*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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Vada stared hard at Bram but she did not recognise him as the man she had come to know. His expression was stern and his eyes seemed darker and more menacing than usual.
She opened her mouth to reply but struggled for words in the face of his glare. Neither her heart nor her mind could embrace or understand his action.
'Your challenge is accepted, I will travel to Riska to agree to the terms of the duel.' Vin announced with narrowed eyes and a guttural growl. Beside him, Vada began to wheeze. As her chest tightened she clutched at her heart and was forced to turn away to hide the pain in her eyes.
-
Long after the army left, Vada sat in contemplation, staring up the hill towards Riska.
Friends had come to try and coax her down or force her to eat but she sat like a statue. Inside she felt so broken that she dare not move an inch, for fear of crumbling and drifting away on the breeze.
The dragons also sat on the wall, posted on either side of Vada by Vin, who worried that the Chieftess was a sitting duck in such a prominent elevated position.
As the day wore on, the villagers grew more nervous. Even Diya, who had not yet fully recovered, insisted on waddling her way to the wall. She cradled her cooing baby in her arms as she called up to Vada, but still, the Chieftess did not respond. She was lost to them all in her deep, solitary reverie.
-
Among the people of the Pyrite Clan, Ryke had come to be known as a shaman. Combining his magical and medical knowledge to heal the people of the clan had earned him a level of respect he had never before known. Villagers, sometimes twice his own age, came to him for help with all manner of things.
This is how he came to know of the incident between the water Kin, Bram, and the Chieftess.
While treating a young Kin who had overexerted himself on the training field, his human mother asked Ryke if there was anything he could do for Vada.
The moment he was free from his patients he began to pace.
Back and forth he marched in front his heavily laden desk. Books, parchment, scrolls and quills juddered and rattled as he stomped this way and that.
'Can I do something?' He wondered aloud, feeling useless for the first time since he arrived at the village.
'Can I? Can I?' He mumbled hitting himself on the forehead, frustrated with his brain. 'She won't move and Bram was acting strange,' he muttered, recalling the human woman's words before throwing his arms up with a yell 'if only I had been there!'
'His eyes looked strange,' another deeper voice suddenly cut in. Though they hadn't had much contact since Ryke's first night in the village, he knew whose voice it was and ducked his head nervously before turning slowly to greet the newcomer in the doorway.
