Interlude: The Girl’s Story

Interlude:
The Girl’s Story

 

WHEN I WOKE, I found I was no longer in the forest, but in a soft bed.

I was wearing different clothes from before, and for a moment I thought it was all a dream. But no, my arm was bandaged. I suffered that injury when the Little Rock Dragon hit me with its Breath attack.

“You awake?”

I searched for the source of the voice and saw a pretty orange braid. Marielle stood beside my bed. She was the only proper White Mage we had in the village, and my mentor. She was quite old, but looked even younger than I did. I’d been told it was due to her having Elven blood, which slowed down the aging process.

Marielle fidgeted with her braid and gave me a quick, relieved smile, before her mouth tightened and she glared. Her expressions were so much like a child’s that I sometimes doubted she was really as old as she said she was.

“Honestly, what were you thinking? How many times have I told you not to let Doz egg you on?”

Marielle’s scolding reminded me, and I tried to sit up.

“Wh-what happened to Doz and Grantz?!”

Marielle poked me in the forehead with her index finger, trying to settle me down.

“Grantz…is dead. They found his body in the forest. I can’t believe you idiots, trying to take on a Rock Dragon!”

“Grantz is…! But what about Doz?”

“They haven’t found his body yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the dragon ate him whole.”

I was the only one who survived.

I should have tried harder to stop them. Everyone in the village knew that the Rock Dragon was the strongest monster in the forest.

A sigh escaped Marielle’s lips as she watched me cry. Then she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m glad that you survived, Myria.”

I held my head in my hands and slowly told her everything that happened.

Doz was the most powerful warrior in the village. He could be frightening and quick to anger, but he was the one people relied on to chase off the monsters that stalked the edge of town. So even if he wasn’t liked, he was trusted.

Then, a few years back, he set his sights on a Rock Dragon. He didn’t stand a chance. He abandoned his comrades and fled. He lost the fight, and with it his good standing with the people.

His abrasive personality had already made him unpopular, but after his failure, the ill will only grew stronger. Still, his strength and combat contributions to the village were such that few people had the courage to actually speak out against him.

Then, just the other day, a traveler had arrived in the village calling himself a swordsman. “I am penniless,” he’d said. “But I have the meat and hides from monsters I’ve hunted in the forest. I will trade them in exchange for food and a warm bed.”

Among his spoils was Rock Dragon meat. We figured that meant this stranger had defeated the beast on his own. Whispers spread of the traveler’s success until Doz picked a fight with the man at the local tavern.

Doz boasted to everyone within earshot, saying, “I’m strong enough to defeat it now!” He tried to recruit Marielle, who could use recovery magic, and Grantz, a drifter, to accompany him on his quest of revenge. Marielle refused, so Doz set his sights on her apprentice. Me.

I didn’t want to go, but he said, “I’m going whether you come or not. And if Grantz and I go alone, we could die.” It was as good as blackmail. I could tell that Grantz didn’t want to go either, but he hid it. He was an outsider, and I imagine it was hard to say no to Doz, who had influence, even if he wasn’t liked. Doz was adept at using a person’s weaknesses against them.

So we set off into the forest and found ourselves a fairly small Rock Dragon. But we still didn’t stand a chance. And now only I was alive. Had it let me go? No, that wasn’t right. Someone saved me, I remembered faintly.

“Marielle, who saved me?”

“Saved you? You mean Aurus? He saw the monster dragging you through the village and got his bow—”

“No, no. I mean the person who carried me out of the forest.”

“No one else went into the forest that night. And I doubt a passerby would have brought you all the way into the village and left without so much as a word. Are you sure you didn’t run away on your own?”

Marielle didn’t seem to think it was possible I’d been saved. I mean, it didn’t sound possible. But I definitely remembered someone carrying me on their back, frantically running away from a pack of monsters…

But was it really a person at all?

“You sure it wasn’t just a dream?” Marielle asked.

“I’m sure! There’s no way I could’ve gotten back here all by myself.”

“I think you’re still confused, Myria. Just wait a minute and I’ll go warm up some chicken soup I made this morning. Once you have some food in your belly, we can talk.”

“But I’m certain…”

I tried to focus on the memory of someone carrying me, of them using recovery magic on me. It was weak, barely at a beginner’s level, but I remembered how warm it felt. Then the faint memories of my savior’s hands, legs, and body came back to me…

“What if it was that dragon…?” I murmured to myself as I looked out the window. But of course, that little dragon was nowhere to be found.