Dragoniers

It happened when I was about 13 years old. A ship came from the sky and landed just outside of our city. Nothing like it had ever happened before that I could remember. As we gathered at the edge of town I squeezed my way towards the front of the crowd. Our town elder met with one of the men from that flying ship.

We knew of course that ships like it existed, but none have ever come to our little town. They called themselves Dragoniers - People who travel all over to hunt dragons (yes dragons). They bargained with the Elder to sell some of their dragon meat and the elder accepted. He didn't seem at all fazed by these people showing up. None of the older grown ups did.

That night the men from the ship came to stay in town and our town elder had the cooks prepare the meat they had bought in order to share it with the town. I asked my Dad about the Dragoniers and all he said was that they were insane people and to stay away from them. My intention was to stay away from them I mean Dad had a point. Who would be nuts enough to believe in dragons and if they were real who would be crazy enough to choose to take them on?

My father didn't even bother taking the food they made, but curious and hungry I did. The flavor was unlike anything I had ever tasted before. It had a sweet yet tangy flavor. It along with the creamy potatos made an amazing meal I would never forget. I told my Dad he really should try it, but he got mad and said he would 'never eat such a creature' and stormed off. Of course I was confused and even the Dragoniers paused at his out burst.

"I don't understand, why is he so angry?" I mumbled more to myself than to anyone in particular. The Elder sighed when the Dragoniers asked what that was all about.

"He is the only one in this village to ever actually see a Dragon and live. The encounter left him bitter towards the Dragons. You see, a dragon killed his wife and nearly killed Zion as well," The elder said looking at me once he was done. I just stared at him in surprise. I knew my mother was killed, but Dad never talked about how or why. It would be better to leave Dad alone for now, he's going to need his space, but I will ask him about it later. No way was I letting this go, he kept this from me and lied to me.

As the adults drank and ate that whole conversation died out and instead the Dragoniers told amazing stories about their journeys. I was hooked on their adventure tales and ended up falling asleep listening to them.

Hearing a commotion I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The Dragoniers were collecting their things and heading back to their ship. I caught up to them to say good bye and to ask them a few question before they departed.

"Why do you do it? What made you decide hunting dragons was what you would do?" I asked them.

"We all have our reasons, but for me it's getting to travel all over the world and encounter different types of dragons. To record the unique things we see and to get to have a life not many people do," one of the men said.

"For me, well it wasn't something I ever thought I would do. But when a dragon attacked our village Dragoniers hunted the thing down and I knew that I wanted to protect people from Dragons just as they did for us," A woman said.

"My father was a Dragonier and I wanted to experience the same things he did. Granted my journey is definitely different from his but it has been one great story from the start," another guy said.

"As you can see, Kid, we all have very different reasons for being on the ship, but all that matters is that we are a team and we trust each other with our lives, we have to in order to survive," the first man said. "See you around kid. Stay out of trouble," he added as they got onto their ship. Someday I want to be like them, they're so brave and ambitious.

Their ship took off and once they were out of sight I headed home. There was a lot for my dad and I to discuss. Once home I expected Dad to scold me about being gone all night, but it was actually quiet and he was no where to be seen. Not in his room, bathroom, kitchen, living room, basement celler, back yard, or anywhere else. Once in my room I found an envelope on my bed.

In the envelope was a hand written letter from my Dad. Worried he went off on his own I hurried to read what the letter said.

Zion, there is so much I need to tell you and maybe I should have long before now. I'm sure you've heard from the others by now that your mom was killed by a dragon. It pains me a lot to talk about and I never wanted you to see me this way, which is why I chose to write this letter tonight. To tell you everything.

You were just barely a year old when Dragoniers came to our village. Much like tonight they rested in our town and since it was late they planned to butcher the dragon they caught in the morning. None of us, not even the Dragoniers, realized it wasn't dead. It was only unconscious. Before the Dragoniers woke, it woke up and broke free before they could react.

It started attacking the town and the people in it. Your mom had you with her in town picking up a few things from the market that morning. Hearing all of the commotion and no doubt picking up on your Mom's panic you started to cry. Which obviously drew the dragon's attention. It swiped at you with its claws but your mother shielded you. I wasn't there so I'm not sure of all the details just what I heard from people who were there. Somehow you had stopped crying, I can only assume your Mom quieted you and it went back to attacking the town. When I finally got to you and your mother she was barely conscious and managed to hand you to me before she died.

I don't like Dragons at all and I am not a fan of Dragoniers, which is why I had to leave that party and why I went off on you like that. I'm sorry, for all of it, not telling you and yelling at you. I will be gone for a few days, Daliah will watch after you if you need anything.

See you soon, Dad.

So he'll be back in a few days huh? Well I will have a serious face to face discussion with him when he gets back. Coward, not telling me all of this before and not directly. I get it's hard for him to talk about but I deserved to know how my Mom died. Would I have ever found out if those Dragoniers hadn't shown up? Who knows.

I made myself some dinner later that night and sat to eat alone. This sucks, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Dad when he gets back. He left me a few days worth of coin so maybe tomorrow I will go shopping. When he gets back I'll make him a good dinner.

Once I was done eating I cleaned the dishes and headed to bed. Sleep didn't come very easily, knowing I was home all by myself. It's not that I can't be away from Dad, it's more of the realization that he's not around so that if something happens I'm more or less on my own.