Contents
Title
Ack/Ded/Copyright
Name pronunciations.
1) Primalthorn's Decree
2) Ilyium
3) Disaster
4) Curse
5) War ARC BkFun
More Books
Sneak Pk Bk 1
About the Author NL
DRACONES
Primalthorn
Prequel
By
Sheri-Lynn Marean
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Barbara Shuler and Emily Maynard for their valuable time and help, along with my wonderful street team.
For my parents, my husband, and my wonderful, highly
entertaining children.
Copyright © 2017 All rights reserved.
This book is for your enjoyment only. You may not sell, give away, copy, reproduce, distribute or transmit, in any form, (whole or part) by any means, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, printing, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the author. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Contact info: [email protected]
ISBN-13: 978-1-988636-07-8
Name pronunciations
Adariasthorn = Ad air ee as thorn.
Dai = Day
Daimen = Day men.
Dimi = Dim ee.
Draco = Drack oh.
Dracones = Drack oh nes.
Herasa = Her ass ah.
Ilyium = Ill ee um.
Irod = Eye rod.
Jaxsaronthorn = Jacks sair on thorn.
Kalesai = Kall es eye.
Kiah-thorn = Key ah thorn.
Lelabug = Lee la bug.
Mata = Ma ta.
Primalthorn = Prime el thorn.
Sima = See ma.
Skulla = Skul la.
Tartaria = Tar tare eah.
Zandrazial = Zan dray zee all.
Chapter One
TARTARIA, A THOUSAND YEARS AGO …
It is time. I pass the mantle of Ultimate Guardianship to you, my dragonson. You will protect the innocent and lead all of dragonkind. The Primalthorn’s thundering decree was binding as his last breath rattled in his chest, only to fall silent.
Though spoken a millennia ago, his father’s words were thunder booming in his mind as Skullathorn slumbered. Ceaseless. Relentless. I fear the burden I place upon you will be daunting and often discouraging. Day by day, dragonkind numbers dwindle further, and I’ve been mortally wounded. You will protect the innocent and hunt those who wish to do them harm, even when it is one of our own you are tasked at stopping.
Then the Primalthorn’s voice, though no less intense, grew shallow. You will travel to the few remaining clans within this galaxy and pick five strong, worthy sentinels to help in your endeavor to keep dragonkind alive. You will partake of their blood, binding them to you for instant communication and power when needed. The directive, spoken a lifetime ago, whispered through Skullathorn’s dreams, making him twitch. An endless cascade, they never failed to fill him with urgency to fulfill his duty. The soul wrenching pain of loss, as searing and deep as ever, roused him from his restless slumber.
Though now awake, Skulla drifted on the memory of his father’s final words and his life since. For thousands of years, too many to count, Skulla had done his duty and more. He’d patrolled the realms in their galaxy, protecting the innocent and hunting the rogues who sought to harm them. Sometimes he hunted with his sentinels, more often without.
It had been more daunting than even his father had predicted as Skulla’s reputation as Primalthorn grew. Ruthless and intolerant of those who preyed on the weak, Skulla quickly became the most feared of all dragonkind.
But while he became the ultimate guardian, saving dragonkind had proven an impossible feat. As their numbers continued to decrease, less and less dragons were finding their soul mates. Yet while the females of their kind held onto their humanity, the males did not. As an immortal, male dragons needed their other half to continue. Without their soul mate and after long, solitary lives that never ended, their souls dried up and they fell into depression. All too soon, the lack of a soul drove them to rage, insanity, and finally, a sickening desire to maim and kill.
As the years passed, males closest to the edge often turned to Skulla, begging him for a swift end. Horrified at their request, he refused, wanting to help instead. But despite his best efforts, it was never enough. More innocent deaths resulted and in the end, he was charged with hunting the same males that originally sought him out.
With his heart and soul sick, Skulla acquiesced to his brethren’s requests. But as the lonely years passed relentlessly by with no end in sight, he often worried. The first faint stirrings of depression were already trying to worm their way inside of him. He drew upon his fierce sense of duty to hold them at bay. Still, he cringed in fear of when he could no longer do so. With the ultimate in power, who would stop him when the time came?
‘You are no longer alone, my love,’ the voice drifted gently through his mind, clearing away the cobwebs of his past that often endeavored to bog him down. Almost instantly a pure-soothing love bathed his soul. Skulla took a deep breath of the fresh mountain air and let it out as his heart warmed at his mate’s words.
‘No, thanks to you, I am not,’ he replied telepathically, letting the other half of his soul feel how deeply grateful he was to her.
Before he’d found her, he’d been so painfully lonely as he continued to haunt the realms that were nearly devoid of any dragonkind. The task of protecting all innocent beings had kept him sane and pushing onward.
‘And now you hunt with our sons,’ his mate’s sweet voice was filled with pride in their offspring. The same feelings that filled his own heart. ‘You are happy now, are you not?’ his mate asked teasingly. She sought to clear the sadness lingering in his soul for those he’d failed to save.
‘Very much so, my heart,’ he replied, speaking the truth. Despite the guilt, the last hundred years had been filled with such intense joy, happiness and laughter as their family grew.
Now, his oldest sons even hunted and patrolled alongside him. Both strong, powerful males in their own right, their sense of honor and duty filled him to bursting with pride.
Sounds of laughter drew him from his morbid gloom and he focused on his surroundings. Skulla lifted first one black-scaled eye, then the other and gazed about. The sight in front of him filled his heart with even more warmth.
Thick pink clouds drifted lazily across the sky. His six-year-old tossed the black and violet flowers she’d picked over her shoulder as something else caught her attention. He grinned inside as she then proceeded to carry on a vivid conversation with a gold and green Lelabug that landed on her arm. She laughed, her sunny face scrunched up in glee as it flew away. Then, with a squeal, she shifted forms and took to the sky, joining her three older siblings who flew close by. This is what life is really about, he thought, knowing he should be content.
His mate and offspring, all thirty-two of them, kept him sane and he didn’t know what he’d do if anything happened to any of them. But the more he thought about things, the more a dark foreboding began to slowly seep back in to pervade him with worry.
‘It’s your gloomy thoughts taking over,’ his mate said. He snorted, knowing she was likely right. She always was. But he couldn’t help but wonder if the weight of his guilt, and his long lonely past was trying to prevent him from finding complete happiness.
Yet, what if it was a premonition of what was t
o come? Life could be deceptive. Could he be growing too content?
He tried to push the dark thoughts away and relax. He lazed upon the mountainside in his massive dragon form, guarding the entrance to his home. A task he knew was not necessary. Death Ridge, aptly named for its giant deadly spires that jutted from the tops of the mountains, intimidated most beings. Still, the doorway to his home—a vast network of caves that tunneled into the side of the mountain—was glamoured with the strongest possible spells. Disguising it from prying eyes.
Despite the heat of Tartaria’s three suns beating pleasantly down on his midnight scales he shivered as he watched his eighteen-year-old son. With undisguised joy, Daimon flitted about in dragon form. Skulla grinned inside as Dai darted, swooped and dodged, easily evading his little would-be captors. Dai’s laughter rang in Skulla’s mind as his younger siblings of six, eight, and ten years did their best to keep up.
Skulla had never seen any dragon with the ability to change their scale color like Dai could. It was unique. Not for the first time, he marveled as Dai went from a midnight black like his father, to an iridescent silver, then into a pale blue. Finally, Dai turned invisible. He didn’t hold his invisibility long though, knowing it wouldn’t be fair to his three younger siblings who chased after him in a game of tag. Dai was always such a good sport, letting them catch him, letting them think they were faster than he.
The three, two girls and one boy, pestered Dai mercilessly. Then they all landed and shifted into their human form, before racing through the frostweed and spiralflowers. Tufts of foliage and dirt kicked up after them, until finally they collapsed on top of him. In fits of giggles, they began to tickle Dai until he tickled them back.
Amid squeals of laughter, Dai jumped to his feet, tumbling his younger siblings to the ground. Then with a huge grin, he shifted into his dragon and leapt into the air all at the same time. His youngest sister and the littlest of the three, was almost as quick to shift and take to the sky as he was, while the other two took a moment longer, a little slower at growing into their powers.
Skulla watched his three young dragoons practice shooting fire from their mouths. Dai laughed and darted away, alternatively teasing and encouraging the smaller dragons.
“He’s so good with them.” Kiah-thorn, her brilliant blue eyes glittering with love, watched her young in the sky. Skulla let Kiah see the heat of his desire for the female who was his heart and soul as she neared him. Her hip-length, curly black hair, with it’s pale lavender and blue streaks bounced as her hips swayed seductively.
For all the years they’d been together, his burning need, the intense love in his heart had never waned. In fact, if anything, it only grew brighter. Stronger with each day that passed.
Skulla sighed happily, his body filling with heat at the sight of Kiah as she drew close. ‘Yes,’ he replied telepathically and shifted his position so she could settle in against him. Kiah traced the scales on his neck absently with one hand as she enjoyed the sight of their young at play.
‘Mata, come play!’ The three youngest cried gleefully in their parents’ heads as the dragoons swooped low and spotted their mother.
‘Yes, Mata, come play!’ Dai called cheekily, and they could feel his goofy grin warming their hearts.
‘You want me to come play?’ Kiah asked them with mock surprise and outrage.
‘Yes, play, play,’ they squealed, then shrieked when Dai turned and began to chase them. He sent little blasts of fire their way that he knew wouldn’t touch them.
With a fake, put-upon sigh, Kiah stood and with a last loving glance at Skulla, she lifted her arms and rose into the air. She shifted into the most beautiful pale purple dragon he’d ever seen. Under each and every scale, a bright white light glowed. Though not a large dragon, Kiah’s looks were deceiving. She came across as dainty and delicate, but in truth was nothing of the sort. In fact, she was one of the most ferocious dragons he’d ever crossed.
Chapter Two
MEMORIES OF THE DAY he’d accidentally crossed paths with Kiah while tracking a rogue dragon in another realm warmed his heart. He’d been alone so long he’d despaired of ever finding a mate of his own. Someone he wanted to spend eternity with. Now, his tail flicked as he remembered how bravely she had fought to protect her siblings from him. He snorted humorously.
‘Yes, I thought you were the one hunting us,’ she said telepathically as she playfully chased his youngest dragoons about the sky. Bonded as they were, Kiah, the Thundrece to his Thundrace, felt everything that he did.
‘I told you I wasn’t a threat to you,’ he playfully griped.
‘You lied, you turned out to be the biggest threat I could imagine,’ she said.
‘I was never a threat to you.’ Skulla sputtered in outrage.
Kiah’s laughter in his head trailed off into a purr. ‘Oh but you were, my love.’
‘How so?’ he asked, perplexed. ‘You were the one to capture me,’ he said, making his young giggle at them.
‘You are right. I did capture you. I even tied you up and hung you upside down, until I was convinced,’ Kiah said smugly. His young all roared in glee, even some in the cave who were listening to their exchange.
Skulla laughed. ‘You did, you were so fierce, so sexy—’
‘Yuck! Father!’ Daimon screeched and Skulla laughed harder.
‘As I recall, in the end you fell in love with my sexiness and couldn’t leave me alone,’ he said, teasing his mate while a bunch of his young groaned.
‘Exactly. In the end, you captivated me, as well.’ Kiah laughed while Dai and a bunch of his siblings either groaned or snickered. Skulla let them all feel his gleeful grin.
‘Enough with the mush,’ Dai finally pleaded as only a young male would. His three younger siblings giggled at their brother.
‘No matter how, my happiest day was when I won you over and brought you home with me,’ Skulla said, letting Kiah and all his young feel his love. His mate sent her own love back out to encompass all of them as well.
Yes, life is wonderful, he thought again as he soaked up the joy of the day.
‘Father!’ A new voice filled with fear and warning boomed in his head. Skulla shifted his gaze from Kiah and his young and looked to the south. A formation of dragons, led by two large black behemoths, hurried through the sky toward them.
‘What is it?’ Skulla asked, climbing to his feet as his oldest twin sons led ten of their sibling’s home.
‘A large group of Ilyium Druids have entered our lands and are headed this way,’ Jaxsaronthorn said.
‘The crazy one, the witch Herasa, leads the way,’ Adariasthorn added as they all landed and began to shift into human form.
They dare to tread on my lands? Fury filled him. All knew better than to set foot on his territory without permission. At his two oldest sons warning, more of his young poured from the cave while Kiah and the kids landed close by and shifted back into human form.
‘Inside,’ he commanded. Without a word his older dragoon offspring all turned and began to herd the younger ones into the cave. Skulla kept silent until it was only him, Kiah, Jaxsaron and Adarias left outside.
“Where are they?” he asked.
“They were just starting across the Dimi forest,” Adarias said, a scowl on his face.
“They are trampling all the tiny trees,” Jaxsaron said, anger strong in his voice for the two and three inch trees. Both Skulla and Kiah had long taught their young to respect all life.
Skulla felt his anger building.
“Father, let us go with you,” Jaxsaron began, but Skulla silenced him with a look while Adarias, ever the practical one stood quiet. Skulla was aware that Adarias wished to accompany him as well, but he would follow his father and Thundrace’s commands.
‘I need to know my family is safe and well protected,’ Skulla said and while he felt their disappointment, both of his sons nodded.
‘Be safe my love,’ Kiah said as he took to the sky and flew toward the ento
urage headed their way, wanting to cut them off before they reached his home and family. His heart ached and he felt like blasting the Ilyium with fire when he saw the fifteen-foot-wide swath of tiny broken pearl trees.
The group of forty Ilyium watched him warily as he landed, careful of where he put his feet. He was ready to fight if they showed any signs of attacking him. Skulla folded his large black wings in and held his anger in check as he waited, not giving them any reason to think he would harm them.
Many years ago, before Skulla’s own father gained guardianship, dragonkind and Ilyium had been at war. In the ensuing years, the loss of loved ones on both sides was truly devastating. Eventually, tired of the fight, the leaders of the two races came together in an uneasy truce and three weeks later, they formed a treaty.
One codicil of that treaty stated that the Ilyium would protect their own, becoming the only beings that didn’t fall under dragonkind protection. So, while they weren’t friends, they weren’t enemies either.
Skulla held perfectly still and studied each and every member, noting that it was only the witch and male warriors here today. Still, it infuriated him that they so callously trod upon the forest. They obviously didn’t give any thought to the damage they were inflicting upon the live vegetation. Fuming upon that distracted him somewhat from the thought of how they dared to set foot on his lands. They were only a few miles from his home and family.
Skulla’s red eyes were blazing as his gaze landed on the witch, Herasa. Over the years, whispered rumors proclaimed the Ilyium Druids’ most formidable witch and leader as crazy. But as he gazed at her, he saw not only wily, single-minded determination, but a glint of something else. Something that sent a shiver through him. Maybe the rumors were true. As he watched, she moved toward him with no fear or sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Either she really was nuts, or she hid it well. Really well, since he didn’t catch even the slightest whiff of apprehension from her, like he did from the warriors at her back.
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