Talk To Dragons

The sun beamed down pleasantly through the leafs above. It was a beautiful day in the West Forest, as it usually was during the summer. Flowers flourished and spotted the ground in patches of color, insects buzzed and crawled in the plentiful environment, and little animals scurried about, enjoying themselves and the good weather. But there was a newcomer.

A stark contrast to the happy surroundings, a little witch dragged her feet through the dirt and plants. Only three feet tall, she stayed mostly hidden within her dark purple robe that seemed one size too large. On her head sat a matching pointed witch's hat that was many sizes too large, sagging at the rim and its point falling backward.

Like her clothing, her curly hair was also purple. She was the first witch child in a long time to have colored hair naturally. Appropriately, the child was named Violet and took a liking to the color and shades of it. The only things that stood out from her theme were her pale skin and her light blue eyes. Her mother had teased her before, stating that she could have been born a blonde.

Violet even had a simple yet interesting take on a witch's face paint. At a young age she chose to have two large black dots painted at the corners of her mouth. Nothing elaborate, nothing complicated, but her mother loved how cute it looked.

With her head hanging low, Violet trudged on without caring to look where she was going. Her mind was a mess of despair. The time she had spent crying had made her exhausted and her face uncomfortable. Having sobbed away most of her energy, Violet simply continue to walk forward through the forest without any goal.

She tried to stare at the ground, focusing on any little thing she walked upon. Anything at all would be a good subject to keep her mind busy. Every time her eyes closed she could see her home burning to the ground. The little dwelling of two bedrooms was consumed in flames with her having been told to escape alone. Her mind was being overly cruel to her with keeping the memory as fresh as each breath, but she was too tired to cry anymore.

Her walk was interrupted abruptly with a sudden fall. The little witch had tripped over a large root that had bent upward above ground. She fell harmlessly into a bunch of tall grass and plant life. No harm done at all. She rolled over and stared at the tops of the trees. A breeze moved the leafs above her ever so slightly.

In her rest she felt herself growing more calm. She didn't feel the sting of sorrow anymore, and enjoyed her lazy moment on the ground. But it was short lived.

"Hello?" a voice questioned. "Is anyone there?"

Violet sat up and looked around. She could see no one in the area, yet the voice was clear and close.

"If someone is there, I could use some help, please," the voice continued.

"Where are you?" Violet asked the voice with her own tiny tone.

"Hello!" the voice replied with much excitement. "I'm in a trap of some kind, hanging from a tree. I can't see you, though. I don't know if you're close."

Violet scanned the branches about her. A trap would definitely be something to spot, but she could not see anything out of the ordinary.

"Could you tell me what it looks like?" Violet called out.

"It's a spherical cage," the voice answered. "It was flat but when I landed on it, it enclosed around me. I can't see out of it because it's covered with vines and dead foliage."

Walking slowly with her gaze upward, Violet found a round object covered in vines atop a low branch. It was only about as large as her head and hat together, but it was apparently fixed to the branch and much too high for her to reach.

"I don't think I can help you," Violet said. "I can't get up there."

"There must have been a way for the hunter to get this cage down," the voice replied.

Examining the tree further, Violet noticed a wire that had been wrapped around a nail. Once unwound, the wire appeared to dangle from the cage. With a simple tug, she brought the trap down to the ground with a thud into the plant life.

"A little warning would have been nice," the voice said. "Can you open the cage?"

Violet went to work at removing the plants wrapped around the sphere. The vines from the tree had tangled themselves around the metal frame enough to make the little witch irritated. When she could see the cage more clearly, she could also see the creature trapped inside. To Violet's amazement, it was a winged dragon no bigger than a large cat or small dog. It sat in the cage and looked at her curiously.

"Oh, you're a child," the dragon said, without moving its mouth. "I don't have much experience speaking with humans."

"I'm not a human," Violet replied. "I'm a witch."

"That explains why you can understand me then," the dragon said. "My name is Engel."

"I am Violet," she replied. "But that doesn't really provide a good enough reason as to why I can understand you. No one can understand dragons."

"Then you're the first," Engel said. "Can you get me out?"