The Key

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I awoke slowly, the bloodied bandage wrapped across my lower torso confining my every movement. The smell of livestock corroded my nostrils, but I didn’t care. I wanted to know where my dragon is. I looked around. I seemed to be in a garage converted into a barn. It was dark and chicken ran freely. I tried to sit up but a sudden jabbing feeling arose in my stomach. I fell back into the lumpy bed. I was panting, using all my energy to get a glimpse of the place.  I heard the door open with a high-pitched squeaking sound. Not being able to see who was there, I assumed the worst. I heard footsteps come closer to me. I was beginning to become anxious. Maybe Rorak had found me? Is this how I am going to die, here among the chickens? I prepared for death, but instead of the raspy dark voice I was expecting, a beautiful soothing voice calmed my ears, “are you feeling better?” she asked. I turned my head to find a stunning girl. Her hair was blond and long, and her eyes were brown and she couldn’t have been older than me. All that I managed to say back was ‘ugghhhh’

She giggled. I smiled for the first time in days. She knelt by my bed and whispered. “You saved my father, I am forever grateful.” And with that she placed my dragon next to me and majestically gilded out of the room. The dragon writhed before it got up weakly and began to lick my face. I laughed in disgust as its fleshy tongue slapped my cheeks. I felt better after it decided to snuggle in with me. I forced myself to sit up; Every aspect of my being felt like it was on fire. I rose from the bed, tears welling in my eyes and panting frantically. I stood there for a second, catching my breath. Chickens were beginning to swarm at my feet, as if they were investigating me. I took one step forwards, feeling the straw cushion my footfall. It was cold here, not glacial, but still unpleasantly cold. I shivered. I descended down a flight of stairs that would have normally taken me 30 seconds, took 10 minutes. I eventually reached the bottom of the stairs, cold dew painted across my head. The living room was very basic. In the centre there was a small circular table surrounded by the merchant’s family. The merchant himself was a plump man with rosy cheeks. He wore red overalls that covered his white shirt, stained with blood and torn apart. He smiled as I heaved my aching limbs down the stairs. The merchant walked over to me. His outstretched arms grabbed me and he pulled me in for a hug. I screamed as his stomach pushed into my wound. He tore himself away in confusion. “Oh dear. I am ever so sorry,” he whimpered. His wife came over to me. She was tall and stick like, with black hair. She towered over the man before slapping him around the head. “You fool Ustice, Of course the boy is in pain.” Then she turned over to me and said with a kind tone, “How are you dear? Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah… I slept okay thank you” I said, every breath of mine a nuisance. I noticed the girl I saw earlier outside, she was using a bow and arrow. The lady had noticed me looking at her daughter. “She is pretty is she not?” She asked.

“Yes” I replied. She gave a warm smile. Then there was a knocking at the door. The lady walked over to answer it. Outside stood all the merchants that I had saved; all of them had taken off their hats in respect. Even the Alchemist’s had taken down the hood on their robes. Even the wisest alchemist (you can tell by the colour of their robes, Grey is the wisest and everyone else’s are navy blue) had his hood down. The wisest alchemist walked up to the door. “Hello Elena. We are all here to thank the child that saved us. The other alchemists and I have brewed a potion to help the healing of his wound.” He gave Elena a bottle filled with green slimy liquid. She smiled back at him. Then she gave the bottle and it’s nauseating contents to her husband who was still seeing stars from the smack his skeletal wife gave him. He placed it on the table. The Alchemist bowed his head, “you saved our lives, now we owe them to you”. I didn’t know how to react. I just stared at them, words trying to escape my mouth but not being successful. The alchemists realized that they were putting me in a weird position and left. Elena turned around with a colossal grin, “they said they look up to us with their lives” she sung whilst her husband was trying to correct her. Their daughter had returned after seeing the commotion outside. She looked over to me. Her sheer gorgeousness blinded me. “Hello” she said with a slight smile, “I don’t think we have been introduced properly, my name is Hanna.” I could do nothing but reply with a sheepish “Hi, I am Kral.” Luckily she just giggled. “ You must be very tired.” She giggled, her face turning a red colour. She noticed the bottle on the counter. “Ooh. A healing potion, here just one drop of this and you will be in the bloom of health.” She poured me a drop and let me drink it. It tasted absolutely disgusting, I felt sick after it but I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of Hanna. I gave an awkward smile. Suddenly I felt sleepy and the world started to dance. Shadows became faces. I turned to find a demonic creature looking at me. It was tall with long red pointed limbs. It had no eyes only a mouth equipped with jagged knife like teeth. I wanted to run but I was stuck on the spot. It began to walk towards me. It looked weak. It reached out one of it’s pointed arms as if beckoning me. It took the locket from my chest and began to scream, the sound piercing my ears. The locket began to get hotter and hotter until it began to glow. The metal was leaking onto the floor. It kept screaming and eventually it stopped. The locket was gone and instead there was a key. It was big and old looking, but it had no rust. The thing looked at the key for a moment soaking it in. then I heard my mother screaming my name like that night on the boat. Rorak approached me. His hands were covered in blood and raised so I couldn’t see his face. He took his hands down and I saw his face. It was charred and cracked. His face had turned to a red colour. The cracks were welling with blood and it was leaking all over the floor. “THIS IS WHAT YOU DID TO ME” he screamed and blood began to gush out of the wound, filling up the whole place until I was drowning in his blood. Rorak kept screaming the same sentence over and over again, then my mother and the creature began to as well. They kept screaming until it drove me to screaming.