The ivy-covered wall came up fast. Reecah ducked her head and closed her eyes tight but the collision never happened. Unsure she wanted to open her eyes, she felt the rhythmic up and down lurch of Lurker’s body as his wings pushed air beneath them, rising and falling in cadence.
Wind whipped at her tight braid and tore at her cloak. Fearing she might lose her journal and the Dragon’s Eye stashed in her inner pocket, she dared to open her eyes. Locating the journal with her elbow, she squeezed it against her body, afraid to remove her hands from Lurker’s neck.
With the greatest of willpower, she let her gaze drop to the moonlit ground glistening far below. She gasped to catch her breath, and tightened her hold on Lurker’s neck. The chaotic scene in the Dragon Temple courtyard dropped away as lofty treetops became smaller with each flap of his wings. Far to her left, the river sliced through the valley, glinting as it wound its way toward the ocean unseen beyond a bend in the pass.
Far to the side, Silence soared on the prevailing winds. It took her a moment to locate Swoop, much higher still, the brown dragon silhouetted in the moon. Of Scarletclaws, there was no sign.
The smoking ruins of Dragon Home slid by to the north before she was able to calm her breathing. Her eyes watered in the wind, but she didn’t care. She was flying!
Reecah Draakvriend, the awkward girl who lived on the hill and spoke of silly dreams, sat astride a real live dragon and flew through the air. If only her doubters could see her now.
Amid the heavy pall of grief, a strange calm settled over her and the leagues passed by in silent exhilaration. If not for the approaching coast and the edge of the mountain range falling away to the south, she would never have located the pin-sized monolith of the Fang.
They were over the Niad Ocean before anyone gathered enough composure to speak.
It was Lurker’s voice she heard first, his tone subdued, “Where now, Reecah?”
Reecah struggled to prevent her emotions from getting the better of her. She couldn’t allow herself weakness while fighting to remain on a dragon’s back high over the world, but it was tough. Lurker’s entire colony had been destroyed. Other than Swoop and Silence, Reecah wasn’t sure any of the dragons had survived.
It soon became apparent that Lurker was tiring. They needed to land, and fast.
Searching the night sky, the newly snow-capped summit of Peril’s Peak shone brightly in the moonlight.
She didn’t dare loosen her grip upon his neck to point. “Head to that snow-covered peak. At the base of the upper waterfalls lies a cabin. We should be safe there.”
Lurker never responded. He adjusted his wings and flew toward the suggested destination.
She didn’t mind the silence. She was enjoying the view.
A long-ago memory tingled her skin. If only Poppa could see her now, he would be so proud. His little poppet was flying as high as a dragon.
A New Beginning
Reecah focused on the flames leaping into the darkness, her mind a million leagues away from the hunt camp at the base of Peril’s Peak summit. Reminiscing on days gone by and how different life might have been if not for the unjust prejudices between mankind and dragonkind.
After landing through the night, she had tended the wounded dragons. Silence had taken the worst damage, but given enough rest, Reecah was confident the purple dragon would recover.
The day was spent lazing around the field below the tumbling waterfalls. At one point, Swoop flew off and returned a short while later with a small deer in her claws.
Blinking several times, her mind returning to the present, Reecah grunted at the irony of those sitting outside the dragon hunt cabin. Three dragons and the woman the hunt leader had rejected.
She lifted her head and studied the beautiful faces of Silence, Swoop and Lurker. How could anyone wish them harm? Her anger began to rise so she forced herself to think of something else.
Withdrawing her journal, she checked for the countless time that the Dragon’s Eye remained stashed at the bottom of her deep pocket. It did. What good it was going to be to her, other than an endless worry, she had no idea. A part of her considered throwing it over the edge of the ridge fronting the fire pit, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She couldn’t bring herself to part with the subject of Auntie Grim’s dying wish.
She swallowed, fighting back the tears that seemed to be her constant companion lately. If she wished to confront the high king and convince him of how wrong the dragon hunt was, she needed to toughen up. How did she expect the reigning monarch of the Great Kingdom to listen to the whiny ramblings of a snot-nosed girl?
She sighed and bowed her head. So much death and misery weighed down on her and her friends. It would be a long time before she thought she would genuinely smile again.
Turning the journal around in her hands, she absently flipped through the pages. “What the…?”
Lurker lifted his head from his own contemplation.
She hadn’t realized she’d spoken out loud. Studying the back pages of the journal she considered the bold runes printed there. “I don’t remember these words being here.”
Lurker didn’t respond.
Silence and Swoop moved closer to her to see what she was talking about.
A few of the words were unfamiliar, but it didn’t take long to realize she was staring at a spell of some kind. Flipping to the last page, she pointed. “Look! It’s signed: Grimclaw.”
“I wonder what it means?” Swoop asked.
Lurker and Silence shook their heads.
“Beats me. It looks like something only a wizard would understand.”
With that revelation, the clearing fell silent. The fire crackled and popped, its heat driving away the high mountain chill.
Fighting to keep her melancholy at bay, she forced a smile for Lurker’s benefit and reached up to stroke his beautiful face. “You miss her, don’t you?”
Lurker frowned.
“Your mother.”
Lurker’s sad expression was answer enough.
Reecah didn’t care about the tears flowing down her cheeks. They all needed to heal mentally if they were to move on. She leaned into Lurker, nuzzling her wet face against his shoulder. “I miss my mother too. I never knew her, but I still feel so empty knowing she’s gone.” She fell quiet.
Lurker tilted his head to rub against the top of hers.
“What about your father? You never talk about him.”
Lurker shuddered.
Leaning away, she gazed into his magnificent eyes, the emerald colour aglow in the leaping flames. ‘What is it?”
Lurker hung his head. “Grimclaw was my father.”
A cold wave of comprehension washed through Reecah. She stared hard at her mourning friend, seething at what the king’s men had done to him. Swallowing her unease, she stirred the embers with a stick, sending a flurry of sparks into the air.
Letting her ire simmer in the back of her mind, she stared him in the eye. “I’m going to find the high king and demand he put an end to this atrocity. You should come with me. Together we can show the people of the Great Kingdom you aren’t their enemy.”
A single tear rolled off Lurker’s cheek. “You mean that?”
She gave him a scathing look for doubting her. “I pledge to you,” her gaze included Swoop and Silence, “to all of you, that I will not rest until I convince the king of his folly.”
“They’ll kill you for speaking such blasphemy.”
Reecah’s spine tingled, a mischievous grin dimpling her cheeks. “Not if I have three dragons at my back.”
The End…
…is but the means to a new beginning
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Reecah’s journ
ey continues in book two in the Legends of the Lurker Series.
Enjoy the first chapter.
Reecah’s Gift
End of Silence
A fortnight had passed since that horrific day in Dragonfang Pass—a day that witnessed the annihilation of the Draakclaw Colony from Dragon Home. All except for the three dragons waiting for her to pull herself together and get on with her life.
Every passing day since Grimclaw’s death filled Reecah with crushing guilt over her role in the beautiful creature’s demise. She should never have left him, no matter how vehemently he insisted that she save herself. She had been told by the witch, Grimelda, her role was to save the dragons—not run away and allow the annihilation of the colony.
Confounding her melancholy were the faces of the two knights she had dispatched in the courtyard of the Dragon Temple. The vision of the first man’s blood dripping from the tip of her sword caused her to waken in a cold sweat night after sleepless night.
In contrast to her unease, Raver casually pruned the feathers beneath his wings—his black raven’s head picking away at whatever irritated him.
Watching her little friend perched on the open windowsill, Reecah envied him his simple pleasures in life and the way he could move on after such a traumatic event—like it had never happened.
Dust motes shimmered in the morning sun shining through the solitary window in the cabin below Peril’s Peak, despite the layers of grime the years had coated upon the thick glass.
Had she planned on remaining at the dragon hunt camp, she would have turned her attention to tidying up the slovenly interior of the quaint building. If not for fear of the owners returning to lay claim to their property, Reecah might have been content to start a new life high atop of the world.
Hands behind her head, lying on the bare wooden floor, she grimaced at her fanciful notions. If only life were that simple.
A clamour from outside the cabin’s lone door made her sit up. The dragons were scuffling about, impatiently waiting for her to pull herself together and decide their next course of action.
Something about the sunshine flooding the hut served to melt away her languishing despair. It looked to be a glorious day. Perhaps that was an omen. A reminder of her pledge not only to her great aunt, but to dragonkind as well.
There was also the poignant fact that they had outstayed their welcome below Peril’s Peak. The king’s men had seen them escape from the battle at the Dragon Temple.
Reecah shuddered. If the burning intensity on the face of the wizard in black armour she saw in the Dragon Temple’s courtyard was any indication, her scaly friends were in danger anywhere near Fishmonger Bay.
She sat up and sighed. It was time to shake free of her guilt. The ancient wyrm, Grimclaw had given his life for her so that she could make a difference. The dragon war with the high king had been set into motion. To remain here, mired in self-recrimination, did the noble Grimclaw’s sacrifice a grievous disservice.
Facing certain death in the courtyard of the Dragon Temple, she had vowed to avenge Grimclaw’s death. It was time to deliver on that promise.
She stretched her neck one way and then the other, raising her arms overhead and taking one last deep breath of peaceful solitude. Pulling on her black, suede boots, she jumped to her feet to gather her gear.
Silence had risked her life returning to the forest between the Dragon Temple and Dragon Home and retrieved her discarded equipment. Thankful, Reecah slipped her quiver over her shoulder and tied her unstrung bow to her rucksack before shrugging it on.
Pausing at the door, her gaze fell on the large table at the centre of the hut. A smirk tightened her lips at the irony. Wait until the brute Jonas and his lackeys discovered who had spent time at their dragon hunt camp. Reecah Draakvriend—she tilted her head, smiling a little deeper as she corrected herself—Reecah Windwalker, the hill witch, had sheltered here along with three dragons. If only she could see the look on Jonas’ face.
The door opened with a squeal, drawing the attention of her new friends, Lurker, Swoop, and Silence—green, brown and purple dragonlings, respectively. Judging by the sheepish looks on their faces, they were up to something.
She raised her eyebrows with a knowing look.
Allowing Raver to fly through the open door she let the door spring slam it back into its frame. Raver made his way to the tiered waterfall cascading from the snow-capped peak not far behind the hut.
Drawing her brown cloak around her and slipping on its hood, she stared at the green dragon. “Well, Lurker, are you going to tell me, or do I have to figure it out myself?”
Lurker lowered his head, his emerald eyes shining with mischief. He glanced at his cohorts and nodded.
Reecah almost vomited when the three dragons parted to reveal what remained of more than one shredded troll’s carcass. She turned her head away so as not to look directly at the mound of hairy gore. “Do you have to eat those here? That’s disgusting.”
“Sorry Reecah. We didn’t think you’d be up and about already,” Lurker said—his voice sounding in her head. He motioned for Swoop and Silence to get rid of it.
It was a fair assumption. She had become less and less social as the days went by. She waved a hand. “Ugh. Just leave it. Its time for us to leave.”
The dragons considered the carcass, obviously not done with it yet. Lurker and Silence, the purple dragonling, ambled over to Reecah, but Swoop snapped up a last chunk of troll flesh, her jaws noisily chewing it.
Reecah winced as bones snapped. The brown dragon swallowed and offered her a bloody-toothed smile. It was going to be an adjustment getting used to the habits of her new companions.
Lurker accompanied Reecah to the edge of the cliff fronting the small field around the cabin, following her gaze over the rugged terrain below to where the land abutted the glimmering ocean, many leagues away. “Where’re you going?”
The question threw Reecah. His tone suggested she was going on her own. “Are you not coming with me?”
Silence and Swoop joined them—all three dragons avoiding her hazel eyes.
“What? I thought we agreed. We need to convince the high king that his mandate to eradicate dragonkind is not an acceptable solution to our differences.” She paused, staring at each of her friends individually. They refused to meet her gaze.
She grasped Lurker by the chin and forced him to look at her. “You can’t be serious. I need you.”
The sadness shone through his voice. “I’m sorry, Reecah. We’ve struggled with this. Dragon Home is our colony. We can’t abandon it in its darkest hour.”
“But…but…” Reecah searched the faces of the others. They nodded, confirming Lurker’s words. “There’s nothing there for you but death. Dragon Home is destroyed. Everyone is dead.”
“We don’t know that.”
“Silence went back and scouted the area. She saw no sign indicating that any dragons had survived. If you go back, you risk being killed yourself…”
She spun to face the drop-off. “Damn it!”
She had promised herself she wouldn’t cry anymore. She must be strong if she wanted to face the high king. Wiping her cheeks, she turned back to her friends. “It would kill me if something happened to you.”
“We feel the same way about you, pretty Reecah. Nevertheless, we cannot leave our home. Besides, our presence will likely hinder you than help. You won’t make it anywhere near the castle with us at your side.”
“Then I’m coming too.”
Lurker glanced at his dragonkind, shaking his head. “That we cannot allow. You’re the last Windwalker. Grimclaw pledged Draakclaw Colony’s allegiance to you. We forbid you returning to the killing zone.”
Reecah didn’t want to vent her frustration on her companions but she had no one else. Sounding off at Raver wouldn’t be nearly the same.
Lifting her chin, she straightened her shoulders and attempted to cast her face with a stern look. “If you’re supposed to obey me, then I com
mand you to take me with you.”
As soon as she said it, she hated herself for her haughty tone. Who was she to order anyone, let alone three dragons who had just lost everything? She of all people knew what that was like.
“Look. I’m sorry. That was wrong of me. I can’t order you to do anything you don’t want. Please forgive me.”
“You’re a Windwalker. Of course, we’ll do as you command,” Swoop said, looking at the other two who nodded. “But we respectfully ask you to reconsider. If you wish to make Grimclaw’s, and everyone else’s death mean something, you must go to your king and plead our case before there aren’t any dragons left.”
The dragon faces blurred before her. Her tears flowed freely down her cheeks but didn’t care. Let them exhaust themselves so that she could move on. Unable to speak past the lump in her throat, she nodded and kept her eyes on the ground at her feet.
A soft breeze wafted up the mountainside, ruffling her cloak and blowing her brown hair around in front of her face. A hawk’s call echoed off the peak.
Lurker nuzzled his face against Reecah’s stomach almost sending her stumbling backward over the brink. “Remember what you said to Silence in Dragon Home?”
Reecah shook her head. She couldn’t think beyond the moment.
“We’ll always be here for you.” Lurker nuzzled his snout beneath her left breast. “No matter what happens, as long as you feel us here, we’ll always be together.”
His words gave her goosebumps. He’d remembered. Those were words spoken to her by Poppa seemingly a lifetime ago. Instead of pacifying her, Lurker made her cry even harder.
Shoulders slumped and shaking, she smiled and laughed through her tears, half spitting as she spoke. “Oh, great. Now look what you’ve done. Come here.”
She wrapped her arms around Lurker’s head and held him close. Eyeing Silence and Swoop on either side she motioned for them to lean close and included them in the embrace—her arms stretched wide.
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