Destiny: Book 1 of the Draki Series (COMPLETED)

Prologue

An old weathered woman stokes the fire under the boiling pot in a cozy cottage in the foggy sleepy forest of the kingdom of Esos.

The old crone turns towards the cloaked figure that entered her cottage quietly and says, "You're late. I knew's you was coming dear one." the old woman paused at the figures murmurings and pulled her long white scraggly hair away from her ears, "Speak up now what is it? Oh how did I hear's you was coming?" the old woman dug her hand into a wicker basket by the hearth taking out a squirming toad and proceeded to dump the live toad into the boiling pot.

"The wind told me, the wind hears everything don't you know, now you've come to me to hear about our people's history then, the true history, not one often told by your fancy tutors," the old crone made a face and beckoned the cloaked figure closer.

Without waiting for an answer the hunched over woman produced a purple sand from her satchel and tossed it into the flames causing a mystical smoke to plume out of the boiling pot.

Once long ago, dragons and humans roamed this earth peacefully, together they were an unstoppable force.

Alas like summer to winter, these things do not last very long, there came to be a very power hungry human king, King Stefos, he wanted to take the dragons and use them to fly across the seas and claim more land and kingdoms for himself.

This was not the dragon way, dragons are peaceful by nature believe you me, but sadly due to King Stefos greed war was waged between the humans and the dragons.

King Stefos was a mad man, killing every dragonborn man, woman and child. No dragon was safe, much blood spilled and little gained.

The dragons had to retreat, to protect their people, they fled to uninhabited islands along the seas, many did not survive the journey.

Thousands of human soldiers went on the blessing of King Stefos to rid the realms of the believed to be foul creatures.

For many decades dragons were thought to be extinct.  King Stefos was old with only a son and a young daughter, he no longer pillaged or went to war.

This was when the dragons attacked.  They came down from the night sky in numbers no man could have guessed, leading them was their king, Davros.

"He was a large beast larger than any dragon I have ever seen," the old crone stopped to cough and hack before looking at the cloaked figure with suspicion, "Oh you don't believe me well I was there don't you know, the King employed me as his seer then when I was in the royal's good graces."

"Don't think to ask me my age lassy I've lost track...Now where was I oh yes."

King Davros rained hellfire upon the capital city of King Stefos' kingdom.  Many died when Davros attacked the castle he could not be stopped.

The king could do nothing but bow to this dragon king, but instead of wanting control of the human kingdoms, the dragon king only asked for one thing, a bride of his choosing.

You see when King Stefos began to purge the human lands of dragons he caused a great decline in breeding and female dragon population dwindled. Thus King Davros needed a human female to bear his heirs.

The king readily agreed and even threw a lavish feast for the dragon king ordering many Lords of his kingdom to bring their eligible daughters forward to meet the dragon king.

None sadly appealed to the handsome dragon king, it is said one night during the festivities Davros heard a beautiful singing voice that night above the feast music.

When he went to investigate the King Stefos attempted to stop him but the old King was no match for Davros' dragon strength. The king sadly died that night at the hands of King Davros.

King Davros climbed to the tallest room in the tallest tower where the singing grew louder and more beautiful with each step. Davros once said it was as if his whole being ached for the person attached to this voice.

When he reached the room he was not expecting to find a beautiful woman with hair as white as snow and skin as soft as rose petals sitting at the window sill watching the festivities with such longing. She was a famed beauty, Princess Lara, King Stefos only daughter.

The dragon king was in a world of shock as he felt his inner dragon roar within him, the Princess had never met a dragon and had only read about them in stories or from her father's tales. Naturally she was curious, but things did not end well for the beautiful princess.

That night King Davros began a tradition that has followed throughout the centuries in this kingdom of Esos, every King of Dragons has come to our kingdom for a bride and not one has left empty handed. When the large and wealthy kingdom of Esos was divided between the present kings of today, this tradition did not follow them. Esos is cursed for their treachery towards the dragon people.

Many attempted to hide their daughters for fear of the dragons picking them, unfortunately the dragons are very smart creatures, since Princess Lara, there has only been a select few of the royal members of Esos that have wed a dragon. The royal members of this kingdom have made sure of that no princess has been born of this kingdom.

The purple smoke died down and the cottage was once again dark except for the fire's light.

"You wished to hear this story for yourself didn't you my lady, to see if what you fear is true? You wished to ask my counsel on this troubling matter." the old crone collapsed into a wooden chair next to the hearth making the chair and her bones creak.

The old woman threw a pink dust into the flames, "Heed my warning, what I say is true, you will birth a daughter, a beauty like Princess Lara, but be cautious no matter what happens the King of Dragons will come for her, as his ancestors have in the past."

The lady clutched her rounding stomach finally speaking up loud enough for the old crone to hear her, "There has not been a sighting of dragons in centuries, we have made many offerings over the centuries and none are accepted, they are extinct."

The old woman nodded, "Then you must pray to the gods the dragons do not sense your daughter's birth and awaken," the old woman began to cackle, "Her royal blood will cause quite the stir you see... I sense one so great his purple eyes are already searching the realms for her blood."

The cloaked woman rushed out of the cottage the old crones cackle turning to hacks as the woman threw herself into the gold carriage and it sped away into the night.

"Oh Lucinda, you cheeky witch you scaring that poor Queen,"   The old woman coughed softly to herself before turning to gaze into the flames, "What a beautiful princess you will be Evangeline, a perfect bride fit for a Dragon King.

____________________________________________________________________________

Hope you enjoyed the Prologue of Destiny!  I chose the witch from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves because well she is scary as heck.  I watched this movie and thought of her as the perfect Lucinda!  Let me know what you think in the comments below!  Oh and please do not hesitate to give me a star!! ♥

Erin♥