Dragon Heart
by CrystalHorse72

A/N: Okay... this story starts out kinda slow, but it gets better... I PROMISE!!! PLEASE BARE WITH ME AND R&R!!!!!

By name she was called, and by name she was cursed. By eyes she hated, and by eyes she frightened. By sight she was feared, and by sight she was a human. By heart she followed, and by heart she was a dragon.
Her name, which was often spat or cursed, was Alenya. A clever girl with steady hands and speed that made heads spin. There was a strange sort of wisdom about her, but when anyone new to the town asked, the townspeople only claimed that she was a goddess.
Maybe Alenya was a goddess. She had been raised with two brothers and a sister by her mother, Ariana, the Queen of the Dragons. Long ago, she had found Alenya abandoned and had taken her under wing. She had stolen Alenya's soul and replaced it with that of a dragon. If you peered deep into Alenya's eyes, it was said that you could see flame, but no one ever got close enough to tell.
It was true, though, that beneath her short red hair glowed emerald eyes with two, thin, horizontal strips underneath them like war paint. When she was angry, her eyes flickered like flame. When she laughed, they sparkled like embers. None of the townspeople knew that, though. They only feared the Dragon Princess, guardian of the forest: the girl living in a cave deep in the heart of the mountain not far from their town.
Alenya had been raised to hate the humans. Until her eighth winter, she had trained with her brothers, both of which were immortal dragons. As for Alenya, not even Ariana knew if her human body would force her to die or if her dragon spirit would grant her immortality. After training her young body to be quick as lightening and ready to kill, Alenya had finally been able to attack the humans.
When her identity had been revealed, no one knew what to expect. An eight year old darting around their town on the rooftops screaming battle cries and carrying a spear... most of them just laughed. When she jumped off a twenty foot building, they all laughed and thought she was dead. But when she landed like a cat, jumped forward and killed their town leader, no one was laughing anymore.
Everyone ran at her, saying they would hang this demon, but she jumped nimbly onto a roof where Ariana swooped down and Alenya jumped on.
As for her older brother, Koro, and her younger brother, Anarca, they grew quickly, thought not fully grown even now that it was the spring just after Alenya's fourteenth winter. Koro was an icy blue color and Anarca was a fiery red.
Their wings had not yet grown enough to fly. Koro, who was two winters older than Alenya and Anarca, only one winter younger than Alenya, were both expected to reach Areitition any day now. Areitition was when their wings finally broke the scales that held them together and were able to spread them, and thus were able to fly.
Sierra, a black dragon with bright blue eyes who was only ten winters old, would sit and watch with Alenya as their brothers practiced their exercises each day to try and loosen the scales.
“I want to fly!” she would exclaim with bright eyes.
“I wish I could look forward to it someday,” Alenya would often reply, making Sierra feel hurt in the fact that she had hurt her older sister.
They all knew why neither brother had Areitioned yet. It was because Ariana was not there to help them. Alenya clearly remembered the day, when she was only ten winters... the day their mother left them forever.
The humans had hired an army, saying they'd repay them with anything they desired. Back then, there were far more animal gods in the forest and the mountains. All of them had charged into battle, and amongst them was three dragons, one with a young girl riding upon his back.
As the battle started, everyone fought with everything they had for everyone else. Alenya fought like a dragon, ornaments making her one of them, killing with no mercy. She was fighting to save her home. As she had wound around the back of the hill, killing the only humans who followed, he searched for her mother.
When Alenya saw her mother, wings tattered and a hole through one of them, she nearly screamed. Unable to fly, Ariana had struggled on the ground, bleeding horribly. Loops at the ends of ropes had been tossed over her long neck, and she was held down by many men. She strained against them, and hope came to Alenya's eyes as the ropes began to snap.
Most of her ivory scales stained red, she rushed down to Alenya and her dragon brothers.
“Mother... we must beg to the gods to save you!” Alenya had cried, but Ariana had only looked back on her with smiling, deep eyes. It was then Alenya realized: Her mother was going to die.
“MOTHER!” she buried her face in she scales at the base of her mother's neck. Ariana twisted her long neck down to rest on Alenya's shoulder and put one of her front legs around Alenya. Koro and Anarca moved in as well and Ariana wrapped her wings around them. Then, as her three children stepped back, Ariana smiled at them. Suddenly, Alenya saw something.
A fairy, serrounded in gold dust, fluttered down into view. She had brown hair with two, small pieces held with a flower around the bottom in the front of her and the rest held with a flower around the tips in the back. Her blue eyes shining, she fluttered in front of Ariana's face. As she stared into the dragon's black orbs of eyes with her own, shining blue, Ariana's slowly closed before the giant creature fell, never to get up again.
Tears running down her face and an angry cry upon her lips, Alenya had ridden back into battle. Through anger, she had brought victory. Though the death toll was horrible, they had beat this army and proved their power to the humans. When anyone asked how Alenya had done it, whether it was with spear or some hidden power within, she simply said it was for her mother.
Alenya had attire much different from the townsfolk. While most of them wore skirts and shirts with corsets over them, Alenya wore a rich, sky blue dress that reached her mid thighs. The loose sleeves, which went down to her elbows, were rolled up to the middle of her upper arm. It was cut in a V neck with brown stitching at the base. Around her waist was a dark brown belt to which she'd attach things when she needed to. She had dark brown, leather boots that went up so high that she had only an inch or two of skin showing under her dress. The same leather covered her lower arm, covering up to her knuckles on the top of her hand and cutting off at her wrist on the bottom. For battle, she would tie a dragon's fang, split in half and carved to fit her arm perfectly, around this glove so that when her arm was straight it served as armor and when bent, stuck out like a knife.
When leaving their home, a rock cave with grasses, trees, and a pond inside, Alenya would put on a dark green, hooded cloak, fastened with what most would think a normal brooch. It was not, though, but rather a scale of her mother's.
The end of spring was nearing and the monsoon rains had already come in. Alenya stood on a bit of rock that jutted out into a cliff high above the forest. Behind her, the rock she stood upon became the floor of the cave. For now, though, there was no roof above her.
Alenya looked out at the town, holding her spear in her right hand with the butt on the ground and the spearhead facing straight up. It was on and island only about ten feet off the coast with a drawbridge allowing the humans to cross back to the mainland. However, because of the summer approaching, the water that normally serrounded the front of the islands had almost dried up.
Tall logs serrounded it with pointed tops and spikes at the bottom. It was shaped in a square with platforms running around the edges where men would watch for enemies, especially Alenya. At each corner was a horn that was blown when there wad anger.
The town was a lumbering town, cutting down Alenya's forest, cutting the trees till they were nothing but a long shaft and throwing them into the lake. The river would eventually sweep them up and they would drift till they reached a portage. After the end of every thirty moons, Alenya would see humans arrive from the portage and then leave in the same direction. They would always bring bags of food and needed supplies. Ariana had once explained that the humans at the portage would take the logs and sell them before buying supplies the town ordered them to and delivered them after thirty moons.
Alenya had counted thirty moons. Now, she saw the humans leaving, looking around frantically. Surprisingly, they had gotten in without her seeing. She counted about thirty, as usual. Then, she saw one point at her. For their pathetic, human eyesight, she must have been merely shining, red dot, but the humans seemed in no hurry to find out what that red dot was. The quickly set off to make sure they escaped their pursuer, if there was one, that is.
Sierra appeared next to Alenya, sniffing the air and staring with intent eyes. With a small smile, Alenya reached over with her left hand and scratched Sierra's nose. Then, her smile fading and gaze returning to the humans scurrying close to the lake. Determination written plainly cross her face, she lifted her hand from Sierra's muzzle and reached back behind her. Her hands closed on a dragon mask that was attached to the hood of her cloak. She pulled it up over her face and flipped her cloak behind her. Then, with a loud war cry, she jumped off the ledge.

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Okay, that will be the longest chapter ^_^ too many discriptions... okeday, I have this whole thing written out, so I'll wait for five reviews and then post the next chapter. Laterz!!