Talons Of Flame

• Reuben Jarvis, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

It was just a glimpse, but that was enough. I knew I saw it, although my older brother didn’t believe me. The unmistakable golden glimmer, as dense as the sun could only mean one thing. Fire. And you don’t see fire in the sky unless something is making it. “A Phoenix,” said my brother in that all-knowing tone that he always used, “is no more than a legend. A legend that some wise-guy made up to amuse his pathetic imagination.” I tried and tried, but he wouldn’t believe me. And that’s when I left. Left for the first time in my life the safety of the village to climb to the highest point and prove my brother wrong.

I didn’t care about the creatures that were supposed to live outside the small ring of buildings that made up the village. Trolls, they would say, giants and ogres. But most sinister of all was the serpent Kallkaram, said to be capable of killing a man with one bite and crushing the strongest timber as if it were an egg. None of this bothered me more than the prospect of a life ruled by my older brother. I didn’t stop, not at the sound of bushes rustling and the indefinable feeling of being watched, not until I reached the very end of the overgrown trail. And there it was. The Highest Point. Tall and forbidding, its sheer height gave the mountain its name.

Seeing the sun low in the sky, I decided it time to settle down for the night, and a good thing I did or I may have stepped on the enormous black snake now rising up from the grass. “Whoa!” I exclaimed, stumbling back in fright. The snake snapped its head around and its beady eyes glared at me. I immediately knew it was Kallkaram. Before I could think, he dropped back to the ground and shot like a bolt across the ground. I braced myself, ready to face the inevitable. It never came. Realising that the serpent was gone, I whipped around to see it speeding towards my brother, frozen with fear where he had been hiding.

“NO!” I screamed, but it was too late. Kallkaram was already rising his scaly head to strike, his razor sharp fangs bared. Eyes closed, I waited to hear his last horrible scream, knowing I could do nothing about it. It seemed so unfair that he should die on the bad note that I created, especially after coming after me in what was obviously his attempt to protect his only brother. I opened my eyes, but what I saw was not a bloody body writhing on the ground but my brother standing, head tilted to the sky and mouth hanging open. I followed his gaze toward the direction of the falling sun, its last rays of sunshine touching on a flickering golden beast, a black mass struggling to escape its bone-crushing talons. It was just a glimpse, but it was enough.