Draco Slayer

Chapter One

''Elis, dear!  Honey wake up and come downstairs to help me with the cooking,'' my mother said as she shook me awake from a deep sleep.

I began to get dressed in my usual burlap dress.  I looked around my small room for the wooden comb my grandmother got me for my sixth birthday.  When I found it laying on my dresser I looked in my pink hand mirror.  My hair was a giant mess, and looked like a bird's nest.  I started to untangle my wavy brown hair, deciding if I should braid it or bun it.  Today I had that feeling that it would be a long one.  Yesterday was; I had to help Mother with cleaning, cooking, washing and with the animals.  But she always taught me to do my best not to mope, so I didn't.  Instead, I thanked the lord for everything he gave me.

  Just as I began to finish braiding my hair, I heard the door leading inside our little adobe house slam open.  It was Rowan, my mother's alcoholic, abusive husband.  And he was in need of money.  Whenever that man came home that was all he wanted.

I hopped out the back window, as mother instructed me to do whenever Rowan came home.  I could hear him coming into my room, cursing all the while.  ''Elis, it's me; your father.  I just want to talk to you.  I haven't seen you in months,'' Rowan said, slurring.  

I wasn't dumb enough to fall for that trick again.  Last time he said things like that to me, and I believed him, he gave me a black eye and a bloody wound on my throat.  From what I remember, he was big and bulky, he always wore a worn out white shirt with trousers that had holes in the knees.  His blonde hair reached his shoulders and looked like he hadn't washed it in days.  But the most piercing feature on his face was his green eyes.  They were the lightest shade of green and gave me a vibe, a feeling I couldn't describe.  His pupils looked like those of a lizard.

''Oh, Rowan, please don't do that!  I'll come up with the money somehow.  I promise you, you will have that five thousand by next Monday!'' I heard mother say while sobbing.  

''Fine.  But if I don't get that money, I promise you that you'll be a goner,'' Rowan threatened before he slammed the door shut.  I crawled back inside and went to the kitchen, grabbing some gauze on the way.  I saw Mother crying on the floor, clutching her face in her hands.  I could see a chunk of her black curly hair on the floor, most likely ripped out.  I sat down by her and removed her hands from her face.  Rowan had left her with a black eye and a bruise on her arm, so none of the gauze was needed.

''Are you okay, mother?'' I asked while wiping away her tears.

''Yes, I think I'll manage.  But we have to get away from here,'' she said while going behind a cooking kettle to retrieve a leather satchel.  

''I've been planning to run away with you for a little over a month but something always held me back.  Now, I know it is the time.  Here, take these ropes.  I need you to go saddle up Molasses, and tie up Big White and Velvet.  And if there's more rope, go and tie my pigs, Ginger and Alfalfa, to Molasses' saddle bag.  I'm going to cage a few chickens and we'll be off,'' my mother said, confidently.

I went outside to our small apple tree and saddled Molasses and lassoed Big White and Velvet.  Molasses was named that for a reason.  She was our oldest and slowest horse.  Molasses was a palomino horse with a short white mane.  But we loved her the most out of all our horses, as she was the most loyal.  Big White and Velvet were our most strongest, fastest and youngest horses.

Ginger and Alfalfa sat next to each other against a lean-to that was built for them.  I tied a rope around their neck and guided them to Molasses so I could string their ropes to Molasses' saddle bag.  Mother came back with a chicken in a small cage and with one of our donkeys, Paddington.  She then proceeded to tie the donkey to Molasses' equipment so that the donkey could follow along.