Dragons: The Fall of the Crow Queen

Chapter One: The Spire

I am never alone. Wherever I am, crows are watching me. Always watching. But they never do anything. They just sit there, staring at me with beady black eyes. Sometimes their presence fills me with warmth, sometimes it gives me the chills and I get a sense of foreboding. The horrible feeling happens more. After a while, I went outside less and less, unwilling to get the creepy sense that something is watching. Grimbly, my caretaker in the Spire, along with other orphans, noticed it, and asked what was wrong. That was a few years ago. "Why don't you ever want to play with the other dragonets?" he had asked. So I explained to him about the crows, and how at least one was always near me outside, and that sometimes they would fly by my window. He had looked horrified, then grave and serious. He told me if I were ever to see crows outside, I should kill them. But I thought of the warm feeling I sometimes got, and I was unsure. Because of the crows, recently... Well, I get nightmares.

There. I said it. It's kind of embarrassing. I yell out in my sleep and stuff. I always forget what it's about in the morning, except that it's about my parents. And crows. And the holes in my wings. And a face. The face of the one who killed my parents, I'm sure of it. It's horrible and covered in scars, and has horrible eyes that seem to burn right through you, to look at your soul. It's the eyes that wake me up.

I never thought much how my parents died, only that they're dead. All the dragonets' parents died who are here. Even Succas, though he's convinced that his parents are really alive, but in hiding, and he will see them again some day. The Spire is not exactly an orphanage, though. Grimbly is plenty nice, not like the dragons in the scrolls. He's more of our caretaker than our matron or master. And we are more apprentices or adopted dragonets than orphans.

Grimbly never says the word 'orphan'. He says it's a word to bring you down, not build you up. He says his goal in life, if he's to accomplish anything before he dies, it's to build us up. Make us feel good about ourselves. He tells us that your success in life depends on your attitude. To which which Darlia scathingly replied, "What about the Crow Queen? She sure doesn't have a good attitude, and look where she is today."

Everyone gasped. Affred glared at Darlia. Missni whimpered and covered her eyes with her wings, burrowing into Derrnu's shoulder. Even Succas looked anxious. "Don't say that name!" Affred hissed. "You'll bring her to us."

"That's just silly," scoffed Darlia, but she looked worried.

Missni looked up at Affred. "Is her name really cursed?" she squeaked.

"Of course not," reassured Derrnu, glaring at Affred. "Affred's just trying to scare you."

"And how would you know?" Affred countered. "I know her very name is cursed... And since Darlia said it, the crows will eat her in her sleep."

Missni squealed and dove underneath me. Darlia rolled her eyes. I smiled. Missni was SUCH a scaredy-dragon sometimes.

"Don't worry Darlia. I won't let the crows eat you," Missni exclaimed, wrapping herself around Darlia's front legs. Darlia smiled. Missni seemed to be the only one who can make her smile. So for Missni's sake, Darlia, the others, and I never spoke the Crow Queen's name again. We barely mentioned her at all. It was safer that way.

The Crow Queen is the current ruler of Asdarland. She got the throne by killing all descendants and relatives of the former queen, plus all who opposed her. Rumors say she has a daily beheading to keep her subjects on edge, and no servant survives more than a week. If you displease her, she turns you into a crow. All of her important officials also have that power. I've heard horrible stories about it.

They go around and around you, faster and faster, and all you can see is the eyes of your tormentor. Then you're a crow. They might kill you right then and there, but sometimes they escape. When they do, a flock of crows will either chase them till they die of exhaustion, or till they give up. Whatever comes first. The dead bodies turn back into dragons. Then the crows eat the bodies. Some say the souls of the dragons then come back in the form of a different crow, a more evil, bent-on-revenge crow. I might have been the only one paying attention when they taught this, because I'm the only one who knows all the details. I looked up some of the other stuff myself.