A Crown of Gold

It was happening again. I'd been gawked at by people in the village my entire life. I didn't understand, really. These people had watched me grow up yet still they stared at me as I passed as though I were a creature who had just wandered out from the forest.

I rolled my eyes as I walked. The same stupid story my father told me constantly playing in my mind. "Many of the villagers claimed you were born to please a dragon with that golden mane and those ruby eyes."

I'll admit, the red eyes are a bit strange. The old women say it's because my mother bled out birthing me, the men say it's because I was given to earth by the gods, and Nan, well Nan calls me a Demon walking amongst them. Not that I act far from that of a Demon. Growing up as the 'village beauty' with legend and conspiracy following you around every step will have one of two effects. The first being a well-liked and sociable young woman. I happen to be the second: an irritated girl determined to prove everyone wrong.

I didn't want to be the town gem or a prize to be won by all the men. What I really wanted was the escape the stuffy village I lived in and find something worth living for.

As I made my way up our one lane drive, I began to sulk. Nan was stationed on the porch of our cottage as she always was; her nimble fingers fondling the twine in her lap.

She scoffed as I approached, "Don't you ever stop sulking? By all the gods, child."

I slumped my shoulders harder, jutting out my bottom lip dramatically. Nan rolled her eyes and continued braiding her twine. "Your father is out. He'll be back later this evening."

"Where'd he go?" I asked, quitting my fake sulk.

Nan didn't reply at first. Instead, she muttered into her bust and picked at her half-completed rope. "Nan?" I prodded.

She sighed, "He went out Beyond with some of the other village men. They're hunting for a stag."

My eyes grew wide. I was furious. "He went out Beyond without me?!" I shouted.

"My gods, girl. This is why I didn't want to tell you. You know well enough you're not allowed out there." She muttered her next words, "No place for a child. No, no."

"Nan. You're telling me that while I was out picking berries with all the dull goats of women, father was out there having the time of his life?" Each word left my mouth like that of an actor in a play; drama injected into my line.

Nan looked unconvinced, "Asha, you're father isn't throwing a party. He's out on a hunt. Something the men of the village do."

I stormed past her and slammed the door behind me. I tossed the basket of red berries onto our tiny table and made my way through the house to the back door. The cottage was mostly dull, in my opinion. The walls were a soft gray color and most of the furniture was a pinky-brown, hailing from the animal hide it was made of.

As soon as I stepped out the door, a soothing breeze washed over me. I walked a few paces from the cottage before flopping down in the lush grass below me. I let my eyes fall shut, listening to the forest surrounding me. A smile crept onto my face at the peaceful noises around me. Birds chirping, the creak of branches as the trees swayed in the wind, a nearby river splashing over its rocky shore. The woods surrounding our village, the Beyond, seemed to be the only thing that left me truly at ease, and I wasn't even allowed to enter it.

The rule came about decades before I was born. When my father was a boy, three children went missing out in the Beyond. Nothing was ever found of them, it was as though they dissipated into the breeze. From then on, no one except the hunting parties and fisherman were allowed out of the village confines.