Promise Cut Short: The tale of Annerra.
The young woman asked her friend "How do these look?". In her hands she held a pair
of gold bracelets, with etchings of dragons inscribed onto them.
"Oh, they're lovely!" replied her friend. "They are perfect for you," the young blonde
answered.
At first glance, they appeared to be an ordinary pair of late teenaged girls. One was tall
and blonde, and the other was medium height and brunette, but both turned the heads of
most of the men that saw them. However, they were anything but ordinary. While the
blonde appeared to be no older than about 20 years old, in truth she was just a bit over
200. However, in the eyes of her people, she was the adolescent that she appeared to be.
She was a dragon, a member of an ancient tribe that lived high in the mountains. She
could, when she wanted to, take the form of a human being as well. Her friend was
human, but she was hardly ordinary either. She was a "dragon-soulmate". She was able
to hear the thoughts of the dragons in her mind, and was able to send her thoughts to them
as well. It was a rare and wonderful gift, and one that set her apart from anyone else
living at that time.
"So, has Tarere asked you out yet?" the brunette, who was named Annerra asked with a
sly look in her eyes.
"Tarere?" Nerlana responded, "what makes you think he's going to ask me out?"
"Well, it's pretty obvious whenever he's around you. He gets all big eyed and can't stop
following you around like a puppy dog. Besides, I can hear his thoughts you know"
teased Annera.
"What? I thought you tried to avoid picking up thoughts that weren't directed to you?"
Nerlana responded in bewilderment.
"I do, but if a thought is strong enough, I can't help but hear it, and believe me, his
thoughts are very strong" smirked Annera.
"Well, he's nice enough I guess, but he's so boring! Oops, look at the time, lets get
going back up to meet my folks." Nerlana said, trying to quickly change the topic.
Soon, the young ladies got to the clearing where Nertorn and Berlana, Nerlana's
parents, were waiting. As they said their farewells, Nerlanna reminded her "Now,
remember, we are going flying the day after tomorrow, right?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world", Annerra responded, "but now, I better get back to my
parents shop. Have fun!" She hugged Nerlana, and waved to her parents as she turned
around to go home.
As Nerlana transformed and leaped into the sky, Nertorn looked sadly at Bertana and
said "Promise cut short, just what does it mean?" He was speaking of the ancient
prophecy, which said that 10 dragon soulmates would come forth over the course of the
ages. The ancient sage had given each of the 10 to come a short title that would describe
something that would happen in their life. However, for Annerra, it was the bleak
sounding "Promise Cut Short". With that, they nodded sadly, and transformed, and leaped
into the sky after their daughter.
Elsewhere, at the same time, there was a discussion going on in one of the major trading
companies. Ulanth and Bertan was a long standing company, that had the reputation of
being very sucessful, if somewhat less than honest in their dealings. Ulanth was
complaining "We have to do something about this! Harel is getting all our business. Just
because his daughter is able to talk with the dragons. She keeps bringing back all of these
trinkets the dragons make, and everyone goes to his shop to see them, and then does all
their other shopping there too! If we don't do something soon, we will go broke!"
Bertran was a tall, hairy uncouth sort that many thought looked more like a barbarian
than a trader. He generally allowed his partner to deal with people, while he took care of
the dirty jobs. He finally got tired of Ulanth's complaints and looked up from his 6th cup
of Ale and said "Bah! You worry about this girl, she is nothing! We get rid of her and her
family, and money starts coming back here, just like it always has."
When Ulanth heard the idea, he was unsure about it, but it was a measure of the man
that he wasn't so much flinching from the idea of murder, but just how to avoid getting
caught. Finally, he said with a slow grin, "Okay, we just have to wait till the dragons are
away far enough that we can get away clean"
A few days later, Nerlana was about 40 miles from Annerra's home. She had gone up
there to fly in and out of the valleys, and to enjoy the spectacular views as the sunlight
flashed off of the high mountain glaciers. She had settled down into a clearing, and had
curled up her golden body to take a nap in the warmth of the sun, and was just nodding off
to sleep when she awoke with a start. In her mind, she could hear a voice screaming in
terror. As she woke up, she realized that it was Annerra calling out "Help! Help! They are
trying to kill us!"
Without thinking, Nerlana leaped into the air and flew as fast as she could toward the
town. The entire time, she could hear Annerra's screams in her mind. She pushed herself
yet harder and harder, as she heard Annerra scream out in grief as her parents were killed.
Nerlana had just gotten within sight of the town when suddenly, she felt a horrid, burning
pain in her mind. It almost felt as if her own neck was being split in two. Then, the pain
was gone, and so were Annerra's screams. As she came down low over the store, she
saw Annerra, her family and all their workers dead. She also saw six men with bloody
swords getting ready to leave.
Nerlana knew that she could wash them all away with one wave of flame, but somehow,
she wanted to do it the other way. So, even as she landed in a field behind the shop, she
transformed into her human form. However, while she was still the same golden haired,
golden eyed girl she was before, she did not look the same. She had a grim purpose set in
her face and eyes as she strode into the shop. The first of the thugs saw her and decided
to get rid of this witness, not realizing who it was. He came up to her and started to
swing his sword down at her head. It was then that he learned his mistake. With the far
greater speed, strength and reflexes that her dragon nature gave her, she was able to reach
up and grab the wrist and stop the stroke. She then took her other hand and drove the
heel of her hand underneath the jaw of the thug, snapping his neck.
The other three hired thugs went just as quickly and easily, so that finally, Nerlana faced
Bertran and Ulanth alone. "You two! Why? Why?" she cried out. Then as she looked at
them with her dragon sight, the reason for their actions came to her with terrible
suddeness. "You did this just for the sake of some gold? You killed her just to make
more money?"
The two merchants prepared to charge the young dragon, but they never got the
chance, as Nerlana put the heels of her hands together, and a golden flame emerged from
them and washed over the two men. Nerlana took a savage delight in their screams as
they died. She then looked around and went to the side of Annerra. She saw how
Annerra's head had nearly been severed from it's body, and she gently took the body in her
arms and the tears started to come.
Nerlana was still crying a few moment later, as two dragons swept in over the shop, one
gold and one green. They landed and were soon revealed to be Nerlana's parents. Her
mother came over and took her daughter in her arms and tried to comfort her as she lost
her. At the same time, Nertorn, the gold dragon, gently took the corpse of Annerra in his
arms and began to carry it away. "Promise cut short" he said sadly.
Nerlana cried in her mothers arms, asking again and again "Why? Why? She would
never hurt anyone. All this, just for money?" Her mother wasn't sure how to answer that,
but instead tried to comfort her.
That night, all the dragons who could be summoned were at the Dragon's Eyrie. Nertorn
walked up to a cairn and placed a branch in the wood that was piled under the body of
Annerra. As the fire consumed her body, the dragons just stood their silently, thinking of
the horrors that men can bring forth, and wondering just what Annerra might have been
able to accomplish if her promise had not been cut short.
Email: jfeeple@my-deja.com