The Dragon’s Throne 1

Chapter 9

Anna awoke from a short nap a few hours later and began working on another dress.  She went through her yards of fabric, choosing a mint green fabric with delicate, almost unnoticeable white pinstripes.  She spent all afternoon on it, and into the night, but she finished the dress and went to work on the carefully stitched embellishments.  Each tiny butterfly took her almost an hour, and her hand began cramping by the third one, but she kept at it.  She was determined to finish this dress.

There were eight different colors in the pendant the king had given her, and each of the butterflies she hand-embroidered onto the skirt was one of those colors.  She made a few of each color, then finished the dress off by sewing a lavender strip of lace around the bottom of the skirt.  The purple gave it a delicate little pop of color, and with excitement that overshadowed the exhaustion she felt, she hurried to her room to try the dress on.

She had just slipped into the dress and pulled the strings tight when she heard a frantic knock on the door.  Hurriedly tucking the pendant into her dress so that it was hidden, she went to the door and called out.

“Who is it?”

“Anna, open up now!” Eleanor’s frightened voice had her jumping to comply, throwing the board out of the lock and pulling the door open.

Eleanor ran in, her face ghostly white as she slammed the door behind her and grabbed the board.

“You have to run, now.”  She was breathless, skin glistening as if she had run all the way from the center of town.  “Grab your money and run.”

“Eleanor, what is going on?”

“Anna, please,” she cried, her face wet with tears, sweat and fear.

“I don’t understa-”

There was a pounding at the door, and the loud roar of a large crowd.  Anna looked at Eleanor, confused.  Her friend was trembling, looking around the room frantically for a weapon.  She grabbed the fireplace poker.

“Go through a window and run, please.  I’ll hold them off.”

“What do they want?” Anna asked as something large and heavy hit her door with so much force that it bowed inward. 

“You’re the sacrifice, Anna.  The rumors were true.  Your father was sacrificed, and now the king has demanded a sacrifice to protect the village.  The mayor held a meeting with just the elders, but I sneaked out of the house and followed my dad.  The king wants you and the mayor convinced everyone that if they don’t, the dragons will destroy us.”

Anna’s heart dropped to her feet, her stomach clenching in fear.

“No,” she said, shaking her head.  “It can’t be true.”

“It is.  That’s why he’s been all over you.  The mayor claimed you have a scent they love, or something, I don’t know.  He said the flesh of his chosen one will appease him for another twenty-five years or more.”

“This is insane.  This can’t be real.”

But even as Anna said it, in her heart, she knew that it was.  This wasn’t a nightmare.  The pounding on her door grew, and the wood was already splintering.  Anna ran to the backdoor, but villagers were already trying to get in, as they were at every window. 

“We’re trapped,” Eleanor said.  “If only I had run faster.  Anna, I’m sorry.  I don’t know what to do.”

“Don’t give up,” Anna said, going into her kitchen and standing on a chair. 

She used the poker to fish down a long cord, then stood on her tip toes and grabbed it.  She yanked hard and a door dropped out of the ceiling, opening the roof to the dark, cloudy night sky above them. 

“My aunt was always afraid they would come for us, but she was thinking of dragons, not our own people,” Anna said, climbing up the folding ladder that came down, Eleanor right behind her.

They climbed onto the roof and pulled the trap door up, keeping the cord gathered tight so that it couldn’t be reached from below without two people standing on each other’s shoulders.  The gabled roof hid them from view as they moved carefully across the house. 

Anna peeked over the edge, noting that there were only two men still at the back door.  There was a huge crash as the door gave way, drawing the attention of the two men, who ran toward the front door in their excitement.

“Come on,” Anna said, scooting to the edge of the roof and hanging as low as she could before dropping to the ground. 

She turned, motioning to Eleanor to hurry.  Eleanor shook her head, scared.  Anna motioned again, frantically, and Eleanor finally moved to the edge and jumped down.  She cried out when her feet hit the ground and her ankle twisted beneath her.

Anna was at her side, trying to pull her friend up, hoping that her cry was drowned out by the villagers who were still banging away at the parts of her door that were holding fast and piling into her home one at a time as the opening grew wider.

“Anna, run.  They don’t want me.  Run.”

“I won’t leave you.”

“Then you’ll die.  Run.  I’ll find you when I can, I promise.  Run east and I’ll find you.”

Eleanor pushed Anna hard, sobbing openly now, begging her friend to leave.  Tears were streaming down Anna’s face as she got up, looking at Eleanor one last time before she took off, running straight into the woods in the pitch-black night. 

She could hear the villagers yelling to each other, but they weren’t getting any closer.  Yet.

Anna ran blindly down the trail, listening behind her for any sign that they knew she’d run, her hands out in front of her to guide the way.  Her breathing was labored from fear, not fatigue, the stiff, heavy dress weighing her down as the soft sand of the narrow trail swallowed her leather boots with each step.  She heard Eleanor call out, her shriek startling Anna and causing her to misstep, though she didn’t go down. 

“Anna, they’re coming!”

Her heart was racing, and she could hear the men shouting now, their voices so much closer than Anna thought they should be when she had such a big head start.  Frustrated, she choked on an angry sob, but swallowed her tears and ran even faster, pushing herself to sprint even though she couldn’t see a thing.