Jutta

Ever since she was a hatchling, Jutta has been training to become a professional archer, and over the years she has become one of most accurate and intelligent archers throughout the lands. Dragons from all around wonder just how she is able to shoot with such accuracy, especially with her large paws. Jutta always tells them that it just came naturally to her and that she never had any difficulties. However, the reality is much more complex.

Jutta grew up with a group of older male dragons who called themselves the Golden Arrows. All of them were strong warriors, most of them archers, of course. The dragon who found her was Cliff, the kindest and wisest dragon of the bunch. He decided to name her Jutta after his loving mother, who had passed away many years ago. The other dragons were reluctant to keep her, but Cliff insisted and the other didn’t want to continue arguing.

As Jutta got older, she wanted more and more to be just like Cliff. Cliff was like a big brother to her, and she tried training day and night to become a fierce archer like him. But some days she could barely succeed in lifting the bow with her giant paws. The older dragons would make fun of her and constantly call her weak and a failure. Cliff was the only dragon that believed in her.

“Ignore those ignorant fools, Jutta,” Cliff said to her one day, when he could tell that their mean comments were getting in her head, “You’re more brave, determined, and kind than each and every one of them,”
“But… Do you think I’ll ever be as good an archer as you? Or them?”
“Jutta. I have all the faith in the world in you. I just know that one day, you will become a better archer than all of us. And as soon as you’re old enough, we’re gonna leave these guys and live on our own. Just the two of us. You’ll show the world just how much you’re capable of.”
Jutta looked over to see the boys shooting fruit off of each other’s heads,
“I can’t wait to ditch these buffoons.”

Years passed and Jutta was finally starting to get the hang of archery. The other dragons still made fun of her, of course, but Jutta didn’t care. She knew they were the ones who were absolutely ridiculous. But she still couldn’t stand them. Cliff told Jutta that it was almost time for them to initiate their plan and run off.

Just days before they were planning to leave, their den was ambushed by a huge horde of wild beasts. They attacked without mercy and set their den ablaze. Jutta was terrified. She had heard of there being beasts near their area, but never did she think they would actually be attacked by any. The Golden Arrows began to whip out their bows and arrows and fire.
“Jutta! Run and hide!” Cliff yelled to Jutta among the chaos, “I’ll come find you when this is over!”
“No, Cliff! I want to stay and help!”
“Jutta, you’re still young! I need you to stay safe! Please, go find a safe place to hide!”
Jutta just couldn’t. She wasn’t going to run away and do nothing. She grabbed a slightly burnt bow and torn quiver she saw lying on the ground and tried to aim at one of the beasts. She could feel herself trembling and realized she had to get a hold of herself. She took a deep breath. She closed one eye and fired. She struck the beast straight in the chest. Jutta sighed in disbelief. She had never hit a living creature before. She pulled another arrow from the quiver, aimed, and fired. She hit another. Then another. And another. For a moment, she felt unstoppable. The other dragons began to notice. They couldn’t believe that young little Jutta just started shooting every beast in sight with incredible accuracy. There were only a few beasts left. Jutta scanned the area looking for more beasts to annihilate. The Golden Arrows started surrounding Jutta, as it seemed like almost all the beasts had been killed.
“Jutta, how did you just do that?”
“You literally just shot like, 10 beasts within a minute”
“How long have you been able to-“
Jutta started to block out their voices. She began to panic as she could not see Cliff anywhere. Her eyes scanned the forest faster and faster as he was nowhere in sight. Then, she saw a small orange feather poking up from behind a pile of ashy leaves. The exact feather on Cliff’s hat. Jutta’s heart dropped.
“No…”
Jutta started running as fast as her legs could take her. Behind the leaves, she saw Cliff lying down, severely injured. He was bleeding out of his chest.
“Cliff… Cliff… no…” Tears began to stream down her face.
“Oh my god, what happened!?” The other dragons rushed over. Suddenly, a second horde of wild beasts surrounded them.
“Cliff, I- please. Please tell me you’ll be ok,” She whispered into his ear, “Our plan. We… we’re going to run away from here. We’re gonna live together. Just the two of us, right?” She rested her head against his. Jutta could hear the commotion beginning around her, but at the moment she didn’t care. Cliff was her whole world. If he died, a part of her would die too.
“Jutta.” Cliff breathed weakly.
“Cliff!…”
“You have to run. You have to find shelter, it’s not safe here anymore.”
“No… No Cliff, we'll get you to a healer. You’ll be ok, you’re gonna be ok, you have to…be…” The strong smell of smoke made Jutta look up and around. Everything was burning. The Golden Arrows were fighting as hard as they could. A beast suddenly began to approach her.
“Run, Jutta…please… I need you to know you’ll be ok.”
The beast drew out his sword.
“I can’t… leave you…” Jutta’s words got caught in her throat as her tears kept flowing. The beast was about to swing.
“Jutta, go!”
The beast swung its sword swiftly at Jutta. She dodged it, and then ran. She ran as fast as she could, and didn’t look back.

Without Cliff, Jutta felt completely lost. For days, she aimlessly wandered through the forests, just barely keeping herself alive by eating whatever she could find. She suddenly heard a rustle in the bushes behind her. She whipped her head around.
“Who’s there?!”
Out from the bushes emerged a dragon that looked quite similar to her. She also had dark green, fluffy fur.
“It’s just me” The dragon said while collecting nearby bugs and flowers.
Jutta was confused at this response. She had never met this dragon in her life.
“Um. Who’s ‘me’?”
“Oh! Hello, I thought you were one of the warriors or something. I’m Laila, nice to meet you.” Laila then continued collecting items into her basket.
“Jutta. Nice to… meet you too,” Jutta felt a little awkward. She had never met a female dragon before, let alone another obelisk. She seemed to be a little bit older than Jutta herself.
“Oh, are you lost? You need help?”
“I-… I actually don’t exactly have a home. At least, not right now ‘cause my old one got… burnt down by wild beasts. And I… I kinda… lost everyone I lived with.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry. You can come stay with me and my clan in the Blissful Grove. It’s a very safe place with 24/7 protection from the Woodland Warriors.”
“That… would be great!” Jutta smiled, “Thank you so much!”
“Of course! Can’t leave a fellow obelisk out here all alone!”

From that day forward, Jutta lived in the Blissful Grove with many kind dragons who welcomed her into the clan. When Jutta showed the warriors her incredible archery abilities, they were all extremely impressed at how good she was at such a young age. They asked her if she wanted to join them and be the official archer. Jutta wanted to be a professional archer more than anything, so she gratefully said yes. She trained every day to be as good a warrior as Cliff was. She never forgot what she learned from him. Throughout the many years that passed, not a day went by that she didn’t think about Cliff.