Into the Land of Valentia

Chapter the First

I

The forest was silent.

Mounted astride her dappled stallion, Vivica tightened her grip on the reins. She edged the horse back a step. “I don’t like the feel of this,” she murmured while looking further down the trail. The path was shady, with only a few shafts of sunlight able to penetrate through the thick-leaved trees. 

A faint rustling sound came from an especially dense part of the forest. Vivica twisted in the saddle to face it. She had taught herself to never turn her back on an attacker, not if she wanted to be able to carry her name with pride. 

As she watched, the bushes continued to shudder softly in the breeze, but didn’t hint towards any kind of unusual disturbance. With a sigh, Vivica turned back around in the saddle. She’d been hunting dragons too long, clearly. Her nerves were on edge.

Then again, her senses had never been wrong before.

“Vivica, behind you,” her horse, Garrett, called out all of a sudden. The gruff, low tones of his voice broke the forest’s disturbing silence as he swung around to face the source of the disturbance. Upon recognition, Vivica wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Before her stood an ovnid, one of the smallest dragons known to the land of Valentia. Its snout was squashed into its face. Two large, bulbous eyes the colour of Vinyl wine were half-hidden under the beast’s overhanging forehead. The ovnid slid its claws in and out, digging them into the ground in anticipation of what it viewed as an easy kill. Vivica merely smirked.

Swinging her leg over Garrett’s back, she dropped to the ground neatly, her suede-booted feet making soft sounds in the dirt. “Hello, ugly,” she greeted, positioning her bow. She slid an arrow from her quiver and nocked it. “I don’t know how I missed you sneaking up on me, but never mind that. Feel ready to die?”

The ovnid—most likely a male, considering females rarely came out from their dens—snorted loudly. A thick liquid splattered from its nostrils and sprinkled the ground at its feet. 

Vivica arched an eyebrow. “You aren’t very appealing, I can tell you that.” 

The creature stamped a foot against the ground, its long, lizard-like tail slithering back and forth across the packed earth. Despite their size, ovni were considered highly dangerous for their attacks: they would charge at their prey and, most predictably, breathe fire. The less predictable fact being that rather than breathe fire from their mouths, they shot columns of flames from their ears.

How fun, Vivica thought, eyeing the creature with distaste. Pulling back her arrow, she sighted the shot, setting herself up in her usual ritual. Sight target, feet apart, and— 

“For James,” she whispered softly, letting loose the arrow. It sang through the air, appearing to be a mere blur as it flew towards its victim. The ovnid had time to look startled, but not enough to move, before the weapon dug into its chest. The creature’s snout gaped as it made a barking sound that whittled down into silence as dark blue blood bubbled from its wound. The ovnid choked on the fluid before slumping to the ground.

Vivica skirted the pool of blood and yanked her arrow from the dragon’s chest. She surveyed the tip with narrowed eyes.

“Good job.” Garrett tipped his silver muzzle towards the now dead ovnid.

“Thanks for the kind words, Gare, but I think we both know I’ve done better. I should have heard it coming long before it was mere meters away.” After wiping the bloodied arrowhead on the ground, Vivica wrapped it in cloth and slid the bundle into her quiver. “Remind me to wash that at the next stream.”