Dragons

1/ Darkened Skys

Lilly sat on the long tree branch, looking out to the fields. Xander, her dog, was running around playfully on the ground below. Lilly laughed to herself, seeing Xander trip over his own tail and fall flat on his snout. She looked to her right and saw her small village. It had very few houses and was on the outskirts of the famous English city, London. Even though Lilly was high up in the ancient oak that was on the hill, overlooking the village, she could clearly see her mother and sisters in one of the narrow streets. Lilly looked to her left and saw nothing but hill and field, the large mansion prominent against the green background. Beyond Lilly's village, was a huge mansion that belonged to a believed to be witch. No one ever dared to travel the long road to the house; people thought that the 'witch' would curse them for entering her property. Lilly, however, didn't believe these silly fairytales and would have no problem walking up to the house. Her mother didn't approve of the idea in any circumstance and forbid Lilly to go any where near that 'horrible place'. Lilly looked down, once again, and Xander was laid in the shade of the tree, resting happily after a long play. She laughed and started to make her way down the large oak, careful not to slip. When Lilly reached the bottom, she heard screaming and shouting coming from the village.

"Xander? Come on boy." she whispered to her sleepy puppy, who jumped up at the sound of Lilly's voice. She ran down the hill and through the crowd of people that were gathered in the streets. As she pushed her way past crying children and gasping adults, Lilly heard a deafening roar from the sky. She looked up and saw a dark, looming cloud over the village. Another roar echoed out and the whole village screamed and covered their ears. Lilly bent down and picked up Xander, proceeding to run through the crowd to her house. When she got there, she banged on the door with all of her might. One of her sisters, Katrina, answered the door; fear welled up in her eyes. She stepped to the side, letting Lilly into the house. Lilly gasped, putting Xander down and then hugging Katrina.

"What is that thing?" Katrina whimpered, slamming the door shut and hugging Lilly right to her chest. Lilly shook her head and tears started to fall down her flushed cheeks.

"I don't know," she sobbed. "Where's mum?" Katrina looked down into her little sister's pale, blue eyes. Lilly, beginning to worry even more, sprinted into the garden in search of her mother. Nothing. The only thing in the once bright garden was a few charred rose bushes. The salty tears ran down Lilly's cheek as she ran to the fence at the back of the garden, that too was burned to a crisp. When she got there, Lilly spotted a piece of grey, slightly patterned cloth stuck to the fence (most likely hooked on a nail). She ran to it, pleading for it not to be her mother's. Her prayers were ignored and Lilly found that that piece of cloth, which would have been insignificant to her in any other case, was indeed her mother's. Lilly unhooked the cloth, being cautious not to rip it, and examined it. It was stained by smoke and ripped from her mother's dress violently. Lilly looked to the dark sky again and saw the shadow of a long, spiked tail, whipping through the thick clouds. She then realised the haunting truth. There was a terrifing dragon bombarding her village. Another vociferous roar came from the cloud and, suddenly, a burst of bright, orange flames rained down on her house. She ran to her back door in fear of her sisters' lives, just to smell that horrifing smell of thick smoke. Lilly coughed and gagged, covering her mouth with her hand. She shoulder barged the door open and Katrina was laid on the floor, motionless. Lilly screamed and ran to her, not caring about the smoke anymore. Thankfully, Katrina was stood near the door when she passed out and Lilly found it quite easy dragging her onto the cobbles. She called for help and it soon arrived. A pair of paramedics came to Katrina's side and carried her away to a nearby ambulance. Lilly ran back into the house, remembering her other sister, and looked to the stairs. Most of the smoke was coming from there. As she was climbing the alreadu burnt staircase, Lilly heard a voice calling out to her.

"Someone, please help!" the voice called.

"Amy? Stay calm, I'm coming to get you!" Lilly called back, running up the stairs. She coughed and spluttered, while searching for Amy.

"I'm in here!" Amy called from the sallest bedroom, followed by a lot of coughing. Lilly ran to the room and spotted Amy crouched down in the corner of the room; her hand covering her mouth. Lilly ran to her and put Amy's free arm around her shoulder. Lilly, as you may see, is a very protective, heroic, young girl. Amy ran along the hall with Lilly, all the while trying to wave away the thick shroud of smoke and always failing. When they got out of the house, they both collapsed, gasping for air. The paramedics ran to them, fussing over the smallest of burns.

"I'm fine." Lilly said, shaking off the paramedic's hand. She stood up, brushed off the dust from her jacket and went over to Amy, who was breathong heavily.

"Where's Kat?" she panted, looking up to Lilly.

"I actually don't know," Lilly replied, looking around nervously. "I'll go check for her. You stay here." Amy nodded and Lilly ran off into the crowd. The last time she saw the ambulance was when Katrina was carried away and it had been just on the other side of the crowd. As she was running, Lilly remembered something. There was still a dragon right above her and her mother was still missing. The thought made her even more determined to find Katrina and she started barging past people with even more ferocity. Being only 15, she didn't have much strength, especially since she had just saved her two sisters' lives from a terrible fire.

"HEY! MOVE!" she screamed to a boy, who was clearly blocking her path.

"Sorry." he replied, moving out of the way. Lilly kept on running and she finally arrived at the ambulances. There was now at least 7. She walked up to a paramedic, who was checking things on a clipboard and asked,

"Is there a Katrina Colden in one of these ambulances?" The paramedic nodded and pointed to the ambulance on the far left. Lilly ran to it. She heard a groan of pain come from the inside and she immediatly started crying. Lilly went to the doors, fearing for Katrina, and peered inside. Katrina was laid on a stretcher, groaning in pain and trying to move. Her left leg was covered in burns, as well as her left arm. Lilly went inside, not caring what the paramedics would say, and kneeled by the stretcher.

"Kat? Kat it's Lilly," she whispered. "Can you hear me?" Katrina turned her head to face Lilly and her eyes lit up.

"L-Lilly. Oh Lilly. Y-you s-saved me." she stuttered, smiling faintly. Lilly nodded and a tear fell from her eye and onto one of Katrina's many burns. She srunched her eyes up, cringing from the pain. Lilly got up and took a step back; she didn't want to hurt her sister any more. Katrina just nodded, letting Lilly know that she could go. Lilly nodded back, before running out of he ambulance and towards the crowd again. Another ear-splitting roar came from the sky, causing the whole village to shriek. Then she saw it. A huge, scarred dragon's head poked out of the cloud. Lilly needed to do something...