Dragon's Landing

Smoke came furling up from under the floorboards. It circled around a small child. The child’s body was smudged with soot and ash. Flames began to build across the floor when a loud boom brought in a man. He was a burly man who had seen the smoke earlier. He rushed in and swooped up the child. He braced himself and hurled back through the burning wood. The small hut caved in right as he had made it outside. The man took a moment to examine the child. To his amazement, there weren’t any injuries just the soot and ash. Cradling the child he rose up and began walking toward the forest and back to his house. He never knew the old hut had been there. He decided that he would raise this child as his own. Living in the forest had left the man lonely. He craved the companionship that this young child could bring. “There must be something about you young one. Something special to escape that fire alive.”  He came upon his meager hut. It was just big enough for two people. He made a makeshift bed out of hay by the fireplace and laid the child in it. Then he waited to see when the child would wake up. Three Days Later It felt as though her eyes had been sewn shut. Her eyes slowly pried themselves open. It was too bright here. “Ahh I see you are finally awake. Here have some water.” She looked up to see a large man holding out a small tin cup. Struggling, she managed to push herself up and reach forward for the tin. “My name is Jorn and I rescued you from that fire a few days ago. What’s your name?” Fire what does he mean fire. The child stopped drinking and noticed she was covered in soot. She began to panic as she couldn’t remember what happened. “I-I don’t know. I don’t know what happened.” She paused. “I don’t even know my name.” Jorn looked rather sullen for a moment then shrugged his shoulders. “That’s in the past. You’ll remember eventually. How about I call you Ash?” The child looked up at him and paused then she slowly nodded her head. “I like that name.” Jorn pulled out some crudely sewn together clothes and handed them to her. “Follow me and we’ll go down to the river. You probably want to wash yourself.” Ash took the clothes and a small nub of lard soap. Soot was smudged all of her body. What happened to me? Where am I? Why can’t I remember anything? Thoughts began racing through the small girl’s mind. Too many questions that couldn’t be answered. As she followed Jorn she began to accept that this will be where she must live until she figures things out. She could hear the water rushing over the rocks ahead of them. They came around a small bend upon an area where the water slowly churned into the shallows. “I’ll leave you to wash. I’ll be up there checking my nets if you need anything.” He pointed up to a higher point in the river where the river flowed faster. Nodding he disappeared into the trees. Ash began to slowly pull off her burnt clothes. She splashed into the shallows and let herself soak. The water around her turned black. It almost felt like it was trying to swallow her up. She went up to shore to grab the soap and scrubbed it against her skin. It felt like she just kept shedding layers of grime and soot. Finally, she could see her skin after repeatedly cleaning herself. When she felt clean enough she came back up to shore and dawned her new outfit.  Ash felt like someone was watching her, but she knew no one else was around except for Jorn who was splashing around upriver. She decided to push back that feeling and sat down to feel the warmth of the sunlight peeking through the trees. Ash grabbed her hair to examine it. She was curious about its color since it was covered in soot earlier. It was a beautiful grey that reminded her of the moon. Her skin was pale like the white pebbles in the river. What color are my eyes? There weren’t any mirrors in Jorn’s hut. She let herself settle into the soft grass and get lulled to sleep by the sounds of the forest. When she awoke again she was on her bed of hay. “You know since you don’t remember anything I suppose I should tell you the World’s Tale.” Ash sat up and saw Jorn sitting next to the fireplace. The flames accentuated his facial features. He turned back toward her. “The world is ruled by dragons. Dragons decided who was good and evil and came down to our land usually in the form of humans. They were full of power and could force anyone into submission. The dragons rule from a land in the sky we call Farai. Over the years as humanity grew the dragons became upset with what the world became and fewer came down to this world. That is until the past 50 years. They suddenly started reappearing again. No one knows the reason why, but one must beware of those with gold, silver, black, sapphire, emerald, ruby, and ivory eyes. Those most likely belong to those of a dragon. I’m telling you this story so you can be careful in case there is a day that I must leave you.” He gave a wry smile as he finished his story. “How fitting of a name I chose for you, Ash, with your grey hair.” He turned back to the fire. “Rest up we will have a busy few days getting you used to living out here in the woods. Hopefully, you can sew better than me as well.” Jorn began laughing and handed her a piece of bread and cooked fish. Must have been from earlier. She bit into her food and Jorn and her talked the rest of the night.