Dragon's heart

Chapter 1

Cleaning the used arrows near the open fire, I tried to get the cold out of my body, which had crept up on me in the night like an old friend. I had thrown my thin blanket over my mother's shivering tiny body in the morning, so I had no choice but to try to warm myself with work.

Yesterday's day on the field was more challenging than usual. First thing in the morning, a thunderstorm came down from the sky. Duke Lasker, for whom my mother and I worked, was not interested in such a thing, so we toiled, soaked to the bone. The dirt that clung to us all day was the least of our worries. I was afraid my mother would get sick. Her weak body could hardly cope with the daily strain, let alone the effects of the cold that accompanied our work.

Duke Lasker was a cruel man, but at least he paid on time and for a reasonable sum. He knew very well how to keep the dragons on his good side, which also earned him coveted privileges and money. But our whole village, for which he was responsible, didn't like him. He never cared about our welfare and safety. Fortunately, he was quite old, and we all waited impatiently for his last breath so that his son Lucas could finally take the duke's place.

Lukas Lasker. I sighed wistfully and smiled slightly to myself. He wasn't an outright handsome or friendly man, but he was better than his father. All the girls in the village were vying for his attention, including me. I knew that none of them were vying for his hand because of his looks, but I couldn't blame them, even though I was trying to trap him into marriage for purely selfish reasons.

But my main advantage was that he could never take his eyes off me. It brought out waves of jealousy and anger in the other girls, which I didn't mind. Their friendship was irrelevant in our world.

Since my father's death, my mother and I have been trying to survive on very small rations of food just to stay alive. But what kind of life was it when you could do nothing but work and hope that the money you earned would be enough to keep you from starving? That's why I needed Lucas. With his money and status, he could take care of us. Even though he'd never been gentle with women, it was the price I was willing to pay for a better life.

Although Lucas paid me the most attention of any girl in the village, even so, despite all my prayers, I couldn't be sure that he would eventually propose to me.

So I had no choice but to try to get food and money in other ways than working in the fields. Every morning, while the village was still asleep, I went to the nearest forest behind our cottage to hunt.

The biggest problem was that I was no hunter. Nobody ever taught me anything like that. I had to rely on my poor skills. I often came up empty, but I never gave up. I couldn't, if only for my mother.

I sighed and put the now clean arrows back into the quiver lying on the rotting wooden floor beside me. Neither of us had the time or energy to try to put our old cottage back in order, so the old roof blew in, resulting in the slow decay of everything inside.

The time when we could still live here was running out. I needed to quickly find a husband who could take care of us, except that there was no way to rush something like that, so I could only hope that Lucas wouldn't take too long.

I looked out the small window above the narrow bed my mother slept on. The sunrise was already starting to turn the sky gray, so it was high time to go hunting.

I threw my dark, worn cloak over my shoulders, which was laid on the back of the rickety chair I was sitting on, along with a quiver half full of arrows. From under the moldy mattress on my narrow bed, I pulled out a plain bow I had once stolen from a guy at the local tavern. Luckily, no one ever found out, or I probably would have lost both my hands by now.

I pulled the bow over my head and walked out quietly so as not to wake my mother. I hid my head in a deep hood to keep myself at least a little warm. Spring may have been starting, but the air was still cool at this early hour.

I made my way along the beaten path past our cottage on the edge of the village towards the woods. I had to be quick to make it back before my mother woke up and also careful not to attract unwanted attention. At times like these, it wasn't safe for a lone woman to be outside. The secluded roads were filled with thieves and murderers I certainly didn't want to run into.

I had been sneaking around like this for a good half a year without anyone finding out, which was also my greatest luck. If my mother had found out, it would probably have broken her heart, because she would have been afraid that something might happen to me, and she would have lost not only her husband but her daughter as well. And if Lucas found out, I might as well say goodbye to our marriage, because who wants a rebel running around in the woods as a wife?

I walked quickly across the meadow to the nearest woods. As I weaved my way deeper into the trees, I removed the bow from my shoulders and planted an arrow in it. However, I kept my hands lowered as I silently scanned the area.

Fallen leaves rustled here and there under my clumsy feet, and I mentally cursed myself for not being more careful. I crouched behind one of the mature bushes and peered through the trees with squinted eyes. I tried to spot animal tracks or hear any sounds.

It was strange. I realized that the forest was suspiciously quiet. There wasn't a single little bird chirping, nothing at all. It was as if the forest itself was afraid of something and trying to appear invisible. It sent a chill down my spine.

Something was wrong, but I went a little deeper anyway, perhaps hoping I was dreaming. Surrounded by trees, I could only guess how high the sun was on the horizon, but I probably didn't have much time left.

I sighed in defeat when the situation didn't change after a few more minutes. I was about to head home empty-handed when a terrible guttural roar tore through the morning sky. I froze all over and waited, wide-eyed, to see if the sound would reappear. I was beginning to believe I was dreaming, but at that moment the roar repeated itself and a huge shadow enveloped me.

Immediately, I looked above me and saw only the end of a massive tail, which disappeared behind the tall trees. My heart raced wildly. Still watching the sky, I quickly crouched by the trunk of a tree.

A growl followed, and I could feel it in my bones. And then I saw him again.

A dragon flew over me, black as the darkest night and as huge as our village. My breath caught in my lungs as I realized that this could be the end of either my miserable life or my home, where my mother slept peacefully.