Fan Fiction ❯ Halfling ❯ Halfling ( Chapter 1 )

I wrote this around Christmas time for my Creative Writing final. I'm not very good at expressing my feelings in any way, shape, or form at all, especially in my stories where I usually mess around with characters before giving them a happy ending. This time though I decided to do something a little different and try to express my feelings in my story. The (short version) of this story and how it came to exist is at the very end. I hope you

Through the heart of a thick forest a clearing spread out into a beautiful valley with large trees covering the ground plentifully. Whoever was lucky enough to get through the deep forest would come across the large valley and have their breath taken away at the unbelievable sight. Never would they know though that this valley was home to an entire clan of elves though because their homes were built in the trees tops with the camouflage to make them seem like the trees themselves and only the elves who lived there and those they trusted with their lives knew and were able to tell the differences between the trees themselves and the houses built in and around them. The valley was given the name the Valley of the Elves.

In the Valley of the Elves the Council of Elves were meeting together in important discussion. A newborn baby was born into their clan just the night before and this was the main point of the entire meeting they were in. For this baby was not a regular baby to them; it was only half-elf, the other half being human. The elves didn't trust humans for they thought elves to be alien to them and a major threat because of their magical powers. As for the baby, they weren't sure if they could trust the baby to act human or elf to them.

"You can't really expect her to live here and not be treated different for what she is, do you? She's a complete misfit here the moment she was born!" One elf raged, not wanting the halfling to stay.

"Kaider is right." Another agreed. "She'll act human because her father is human. All humans are terrible creatures who think they're better than everyone else. One day she'll end up betraying us if she believed what the humans said about us!"

"No! That isn't true!" The mother cried. "Her father is a wonderful person and would never believe what others said about our kind! Besides, if she's raised by elves then she will act like an elf!"

"We cannot be sure of that though." The eldest of the council said. "I have decided."

"No, please! Don't make her leave, me! If you must let her live with her father then!" She begged.

The elder ignored her pleas and turned to the whole of the council. "Cara does not have the full blood like the rest of us in the Valley of the Elves do and she will definitely not belong if that fact gets out. Other elves who found out this will not take this as lightly as other will and will end up causing terrible problems. She will only be ended up treated like a full human living in the valley rather than an elf either way. She will have to go."

The child's mother burst into tears and fell to her knees in anguish. She cried out `no' and `please reconsider' through her dry throat, but once more her cries were ignored, the decision already made.

"However, I'm not as heartless as the make the child leave at the moment. She will be able to stay until she comes to ten years. There will be rules for you as the mother to follow to be certain that nobody finds her out and begins asking difficult questions about her. Until her tenth birthday she will be kept inside the house and not be seen by anyone but the mother and the council ourselves." He explained to the mother, still crying on the floor. "If these rules are not followed then your daughter will be cared and you'll have to live with that grief on your own."

The mother chose to agree, not wanting her baby girl to lose her life because of what half her blood contained. She stood with help from some of the councilmen and took her leave.

~Ten Years Later~

The years passed by quickly and before the child's mother realized it, her young Cara was jumping around her bedroom one morning shouting excitedly.

"Mommy! Mommy! Get up! Get up! It's my birthday!" She jumped onto the bed and crawled over to her mother, holding up her hands with all her fingers extended to make the number ten. "I'm this many years old, mom! Are we going to do something special this year like last year? Have a really big dinner?"

Cara's mother drew the girl into her arms and held her tightly. "Cara, there's something I've been needing to tell you for a long time now. I should've told you when I thought you were ready, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it."

Cara instantly became serious and nodded. "Okay, mommy. What's wrong?"

Before her mother could begin to explain a knock echoed through the house. Cara stood and moved to sit on her mother's pillow, keeping silent like she always did when they had company. Her mother stood and looked out the window to see, Beyder, one of the councilmen.

She called out to Cara that it was Beyder just as she opened the door and the girl came tearing from the room with a large smile on her face as she jumped into the older elf's arms.

"As I recall it's somebody's birthday today. Who could it be? Do you know, Cara?"

The young girl nodded and laughed. "Silly, Beyder. It's my birthday."

"It is?" He asked with amazement. "How old are now? One-hundred and twelve?"

Cara laughed and shook her head, holding up her hands to show him. "I'm this many now."

"Ten? No way. Why you're practically a lady now."

Cara's mother watched the interaction with a comforted smile on her face. She was glad that Beyder was chosen to escort Cara out of the valley and to the beginning of the forest. He was always so nice to Cara and didn't care if she was half blood or full at all. He treated her just like any other would with an elf in the valley and for this she was very glad.

"Beyder," she finally interrupted the two. "I haven't exactly told her yet and was just about to."

"Oh, all right then. I can understand that. I'll just leave you to it then. I actually just came by to give her this anyways." He pulled out a wrapped package from his pouch that hung at his side.

Cara took it eagerly and dropped to the floor to open it, ripping the paper with excitement. A big smile covered her face when she found the small teddy bear inside and hugged it tightly. "I love it, Beyder. Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it." He smiled at her. He then turned to her mother. "I also wanted to tell you that the eldest councilman has convinced the others that Cara is to leave tonight instead of right away. He didn't think it was right to not let her celebrate her last birthday here."

"Thank you, Beyder. You're very kind."

"Anytime." He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

The mother waited a minute before turning to where Cara sat hugging her newest friend. She called her over and motioned to her lap for the girl to sit down. She explained to Cara about the decision the council had made the day after she was born, but left out the real reason why and replaced it with that she was just a special elf that was chosen to go far away when she turned ten years old. "You have to go far away and go by yourself. I won't be able to come with you." She told her.

Cara didn't understand and said this, but she also told her that she would go and not to worry. "I'll make you really proud of me, mommy. You'll see. I'll get lots of friends outside the valley and maybe I'll be able to come back and show you them. Would you like that, mommy?"

"I'd love that, sweetie. Remember, go far away and try not to talk to humans too much, okay?" Cara nodded and she continued. "Cara, there's something else you should know."

"What's that, mommy?"

"You won't be able to come back to the valley to show me your friends."

Cara gasped and nearly slipped off her mother's lap. "But…but why not, mommy? Don't you want to see me again?"

"Of course I do, honey. I don't even want you to go, but it's the decision of the council, not mine. Maybe, someday, I'll be able to see you again outside the valley, but not inside."

"How will I know if you're outside?"

"You won't, sweetie. You'll just have to hope for it if you ever need to and only if you need to."

"Okay, mommy."

That night Cara was more worried about the fact that her mother couldn't stop crying whether it be quiet and barely noticeable or loud and balling she also wouldn't let her leave her arms for more than a few seconds than she was about leaving in just a short while and never be able to come back. To tell the truth, she was a bit relieved when someone knocked on the door and her mother released her to see who it was.

"Cara," her mother called as she continued heading for the door, "Get some things together and put it in a bag you'll be able to carry. Take some food out of the kitchen as well that you'll be able to carry."

"Okay!" She called back and scurried into her room to do the task. In the other room she could hear her mother talking to Beyder in hushed voices.

Beyder then came into her room after knocking on it lightly. She could tell that he was far more serious than he was earlier and every other time she'd seen him. She could tell that her situation wasn't just some thing that was brought up she was special, but for the life of her she couldn't figure it out.

"Hey, Cara. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Beyder." She smiled at him but it quickly disappeared when he didn't smile back. "Are you going to take me away?"

Beyder felt terrible when he heard her words. Guilt was already a downpour over his soul at being the one to make her leave the only home she'd ever known. Slowly and almost hesitantly, he nodded. "Yes, I'll be taking you to the edge of the valley, just outside the forest." He tried everything he could to avoid her eyes, but somewhere in his reply his eyes connected with her and he couldn't pull them away. "Do you have everything together." He asked, trying to change the subject to make it seem like she wasn't going to be going away for a long time.

Cara nodded and held up her blanket that was stuffed with a few clothes and some food like her mother had told her.

Beyder nodded and motioned for Cara to follow him. They met Cara's mother at the door and she gave a heartfelt goodbye to Cara and a hug that had Cara thinking she was going to die from lack of oxygen before she stepped foot outside the tree house. She did eventually release her and watched as Cara left the house with Beyder a few feet ahead.

~~

The horse ride to the skirts of the valley was a very bumpy ride and extremely uncomfortable for Cara, though she figured it was more of the fact that she hadn't said much of a goodbye to her mother rather than just the leaving part of it.

Her eyes opened from when she had closed the from the harsh wind beating her face when she felt the horse start to slow down before it came to a complete stop just in front of an entire patch of trees that seemed to stretch on both sides for miles and miles.

Beyder didn't get off the horse after he helped Cara down. Instead he continued staring at the ground seeming unable to meet her eyes once more. "Be careful, Cara. That forest is dangerous and filled with many terrible things. When you make it out and you come to a path just at the edge of the trees on the other side follow it until you come to a fork in the road. Whatever you do, Cara, don't go left to the humans city, go right. That way you won't get many chances to meet up with humans unless they've started building their towns that way as well."

"Okay, Beyder." Cara felt her voice tighten, but she could already tell Beyder felt terrible enough for what he'd just done by making her come and taking her from her mother so she didn't want to make it worse by crying in front of him.

"Stay safe, Cara. I'll always be praying for your safety." He turned the horse and started to walk back the way they came back to the heart of the valley.

Cara watched him disappear before turning to the forest of trees and stepped inside, thinking it was no use to try and deny the inevitable now that she's been left alone. She didn't get very far, however, before loud laughter was heard from the treetops and getting closer. A voice then met her ears through the hidden branches of a large tree just off to her right and she squinted her eyes through the darkness to try desperately to see who it was.

A young dwarf dropped down from the trees, only coming up to a little further than her waist and his cheeks a deep red from his hard laughter. "Do you not even care that you are being dumped by half your own kind and banished from ever coming back?" He asked in her a cheery voice, finally calming down from his giggles.

Cara was surprised at his question and asked what he meant.

A much older dwarf than the first dropped down from another tree and joined the first's side. "I've heard rumors about a child that had been born into the Valley of the Elves about what the high council was going to do to a half-human elf that lived there. I always knew they were good for nothing, them elves."

"I don't even know what you're talking about. I was chosen the day I was born to go on a journey to a far away place to live there when I was born. That's exactly what I'm doing now."

"You have air for brains, young elf. You have human blood running through your veins clashing and mixing with that of your elf blood."

Cara shook her head in despair. "You're wrong!" She cried. "Humans are terrible things, I've heard. Why would my mother ever be with a human if she knew I would have to leave?"

"Ah, but you're mother fell in love with a human and had you. I overheard it when I went to ask the elves if they had food to spare for the long winter ten years ago and I remember it well."

Tears came to the girl's eyes and she tried her best to hold them back when they started to sting. "You're just making things up! "You lie with the cruelest of words!" She then turned and ran from the site and deeper into the forest.

Cara ran through the rest of the night and then through half the morning before she finally collapsed and couldn't pick herself back up again. She had scrapes and bruises from other times she's fallen over loose roots or unseen rocks and brushing against swaying low branches. Her lungs felt like they were about to burst and she heaved in precious air and tried to recover from just everything all at once.

Suddenly though, the bushes a few feet away started to shake and demon-ghost like creatures with small black cloaks covering their faces and grimy-looking sharp claps protruding out from underneath their capes floated out of them.

Cara tensed and backed away from them as slowly and as unnoticeable as she could. She heard about these creatures from Beyder when he told her of the things that lived in the forest. He spent so much time on their detail Cara knew that these creatures had to be what he was talking about, but she couldn't remember their names. All she could remember was that they were terrible creatures that would turn you into some worse than dead if they got to you, but Beyder wouldn't explain how.

As she was scooting as silently as she could across the ground floor a branch crunched underneath her weight and drew the ugly creatures' attention towards her quicker than the blink of an eye, glowing red eyes staring at her frighteningly.

They screeched at her loudly and made a beeline for her. Cara tried to scream for help but her voice seemed to fail her as she continued to watch the horrible creatures come for her faster and faster by the second.

Just as they were five feet in front of her though a great big cloud of smoke rushed in front of her view and obscured both Cara's and the evil creatures' sight.

Not knowing which way she could go without running into the demon-like creatures, Cara stayed completely still and waited for the smoke to thin. However, that plan changed when she felt teeth clamp around her arm gently and start tugging her towards them. Cara wanted to scream, but the thing dragging her seemed to know that and shushed her quietly as they continued to drag her towards them.

Cara and her rescuer hid behind trees as they waited for the smoke to clear out and when it did the half-elf immediately looked over to see who had saved her. Words escaped her though when her eyes did see what was peering around a tree to watch the creatures that were after her. A light blue dragon that came up to her chest was stifling giggles at whatever the nasty creatures were doing as they continued to spy around the tree at them.

Finally, he seemed to have gotten bored with what they were doing, or they had just left, and he turned to her with what looked like a smile, sharp teeth gleaming in sun beams entering through the branches. "You okay?" He asked in an excited voice.

"I'm fine, but who are you? And what were those things?"

"I'm Mika." He told her with enthusiasm. "Who are you? What're you doing all the way out here? Did you know you look really pretty? I've never seen someone like you before. I haven't seen hair as golden as yours either; only scales, but those don't really count, I think." His leather-like wings fluttered quickly with each question and he couldn't seem to stop moving now that the danger had passed.

Cara blushed lightly at his third question, but pushed it aside to try and answer his questions. "Well, my name's Cara. I'm out here because I have nowhere else to go since my clan, I guess you could say, doesn't want me with them anymore. And no I didn't know I looked pretty, but thank you for telling me. So what were those things again?" She asked again, noticing he hadn't answered that question the first time.

"You don't have anywhere to go?" Mika asked, a lot more serious than he was a second ago.

"Yeah." Cara replied sadly. "I was just recently told that I have half human blood mixed in with my elfin blood and the higher up elves thought I would cause problems so they dumped me to live on my own. Can you answer my question now?"

"That's not fair at all!" The young dragon exclaimed loudly. "My clan would never do such a thing! Come with me, I'm sure we'll be able to help you." He insisted. "Oh, and those things are called Caskers." He finally answered her question on what the demon-like creatures were. "They're really icky things, but they're really stupid I think. They feed off of living souls and that's why they were after you."

Cara shivered at the prospect of dying because her soul was sucked out. Then she suddenly remembered that Mika had told her that her clan would take her in. "Are you sure, about your clan taking me I mean.? I don't mean to intrude on your group."

"Don't worry about it. We're always moving anyways so I'm sure it won't be a problem if somebody as small as you ride on one of our backs; I still have to do it sometimes too." He started walking away, expecting Cara to follow, as he continued talking. "My wings aren't that strong enough to carry me the whole way to our new home most of the time so I end up riding on my mother's back if she's close by."

"What do you do if she's not?"

"Well that's easy, isn't it? I ride on the dragon that's closet to me in then." He smiled back at her just as the bright sunlight broke through the trees and open field could be seen stretched over to the horizon.

"You came all this way on your own?"

"It isn't as far as it seems actually. It actually dips down past those rocks over there," he pointed with his tail, "and then you'll see dragons all around. I'll be introducing you to our elder dragon, Saray. He's our leader you could say and decides where we're going to stay and how long we stay. He's really understanding so I'm sure he'll be happy to help you once he finds out what your own clan did to you."

The two continued on their way until, just like Mika said, the land dipped into a large valley where dragons of all sizes and colors could be seen in every direction inside of the crater-like valley.

"Oh, there he is!" Mika jumped up and fluttered his wings once more and then rushed over to him as he called his name. He talked to him for a short while before turning and pointing at Cara with his tail.

The older dragon nodded and sent the younger on his way before he walked the short distance to the half-elf. "Young Mika tells me you're in quite the predicament." He old, yet warming and comforting voice told her.

"I suppose so. I was recently told by some dwarfs, though I believed them to be lying but now it makes more sense, that I have half human blood mixed with my elfin blood and the clan I lived with would be angered if they knew this so I was made to leave the night of my tenth birthday."

"I see. That is horrible. You seem like such a nice girl and I barely know you."

"Thank you. By the way, my name's Cara."

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Saray, the leader of this dragon heard."

"Mika told me that you would be able to help me. Is that really possible?"

The dragon nodded and gestured with his long tail to follow him. "I may be old, but I would never pass up the chance to help someone in need. Since you seem like such a nice elf and extremely confused about what you should do, would you like to stay with us?"

"With the dragons?" Cara asked disbelievingly.

"Of course." Saray chuckled.

"But I cannot fly," she pointed out, "and I would hold you up if you ever traveled long distances."

"That may be so, but we do not have our large sizes for no reason. You may ride on my back if you start to fall behind and whenever we fly you're weight won't even be noticeable on our backs."

"You're very kind to do this for me, Saray."

"Family is very important in the dragon herds. Since the elfin clan doesn't share the same virtue, I would be happy to take you in as one of my own."

"I would like that very much. Thank you."

Saray nodded and looked up at all the dragons now watching the girl with interest. "This is Cara," he told everyone in a much louder voice than he was previously talking in and Cara had to plug her ears to keep from the feeling like she was going deaf. "The elfin clan has rejected her because of the half-human blood that runs through her veins so I have decided to take her in."

There was a noticeable murmur that ran through the crowd at this statement before everything died down and everyone went back to whatever they were doing.

Cara was confused and when she looked up at Saray he seemed to smile down at her.

"They're fine with it."

Cara smiled back and nodded. "I'm glad about that then. I would hate to be kicked out by another clan in less than two days."

"You must be hungry. There are some fruit trees just over this valley. I'll have Mika take you to them."

"Thank you."

~~

It was an easy transition for Cara to get into living with the Saray's dragon pack. Everyone was very nice to her and treated her like she'd actually been there all her life. There only seemed to be one dragon that looked at her as though she were a burden to them and she did her best to be nice to him if they ever had to talk to each other for some reason. The black dragon with gleaming red eyes that always looked to be actually boiling over when they looked at her: Kiao, the second in command and destined to become the next leader when Saray moved on.

She had spoken to many of her friends and even Saray about Kiao's attitude towards her, but they all just told her to ignore him the best she could since he was always a grump. Cara found it extremely hard to ignore the black dragon though since he always seemed to be there, glaring at her with smoke lifting from his nostrils like he was already back a large flame meant just for her.

Kiao had to have the meanest personality of the entire dragon heard as well. He'd proven that to her many times over again and even more so every time the Saray called out a might roar every few weeks apart whenever he decided it was time to move on. Once, when Cara was trying to catch up with Saray's large steps as the dragon's were heading a few miles to a new spot where there was more food, Kiao had almost stepped on her and told her to get out of the way harshly, before swatting her purposefully with his long tail to make her trip. Cara was certain that he had almost stepped on her on purpose just like he had tripped her, but when she told this to Saray when she caught up with him; he brushed it off as irritation for having to move so early in the morning rather in the usual afternoon.

"Why couldn't we stay there until the afternoon then?" She had asked him.

"While I was stretching my wings I saw humans heading straight for the pack's location. They find high prices for our scales and would try to take a few of the dragons down to satisfy their greed for money."

"I see, you didn't want to risk the chance of losing some of them."

Saray nodded as he wrapped his tail around her waist and lifted her onto his back so she could rest her legs. In a way of thanking him, Cara rubbed his scales in just the right way that he enjoyed very much, careful not to pull any of them backwards since she had heard it was painful.

~~

Months had passed and the dragons had landed to rest for the night in a large open valley next to the forest she had first been introduced to the dragons. She motioned for the now more fully grown Mika to follow her and she told Saray that they were going to go somewhere real fast and would be back in a couple of hours. She then climbed onto Mika's back and told him the direction to fly in.

Cara had been relieved and also excited when she saw a woman sitting on a rock just outside the Valley of the Elves. She jumped from Mika's back the moment he landed and rushed over to her mother.

"I just knew you would be here, mother. I'm so glad to see you again." She told her mother as she hugged her.

"Cara, I'm so glad you're alright. I've been so worried about you that I've actually been coming here every first of the month since you've left." She admitted. She then remembered the dragon she had seen Cara riding on and gestured to him with a questioning look. "Who's this?"

"This is a very good friend of mine, Mika." Cara told her, deciding it would be best not to explain how they had met. "I've been staying with his dragon pack all this time. They're so wonderful and I've already made so many friends too."

"I'm so glad you found somewhere to stay."

"Me too. So how have things been here?"

"Same as normal I suppose. Nothing exciting if that's what you're wondering."

"Cara?" A voice have said in amazement and disbelief.

The half-elf turned in surprise when somebody said her name and saw Beyder riding up towards them on the same horse that she had ridden on to come to the forest when she had turned ten. A large smile spread on her face and she attached herself onto her older friend when he had dropped from the horse. "Beyder, I'm glad to see you again."

"I can't believe it's really you. Are you well? Have you been able to find a suitable place to stay?" He asked her with utmost concern

"Yes, I have. In fact, I'll have to be getting back very soon. I'm afraid the ride over here took much longer than I had hoped it would. I've been staying Mika's dragon pack, my friend over here," she gestured over to where Mika was watching the interaction between the two older elves and his best friend with interest.

"Dragons? That must be tiresome since they always seem to be moving." Beyder pointed out.

"It was when I wasn't used to it, but now it's quite easy and I can also get rides from the dragons whenever I get too tired to continuing when the walk for a long time."

"We wouldn't want them to get upset with you for being out later than you're supposed to though. We should get going anyway." Cara's mother announced. "Wouldn't want somebody to notice we've been gone, especially outside the valley."

Cara nodded and headed over to Mika, who was now stretching his wings wide for the flight back. She climbed onto his back and waved goodbye to Beyder and her mother before Mika started to beating his wings for air lift.

Suddenly though, but still hesitantly Cara's mother stepped forward, forcing Mika to stop his flapping so he wouldn't blow her back from the force.

"Mother, what are you doing? We need to get going and Mika can't get up with you standing right there." Cara explained to her mother.

"Cara, you've grown into such a beautiful girl already and you don't act like any human anyone's ever heard of. Humans would never get along with dragons after all. I'm sure if we told the council and they saw for themselves how inhuman you are they'll let you come back." Her mother suggested hopefully.

Cara gasped and nearly fell off of Mika's back. "You really mean it?" She asked in disbelief.

"Of course; there's not doubt about it, I'm sure. Their only fear after all was that you'd act too human and not fit in, but the truth is you can't even tell that you have human blood at all. Isn't that right Beyder?" Cara's mother turned to Beyder.

"That's actually correct, Cara. I've known you since you were born and you've never given any sort of sign that you could ever act human unless actually taught to." Beyder explained.

Cara looked from her mother, to Beyder, to Mika, and then back to her mother. She loved the dragons fiercely and being with them always made her feel happy, but she was being given the chance to go back to her first home.

`Was that even a home?' Cara wondered though. `They locked me up in my house and lied to me about why I couldn't leave. Then they all but threw me out without even telling me why; I only found out because of the dwarfs. The dragons have been more than a family in this one year than the elves ever were and I only knew Beyder and my mother.'

She felt so confused and didn't know what to do until her thoughts were pulled from her when she started to smell smoke. She found the source coming from Mika's nostrils and found that he was trying hard not to start burning everything in his anger.

"I'd like to think about it, if I could?" She asked quickly.

"Of course, I understand. Come back tomorrow and we'll show everybody that you are the furthest thing from human except for the half blood within you. It'll be so wonderful to finally have you back where you belong."

Cara nodded sadly and rubbed Mika's scales to calm him down. "Let's get going Mika. The others will start to worry."

Mika snorted and started flapping his wings without waiting for Cara's mother to move. They lifted into the sky and he took off as fast as he could from the sight.

"They seem like nice people." He stated, his voice filled with resentment.

"Mika, you aren't angry about what she told me, are you? About me able to go back to the Valley of the Elves?"

"Why should I be angry about you able to go back to `where you belong'?"

"Don't act like that, Mika. Please, tell me?"

"It isn't fair to ask something like that when they kicked you out and you didn't even know why!" Mika spat. "Then tell you that that's where you belong after they kicked you for something you couldn't even control!"

"I understand that, Mika." She paused. "That's…that's why I've decided not to go back. The dragons are where I belong and that's all that matters to me. You're my true family and you don't treat me like they did when they knew what I was."

Mika paused in midair and craned his neck to stare at Cara. "You're serious? You aren't going to go back?" He asked hopefully.

Cara nodded. "I promise I won't. We'll go back tomorrow and tell my mother. I'll talk to Saray tonight before we go to sleep to see if we can move again tomorrow after we return so I'll make it really fast when I tell everyone that's there so we can get out of there as soon as possible and not having to worry about them coming to find us." She explained to him.

"That's really nice of you, Cara, to stay, but won't you miss your mother?"

"Yes, but I suppose it's worth it to miss her for the decision I've made. I doubt she'll want to wait for me every first of the month when she finds out."

Mika nodded and started his flight again, continuing the ride back to their current location with a much happier air surrounding him.

~~

The next afternoon, just like Cara had planned out to Mika, they flew over to the edge of the forest where her mother would be waiting with the rest of the council while the dragons took flight in the opposite direction, going slow so that they could catch up with more ease.

Cara didn't even waste the time to get off Mika's back when she arrived at the forest's edge. She told her mother and everyone else that was standing there, namely the council only, and told them she wouldn't be staying with them and she won't come back to visit anymore. They then flew off back in the direction they came, Mika humming happily as they flew and Cara feeling very much relieved that she came up with the right decision.

~~

It had been a few years now when Cara had joined Saray's dragon pack and with each passing year the lead dragon seemed to grow older in his age with each month. Lately Cara had found him asking to massage his scales for him even when he seemed to not moved in days. Also, whenever they took to the air, Saray would sometimes ask her to ride on someone else, but she never asked why and did it without a second thought when he moved close enough to another dragon for her to move easily on to him without the fear of falling. One night though he asked for her presence one night before she was about to go to sleep.

"I'm sure you have realized by now that I am not the youngest of dragons. I fear that I may be passing on very soon."

"I have realized that, Saray. It seems so soon though."

"For you maybe, but I am older than a hundred and that makes me older than you may think."

"Indeed, I would've have thought you to be nothing older than seventies or something around there."

"I don't want you to worry about what will happen to me when I do eventually pass on though, Cara. As I am sure you have heard during the time you've been here that Kiao will be taking my place when I am gone."

"I have heard that, Saray." She said with bitterness.

"I want you to treat him with the same respect you have me."

"But he doesn't like me! The second he becomes the lead dragon I wouldn't be surprised if he kicked me out or turned me into a barbeque. I've seen the way he glares at me with the smoke coming out of his nose."

"Kiao is the most capable of the job though. He's young and athletic so he won't tire easily. And he is also very smart and clever so he won't do something stupid when the time comes for him to make decisions."

"That may be so, Saray, but it doesn't change the way I feel about him." With that said, Cara stood and walked away from the aging dragon, not wanting to get into an argument with him that she would end up regretting the next morning.

~~

Though it was a week later and she had really fought with Saray, Cara still regretted what she had said to him when he was only trying to explain to her what was going to happen. She hadn't said much to the dragon other than apology for the way she had acted towards him and she also stayed with Mika for a few days.

What surprised her the most though was when Kiao had approached her of his own will one day without so much as loathing seen in his eyes and told her that Saray would appreciate it if she would join him that night since she seemed to be afraid of going to him, not sure how he would act. Cara had hurried off without a second to spare.

When he had started coughing though Cara felt so weak since she was unable to help him that she had run off to be alone. Now that she was staring fearfully at a dozen Caskers though she wished she hadn't done more than go off to one of her friends like she usually did. This time though they didn't seem as stupid as Mika had told her they acted with victims and tied her to a tree, the vines holding her hands behind her back were rubbing into her skin most uncomfortably.

The Caskers were talking in quietly with each other, their voices sounding more like what a snake would use to talk if they could. The way they kept glancing back at her though she knew that they weren't discussing whether to let her go or just leave her there tied to the tree.

Finally, they starting moving towards her and Cara couldn't hold in the shivers that started taking over her body. She wished she hadn't run off, she wished she would have done more than just stay clear of Saray so much that he had Kiao come after her, she wished she would've done anything other than running into the forest to pout like a spoiled brat.

The Caskers brought their grimy hands up to removed their hoods and Cara held in a scream when their whole face was brought into view. Unlike their hands, their faces seemed more like they were cast in shadow but there was nothing to give the shadow off, their eyes were stilling glowing a brilliant red, no nose, but a large mouth cracked in a smile with sharp teeth seen easily as they continued moving towards her. An outline of dark color surrounded the Caskers and Cara could feel her soul being pulled from her body and she tried desperately to hold onto it. Her eyes clenched tightly in concentration, but it didn't seem to be doing anything. Suddenly, as quickly as it started, the feeling was gone and Cara took in gasping breaths to calm herself. What she saw when she opened her eyes though made her feel even worse than what she had just felt when the Caskers were starting to feed on her soul.

Saray was standing directly between her and the Caskers and she could see that the same dark outline she had seen form around the Caskers were around the old dragon and it didn't take much to figure out what was happening.

"Saray! Don't do this!"

That same minute though the ground shook with the force of the large dragon crashing down to the ground in his death. The Caskers, seeming satisfied with their more than sufficient meal, turned after pulling their hoods back up and floated from the clearing.

Tears came to Cara's eyes and she wished somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind that the demons would come back and kill her off too. A beating of wings somewhere above her brought her out of those thoughts and a sharp tug came to the vines binding her was felt for a second before they dropped to the ground as well. She turned to see who had come for her and was surprised when a familiar gleaming black coat and dangerous crimson eyes stared back at her.

"Kiao, I…" She didn't know what to say to the dragon. Her insides felt like jelly and she passed it off as a reaction to what she just saw. Kiao seemed to be expecting this though and caught her with his tail before she felt to the ground.

"You'll be weak for a little while. It happens to everyone the Caskers get to and for some reason their job doesn't get finished." He told her, bringing her to his back before he started flying into the air again, leaving Saray's body behind without so much as a glance back to where he fell.

Like Kiao had said it would the feeling of bones became familiar to Cara within a few minutes and was able to get a firmer grip onto the black dragon's scales as he started to go in for a landing. She slid off his back and stumbled onto the ground in a confused heap in front of the other dragons once Kiao's feet were planted firmly on the ground once more.

Briefly she could hear bits and pieces of what Kiao was telling the dragon pact and found that he was explaining what had happened to Saray and that they would be leaving soon so spread the word so everyone would know.

Cara finally felt she could stand when she saw the dragon's wings start to stretch wide, readying them to fly, and she decided that she should start going off on her own, maybe see if her mother was waiting for her so they could talk, but the same voice that had teased her and was usually heard growling at her called her back when she only got mere feet from where she had dropped. She turned back around and stared sadly at Kiao, wondering if he was really going to go through the trouble of telling her she had to leave and never come back now. What he said surprised her more than when she had seen that he was the one that had rescued her.

"We're heading the other way, Cara. It's going to take a while going the other way." He told her gently. He knelt down on the ground and waited for her to climb on patiently.

In her shock Cara didn't even remember her hesitant walk towards the black dragon, all the while wondering if this was just some cruel joke, and instead finally came back to reality when Kiao started beating his strong leather black wings to raise himself into the sky and head for his place at the front of the dragons already flying away in the direction they were told to go in. Cara found herself thinking that it wouldn't be so bad with Kiao in command after all.

`This is definitely my family and where I belong.' Where Cara's last thoughts before she felt herself taken away by the feeling of wind blowing against her face from the soft beating of Kiao's wings and the air going against them as they flew.

PS - This story was based on a true story from when I was in grade school turned into a fantasy. I am the character of Cara, the half-elf, my `friends' who dumped me because of was too `out-of-character' for them, represent the elves, and my friends who accepted me no matter how weird I acted for them were the dragons.

I used the elves because the first thing I think of when I think of elves (especially around this time of year) I think of Santa's elves and they make toys and my `friends' that dumped me loved shopping as their favorite hobby. I chose the dragons because they always seemed to soar so high even when things seemed really rough. I made myself into a half-elf because I was originally with the `elves', but since they chucked me out of their group I felt like I didn't belong anywhere and chose to make myself half-blood.