Pacha hummed to herself as she walked up into the mountain path. She was going up into the mountains to unblock the pipe which allowed clean water to run down to Seu. Pacha had grown up helping her mother, Freida, maintain the many mechanical systems that she had built over her lifetime. Like her mother, Pacha had long dark chestnut coloured hair, which she wore half up in a Dutch braid, and brown eyes. She had her father’s height and strong build.

Pacha reached the meadow where she lay in the grass and stared up at the mountains above her. The sheer cliffs on either side of the valley had waterfalls crashing down them and Pacha found the sound soothing. Trees lined the bottom of the mountain cliffs and the sun beat down on Pacha’s face as she hummed quietly to herself. All was calm, a soft breeze drifted gently through the air and the animal could be heard rustling in the bushes. After a few moments however an uneasy feeling fell upon Pacha and the atmosphere began to change. The rustling in the bushes stopped and the breeze eerily died down. Pacha felt a pair of eyes upon her and she sat up in the meadow, suddenly alert. Calmly she stood up and did not look to where she felt the eyes watching her. She had been warned about the dragons in these mountains, and how they liked to feast on human flesh. Very subtly Pacha looked to her left, fixing her sight on the wooden hut that sat alone in the valley.

She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rising, she only had one chance. Her heartbeat increased, adrenaline pumped through her veins and she ran for the hut. In a moment the dragon’s wings had lifted it into the air and it dived. Fixed on Pacha it only took a second for the dragon to calculate its trajectory to a point where it could unfurl its claws and snatch her up. Heading for the hut’s entrance Pacha felt the dragon approaching, she dropped to the floor just as the dragon swooped in, missing her by a claw’s length and it flew upwards twisting and roaring. Pacha lifted her head, scrambled to her feet and ran, this time passing the hut and heading into the forest. Cleverly Pacha had seized the dragon’s momentary failure to change her course, praying it would give her time as the dragon turned back at a great height came back in for the kill.

Pacha reached the forest as the dragon descended from the clouds diving towards the hut, not having seen Pacha change course. Under the cover of the trees, Pacha fell and crawled into the bracken. From her position, Pacha heard the dragon smash the side of the hut with the huge spikes on its’ tail. She then heard it roar at the absence of its prey. Tucked between the bracken plants and with her back against a rock Pacha stayed silently still. She struggled to control her breathing as she heard the crunch of trees as the dragon came into the forest. From between the bracken stems she saw first its feet, then its body. The scales were thick, sitting in many layers with each layer adding more protection between the world and the dragon’s dark, tough skin. She watched as its feet broke the bracken, leaving whole patches dead for the sun to expose the raw ground beneath. The dragon raised its head and inhaled. A shadow fell on the ground, so large it blocked out the sun and it was increasing in size. The dragon was lifted high out of the trees and the forest went silent.