by Lola Ford
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE Graith
CHAPTER TWO Nerie
CHAPTER THREE Graith
CHAPTER FOUR Graith
CHAPTER FIVE Graith
CHAPTER SIX Graith
CHAPTER SEVEN Graith
CHAPTER EIGHT Nerie
CHAPTER NINE Nerie
CHAPTER TEN Nerie
CHAPTER ELEVEN Nerie
CHAPTER TWELVE Nerie
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Graith
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Graith
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Graith
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Graith
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Graith
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Graith
CHAPTER NINETEEN Nerie
CHAPTER TWENTY Nerie
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Nerie
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Nerie
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Graith
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Graith
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Nerie
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Nerie
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Graith
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Graith
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Graith
CHAPTER THIRTY Nerie
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE Nerie
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO Nerie
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE Nerie
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR Azelia
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE Graith
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX Graith
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN Nerie
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT Nerie
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE Nerie
CHAPTER FORTY Graith
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE Graith
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO Nerie
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE Nerie
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR Astra
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE Graith
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX Graith
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN Graith
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT Graith
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE Graith
CHAPTER FIFTY Nerie
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE Nerie
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO Graith
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE Graith
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR Nerie
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE Nerie
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX Nerie
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN Brantom
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT Graith
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE Nerie
CHAPTER SIXTY Graith
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE Nerie
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO Nerie
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE Final
1. The Planet Yrgg Is Really Lovely At This Time Of Year
Heartscale
Lola Ford
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 Lola Ford
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.
Cover by Enmanuel Martinez, 2019
Map by Niklas Müller, 2019
ISBN: 9781070326726 (paperback)
For everyone who has ever wished for a dragon of their own.
***
CHAPTER ONE
Graith
Graith was tending his wheat fields when the news arrived. A dragon had been sighted flying over the nearby land and Lord Arish had sent out heralds announcing that there was to be a hunt. Graith hadn’t minded all the commotion in the following days, as he was just a farmer. He continued to prepare for the harvest and approaching winter. In his mind he had one duty, and that was to continue to provide his tithe to his lord.
Over the following days as he moved from one field to the next, news about the dragon continued to stir. Men from the other nearby villages started to group in town, and Graith couldn’t help but wonder just how many men were needed to slay a dragon. He couldn’t remember a time that so many people had gathered in his small town. Graith lived in Lord Arish’s outermost lands where few bothered to travel.
In Graith’s experience the only visitors who would travel this far out were tax collectors and the tradesmen who came by twice a year. They normally brought with them the kinds of specialty parts that the local blacksmith, while capable of making, simply didn’t have time for, as well as special treats and foods that the villagers wouldn’t get to experience otherwise.
As Graith finished harvesting his fields, the number of men camped around town continued to grow. His duties done, Graith decided to visit the town pub. He figured he’d be able to catch up on the news he’d missed over the last few weeks.
The pub was located in the heart of the small town. A single-story building, it wasn’t much larger than the few nearby houses. Though the door was always kept open, and the hearth lit. On nice summer evenings tables would even be brought out onto the front lawn. The only notable features were a well out front, and a small three stall barn out back for visitors’ horses.
While he’d never been on the best of terms with his neighbors, Graith didn’t really have a problem with them either. He simply liked to do his job at his own pace, in his own fields. Graith couldn’t understand why they would volunteer to help, and then expect the same in return. It was never something that interested Graith. The first year he’d owned the farm they’d come rushing over, but when Graith hadn’t returned the favor they’d snubbed him. Since then he’d only had his friend Ralph and the occasional trip to the pub for the day to day news.
Having no wife to gossip while doing the washing or shopping left Graith at another disadvantage. Another way that his neighbors decided meant he wanted nothing to do with them. Plenty of them had sisters they were looking to marry off, but Graith was too busy for a wife.
Upon entering the pub, many of the locals were quite shocked at his appearance. The times Graith did visit the pub were usually the quiet nights. Ignoring the looks, he sat down at the nearest table with an open seat. With so many new people in town, the pub was full and the only opening was nearest to the kitchen - which at this time of day was putting off quite a bit of heat. Three of the visitors sat there, slightly red in the face and uncomfortably warm.
They nodded in acknowledgment of him and waved the serving girl over.
“Haven’t seen you lot around here before,” Graith said as a way of greeting, while the serving girl filled his mug. The visitors consisted of an older man, with bent neck but sharp eyes, and two youngsters who looked fresh from their own fields. All looked at him in surprise.
“We’ve been in town for nearly two weeks!” the younger looking of the two boys said.
Graith flushed slightly. He hadn’t realized it had been that long since he’d come for a drink.
“What brings you to town?” Graith asked, at the same time trying to get the serving girl back over so he could order some stew. “I’d noticed people arriving, but I’ve been busy harvesting my crops.”
“Lord Arish sent us all to hunt a dragon,” the older man said with a frown. Graith did recall the man who’d tried to recruit him a while back.
“Never seen a dragon around here before,” Graith said. “Don’t reckon I would recognize one, even if I saw it.”
“Not recognize a dragon? A great flying serpent, all fire and wrath? Death on wings and you wouldn’t recognize it?” The older boy asked him bewildered.
“Did I notice you lot arriving?” Graith asked. “What makes you think I would recognize a dragon then?”
“Well, you’d likely recognize it from not having ever seen anything like it before.”
The older man shrugged, then continued with what he had been saying, “A couple of months a
go, a soldier came through our town looking for recruits. Told us to head to the village closest to the mountains and wait for the rest to arrive. We’ve been gathering supplies and weapons. Last I heard we’re to head out next week, scouring all the caves between here and the Western Reach for this dragon.”
“What’s so special about the dragon? Why hunt it down?” Graith didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
“Are you serious? It's a danger! A hazard! Takes our livestock, burns our villages! It has to be destroyed,” the younger boy said with vehemence, very nearly standing from his seat to lean towards Graith as he spoke.
“There were villages destroyed?” Graith asked shocked, not remembering hearing news of such.
“Well, not yet. But in the past, other dragons have!” the boy admitted, sitting back down.
“What about the livestock?” Graith asked, unamused by the exaggerations.
“Huh? Well a few sheep and a cow have been taken,” the other boy said.
“Over the last couple months? That's as many that die from their own stupidity in that amount of time, no real hurt there.” Graith was getting annoyed - all this hullabaloo, for what? A possible threat?
“Look man, dragons are dangerous. They need to die as soon as we know about them. Think of the damages more than one could do. Its your responsibility to your lord to root them out.”
The young men seemed angry at Graith’s lack of fervor, while the older just shook his head. He obviously didn’t think that was true, but he was here to hunt down the dragon, which was more than Graith was doing.
Graith snorted. “My only responsibilities to Lord Arish are to harvest my crops and pay my taxes. He asks nothing more of me.”
“Bah! We’re good men of our lord, and we’ll hunt this dragon in his name,” the older of the two boys said, dismissing Graith with a wave.
That seemed to signal the end of their conversation. The recruited soldiers went back to their meal and seemed content to ignore Graith. Graith on the other hand, got up and roamed about the tables while sipping his ale. As he walked, whispers and rumors about the dragon floated through the air.
“It’s said to be as big as a castle!”
“Fire breather, as hot as any blacksmiths forge!”
“Scales harder than the hardest plate steel, but twice as thick!”
Shouts and boast joined them from those souls who thought that they would be the one to bring down the mighty beast.
“I’ll land my lance right through its eye! Straight into the brain!”
“I’ll cut off its tail and then its head!”
“I’ll land an arrow in the back of its maw as it tries to breathe fire!”
To these boasts Graith just shook his head and continued onward. Had he been a younger man, maybe joining a mercenary group might have interested him, but he thought not. He’d never wanted to go on adventures or explore before settling down. No, he had grown up on his farm, and harvested wheat his whole life. When his father had passed, the farm had become his.
He was rather proud of the fact that the only change he’d made was to go over his finances and found that he had the means to annex two more acres of land and purchase a new horse.
He was content with his lifestyle. He worked, he cooked, he slept, and he lived his own simple life. That suited him just fine.
That night, Graith sat down at his hearth in his favorite leather chair. It was a commodity he’d lavished himself with a decade ago, when he’d had an especially abundant year. As he faced the small fire, he thought about what he’d heard at the pub.
The last time a dragon had been seen on these lands, he’d been a small boy. He could still remember the feast that had been held by Lord Arish’s father, Lord Derk. It had lasted three days, and his own father had even taken him into Dunlaith for the celebration. While the feast had been a fantastic affair, Graith couldn’t help but think about the poor beast who’d died for it to happen.
Graith sighed as he stood, preparing for bed. He’d always wanted to see a dragon, but none had ever flown over his farm.
***
Several weeks later, long after the men had left town, Graith went to the pub again. It was empty now, except for the serving girl and the owner. He drank an ale and listened to the fire in the hearth crackle and found himself wondering if the hunt had been successful. Though he thought not, as he was sure there would have been news if it had been.
When Graith went to sleep that night, he found himself dreaming of a dragon.
The dragon was indeed massive, but not as large as some had claimed. It was a dark navy, not black like he had expected. Its wings shimmered in moonlight and Graith couldn’t help but want to touch the fine gossamer webbing. Its head was nearly as tall as his whole body, and he was not a short man. It had wicked white fangs, that looked more than capable of rending a sheep, cow, or even a man, apart in seconds. Tiny pebble scales formed around its nostrils and eyes, gradually getting larger, until by the neck, they were as large as his hand. The scales on its back were as large as the spade of his largest shovel.
It had a crest of horns wreathing its face, a bright white in contrast to the dark scales. All along its back following its spine were long spikes, which created a crested effect for its whole body. The spikes continued down to its tail, which was curled around its body, not unlike a cat.
But more than anything, it was the dragon’s eyes that captivated Graith. Large and iridescent, they were an icy blue, with slits from top to bottom, once again reminding Graith of his barn cat. They held an intelligence that surprised Graith - and a deep sadness.
He reached out wanting to comfort the beast, but even as his fingers went to brush the tiny scales of the nearest nostril, he awoke.
He laid in bed for several long minutes, thinking about his dream. Graith was not known for dreaming. In fact, it had been many years since his last one, a fact that didn’t bother him. It left him feeling rested in the morning, unhindered by what might have been, or unrealistic fantasies others seemed to dream of.
But why would he be dreaming of a dragon? A sad dragon? Why did he care that it was sad? Not being able to answer these questions, left Graith lying in bed far longer than normal. When he finally sat up, he scrubbed at his face.
It didn’t matter, he told himself.
He bathed and dressed for the day and went to his kitchen to make breakfast. After eating, he sat and tried to figure out what he had to do today.
He was having a slow morning and just couldn’t seem to keep his mind from wandering back to his dream. He paced around the small house, before finally deciding that he needed to take stock of his harvest for the year.
He had finished storing away the wheat to dry the day before, but he still needed to bundle and transport it all to the wheat grinder. Wheat was fine and all, but it was flour that the lord needed. Graith had a large barn where he stored the wheat to dry, with distinct locations for each field harvested, as well as a place to bundle it and then pack the bundles onto his wagon.
He grabbed his ledger then headed to the barn. He thought this year might make his top five largest harvests, but he wouldn’t know for sure until he had finished bundling the wheat.
He fed his chickens as he crossed his small fenced yard. He carefully set his ledger aside and pumped water for his horse and cow who both were roaming the small paddock. Picking the ledger back up he resumed his walk. He thought about riding his horse to the barn but decided the walk would help clear his head.
He could see his barn, which resided on the north side of his property, well before he reached it. While not situated for the easiest access from his home, it was centered between his best fields. It also was in the direction of town. A dark mahogany from age, the barn was two stories tall, and had large, sliding doors on both ends, and windows propped open along the sides high above. A normal sized door was inset within the larger locked sliding door which Graith opened to enter the barn.
Inside Graith t
urned to his immediate left, towards his small office he’d built for the exclusive purpose of keeping his past ledgers, and his small safe, which contained his life savings. The barn was dark, with no lanterns to possibly set his precious harvest on fire, but Graith didn’t need a lantern as he maneuvered around his office to open the shuttered window. His office faced away from the rising sun, but the window provided enough light for him to see by to unlock the nearest set of large sliding doors.
He lifted the iron latch and started to slide the door open. As he did so, he heard a slithering sound behind him. Having gotten the door open about two feet wide, he turned to look around his feet for a snake, annoyed. Sometimes they were able to get in from under the floor. He’d tried to have the barn build as securely as possible, for rodents eating away at his harvest was bad for his profits. Unable to find a snake, though surely, he knew what he’d heard - he turned back to the large doors. Now too far apart to push from the middle he grabbed the left door and pulled it open.
As he headed to the right door, he heard the slithering sound again, but this time it was accompanied by a sharp tapping noise. Stopping again, he turned to investigate the now illuminated barn. There was nothing on the first floor, but the sound, still audible, was coming from above.
Damn snakes, he thought as he went to the nearest ladder and started climbing to the loft. Focused on the rungs before him, he did not immediately see the source of the sound. But as he reached the second floor and stood upright, he saw it.
It was quite hard to miss, as it was the midnight blue dragon from his dreams the night before.
CHAPTER TWO
Nerie
Nerie and Raana raced to through the streets, headed to the royal hatching ceremony. Young girls from the middle district, they were well dressed just for the special occasion. Raana wore a burgundy dress, while Nerie wore a navy vest over a white shirt and a long navy skirt. Both laughed in excitement as vendors sold colorful candies, and savory treats. On any other day they would have stopped to sample the wares, but not today. They were on their way to the palace.