The night sky is hidden behind the screen of smoke that's collected from multiple raging fires. The sky is crowded as massive dragon masses hover from above, dropping balls of fire or breathing billowing flames. On the ground too, are dragons, fighting with strong men and women alike trying to get away with their stolen goods and lighting things on fire. I'm so distracted by the chaos that I don't notice the ball of lava hurtling towards me until it's blocked with a metal shield.
Attached to the shield is a large hairy man who I recognise as Mr. Gonzalez, one of the island's esteemed warriors.
"Raymond! What are you doing outside?!" He shouts, turning around to face me. His eyebrows are scrunched together and he's sweating.
"I-I was-!"
"Whatever, I don't care! Just get your ass inside the Great Hall!!" Mr. Gunther intejects.
I nod my head and hurry off to the 'Great Hall'.
It's called the Great Hall by the village but I personally call it the Mess Hall because of how, well, messy it is. It gets especially dirty when it's packed with people.
A dragon drops in front of me, bolas binding its legs together and horrifying maw shut.
'It's huge!' And still alive I realize as it starts to thrash around. To the left warriors run towards the dragon, and me by proximity, so I start running to the right to get around the massive beast.
Anyways, the Mess Hall is a multipurpose building that serves as a cafeteria, meeting hall, school building, and safe house. It's where the children, old, sick, and some women go when there's a dragon raid, which is why I have to hurry there now.
I reach the double doors, large and imposing.
Honestly, I'd rather take my chances with the dragons than go in, but I have no choice.
It takes all my strength to open one door, and it's only a crack, enough for me to slip in.
The inside is dimly lit, the only source of light being the fireplace in the middle of the room, the chandeliers left unlit. On the walls are tapestries of victorious battles, victorious warriors, and the past chieftain families. There are multiple tables filling the room, with the largest one on the far back wall, raised on a platform. Where the chief, along with his family and friends, eat. The chief's wife is sitting there, flanked by their two kids.
There are four types of people in the Mess Hall during a dragon raid, women, the elderly, the sick, and kids.
Most of the women are 'Night Women' as the adults call them. I don't have any strong feelings about them, they're mostly in the bars, hanging around the unmarried men of the village, but they say 'hi' whenever they see me and I say a greeting back.
The other women are here because they're taking care of their babies. They like to give the kids dried fruit, but I don't like them too much because they always talk down to me like I'm dumb. I'm not dumb, not at all. I'm smarter than the other kids my age.
The elders are here because it's the safest place for them to be. They sometimes keep to themselves, knitting or sharing stories. Sometimes they share stories with the kids.
They're not very nice to me, in fact, I think they hate me. They call me a runt, and say that I should've been 'set adrift'. I have no idea what it means and I really don't want to. Anyways, it's easy to say that we have a bad relationship.
Then, there's the sick. They spend their time complaining that they can't fight, even though they're 'in perfect shape'. If they were in perfect shape they wouldn't be throwing up or coughing so much. Their complaining gets annoying honestly. The best thing to do is ignore them.
The last group is the other kids in the village. Most of them are in my range of age, between 6 or 8, so they get along well, but two of the kids here are 3 years old and spend their time here with their moms.
After surveying the room, I look around for somewhere to sit.
I could sit with the night women, they've always been nice to me the few times we talk. Maybe I can get to know them better, they're very pretty and I want to tell them about the books I've been reading. But my dad always says that I should keep away from them, and I don't want to get into trouble.
If I sit with the sick, I could catch something. I've been well for most of winter, and I want to continue being healthy.
I also can't sit with the elderly for obvious reasons. I also don't want to sit with the kids, I wouldn't be able to read if I did.
Thankfully, there's an isolated table in the corner furthest away from the fire. It looks nice enough, everyone normally sits closer to the fire, that's where people talk and party, so the table is cleaner than the others. I walk over, sit down, tucking my knees to my chest so I'm curled up in the seat, and begin to read.