The Lost Princess

by Nisa Ryan

  Dragon Sworn

  The Lost Princess

  Nisa Ryan

  Dragon Sworn Episode 1: The Lost Princess

  © 2019 Nisa Ryan.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover designed by

  Whendell Souza

  Nisa Ryan

  www.NisaRyan.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing: November 2019

  Dreaming Lily Publications

  This book is dedicated to all the authors, young and old, that are still finding their feet along the writers’ path that is full of pitfalls, self-doubt, tears, coffee, and long sleepless hours. You can do this; never forget why you are writing.

  The world needs your story.

  ABOUT THIS BOOK

  I KNOW MOST PEOPLE DON’T READ THESE, but I hope that you do because it is essential. This story was first written back in 2011 when my boyfriend (now husband) had left to basic military training. I was lonely while he was away for two months of basic training and then another fifteen months of job training. I was only able to visit him for a few days here and there, before returning home alone again. While in basic they are not allowed to read anything but the provided materials, so I began to send a series of extra-long letters which included chapters of a story I was writing, this story, to give my husband something entertaining to read. It was passed amongst the sailors in the barracks, and many of them waited eagerly for my weekly chapters. So, here are the collected chapters as they were written.

  I have tried my best to leave the chapters as they were written but did take the time to correct some grammar, spelling, etc. and will continue to write the story to its completion so never fear, the ending of this episode is only the beginning.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  The Lost Princess

  Chapter 1

  You would never have known from looking at me that I was a thief. My father had taught me from a young age to keep my ears open, my eyes peeled, my feet light, and to always keep my wits about me.

  Life as a thief wasn't without its merits. I often felt that I carried the keys to the city. I had access to every window to every door to every chimney, and no one ever needs to know that uninvited guests had been inside their homes, had stood over their sleeping forms, had eaten from their stores. Unless of course we wanted them to.

  A light drizzle had already made the moss-covered tiles slick and had soaked through the green cloak I wore. The moisture turned the fabric black, and my dark hair lay plastered against my forehead beneath its deep hood. The fitted trousers I wore were also soaked and rubbed my skin uncomfortably. I could feel the water rash itching beneath the fabric already.

  Between my shoulder blades, beneath the cloak, a short sword was strapped and a matching dagger was at my hip and, in a harness that crossed my chest twice over, was a set of lock picks along with some bandages and healing herbs for an emergency. I glanced left and right, peering between the shadows of the streets below but, seeing and hearing nothing suspicious, I shook the extra moisture from the folds of fabric and stood with practiced balance. Placing one foot carefully in front of the other I paced my way across the edge of one roof and, with a soft grunt, leaped across the alley to the next and hunkered up against the stone chimney. Pressing my body into its shadow, I curled up against it for warmth.

  I sat in silence for a stretch when from the corners of my eyes I saw two other figures make the leap and move quickly to join me in the radiating warmth of the chimney. One was large, that would be my father, Lucian, and the other was just as tall but slighter in build. That would be our ward, Julian. They were dressed similarly to me, swords and all.

  I smiled and nodded as their dark figures joined me around the warm stone and we exchanged whispered greetings in the evening light.

  “Raina, have you seen anything yet?” my father Lucian asked. His voice was rough with age and chill.

  “Not yet, father. But the rain is starting to let up, and the fog is moving in. I nearly slipped a few roofs back, but I managed to stay on my feet. I haven’t seen him yet; the fog is complicating things,” I mumbled, running a hand across my forehead and flinging away the beads of water and sweat.

  Julian scooted closer, his lips were tinged blue from the cold as were my own, but we ignored it. We were used to working in harsh conditions. Especially in the winter when snow would drift between the limbs of the giant wisteria tree to cast across the tall towers and homes, covering them in sheets of ice.

  The vast city-tree was surrounded by twenty-five-foot walls with thirty-foot towers punctuating it every two miles. This tree that was the city’s namesake stood even taller with branches spread wide and ever-green leaves of emerald and cerulean blue that disappeared far above our heads and into the clouds. No one really knew how tall the tree was or how old but its gigantic trunk and the large gnarled roots that grew spiraling outwards from it became a home for thousands.

  The city-tree of Wisteria was often referred to as the tree of life. Because it was the source of life for those of us, who dwelt beneath its massive branches. Entire households had been carved into its outer bark, and thousands more were built upon the sloping hills of its roots and nestled up against the city walls that wrapped around it protectively. At night, the household lights seemed to dance across its trunk, spiraling upwards towards the lower branches were the royal households were suspended aloft on enormous platforms that hung like giant lanterns overhead.

  Wisteria was our source of protection from both the elements and worse. It’s very essence, its life energy, pulsed through the city and kept us safe by protecting us from horrors that I had never seen myself but knew to lay outside the walls. The tree repelled these unseen forces and kept us safe. But even the living city of Wisteria was not without its danger. Petty crime and palace intrigues were here just as they were in any other place with a large and influential population. A prominent society of wealthy politicians that held no issue with hiring us to do their dirty work.

  We were thieves for hire, but we were not killers. We had standards, and our honor, and these things did not include blood on our hands. My father didn’t take every job that came our way. If it seemed too risky, he would give a firm ‘no.’ If it involved children it was out of the question. But sometimes we had to make hard choices, judgment calls, and weight the pros and cons. Even we needed to eat, and that meant taking jobs we didn’t always agree with. And of course we had to plan and run the scenarios over and over.

  That was what we were doing on this night. Running the what-ifs. Somewhere on another rooftop in the darkened city was our elusive prey. Tonight, it was Niam who would be the quarry, and that suited me. We were not friends, and I grinned at another chance of beating him at his own game.

  “It’s Niam, I see him,” Julian whispered and squeezed my arm. We turned our heads as a breath of shadow drifted between the chimneys five houses down the street.

  Lucian let out a sigh and
crossed his legs to lean further back into the warmth of the stone chimney while he rubbed his arms for extra warmth, “He’s bluffing, don’t fall for –”

  It was too late; his warning went unheard. Julian shot across the rooftops after Niam before my father could even finish. I shook my head dismissively, clapped my father on the shoulder, and took off after the both of them.

  ♦♦♦

  With feet tapping softly across the roof tiles I dashed across them. Gaining speed and momentum I tucked up my knees, arms spread wide, and flew between the gaps to the next roof, one after the other, trying to cut Julian off before he made a huge mistake.

  Niam could be dangerous. He could even be deadly depending on his particular mood for this night. There had been times when we had close calls or near misses at being caught, all because after careful planning when invading homes. We would step inside only to find it Niam sauntering down the hall through the open door. Or sitting at a table, grinning casually. At times he was downright malicious, he enjoyed teasing me mercilessly, and I didn’t care for him at all.

  I used to ask my father why he kept Niam around with arguments that he was a danger to us. I often argued that Niam was going to get us caught and killed, he had nearly done so before. We had had many close encounters in the past, and more than once Niam had put us all in danger.

  Niam enjoyed the suspense of it all. My father would just sigh. Niam knew this arboreal city better than anyone, his knife skills were second to none, and he was loyal despite his follies and therefore useful.

  I gritted my teeth as I caught up to Julian just as Niam leaped up, spun around in the air with a wicked grin, and dropped into the dark space of an alleyway. Julian winced as he dropped to the edge of the roof, peering down into the shadows only to have a fist land straight up into his chin, knocking him backward and laying him flat on his back.

  Dropping to my knees next to Julian’s prone form, I flicked his forehead and grinned, crossing my legs. I knew Niam, he would already have slipped away and found his way back up onto the roofs. Height was an advantage we all knew too well.

  “That was stupid,” I said to Julian with a grimace, “You should know better by now,” I said as Julian pulled himself up to knees. Nodding he smirked, “Yeah. I know.”

  “Then why’d you go after him?” I asked.

  “Just ‘cause,” he muttered, looking sheepish as he cupped his jaw and rubbed the pain out of it.

  Looking up, I found Niam watching us not thirty feet away on the next roof. His red hair shone in the glowing lantern lights that lined the street below. Their dancing flames cast eerie shadows across the wood and stone walls. Green eyes flashed as Niam waggled a finger at us and then grinned wickedly before turning to run between the jumble of chimney dotted rooves. He was entering an area of the city that was more densely packed and far more dangerous for it.

  Julian groaned and leaned forward, peering into the shadows after Niam. I could see a bruise already forming as a bloom of blood grew at the edge of his lip where it’d been split. I was about to suggest we call the exercise quits for this night, but Julian was already on his feet. Giving me a lopsided grin. He said, “Clearly Niam wanted to pick a fight tonight.”

  “Julian, Niam always wants to pick a fight. When are we not fighting?”

  “No truer words have been said about Niam.”

  “Look. I’m tired. It’s wet and cold, and I’m ready to go home. Let’s end this quickly,” I muttered while rubbing my hands together, trying to get the blood moving to bring warmth to my blue nails.

  “Yeah. Me too, let’s move. Should we pull the snare?” Julian tilted his head to one side as he gazed down at me, his freckled cheeks dimpling as he smiled.

  I liked it when he did that. It made his blonde bangs fall over one of his azure eyes in a way that made my heart leap. I shook my head with the barest of movement to scold myself, no time for thinking about that.

  But lately, it had gotten harder to concentrate on my work and less on the fact that I was the only girl living with two young men. More often, I had found my father forgetting that I was his daughter and not the son he should have been training. Or perhaps he was in denial.

  I nodded with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm, but Julian didn’t seem to notice. Pushing the other thoughts aside, “Alright, let’s use the Snare move and catch this rabbit,” I said in agreement. I just wanted this night to be over with already. The real work would begin tomorrow, and that was when it would matter the most. Julian laughed and held out a hand, helping me to my feet we took off once again. Side by side across the sleeping homes of Wisteria.

  Together we moved silently and stepped into a formation we knew well and had practiced since we were kids. The idea was that one of us would run out and away just a little farther ahead of the other, catching the prey’s attention while the other dove in for the final attack. Niam would know it was coming, he had trained with us as well, but this was for practice, and the target was meant to be an enemy who didn’t know who we were, what we could do, and least of all how we would do it. Niam would play along and let himself get captured or at least, that is what he is supposed to do. With Niam you could never really tell if he would play fair. His little trick back there on Julian was decidedly unfair.

  Moving as carefully as I could, I picked my way through the tightly packed chimneys. Pausing long enough to ensure my sword was wrapped snugly beneath my cloak so that it didn’t bang noisily against the tin. The city walls loomed above, casting a deep shadow overhead. I bit my lip to keep from crying out when my bare knuckles brushed against the hot metal of a tall, lop-sided, stack of metal that served in the stead of stone. In the less wealthy parts of the city, far away from the trunk of the tree or its central roots, people had to use whatever they could to build their homes, so it wasn’t uncommon to find stacks of cans, like this one, wrapped with tinfoil or even pieces of metal slats bound together with twine. Scrap metal, tacks, nails, screws, broken glass and sharp plastics were often strewn across the rooftops of these areas. The wealthier lived closer to the tree and wrapped around the trunk. They towered over these areas, and so their garbage often rained down on the shantytown despite the city having laws against doing this.

  I crept my way as silently as I could through the forest of stacked cans as smoke rose steadily above our heads. It made the air humid, hazy, and hard to breathe. Visibility was low from both the waning moon, the rain, and the smoke from the fires in the homes below my feet. I closed my eyes and breathed a calming breath and concentrated on what I could hear over what I could see. A familiar rush of energy ran through my body, pulsing around me and reaching out tendrils of power that searched and sensed the area around me. I didn’t know what this power was or where it came from and I had discovered I could use it by pure accident. Several years ago, when I was still a child mostly, my father would hide my toys and send me searching for them as part of my training. He hadn’t wanted to train me. It wasn’t until he caught me trailing him on a job that he relented. It was safer that I teach and stay by his side than to risk me following him and causing needless trouble.

  I felt a tug of energy, like a tripwire being set off and I flinched, turning my head in that direction. Opening my eyes, I smiled calmly as a shadow zipped by. Glass shattered, and cans rattled. I moved forward cautiously, trying not to give my position away. The short sword on my back had its tip blunted with wax for training, but its sharp edges could still be used for defense if ever caught off guard.

  I reached over my shoulder and rested a hand on its hilt, ready to draw if necessary. It wasn’t Niam I had to worry about out here. Niam wouldn’t harm me, or at least he wouldn’t intend to. As annoying as he was towards me, I never truly felt I was in danger; he mainly seemed to aim his ire towards Julian. But, I couldn’t say the same for any vagrants that might occupy the spaces between the chimneys that promised warmth in the winter. Sometimes people found their way up here when they had nowhere else to go. They pic
ked through the trash and tried to scrape together a living, and they weren’t known to be hospitable.

  After a few moments of silence, I let out the breath I had been holding and moved on. A cracking sound made me flinch, and I felt my body shift in the wrong direction. The tiles crumbled beneath my feet and my hair flew up over my face like inky tendrils, blocking my view, as the ground rose to meet me.

  Chapter 2

  I cried out in shock as I plummeted towards the ground. The stars were blinking between the clouds as I fell and the cold rain fell with me.

  A shadow flew overhead. It had wings that were large and bat-like; it was nothing like I’d ever seen before, and it dove towards me. I screamed. This was followed by another pained grunt as my wrist was jerked violently, twisting my arm in its socket. My hair and cloak fell around me as I looked up into crystalline green eyes.

  “Niam,” I breathed. His body was braced against the side of a chimney while one knee was dug painfully down into the broken tiles to take the brunt of my weight. Niam gritted his teeth, and he pulled as hard as he could, jerking me up and slamming our bodies together. My breath came quick, and my heart was pounding as I stared up at the sky. And now, as we lay crashed against each other in the pouring rain on a crumbling rooftop, all I could think about was how beautiful Niam’s eyes were. And how angry I was at my traitorous heart for thinking that.

  Niam’s chest pressed painfully against mine. He had an arm wrapped around my shoulders. His crimson hair was tied up into a ponytail that hung over his shoulder and poured onto my chest. I had never noticed before just how long Niam’s hair had gotten. I looked up into his face. Water dripped down the shaggy bangs that brushed over his eyes and trailed off his nose onto my neck. Niam lifted his free hand and pushed my damp hair away from my face and grinned. His smile was as sharp and terrifying, I could swear his teeth were more pointed than usual. I didn’t remember the canines being so long before.