These Souls Entwined (Book 1)

Chapter 2

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'VE DONE???" My father roared. Tears streamed down my face as I watched the horrific scene unfold before me.

No, he wasn't yelling at me. He was taking his outrage out on the royal executioner. Blood dripped from his glinting axe, making my stomach churn. This was all my fault. How could this have happened???

Two days ago my father received an order from the royal court. He was to appear in front of the king and plead his case.

Father wouldn't tell me what it was about. He just told me to take care of the dragons while he was gone. Especially Saphira, since her eggs were to hatch any day now. My brothers kept me distracted the whole time, making jokes and giving me rides on their dragons.

I knew something was up.

When my father finally came back two days later, he was seething. He ignored me completely and ordered my brothers to get their dragons ready to fight. The whole idea confused and scared me.

That's when the royal guard arrived with a finely outfitted knight sporting a ridiculously large axe. My father and brothers, Gabe and Christopher, stood astride their respective dragons in front of the stables.

Understanding flooded my mind. They were after Saphira for attacking that pervert Samuel.

According to royal law, any beast, tamed or not, attacks nobility, their owner must come forth and be tried in their place. Unfortunately the court rules on the nobilities side most versus commoners. They must have come to a verdict... And the man with the large glinting axe suddenly made so much sense. He was an executioner.

A ball of fury rose in my throat at the idea of Lord Samuels embellished lies he must have fed them about Saphira attacking him.

Throwing on my leather riding gear, I ran out the back door and snuck around into the stables. I grabbed my wooden bow and a couple arrows, ready to defend my best friend and her nest. My fathers voice could be heard trying to reason with the royal guard, but soon it was muffled by a cry of alarm as one of the dragons bellowed in pain.

I ran past Saphira's stall to see Christopher's dragon, Sahara, collapse. blood poured from one of her eyes and she shivered before going still. Christopher screamed as their mental connection broke, and he fell to her side, weeping.

" This is what happens when you disobey the Kings orders." a tall, thick-bodied guard said.

My father was unable to speak as he watched his oldest son lose his Soul Steed. All of a sudden, the remaining dragons in the stables roared in anticipation. Saphira made a snuffling noise behind me and I turned to see her nudging her eggs as one by one they started to shake.

Here's the thing about dragon eggs. They are near impossible to break. The chicks rely on their mother to let them out without crushing them on accident. That's why she needed to be watched closely while she was brooding. This is an important moment for the chicks in their life. Only the mother of a particular brood knows how to break her eggs.

As I watched, it became apparent that we had an audience. my father and brother, as well as the royal guard themselves.

Saphira became oblivious to all of us as she started to attend to her eggs. She would pick one up gently in between her razor sharp teeth, and tap it on a tail spike of her own. after puncturing a hole, she would then peel the egg apart, revealing a softer under layer that held a wiggling form. This was the embryonic sack that the chick itself would break a hole through and arrive in the world.

She only got through three eggs before a blade sliced through the tender flesh of her light blue neck, separating her head from her body. I stared in unbelieving horror as her eyes froze in their surprised state. Blood spurted in waves over the floor and her body swayed twice before crashing on top of the nest, effectively squashing most of her brood.

I let out an earsplitting scream as the truth of what had just happened registered.

Saphira was dead, most of her brood destroyed, and what's left was now orphaned. The two surviving chicks screeched and flew clumsily out the open door, making their virgin flight into the sun.

Then my father started yelling, and I sat there, staring at my dearest friend's dead body. Tears burst from my eyes an the world sped up around me. Suddenly my father roughly shoved me behind Saphira's cooling body and I collapsed against her hide in fear at the noises I heard. Ferocious growls and screams intermingled with snaps, groans and the sound of tearing flesh.

I could hear my younger brother, Gabe howl in pain, and a dragon roar in answer.

Then the screams began.

If you've never heard a dragon scream, then you are lucky. A piercing whistle rips at your eardrums at the same time as gripping your heart and chilling your soul. Truly it is only someone with no heart who can stay emotionless through the experience.

For me the experience was ten times worse, because I had grown up beside these dragons, at the same time as it sounded like they were all dying at the same time.

The pounding in my head was terrifying. it grew heavier and heavier, and I felt like my eardrums were about to burst. Just as I thought I could no longer take it any more, my hand brushed against something that silenced the screams.

Before I could tell what it was, the world grew dark, and I fainted.