The Dragon Strikes

 

There was a soft layer of rain that fell, it encased the city of Tarrendon in darkness, making it the perfect time for young Emily to walk home, she had spent a long days work at the clothing factory, the cold icy rain stung her already aching hands.

 

The bottom of her long blue dress was soaked in the puddles that were deeper then her shoes, she held up a small makeshift umbrella to protect herself from the rain.

 

A small lizard crawled out of a nearby drain, it was hidden from the sight of the woman, this was it's chance, to cross over to the other drain pipe across the road, but there was carriages rolling past, pulled by large creatures, even bigger then the humans, this was his last chance, and just before another horse and carriages reached them he scampered across the road and toward the drainpipe.

 

Emily glanced down at the ground, she spotted a small lizard racing across the ground and stopped, smiling at it.

 

The lizard spotted the human stop, right in front the drain, she was blocking his only was out and so he decided the only form of action was to make her move out of the way, and with a single bound leaped into the air up her dress and grabbed onto her leg and sunk in his poison tipped fangs, he heard her screech then jumped off and raced into the safety of the drain and down inside.

 

Emily felt the pain surge through her body, it was unlike anything she had ever felt before, the poison causing her to feel the world spinning out of proportion and making her feel quite ill.

 

She grabbed onto the side of the wall and held herself upright, but could feel that she was swaying from side to side, she leaned against the wall, for what seemed like an eternity, the pain causing her head to throb in pain and make her feel nauseous the whole time. Then suddenly, the feeling went away and she was fine once again.

 

The rain was still pouring and so Emily continued on her fast pace toward her home.

 

When she reached the door of her house, she knocked on the door, the feeling of pain slowly beginning to return to her head and making the world around her spin around her. When the door opened, she stumbled inside and crashed into the nearest chair and slid down into it.

 

Merian, Emily's mother gasped as her daughter collapsed into the dining room chair, she hurriedly moved over to her side and flipped her over, accessing her green eyes. Usually her eyes were a soft green, like that of a forest, gentle and calming , but with a strong brightness in them, seeming to never dim, no matter what the circumstances, but this time it was different, her eyes no longer sparkled with life.

 

Emily's world grew dark and before she knew it she had entered into a deep sleep.

 

Her mother raced up the stairs and knocked on the door on the third floor, there was a moment of non reaction before the door slowly slid open, "yes?" asked the old woman who appeared at the door, she was shying back into the darkness, ready to slam the door in the other woman's face in a moments instant.

 

"Please, it is Emily, she is extremely ill and I fear for her" Merian quickly told her, The old woman stepped out, "Fine, let me have a look at her" she groaned in a deep and rough voice, she was a known in the town as the doctor, but she had a secret, much darker then what all others knew.

 

Merian quickly ushered the town's only doctor to  her dying daughter, "Here" she stated obviously to the old woman who quickly pushed her out the way and began looking the girl over, first at her uncovered body parts and then slowly removing her dress to look at her legs, where she stopped, she then knew what it was, "You, bring her upstairs!" she boomed at the woman and began limping up the stairs as quickly as she could.

 

The old woman, named Pauline, grabbed a small cauldron and with a wave of her hand a small fire lit underneath it and the pot began smoking, even though it was empty. She grabbed some mault vime, quiet yackers and a handful of mint, just to make the brew taste better and the threw it all into the cauldron and began stirring.

 

Meanwhile Merian carried Emily's body up the stairs and lay her flat out on the operating table while she watched the doctor stir around a mint smelling mixture of unknown liquids and then pour it into a cup and hand it to her, "Make her drink this, it will help her feel better and bring her back to us so I can talk with her" Pauline explained then turned back to brewing potions. Merian quickly opened her daughter's mouth and then  poured the liquid down.

 

Emily coughed loudly and the light came back to her eyes, a horrible taste settling on her lounge and making her screw up her face. She looked around the unknown room, it was dark and there were many strange and unknown plants growing in pots and brightly coloured liquids on a couple of the shelves, the rest of which were filled with books, all in a strange language.

 

When she has spotted that her daughter was awake and looking around the room, she reached forward and hugged her, before pulling back when she noticed the surprise on her face. "Pauline, she has come back around" she alerted the woman and caused her to leave her cauldron and walk over to Emily, she pulled over a chair and one for Merian before sitting down in front of them. "I have something important to tell you about that bite of yer's" she took a pause then continued, "It is the bite of the Dragon Snapper".

2: 2. Answering Questions

"What exactly is a Dragon snapper?", Merian was the first person to break the silence, they had all been thinking to themselves quietly, wondering what it meant, "A Dragon Snapper me' dear is a small lizard, it is a great descendant of the dragons, and has a rather nasty side effect, though, for the side effect to actually happen is a rare and a very spectacular sight" Pauline started, "But a Dragon Snapper has not been seen in years, so may I ask, where exactly did ye see it?" She asked raising a questioning eyebrow, "Down by th….." Emily began, but was cut off by her mother, "What, side effect?" she questioned, "Emily will not tell you a thing until you answer our questions first!" she stated sending the old woman a ice cold glare as a warning.

 

Pauline put on a fake smile, "No, it is not serious, don't worry about it. Now, where is the lizard?" She pressed on with her question, needing to know the answer urgently, "No, you will answer our question first!" Merian responded.

 

The old woman sighed before she stood up and walked over to the book shelf and began running her hand over the labels until she found the one she was looking for and pulled it out of the shelf. She used her hand to wipe off the dust and then walked back over to the two other women.

 

Emily watched the woman grab a table and drag it over to them and slam the book down with a boom, causing both herself and her mother to jump back. She reached for the book, but her hand was slapped away by the old woman, "ah ah ah, no touching now me' dear" Pauline scolded shaking her head.

 

"Yea can't even read the ancient language, well, neither can I, but I know a lot more about it then you deary" she continued before opening the book to the contents page, "I have head of the ancient language, it was from a time long before our own" said Merian to the small group, "It was said all manuscripts were destroyed, how did you come by this?" she asked continuing her questions further, "Sshhhhhh" hushed Pauline as she tried to translate.

 

When she found the page number she began flicking through the book and stopped on one of the pages, on it was a picture of a lizard, it was long and sleek with a short horn of the end of it's snout, it had sharp teeth and claws with spines running down the length of it's back, "It this what ye saw dear?" she asked, "Yes! That's it! It looked exactly like it" Emily burst out and began looking at the image more closely.

 

Pauling began stroking her chin as she read the page, it was bad news, but she knew she couldn't let it all slip, "I can't read all of it, but, I can loosely translate some of it" she looked up from the page and when they nodded she continued, "ah, yes, the side effects, some pain around some parts of the body, more sleeping, more susceptible to the cold, less to the heat, easy loss of temper and should take a while to wear off, but that is all" she confirmed, but kept the most important parts to herself.

 

Merian nodded, she was still unsure that what the old woman had told her was correct, but at least she knew something. "Come on Emily, let's get you to bed" she walked over to her and helped her off the bed and out of the room, she looked back at the doctor and gave her a warning glare then helped Emily back down the stairs.

 

The building was shared between herself and Emily on the bottom floor, the old doctor on the second floor, a family of a mother, father and two little cheeky girls and the top floor was where everyone stored their own cloths and other belongings that didn't fit into the main house.

 

When they reached the bottom floor, Merian unlocked the front door and led Emily across their small dining room and into Emily's room, she opened the door and led her over to her bed and lay her down, she went to grab her cloths when she spoke up, "No, do not worry mother, I shall be fine, I just wish to sleep" Emily moaned, still with her eyes closed, Merian nodded, even though she knew she was not looking at her, she silently left the room and pulled the door closed behind her.