Chapter 5 - Fleeing the village

Dusk was falling, when part of the troops finally gathered up at the centre of the village. All around them lay the slain bodies of the villagers and some of the dead hounds and men. Strife looked around the remains of the village. The child was not in this village either. The master had told him that child would probably hide somewhere and that every boy between twelve and fifteen were to be killed and searched for the mark of Legend. All places had been searched, carts turned over, their contents burned to the ground, houses invaded, there owners killed. Many children he saw and none bore the sign.


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Move out! Bellowed the captain.
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Camouflaged nearby, Orion watched the troops move out of the village. Dogs sniffed out where he was, but were soon yanked away by fierce impatient soldiers carrying whips. “ Just a little longer” did the young dragon think, trying desperately to hold on to the camouflage surrounding him and his unconscious master. Soon the troops disappeared over the hills leaving the village, the image of burnt straw slowly faded to reveal the dragon, which had taken the grey shade of the sky. Near by, he found a blanket held by a post. Taking it, he discovered the body of a young child. The young boy seemed to be six or seven years of age. He had brown hair, wore the grey and blue peasant clothes and his hand limply held to the blanket. His dead eyes were open and an arrow stood in the middle of his back. Orion took the blanket and draped it over the boys head. He then went to look for something to shield his young master from the cold of the coming night. Leaving the boy behind, he continued his way in the market place, not far from his master's position. What awaited him was a scene of pure slaughter.



As the night fell the main place lay quiet, like a cemetery. Everywhere Orion looked, he saw burnt object as if the entire Fire Kingdom had come down from the castle in the sun to play with the villagers, not realising the danger they were putting the people in. Everywhere he looked, he saw remnants of houses burned black. Sneezing, the dragon brought the house down to a pile of sticks. Although he knew that fire was dangerous when handled with bad intentions, the young dragon could not understand the meaning of this destruction. Was there a curse on the village? Were the elements mad at them for some secret reason? Going through the remnants of the houses, Orion arrived at a hard surface: the remnants of a door. Pushing it aside, he arrived in the remnants of a room, containing many small bodies. “This must have been a school” Orion thought. Korran had often talked about school, what he did there. “All ashes now” he thought. Walking between the rows of burnt desks, he made his way to the masters desk.



The desk was burned like the others but there was no body lying seated in the chair. Looking up he saw it. Hanging from the crumbling ceiling was the remains of a man. A rope, tied around his now broken neck, restrained his body, rigid in death, balanced by he wind. His feet pointing to the ground seemed to be in a strange angle, as if the man had been tortured in front of his students before being hanged. The hands were what attracted Orion's gaze. They were not the big, lanky hands of a farmer or a merchant but the long and thin hand of a musician and artist. Although the face was burned black, Orion recognised the body of the village Harper. With a stroke of a paw, he cut the body down. It fell on the desk with a sickening crack. Seeing that none could be saved, Orion stretched his wings and flew out this room of death.



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Not far from the village, The commander looked down at the ravages his men had made. Not this village either, did he think. And yet there was something about that village which made the commander think to stay a little longer. As he watched the last flames consume the village he saw a dark form arise from one of the burned houses and fly around the village, crying out in rage or sorrow, he could not have told which. A sneer of victory appeared on his face as he gazed at the flying creature: “I have you now” he said as he saw the creature move down again. Signaling to one of his man, he led the rest of his men to the remnants of the village.





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From the sky, Orion saw the movements of torches heading straight for the village. It would not be long before they found him so he had to act quickly. He flew down to the ground and landed in the town square near Nira's shop. The shop was torn apart, vegetables lay scattered everywhere yet there seemed no traces of Nira. As he turned to leave, he heard the quiet sob of a woman nearby. Searching for the sound he found Nira hidden in a crouched position in a far corner of the shop. Her dresses were torn and her arms were badly bruised as if she had been laid aside. Her eyes were full of fear and confusion. Carefully he approached her. She was still in shock. In the village he could hear the hounds beginning their approach. He had to act quick. Gently he approached her, and nuzzled her. Rcogninzing the touch , Nira allowed the dragon to lead her out of the shop.



At that moment , the torches approached and Orion had to flee. Throwing Nira on his back, Orion climb in the air. Unfortunately, Korran was still in danger, and Orion knew he had to save his young master. He saw the cloth in which he had laid his young friend and ,hoping to scare the enemy ,he dived to the ground and grabbing the cloth in his claws he flew away.





I took a while for Orion to know where he was going , The sky was a new territory to him and although he was overwhelmed by the air in his wings he had to think of a safe place to hide the two humans he cared for. Continuing his flight, he suddenly heard the cry of other flying creatures coming towards him. These forms, grew clearer as he approched them. Suddenly Orion heard the cry of a creature flying towards him. This cry he had once heard it at night years ago, while he lay in his cave . And while he yearned to respond to it, Lyra had always forbidden it, fearing the reactions of the peasants.



After a while, Orion began to tire hoping to rest soon. He then heard in his head a soft voice:

Orion If you wish to save your friends you must make your way to the woods you see in front of you. I will protect you as best I can.” Understanding her words he began to head for the forest. In front of him he saw three dragons appear.



The creatures were standing still as if they were pinned to the sky. They were dark and their yellow eyes gleamed in a malevolent way. They awaited him and two of them flew away to block his way to the forest. In his mane, he felt the tight grip of Nira who despaired to hang on. His claws were growing numb as he tried to keep hold of his unconscious master. In his head he suddenly heard the voice of the lady telling to drop the boy.



Incredulous, he could not bring himself to let go, but the voice became more and more insistent. Struggling between the dragons and the lady's words he was not aware that his mater was slipping out of his grasp. He realised he had dropped him when he heard Lyra scream. Looking down, he saw Korran's form becoming smaller as the boy continued his descent at high speed with seemingly nothing to slow him down. The dragons seemed to take no more care of the young dragon as they flew after down to reach the falling boy. The first dragon almost reached him, but was stopped by a seemingly invisible barrier as Korran continued to fall.



If this continues, Orion thought, he will die before I can reach him. As he was uttering those words in his mind, a group of fairies and other flying creatures grabbed hold of the cloth where Korran lay and softly landed him on a bed of moss. Overhead, a group of branches began intertwining hiding the boy from unfriendly eyes. Sighing in relief , Orion turned to take care of the dragons but found they had quickly disappeared. Searching for Lyra's presence on his back he found a blank spot, as though she was no longer there even though he felt her weight at the base of his shoulders.



“She is in shock” she heard Nadira say, “Lean down and land in the clearing beneath you, my people will meet you there” Orion wanted to ask questions but the tone of Queen was direct, there would be time for questions later.”

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