A Series of One-Shots

The Epic of Althea

This is n assignment I did for English. I really liked it, so I figured I'd share :P

                        1

The first time she heard of the dragons

Althea was just ten years of age.

A storyteller was sitting at a fire,

Telling of the beasts

As embers jumped from the flames.

How majestic, how dangerous.

The daring dragons roamed the earth,

Nesting where they pleased

And ravaging poor villages.

They were terrifying in the eyes of all.

All except Althea.

She was intrigued by the creatures.

Althea asked her father,

“Where do they sleep?”

He replied, “At the top of the mountain.”

“I want my own,” she told him.

 “You must never go near the dragons,

They are dangerous. They will

Hurt you,” he said.

But she wouldn’t listen.

Althea was a determined young girl,

As her father had taught her to be from a young age.

If she wanted a dragon,

She would have one.

                        2

Althea journeyed up the mountain alone.

She traveled up twisting paths,

And skirted around caving caverns carefully.

It was a hard journey with

Sharp rocks cutting into her heels and

The heat of summer beat on her back,

Rays of sun made her copper colored hair glow.

At the peak of the perilously mountain,

All she could find was relief.

There wasn’t a single dragon in sight.

No flashes of unfurled wings

Or roars of a disgruntled beast.

Disappointment replaced relief.

Had she traveled so long,

So hard,

For such dissatisfaction?

Silence was heavy in the air,

Only to be broken by the

Startling squawk of a nearby creature.

Hidden by the jagged rocks of the peak

Was a large nest,

Settled in a space that formed a bowl shape.

In the nest was a tiny beast,

No more than five feet in length

With scaly, red skin,