AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Planet Legura
Windguard Outskirts, several years ago
Orik Theroux crossed the field to where his father’s enormous dragon form lay motionless in the tall grass.
As Orik approached one claw-tipped paw, his nauseous stomach grew sicker by the second. Everything looked…wrong. The angle of his father’s hindquarters and the position of his head wrenched oddly, as though it had turned a full circle on his neck. There were boils and gouges all along his hide. The scales on his belly had been shorn off and the fur on his back shaved. His once mighty horns had been severed at the scalp….
Orik’s young mind could barely comprehend the sight before him. Yet, even as he shook his father’s bloodied snout and begged him to wake up, tears pooled in his eyes. An inner voice said his father would never awaken again.
Unwilling to believe it, he ran into the house in search of his mother’s help.
She was nowhere to be found, and their meager dwelling had been ravaged. Evidence of a struggle? A chair had been toppled. Shattered dishes scattered the floor. The scent of something sharp and otherworldly permeated the air. Red smudges marred one wall, leading to the back door.
Cautiously, he followed them.
Outside, his mother lay on the ground, also in her dragon form, alarmingly still.
He rushed forward, crying out. “Mama!”
By the time he reached her, she was already transforming into her two-legged form. At first, he thought that meant she was alive, and a bolt of relief shot through him. But it wasn’t so. Her face was ashen, her lips cold and gray, her eyes unseeing, faded and lifeless.
That scent from inside was more pronounced here, a gruesome perfume assaulting his senses. He knew it was the scent of magic. He’d smelled it once before, when his father had tried to make peace with a coven of witches who’d been camping nearby. “We are simple farmers,” he’d told them. “We doona want trouble. You leave us be, we’ll do the same.”
The leader, a lanky fellow with dark piercing eyes that made him look sinister, had smiled at Orik’s father and agreed, proclaiming they did not intend to stay in the area long.
That night, Orik had overheard his mother and father arguing about what they should do…abide by the agreement, or fly to the city and inform the king’s guard of the mysterious new coven. His mother had wanted to go, but his father had refused, saying he was a man of his word.
Now he was dead, and so was his mother—while Orik had been far away playing in the orchard. If he’d been old enough to shift into his dragon form, he’d have been killed alongside them, for that was what they were after: the magic inherent in all dragons.
But he hadn’t known that at the time. Hadn’t known the danger he was still in.
He wasn’t sure how long he wept over his mother's body, but when the sun started to set, he knew he could no longer remain. He was alone in the world now, too young to even make his first shift. Yet, he felt he was on the verge. His father was supposed to teach him to fly when he did….
He’d promised.
With legs that seemed to have been plastered with cement and a spine weighed down by grief, Orik trudged inside and packed a bag, swiping away each fresh tear as he did, and then marched into the forest, heading down the long road that led to the city, intending to inform the king’s guard of what had happened here today.
Instead, he’d walked straight into the witch’s camp. And thus began the most hellish year of his life.
1
Earth
Black River Forest, several weeks ago
Jessie Jane Knight stamped out the last of the fire pit’s steaming coals with the soul of her well-worn, shearling-lined boot, popped in her earbuds and turned up Imagine Dragons’Radioactive, belting out the chorus at top volume. “Welcome to the new age…tothe new age!”
A flock of birds perched in a nearby bush lifted off into the sky and scattered.
“Everyone’s a critic.” Heaving her pack over her shoulder, she started the long trek back to civilization, glancing back only briefly to make sure she’d left no traces of her short stay. Her little forest hideaway looked as she’d found it but for a flattened tuft where she’d set up camp and the scorched earth where she’d cooked her meals.
Even though it was a chilly autumn morning and rain clouds were moving in, Jessie had donned her camo shorts and a comfortable black tank top, knowing the five-mile hike would keep her body temp up. Actually, she’d expected cooler temperatures this weekend, but most of the northeast was experiencing a gorgeous Indian summer, which was fine by her. If this weather kept up, she might get in another weekend of camping before winter set in.
A soft autumn breeze played through her hair, bringing with it the musty scent of the coming storm. She glanced up, squinting through the leafy curtain of elms. The sky was darkening by the minute, clouds rolling in faster than she’d anticipated.
Suddenly a flash of lightning split the sky, immediately joined by a crackling boom of thunder. As a strong wind kicked up, she realized she had underestimated the weather. This storm had barreled in like a herd of raging bikers who’d been promised free booze. With any luck it would pass just as fast. In the meantime, it would be wise to take shelter and wait it out. She’d be pissed as hell if she got herself lightning-fried to a crisp before she got to test out the new Cartman adjustable bungee cords she’d ordered for the shop. Not to mention the travel-size burn ointment she’d packed wouldsonot suffice.
