500 years ago, there was a war between two kingdoms: Gallifrey, the youngest kingdom in the land, and Aelfric, one of the oldest kingdoms The war lasted for a few decades, and all seemed hopeless for Gallifrey, until a woman by the name of Elizabeth Thatcher rose up from the village, claiming she could help win the war. She sought counsel with the king, but he laughed and refused. What would a simple woman know?
But she knew many things the king did not.
Elizabeth Thatcher was just a normal healer in the village within the walls of the castle. At the age of sixteen, her mother had her go out in the woods to collect herbs. Elizabeth wasn’t the best at finding directions, so she got lost and ended up being gone for a few days. While she was gone, she kept roaming deep into the woods and found a beautiful little lake- or big pond- with a cave at the far end. Being a curious 16 year old, she went in the cave and found 5 tunnels to what seemed like smaller caverns. She went into the opening on the far left and traveled deep into the tunnel and found a beautifully large hollow in the rocks shaped by the waters. Little light came through, so she could see the cave, and at the very end of the cave, she saw a gorgeous little glittering stone. She ran over to it, gently prying it out of the wall and saw that it was a small, perfectly spherical opal.
She left the caves, trying to find her way back home, thinking she could sell the opal to get money for her poor family, but since there was a war going on, she was afraid she would get caught by the knights in Aelfric and she would have to give up her precious stone.
So she ran.
She ran as fast as she could in her gown, and instead of finding her way home, she went a little deeper into the woods, finding a separate, bigger cave. But she wasn’t the first to find that cave.
She stopped at the mouth, looking in. she was very curious. She found what seemed to be human bones scattered all over the ground, some even with flesh and muscle still attached. She carefully stepped closer to the cave, peering in.
A loud roar sent her shrinking back behind a bush. Loud thumps came from inside the cave, getting closer and closer to Elizabeth. Slowly, the figure came out from the shadows, first the talons, then the snout, and slowly, the creature came into view. Elizabeth stared in awe, and stood up. She had only heard stories about these creatures. She didn’t realize they were real. And she came upon it by accident.
“Hello, dragon,” she said to it.
The dragon’s large head swiveled to look at her. It spoke in her mind.
‘Now why is my lunch speaking to me? They usually run in fear.’
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be your lunch. I would appreciate it if you didn’t eat me, actually,” Elizabeth said to the big dragon.
Its eyes stared her down for a few moments, and then realized that she spoke back to it.
‘Can you understand me?’ it asked. Elizabeth nodded.
The dragon looked stumped. It sat down, making a large thumping sound and just stared at the lost girl.
‘But it can’t be…my father only told stories about this.’ It murmured, seeming to talk to itself.
“What, what is it?” Elizabeth asked, her curiosity rising.
‘My father told me there will be a time when a dragon and a human coming together to create a harmonious era, where all would prosper. He said that the human would be stronger than it looks and would carry a sacred stone.’
Elizabeth looked down in her hand at the beautiful opal. Her unnaturally ginger hair stuck to her face from running for so long, and she pushed it aside.
