A Dragon's Heart

Chapter 1- Nighthawk alive

Sierra Nighthawk raced toward the dark cave inhabited by the Dragon King.  

“Ember, we have an invasion from the North.  Soldiers are arriving at Starlight Cove!” She shouted into the gaping entrance.

 A massive shape slowly emerged into a huge gray dragon with black wings and a regal bearing that identified him as the Dragon King.

 Sierra Nighthawk was heir to his throne and would share it with Ember and Adrianna’s, the Dragon Queen, children if they were so lucky to have any hatchlings.  

“From Arcadia?” Ember growled in his deep grumbling voice.

 “Yes, and more of them are arriving every minute.  We must act fast, Father”.  Arcadia was the kingdom of humans across the Latum Sea from Dragon Island.  It was ruled in peace by the Nighthawks, a powerful family who could use magic.

 Sierra was the last surviving member, as the hated ruler Ramon had taken over.  The tyrant Ramon had already forced the fairies and elves into deep hiding, the dwarves had retreated under their hidden mountain centuries ago; he would do anything to extinguish the last known threat to his rule, the dragons.  

“It is time.  Execute Plan 5210Night part one. And no magic until you are sure they have no magicians more powerful than you.  Be careful, daughter”. Ember growled.  Sierra nodded and left.

Once outside the cave, she sprinted easily back to where the fighter dragons waited in the forest.

 Scourge, Thorn, Firestar, Diablo, and Hammer were her esteemed generals and she trusted them with her life.  The dragon army was small and inexperienced, so Sierra avoided putting the three hundred dragons in danger until their full training was complete.

 She gave her orders and hopped onto Hammer’s dark blue back.

 “Let’s move!” She cried.

The best fire-breathers, Scourge and Firestar, quickly corralled the small dark forms of the invaders below with fire on all sides.

 In the hot glow of the fire, Sierra watched as one man stretched out his hand toward the dragons flying overhead. A short burst of yellow energy shot weakly from his palm toward Thorn, who easily evaded the blow.

 “A weak magician” Hammer growled, amused.  Sierra let fly a stream of blue, white-hot energy from the silvery mark on her palm.  The wizard below was incinerated before he could attempt to protect himself.

 “Nice shot, Sierra!” Scourge rumbled as he flew past.

 “We are more powerful than you will ever be! Go back to Arcadia and tell your so-called king that the Nighthawks say kiss your throne goodbye!” Sierra shouted to the soldiers below.

 The dragons ceased fire but still circled the men just in case.  There was no need.  As soon as Sierra said ‘Nighthawk’ the men panicked.  They sprinted to the boats and rowed away as fast as humanly possible.

 The dragons roared in victory.

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Deep in the heart of Arcadia sat the king in his ill-gotten castle enjoying the spoils of overthrowing.  

Ramon awaited news of the most recent invasion of Dragon Island.  Hopefully, his day would be perfectly completed with the news of his archenemy’s death.

 King Ember does not have long to live on that cursed island, he thought happily.  

The marble doors the great throne room were thrown open easily despite their weight by Prince Phillip.  Ramon could not help to gloat about the great strength of his son, the result of many experiments with magic and the employment of many wizards and magicians.

 Phillip, taught his place by many hard lessons, waited impatiently until his father addressed him.

 “What is your report?” Ramon asked lazily.

 “The men were beaten badly, sire.  Not only that, but the men all say they heard a girl’s voice that told them to leave and tell you that the Nighthawks say, erm, thatyoucankissyourthronegoodbye”.

 Phillip cringed at the darkening face of the man on the throne and hurriedly continued with his report.  

“Apparently there was a powerful magic user on the island as well, for the Wizard March was incinerated as he tried to defend the men from those cursed dragons”.  

Ramon’s rage grew deeper, but he pushed it away and forced himself to think clearly.

 “Nighthawks, no it cannot be.  I killed every one of them! It has to be a trick.  Nobody belonging to that family could’ve survived!” He roared. 

 As if on second thought, the king hurried to another set of doors, less extravagant and much more discreet, and unlocked it with a great key from a chain around his neck.  The treasury of Arcadia.

 Phillip grabbed a torch and followed his father and king down winding stairs.  At last they reached the main vault of the treasury.

 They walked farther until the king came to a row of paintings.  These were of the Nighthawk family, and had decorated many halls of the castle before Ramon had them torn down.  Anything to make the people forget their kind and just former rulers and accept the hardships that came with the reign of a tyrant.  

King Ramon studied each painting as Phillip tagged along behind him.

 “King Daniel, no, he most certainly died defending the castle…Queen Mara, no, I killed her myself...Princess Sierra…”

They stopped in front of a portrait of a beautiful baby girl with black hair.  She was holding up her hand to show the mark of the Nighthawks, but the silvery mark on the baby’s palm did not match those of her parents.  Instead of a hawk, the silvery shape of a dragon with outstretched wings was clearly visible on her tiny hand.

 “I threw her into the sea” Ramon murmured, studying the child as if she would leap out of the painting.

 Phillip was slightly appalled that his father had murdered the Queen, and now a little baby girl.  He had always known his father was capable of heinous deeds, but Phillip had never heard Ramon actually admit to any of the rumors swirling around Arcadia.  

“With all due respect, sire, what if she didn’t drown?” Phillip said cautiously.

 He expected the king to explode with anger, but there was fear in his father’s eyes instead of rage.  It was somewhat frightening to the prince, as his father was not afraid of anything!

 “She would be a great and powerful magician, better than you almost.  With the dragons’ help she could overthrow us!” Ramon said, panicked.

 Phillip almost snorted.  The irony of the situation was hilarious.  Firstly, his father was afraid of a girl!  Then of course, there had never been an ‘us’ in Phillip’s experience with his father.  It was Ramon who had always ruled with Phillip as the princely pawn.

 Phillip stared at the girl that had his father so worried.  She was extraordinarily beautiful, even at such a young age.  He wondered what she would look like now…

“We must kill her before she kills us, Phillip.  Your brother is away fighting someone or other, he cannot help us.  We cannot underestimate her, she’s a Nighthawk.  Double the castle guard and ready the army for another invasion of Dragon Island.  We must kill her before she kills us.  That is the only way”

Ramon murmured, half to himself.  Phillip nodded and left his father in the treasury to stare at the lost princess.

Enjoy people!  This is a story that I started a long time ago and have been dying to share.  I have it all figured out (and most of it written already, yay me!) so updating should be pretty regular.  Please tell me what you think!  Thanks y'all:)