@WritingFury's Weekly Writing Contest Entries

Week 5: Believe in Love

Prompt: Write a story about loving the unloved.

He shouts. It screams a guttural roar of rage. Its eyes flash. Its mouth sparks. It releases a jet of fire that torches its surroundings. The man leaps out of the way, rolling to a stop. The beast knows he survived, looking around with narrow, calculating eyes. It is distracted. It does not see the woman who sneaks behind it, drawing her bow and releasing. It gives a roaring moan of pain. Its tail whips out like a battering ram, and the woman lands, unmoving. Hot anger sears through her companion. He lets out a yell of fury, running towards the beast with sword flashing. In a jet of flames, he too has perished.

The beast stares in the direction of the man, burning and smoking, and shakes its head as if to focus. The battle was short, better than some, but it was an unnecessary price. It twists around and attempts to pull the needle-like arrow point out of its skin. It stubbornly stays in its place, the beast growls with annoyance. But something interrupts its endeavours. It looks around. A child's cry echoes, and the beast cocks its head towards the noise, curious. It follows the noise to its source, one of the many caves that litter the feet of this long mountain range. A think curtain of ivy hangs over the entrance, but the beast knows the caves well. It lifts away the curtain to reveal inside the remains of its attackers' camp. The ashes of a fire, bundles of fabrics weapons, and a tiny baby. The beast's eyes widen as it realises what has happened. The child is small, although the beast cannot tell its age, with a shock of golden hair on its head. It lies, whimpering, among a heap of blankets, blinking up with bright blue eyes. The beast knows that its kind will return for it, or it will die before they do. It has to make a decision. Knowing that this could cost it everything, it pulls the child from its cocoon, wincing as its cries increase in volume. The baby is wrapped in a swathe of fabric; the beast flinches as it places it into its mouth. The crying has ceased and the feather-light child settles down as the beast sets off for home.

"A child, Kako? A human child?" Lakos screams, her fury searing the walls of the coven meeting place almost as much as the fire that comes in sharp jets from her nostrils. Her green eyes flare dangerously, and Kako cowers away, flinching. Felios, the most motherly of the coven, shields the child with her wings as sparks fly from Lakos' direction. "Of all the stupid things you could do, Kako, this was is most stupid, reckless, irresponsible thing-"
"Mother, please-"
"No!" Lakos' eyes narrow at her daughter. Her red wings beat furiously, her tail swiping back and forth, nostrils flaring and releasing plumes of smoke. "You will listen. The humans beyond the mountains are cold and heartless and cruel. They are incapable on any emotion. They cannot feel love, or be given it. So why on earth did you bring one here?"

Kako looks at the ground, takes a deep breath, and looks up to meet her mother's green gaze with her own purple one. "Because this war between dragons and humans has been going on for over a century. We have tried every method we can think of to bring peace among the dragons and the people, but nothing has worked. We have been at a mostly steady stalemate for over three years now. The only reason the humans haven't attacked our home is that the Hwalep Mountains have kept them at bay. Don't you think it's time to make a stand? Try and change things for the better? Maybe even bring an end to this war, and peace among us all?"

Lakos sighs. "I don't know how you think this child comes into this, but like you said, we have tried everything we can think of-"
"No, we haven't. Because I've thought of another idea."
Lakos frowns, intrigued. "Go on."
"The humans won't listen to us. They have made it clear over the past century that they will not listen to a single worm that comes out of a dragon's mouth." Kako says, her blue scales shining in the moonlight. "But they might, just might, listen to their own kind. She points her tail over to where Felios crouches protectively I've tthe child. "This baby is young. I doubt it even knows what is happening. It will not have been poisoned by the words of its parents just yet; it is still innocent. I suggest we take it in and raise it as our own. Teach it our ways; teach it to be peaceful, openminded, loving."
"A human in a dragon world? Is that even possible?"
"It's worth trying, isn't it? The child will grow up with us. It will learn to live as one of us, despite its differences."