Wings Of Change

The Dragon Trials

Life for the girls on Fire Heart is not much fun. They simply become cleaners or farmers and every girl hopes to marry a protecter. All expect one. And that's where our story really starts. Silvia is a girl with messy blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She lives in a hut in Fire Heart with her mother. She never knew her sister, but it was always said that after an attack at Fire Heart her sister had been taken away by a dragon then dropped out at sea and drowned. Silvia was never the type of girl to sit around and do nothing. When Silvia was younger she helped for a blacksmith who was a friend of her mothers. She had always enjoyed being in the forge and making some armour. As she grew older she had often gone fishing and sailing with the boys. Silvia has always been friends with the boys, grown up with them. Now she loved fighting, climbing trees and cliffs, throwing her axe at targets and sword fighting. She was always with the boys and would often train with them.

Every year she watched the boys as they took part in the dragon trials. She would watch them leave to go kill a dragon and every year she got the same feeling; in one way she wished it could be her going to kill a dragon and become a protector of Fire Heart, but in another way she didn't like how everyone killed dragons and she wondered if it was fair. So every year she goes to sleep with the same thought "I wish I knew which side I was on."

~~~

Silvia woke up at an early hour in the morning as usual. She decided to get up and she went outside. The sun was rising over the sea and Silvia breathed in the cool, fresh morning air. She went for a morning run through the forest and came back just in time for some breakfast of egg and beans.

After breakfast Silvia went over to the arena where all the boys were getting ready for this years dragon trials. She watched all the thirteen-year-old boys as they went through the trials, fighting the dragons and handling weapons. But strangely enough, for the first time ever, only four boys made it through the trails. The village was in shock.

There was a meeting in the great hall that night. As the chief stood up she wondered what he would say. "As you all know, only four boys have made it through the dragon trials. 500 years and this is the first time it has ever happened. The choice we make today will affect history forever so we must choose carefully!" Said the chief. "We can let only four boys go or we can bring in a girl. What say you all?" There was a vote and a long discussion, but by the end of the meeting it had been decided that for the first time ever the girls were going to take part in the dragon trials. This was the biggest change Fire Heart has ever had.

The next morning Silvia woke up at dawn, she, of course, was going to take part in the dragon trails. Silvia went outside with her axe, sword and shield and started training. She practiced sword fighting and hitting targets with her axe and protecting herself using a shield. Later she met the boys and trained with them.

Silvia got back home, eat a big breakfast and ran down to the arena for the dragon trails. She entered the arena and was let into the trails. There were about nineteen other girls to compete with.

"For the first trail you must face a Gronckel. One rule for all the trials is you can only use an axe and a shield, if your shield gets shot your out!" Said the chief as the door opened.

The Gronckel flew out of the door and started shooting at the girls. Silvia grabbed her shield and axe and kept moving around the arena so it was harder for her to be hit. "Out!" Called the chief as the second girl's shield got hit. The Gronckel flew towards Silvia so she ducked and it flew over her.

After that trial three girls were out.
"For the next trail you girls must face the Deadly Nadder" said the chief. The door opened and the Deadly Nadder flew out the door. Four more girls out after that trail.

Next trail was the Hideous Zippleback, five more girls out, then the Monstrous Nightmare, six more girls out. Now it was only Silvia and one other girl left.

"The final trail to find the winner is the Skrill." Silvia grabbed her shield and held it close, she knew one hit of that lightning fire and she would be dead. Silvia stayed still and only moved around when the Skrill wasn't looking. The other girl did the same. "We could be here all day... I need to do something to get her out! Wait...Got it!" Thought Silvia as she grinned.

Silvia got up and ran around the arena and the Skrill gave chase. Silvia turned and ran heading towards the other girl. Just as she reached the girl, Silvia jumped over her and landed behind her using the girls shield as cover. The Skrill shot the shield of the other girl just as Silvia landed. "Out! Silvia has won!" Called the chief and everyone cheered.