"Go home girl..." he said.
I glared up at the dragon as I pushed myself to my feet.
"I'll be back!! Next time we meet I'll beat you!!" I vowed, trying to put on a show of bravado, "Just you wait!!"
However, the truth was that I felt deeply humiliated at what had just transpired. While I didn't expect that they would just let me become a knight, it was only now I realized the vast difference between a knight and an orphan like myself. I had always considered myself a talented fighter, yet I may well have been a newborn hatchling taking on her father.
I headed back through the city streets, not speaking to anyone, back to the orphanage where I had lived ever since my parents had died. The orphanage, like many of the common draconic settlements within New Alveri, was built into the cliffsides. By the time I arrived, it was getting dark, as the denizens of the city returned to their homes. While I didn't worry about my ability to defend myself, this part of New Alveri became a much more dangerous place at night. Even I knew that at times, discretion was the better part of valor.
I angled inside the large opening, arriving at the main chamber. The orphanage was run by the religious establishment; who out of charity took in lost hatchlings regardless of element, raising them to be upstanding members of society. During the times I was not trying to earn a few gems for myself, they taught us to read and write in standard draconic, along with the teachings of the holy church.
No sooner had I entered when I was greeted by the old matron of the orphanage, Lady Ramoth. That punishing scowl on her face was enough to make even the most valourous knight quail; as for the orphans that dwelled here, we both loved and feared the old nun.
"Where have you been Darzhja!! I was about to close the orphanage for the night young dragoness!!" she hissed.
"I apologize Lady Ramoth," I answered.
She gave me a quick glance. "Darzhja!! Did you get yourself into a fight again? You know how I do not tolerate any fighting out of any of you!!" she hissed, "You will tell me what went on or you will be going without supper tonight..."
I gazed back at her. I had defied her many times before, and had been willing to pay the price for it, but this time it would be better to tell her the truth.
"I traveled to the gates of the Grand Temple, and challenged one of the Holy Knights guarding the entrance to a fight," I said.
"You're lucky you just came back with a few bruises. The knight could have easily had you put in the dungeons for assault, and trust me, the dungeons are a terrible place for females..." she hissed.
"I know... yet I did so with the intention that if I beat him, the Knights would accept me into their order," I replied.
Lady Ramoth simply shook her head at me with disdain, not even bothering to tell me just how much of a fool I was for doing such a thing.
"Just get something to eat and then go back to your cot. I don't want to hear any more of this Knight business..." she growled.
"Yes Lady Ramoth," I responded obediently.
"Go then my child, and may the Great Ancestors above protect you..." she chanted.
"Yes... may they protect us all..." I answered.
Past the chapel was a large mess hall where all the orphans would eat once a day. None of the food was particularly paletable, as most of the food was secondhand donations, and was served by the humanoid priests. At this late hour, all they had left was a batch of dried meat; it tasted like rubber, but it was better than nothing.
Most of the orphans were already heading for bed, so after the quick meal, I headed there myself. For the last couple of years now, I was the oldest of all the orphans, which made me their de-facto leader.
"Darzhja!! You're back!!" cried Ophelia, a small adolescent green dragoness, jumping up and down excitedly.
"Indeed, I have returned," I said, trying to sound triumphantly.
"So how many opponents did you defeat today?" asked Blaze, a fire dragon who was the resident troublemaker of the group.
"Several!! In fact, I challenged a Holy Knight of the Temple to a duel as well," I added. Of course, I didn't mention that I was absolutely trashed; after all, I had a reputation to maintain.
"That sounds dangeorus though, you really could have gotten hurt," said Iskierka, another one of the adolescents.
"Come on!! What's the fun without a little risk!!" retorted Blaze.
Afterwards I was drowned by a barrage of questions by the smaller orphans, who asked me glowingly of all the fights. I described the fights to them, and how I emerged victorious in each of them, exaggerating a great deal of the feats I had accomplished, such as defeating three guards with a single move, challenging an entire group of dragons and emerging victorious and such; it was all exaggeration of course, and the older orphans like Ophelia, Iskierka and even Blaze knew it as such, but the young ones liked hearing uplifting stories of heroism and like.
"I do suppose you have a good reason for all your recent fighting though," said Ophelia. The implication, of course, was that as the oldest orphan, that also meant that I would be forced to leave its premises and have to face the real world on my own as an adult. Many of the orphans went on to become priests or nuns at a convent. Yet the reality was that when the males left the orphanage, they became outcasts and criminals, while the females turned to prostituion. As for myself, I hardly had the disposition to sit around all day and pray at an altar, and of course I didn't want to end up entertaining hordes of pherenome drunk males, but I hadn't thought about what I'd wanted to do until fairly recently.
"I intend on joining the Holy Knights!!" I said triumphantly.
"The Holy Knights?" said Blaze, "Yeah, you're good, but those warriors are hard core. Are you actually serious about this?"
I gazed about, specifically toward Ophelia, Iskierka and Blaze. Unlike the younger orphans, they knew how so many of these dreams could be broken, and that orphans faced a life of servitude and poverty as an adult, spending the rest of their lives in dungeons. They knew how rough the world really was.
"I am... I know the chances of an orphan such as myself being accepted into the order is slim, but I intend to pursue everything I have for this venture. I'm going to become a Holy Knight, so that orphans such as ourselves can see that you don't have to be born into a priviledged bloodline to achieve your dreams, that if they are determined and they want their dream bad enough, they can achieve anything. I'll prove it to all of you that I'll become a Knight, once and for all!!" I vowed.
"That would be great Darzhja," said Ophelia, "Because if there was only one dragon orphan in the entire Empire that can get into the Holy Knights, I think you're that one..."
I felt like tearing up at that moment.
"Thank you for believing in me you guys. I won't let you down..."
Once again younger hatchlings ate it up, chanting that since I had defeated so many opponents that I would be the most invincible knight in the entire Kingdom.
The celebration was cut off when Lady Ramoth came into the room.
"Its lights out young ones!! Say your prayers before we go to sleep!!"
As always, I chanted my prayers to the Ancestors. Yet this chant took a whole new meaning, as before I had done so half-heartedly, but now with my decision to strive to become I knight, I prayed that the Ancestors would give me the strength to become a Holy Knight, that I could show all the young orphans without a home that they would have somebody they called their own and could strive for, and that their lonely lives would be filled with hope.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
