The Dragon's Assassin, An Old Song , BOOK ONE

"Maya Griffin"

It was two o'clock in the morning when a storm started to rumble.

It began with leaves rustling as a rush of air blew through.

 
The sound of thunder and lightning in the distant crept towards Mera's window.

Mera groaned in her sleep, tossing and turning as sweat began to pile up on her brow, and her short dark brown hair matted against her cheeks.

 
Suddenly she rose, as if she was awoken by a nightmare, goosebumps began to form on her arms and the back of her neck as she was sensing something, Mera sniffed the air realising something dark was creeping closer.

She turned her head towards the storm as if something big was happening, it was something new, that Mera couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Your majesty" a man slammed the door wide open, startling poor Mera.
"What's happening?" Mera said, as she looked back at the roaring storm outside.
"it's the Dragons... They're dying"
Mera threw her duvet aside, revealing her pale skin, in her lilac nightgown as she jumped out of bed to follow her servant to the castle diner, where the rest of her men had a map laid out in front of them, discussing their terms of battle.
"what is to become of Deltora" Mera boomed.
"M-Madam, its a theory, but Deltora seems to be the one doing the killing" One of the soldiers quivered.
Mera was of royalty, but also had a weird sense of personality.
She would often be quirky, but in an 'bad boy' type of way, she had her own dreams as well, to be able to take her crown and throne and finally be able to rule the whole kingdom.
A small smirk curled from her lips as she Place both of palms onto the diner table.
"Take him out, no matter what the cost" She said as she turned around quickly, her bedroom robe flapping in the wind as she walked of back into her room.

                                                                                            ***

"Mum, shes doing it again! Thomas giggled, his feet entangled with Maya's arms and hands as she tried to pin him down and tickled his toes.

Jodie giggled in the front seat watching her kids in the rear view mirror as they played, Jodi's Ash blonde hair flowed behind her as she rolled down the window for some fresh air, her pale blue eyes filled with both happiness and sadness.

It had been four months since Henry passed away from cancer.
He was the love of her life, she had never met anyone as special as him, she barely ate or spoke after the death of her husband as he really meant that much to her, Maya never understood why and Jodi never explained to her, she was afraid that Maya would never understand and she never wanted her daughter to go through what she had to go through at such a young age.
Suddenly they came up to along drive way that lead them up to a three story house,
It use to be Henry's house that he grew up in, but now only his mother lived in after Henry's father passed away from old age.

Jodi pulled up to the house and turned off the car.
"we're here" Jodi said with a smile as she saw her mother-in-law smiling and waving from the porch, her light grey hair tied up in a messy bin as she smiled through her blue eyes and wrinkles as she gave out a hearty chuckle.
"grandma" Maya and Thomas chorused as they jumped out the car and towards their grandmother, almost knocking her over to the ground.

 
"Maya, Thomas!" Jodi exclaimed as she got out of the car, rushing to grandma's side
"I'm so sorry Mrs Griffin" Jodi apologised.
"it's OK, don't worry about it" Mrs Griffin said holding onto Thomas's hand as he was trying to drag her inside.
"please, call me Lilly"
"whoa..." Maya exclaimed softly as she saw the size of the house from the inside.
"Michael grew in a rich family, but I never liked his parents... They were too....up tight" Lilly explained.
"but its so beautiful" Jodi said as her eyes traced over every detail.
There was stairs pressed up, spiralling against the wall, made out of dark brown oak, and even the walls, with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and an huge Arabic floor mat, mixed into a lot of different colours.
"I'm gonna go find my bedroom!" Thomas shouted running up the steps, as Maya followed up the stairs to find her room too.