The Dragon Huntress

Huntress's Mark

The whistle of air, the twist of the arrow, the glimpse of dark green feathers. The arrow hit the tree right in the bullseye silently. Elia grinned. She was surely one of the best Hunters, or Huntress really, that she knew. Not sounding vain or something, just that no other girls in her village probably even knew what a bow was. She rolled her eyes, stifling a laugh at the image of Cassia, the villages slu- sorry, most popular girl, trying to work out what a bow was from a range of weapons. She continued on through the forest silently. She had to shoot enough animals to last her the entire week in money and food before the week of dragons.

That's what they called it in her village when four dragons crowded the sky above them participating in a vicious fight for the week, in order to claim rights to the new dragon students in her village. For our village was known for having the strongest bloodlines of dragon riders out of all the others, so the dragons would all be coming here first. But this year, she would be finding out whether she was a dragon rider, magic, or nothing. She hoped it was one of the first two. She couldn't bear to spend the rest of her life in this village.

She was an outcast here, shunned for the different way she looks, and that she hunts. She could also take down most boys her age in sword fighting, which, unsurprisingly, wasn't very popular with them. She huffed, stupid, prideful, egotistical, idiot- She stopped. She heard a sound quietly echoing through the forest. Then a deer delicately stepped out into the clearing ahead of her. Slowly, she fitted an arrow and silently hit the deer straight in the eye. After retrieving her arrow, she decided she had enough game to last her and headed back to the village.

When she arrived, she was met with the sight of everyone's hurried, frantic last-minute preparation for tomorrow. They liked the village to look as good as possible, and they had hung up the four emblems from each academy. The first one was the white and silver of Angelicus Academy, one dragon raising both wings in silver on the white background. The second, Starim Academy, was dark green with brown trees and a dragon standing on the tree line looking wisely towards the viewer. The third was a light blue background with dark blue patterns. This was the most intricate design, swirls cascading from the middle, roses and leaves entwined and framing the sharp face of a dragon in the centre of the emblem, Sakeye Academy. The last, Elia's favourite emblem was a dark black background with two gold dragons swirling around each other, each seeming to fade into the darkness, only the first half of their bodies visible. This was Zantrax Academy and it was rumoured to be the most brutal, only the best dragon riders accepted, because of this, it was the smallest academy in terms of pupils.

She continued on to her hut, dropping past the market to exchange some kills for money before finally relaxing in the comfort of her home. It was a simple hut, and she only had a fireplace, a bed in the corner, and a large table in the middle where she mixed herbs and sorted her kills. She set up the fire and soon felt the crackling heat around the whole place. Taking off her long cloak she stripped down, taking off her tight leather vest/top and her long leather hunting boots until she was left with just her long sleeve floaty top and her dark green leggings. She jumped onto her bed, sinking into the warm covers. She slowly drifted to sleep, wondering what tomorrow would bring.