Chapter #1
Rider
I took a deep breath and blew into my flute whistle. The whistle was pure platinum and embedded in it were two magic crystals. The crystals were the kind you get from a dragon when they die. The crystals might be sapphires or diamonds or just plain quartz's. It all depended on the rank of the dragon. The two crystals in the whistle were both violet sapphires. This meant the dragon's had been a little bit higher than middle rank. I blew into the whistle one more time and it produced a beautiful high pitched sound that only the dragon you were calling and the person calling could hear. All the sudden I heard the sound of heavy flapping wings. I looked up and saw what a lot people would describe as a dangerous evil flying lizard. But in my opinion the creature was an elegant and beautiful twilight blue colored dragon. My description of dragon's is diffrent from most from some people's. I think that most dragon's are smart clever, kind, and loyal. Very few dragon's are evil,and cunning. Anyway the twilight dragon landed in front of me. This "dragon's" name is Destiny. I am her Rider. Destiny stepped forward and kept nosing my pocket. saying "Treat. Treat. Treat." playfully through our minds. Rider's and drgaon's can share thoughts. "Okay. Okay." I responded. I pulled a slice of bread with dried honey spread all over it an bits of tuna scattered on top. I held it out and she gently took it from my fingers and as soon as the bread left my fingers she swallowed it whole. "Let's ride around a bit and see what we can find." I thought. She sank to the ground and looked at me with her twilight eyes. I hopped onto her back and we took off into the air.
Destiny
Flying can be pretty amazing if you get to do it. It's a bit like floating water except you don't feel the rush of a wave or the tug of a current but you feel the rush of wind underneath you wings and the light weight on you back made by your ider. Flying is fun also because when you fly it eases your worries in life. It makes your mind feel free and open. no worries bother you, no angry feelings from your past, no sad memories to mourn over. Nothing at all that stops your thoughts from drifting away. I love the feel of warm air underneath your wings and I love the feeling of being free.
Rider
“Alright let's head back.” I said as I explained the plan to Destiny. We were going to land back at our camp, get my pack and fly off to a new spot to start camp. I also folded up the tent that I owned. “It will be by a lake so you can swim.” I promised. Destiny loved water out of all four of the elements, she could control. Most dragons could control one out of all 4 elements. The elements were Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. My dragon could somehow control all of the elements. As far as I knew no dragon could ever control more than one element. The cool thing about it is that whatever element your dragon could control is the same element that the rider possessed. So I also could posse all four elements. When we landed I grabbed by pack filled with my bow, arrows and my quiver, my gloves, my sword, utensils, a pot, a plate, food, and lots of other stuff. We took off toward a cliff with a river running smoothly under it and it emptied into a small lake. We got there in about an hour. It was getting dark so we had to camp soon so I would have enough time to hunt and cook the meat that I caught. Finally we got to the cliff. I unstrapped the saddle and the pack and the tent from Destiny's back. I set up camp and made the small fire. I grabbed my bow and my quiver filled with arrows and headed out into the woods to hunt. I didn't have to venture far from the camp in order to find animals. I saw a big stag. I slowly strung an arrow and aimed it at the animal. But a twig snapped and the stag was alert and running. I conjured some warm air and shot it at the stag. It slowed down and then went to a full stop and collapsed. I went up to it. It was asleep. The warm air had made it sleepy and fall asleep. This was the most painless and lest frightening way that I could stop the stag. I took out my dagger and ended its life. I said a prayer first and then dragged it back to the camp. Destiny had already hunted for herself so I didn’t need to hunt for more. I saved chunks of the meat for later. I preserved it with the help of salt. Then I ate. With my stomach full I leaned against Destiny’s wing and fell fast asleep.
I woke to the sound of birds chirping, my stomach growling, and to the sound of someone in pain. I leaped up and followed the sound of crying. "The sound is coming from the shore by the ripple pools." Destiny thought. "Stay where you are it may be a trick." I replied. "I sense no enemies it’s a injured person, I’m coming." I shook my head. Destiny could be stubborn sometimes. "We don’t know if the person is an enemy that’s the why you need stay away until we know if it mean you any harm." I pushed her back. Destiny did back down but reluctantly. I continued following the sound of the hurt person heading toward the ripple pools like Destiny had said. There on the shore I found a boy about my age doubled over holding his chest and stomach in pain. He let out a cry of pain and then collasped on his back with his eyes closed, breathing heavily. I got down on my knees and moved his hands from his chest and his stomach. His shirt was torn. I ripped his shirt off and exaimed the wound. It was long scar strecthing from his right shoulder down to his left hip. It bleed horribly. When I touched he gasped in pain. The outline of the scar was green. My eyes widened in fear. "Destiny come here right now!" In seconds she was there at my side looking at the boy. Sara what’s wrong? She asked. I pointed out to her the green. Shadow Lord Potion. This boy was hit with one of the potion covered blades of The Shadow Lord’s minions.
"What potion was on this blade?" Destiny asked uncertain. I spoke out loud, "This one on his chest doubles the amount of pain inflicted. He has another gash on his left shin. This one causes light headness." I tore the fabric off the piece of pant that was hiding the shin scar "If he’s been attacked this brutely by one of the Shadow Lord’s minions, I’m sure he’s not one of them or any other enemy." Destiny said.I sighed but started directing her to pick him up softly with her talons and carry him back to our camp. He groaned as we picked him up. When we set him down, I exaimened him. His black hair was cropped short into a messy hairstyle. When we set him down I exaimed the wounds more closely. I was glad I knew plants well enough that I knew what would help him heal. Lilac to help the swelling. Goldenrod to clear any infection. Tehir were a bunch of other plants he would need to heal. He also needed magic. Only magic could rid the magic of the potion. I would need to save it up. Some special plants helped you when it came to magic. The most powerful is the willow. I’m glad we have a willow on an island in the middle of the lake. I would have to talk to it tonight.
Yes you can talk to a tree. You just have to concentrate on waking it up. So that night after I had put on enough herbson the boy's scars I had Destiny drop me off at the island because I didn't want to get wet tonight by swimming to the island. I sat down in the nice soft grass and looked up at the willow. I closed my eyes and sat thinking for a while. Then I opened my mouth and began to sing a song.
Oh Spirit Tree of this Island
Please wake for me
I mean no harm just goodness toward you
My soul is a diamond
I am not one of the Shadow
You are a wise one so I need your help
For a life depends on it
It is not my own but one that stumbled into mine
I pray for you to awaken
Please
I sang not in English but in the Dragon Speech. Dragons are linked closely to nature. It is a beautiful language to sing in. Some think that Dragon speech is full of harsh growling and roars but its diffrent from that. It's soft and flowing. Dragons do not speak it aloud because then it would sound like growls and roars. The speak it only in their minds because then it sound soft and flowing. I waited for the tree to wake after I had sang the song a couple times. I saw the branches sway and shift. I heard whispering. I listened closely to it.
Many hardships come
Minds change
Personalities change
The Shadow has 3 dragon eggs
2 for you
1 for another
The power of the 3 effects others
Changed people will turn against you and kill
Stop the Shadow
Hatch the eggs and doom will dissappear
A root of the willow grew quickly and wrapped around my hand. I felt magic pour into my body. The willow root quickly recedded when I had enough magic. I took a deep breath and stood up. I called to Destiny to pick me up. She came quickly and silently but she soon sensed how tense I was. What’s wrong? What did the tree say? Destiny asked. I opened my mind and shared my memory with her. While she taking in the knowledge I got off her back and went to the boy who at the moment was simply messing sitting on the shore and dab his finger into the water as if he was bored. I directed the water by his finger to recede from him. It did and the boy sat there shocked. Then he noticed me standing there.
He stared at me timidly and then after a minute of silence he looked back at the water that had receded a foot away. “Don’t play or use with nature without a good purpose.” I said and he looked at me again confused. I flicked my hand at the water and it went back to its original place. Then I crouched next to the puzzled boy and touched my hand to the cool lake water and willed it into the shape of a small cup. Then I willed the some water into the cup. I motioned for the boy to open his mouth and he slowly obeyed. I poured the water into his mouth slowly. I would have handed the cup to him if it hadn’t been made of water. It would have turned back to normal water as soon as it touched his pale skin. He swallowed and watched as I placed the mater cup back into the lake causing it to return to its original form. I wiped my hands off and repeated my earlier sentence, “Don’t play or use with nature without a good purpose.” I walked to the bags and pulled out a big woven straw mat rolled up. I rolled it out on the ground and spoke. “Lie on there so I may treat your wounds.” He grimaced as he remembered the pain. Then he gasped as the pain suddenly gripped him like a cold claw. I gasped myself. Somehow his emotions were rolling off of him like steam from a boiling pot and I could feel it, sense it, I could read his mind in that brief flash of a second. I didn’t understand, I hadn’t reached out just then to read his complicated thoughts. Two seconds later the gripping pain came back, this time tearing and ripping at both of us with claws as sharp as an eagle’s and as cold as ice. Then I could feel the anger, the anger that was as hot as a dessert sun. I didn’t know whose anger this was but I wanted this raging, harsh thing out. I whispered the first spell that came to my terrified mind.
The fire backed away the moment the spell left my lips. It hissed out as if I had thrown water on it. That was actually what I had done. I hadn’t thrown actual water on it but something similar to that.
I felt the boy’s relief inside of me once again. The magic inside me stirred and there came a voice inside of me. That was him my girl, beware. I recognized the voice of the willow who had given me precious magic. Sarah I felt it too and I heard the willow’s voice. I think the boy heard the willow’s voice too. You should go and explain.
It did look like he needed some explaining from me. He was doubled over on the ground in shock. He breathed hard and his eyes open wide. I felt bad for him just looking at his raggedy clothes and the mixture of pain and shock displayed on his freckled face. “You okay?” I asked softly.
“Is it me or did I just feel and hear that stuff?” He asked. “I don’t know what did you feel and hear?” I said. He ignored my question and just lay on the mat that I had set up earlier. I was angry he hadn’t told me what happened with him but I decided to back off. He’ll tell me sometime. I thought. In the meantime I might as well heal him. I went off into the forest and gathered what herbs that would help him. When I had gathered all of the best herbs from the forest I returned to the camp and found the boy asleep on the mat. I smiled and put an extra blanket over him. I said a quick spell that would ease his pain while he slept. I went inside my tent and quickly fell asleep with my eyelids weighing a ton each. I used the last bit of energy left in me to pull my bear fur blanket over me. I was woken as quickly as I had fallen asleep by an ear-splitting scream. My body jerked up and automatically found my sword beside me. I launched myself out of the tent and looked around. I could not see anything because the fire had gone out. I called upon the slightly burning embers and demanded for a fire. Fire shot up from the pit of embers and I could see every detail of the shore. There the boy was lying on the ground twitching and screaming. I looked around and saw nothing. I crouched down next to the boy and grasped him arm. The second I touched his skin I was plunged into his mind. A fire raged and scorched his mind. “Give me the girl, boy. I know your thoughts of her but they are not true. I know you think she’s cute but she’s a monster. Bring her to me and this fire will end. Tell no one of my speaking to you. Trust me boy I know the truth about this girl. Bring her to me…” A voice harsh and coarse spoke to him. I said the spell of water that I had used for the earlier attack. Whoever had attacked him raged at me but left quickly. The boy woke up from his vision and attacked me with his fists. He managed to get me under him and continued fighting me for what reason, I didn’t know. Destiny arose to swipe him off of me with her claw but I pushed her back with my mind. I warmed the air around us doing the same thing to the boy that I had done to the stag. His punches soon slowed and he collapsed on top of me. I pushed him gently off. Then I carried him in my arms and put him in my bed inside the tent. I placed a wall of air around the camp
to protect us. Then I lied on the reed mat and fell asleep with my hand on my sword.
I had a dream. I was running through the forest only being directed by a strange pull tugging me toward itself. I tried to resist this pull fearing I was sleep walking while I dreamed this and the Shadow Lord was the one reeling me in like a fish. That’s when I felt the connection to this thing tugging at me. It was a strong bond I couldn’t explain. I stopped and realized that this was the same dream I had when Destiny was in her egg stranded in the forest. I had felt the same heart-aching connection and feeling that I had to get her. There was a dragon in an egg doing The Calling. The Calling is a dream that all dragons in their eggs send out to the person they believe is their Rider-to-be. But this felt like two dragons doing this at the same time. Dozens of questions ran through my mind all at once. How could I be a Rider already but now have 2 more dragons calling to me? Have they mistaken me for someone else? I knew automatically that the answer to that one was a no. Were these the same dragons that the willow said belonged to me in the prophecy? Are these dragons 2 of the 3 that are stuck in eggs at the Shadow’s palace? I had no way of knowing the answers but somehow I did. Yes they were in the prophecy and yes they are 2 of the 3 in the Shadow’s place. The moment I realized this I woke up.
When I woke up I woke Destiny up and told her what had happened. She nodded; I had the same dream too. I knew that these dragons are the ones from the Shadow Palace. She calmly said. You know the willow said that one of the 3 would belong to the boy. Do you think that he had the same dream? I asked. I believe he did because right now I can hear him get up and breathe heavily as if something odd such as The Calling has happened to him. Destiny responded. At that I rushed into the tent and looked at the boy who was standing there and breathing heavily like Destiny had said.
“I know what dream you had and I’m here to explain.” I said to him. He looked at me wild-eyed not understanding how I had known. Then he pushed me out of the way and dashed out. I followed him walking knowing that he couldn’t leave the camp with my air shield intact. It didn’t just keep things out but it kept things in too. But the boy didn’t know so he ran out of the tent, toward the edge of the shore, head first into the shield and fell onto the gravel. I walked over to him and grasped his hand. Like before the second I touched him I could read his thoughts. I watched him run through the forest being tugged by an invisible force. I nodded to myself; yes he had been through The Calling. Then I spoke to him in his thoughts and told him everything. What the dream meant, the prophecy, what my powers were, everything he needed to know right at the moment. I answered all his past questions. When I was done I let him go and walked away.
“I know what dream you had and I’m here to explain.” I said to him. He looked at me wild-eyed not understanding how I had known. Then he pushed me out of the way and dashed out. I followed him walking knowing that he couldn’t leave the camp with my air shield intact. It didn’t just keep things out but it kept things in too. But the boy didn’t know so he ran out of the tent, toward the edge of the shore, head first into the shield and fell onto the gravel. I walked over to him and grasped his hand. Like before the second I touched him I could read his thoughts. I watched him run through the forest being tugged by an invisible force. I nodded to myself; yes he had been through The Calling. Then I spoke to him in his thoughts and told him everything. What the dream meant, the prophecy, what my powers were, everything he needed to know right at the moment. I answered all his past questions. When I was done I let him go and walked away.
I decided to go fishing that evening but I had to do it quickly so we could travel. All of us were feeling anxious to get as close as we could to the eggs that day. But I decided it would have to wait so we could at least get a decent breakfast. Destiny went hunting for herself and I made a fishing pole. I made it by first finding a a strong reed for the string part, a durable but bendable stick for the rod and a sticky piece of sap to hold the string and stick together and also to use as a bait. Some of the really big fish love sap. I put the materials together and then went fishing.
It was hard at first to get to a deep enough area in order to get to the big fish but then I found a floating log that I sat on and directed a current to push it to the deep area. It took a while to get a bite but when I did I got a big fish. It was about 2ft by 1 foot. Soon after that I got another bite by an even bigger fish (2ft by 2ft). Before I could even look at the fish I had caught another fish! (3ft by 2ft)I finally left before I could get another on after catching a fourth one. I preserved 3 of the fish and split the fourth one with the boy who told me his name was Derek. When breakfast was eaten and the fish preserved we started toward the direction of the Shadow Lord’s castle.
The Shadow Lord is an evil man made of shadows. He has many creatures under his control. Trawlers (men super strong red marks on their foreheads though strong they are dumb.) He has a few Drahurts (flying creatures with sharp claws and clubbed tails.) in his army. He has many other creatures but those are the 2 main ones that he uses. We are not sure what he wants but we think that it is power that he wants. As we traveled we killed small numbers of Trawlers so we could weaken the Shadow Lord. Destiny landed in a forest next to 4 acre prairie like area. Me and Derek jumped off and started unloading our camp stuff from her back. Derek was wandering around while I set up camp when I heard a deep guttural sound off in the distance. I put my hand on Derek’s shoulder to stop him from crunching on the grass so I could listen. The sound came again; I knew that sound that was the sound of a Trawler group nearby growling to each other. I can see them. They have about 30 in their group. I haven’t seen a wild group of Trawlers this big before. Destiny spoke to me. Yes but this isn’t a wild group of Trawlers they have armor on. They are minions of the Shadow Lord. I said back. I told the boy this and his eyes grew wide and he fainted. I woke him back up by placing a pepper plant under his nose which makes someone sneeze and wake up to the sharp smell of it. When he arose I told him to stay here behind the bush we were hiding behind. I also gave him my staff while I had a sword. I told him I would go out there and kill them. “If any of them slip past my barrier use this to fight them off while Destiny stays here too and helps.” Derek nodded. I raised my eyebrows and made him promise not to come out no matter what. The only thing that could possibly make this situation worse is a screaming boy waving around a staff not knowing how to properly use it.
I army-crawled with my sword toward a huge boulder close to the Trawler group. Then I took a deep breath and stabbed the nearest Trawler without the others noticing until he let out a cry of pain. When he cried they all looked toward him. They only saw a slit in his stomach and no word because I had quickly pulled it out and ducked back behind the boulder. The Trawler collapsed and the others just stared. Like I said they are dumb creatures and don’t ever notice they are under attack til’ a person comes at them with a sword in their hand. At the right moment I jumped out from behind the rock and killed 3 stunned Trawlers on the spot. The whole group just stood there for a second stunned too and I used that second to slice the head off one Trawler. That’s when they came to their senses and grabbed their axes from the ground and ran at me roaring. I ducked their swings at me and whirled on the ground cutting the nearby Trawlers legs off. They fell to the ground and couldn’t get back up so I swung and sliced at the new Trawlers. I just barely had an arm cut off by a faraway Trawler who had thrown his axe badly at me and only managed to make a small cut on my upper left arm.
I was worried that the axe had had a potion on it like the one that had cut the boy but feeling nothing but blood gushing out of it I decided that this group was not high ranked enough of the Shadow Lord’s hat he did not put anything on their blades. I felt the heat of the battle against the dumb brutes. I knew that I could defeat them as long none of them grabbed me. If one of them grabbed me they could use their brute strength to break a bone. Then I would be in trouble. The whole time I had forgotten to use magic to help me. I called upon the fire on one of the Trawlers torches and threw it at the Trawlers surrounding me now. They cried as the fire scalded their skin unprotected by their armor. While they were busy roaring in pain I sliced each of their heads off. That was the end of the Trawler group.
I had survived fighting them and had only gained a small scratch. I looked through the Trawlers bags fir anything that might be of use. I found nothing but 21 fraters 3 grits and 5 slyons. Fraters, grits, and slyons are coins that we use for money. (1 frater = 1 dollar/ 1 grit = 5 dollars/ 1 slyon = 10 dollars that’s what it would be like in the real world.) The coins would be useful for buying some provisions and materials in a town somewhere. In fact the town of Tyson. We needed to get some bread, one horse and a good shirt+pants for Derek. We needed a horse because Destiny could barely lift us last time we had traveled all together. We needed to load all the supplies onto the one horse and I would ask the horse to carry all the supplies while we flew overhead. We would have to slow down to allow the horse to catch up with us because dragons are fast when flying. None of us were all too thrilled with that idea but it was that or no flying at all. If we didn’t fly that meant we had to buy 2 more horses to ride. Derek and I flying on Destiny while the horse carried our supplies would take up the same amount of time as it would to ride horses but it would cost less money to only have to buy 1 horse instead of buying 3. So we headed toward the town on foot. It didn’t take long to get there. I smeared a little mud on my face and put some ashes too so no Shadow minions would recognize me. I also smashed some blueberries and pressed it on my face. I needed as much of a disguise as possible. Then we entered town.
Guards were at the front gate but we slipped past them. The streets were filled with dozen of wooden stands. People were standing behind the stands calling out what they were selling. “Apples want apples? I got apples!” One of the sellers called out.
I pushed through a group of people who had crowded in the middle of the street. I headed toward the voice that called. “Bakery! Bakery right here! Bread! Buns!” The voice led me to an elderly black lady holding loaves of breads in her palms. She dropped the loaves onto the stand table when I came up to her and smiled at me. “Well young one what would you like to purchase today?” She asked me in a deep but smooth voice. “Could I have 8 buns please?” I asked politely. “that will be 3 fraters please.” The lady said. I made a sad face and reluctantly pulled out 3 fraters. “My mother is going to be so mad at me for spending half of her scrap money already, I’m just so hungry.” I moaned. The lady gave me a sympathetic look and spoke. “You do look so hungry; alright here you go have 10 buns for free now hurry before someone sees me feeding you poor hungry children.” Me and Derek headed off toward a barn-like building. “How did you do that? I tried that once on someone but it they just yelled at me and pushed me away.” Derek exclaimed when we were out of hearing distance. “The trick is to find the right person, look dirty, do it on someone who doesn’t know you, and basically look like a really sweet but hungry child abandoned.” I listed the ways to do it and Derek kept mental notes. “Why did you do it in the first place?” Derek asked confused. I shrugged and said, “To save some money that’s all.” I shrugged again. Derek raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. We headed down the dirt road toward a crude red building. We entered the building and looked around. I was right this building was a barn for horses. A short tan lady and a tall pudgy man were feeding the horses. “Just let me talk.” I whispered to Derek. “Hello, we are here to buy one of your many horses.” I said loud and clear. The couple jumped at the sudden sound of my voice. Then they turned around. “What kind of horse do you want? I have short-distance horses, long distance horses, traveling hor…” I interrupted the man. “I need a horse with stamina, can carry cargo and run very fast at the same time.” I told him. He nodded. “I know just the horse you need. He walked down the aisle a few feet and stopped at a stall marked Red fury. The horse standing inside the stall was a muscled mahogany red mustang. He lifted his head from his feeding bin. His eyes were a rich brown color. The man put a bridle on Red Fury’s and some reins. He led him out and let me examine him. He looked very fit and healthy. “I’ll take him, how much?” I asked. “He’s 5 slyons and 1 grit.” The man replied. “Sorry can’t take that. How about 3 slyons? With such high prices I bet no one buys anything from here no matter how desperate they are.” I replied. The man looked a little desperate but he held his ground. “That’s a little too low for this buddy.” The man crossed his arms. “I’ll be willing to pay 3 slyons and 2 day’s work in here. You guys can take a break for 2 days. Relax, drink some nice cool water, sit outside in a comfy chair and read.” I offered. The woman nudged her husband lightly and he sighed but accepted it. I paid him 3 slyons and once they were outside I set the air to work. Then I snuck out of town with Red fury. I had made the air back in the barn do the chores for me by lifting the broom and sweep and other things like that. I had also told it to that for 2 days like I had agreed. I would have to visit another magic source to recharge myself. Setting that spell had used a lot of magic. The terrain that we would be traveling on next would be mostly dry hot cracky rock. Not a desert with no water and no plants because the land had many plants but the ground was dry and hot rock. I covered the horse’s hooves with a soggy herb mixture that would keep the horse’s hooves safe from the heat of the ground. I also put some on Destiny’s paw for when we landed to take a break. We were flying with the wind gusting in our faces while I watched our surroundings for Shadow minions with arrows. I also watched how the horse was doing. He was doing very well like I had thought he would. Red fury was keeping up with us and looked like he was having a jolly good time running free like this with his head swinging about and with what looked like a smile on his face. The ground was passing by fast underneath us. Then Destiny halted just drifted for a bit. What’s going on? I asked sensing that her mind was filled with fear. Something is stirring in the underbrush that’s not quite animal. The strange thing is that I can’t read their minds because it’s quite deformed in a way that I have never seen. She thought back to me. “Why are we slowing down are we taking a break?” Derek asked. “No something strange is on the ground that we can’t identify.” I whispered to him. “So you’re going to chase after it just because you don’t know what it is!” The boy said in disbelief. “Yes, there are reasons that we are doing this that you can’t understand until you’re a dragon rider.” I whispered back. “Why are you whispering?” Derek asked. “Because the thing might hear us. Now block your mind.” I said. “How do you block your mind?” He asked. I sighed. “Two things you need to do. Be stoic and imagine a steel wall wrapped around your mind. It also helps if you sort of clench your teeth for concentration. Now be careful down there.” Destiny floated down to the ground and we immediately jumped off and I grabbed my sword and passed the boy the staff. I showed him a trick or two using the staff. Derek and I crept silently through the bush. And I kept my eye out for anything that might have to do with these strange creatures. Where exactly are these things? I asked Destiny. They should be within a circle of trees that all have hollows in them. She replied. In what direction is this circle of trees? I asked. The circle of hollow trees is about 20 yards to your left. She thought and showed me a picture of what it looked like. I reached out with my mind as a walked carefully through the brush. I searched for the things mind and found them exactly where Destiny had said. They were twisted minds like some crazy old men had but much more complicated. I feared that if I ventured to far in that I would get lost in their swirling maze of thoughts. I pulled away from them mentally but moved toward them physically. My boots made a small crackling sound every time it stepped on the ground so I just slid my feet and didn’t lift them. I felt the harsh brush of a bramble thicket. Why would anyone want to live in this stuff? I asked Destiny and Derek. Well I heard sometimes that people would live in harsh environments just so they will be safe. Derek thought for the first time. Good idea. I commented. We were nearing the circle of trees when we someone who sounded like they had something in their throat spoke out. “Wa re yu doig her?” It choked on a few words. I couldn’t understand so I called on the sir around me and gently prodded at what I was guessing was this creatures throat area. Sure enough something was stuck in there and my gently prodding knocked it out. “Finally! You got that thing out of my throat! Thank you thank you! I mean what are you doing here go away!” The thing stepped out from behind a tree or should I say hopped out from behind a tree. This thing was a man with one leg and looked like he only came up to my knee! He had tasseled chestnut red hair and a small scruffy beard. He wore a scraggly ripped vest and baggy pants with only one leg hole. This tiny man held a crude miniature spear. “We are not here to harm you. I am a Dragon Rider of a mighty dragon that can control all four elements. This boy here is Derek. We were riding on my dragon in the air and my dragon sensed your strange minds and we could not identify you so we came down to investigate.” I spoke softly and slowly hoping not to have a crazy dwarf-like thing running at me with a spear. The dwarfs’ eyes grew big when he heard that I was a dragon rider and he dropped his spear and fell to the ground in shock and passed out. I woke him back up using the same method I had used on Derek. The man woke instantly and started hyperventilating. I warmed the air around us slightly to calm him down a bit. When his breath was normal enough and his eyes had sized down to a good size I spoke softly to him. “Alright we are not going to hurt you just calm down.” I hummed a common tune to him and he closed his eyes and hummed along with me. I smiled, for some reason this guy was kind of funny to watch. When the tune was finished I pulled the man up to his foot and he studied us for a few seconds and then called out. “All right guys, it’s okay you can come out.” He seemed to call out to some people behind me in the circle of trees. A second later I saw about a dozen of miniature people who hopped on one foot. There were 4 ladies and 5 men including the first man. The first man introduced himself and the other people. His name was Bear and his friends’ names were Mint, Marsh, Pepper, Moon, Hawk, Lily, Dove, and Rock. Bear led me toward a roaring fire in a small pit. “Show us what you can do!” He spoke eagerly. I put my hand in the fire and pulled out a chunk without a scorch. Bear’s eyes and all the other Preats (as they called themselves) gasped. Before Bear blacked out again I placed the dancing fire back with the original one. I looked around the clearing for a source of water. While I looked around I noticed that this clearing was not any regular clearing. It was the Preat’s “village”. I saw big bowl leafs full of berries and fruits. There were wooden tools that seemed to have been carved out of blocks of wood. The hollows in the old gnarled trees looked like they had a bunch of feathers and cloths inside making beds for the Preats. I nearly forgot what I was looking for until Bear coughed and I came back to my senses. I found what I was looking for, a small puddle of water. I had some water fly to my hand. With a little pinching at it I created a Preat made of water. The Preats around me clapped and giggled in a childish way. I released it before it soaked up to much of my magic. I showed them tricks using earth and air. By the time I had showed them tricks using all the elements they had all passed out. That’s when I decided to leave. “Let’s go before they wake up.” I whispered to Derek. He didn’t question it he just got up and followed me back to where Destiny was resting and chewing on some animal she had caught. She didn’t ask how things had gone because I had let her view the scene through my eyes. She shifted her wings and swallowed the last bit of meat on the bones. The second I stepped forward I felt a shear pain in my left thigh. The pain felt like nothing I had ever felt before. It felt like every fiber and atom that made up my leg was on fire. I screamed an earsplitting scream and felt like my leg was being ripped into shreds by barbs as sharp as a sword. The last thing I remembered was Destiny calling my name and Derek catching me before I hit the ground. Then everything went pitch black. I woke to the voices of the Preats. “She doesn’t look good to me Moon are you sure she’s going to be okay?” A female Preat spoke above me. “She’ll be fine I promise Lily.” I couldn’t open my eyes yet I felt weak almost too weak to hear what Moon and Lily were saying. “She holds power that no one has ever seen. Not even she knows of her power and what she’s capable of doing.” Moon spoke softly. I was confused by this. I knew that I could control the 4 elements already. What sort of power could exist in me that I had no knowledge of? That was my last thought before I blacked out again. During my time unconscious I fought a mental battle with the Shadow Lord. While I was vulnerable the Shadow struck at me in every way he could. He showed me things I had never wanted to remember again like my parent’s dying faces as Trawlers murdered them. He made me remember things that I had never wanted to think about again. Some memories that he showed me were not memories that I have ever had. It felt like I was out for years and the whole time I was tortured by painful things from the past. The Shadow Lord only said one thing throughout the whole process. That was, “Give up girl you’ll never win.” Then he had went back to the torture. I knew that the years that seemed to pass by was an illusion of the Shadow to torture me even more. Then I felt something inside me that felt like the bands around my heart created by sorrow and pain breaking. Somehow all the grief I had felt before I had fallen into this deep sleep was unleashed and I felt like I no longer cared exactly. I cherished the memories that the Shadow was shooting at me. I didn’t like seeing the painful ones but the ones where my parents and I were having fun I tucked away back in my brain to be remembered forever. When those iron bands broke off my heart time went by for me much faster. The Shadow left me in the cold dark world around me. But inside I felt warmth growing and growing and growing until I couldn’t contain it any longer. I opened my mouth and a painfully bright light poured out of me and illuminated the entire world I was stuck in. It felt like my soul had left my body to light everything with joy and happiness. Then it flickered and went out. That’s when I woke up. I woke in a start and felt panic for what reason I did not know. Derek, Destiny, and all the Preats stared at me. I started to run uncontrollably toward the edge of a cliff. I had this crazy idea that I could fly somehow. My mind was in a crazed state at the moment. I was barefoot so I could feel the hot dirt underneath my feet as I ran. Then the edge of the cliff came. I jumped and spread my arms out as if they were wings for me. Somehow I drifted up and flew for a good 30 seconds before I couldn’t fly and started tumbling down to Earth. Destiny caught me on her back. Are you insane? She asked. I couldn’t help it something took over me somehow. I didn’t feel human for a minute. I responded and told her everything that had happened to me during the time I had blacked out She nodded. One strange thing that happened while you were out is at one moment you opened your mouth and a light came out and then it disappeared and then you started flickering between the forms of a dragon and yourself. Destiny solemnly said. I have a theory. I believe that you were so greatly injured that you passed out and while you were dying the Shadow struck at you. Here’s where it gets weird. Your soul was flickering in between your life right now and a past life you had lived. I believe that souls pick lives to live when they finish one life they start another life. I believe that you were a dragon in a past life. Then Destiny paused to allow me to come in. I think your right. And then when I woke up I was a dragon in my human body and it was all mixed up. I had an urge to fly and I could for a while and then my soul fixed the mistake and turned me back to all human! I finished it off. Wow. That was all that Destiny said before we landed back on the ground near the clearing. All the Preats had hopped out of the clearing and looked up at me on Destiny. “What happened?” All of them asked and I told them everything. Derek was cautious around me like I was a person ready to turn back into a dragon and start flying again. He looked at me with a sympathetic and careful look at the same time. I asked the Preats what had made me start dying and black out. They said part of it had been a thorny plant that should have only lightly scarred me but something had empathized it somehow. They were mostly guessing at what had happened to me. I asked Moon what she had meant by a power that I had but did not know of but she just said, “You will find out in due time.” I was a little frustrated but decided to leave the area. I patted Red fury and spoke to him in my mind. Is everything going alright? I asked him. Yeah everything’s okay. Could you adjust a few things to balance the weight? He asked and I did. When he was fed and watered I opened up my pack and found that all of the fish and the stag meat had been eaten while I had been knocked out. How long had I been knocked out? I asked Destiny. She was hesitant to tell me but told me when I asked her again. You have been out for about a week and a half. She shifted her feet nervous about how I would react. It took me by surprise and I gasped. I gathered myself together in second and then pulled out my bow and arrows. I asked the Preats where most game was. They told me that there were a lot of rabbits in an area full of pansies by the river nearby. I followed the river and then found the meadow full of pansies. I climbed a tree nearby and watched what happened below in the meadow. I had my bow drawn ready to shoot. I brought 3 rabbits back to the circle of trees. I offered the Preats 2 rabbits but they only accepted one. I preserved the meat of one rabbit and then I made rabbit jerky out of the second one and brought it with us while we rode on Destiny. Every once in a while I would eat one and give one to Derek to munch. As Destiny carried us I had taken the whole bag of furs that I have saved and started sewing with animal bone and sinew. I sewed the stag’s skin into a good warm pair of pants for Derek. I had some left over deer skin so I made a pair of gloves for Derek too. After flying about 100 miles we stopped near a new lake. It was smaller than the last one but it would do. I had started to teach Derek how to set up the tent when Destiny stopped us. There’s a group of boulders nearby. Some boulders have fallen on one another. There is one group of boulders that will make an excellent hut. It’s big enough for both of you, all the bags, and you’ll still have room left over. The boulders are really big. So we brought down the town and brought the all the packs over to the area she had talked about. She was right. The boulders were really tall and really fat. I was a little at first that the boulders would fall on top of me at any time but Destiny assured me that it would not fall. I still wasn’t convinced so she thumped the ground a couple times with her tail and blew on it hard but no manner of shaking and thumping or blowing would knock the big guys over. Then and only then was I convinced that we could sleep in it safely. I divided the area under the boulder in half. The left side was my side and the right side was Derek’s side. I put all the packs at the bottom where the crease was.
I didn’t sleep well that night with some many crickets chirping outside the boulders. I tried every method of falling asleep I could think of but none of them worked so I just decided to play my life like a movie in my head. My earliest memory was of me 5 years old splashing around in a shallow pond while my mother sat on a log and watched me playing. I could remember her slightly tan face and her short black hair that pronounced her green eyes. My next memory rolled in. I was 8 and my father held my hand as we walked through a slightly worn path through scrubby bushes in the middle of nowhere. Finally a mound of rock appeared in the distance. It looked like a plain mound of rock from a distance. But when I came up close I saw that it glowed a twilight blue color. He had showed me an entrance into the hollow mound of rock. I had crawled inside the small opening and had seen a glowing orb the same color as the light glowing off the rock. I had touched it and had felt a mind touch mine and then recoil. I had felt a presence in the orb. It had felt magical and living. It had warmed up to me and had said, “Rider.” Then
Its light had blinked out and I left that mound of rock. All my memories soon melded together as I grew sleepier and sleepier. I soon fell asleep for good.
That morning I went hunting for rabbits. This time I brought Derek. He needed to learn how to hunt for himself. I made him a bow and some arrows. Then I brought him into the forest. I taught him how to recognize different tracks such as deer tracks, rabbit tracks, and different types of birds. We tracked a rabbit trail toward the other side of the lake. When we reached the end of the trail we hid behind some bushes and waited for the rabbit to show itself. It quickly
did appear along with 3 other ones. I motioned for Derek to shoot only one
and would also shoot only one. I didn’t want to kill all of them because I wanted the rabbits to be able to reproduce so the balance of the food chain in this area would not be disrupted. On the count of three we shot our arrows. We were able to bring 2 nice rabbits and one quail bird back to camp. I cooked the bird for breakfast and preserved the other two. We were beginning to near a terrain that was sure to be full of predators so I placed a carefully made shield over Red fury to make sure no predator tried to eat him.
That morning I went hunting for rabbits. This time I brought Derek. He needed to learn how to hunt for himself. I made him a bow and some arrows. Then I brought him into the forest. I taught him how to recognize different tracks such as deer tracks, rabbit tracks, and different types of birds. We tracked a rabbit trail toward the other side of the lake. When we reached the end of the trail we hid behind some bushes and waited for the rabbit to show itself. It quickly
did appear along with 3 other ones. I motioned for Derek to shoot only one
and would also shoot only one. I didn’t want to kill all of them because I wanted the rabbits to be able to reproduce so the balance of the food chain in this area would not be disrupted. On the count of three we shot our arrows. We were able to bring 2 nice rabbits and one quail bird back to camp. I cooked the bird for breakfast and preserved the other two. We were beginning to near a terrain that was sure to be full of predators so I placed a carefully made shield over Red fury to make sure no predator tried to eat him.
While we all sat next to the fire trying to warm up before traveling I talked to Derek.
“So how did you sleep?” I asked.
“Pretty good. How about you?” Derek said.
“Couldn't sleep very well with all those noisy crickets, I’m surprised they didn’t keep you up all night wishing you had some sap to stick in your ears.”
“I was so tired I could have slept through a hurricane.” Derek admitted sheepishly, grinning.
I got up right then and went into the tent and pulled out a map and went back out and sat down. I unfurled the map and laid it on the ground. I pointed at where we were and then pointed to where the Shadow place was, the fay island.
“How do we get from where we’re at across the ocean and to the Fay Island?” Derek cried in dismay.
“Getting to the edge of the continent we’re on now won’t be a problem because we’re already close to the edge but crossing the ocean is going to be hard. We don’t have any money for a boat and I can’t build one. It wouldn’t be any problem if we didn’t have so much cargo and we didn’t have a horse but we’ll need the cargo and in order to bring the cargo we have to have Red fury carry it but Red fury can’t cross the ocean without a boat or something.”
“Can’t you use that magic you have to carry Red fury across while we fly?” Derek asked.
“I don’t have enough magic to do that and it couldn’t be possible to get enough magic to achieve that.” That’s when I got an idea. “What if I froze part of the ocean for Red fury to walk across?” I thought it was a perfect idea but then I remembered I wouldn’t have enough and could not get enough magic to achieve that.
”Don’t worry about a limitation of magic because I know how you can get a lot at one time.” Destiny thought to me.
“How?” I asked.
“You’ll see, just figure out the best solution.” Destiny replied.
“Freezing the water is the best way I believe. We don’t have to freeze the entire ocean but just make a little bridge.” I concluded after a lot of thought. “Now how were you planning to get all this magic to do this?” I asked Destiny.
“When I was in my egg my mind was connected to the minds of all other dragons that ever existed. I’ve learned one thing, three times in a lifetime a Rider can give themselves to their element that they can control. This gives them power and allows them to do almost anything they want. It also allows for your maximum amount of magic you can hold to go up so you can hold more magic after that. The old dragons told me not how to do it but that you could do it.” Then Destiny took off and went away to hunt for herself.
“Her idea is very interesting, but how did she know you could do that? I mean what did she mean when she said, my mind was connected to every other dragon that existed?” Derek spoke up.
“There are some things other people cannot explain so you must find out on your own; I believe that will happen when you get your dragon.” I replied.
Derek sighed at my response but didn’t say anything or do anything but play around with pebbles on the ground, tossing and flicking them and spinning them. He seemed to try to move them in every possible way he could think up of.
“What do you think my dragon will look like?” Derek asked after a couple minutes.
“Follow you’re instinct, for what do you think your dragon will look like.” I replied.
“All I see when I picture the dragon is a lavender colored eye sending pictures to me through the eye. It’s like we’re already connected.” Derek shivered slightly.
“Are you scared of this communication between you and the dragon?” I asked seeing his shiver.
“It’s not a bad feeling it’s just a little strange to have someone else in my mind.” Derek explained.
“You’ll get used to it don’t worry.” I comforted him. Derek just grunted and threw a rock into the lake. I put my finger into the water and called upon a fish to bring back the pebble for me. Soon enough a fish swam up to me and opened its mouth revealing the pebble that Derek had thrown. I took it and placed a piece of bread into the fish’s mouth and it nudged my finger as a thanks and swam away.
I smiled and said to Derek as I placed the stone back in his hand. “Reward nature when it does your bidding and when it doesn’t don’t punish it because in the future it may not do what you wish. If you punish nature that time than it will no longer come to you and you will lose complete control over that piece of nature.” I quoted my father who had said the same thing when I had kicked a tree when things had not gone my way. I thought Derek was just going to grunt again and he did but then he looked up at me with a pleading look.
“What?” I asked confused.
Derek just shook his head and looked back down. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“What would I not understand?” I asked.
Derek remained silent, so I did what I normally did to get someone to say something. I sat down next to him and drew into the ground a question mark using a stick. Then I handed the stick to him. He sighed and then absently drew an eye into the ground with such detail I almost thought it was real. When he finished his masterpiece I recognized it as a dragon’s eye. I guessed this was what he saw in his mind every day. I understood how he felt about this eye that looked so pleadingly at him. It seemed to tear him apart, just looking at this eyes that knew him and pleaded for him to come to it. It had been the same for me when I had Destiny’s callings. I had gone so mad that I had stabbed a tree log 20 times until it split apart. Then I had stabbed it some more with my paring knife. At that moment Destiny had contacted me again and had helped me to calm myself. From that moment I never let my emotions take over me so strongly. Destiny had taught how to control myself. I knew it was not my place to teach Derek this lesson so I slipped into his mind and searched for information to where exactly the dragon in the egg was. When I learned where it was I shot my mind into that direction. I passed many different minds, mostly human but every once in a while I would pass by a strange animal’s mind. Then I hit a wall in the world of minds. I knew that I had reached the Shadow Lord’s castle and his border that he had placed around his place. I looked for cracks in the wall but finding none I called to the dragon hoping it would hear me and reach out with its own mind and contact me.
Shortly I heard a voice, “Make it quick, Dragon Rider of Destiny I can’t do this for long.” The words came faintly and struggled. “Derek, your future Rider needs your help. He needs to learn the lesson of control as I did when I was driven mad when Destiny called too. Please help him; it’s not my place to teach him the lesson. Seeing you again would be the only thing that could help him.” I said quickly.
“I can’t, I can only send him simple pictures. Please give him this image.” The dragon said and sent Sarah an image of her fully grown and fierce with claws and roaring at something outside the picture.
“Why can’t you talk to him like you’re talking to me now?” I asked.
“I am able to talk to you for one reason. His mind is not used to a dragon in his head and you are, so I have been sending him pictures to get him used to a dragon being in his mind. When he feels comfortable enough he’ll lower a barrier so then I can send him complicated images, and then when he releases the last barrier I’ll be able to talk to him. I have to go before the Shadow comes into the room and finds me as bright as a star. We in our eggs glow extra bright when communicating with someone.” Then the dragon cut off our connection.
“Hello? Earth to Sarah. Earth to Sarah. Come on dumbo, come back!” Derek yelled when my mind finally reattached to my brain. I opened my eyes to see Derek waving his hand in front of me trying to see if I would react to the light differences as his hand shaded the sun.
“Stop.” I said sternly. Then I entered his mind and made sure he felt me entering.
I talked to your dragon and it’s a she. She told me to give you this image of her in the future when she’s fully grown. She’s just a small hatchling in her egg right now so when she hatches she’ll only be the size of a lion. When she’s older she’ll look like this. I thought to him and showed him the image she had given to me mentally. He gasped when he saw her. She’s so beautiful, such a pretty color purple. Derek thought. She doesn’t mean for you to feel anxious, she just feels anxious herself. Don’t worry about her, she can handle herself. Then I thought to myself making sure Derek didn’t hear. Every day her glow will diminish because of the Shadow Lord takes her energy. She only has about 1 week left, just like the other two eggs do. I’m worried about the other two dragons in their eggs. How in the world will I be able to be the Rider for 3 at the same time? It seems impossible. The two other eggs had to be both male, because that would mean, Destiny and the other dragon could both have possible mates. That’s one of the most important urges in a female dragon. This is way too overwhelming. If a dragon brings to a Rider an element to control what will happen then? I just sat on my rock and thought until I could not think any longer.
