Martyn and the Pifronna Flower

In a world far more fantastical than our own, there was a series of kingdoms that all together was known as the Faye Expanse. Though due to the land's harsh environment and bloodthirsty creatures, many people dubbed their world the Cruel Continent instead. Right in the center of the continent, there was the Vatus Kingdom, one of the more prosperous and safer kingdoms, though not by much. But if one was to ask a young boy named Martyn, he would say his life was great.

Martyn lived in Sarville and it was common knowledge to all the villagers that he was a good-natured and optimistic child. He was the son of the keepers of the only inn Sarville had, and he had a younger sister named Maighread. Like the other village boys his age, Martyn loved the outdoors, from catching frogs by the pond to climbing the highest tree. He had many friends and was often acknowledged that not only was he one of the strongest among them, but also one of the fastest.

When he was not playing with his friends outside, he was helping his family with the inn. Martyn's job varied from washing the dishes to helping the travelers with their luggage. Even if it was often tiring, he honestly loved all of it. He loved hearing stories from both regulars and newcomers, and he loved helping his family. So when Maighread asked him to help her find her doll that had been misplaced somewhere in town while running around with her group of friends, Martyn agreed.

Twilight was starting to settle in but it was still light enough outside that Martyn felt confident enough that they should find the doll without a problem. After making sure with their parents that they weren't needed, the two siblings went off to find Maighread's doll. And sure enough, Martyn found the precious doll lying behind the blacksmith's shop after only a few minutes of searching. However, that was when everything went wrong.

Because right when Martyn was about to run to his sister with the doll in hand, he heard screaming. Which was quickly followed by the ringing of Sarville's alarm. Frightened and wondering what had caused the village guard to ring the bell, Martyn desperately searched for Maighread. It didn't take him long to find Maighread across the road, sniffling as she stood in place out of fear. Martyn was about to run to her when he heard a screech, causing him to turn his head and see the reason why the village guard was ringing the bell.

It was a giant spider. Tall as his father and as wide as his parents standing side by side, the spider was not as big as Salith, the evilest spider of them all. But judging by the green lightning bolt birthmarks on her sides, Martyn knew that the giant spider was one of Salith's children, Erzu. And if the tales he heard about her were right, her venom could kill her victims in less than two days. And she was heading right towards him.

"Martyn!" he heard Maighread cry out as he quickly jumped out of the way, just narrowing missing Erzu's black legs. he quickly got to his feet and was prepared to dodge for his life again when he saw that Erzu's attention wasn't on him. It was on his sister, who had run towards the giant spider in fear for her brother's life, armed with only a few tiny rocks in her hands.

With his heart in his throat, Martyn looked around desperately for something, anything, to help protect his little sister from Erzu. But there was nothing. And even if there had been something, it still would have been too late. Because in the second Martyn took to look for a weapon, Erzu raced towards Maighread.

And while Maighread was fast too, she wasn't quick enough to avoid Erzu's stinger slicing her bicep. This time it was Martyn who screamed his sibling's name as he ran towards the giant spider, fully intending on jumping onto the fiendish creature. However, before he could do so, an arrow flew through the air and embedded itself into Erzu's hairy body. Martyn stopped in his tracks as Erzu screeched while more arrows flew through the air, some hitting the spider and some not.

The boy turned his head and saw many villagers heading towards them, either armed with bows and arrows, or burning torches. This increase in numbers as well as the pain from the arrows caused Erzu to turn tail and flee. While the villagers chased after her, Martyn raced to his sister who had since fallen to the ground. Her wound was already starting to turn green and her skin was deathly pale. Maighread's eyes were open but her usual bright green eyes were glassy. Even her strawberry-blonde hair, the same shade as Martyn's hair, seemed to have lost life.

Scared and beyond anxious, Martyn picked her up and quickly took her to their inn, where his father rushed to fetch Sarville's only doctor. The doctor wrapped and cleaned Maighread's wound with a solemn face before he gave them the grim news. The only cure for Erzu's venom was a pink-and-yellow lacy flower called Pifronna and it only existed on Eckfell mountain. The doctor said it would take too long to find Pifronna and get it back in time to save Maighread, who had less than a day to live thanks to her small size.

His parents, though grieved, accepted the news. Martyn, however, did not. He was both fast and strong, so as long as he acted quickly, he figured that he should be able to go to Eckfell and back before it was too late. After quick and stealthy preparations for the trip, Martyn left his home, despite it being nighttime and not having his family's blessing.

It surprisingly didn't take long for him to leave Sarville unnoticed. As Martyn rushed towards Eckfell armed only with a burning torch and a pocket knife, he honestly felt a bit afraid as he listened to noises from the creatures of the night. He pushed on regardless, thinking only of his little sister, who had tried to save him. He had to do the same for her.

Hours passed, and even though he was exhausted, he kept on pushing himself. Then suddenly, Martyn heard a loud, squeaky roar and boisterous laughter. He turned his head and saw a yellow-and-orange glow off in the distance. Both curious and alarmed, Martyn went to investigate and as he got closer, he saw that the light came from a campfire. However, the campfire was not the reason why Martyn snuffed out his torch and hid behind the nearest bush.

There was a blue-and-green dragon caught in a huge net. It was taller than a horse and longer than a horse and carriage together, which made Martyn surmise that the dragon was still a baby. And to top it all off, two burly dwarves were sitting near the trapped beast around a campfire.

"He's gonna fetch us a great price Brother Goldbrow!" exclaimed a dark-bearded dwarf.

"Indeed Brother Coinshield!" cried a dwarf who had his blond hair in a single thick braid. "Our money troubles are over for sure!"

For once in his life, Martyn didn't know what to do. Any other time, he would have tried to save the baby dragon. However, his sister was counting on him to keep moving, so he couldn't afford to waste time to save a creature whose kind had been known to either help or eat humans. Not to mention, Martyn didn't know if he could fight off two dwarves. But then the dragon turned its head and locked its golden eyes straight into Martyn's green ones.

One look into the dragon's pleading and teary eyes was all it took for Martyn to sigh and make a new plan. Martyn then sneaked around the laughing dwarves and when he was on the dragon's other side, he tiptoed his way to the net. The dwarves continued to be oblivious as he made his way to the dragon. When he got there, he took out his knife and started cutting the net.

"Hey!" Martyn looked up and saw that the dwarves had finally noticed him. "Stop right there!"

Martyn didn't reply as he hurriedly cut more of the net. Then, just when Coinsheild was about to lay a beefy hand on him, the dragon opened up its wings, knocking the dwarf off his feet. A second later, the dragon had shaken the net off of its body. Then, to Martyn's great surprise, the dragon picked him up by the back of his shirt and with a great flap of its wings, took off.

The dwarves yelled in anger as they tried to stop them but it was too late, they were already flying high in the air, thus completely out of reach. As they left the dwarves behind, Martyn couldn't help but smile as his body dangled from the dragon's mouth. He was flying! Several minutes passed like this before the dragon landed and placed Martyn gently on the ground.

"I...I thought baby dragons couldn't fly!" Martyn gasped.

"I'm not that little anymore, the dragon sniffed. "But I'm still not able to breathe fire yet so thank you, for setting me free! I am Cemreoneg, the Bunny Killer, and I am in your debt!"

Martyn looked at Cemreoneg as an idea popped into his head, making the dragon grunt.

"What? Bunnies are delicious!"

"Of course they are, that wasn't why I was staring!" Martyn exclaimed. "It's just...if you are in my debt...can you please help me? My sister got attacked by Erzu and-"

"She needs the Pifronna flower on Eckfell to live?" Cemroeneg quickly deduced. When Martyn nodded, Cemroeneg opened his wings once more and lowered his neck.

"Then climb on! I will take you there as gratitude for saving my life!" Martyn thanked him vehemently as he climbed onto the dragon's back. As soon as they were settled, they were in the air again, though this time hours passed before they landed on the rocky and treacherous ground of Eckfell mountain. With Cemroeneg's night vision and Martyn's relighted torch, they instantly searched for Pifronna with barely a word. As they searched, Martyn realized that if it took them hours to fly to Eckfell, then there really had been no hope for Martyn to get here by foot and back to Sarville with the flower in less than a day. He had been stubborn and foolish, it was only thanks to Cemroeneg that Maighread had any hope of surviving at all.

"I found it!" Cemroeneg suddenly cried out. Martyn quickly rushed to his side and sure enough, several pink-and-yellow flowers were at their feet. Only needing one, Martyn dug the delicate flower out, roots and all, though he did make sure to thank and congratulate the dragon, which pleased him. With the precious flower in hand, they took off into the air again, by the time they reached the outskirts of Sarville, a bright sunny day had fully arrived.

"I'll leave you here, I don't think your people will like me landing in the middle of town," Cemroeneg explained as he landed on the ground.

"Thank you...really. I couldn't have done this without you," Martyn gratefully replied as he got off his new friend. "Will I ever see you again?"

Because even though they hadn't even spent a full day together, the boy and the dragon had chatted with each other during most of their trip. Martyn wasn't sure if Cemroeneg felt the same, but he already considered the dragon to be a very close friend.

"Of course! We're friends aren't we?" Cemroeneg pointed out, causing Martyn to smile. "Well, I have to go back to my parents now, they're probably really worried about me. Goodbye!"

"Mine too. Goodbye!" And with that, the dragon flew off into the sky and the boy ran all the way to the inn. When he got there, his parents rushed towards him, but before they could scold him for making them worry, Martyn held the flower out proudly.

"I got it."

Previous: An Act of Mercy: https://todaysurvey.today/fiction/an-act-of-mercy%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}

Next: The Cruel Continent Chapter 1: https://todaysurvey.today/fiction/haganto%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="14azzlx-P">.css-14azzlx-P{font-family:Droid Serif,Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;font-size:1.1875rem;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.01em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.01em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.01em;letter-spacing:0.01em;line-height:1.6;color:#1A1A1A;margin-top:32px;}