Dragoniers (Ongoing)

Time and Departure

Days went by, then weeks without a word from my father. Realizing he might not come back the towns people pitched in to help me out. After about a year I managed to find a job by helping people with their work when they needed it.

Three years after Dad disappeared, being 16 now, I decided to leave our village and go in search of him. I will get answers no matter what, I have to know if he's dead or alive. He said he'd only be gone for a few days and left me exactly that much to live on, so something must've happened.

With so many worries and questions running through my mind over the years I absolutely had to know the truth. Where had he gone? Why didn't he return? Was it intentional or forced? Was he dead or alive?

Just as I was packing up to leave we had an unexpected visit from the Dragoniers that had visited us three years ago. A couple of the people were different but some of them I recognize. I was nervous to talk to them again, so after they sold their meat and we had a feast I decided to head to their ship and wait for them.

Most of them staid in town but as I was waiting a guy came out of their ship and seeing me he came to sit next to me. I recognized his face from before, but wasn't sure if he recognized me so I staid quiet.

"What's on your mind, Kid?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"I honestly don't know what I wanted to say or ask you. It's just that, after you visited us three years ago my Dad left the village. He was supposed to return after a few days according to the note he left me, but he still hasn't returned. I guess I was wondering if you all might have seen him or heard anything," I said after a pause of thought.

"I thought you might be that kid we met, you've grown a lot. Still I'm sorry about your Dad and I'm sorry to say I don't know where he is or where he had gone. After he stormed out of the dining hall I haven't seen him," he said in response.

"I figured, but I thought I'd ask all the same. I see some of your crew has changed," I said.

"Yeah, unfortunately one of our crew was killed during one of our hunts and after that a few others decided to quit or retire. We have to make a living so we recruited two new members. They're still greenhorns, but they respect our work and fit in pretty well," he said.

"I'm sorry about your crew member. Being a dragonier has to be tough work. I mean why do you still do it after going through that?" I had to ask.

"For the people we save doing it and to earn a living at the same time. I mean think about it not only do we protect towns and cities from being attacked, but we also provide food to people who need it. You see a portion of our meat is saved to help the poverish people who are in need of food. The rest we sell off so we can afford repairs and lodging for our ship and crew. It's hard sometimes and we don't always get a good catch so we know what it's like to go hungry or even to not have any place to stay," he explained. That made a whole lot of sense to be honest.

"I get that, I know what it's like to be hungry and it does a lot of good when people offer a kind hand to help you out. The town took care of me after dad didn't return, but now I want to find out what happened to him. I want to go out and look for him," I said. I just wanted to ask you all if you might have seen or heard anything. I'm leaving in the morning," I said. He was silent for a while and then he sighed.

"I have to ask the crew, but if you want you can ride with us until we touch down again. It's not an easy life, but we have the room. I'm not asking you to be one of us - unless you want to - I'm just asking if you'd like a ride," he said, "Just think it over, we'll be leaving at dawn." At that the man stood and headed back into their ship. Sighing I headed home to get my things ready.

I wasn't planning on taking him up on his offer, but just before Dawn as I was leaving the house the Mayor cleared his throat, starting me.

"I know I can't stop you, but Kid I would actually feel a lot better if you didn't go alone. I think that you should take the Dragoniers up on their offer. They're skilled fighters and they aren't completely strangers to you, you might even learn a few things from them," he said. I wasn't even going to bother asking how he knew about that.

"I would, but I just feel like this is something I should face on my own. It's not that I don't trust them or even hate them, I just don't want anything or anyone to interfere with my quest to find out what happened to my father," I said.

"You may feel that way but if you do find that your father has passed you will want friends you can trust and lean on. They know your past, they'll understand how you feel," he said.

I thought on it and sighed agreeing that I'd go with the Dragoniers. He told me I'd better hurry then. The sun was rising. As I made it to the edge of the clearing I heard the one girl call out.

"Mitch, the kid isn't coming, we have to take off," She called from the open door of the ship.

"Not yet, Ellena, lets give him a few more minutes. I have a feeling he'll come," he said back. How was he so sure I'd be here? He's right, but how does he have so much faith in my decision?

Deciding not to make them wait any longer I took a deep breath amd made my approach to the ship. He spotted me and pulled away from the side of the ship with a nod. I simply nodded back and he motioned me towards the door. He followed me in, closed the door and called for the ship to take off.

"Have you ever flown before?" he asked and I shook my head no. "Well if you feel sick make sure you puke in a garbage or over the side of the deck. That said it will take some getting used to, just like sailing," he added.

"I think I will be okay, but thank you," I said. I didn't want to admit I've never been sailing either. We heard the engines start up and the propellers start to turn and he told me to hold onto something a split second before the ship jerked as it took off. I lunged quickly for something to grab onto as I started to loose my footing.

Once the shaking stopped he nodded and motioned me to follow him. I did hesitantly. Too late to turn back but this whole experience is new to me. I've never left the village on my own, never flown in a ship, and I certainly have never traveled with anyone other than the people in the village.

"You should probably meet the crew first, then I'll show you around and get you to your room," he said and I nodded. Sounds like a plan to me.