting alike. She wouldn't starve and she would ensure her deathly weapons won't be used to kill or damage the town. It would have been like that, but aparently stronger forces were conspiring against poor Lizzette.
Just when she had made up her mind and was ready to embrace her new life, a tremendous thunder shock the earth. Not a thunder, no, something of similar power and capabilities, but with a different nature. A roar, it had to be, just like that first dreadful time.
It thightened the little one's heart to think of the implications of this unexpected event, she was now sharing grounds with another dragon. Presumably of your own creation too, the poisonous voice of guilt sliced at her inocent conciousness think about it, perhaps it was a survivor of the first attack that had scorged away the material's house and the safeguard of the winter's wheat, along with some of the villager's men, that night that the void first revealed your true wicked form. Bearing the feeling no more, our little heroine dashed into the night to try and see if there was something she could do to protect her fellow humans.
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A river span all around her vision, the tree trunks and leaves melted into a neverending tunnel of brown and green that only shivered every now and then when she needed to miss the obstacles, until she hit something. Having built up her ability to run through dense vegetation, were sometimes she could barely pass through the gaps or paths, Lizzette was certainly taken by surprise at this development. Forcing herself back into all fours, ignoring the inminnent headache that would surely develop later into a bump, she came upon a green view, but a very different kind of green than the one she was used to.
The figure in front of her was also composing itself, and then took notice of our little one. It was a litte larger than her, but not so that she couldn't see it at more less the same eye level. Before she did anything the other dragon had already positioned itself over a limp animal on the right, one of the town's sheep she noted, and was baring its fangs at her, signaling to not come any closer to its food. It was at this time that the two began to really stare at each other for the first time.
On closer examination she noted other differences besides the color and size. It was slender and had a rather skinny complexion, one would even dare to say that some bones were showing but its difficult to tell those kind of things underneath a layer of scales. The head didn't appear to have her fin-ears, and seemed to have seen enough battles as to have its right main horn torn almost from its base, and a few other scars of the like. This appeared to be the same to the rest of the body, some missing scales and spikes here, a set of cuts and dried blood there, but the most obvious wound so far, and one that even made our little observer flinch a bit, were the shredded wings that it was hauling limply on both of its sides.
The thin skin that should have been between each elongated finger wasn't there, and even some of those were broken to the point that some of the bone's white could be seen. The only untouched part was where the wings arms met the spine at its back, but even that looked weak as they didn't even have the force to at least lift them from the floor, making the gashes and wounds worse on the lower part.
It... no, he -as she noted from her nostrils when she had calmed down enough to make sense of what they were saying- had also finished examining her and had now taken a more relaxed stance, without bearing those pointy knives anymore, when he noted she wasn't interested in his dead animal, keeping an eye on it none the less. After a while of utter silence, even the air had seemed to calm down and waited for whatever would happen next, the green beast took a tentative step forward.
Lizzette didn't move or flinched from her place. What had once been determination and resolve to track down and deal with this creature quickly dissolved into fear and terror of what it might do to her when he began to circle around her, poking and smelling every now and then, sending a chill down her spine every time. It came at last to meet her face to face, if what dragons have can be called that way, their muzzles an inch from each others and he looked at her straight in her eyes.
The rough surface of pointy scales gave way to a stronger green in the eyes of the creature, her gaze was dragged by the continous flow and, like a river through a waterfall, it fell on the black slit that broke the monotony. In there she saw force, a force that had pushed through many barriers and crashed down many obstacle, a force that, despite having gone through so many things that now his body was slowly falling apart, was still as strong and as sharp as ever. It was that flame of will what made the smaller dragon back up a step. The green one just snorted and went to fetch his dinner.
The little weredragon was stunned to say the least. She had feared the creature because it was an animal, a beast driven by instincts alone that had no sense whatsoever, or so she had thought. Now she wasn't so sure about that anymore. After seeing that sparkle of life, of feelings, that can only by observed in sensible beings, she began to bear in mind the possibility that the elder's conception of dragons was entirely wrong. Which was confirmed a moment later when a ball of red splatered on the too distracted kid's foreclaws with an emty thud.
It was a chunk of meat, ripped off in a very crude manner as could be observed by the cords of scarlet flesh that clung to it like some kind of parasite. The green one just stared at her and waited. Our young one hesitated at first but then lowered her head until her muzzle's was just one quick bite away from it. She couldn't handle the sight for long, and just when she was about to get sick her nostrils catched the strong smell that clung near it.
It was by far the sweetest thing she had smelled. A combination of summer flowers bathed in warm light, cold water flowing from a spring, fresh pepper about to be served and a thinge of recently made leather came into her mind, and many other references to similar things were beginning to fill her spirit. Of course, this was in part due to the fact that she hadn't eaten a descent piece of meat for a while and her stomach was hollow and growling for food. Before she even noticed it, the juicy fiber was already traveling by her guts and a trickle of blood ran down the sides of her mountrous mouth.
The other one just smile upon her without the need to do all those complicated and exausting human facial movements. He had decided to have his meal while waiting for her to make up her mind. His fangs had just finished eating the soft tissue inside the bone and his lizard-like tonge was now searching the remotes gaps and fissures in his claws for any missing red stain.
When he was done he threw the carcass aside and, standing up, motioned her to tag along with him. Of course, all Lizzette saw was a pair of gestures and some growls that didn't have any meaning to her, so the other one, frustrated after the third attempt, bit her softly on her right forearm, without causing any pain or puncturing the skin, and dragged her from there. Eventualy the little scaly child got the meaning of it and presuaded the other one to let go of her, with a snap of her fangs, and they both tagged along in the silence of the night.
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Some time later a grey wall came into view, the trees ending in the base of yet another one of the omnipresent rock giants. After some more steps of road, where Lizzette felt the first surge of jelousy of the other dragon's skills in using his claws on the rough terrain, they finally came to the entrance of his lair. It was located several meters from the ground below, a hole with a small protusion in the flat face of the mountain.
Although she had already been underground that night, there was a strange, yet reassuring, feeling emanating from the place. It had a warmness that increased the further you went, the moonlight illuminated all the dark stone around and it had enough room to open up the wings so one could dive down the cliff and into the valley infront. In other words, she strangely felt at home there.
Once he was sure there was nothing creeping inside and that no one was coming along the path, the big mass of green scales jumped into the other mass and made our poor girl stumble into the uneven cavern floor. She quickly stood up and shoot him a glance. He was just standing there, the front lower part of his body touching the black rock, his tail raised high up and his eyes begging to her. Just before anything else happened he was already gone into the maze of tunnels ahead.
She knew that pose, it was the same one the dogs that sometimes roamed the streets had whenever they are playing with one another. So, desiphering what her host wanted, she eagerly went after him.
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As with any children's game, it comes a time when they eventually drain all their stamina and were just happy resting over the other's limp and ached body already with a wing in the dream's realm. And they would have dozed off if it weren't for a sound that startled the most experienced one of the pair and got him to take a quick peek down the only trail that lead there.
Lizzette's curiosity took hold of her. Making fatigue and exaustion aside, she also went to see what was going on, only to be stopped by his new friend. It requiered some rather loud growls and a very close snap of fangs to disuade the littlest one from venturing near the entrance. It only took a moment from him to know what was going on, and even less to disappear into the unknown.
After that things began to move very fast. Another roar made dust and some pebbles fall all around the little weredragon, which by now had her tail glued at the bottom of the first chamber. Then came forth some wild cries, and the metalic sound of blades being unsheated.
Screams and other nasty noises filtered into the dark shelter from the soldiers outside, among some softer growls, echoes that fainted a little more each time, and the unsettling chilling noise of fight. When all of a sudden it all stopped.
Taking the silence as a clue, the young ball of shivers gathered all the courage to go to the mouth of the cave, get her head out, low enough in the ground to not be too noticeable, and take a look at the narrow passage that sizzled all the way until there. She was just in time to see a half circle of shiny metal closing in with spears on her newest friend, who was barely keeping himself on the edge of the cliff right at that moment. He made one last blow, his daggers managed to split the wooden stick of one of the men into several pieces and sent the unfortunate one down the trail to gather up with the rest of his now decaying companions, before he looked up at her.
It only took an instant for her to see that light of his at his full power, more bright than anything else, before it went dead immediately, and with it the poor's creature hold on the edge. She ducked into the safety of the cave. She didn't have to see it to know what happened, the loud and horrible cracking of bones and other softer parts on the sharp inanimate figures below telling her a horrorific story without the need of her vision.
She automatically went into the corner she had been hidding during the whole event, curling until the tip of her tail touched her main horns in a futile atempt to protect herself. They killed him, she thought to herslelf, deep feelings buried since the day her mother left the world surging to the surface like a drowning man seeking air they just came all the way here and killed him. Just because he was a dragon.
I am a dragon.
They are coming for me, I can hear them
I don't want to be a dragon. I don't want to die!
A soldier stuck his head to look inside, but the darkness once again covered the little dragon keeping it safe for the moment. The man walked away, for the moment.
I'm just supposed to be the child of a farmer. I'm not special. Why me?!
They fixed a torch from wood and a lonely cloth with oil that such expirienced travelers always carried for just this purpose. They slowly came back to the hole to see what was hidding in there.
I don't want to die! I don't want to die...
A cold glove touched her, and she retreated towards the wall even more. “I don't want to die” she said in a murmur.
“It's ok. The beast is already gone” the voice of a rather young soldier said. He came in slowly and hugged the weak and naked form of a human girl in front of him, a hug that she returned with a firm grip. The pure white light of the moon reflected over the knight's metalic armor and on the child's tears when he said “You're safe now”
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The months passed and the legend of the dragon of Emdin's valley spread like fire on wood. It became the main song of many taverns and even one or two royal courts, but was soon forgotten by everyone, like all deed made out of blood should.
Lizzette's prayers were, apparently, heard by someone, and in the next full moon night nothing happened. No scales tearing soft skin, no muzzle taking over her cute face, no claws or wing tearing all of her clothes, nothing at all. This repeated month after month, season after season, year after year, until the mind of the now young adult had been softened and molded, like a rock in the rivers of time, making her forget all about her ability and the few moments she had been in possesion of it.
On the anniversary of the now full-time human, the one were she finally came of the age to be pronounced officially as an adult woman according to her people's customs and traditions, there was a huge celebration in town.
Tables as large as the height of the trees around them were taken out, she never found out from where, and placed into the open. The most expirienced women were in charge of all the food and drinks that would be served and the younger ones were put to make everyone in town presentable for the great ocaccion. The men put the lambs and the best hunt they had into the whole deal while the little boys helped every now and then with everything they could, which could be from carrying all the newly imported plates to just act as messengers in the whole sea of chaos that was becoming the once serene settlement.
While all this was being made, our now much older hero was being arranged by all kinds of women that she had only seen once or twice in her whole life, but that now threated her with the kind of attention and courtesy the maidens of the court would do to her real princess. The beautiful dress made of a purple so pure and a fabric so soft and strong that it had been by far the best present she would have dreamed of. Her father had told her when he had given the elaborately made piece of art to her that it was the least he could do before she became a full woman and had to leave to live with the gentleman she would soon be married to.
It had been fixed from the day her mother had died. A father without the aid and constant support of his right hand could have never been able to take care of a child and of his duties at the farm on his own. So, after a few negotiations with an outsider and an enormous amount of luck, he made a deal with a lord. The child would grow and, when the time was right, someone would come to take her.
That was the main reason why her only parent had aisolated her from the rest of the community, so she wouldn't be tempted by others, as the elders had told him. Now everyone was going to celebrate her birthday and make a whole farewell party in her honor. It was a bright day, but dark clouds in the horizon would ensure that this day would see the beginning of bad times in the valley and in Lizzette's life.
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After all the meat had been cut, all the cups had been filled at least once with wine and some songs had been heard and danced, the time of the first toast came. The indeed very proud father raised up, calming all the noise and making the drunks look at least a little more vivid, held his wooden cup high in the air and spoke.
“My fellows, we are gathered here in the celebration of my, no, our young one's call to her fair duty in the world,” she blushed when the words came forth, her father giving her a quick look before continuing “Tonight, in the eve of Lizzette's journey to make a man happy forever and ever, we have been called to show her how much she has meant to everyone. For her!”
“For her!” everyone exclaimed as they raised their respective breverage's containers and took a big gulp of the sweet nectar.
However, before the poor farmer could do the same he suddenly stopped halfway through. His lips never touched the border of the cup again as he went to see a shadow that had suddenly materialized from nowhere. Her only daughter wanted to see where he had gone, but the rythm of the party and all the attention she had made the issue slip off her mind for the time being.
“It is time” the shadow said, the twisted teeth and buzzard's breath taking the father by surprise for a moment before he could interpret the words correctly.
“What? You said until tomorrow!”
“The caravan is already here,” he said, pointing at more menacing looking monsters and beasts just at the edge of the woods “and my master doesn't like the idea of waiting. Patience is certainly not his virtue” he added with a lifeless chuckle.
He didn't even think of complaining, after all she was his by right now. So, defeated, he went to fetch for her only child.
“Come with me” he said blunty to her and didn't even bother answer any questions she threw at him.
“Here she is”
“Father, who is him?” she said without trying to hide her fear and repulsion of the thing in front of them both.
“He will take you to your new home”
“But, I tought I was supposed to leave tomorrow!”
“Things change”
“But my stuff, and the people...”
“You don't need anything where you're going,” the voice hurt her ears and felt like venom in her blood “and I'm sure they all know you're leaving”
Without any more excuses in mind and still in shock of the violent twist of events, she was easily hauled by the back side of one of various cages, more fitted to hold animals than for any person to travel in it, and was literaly thrown and knocked unconcious in one of the bars of solid and thick wood.
“Here's your gold,” was the last thing Lizzette heard and she saw the monster throwing her father a large bag of something metalic before her forced sleep began.
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After the last of the caravan was heard going away among the chat and laughs all around the farmer, he turned and began to talk to the nearest person he could find.
“Do you think she will be safe?” he asked.
“Don't worry about her,” the other responded “I'm sure she will be better wherever they are taking ... what was the name?”
“Lizzette” he said in clenched teeth.
“Who?” was all he replied.
“I don't know,” he continued even when he knew this fellow's mind was anywhere except in the valley “Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do”.
“Stop thinking of it, your head will hurt like mines if you do it,” he then fell to the ground but continued nevertheless “You got your gold and the rest of us ours, and will be getting it as all as you live, that's all that matters”.
“I guess you're right,” he said, throwing all the contents of the bag next to his now asleep body “After all, only kids and drunks tell those kind of truths”.
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In the lonely barn, a poor mare was let loose, along with a handful of other similar animals, into the wildness to take care by themselves. A rope with a single knot in the form of loop hanged from the only piece of dead tree that could support it and the weight of a man.
As the night grew quieter, so did the breathing of one farmer in the valley.
The First Full Moon 
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The First Full Moon 
Work in Progress 
