To you goes the cover... to you goes the love! Thank you for making the beaut of a cover that now graces this book! To a long friendship, my friend!
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Kade
Running through the underbrush, I look back quickly towards the mountainous cliffs and the cliff face with a strong sense of wariness. I half-expect the cliff to come alive with Archers shooting me down with their arrows, yelling 'Fie, thou shouldth used armor of metal! Privy, doth thy try again some other time!'
And yet, here I am, still running as I near the tree-line, almost a hundred feet from the safety of the trees when I hear a shout from behind. I know then that I've been spotted by someone, and I hug the black Dragon Egg I found to my chest, heart hammering as I push myself to run faster. More shouts sound out, and then a horn sounding. Oh, that isn't good. With a slightly frightened snarl, I throw myself into the trees, vanishing from their sight and landing on my back, egg nestled in my jacket and arms tightly. I pant heavily and lie there for a moment, then quickly get onto my feet and look back towards the cliffs. No sound of pursuit yet, though the horn was still sounding.
I set my pack down and take off my jacket, wrapping it around the egg carefully, my raw-leather gloved hands tucking it into my pack gently and sinching the flap shut over it. I get up, shouldering my pack and start to jog further into the woods, the horns fading into the distance, and I soon lose the sound. I relax a bit at no longer hearing the call, and I know that people will likely be searching for me. Thankfully, I knew as well that the forest canopy was too thick to look down into where I was situated. I was safe from any aerial scouts, should any Dragons fly overhead. I continue to jog for several minutes, before spotting a familiar tree and moving over quickly, stopping at the base and tracing out the gouges I put into its surface. At one particular spot, I gently pound my fist twice on it, and the wood slide falls out of place, allowing me to reach into the hollowed-out section.
Within the Hollowed-out segment, I reach in and pull out a bow, and a quiver made of deer-hide. I count my arrows calmly, before slinging it against my pack, and pull out the other object in the hollow. A very sharp, hand-whittled wooden sword, with an edge that can cleave wild mellons in two. I strap the sword onto my waist and tighten the belt, before closing the opening with the wooden slide, hiding the hollow effectively. With my hunting gear secured, I move out quickly towards the direction of my home, hoping to get there before any search parties can come out this far and locate me.
I've traveled these woods for twelve years. Twelve long, hard years of being alone, surviving off of whatever I can gather, hunt, and kill. These woods are my home, and I know them so well that I could get from one side of the mountain range to the other without being spotted from the sky, or without being tracked on foot. However, I doubted that these people would send scouts in the air. They would likely try to cut me off by having people head to the Tall-Grass Clearing, as I call it. It was the only safe way to get to my home, either that or I try to navigate across the falls, or hike at least five days around the Falls and up the smaller mountain face.
Trudging my way through the dense undergrowth, I listen to the crisp, peaceful silence around me, hearing nothing but a bird breaking the silence to sing out to its brethren that I was there. I listen to the song, before gently pursing my lips and repeating the song back to the bird, and it looks at me intelligently. I watch it calmly as it chirps, before taking flight and singing out another song, and I smile softly, chuckling inwardly. I watch the bird fly away, before continuing forward and checking my bearing off of nearby, marked trees. I was getting close to Tall-Grass Clearing. Proceeding with caution, I make sure not to make any noises that would give me away to any search parties nearby.
Glancing around, I could sense that there wasn't anyone in the forest near me, or they were just as good at walking these woods as I was, and I'm sorry to say that would be impossible. No one is as good as I am. No one. I pause as I reach the tree-line entering Tall-Grass Clearing, and listen closely to the surrounding area, eyes scanning the tall razor-grass that I named the clearing after.
After several moments, there was a faint rustling, and I narrow my eyes. That wasn't the wind, I knew it wasn't. There was something within the grass, just about fifty feet away and moving away from my position. I run several ideas through my head and come up with a game plan. I fire an arrow at the rocks near the cliff marking the Falls, and then I make my way across while the unknown creature is investigating the noise.
The Half-Moon shines down brightly enough to illuminate my target, and I slip an arrow from over my shoulder, stringing it and drawing it back slowly, standing from my crouched position, and I take a soft breath, steadying myself. I hold the breath, then release it, and I let the arrow flash across the clearing. A low cry of alarm sounds out, and I run forward from the treeline, heading for the Grass while there is rustling running towards where I shot the arrow. I string another arrow, pushing myself to run as fast as I can.
"Someone shot at me, Jaclyn!" A voice yells out, and there's a reply in some odd language before I gasp as my bow gets extremely hot in my hands, causing me to drop it instinctively. I glance over my shoulders, and my heart stops in shock as I look back to see a male with dark silver hair, his hand pointed at me and a look of determination and a fierce scowl over his angular, slender features.
"YOU, STOP RIGHT THERE!" I hear him yell, and I take off running the other direction, heading for the edge of the clearing that I knew held my salvation from the likely death wish that I just signed. "AERON!"
Aeron? Who is Aeron, as that is certainly not me? I ignore the shout and continue to run, feet pounding over the dusty, hard earth, shoving my way through the tall, almost razor-sharp grass. I keep low and swift-moving, no longer holding anything to defend myself except for a few arrows in my quiver, and my bag. However, I figure that swinging a bag with a stone in it would be very harmful to someone. Enveloped in my thoughts, I think of how I am going to get out of the Grass Field and get home, and by the time that it registers to me, it's too late but to look up and let out a yell of fear, a dark shadow befalling me.
And the talons of a Dragon curl around my body and pluck me from the ground like I pluck an apple from a tree, the earth falling away at a dizzying rate as the beasts powerful wings force us further and further away from Earth. I can only manage a small scream of fear, before agony flashes through my mind as something tears its way into my mind and everything washes in and out of existence.
'How dare you, child, attack my Rider! I will drop you if you make one more peep!' A male voice snaps savagely within me, and I can only make a strangled whimper, causing the Dragon's talons to tighten around me. 'Name to me one reason why I should not rip you to pieces?!'
"M-M-My bag!..." I cry out. "D-D-Don't crush m-my bag!" I stutter, my voice slightly hoarse from a long ten years of not using it. That comment, however painful it was to say, seemed to get the Dragons attention, and he growls angrily.
'What is in the bag, Assassin? Why should I not just crush it, and you!' He snaps, and his talons curl inward, pain blossoming all over my body.
"T-The Black Stone! The one I found... Th-The Dragon Egg!"
And suddenly, the pain vanishes. The Dragon's tight grip fades instantly, and his head sweeps down to look at me fully. His dark amber eyes search mine as the savage assault within my thoughts fades, and the Dragon looks stunned. 'A Dragon egg?! You found a Dragon egg?! Where, child?! Why did you not say so? And why did you attack my Rider when you are in the company of two Dragon RIDERS?' He snorts, voice a bit more gentle.
"B-Because... Scared... Find Egg... You take egg away?... You try to catch and hurt me... Like father..." I pant, and the Dragon falls silent, then dives down swiftly, and I close my eyes tightly in fright, wind howling past my ears as Gravity warps, my sense of direction failing as the beast spirals and then flares his wings, releasing me gently and sending me tumbling to the ground with a cry of pained shock.
Then, two feet stop in front of my face as I open my eyes slowly, and a grinning face peering down at me as the Silver-haired male tilts his head gently. "Well well, what do we have here?"
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CHAPTER ONE IS OFFICIALLY IN THE RECORD BOOKS!
Just know that I am writing this when I can, when I'm not having to work, and I will constantly be going back and fixing little mistakes and making it better. This is just the first chapter and a Rough Draft at that! So please, bear with me~! Thank you~!
With Love!~
(Sean) Riley Everette