Marks of Dranolia

Chapter 1

She groans in pain as she receives more lashes of whipping across her almost bare back with strips of clothing torn off from her tattered dress. The pain became unendurable and slowly her conscious drifted from her body, but a splash of cold water quickly brings life back to her drooping eyelids. She coughed up some water and gasped for air realizing her punishment was not over yet. Water droplets dripped from her sleek black hair and was quickly whipped away by the beating of the lash. She should have known better but her stubbornness believed each time she would be successful in running away. This was already her tenth attempt in escaping from her current master ever since she was sold as a serf to work here around the age of 9. After four years of continuous escape attempts she was quickly demoted to a slave on her second year of working in the farms.

¨This useless wretch! After so many years she still tries to run away from our master,¨ a middle age man with short beard grunts under his breath as if he was snorting out puffs of anger. The fat middle age man lashes a few extra whips venting his anger for he planned on throwing away this useless slave once and for all. After so many years, the cost to buy her was probably already earned back, but to continue feeding a worthless brat will cause them to lose profit. With the money they had they could afford a few other better slaves.

Behind the master stood two other serf around the age of 12. One with brown haired boy and the other was a dirty blonde haired girl. The brown haired boy watched the whipping with terror in his eyes as he witnesses streaks of blood leaking through the scars on her almost bare back. He winces at every whip and attempts to keep a calm demeanor hoping that in this lifetime he would never have to suffer the same beatings as her.

¨Humph. Send her to the woods! I never want to see her again. Master will not be concerned with her disappearance,¨ the fat slave master hollers at the serfs and motions them to take her away. He turns his back away from the post and begins to walk away. The brown haired boy who watched in fear moments ago, quickly snaps back to reality and runs to the poor girl to start untying the rope that tied her cuffs to the post. The other boy also makes his way to her and they began to drag her by each arm and headed straight to the forest without delay fearing the fury of their master.

¨Hope the beast devour her without a trace of leftovers, or her corpse will be quite disturbing, the fat slave master glares at the half dead body being dragged out of the gates of the manor.

The two boys hurried into the woods, hoping that their trip their will be quick before sundown. The forest was a dangerous place for unarmed commoners like them especially at night when the beasts roam around. Recently rumors were told that a couple of dragons has made their territory there, hunting for preys. The two boys made it a little farther beyond the borderline of the woods and dropped the limping body near some bushes, both sympathizing for the bloody girl hoping that she won't face much misfortunes.

As the two serfs began to walk away, the blonde girl gazed back pitying the poor black haired girl. Feeling a sense of sympathy, she quickly ran back to the body and searched her bad for items she can offer the girl in which she didn't know her name yet left her a huge impact as throughout her life. She found a dress and some bread and tossed it near her body. ¨Survive,¨ she whispered and turns away and ran back to the farm with the other serf boy, making it back home before the sun set.

The black haired girl watched with heavy eyes barely conscious of her surrounding but she knows that she was thrown off to the woods. She stared at the two blurry figures with her dark eyes of the serfs before her eyes grew too heavy and she once again fell into slumber.

The eerie night soon fell upon the sky along with the bright moon that sone brightly above the dangerous, dark forest making it almost seem ghostly mythical. When the night was almost over, surprisingly the black haired girl was unharmed by the rumored beasts, she slowly regained conscious. Lena, the black haired girl with dark black eyes( or so it seems but her left eye was slightly blue), lifts her heavy eyelids as she surveyed her surroundings but not finding much to see besides bushes and trees. The spring breeze brushed over her wounds seeping inside her ripped dress, reminding her of her suffering. She laid there motionless, flat on her stomach for a little while to process todays events.

She chuckled ironically that she was still alive and successfully escaped the place with others thinking that she's dead. Reaching out her arms next to her chest, she used a great amount of strength to push her upper body up to a sitting position. Due to some wounds reopening her breathing became heavier and she leaned against a tree for support. She winces once her bare skin makes contact with the tree.

Steadying her breathing, she scans her surroundings again for a better view of the area, not noting anything dangerous in particular, until her eyes fall upon a greyish shirt dress in from of her and a piece of bread. Her lips curved up a bit looking at the little hope she had to survive. Giving a dead girl food and clothing she thought ironically letting out a small chuckle. But she also notices her blood stains on the grassy ground and lets out a frown instead. This patch of blood will make it simple for predators to track her down and hunt her.

Since hope was introduced to her, she was determined to fight to live until her last breath. Lena sat there for a few minutes whacking her tiny 13 year old brain for escape and survival ideas. Pondering her thoughts into serious thinking, a sudden loud beastly roar was echoed throughout the forests. Her thoughts immediately freezes, and a sensation of panic ran through her nerves unabling her to move.

Such an angry roar to be heard throughout the forest, made many predators shiver and run back to their sheltered homes. No wonder why I'm not dead yet, she thought thanking her luck. But then thinking back to the roar, it didn't seem like a tiger or one of those feline beasts. It can't be... she gasps realizing where her senses are leading her. A dragon.. There were rumors of couple of dragons in the woods making it so dangerous and forbidden to many, but in the end not many people believed it since it was fairly safe a few months ago. If it was the mighty dragon then the disappearances of predators and preys would not be uncommon.