//------------------------------// // The girl // Story: Mommy // by NeuPferdfurt //------------------------------// It seemed like there was no place to run. The valley had become a caldron of blood and flames. And now that the little family had managed to climb the mountain slope, they could smell the smoke and hear the screams coming from the other valleys. It was civil war, and Discord stood triumphant over the ruins of Dracoslavia. - After a few hours, they arrived in a little village overrun by refugees. The villagers were helpful enough, but there simply were not enough tents and food to go around. And there were reports of militias advancing in their direction. At the beginning of the war, the dragons in the village would have prayed for the militias to be of the “right” ethnicity or persuasion, but by now all of them had degenerated into plundering hordes. - At nightfall, no soldiers had made it to the camp, and so the little family decided to try to get some rest. They had been on the run for days. The dragon male had managed to requisition a tarp and build a primitive shelter. Now he was watching over his wife and his two children while they were huddled up to one another. It was very cold at this altitude, even if you were a mountain dragon. Someone was coming. The dragon father tensed up. It was a young, female dragon, just slightly older than his daughter. She sat down next to their little campfire. “Good evening, sir.” “Good evening. I’m sorry, I’m afraid I cannot offer you any food- or much hospitality, for that matter.” The female smiled. “Oh, I didn’t come here as a beggar. I came to offer something to you.” The older dragon frowned. What, right now? In front of his sleeping family, no less? He knew these were desperate times, especially for females, but this was going a little far... Now the dragoness laughed. “Goodness, you should see your face! No, whatever you’re thinking, that’s not what I had in mind.” He said nothing, taking care of the fire. Finally, the female sighed and said: “You have children. I am sure you are thinking a lot about the future. Or the lack thereof. This country is going down, it’s no secret. I’m sure you wonder where your kids are going to live- if they are going to live at all. You wonder how you can offer them the food, the education, the safety they will need to grow up.” The male was still not looking up. This stranger was trying to sell him something. She advertised it as a future for his children. But was that what it really was? Could it be? “I am a member of a foundation. ‘The sisters of Draconia’. Maybe you’ve heard of us?” The other dragon was moving his head in a sort of hybrid between shaking and nodding. The name did sound familiar. Like something he had heard on the news. And even the blue ribbon tied to this female’s tail reminded him of international organizations he had seen operating within Dracoslavia. “We know how dangerous these lands have become for young dragon girls. I myself have met parents who have lost their daughters to the militias. After all, our "war heroes" need some sort of motivation to keep on fighting...” She was gazing into the distance, as if lost in her memories. The dragon father felt a sudden surge of sympathy. He could almost imagine the things she must have seen and heard. Her voice was sad, but not bitter. Matter-of-fact. “We have set up boarding schools”, she said, “Outside the country. Far away. Where there is no war. In fact, there are hardly even any dragons! Young countries set up by little mammals, can you imagine that?” The older dragon could not help but smile. Mammals? To a dragon, these creatures were pretty much the incarnation of the word “harmless”. It was said they were lacking the cruelty and viciousness archosaurs were capable of. The place she was describing to him sounded like a petting zoo. He could almost see the school, a little chateau in the middle of a blooming meadow, with little furry animals hopping about... The shiny pamphlet she gave to him wasn’t exactly contradicting that fantasy. “Several families in this camp have already decided to send their daughters to our boarding schools. We know how hard it is, but we have to urge you to consider letting us help your daughter. We cannot sit idly by as young dragon girls are exposed to this nightmare.” He shivered. Sending his daughter away? Sure, it would break his heart, and he couldn’t even imagine how his wife would feel. But did he really have a choice? He was gazing upon his sleeping daughter. What would it take to get her away from this place? Somewhere where it was warm and safe? He had to face it. This might be his one and only shot. - 600 gold eyes. To raise that sum, they had to sell what little they had managed to carry with them. That was the cost of their daughter’s trip out of Dracoslavia. The young dragon lady who was leading the operation had explained to them that while much of their efforts were financed by charity, they still needed additional resources to keep going. They had to bribe the authorities. Get the girls the official papers they needed to stay in the host country. Pay for the train tickets. Their daughter was terrified, but they did their best to cheer her up. She would see big cities and far away lands. And once the war was over, she could come back and tell them about her adventures. Or better yet, she could get a great job there and make enough money so they could all come and live in the new country. Surely, a place run by mere mammals would pay well for the services of a dragon! She could become a tax collector, a treasuress, a royal guard, or even - her father jokingly said - Queen of the land. As scared as she was, she couldn’t help but feel excited. She had never been to a foreign country before. And there were so many other dragon girls coming as well! Almost all of the refugees and even some of the local villagers who had daughters of their own were sending them to the boarding schools. Some of these girls looked really nice. She would make lots of new friends. Still, when the dragons of the foundation were leading the girls out of the village, everyone was crying, and she almost felt as if someone was trying to rip her heart right out of her chest. She would never forget her parents and her little brother standing there together, waving her goodbye. It was a picture she would carry in her heart for the rest of her life. She would never see them again. - The dragons of the foundation had told their parents they were going to a train station in the next valley. After walking for one day straight, she was starting to worry. They had not given them any food and didn’t answer any questions. The cheerful enthousiasm the “Sisters of Draconia” had displayed back in the village had been dropped like a mask. When they were speaking at all, their tone was harsh and they were scolding the girls for being slow. When it became harder and harder to believe the "sisters" would honour their promises, she was already unable to tell where they were. All these mountains looked the same. - In the evening, they arrived in a camp full of male dragons. Some of them were of gargantuan size- indicating an excessive practice of greed. That was the point where all hopes of ever seeing a boarding school vanished for good. The girls panicked. They were screaming and crying at the injustice and the lies they and their families had been told. Some were even breathing fire, trying to fight their way out. Of those who had wings several tried to lift off and fly away. But the males just laughed. Everyone who was trying to flee was captured again- they were all exhausted after the long march, and these monsters were veterans when it came to picking on smaller dragons. The dragon girls were chained. And then the slavers cut their claws and sewed their mouths shut. - There was a train. That much was true. But for a long time, it didn’t go anywhere. The girls were herded into the wagons, which were small and dirty. And then they had to stay there. They were living cargo. It was dark, she could not move, she could hardly even breathe. She was entangled in the tails and limbs of the other girls. It was as if they had become one big colonial organism, polyps in a reef of pain. In the first hours, she prayed for a way out, for the one brilliant plan where they would all work together and break out of this wagon. Then she was praying for someone to find them, a police officer who wasn’t corrupt, who would free them and bring their torturers to justice. All along, she was thinking about her family. A few hours later still, she was praying for water. For a way to scratch. For sleep. And when she finally lost control of her bladder and urinated on the sobbing girl beneath her, she was praying for death. - Dragons are resilient. Even the young ones can go without food or water for long periods of time. They fall into a state of hibernation. It was said some could remain in this sort of sleep for centuries. The captured girls took a few weeks to “cool down”, as the traders called it. When they had, henchmen came to inspect the cargo. Some of the girls had died after all, but most looked like they would stay “fresh” for months to come. And so the train finally started to roll.