The Queen Of Dragons

CHAPTER 4

Everyone was assembled in the hall you could hear the confusion from the crowd as everyone was trying to figure out why we were here, the opening of the main hall door made the hall go silent excluding the few small whispers of rebellious teens and rambunctious children. The Alpha strode into the hall with his family in tow, the Luna looked to be feeling better as the redness in her eyes wasn't as bad as before. I turned my gaze to my best friend, who seemed to look the same but I could tell it was fake, 15 years of being someone's best friend can do that and from the looks of him, he is barely keeping it together.

The alpha cleared his throat before he spoke and with great gusto announced to us the answer to the question we have all been dying to hear.

"Good evening, I hope I have not inconvenienced you all by summoning you all here but it is important that you are made aware of our inevitable situation."

People began to look worried, and chatter began to pick up again in the hall. Suddenly the tingles came back, my mind going back to La land and I felt like I was flying. I must have looked crazy swaying slightly from side to side as my father quickly grasped both my shoulders and pulled me into him, he shook me and was speaking to me but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I didn't even snap out of it when the Alpha began to speak again, but I could still hear what he was saying.

"When I dismiss you, you are to go home and gather all of your dried meat normally stored for winter, we have just been informed that the dragons of the north have come to collect taxes early"

he was cut off by the outcry of angry wolves.

"they can't do that" one cried

"how will we make it through this winter" my neighbor yelled

"what about the children, without their wolves they can't sustain themselves like we can" a mother holding an infant yelled

"SILENCE" the alpha boomed and the room went quiet again

"I have thought it through, and believe me I do not like this nor do I want this as much as you, but we have to give them something or risk going to war"

that seemed to calm down the crowd

"We still have a month until winter begins, even then we can still hunt until the blizzards hit and I have also contacted the chief of the bear clan, who in exchange will give us fish in exchange for furs and a few tracker wolves to help them track down a rogue bear"

When the meeting was ended everyone rushed home to sort through their resources, me still not snapping out of this weird trance I was in was carried home by my father and placed on the couch in the lounge room. I could hear my mother and father arguing about what to sacrifice to the beasts, my mother for the first time in her life was actually being logical and was trying to make my father give up his prized rabbit jerky as the thawed deer meat could probably sustain us until winter and a few more catches and a fish or two would get us through winter. But my father was having none of it, he tried to shove all the rabbit jerky into his big mouth in protest, my mother who was now fuming in anger grabbed onto his ear and tugged him down so he was eye level with her. My father looked terrified now as my mother quickly snatched the meat out of my father's gob and put it into a woven sack. My brother was the one who was sent to deliver the meat sack, what contained rabbit, pork and a leg of beef. I knew for an absolute fact that if my mother had sent my father to do that job he would have eaten it all by the time he got to the town center.

It was late in the afternoon when I began to get my senses back, and had control over my body again but I still felt the tingles and feeling like I was flying. I was just chilling on the couch with my mother and father sketching before we were interrupted by a loud banging on our front door. My father went to answer it and me being the nosy person I am peeked my head around the corner to listen in. when he opened the door and the panic-stricken face of my next door neighbor appeared I instantly knew something was wrong, she started to speak really fast and was breathing too hard to hear a word she was saying.

"Mary you need to calm down, tell me what's wrong" my father gripped her shaking body

"Y-you nee-ed to come q-quick, it's you're son their ganna k-kill him"

my family and I were out the door quicker than lightning and following the sound of screaming children to the center of town, where the giant pile of meat was piled sky high, surrounded by giant majestic lizard looking things, with wings and sharp talons. There looked to be 3 of them, one red and the other two one a deep blue and the other a lighter blue but a shade or two off green. The blue ones were busy piling the meat into the two giant woven baskets at their sides while the red one, to my horror, was holding my bloodied brother in his talons by his neck and dangling a foot off the ground. My mothers scream must have been the trigger, but the tingling in my head became more speratic and it spread throughout my body I was shaking so much I must have looked like a lunatic.

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Happy New Year

-Ally x