The Dragon Slayer

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day in Otter Harbour, the sun was high in the late summer sky which was the most vivid shade of blue Ally Hales had ever seen. There was not a cloud in the sky and sun glinted off the sea making the peaks of the small and infrequent waves a bright golden colour, God was surely smiling down on the entire town today; for you see the entire town had turned out for Doctor Blakes' funeral.

Doc Blake was Ally's boss and she'd delighted in being his secretary; he was the epitome of what people in these parts referred to as 'an old-time country doctor'. He'd been present at the birth of just about every baby in the town as far back as anyone could remember.

He'd patched up scrapes, bumps and bruises, he'd visited folk too poorly to come to the surgery with more than just medicine. He'd been the person everyone talked to about everything that was important to them.

He'd healed the sick and been a comfort to all who had known him. He was a remarkable man who had been like a surrogate Father to Ally; and here she was a snotty, teary mess in the middle of the most beautiful day and moving funeral she had ever been too. Not that she'd been to many.

The only other one had been her parent's funeral.

Ally's mind drifted. It had been nearly 7 years but every time she thought about it pangs of guilt and shame gripped her heart. It had been so different then. Ally's parents were not exactly what you might refer to as loving. For years she told herself that they did love her in their own way, but she had been packed off to boarding school as soon as she was old enough, which apparently according to her parents was aged five; and when she was home there was always a Norland Nanny on hand for the day to day stuff her parents were too busy for.

Ally never really knew her parents and when they died in the plane crash she'd survived at aged 19 she couldn't grieve, she didn't even cry.

Their funeral was a big, hard, cold affair held in the Cathedral. Her father, Simon, was a wealthy, powerful and influential industrialist and her mother, Selina, was a society beauty. The tabloid press had a field day covering the accident, Ally's injuries and the funeral. Everyone who was everyone was there, which was no-one that Ally knew except for her father's solicitor Charles Wembley.

There was a sadness in her that she'd never get to know her parents and possibly make them like her as an adult but, in truth, she knew they never really loved her and she never really loved them either.

She'd never really loved anyone, except Doc and Willow. The day she met them was the day her life changed for ever.

In the aftermath of her parent's death and the press attention she had hidden away at Charles Wembley's house recuperating from the injuries sustained in the crash and operations to put them right. She didn't want to go to her parents' house, it had never felt like home and now there was no reason to go back there. Charles arranged the sale of the house and contents which, along with the considerable inheritance, the final instalment of which she would get on her 26th Birthday, made Lady Alison De Winter-Hales, Marchioness of Wells a very wealthy woman. Yet all Ally could think about was getting away. Far away.

In the study Charles had, amongst other things, maps. Lots and lots of maps. Ally traced her finger along their folded spines, closed her eyes and pulled one out at random. It was an old 1897 map of New England. She smiled and unfurled it over an empty desk. The place names sounded so pretty, one in particular, Otter Harbour, caught her attention. Aside from the quirky American spelling, no 'u', she wondered if the place still existed. Pulling her phone from her jeans pocket she looked up Otter Harbor and was amazed to find it did.