Dragonfire
Chapter 3: Dreams
Somewhere in Hong Kong...
It was night. The wind whipped at her long golden braid as she stared at the dragon in front of her. He looked about the same age as she was. Bright red with gold belly scales and green spines down his back. There was a crystal skull in her hand, and she carried a bladed staff. All around her were statues of gargoyles, each with a glowing crystal skull in its mouth. Bright beams of light connected the skulls. All around her and the dragon, heavily muscled warriors were fighting with three other dragons. Two of the dragons were female, a small pink one, and an older blue-green and yellow. The last was an elderly Chinese male, who was dark blue, with gold belly scales. Each of the warriors wielded a bladed staff, and each wore a dragon's skull for a helmet.
A voice called to her, "Huntsgirl, hand me the skull and finish him." She looked to her right. A man was standing there, his black cape fluttering out behind him. He was without a helmet, but obviously the leader of the hunters. His head was bald and his black eyes were fierce. The front of his uniform was torn to reveal a large dragon-shaped birthmark across his chest, the dragon's head on the left side of his face.
She looked from him, to the dragon, then back at him. The hunter glared at her. "If you ever want to see your parents you will do as I say!" he snapped. She looked back at the dragon, then threw the skull to the hunter and attacked-
Rose woke, cold, sweat was pouring down her face. The dream again... It was one of many that had haunted her over her 14 years. She put her face in her hands, trying to remember what she had seen. The dragon... she had seen him so often. That man, the hunter...What had he called her... Huntsgirl? He had wanted her to slay the dragon... What had he meant when was talking about her parents? The skulls... there was something important about them, of that she was sure. It was so hard to remember... the dream slipping away from her like sand.
She took her hands away from her face and looked at them. On the palm of her right hand was a red, dragon-shaped birthmark, it's tail curled around her wrist. It was like the mark on the hunter from her dream... Did that mean anything?
Rose got up, and crept into the hallway. Her parents and her twin sister, Violet, were still sound asleep. She went out onto the balcony. The full moon cast a silvery light over the Hong Kong harbor. As she looked out over the water, her thoughts drifted back to the dreams she'd had. Each had been different, but they all had some things in common. The red dragon... the hunter... she was sure, without a doubt that these two were enemies. But who were they? And how did they seem to know her? In her dreams the man had worn a dragon's skull for a helmet, and had always called her 'Huntsgirl'. Why did he keep calling her that? She wasn't a hunter. The dragon, on the other hand... there was something about him... the way he looked at her, even when they were fighting... as if, he knew who she really was...and he seemed so familiar... like someone she once knew... But that couldn't be right, after all, dragons weren't even real. And besides, they were only dreams, weren't they?
Movement caught her eye. She looked down into the alley below, but there was nothing there, only shadows. I must be more tired then I thought, she told herself. She went back inside and went back to bed. But there in the alley, a shadow moved...