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Woman of Strength

Mike.n.Atlanta
1 18 70

“Why is it my job?” She thought. “Why can’t I just go home to my garden & my animals & uninterrupted sleep? Just do as I please without having to care for another human soul.” She knew why…as long as the dragon prowled the Earth she would never know peace or contentment.

She sought no acclaim for herself. Her only desire is to defend those who lack the strength to fight him alone. She's met him many times. He's a huge scaly monster with the breath of a thousand smoldering cigarette butts, his nasty teeth like rows of weathered gravestones. She's been unable to rid the world of this killer beast but she had made him run. The NicoDragon is her prey but she must always be alert lest she become his.

Giulia has tracked him to this range of mountains in the East. Legends of werewolves & vampires faze her not at all. She has faced the dragon & knew him to be real. Up the mountain she climbed, his scent getting stronger the higher she traveled.

He watched from the door of the cave as she made her ascent and felt a shiver, not from fear but in anticipation of the battle that was sure to come. He had faced many & few had escaped with their lives. She was different. She had the strength of many. The times he faced her were some of the toughest he had encountered but he always left himself an out to fight another day. Today did not feel right to him as he thought of what joy it would be to have her in his cavern with all of his slaves. To break her would show any mortal the power at his command. So no…today is not the day. He made sure he was noticed as he left the cave & flew out of sight.  Her time would come soon enough.

She was scanning upward & watched as he circled the mountain, disappearing into the distance. She wondered if he saw her. Did he know she was so close? Of course he did. This was how it usually happened. Rarely did he fight face to face. He would run & as always she would find the cave & descend to the innermost cavern. This one was huge & many were there. A smokey haze hung over the entire population & kept them from their feelings. In that haze she saw the eyes of the dragon’s minions perched on the wall. They were helpless against her & kept their distance but still murmured the lies of the dragon that kept their souls enslaved. Of the thousands only one hundred would believe her there to help. Of those hundred only six women walked down the mountain with her. None of them had a home to return to. Giulia had made such an impression on them, they all decided to help her in this quest to rid the world of the dragon.

Their training was brutal. Ridding a body of the poison is easy but ridding the mind of poison is difficult. Guilia was up to the task & taught them all the tricks she knew. There would be times when they were alone & the things she told them needed to be remembered. Along with the training, she gave them all bows with lozenge tipped arrows, broadswords with Chantix blades plus a small flask of NOPE. “We use this on the ones we rescue but if we can just get a little inside the dragon he will die.” Giulia told them. The training lasted a full year & Giulia felt they were all up to the job of taking out the dragon once & for all.

All they had to do was listen to the stories in the villages they traveled through. Missing family, sick family & the foul stench…they were on the right track. Once again a mountain stood before her. She always assumed he was watching but she carried on as if she had the upper hand. She had them all dip their weapons in the NOPE. The band of women stretched out & began the climb looking for an opening that would lead them to the battle. It was settled in some boulders above the tree line. It would have been missed by anyone other than these ‘Women of Strength’. They all entered together & made their way until they came to seven other tunnels. Each chose a tunnel promising the others to return if they ran into trouble. The tunnels were full of little demons trying to get into their heads. Telling them the dragon would give them all they needed, satisfy all of their longings, take care of them the rest of their days. The dragon had planned it that way but threats of a sprinkling of NOPE would send them all scurrying to cover, quivering as cowards do. All of the tunnels were the same length & all led to the same place. Thanks to Giulia's training each of the women entered the main cavern at the same time unharmed.

There lay the filthy beast in the center of all his slaves. They were moaning, barely moving around but posed no threat. The demons above were a different story. Their shrieks were almost unbearable & a huge distraction from the dragon. He rose quickly as the women were slashing the demons left & right. Any contact with the NOPE covered weapons reduced them to a puff of ashes. The dragon turned & immediately had one of the women in his jaws. A snap of his head & she was no more. The others were not expecting this & hesitated only enough for him to dispatch two more. They quickly went to work firing arrows at his head trying to get one in his mouth. They saw his teeth click together & spark, igniting the noxious vapor he emitted from his core. The arrows were cinders before they reached their target. Giulia had gone to work with her sword, protected by her shield of NOPE. The three women had the dragon on his heels firing arrow after arrow allowing Giulia to climb the beast’s back. A quick flick of the tail caught her off guard and she landed in the middle of the slaves. Another of her soldiers has gone down as she crawls under the dragon’s belly searching for a vulnerable spot. Looking up she finds to her horror he holds her remaining soldiers in his claws. They shrivel as he draws the soul from their bodies & tosses them into the pile. Turning his attention to Giulia he is too late to stop her climb up his back. She no longer cares for her wellbeing, only the task at hand. He took to the air to shake her. She held as long as she could while swinging her blade. But down she came & hit the cavern floor with a thud. The dragon was on her quickly & as he stretched to his full height to deliver the kill blow his scales separated. Giulia noticed & drove her sword home. Between the scales her point carried the dragon’s poison. He fell around her but before he became the pile of ashes he brought terror into her heart. “You have been a worthy foe but I have always kept a secret. I am not the only one. My brothers are many & you will never claim us all.” With that Giulia put her blade to beast’s throat & he burst into a cloud of gray.

Once again of all the souls in the cave only six would have her aid. She'll miss her lost companions but they will return. They were so close to being what they needed to be. Her search for the dragon's brothers will continue but now she had a new aim, gathering as many of her kind as she can for the battles to come…more ‘Women of Strength’. Will you join the fight?

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About the Author
I began this quit journey on October 1, 2004. I'm not doing it for my wife or children nor in memory of the many family members or friends I have lost due to this addiction. I'm doing it for Mike. "The only real threat to your quit is between your ears" ~ Me "A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor" ~ English proverb "A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trial" ~ Chinese proverb I'd rather be a non-smoker who thinks about smoking once in awhile, than a smoker who's always thinking about quitting" ~ Anonymous ~