Sky High - Juniper's Journey

Trapping

Juniper at the top ~ A/N

A persistent yowling sounded through the woods at the break of dawn, sending men young and old alike out of their homes and into the cobblestone streets. The sound shook the trees and rocks like they were twigs and stones; a dragons cry. No animal or beast could make this noise, but why were they so far from the alps?

I had already been outside since before sunrise while the moon was out, preparing for the days hunt. Father was to be back from the capital in two moons and I needed a prize for him to return to, as well as make my own piece to survive. Aye, Father sent back enough to buy with and be comfortable but it is now how I live. I loved the hunt, the wild feeling of it, it separated myself from the young women in the town.

We were a fair off trading town on the edge of the border of The Valley and the Dark Wood Forest. We traded with mountain men south of the Dark Wood Forest, the ones that resided in the Alps, alongside the dragons and beasts alike. We never see dragons, we hear them from time to time, but never this close.

Curious children peeked out open windows and doors, only to be ushered back inside by the men. The townsfolk were protective of their children, what was once a thriving town with close to a thousand people, was now dwindling just below 400. Less and less mountain men show up to trade each spring and snowfall for reasons we do not know, the less that come means less business for us, a dying town.

The men down the way eyed me as I stood at the threshold of my home, paying me no mind, they knew I could hold my own. I was not hated for it, or alienated for it, I was just avoided. -Father had said it was because I was a very intimidating woman-  I shut the door to my dual level home and took a few steps into the street, peering down the way to the forest our town backed and up the road, towards the centre of the village. Many of the men who had once come out to the agonizing roar of what had to be a dragon were back in their houses now, tending to their wives and children before the days work started. Few remained out in the street, calling to the sons to fetch their furs and hunting boots, one of the men, who I recognized to be a cook in a tavern in the centre of town, glanced in my direction and eyed me before looking to the woods. I knew what he was asking, I nodded a yes to the silent question and tightened my furs to my body, it was a late coming spring and we could still see our breath in the early mornings. 

I patted myself down and counted my knives I brought along with me and jostled my pack around to remember everything I had with me and made a list in my head. A forearms length dagger strapped to my thigh, two knives strapped to my other thigh, one for gutting an animal and the other for protection -even though both do the same job- . In my pack I had a good length of rope, a animal skin filled with water and some provisions for myself, fresh bandages, salves and herbs. I always came prepared. Mother would be proud.

I made my way to the edge of town and into the woods, a few men straggling behind but I knew they wouldn't walk the path I take. The dragon could be miles away, sound travels easily when it's that loud. It was distressed, it didn't take an expert to know when an animal is distressed, this one clearly was so. It was a frightening sound, even I was afraid of it. Something must have happened to the dragon for it to not just fly away.

What would I do when I come across the creature? I've never seen a dragon up close, no one has, mostly because no one lives to tell the tale unless you are a dragon rider. They are a rare breed of people, stronger and faster than regular people, much like their dragons they are unable to burn or be affected by fire. They have no real way of knowing they are a rider until they are meet their dragon by fate and a tattoo of a human heart surrounded by fire in the centre of the chest, the flame rising up to the throat of the wearer. It symbolizes the heart of the dragon and the power of it.