Return of the Dragonborn Series: A prequel short story
Page 3
Jane looked as if she would protest, but the gravity of the situation kept her quiet. Without a word to Eric, she turned and ran, disappearing in an instant. Now out of the reach of Taline’s restrictive charms, he need not run. With a mere thought, he found himself at home. Andie was crying on the sofa, and the searchers were beating on the door.
“Searchers! Open this door!”
“Daddy!” Andie cried. “They won’t go away!”
Eric dropped to his knees and hugged her close, relieved beyond words. Even as the searchers beat at the door and threaten them, he took a moment to convince himself that Andie was safe.
“It’s okay, baby. I’m here now. And mommy’s close. Just stay here and let me take care of this. Remember what we talked about? About how your magic is special, so special you can’t tell anyone other than mommy and daddy, right?”
“Right,” she managed through her tears.
“Good. So try as hard as you can to control it, okay?”
“But what about my eyes?”
“Hey, we change them every day for school, right? So let’s do that now. Come here, and I’ll do the spell.”
But just as Eric raised his hands and began the incantation, the front door came crashing down, and the entire front of the house from the kitchen to the master bedroom, too. Instinctively, Eric covered Andie to protect her. When the dust finally settled, his first thought was to hide her eyes, but it was too late. The searchers flooded the room and, riled by having been ignored and made to wait, kicked Eric in the face. Everyone knew: there was no quicker way to piss off a searcher than to not indulge their fantasies of superiority. Eric was face down, bleeding, and before he looked up, he could already hear the sharp metallic clicks of the guns being primed. He lifted his head to look at Andie, whose eyes were completely hidden by tears. And now he was scared.
“Her eyes!” yelled a searcher. “We’ve got one! Everybody on her, now!”
And as if with a single mind, they all pointed their guns at the six-year-old girl who was too young even to know what she was being killed for.
But Eric wasn’t done yet. The speed charm was still active. In the blink of an eye, he was on his feet, and twenty guns glowed brightly as their target changed. But they’d destroyed his home and threatened his daughter. The first spell hit the searcher before anyone even knew Eric had moved and the next one broke every bone in another searcher’s body. Eric shouted an incantation that caused three searchers to burst into flames. Eric moved, quicker than they could follow and pulled the winds with him. A searcher was snatched from his feet and blown through the steel and concrete of the living room wall. He turned and found himself facing the dark barrel of a searcher’s gun. He’d made a mistake. But before the gun fired, the searcher was lifted off his feet and slammed into the floor, the wall, the island counter and finally tossed out into the yard, lifeless. Eric looked toward where the door used to be. Jane.
Of course, she couldn’t leave him.
Like a furious whirl of nature and might, husband and wife demolished the searchers with an incredible rage. They had never been violent people or relished the thought of taking lives, but every man in the house had seen Andie’s eyes. They couldn’t be allowed to report back to the university. In no time at all, the searchers all lay defeated, and Eric held his family in his arms.
“We have to go, now,” he said. “More will have heard the fight and be coming this way.”
“Come on, baby,” Jane said, picking Andie up. “It’s not safe here anymore.”
Without another thought for their home or the life they were leaving behind, Eric and Jane stepped outside and huddled close. Eric closed his eyes to transport them out, but just as their bodies attempted to make the jump, a hot, searing pain burned across them in diamond lights.
Matrices.
As he crumpled to the ground, Eric wondered how he could have been so stupid. Matrices were an invisible defense against those trying to teleport out of a protected zone; you could teleport in, but never out. The pain was completely debilitating, and Eric could do no more than lie there and watch wave after wave of searchers close in on them. He couldn’t see Jane, but he could see Andie. Unconscious and so beautiful and calm she could be sleeping.
“Trying to escape?” a searcher mocked.
The man walked up to Eric and stomped on his face. More kicks followed, and Eric could hear them beating on Jane as well.
“So which one of you is it?” the same searcher asked. “I forget, you can’t speak until the pain wears off and that could be hours. Well, there’s one sure way to test you.”
The searcher took off his helmet to reveal a young, handsome face. The man, whose only slightly too old to be called a boy, would have looked wholly innocent if it wasn’t for the disfiguration covering almost the entire right side of his face. It looked as if the skin was ripped away, leaving a clear view to the teeth and muscle beneath. It was a face that couldn’t be forgotten. The man looked at Eric’s eyes, satisfied himself, and moved on. He checked Jane next.
“Well, what do you know?”
Eric’s heart broke. Jane had been keeping her true eye color hidden for years, but the matrices weakened her too much. He heard them dragging her away. He wanted to scream, to cry, but he couldn’t. The searcher moved from Jane to Andie, and Eric knew it was his last chance to save her. Reaching further into himself and his magic than ever before, he managed to raise his hand as the searcher raised Andie’s head. Eric stretched his fingers, and the Searcher opened Andie’s eyes. An eternity passes. Then the searcher smiled.
“Look at this,” he said, with a sickening grin. “You get to keep the little girl.”
And as relief washed over him, followed swiftly by the terror and sorrow of Jane’s discovery, Eric closed his eyes.
* * *
Andie opened her eyes. She was confused, terrified, in pain. She looked over and saw her father in the grass. He wasn’t moving. The matrix caught mostly her parents and only grazed her, leaving her virtually unharmed. Someone called her name and made her jerk to attention in the other direction. Her mother. There were tears in Jane’s eyes as she was dragged away.
“Stand in the light,” her mother said. “Don’t be afraid.”
Then a gun rushed into her mother’s face and she went limp. Jane was thrown into an armored truck. She disappeared forever.
Andie was so scared she could hardly breathe. She turned over and crawled to her father, who still wasn’t moving. A man with a horrifying face came over to her. He smiled in a way that she knew wasn’t safe.
“Let’s end this, little one.”
He turned to the house and cast a spell. Every picture, every memento, every piece of clothing or souvenir that ever represented Jane disappeared. Her face left the walls, her belongings left the drawers, and anything in the house that even remotely had any connection with her was just gone.
“You see, this is the fun part,” the half-faced man said. “We take the blood traitor, torture them, kill them, and erase any memory that they ever existed. Except of course for the archives in the university dungeons, but no one will ever see those. And here’s my favorite toy.”
He pulled out the gun and put the barrel against Andie’s head.
“You have no idea what these things can do. You can’t even imagine the different functions and methods of destruction contained in this. So many different ways it can kill you, ages ahead of the simple lead-firing contraption it used to be. What do you say? Want a lesson in destruction?”
Andie broke down in angry, bitter tears. The searcher toyed with the trigger. He lowered the gun.
“I’ll settle for erasing your memories. Wouldn’t want you to grow up and cause problems.”
He waved his hand over Andie’s face.
“That’s better. Goodbye, little one.”
The searcher stood and left. His truck and others pulled off into the night, leaving the six-year-old girl alone in front of her destroyed home. But w
hat the searcher didn’t know was that Andie was more powerful than the average sorceress. The dragon blood was strong in her. Her memory hadn’t been erased. And this pain would never be forgotten.
Return of the Dragonborn
READ NOW
Read the complete Return of the Dragonborn series in the new combined boxed set for a heavily discounted price, for a limited time only. The entire trilogy is also free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
Bonus offer:
If you are interested in supporting the pre-order for my upcoming young adult epic fantasy series, Amethyst of Destiny, I’m offering a free copy of the first book in the Return of the Dragonborn series as a huge thank you! Simply e-mail me (nmhowell@dungeon.media) or Facebook me (www.fb.com/nmhowelbooks) a screenshot of your pre-order purchase receipt, and I’ll send you a free copy of Marked by Dragon’s Blood!
PRE-ORDER NOW
Also By N.M. Howell
Dawn of the Gods:
Amethyst of Destiny
Immortal Nights
Raven
Arcane Realms:
Portal
Return of the Dragonborn Trilogy:
Marked by Dragon’s Blood
Fueled by Dragon’s Fire
Called by Dragon’s Song
Return of the Dragonborn Trilogy Boxed Set
Brimstone Bay Mysteries:
Murder Any Witch Way
Witch Way to Hallows’ Bay
Bewitch You a Merry Christmas
Witch Souls to Save
Cats, Ghosts, and Avocado Toast:
A Thrift Shop Murder
A Vet Vanishes
A Devilish Disappearance
Darkness Bites
A Bitten Curse
A Pull of Moonlight
A Promise of Protection
A Taste of Temptation
Find all of N.M. Howell’s book on Amazon HERE.
About N.M. Howell
N.M. Howell is an author, publisher, and all-around nerd from the West Coast of Canada. She has an obsession with coffee, spicy food, and the rain, and she absolutely hates sleeves. (Seriously, they’re like little fabric prisons!) When not working on her latest book - or latest ten books, more realistically - she spends her time wandering the world and fighting with her micro-wolf pup over who gets the best spot on the couch. Hint: the dog wins.
Find N.M. Howell online:
www.nmhowell.com
Newsletter
Sign-up for my newsletter to be the first to hear about my new releases and to gain access to exclusive free books, giveaways, and more!
SIGN-UP NOW
As a thank you for signing up, I’ll send you a free exclusive copy of the exclusive prequel story to my Return of the Dragonborn fantasy trilogy.
Amethyst of Destiny
A magical realm destroyed by the gods. A reluctant heir their only hope.
I’m a nobody. A street rat. Human. At least, that’s what I tell myself at night.
Truth is, I’m the daughter of the evil god king. Ruler of the dark and twisted Otherworld where the gods are so powerful they share their souls with guardians—powerful demigods born to protect their god at all cost. My mother was one of those guardians.
As the only heir to the Otherworld throne, I saw first-hand the evil my father spread across our lands. A dark reality I couldn’t bear to be a part of. When my mother was killed under his reign, I escaped the Otherworld to live among humans.
But when my five commanding demigod Guardians showed up on my sixteenth birthday telling me that my father had been killed and it was my turn to claim the throne, I knew my time of freedom had run out.
PRE-ORDER NOW
Over 540 pages of thrilling epic fantasy adventure! Previously released in 2017 as Shattered Heir. Don't miss this brand new re-written edition of the bestselling young adult fantasy by two-time USA Today bestselling author, N.M. Howell.
PRE-ORDER NOW
Marked by Dragon’s Blood
"Howell is a master storyteller who weaves fast paced tales while creating a fantastic world with amazing characters." ★★★★★
Descended from dragons. Condemned to death. Driven underground.
Andie Rogers is no stranger to secrecy. After watching her dragonborn mother get taken away at a young age, she has had to learn to use her sorcery inherited from her father to disguise all trace of her own dragon’s blood magic. Now, no longer a child, Andie must attend the University, center of all magic and government in Arvall City, to learn to wield her magic and become a fully-fledged sorcerer.
But Andie has another goal in mind.
Dreams of her tormented ancestors calling out to her have haunted her since she was a child, and Andie knows she must answer their call and discover the truth. But she must do so in the magical capital in the world, surrounded by powerful sorcerers determined to uphold the lie at all cost. If they discover that she carries the blood of the dragonborn, death with be swift and her people will never get a chance at redemption.
Will Andie risk everything to shatter the lies that the world has been fed for so many years? Will she set her people free?
READ NOW
Don't miss the exciting new young adult epic fantasy series readers are calling a "fun mix of Harry Potter and Eragon."
"Action-packed thriller ride through an urban fantasy that brings the ancient past to the distant future." ★★★★★
"Definitely a mix of Aragon and harry potter. Great cast of characters excellent story plenty of magic action good and evil. Mix in a little bit of prejudice and bias and see what causes the hatred and how these characters work their way through it and reach their goal. Magical mystical world at its best. Definitely you must check it out" ★★★★★
"This is one of those books that keeps you up at night because you tell yourself one more chapter again and again!" ★★★★★
READ NOW
A Thrift Shop Murder
"This is such a fun, laugh out loud book that has you turning page after page." ★★★★★
* * *
One witch with a grudge, three cats with a secret, and one vegan with a very big problem.
Priscilla “Price” Jones is down on her luck. First, her childhood sweetheart dumps her a month before their wedding so he can hook up with a model he met at one of his yogalates fitness studios. Then, her vegan smoothie store burns to the ground.
Out of work and out of love, Priscilla accepts the first job she can find, packs her bags, and takes the first bus from Portland to Salem, Oregon, to find her luck is even worse than she thought. Her new boss just died, and the old lady’s thrift store, her apartment, and three huge male cats just got added to her long list of problems. But when Price opens one of the old lady’s books and accidentally unleashes some witchy magic, she soon realizes her troubles have only just begun.
READ NOW
Don't miss the first book in bestselling authors N.M. Howell and L.C. Hibbett’s hilarious new series: Cats, Ghosts, and Avocado Toast! Who knew clean eating could be so messy?
* * *
"A fun and entertaining joyride of a novel. Quirky in all the right places with enjoyable characters and plot devices that are sure you have you shaking your head, laughing and all around just having a good time reading." ★★★★★
"Cozy mystery and RH all in one book! Does it get any better?" ★★★★★
READ NOW