by Resa Nelson
Skallagrim considered putting his own sword back in its sheath but his hands wouldn’t let him, as if they had a mind of their own.
Frandulane continued smiling and held his sword hand in front of his face, letting the sword dangle toward his feet. But once within arm’s reach of his brother, Frandulane gripped the sword with both hands and swung it at him.
Startled, Skallagrim brought his sword up one-handed, barely deflecting Frandulane’s blow. He hurried to place both hands on the grip.
Bruni’s horse reared, startled by the attack. Bruni grasped the reins with one hand in an effort to control the animal while holding onto her sword with the other.
Frandulane threw his body at Skallagrim, ducking to ram his shoulders against his brother’s chest.
The unexpected blow knocked the wind out of Skallagrim’s lungs. He stumbled and struggled to breathe.
Frandulane rushed past him and jumped onto the horse Skallagrim had borrowed. He dug his heels into the horse’s sides and raced away.
Bruni’s horse turned in circles, too frightened to be calmed.
A scream from the direction of the boardwalk caught their attention.
“Lumara!” Skallagrim shouted. “Drageen!” Letting Frandulane ride away unchallenged, Skallagrim ran full tilt toward the boardwalk.
CHAPTER 29
When Skallagrim reached the boardwalk, he stood still, confused about the sight unfolding before him.
Minutes later, Bruni ran to catch up with him. She paused by his side. “Benzel!” she cried, rushing forward past Skallagrim and toward the crumpled figure of the elderly dragonslayer who had been their teacher so many years ago.
Skallagrim stared at the scene until he realized one of the dead bodies he saw belonged to a dragon. He shook his head in disbelief and ran toward it. “Lumara?” he called.
Instead of hearing his wife answer, Skallagrim saw drops of fire fall from the sky and land on the boardwalk in front of him like rain.
The fire drops piled up and took the shape of a woman with pale white skin and black hair that swirled like wisps of smoke. The fire spread into a swirling gown sparkling with orange, red, and yellow gems. “Lumara was my sister,” she said. “I’ve come to take her spirit back to my realm.”
“No,” Skallagrim said, trying to make sense of all that happened around him. “If you have the power to take her to another realm, you can bring her back to life.”
When the woman who had taken form from the rain of fire walked toward the figure of the motionless dragon, Pingzi Po looked and cried out, “Fiera! Dragon Goddess, please!” She cradled the body of her husband, Hsu Mao. “He died helping us fight these demons. Can you give him life?”
Fiera kept walking until she reached the dragon. She placed her hand on its skin, and the dragon’s body turned into a pile of ash.
“No!” Skallagrim cried. He sank to his knees in front of the ashes and looked at them in horror.
But the ash lifted into the air and took Lumara’s form. Flakes of burning ember shone in place of her eyes.
Skallagrim stood to face the woman made of ashes, struck speechless by the sight.
An ashy hand touched his face, leaving a smudge behind that made him look as if he’d spent the day with a blacksmith.
“Lumara still lives,” Fiera said, “but she no longer exists in this world.” Her voice darkened when she turned to face Skallagrim. “Make sure her sacrifice was not in vain.”
Fiera dissolved into droplets of fire that shot up toward the sky, followed by the ashy form of Lumara.
Skallagrim stood still for several minutes, looking up at the sky and choking back his tears.
Finally, a hiccupping cry brought his attention back to earth.
Drageen stood where Lumara’s dragon body had collapsed into a pile of ashes before rising into the sky. The boy used both arms to hold a newborn baby. “I did what Mama said,” Drageen said in a solemn voice. “I guarded her. I kept her safe. I protected her from the bad people.”
They are what’s left of Lumara. What she left behind.
Skallagrim reached down and took his daughter from his son’s arms. He knew she’d hatched from an egg, just like Drageen. Skallagrim knew she had powers that he had yet to fully understand.
But in this moment, all he could think about was how much she looked like her mother.
“Well done,” he said to Drageen. “Your mother would be proud of you. I’m proud of you.”
Drageen looked around the boardwalk. “Why did she go? Doesn’t she love us anymore?”
“She does.” Skallagrim cradled his daughter, who stared at him with bright blue eyes. “But she came into our lives knowing she could only stay for so long. Your mother did what she came here to do. When she succeeded, it was time for her to leave.”
Drageen clung to his father and wept.
The resolve to be nothing more than a good father faded away, replaced by a longing that Skallagrim first had in childhood. A longing that he’d promised to forget struck him with the full force of a sword. It then shifted and changed into something else.
Something new.
And now it’s time for me to do what I need to do.
Skallagrim noticed that among the dead bodies were his cousins Einarr and Tungu. His heart hardened.
Good. They deserve to be dead.
He cradled his newborn daughter in one arm and rested his free hand on his son’s shoulder, determined to give what comfort he could before leaving to hunt down and kill his brother Frandulane.
For as long as he could remember, Skallagrim had been told he had a dragonslayer’s heart.
No one ever told him that he would lose his dragonslayer heart to a dragon when he fell in love with her.
No one told him that his dragonslayer heart would break when he found his dragon wife murdered, leaving their children motherless.
No one told him that would leave him feeling as if he had no heart at all.
For the first time in his life, Skallagrim fully believed he had no Scalding blood in his veins and embraced his unknown bloodline. For the first time, he had no desire to be related to the Scaldings, much less be the best Scalding to ever live.
What he wanted was to kill them.
* * *
You have just completed The Dragonslayer’s Heart, Book 2 in the Dragon Seed series. The series continues with Book 3, The Dragonslayer’s Curse. To buy this book, click here or here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNHYL4L
To learn more about this series and how it fits into the Dragon Cycle, turn the page.
About the Dragon Cycle
The Dragon Cycle began with one short story that was published in the early 1990s. Because fan response was so strong, I decided to expand the story into a novel (The Dragonslayer’s Sword). But while I was writing that book, I realized the story and the world were much larger than I’d first imagined.
That’s why one short story grew into a total of 16 books – four series of four books each. When you read the Dragon Cycle from beginning to end, it tells one gigantic story. It’s an epic story of four generations that takes place in six countries, the mortal realm, and the realms of gods.
My goal is that if you want to read just one book or just one series, you’ll enjoy it. But my long-term goal has been to offer a gigantic story that will be satisfying for everyone who loves reading long series.
Recommended Reading Order
The reading order that I recommend depends on whether you like spoilers or surprises.
For people who like to be surprised, who like mysteries, or who like TV series like Lost, this is the recommended reading order:
The Dragonslayer series:
Book 1: The Dragonslayer’s Sword
Book 2: The Iron Maiden
Book 3: The Stone of Darkness
Book 4: The Dragon’s Egg
The Dragonfly series:
Book 1: Dragonfly
Book 2: Dragonfly in the Land of Ice
Book
3: Dragonfly in the Land of Swamp Dragons
Book 4: Dragonfly in the Land of Sleeping Giants
The Dragon Gods series:
Book 1: Gate of Air
Book 2: Gate of Earth
Book 3: Gate of Fire
Book 4: Gate of Water
The Dragon Seed series:
Book 1: Berserk
Book 2: The Dragonslayer’s Heart
Book 3: The Dragonslayer’s Curse
Book 4: The Dragonslayer’s Fate
The Dragon Cycle is like the image of the dragon eating its own tail on the cover of The Dragonslayer’s Fate. By the time you finish this final book in the Dragon Cycle, you will gain a different perspective of all the characters in the previous books. You can then re-read the entire Dragon Cycle and have a different experience.
For people who like spoilers, this is the recommended reading order:
The Dragon Seed series:
Book 1: Berserk
Book 2: The Dragonslayer’s Heart
Book 3: The Dragonslayer’s Curse
Book 4: The Dragonslayer’s Fate
The Dragonslayer series:
Book 1: The Dragonslayer’s Sword
Book 2: The Iron Maiden
Book 3: The Stone of Darkness
Book 4: The Dragon’s Egg
The Dragonfly series:
Book 1: Dragonfly
Book 2: Dragonfly in the Land of Ice
Book 3: Dragonfly in the Land of Swamp Dragons
Book 4: Dragonfly in the Land of Sleeping Giants
The Dragon Gods series:
Book 1: Gate of Air
Book 2: Gate of Earth
Book 3: Gate of Fire
Book 4: Gate of Water
Here’s the reason for this reading order: The Dragon Seed series is the chronological beginning of the Dragon Cycle, and this series spells out what will come in future books.
Other Novels by Resa Nelson
All of Us Were Sophie
Our Lady of the Absolute
To learn more about Resa Nelson’s books, visit resanelson.com or her author’s page on Amazon.com.
