*Book 1 in the DragonKin series*
Vada and her siblings spend their days carving out a living in the Rystwith Mountain village of Riska. Together they live as outcasts in a small two-story hut just outside the lowland village centre, cast out due to...
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The skies were dark over the Rystwith mountains. Rolling clouds heavy with moisture blocked out the sun and threatened a downpour.
Rains were dangerous in the mountains, they flooded tower top plains, turned the earth into an oozing bog and threatened houses as the earth slid beneath them. The valleys below were even more hazardous, vulnerable to the debris and runoff water from the mountains above.
'Take this,' Ryke insisted, throwing a rolled up blanket at Dani as he glared at the sodden sticks he'd gathered, 'I don't know why I bothered, these are useless!'
'Maybe not,' Dani murmured, moving around Ryke in the small cave they had happened upon just as the rains began to fall. She sat beside the sticks and closed her eyes, trying to connect with her sleeping dragon blood just enough to muster a little power.
The necklace Ryke had given her had hurt at first, however, her strength did indeed return and as it did the pain faded along with her powers. Despite her companions warnings that forcing her abilities would reverse all the good the necklace had done, she certainly wasn't about to freeze to death.
'Dani, be careful-'
'I just need a little bit,' Dani mumbled, 'a good sleep will see me right by the morning.'
As Dani finished speaking a small wind skipped into the cave and gathered over the collection of sticks, creating a tiny whirlwind that whipped the moisture away from the sticks as they danced mid-air.
'That should do it,' she sighed as exhaustion washed over her.
'You better be back on your feet in the morning,' Ryke chuntered, gathering up the dry sticks in his arms, 'we still have a lot of ground to cover.'
'Sometimes I think you're a bigger worry wort than Vada was,' Dani grumbled, making herself comfortable beneath the scratchy blanket, 'always nattering and hovering like I could stop breathing any second-'
'Lose that necklace and that could very well be the case!' Ryke reprimanded as he pulled a tinderbox from his backpack of wonders.
Dani had at first thought that their escape from Menos's cave was a spur of the moment decision on Ryke's part, however, the contents of his backpack proved otherwise. He had prepared very well for their journey without Menos growing even the slightest bit suspicious, in fact, Ryke's knowledge and resourcefulness never ceased to amaze Dani.
'What's for dinner tonight?' Dani asked, changing the subject.
'The rabbit I caught earlier,' Ryke replied, returning the tinderbox to his bag and pulling out a roll of leather containing his knives. 'We can't spare anything to go with it though.'
'That doesn't bother me, we often went without any food as kids so I'm not at all fussy,' Dani replied smiling despite the sadness of her words. It was a difficult life but she had always felt lucky despite her families trouble because they had always had each other.
