The Sixteen Dragons

Chapter 1

WES:

"Li! Li! Liam! Get back here! Someone could see you!" I screamed after him. Liam was my second youngest brother, after my brothers Isaac and Edwin and before Simon. Liam loved to wander off, but now a days it was unsafe...they might see us. My older sister, Gwen, told us to go wash our clothes in the stream and then come right back, there were rumours going among the fairies that humans were seen in the woods. Humans except us.

It was rumoured there were two brothers, they would spy on the creatures of the forest, write down what they saw in this big book and then go tell everyone in town what they saw. They were famous throughout the Realm for being the only humans to see beyond the Gray Wall, at least that's what they thought. They were known as Jacob and Will or more famously, the Brothers Grimm.

"Just a minute, Wes! I saw a hummingbird!" Li screamed my way. Wes. My name was actually Wesley, but whenever we snuck over the Gray Wall, I had to act like a boy, it was safer, so everyone started calling me Wes, Jaclyn is called Jac and my sister Gwen insisted that she could take care of herself, so we didn't change her name.

It was always dangerous going into town. We had to cross the Gray Wall, it was 30 feet high and went around the whole forest. The landing was always bumpy, unless you were Isaac, Ed or Gwen, they moved with grace and never fell. Five years ago, when we all woke up in the forest, Isaac, Ed and Gwen were the oldest, (although barely 14, around my age now). They took care of us, acted like parents and then trained themselves to protect all of us.... and what we were.

"Li, the cabin is the other way! It's getting dark, we need to get back!" I screamed after him, panicked.

"Awww, you scared the hummingbird off! It flew over that tree!" He groaned, disappointedly.

"Come on, Li! Those brothers are probably roaming the woods. Remember what the fairies said?" I warned him.

"Oh, I hear something! Wes, they got me!"

"Li! Li! I'm coming!!!! DON'T DIE!" I started to panic, what should I do?

"HaHa! Got you!" I heard Li laugh.

"OH MY GOD, LI YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!" I yelled his way. " One day, those brothers are going to come for you, hack your head off and plop it into a story! Look behind the tree!"

"Yeah right, Wes. Like I'm falling for that." He smeared.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." I smirked, grabbing a branch. Then moving behind him, I shook the tree and sent all the leaves flying on to Liam.

"AHHH! EVIL, BROTHERS, EVIL BROTHERS WANT TO KILL ME AND PUT MY HEAD IN THEIR BOOK!!!" Liam screamed at the top of his lungs, sprinting as fast as he could towards the cabin.

Little brothers were too easy.

EDWIN:

"Flex your bow arm, lock in your target....then fire!"

Simon's arrow went flying, far from the target.

"HA,HA,HA!!" Isaac and my laughter filled the forest.

"Stop it! He's only 7. At least he got that close to the target." I heard Gwen holler in the background.

Trying to control his laughter, Isaac blurted,"Fine, lets try again, okay. Long enough for you to take back your dignity. Just don't think too much and keep your eyes on the target."

He tried again and again and again, with not one arrow hitting the target.

"This is the one, I know it!" Simon begged. Slowly he drew his bow and without thought, an arrow hit the target, exact, but it wasn't Simon's arrow.

"And that is how you shoot an arrow."Gwen smirked. I looked back to see her undrawing her bow.

"Smooth. Very smooth." I grinned.

"That was supposed to be my arrow! I hate you, Gwen!" Simon growled, running to chase after her.

"You better run faster, that girl can chase a fox!" Isaac yelled chasing after them. They ran through the clearing, laughing and blurting out insults.

I laughed to myself while walking towards the cabin. The cabin didn't seem like much from the outside but the real deal was under. Five years ago we found this place and the amazing tunnels under it. There were five tunnels all with an escape route and each tunnel led to four rooms, but most were for storage or unused. These tunnels weren't old and dusty, or wet and muddy.

They were quite comfy actually. They had wooden walls and tiled floors. Lanterns hung from the ceiling and illuminated the way. Trunks and shelves lined the walls filled with maps, books and really anything you could imagine; ball gowns, instruments, pendants and more.

In the cabin it's self there were only 4 rooms in all. These were the kitchen, lounge, dining and the weaponry. Our kitchen looked out to the clearing in the forest where our barn stood and we practiced our combat and planted our crops. We grew wheat, carrots and onions, maybe strawberries or pumpkins, if we could get the seeds. In our barn we had barely a few goats, horses and chickens.

Our kitchen had a fire heath and a few pantries lining the wall with plates, pots, spices and food filled in them. We had a large counter scattered with spoons, plates and candles that were over burnt.

Our lounge consisted of a fire place lined with our favorite books and games. We always lay here during the evening, with all our chores done and tidied up, listen to music on our brass megaphone.

Our weaponry hadn't changes since we found the place. It held a few bows, re-loads of arrows, swords, daggers and items for training. We only used these things if we were practicing or going across the Gray Wall, and even if we were going across, only Gwen, Isaac and I would take proper weaponry, the others would get something small like a dagger for protection.

As I unloaded the arrows, I heard the door open, " We're home! Where is everybody?" I hear Liam call.

"Gwen, Isaac and Simon are in the clearing chasing each other. Jac is down taking a bath. I just got inside. What took you so long?" I shouted back from the weaponry.

"Wes started to wander off." Liam answered.

"You liar! YOU were the one chasing the fat hummingbird!" Wes screamed in protest. "Ughh!!"

"The hummingbird was nothing compared to you, BUFFALO!" 

"Well, at least I haven't walked into a TREE before!"

"That was once!"

"Twice, squash-brain!"

"Obese buffalo!"

" Frog farts!"

"Fat wart hog!"

"STOP, with the terrible insults." I hollered back. "Did you get all your clothes washed?"

"Well, I got all my clothes washed but Li's had too main fart stains on them to be cleaned." Wes smirked.

"They did not!"

Laughing to myself I said, "Alright, alright! When Gwen comes back tell her it's her turn to go wash tomorrow, okay? And we left some mutton to cook, check if it's ready Wes."