It’s Flash Friday! Today’s prompt is: I survived the dragon attack by hiding in a keep.
Dragon Keep
They came again. Just like the alpha said they would. Dragons, falling like rain from the sky. And the people, running and screaming and being devoured by flames. We had not known dragons for longer than my grandfather had been alive, but the alphas told the stories, one generation to the next. Father used to laugh at the stories, call them foolish ramblings. In his generation, the people left the caves, felt the freedom of the sand on the shores, and walked under the sun without fear. But alpha always reminded them of the danger. They scoffed at him. I had grown to manhood believing dragons were a myth, something the alphas made up to frighten little children. When I saw them come from the sky that day, I was frozen with fear, until Kalani yanked me into motion and screamed for me to follow her. Her legs were long and lean, useful for more than just looks. She was the fleetest runner on the island, and it was a job to keep up with her. The overwhelming roars shaking the ground and warmth of fires at my back spurred me on. We ran into the forbidden zone. I almost didn’t follow Kalani, almost turned back to accept my fate at the jaws of the dragons, but Kalani didn’t hesitate as she raced into the black pitch of the burned forest that had never healed, never rejuvenated. I steeled my courage and ran after her. She never looked back, but I wasn’t about to make myself a fool in the eyes of my betrothed. And then, as the ground sloped gently downward, she suddenly disappeared. Feeling my heart jump into my throat, I hollered her name, racing to the spot where I had last seen her. And then I was falling, screaming like a little girl and landing square on my backside with a jarring jolt. A flame lit the dark, and Kalani stood there with a torch, grinning down at me and offering a hand. “What is this place?” I asked grumpily as I stood and peered back up at the round hole of light far above. “A dragon keep,” Kalani said. “Where the ancients hid from the dragon scourge.” “Will we be safe here?” Her grin looked positively eerie in the torchlight. “Of course not.” She turned as a huge form lumbered from the darkness behind her. “I have brought him, Dragon Lord. He is ready to become one of you.”