[Fantasy novel, completed ✓]
In a world filled with magic, dragons, witches, demons, deadly creatures and other magical beings, the life of the king's daughter Victorine changes with a single blow when her kingdom is attacked.
She loses not only he...
The pull on my flesh is just too strong It stifles the choice and the air in my lungs Better not to breathe than to breathe a lie I'll never wear your broken crown -Mumford & Sons
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- Nicolas -
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He slapped me hard across the face.
My head flew to the side and remained motionless for a moment until I placed one of my cool palms against my burning, throbbing cheek.
"Talesin!" my mother exclaimed her husband's name and rushed to me, startled, but my father stretched out his strong arm and blocked her path to me.
"He needs to learn his lesson. Pain is good. It makes him strong."
I looked up at him. He towered so high above me. This was what a king looked like. The crown on his hair seemed glued in place. With a closer look, I imagined cracks in the shiny metal.
"Look out!"
My head shot up as I awoke from a microsleep. My dragon jerked abruptly to the side and we dodged a dark ball of gloom. In the dim distance, I spotted a horde of flying shadowy figures whose territory we seemed to be trying to cross.
Their smoky silhouettes formed such a formidable wall that it would take far too much energy to push through it.
"Evade," I decided, whereupon our formation took off in the other direction. "We should find a place to sleep for the night," I then called out to the others. If you got tired, you got careless. And dragons also needed a lot of sleep to fly fully functional.
We broke through the treetops and flew until we spotted a small clearing. The dragons formed a circle around us humans and lined up against the dense trees.
"No fire, no loud voices," I then commanded in a covered voice. "We'll make a watch plan."
I assigned two people at a time to keep watch for two hours and then wake the next two. Due to my lack of confidence in Victorine, I assigned the two of us together for the last shift.
Then we spread out. I leaned against a stone, from where I had an overview of the entire camp. Victorine had taken her dragon to the center of the clearing. Normally the open night sky posed a danger there, but she was leaning right up against her large companion, which calmed me down a bit. Dragons had incredibly keen senses and reflexes, which actually made a guard plan unnecessary. But one could never be too careful.
Clutching my sword tightly, I looked around one last time, checking, then closed my eyes.
