One of Them

I didn't want to go with them.

No one did.

Those who didn't succeed usually never returned.

"Don't make a sound, Brianna!" Mother Abrinna hoarsely whispered into the pitch dark. She moved to the front window and peered through the curtain. Suddenly a breath of melancholy blew through the room like a gust from some unknown sea. "They're coming!"

I caught the last scent of her robe just as she lowered the lid above my head with her fragile hands. Jasmine. It had surrounded me all my life, and I couldn't bear to be closed off from it.

With great effort, she slid the heavy table over my hiding place as I curled into a ball and awaited the knock at the door.

Crash!

Mother Abrinna screamed.

"Where is she?" a voice demanded.

No reply.

I could almost feel her trembling legs through the floor.

Somehow, lost in the time of our history, they--the Elders--decided that girls would train to be warriors alongside the boys.

Some of us would be pleased with this opportunity to bring honor to our families.

But disgrace was a more probable turnout.

It wasn't the training that everyone feared--it was the contest that came before it.

The contest would determine who failed, who passed; who lived, who died.

Dust filled my eyes as they searched our small dwelling. A table was overturned above me... dim light... triumphant voices... burly arms forced me up out of my hole. Half-conscious of my plight, I yielded to the gun at my back as it prodded me into the twilight to join the group of girls who shared my fate.

They marched us down the street and into the dismal iron gates of the training center. As we lined up against the endless stone wall, shivers of not only cold but of panic raced down my spine. Across from us loomed the entrance to the legendary warrior course.

After being counted, we found ourselves in the training hall. Then we were stuffed into a corner of it to sleep the remaining of the night.

. . . . .

A slim, fragile hand brushed my arm sometime just before daybreak. I sat up, not only because I was curious to see who craved my attention, but because my nose had picked out that familiar, homey scent. Jasmine. 

So Mother Abrinna isn't the only one who smells like it.

My eyes fell upon a scrawny girl whose downcast eyes revealed her shyness. Her hair hung on her shoulders like seaweed on a clam, and her skin was pale as Arctic snow. Immediately every thought pointed back to Quinn... whirling colors and confused thoughts... muffled voices... memories that were too good to be true. And suddenly, I was with my older sister again, living the past for a few seconds of heaven--laughing, braiding her hair, walking barefoot along the seashore as the ocean's tongue lapped at our feet.

But then there was nothing left but darkness.

Her life was arrested as quickly as the speed of light.

We had tried to hide her in the hole under the house--but all in vain.

After the contest, she never returned.

"I'm s-scared," the girl confessed in a voice scarcely audible.

Morning had just begun to slip its orange and pink fingers through cracks in the wall when I replied.

"Me, too." I couldn't figure out anything else to say. Perhaps that was understandable.

Though we didn't converse much, we considered ourselves friends, from that moment forward. Every time I looked at Kayla, I thought of Quinn. Again and again, I let my mind wander to what I considered to be the forbidden part of my mind. Thinking of the past--of Kayla--seemed to fuel my courage. My self-confidence. It almost melted my fear.

At our meager breakfast on the floor, one of the Elders stood before us as he made an announcement.

"Today," he declared with a fatigued, faded air, "each of you will compete to be one of the village warriors. You will train dragons, and if you succeed at that, you will use them to help you complete the contest. There are things at stake, however,” he went on. “Such as your life.”

A murmur of fear spread through the group like goosebumps on our arms.

“Best of luck,” the Elder finished before departing.

With a loss of appetite, we forced ourselves to finish our hunk of bread.

After the morning had progressed a bit, another Elder, accompanied by two stoney-faced guards, made us follow him, My heart pounded and my head throbbed. Was it time? Kayla stuck behind me in our single-file line as he and the guards led us into a narrow passageway. In wonder, I gazed at the ancient paintings lining the hazy granite walls, in which men and women battled fiery-eyed beasts, marched through endless deserts of steaming sands, and voyaged over the nasty swells of Summer’s ocean.

Shortly we arrived at a colossal arched doorway. The Elder counted heads before proceeding through it. We followed in anticipation.

Suddenly we emerged into air that was as fresh and invigorating as a sea-breeze.

“Welcome to the courtyard,” he announced dryly. “You may have some fresh air for a few minutes before the contest. But please do not touch anything. Do not eat anything. You will be sorry if you do.” And he stalked back through the doorway, followed by the guards.

Gratefully we began to wander the resplendent courtyard.

Despite autumn’s chill, nothing drooped or was dying--everything must have been magic. Lucious arrays of violets, roses as white as a bride’s hand, and vibrant petunias surrounded us. Walls of white stone encircled the courtyard, and creeping up them grew vines of the roundest grapes we had ever seen. A row of trees lined each side of the place, bearing bright oranges sparkling with dew, and a stone path under our feet wound through the whole garden. Last of all, a marble fountain stood in the very heart, with glimmering water running off it as faintly as the memory of sound.

Dazed, I could scarcely breathe. Almost timidly I approached one of the trees and gazed up. So tempting was the fruit that we longed to reach out and pull some from the branches. But the Elder’s words of warning rang in our ears.

Suddenly a shout rose from behind me. I whirled around to see a hand stretching up. Grasping a fruit. Twisting it away. Peeling back the orange skin.

“Stop!” I cried, stumbling towards my friend. My breath fell ragged in my chest as I watched, agonized, as more joined her. To steal. “They’ll kill you!”

My cries died away from my lips in vain.

Unfinished fruit dropped to the ground, landing with an echoing thud.

“What is this?” an angry voice demanded. The same Elder and guards bounded into the courtyard like hounds on a squirrel’s tail. He halted dead in his tracks and pointed an accusing finger towards Kayla and her small group of followers. “You!” he whispered shakily. “You will suffer from this disobedience of yours.”

At that very moment, a slightly sick look washed over them, and their hands turned pale.

The Elder, having somewhat composed himself again, pressed his lips together in a thread-thin line. “Everyone, follow me.”

Obediently we trailed after him in complete silence. All the time I pondered whether Kayla was truly my friend or not. She had disobeyed the Elder. And she had ignored my own pleas.

Soon we found ourselves at the contest entrance, lined up. Kayla was not beside me.

The Elder and guards disappeared inside the building.

We waited.

The gates remained closed.

We waited more.

My legs shook weakly and my stomach complained.

Finally, three Elders--one must have been the chief Elder because of his clothes--accompanied by five guards, appeared. While the guards worked on unlocking the gates, the Chief Elder instructed us one what we would have to do.

“On this day,” he announced in a rather lofty voice, “all of you will have the same goal--surviving to become warriors. Here is what you must do: just over the hill is a group of dragons. Each of you must quickly train one and ride it to the Cave of Those Worthy. There you must retrieve a sword and use it to cut five crystals from the Tunnel of Purple Magic. The dragons will know the way. The first to return with a dragon, sword, and five crystals shall become Chief. Good luck.” He glanced strangely towards Kayla and the girls around her. Then he gave a curt nod to the guards.

With a terrible creaking, the gates swung open. A steep, dead hill loomed just ahead.

Before I had time to even blink, one of the guards blew into a horn. The long, low sound echoed mournfully over the village.

We took off.

My feet barely touched the ground as I shot uphill. The wind seemed colder beyond the gates. When I reached the summit, I halted in awe. In the field below me dwelt about a dozen magnificent dragons. Spikes lined their tails, fire flared from their nostrils. Their enormous feet could easily crush a girl as if she was a ladybug.

The others were catching up. Reluctantly I quickly descended. The dragons took no notice of me. Cautiously I approached the golden one nearest to me. How was I supposed to train it? The hand of panic squeezed me as the beast’s eyes met mine. It leaned down… I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth… But instead of feeling claws and teeth, I felt hot air and smelled smoke. Upon opening my eyes, I found the dragon sniffing me from head to toe.

Presently it straightened up to its full height. My stomach almost pitched. “You’ve done well,” it said in a dream-like voice. “You obeyed the Elder.”

Bewildered, I looked around me. Some were “training” their dragons, yet others--I looked away--crumpled at a dragon’s touch.

We stared at each other for a minute. Its eyes seemed to fill me with power and strength. I climbed aboard, and a great whoosh of wind caused my knuckles to tighten around the reins as it spread its titanic wings and shot upward from the ground.

As we passed over the dead field, I spotted a small heap at the bottom of the hill. It lie unmoving like the dead. A shadow from an unknown source sheathed the field.

All was quiet.

We were now alone in the place.

As if it had read my mind, my dragon eagle-dived for the ground and lowered its back so that I could climb off and lug Kayla aboard. As we lifted once more, Kayla lifted her head. Her pale face displayed fear and pain.

“Leave me,” she croaked, dizzily swinging a foot over the side.

“No,” I said. And nothing more.

But she fell.

In one terrifying moment she dropped over the side and miraculously landed on the back of a lone dragon below.

The Cave of Those Worthy was too small for dragons. So I ventured in alone, splashing through the muddy water at the entrance. There it was, among the ones remaining, gleaming in the dancing light from the torches. It pulled from the marble block with ease. Carefully I tucked it away into its sheath as I waded back through the mud.

I didn’t see Kayla anywhere.

The wind roared around my ears. “Hurry!” I shouted into my dragon’s ear as I climbed on and clutched the reins.

We rose higher and higher, tilting this way and that as the mighty gusts tried to throw me off.

At last, we reached the Tunnel of Purple Magic. Though small, it was large enough for a dragon to fly through. The entrance glowed with glittering purple light. With no choice, we dove down and swooped in with everyone else behind us. I smiled and glanced backward.

Crack!

And everything went black.

. . . . .

When I woke up, purple eyes whizzed by my eyes. My head felt as if a boulder had been dropped on it. Then I realized what had happened. This was a tunnel of crystals. They shot out from the glowing tunnel wall like poisoned daggers.

Hastily I drew my sword, things still spinning around me as if I was in a whirlwind, and I braced myself for impact. With a sharp jerk and crack, a crystal fell into my hands. Feeling triumphant, I held out my sword again. And again. We glided through the tunnel, still gaining speed.

Then I spotted it--daylight up ahead!

The wind that glided past made us breathless.

I closed my eyes and prepared to strike off the last crystal.

But instead, we emerged into blinding sunshine. My upheld sword sank into my lap. Appalled and bewildered I counted my crystals.

Four.

Again I counted as if the number of times I counted would change the truth.

Still, four.

I wanted to scream. But I couldn’t seem to make any sound come out of my mouth.

I wanted to tear my eyes from the crystals in my lap. But I couldn’t.

It was a plain, cold truth. An evil truth.

I wanted to retrace my steps.

To redo the past.

I wanted to start over.

Suddenly, a lonely dragon soared past. That could only mean one thing.

Kayla!

Wildly I searched the ground. No doubt she had fallen off. What if it was too late?

I spotted her falling back towards the face of the earth. Though I couldn’t control my dragon, it lost no time in swooping downward just in time to rescue her.

“Kayla.” I shook her arm. “Kayla.”

She raised her head. Together we watched everyone else soar for the gates. I wondered what would happen to those who failed to bring back all the items.

“Why did you save me?” she asked weakly. “You’ve lost because of me and my decisions in the courtyard.”

I shook my head. “Friends don’t betray each other,” I whispered. “Nothing’s changed between us. Even if we never see each other again after this, nothing will. Ever.”

A tear coursed down her dirty cheek.

As we stared at each other, our strength seemed to grow; our boldness seemed to mount; our hope seemed to climb to an unspeakable height.

“Come on,” I said. “We might still have a chance.”

Our dragon shot up the dead hill faster than it had ever gone before. The speed pulled the breath out of our nostrils and our tangled hair streamed behind us like a comet’s tail as we passed dragon after dragon.

I didn’t even realize we had come through the gates first until the waiting Chief Elder pattered over.

“You are Chief Warrior if you have your sword and five crystals,” he practically screamed with anticipation.

My heart dropped to my toes. I held up my sword and four crystals.

A look of disgust washed over his pinched face. “You are a disgrace!”

"Wait!” Kayla, noticed by him for the first time, called faintly, as he moved on to the next girl. “She saved me.”

The Chief Elder inspected her, then me. Suddenly his mouth twisted up into a crooked smile. “Come with me, Brianna,” he commanded not unkindly. “You have risked your time and life for another. That counts as more crystals than there are in all the world!”

I slid off my dragon’s scaly back, and began to follow him when I stopped. I looked back at Kayla.

She was smiling.

And I was, too.