Broken Peace and the Dragon’s Wrath
Ten years ago, Hill Hollow Shire was forever changed. As small-folk, or halflings as other races like to call us, we aren’t much for fighting. Especially not when up against a brute force like the Stormreach pirates.
They’d never traveled more than a mile inland, so my village lived in a quiet, happy community for hundreds of years. But the Golden Sea’s bounty must have dried up, driving those villains further inland in search of items to trade and food to eat. We would have shared our good fortune if they’d thought to ask. The harvest had been more than enough for us that year. But they didn’t care to share. They wanted it all.
I was nine, and that summer night has haunted me ever since. My ma shook me out of my sleep with urgency, her hands trembling as she put a finger to my mouth before I could protest too much to being rudely awakened. I could feel her terror, though she tried to hide it. A cold shiver ran down my spine. It was too dark to see her warm, emerald eyes, but tears dropped onto my face as she leaned over me.
“Kithri, my sweet,” she whispered, her voice breaking in a way I didn’t understand then. It was panic. Raw, desperate panic. “Take your sisters down to the cellar. Keep quiet, no matter what you hear.”
She rolled me out of bed and pushed me toward the bunk beds where Liora, Myra, Pippa, and Tamsin were fast asleep, their tiny bodies snoring loudly, blissfully unaware of the world crashing around us. Outside, clanging metal rang out, disturbing the usual, peaceful summer song of the frogs and cicadas. The only time I’d heard something similar to that was when Ma clanged two giant pots together to announce dinner when we’d been playing in the grassy hills all day. But this… this was no call to dinner.
“Liora, wake Pippa. Ma told us to go to the cellar,” I whispered, brushing the wheat-blonde hair out of my little sister’s face. She blinked awake, squinted, and rolled over, faking a loud snore, completely unaware of the unknown horror was creeping toward our home. But then, a scream, a wail of pure anguish, tore through the warm night, freezing the breath in my lungs. It was too close, too real. I wasn’t sure who was screaming, but the sound of it twisted something deep inside me.
“Liora, this is serious,” I said, shaking her more violently than I meant to. My heart pounded in my chest, a wild, frantic rhythm I couldn’t control. In my whole life, I’d never heard someone scream like that. Who was screaming like that at this hour? What was going on? My mind raced with questions I didn’t yet know how to answer.
Liora shot up from her bed, her sleepy eyes wide with fear. “Did you hear that?” she asked, her ‘r’s still not fully forming when she spoke. You had to forgive her for it; she was only five. Still too young to understand what fear truly was, but that night, we all learned.
I didn’t know I should be afraid. I’d never been afraid before. The most fear I’d experienced in my nine years was jumping from the highest cliff I could find into the lake on the outside of town. But that fear was different — a thrill, a rush that made my heart race with excitement. This was something else. Something deep down inside of me told me that this would be the scariest night of my life.
“I heard it,” I said, my voice steady despite the terror clawing at me. “That’s why we need to go to the cellar right now. Wake Pippa, and I’ll get Myra and Tamsin.” I pulled my sister out from under her bedsheets, her silky, yellow nightgown still too big and brushing the floor, unlike my green nightgown. I’d just recently grown into mine, and I felt a strange sense of pride about that… pride that was now swallowed by dread curling sour in my stomach.
Liora nodded, her small hands trembling as she climbed up the ladder and into Pippa’s orange bedding. She whispered her name quietly, her voice shaky and desperate. The fear in her voice made my heart ache. My job was to protect my sisters, but how could I do that when I didn’t even know what was happening?
I turned to the other bunk bed, where Myra and Tamsin were still lost in peaceful slumber. I was the only one not in a bunk bed now-a-days — but that would change soon. Ma was having another baby next month, and when the baby was big enough, I’d move to a top bunk. But that future felt so far away in that moment, as if it belonged to another life.
I shook Tamsin awake, and she groaned, blindly chomping at my fingers in her sleep. “I’m sleepy,” she murmured, shoving my hands away with the strength of an ogre. It was very unusual for a two-year-old halfling but not surprising due to our family lineage. Our great-gramma, Valma Tealeaf, once challenged an ogre to an arm wrestling match and won… she was only seven. But halflings really have no need for warriors, so great-gramma Valma settled for building new homes for small-folk who came to join our village.
“Don’t make me fight ya on this, Tamsin,” I said, my voice firm as I ripped her purple bedding off of her and scooped her out of bed. I set her on the floor, her little legs wobbly with sleep. “You better be walking with Pippa and Liora to the cellar when I come down with Myra,” I said with all the authority an eldest sister could muster.
I climbed up to Myra’s bed above Tamsin’s, her pink quilt soft under my hands. Myra sighed in her sleep, her face peaceful and calm. I hated to wake her. Tonight was so different from the restless nights she’d been having lately. She looked so serene, so untouched by the horrors outside our door. But I knew I had to get her to the cellar. I had to protect all of my sisters, like Ma had asked.
As I reached out to wake her, a pang of guilt hit me. Myra was the youngest after Tamsin, and she had been having nightmares recently. They were terrible, vivid dreams that left her crying out for Ma and Da in the middle of the night. Would tonight be another nightmare for her? Only, she wouldn’t be able to wake up from whatever we faced tonight.
But there was no time for hesitation. I gently shook Myra, her soft, sleepy murmurs tugging at my heart as she snuggled into my hand. Below, Liora quietly called out, “Kit?”
“Myra’s sleeping,” I said, peeking my head over the side of the bunk bed to look at my sister. She understood how rare an opportunity this was. “I’m going to carry her down, but I need you to be ready to help.”
Ma technically didn’t say I had to wake everyone to take them to the cellar, and Myra was still little enough that I could carry her. I sat down, facing away from Myra, and pulled her little arms over my shoulders. She sighed again, snuggling close to me, a little bit of drool seeping into the back of my nightgown. I shimmied to the ladder and slowly made my way back down to the ground, releasing Myra into Liora’s arms.
“To the cellar?” Liora asked, moving her grip under Myra’s arms. I grabbed her ankles and nodded, shuffling toward the cellar door in the hallway. Usually, a long dark blue rug covered it, but it had been pulled back to allow the hatch in the ground to lift up. Da was a couple steps away from the hatch, looking out of the window at what was going on outside. Hearing our shuffling, he glanced over, taking account of all of us. I couldn’t read the expression on his face.
“Remember, not a sound,” he instructed, his voice soft and strict at the same time. This was the voice he used when he found out that Liora and I had brought home a bucket of tadpoles to be our new pets. They’d been our secret until they grew legs and started exploring the house.
I helped Liora start down the stairs to the cellar and then returned to my da. “What’s happening? Why are people yelling outside?” I asked, stepping forward to join him at the window. He moved so I couldn’t see outside, placing his hands on my shoulders and pushing me back.
“This is not something for a child’s eyes,” he said as my foot stepped down onto the first stair of the cellar. “Stay out of sight until your ma, or I come to get you.”
“But–” I started to argue, but my father pushed me a step further into the cellar and leaned over to pick up the hatch and close it over me. “I wanna help, Da.”
A tear-filled gleam came to his eyes despite the shadows of the night. “I know, my good, kind girl. The best thing you can do right now is take care of your sisters and keep them safe.”
The hatch closed over me, pushing me down into the dark of the cellar. The latch locked, and the carpet flopped back on top of the wooden frame, resolute in my father’s decision to keep me underground. Pippa held up a small, flickering candle that illuminated the tired faces of all my sisters, except for Myra, who was curled up in Liora’s lap, still snoozing. I descended the remaining steps into our cellar, looking at the stores of food around us. At least we’d have plenty to eat while they left us down here.
“Why are we in the cellar when we’re supposed to be sleeping?” Pippa asked, looking to me for answers. Her innocent question was like a pin needle to my heart. I should be able to answer their questions and help shoo away their fear with some kind of guidance.
Frustration flared in my veins, heating my blood. I wasn’t frustrated with my sister — no, of course not. I was irritated that Ma and Da stuck me down in the cellar like I was part of the babies. I could be helpful in facing whatever was happening in the village, for all they knew.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, my voice trembling slightly as I sat down beside her, pulling her close to me. “But we’ll stay here until Da and Ma tell us it’s safe.”
Pippa nodded, her small hand clutching mine tightly, seeking comfort in the only place she could find it. The cellar was damp and cold; the stone walls closed in on us as we huddled together, waiting for the unknown.
The noise outside grew louder — more screams, more clashing metal, the unmistakable sound of destruction. My heart raced, my mind swirling with a thousand thoughts, none of them good. I got up to pace the cramped space. I wanted to burst out of the cellar, to find out what was happening, to fight whoever was hurting my village.
“Kit, your hand’s glowing again,” Liora whispered, her small, bright voice tinged with panic.
I looked down. A sparkling, twinkling spectral of light surrounded my left hand. “Dung beetles,” I cursed under my breath. I still couldn’t quite control the magic I’d learned from the book I ‘borrowed’ from Maester Bobbins at the library.
Not now. Go away. I tried to shake the glow from my hand, and the glowing cast of my hand shot forward a couple of feet, floating in the air, illuminating the staircase of the cellar.
“How’d you make it do that?” Tamsin asked, padding over to stand next to me and get a better look at the hand.
I blinked hard. “I just told it to go away. It’s like it has a mind of its own,” I replied. Could I make it do anything else?
I’d once dreamed of a man with dark black hair, ears that looked like an elf, and funny raised eyebrows. We were on a large ship that could fly through the stars. He walked with me, discussing a mission I was about to embark on. We wore similar uniforms, though his shirt was blue and mine was red. Kind of silly to give men blue shirts and women red shirts, if you ask me now. Why not let them pick their own shirt color?
I stepped into a glowing circle on the floor and looked back at the man. He stood by some fancy machine, his finger on a button. He raised his other hand towards me like he would wave, but he parted his fingers between the middle and ring finger and spread his thumb wide from his hand. It was a strange gesture. One that only I knew about, I’d think.
As I was thinking about it, the glowing hand saluted me as the black-haired man once had. “It’s moving again!” Tamsin squeaked, dodging behind me for protection.
“I think I’m controlling it,” I said. I thought move up. It floated a couple inches upward. I told it to pick up one of Da’s shoes that was left at the bottom of the staircase. It daintily dangled Da’s shoe in the air in front of me, like it was waiting for more instructions.
Unlock the cellar latch so I can get out.
The hand floated up through the hatch door, and there was a click of the lock opening. I climbed the stairs and pushed up on the door. It was heavy, but I hoisted it up with a good shove. My glowing hand had disappeared into the night. Ma and Da weren’t in the house anymore. The clanging and yelling outside was louder than before.
I turned back to the darkened cellar. Tamsin, Pippa, and Liora were standing at the bottom of the staircase with their mouths hanging open. Magic wasn’t a common trait in our family. So uncommon that this might have been the first time that a Tealeaf ever did magic, actually.
“I’m going to help Ma and Da. Don’t leave the cellar unless one of us comes to get you,” I said, flipping the hatch over to close it again. I locked it like Da had done and put the rug back over top of the door.
I rushed to the small utility closet down the hall and grabbed out our broom. I knocked the brush off the end. Ma had used it once to scare off a bear that was roaming through town. This would have to do for now. What could be worse than a giant bear?
I snuck outside through our front door, sticking to the shadows until I had a better grasp of what was going on. I saw several homes on fire down the way from our house under the giant oak tree. I looked up at our oak home for any signs of damage. So far, it seemed like the destruction hadn’t reached our home. The girls would be safe down in the cellar then. Now, it was time to find our parents.
I crept along the sides of our neighbor’s homes toward fires and the sounds of clanging and yelling. My heart trilled in my stomach, sending a flutter of energy through my tired mind. Shadows danced in front of the fires, but some shadows were too tall to be small-folk. I watched a shorter shadow halt in the dance and fall to the ground. Metal glinted in the flames as a sword was pulled away from the small-folk that had just fallen.
“Kill them all,” a gruff voice boomed over the flames and fighting. What had I gotten myself into? Where were my parents?
The taller shadow walked away from the small-folk on the ground, and I slunk forward toward the small-folk, glancing around me to make sure no one noticed me as I did. My heart was beating in my ears, like someone had taken it out and put it next to my head so I could hear it. Maester Bobbins’s dark brown face and white hair came into focus as I got closer. He breathed heavily, clutching his stomach. The fire’s light made it so I could see that dark blood soaked through his shirt under his hands.
He gasped. Was he in pain? I stumbled forward, putting a small, shaking hand on his shoulder. “How do I help you?” I asked.
He struggled for breath, his eyes growing foggy. “There’s no help for me, child. You–” he hacked and coughed, wincing with the movement.
I placed a hand over his, feeling his warm blood leaking through his grasp. “There has to be something I can do.” I tried my best to sound brave and sure of myself, but I whimpered lowly as tears spilled onto my cheeks. He was a good man. He didn’t deserve this.
Sudden clarity came to his expression. “You need to run, hide. You must survive the night,” he said, pushing my hands away. “Leave me here. It won’t be much longer for me now.”
I stumbled back, eyes wide in horror as I looked beyond where Maester Bobbins was lying. A dozen other small-folk were motionless in the dirt.
“Ma? Da? Where are you?” I yelled. I couldn’t help myself.
A looming shadow approached from my left. A man with long, golden hair fixed under a dark tricorn hat smiled sickly sweet at me. He stunk of fish guts and seaweed. He was a sailor, by the smell of him. On top of that, he wore no heavy armor, only a thick leather coat for protection and for when the sea was cold.
I was going to be sick. “You’d think they’d try to at least hide all of their whelps,” he cackled, the sword in his hand dripping with blood. I held up my broomstick in front of myself defensively. This only made him laugh harder.
“I’m not scared of you,” I shouted. That was a lie.
He leaned down, out of reach from the swipe of my broomstick, and squinted at me, inspecting me. My blue nightgown and bare feet weren’t going to do much to protect me if he swung his sword at me. “You should be very afraid,” he threatened, straightening to his full height. He lifted his sword, preparing to strike.
“She’s just a child!”
Da?
My parents ran in front of me, rapiers extended, pointed at the looming figure above us. Relief only came for a second until I realized that my parents were now going to be hit by his sword. The man laughed again, louder this time as if this was entertaining. Fury bubbled up in my chest, replacing all the other feelings in my body.
“What an honor,” the man said, snarling, “I don’t usually get to kill a child’s parents in front of them. This will be a treat.”
He raised his arm again to strike, but another figure in dark armor appeared from the shadows behind him before he could swing. The man made a choking sound as a sword was pushed from his back through his stomach in a swift motion. The armored figure’s sword flashed back, and the sailor slumped to the ground noiselessly.
Ma and Da’s frozen statures broke, and they sighed heavily, turning around to look at me. “What do you think you’re doing out here?” Ma asked, her voice teetering between angry and upset.
“How did you get out from the cellar? Are your sisters okay?” Da asked, checking me over for any cuts or wounds.
My rage broke, and I started to sob. I dropped the broomstick to the ground and covered my face. “I was worried about you two and wanted to help,” I wailed, feeling myself lose all control over myself. The ground rumbled under our feet, and a wave of energy went out around me. My parents stumbled, the ground under their feet breaking up into rough terrain.
“That explains how she got out,” Ma said, regaining her balance and moving forward to pull me against her chest. “A Tealeaf with magic in their veins. My sweet, that’s an even bigger reason to keep you out of harm’s way.”
The dark armored warrior had jumped back when the wave of energy had erupted from me. They inspected the ground for a moment before standing up again and walking off into the night toward more sounds of fighting.
“Thank you. You saved us,” Da called after the mysterious warrior.
They looked over their shoulder, and I finally realized their strange helmet was shaped like a dragon’s head. The warrior nodded once and then waved three fingers in front of themselves and disappeared. A magic-wielding warrior.
That warrior was said to be seen all over Hill Hollow Shire that night, saving other families of small-folk from the raid. While many pirates got away, the warrior defeated over fifteen of them all on their own. It was amazing to hear stories of that night, how a warrior with a dragon’s head helmet had appeared and defeated the dangerous pirates without muttering a word. And when it was all over, the warrior disappeared before the sun could come up. We only lost thirty-three small-folk in the raid, thanks to the warrior.
One day, I will find that warrior, thank them for what they did, and ask them to train me to wield both magic and a sword as skillfully as they did that night so I can maybe help people in need like they had helped me and my family.
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