Dragonshire

I woke up that morning same as usual, stretching my legs before getting out of bed. Only this time I was afraid. I had had another dream, and it didn't look all that good. Lately, my dreams have been coming true. Like I can some how see glimpses into the future through my dreams. This time, I had been in a meadow surrounded by trees. I was in the center, looking at the trees, but my hands couldn't move. Like they were bound. Then the trees began to bend, like a great wind was blowing. It had been a dark, clear night with many stars visible. Then I had gone to another image, one with me hanging hundreds of feet above the ground, looking down on the villages and trees I passed over at high speeds. Then it went to an image of a large room, like one in a palace, of glittering marble that had many colored specks in it. Two thrones had been in the center of the room, with a grand staircase that widened towards the top to two hallways at the top. Two people sat on the thrones, but the image was too hazy to be sure what they looked like. After that, I woke up.
Any room that has trees bending to the force of wind and me hundreds of feet above the air is not good at this time in my life. It was time for the annual sacrifice. One of the villagers in my town would be fastened to a stake and left for the dragon. We had never even had the dragon attack us, but when we told our king he insisted it was because of the sacrifices. Many disagree with him, but are too afraid of him to speak up. I am one of those people.
If I am having dreams like this, it could only mean one thing. I would be the next sacrifice. The king had chosen our village for one reason, it was insignificant. I lived in a mountain village with no name. I only lived here because it had been made a law by the king that all living here could not leave. This way none would leave, and he wouldn't have to find another village to use to offer up sacrifices. If you tried or resisted, you were executed. Once a year, a person was offered. Once a year, this village lost a friend or loved one because of our tyrant king.
I sighed, and put on my cloth shoes. My sister and I were poor, since we didn't have our parents with us any longer. We ate what I hunted, and that was it. I was good with a bow, spear, or sword. (We do not have real swords, only wooden. We cannot afford a sword made from any metal.) I often catch much, which is why I am bigger than most girls. The usual weight of the girls in the village is around ninety pounds. I am one hundred thirty. Not terribly big, but still bigger than most.
I walked from my room, which consisted of nothing but a bed and night table, and into the kitchen. The kitchen was small, with a round table in the center and a fire pit in the corner. The front door was closed and, I noted, locked. A fire was burning now, and a pot was placed there to heat water. My sister, Lacey, sat at the table in her white cotton night gown, like mine. The light from the window shone onto her straight blond hair, making it glow. She had inherited the blond from Mum, the straight from Dad. I had inherited brown from Dad, the curls from Mum. She seemed glum.
I sat across from her at the table. "Lacey? What's the matter?"
She glanced up at me, and her usually bright and dancing blue eyes were dull and worried.
"Katie," Lacey said slowly, "It's time. They're here earlier than usual. They'll be around to choose soon."
I knew instantly who 'they' were. The king's knights. They chose the sacrifice. I also knew now why the front door was locked.
I nodded, unsurprised. My dream had made me think they would be.
Lacey was instantly alert, set off by my not being shocked or seeming very worried.
"Did you have a dream?" she asked. She knew my dreams were real, because I had had one about her slipping and breaking exactly three eggs. It had come to pass, three eggs broken. I can also speak to animals, but that particular power didn't come in to play at the moment. Lacey can speak to plants.
"Yes," I answered.
Her expression grew frantic and worried. "What did you see?"
"I saw something that could only mean one thing. I will be the next sacrifice."
Lacey's eyes started to tear up. "No," was all she said.
"Yes."
She stood and raced around the table, catching me in her arms and squeezing me.
"I won't let them take you!" she said into my shoulder, tears falling down her face.
"You can't stop them," I said. My eyes were starting to well up.
"We can take you and hide you! No one will know! You'll be safe!"
Before I could reply, a loud knock sounded on the door. Lacey gave me an anxious glance, but went to open up the door. Standing there were several guards, all carrying weapons. The guard in front pushed my sister aside, and entered the kitchen.
"How many of you are there?" he asked in a rough, scratchy voice. Very unlike my sister's soft voice.
"Two," Lacey answered, wiping her tears. No one seemed to notice them, though.
"Only two?" The guard looked us up and down, scratching at the overgrown beard on his chin. "Then it would be best to take from here, I think. There are such larger families that would miss losing a family member, and you are used to loss. I assume your parents are dead?"
Lacey nodded.
"That's what I thought. You're young enough to have them living with you, and yet they aren't here."
He was right. Lacey was eighteen, and I sixteen. I was ripe to be married, and Lacey was overdue. When you are married, you live with the bride's parents if they still live. Then when they die you get your own home. Unfortunately, I have no suitors. Neither does Lacey, but I suspect she soon will. I could care less, I need no man to tell me how to live and to be happy. I'm fine on my own.
"So we shall take one of you. You," he indicated Lacey, "Are the eldest, it seems. You either have a suitor or soon will. You," he indicated me, "Are younger and , while ripe to be married you are, will not likely have one for a few years. I would not deprive your sister of her long awaited chance to be wed, since she is so close. No, I shall take you."
He motioned to the other guards, and two grasped my shoulders. They lifted me from the chair, carrying me away. I felt my heart sink when I saw the look of horror on Lacey's face. Her tears returned, falling swiftly down her face to form a pool at her feet where they dripped. I was almost out the door, when Lacey ran up and grabbed hold of me.
"Wait!" she cried. She took the silver chain from around her neck, and fastened it around mine. "It was Mum's. Take it as a parting gift. Mum would want you to have it now."
I nodded, and allowed the tears to flow down my face as well. I pulled from the guards' grasp and hugged Lacey, not wanting to let go. We cried for a moment into each others' shoulders before I was pulled away by the guards. I was tugged out the door, and only had time for one backward glance at all I loved for the last time before I was thrown onto the back of a horse and led away.