The Dragon Prince The City of Smoke and Night

Prologue

Sixteen years ago
Once upon a starry night in the kingdom of Duren, a mother was reading to her six year old daughter. She was telling her the story of how Xadia came to be and how the dragon king protected the border between the magical lands and the human kingdoms. "For centuries, the dragon king himself has defended the border. The humans called him Thunder, for when he spoke, his voice shook the earth and the sky. Roar!" the woman said, smiling at her daughter as her cheerful laugh filled her bedroom. The woman was slender with smooth chocolate brown skin. Her cinnamon brown hair flowed gracefully down her mid back and her doe-like topaz eyes were lined with pastel yellow facial paint in the shape of sun rays. Even though she was wearing a simple sunset orange gown and brown boots, the only accessory she was wearing to identify her royal Sunfire Elf status was a golden tiara embellished with yellow diamonds and rubies that was placed delicately on her forehead. Her daughter, who inherited her cinnamon brown locks and wore a powder blue nightgown, giggled and her ocean blue eyes sparkled with excitement. "Read it again! Read it again, please, Mama!" she begged eagerly. "That's enough legends for one night," Kelilah told her daughter as she tucked her into the white blankets of her bed. "Time for you to sleep, Naima." "I wish I could do magic like Papa," Naima said with a daydreamy expression. "Do you think I could do it?" "I think you can do anything you put your mind to." A tall man with blonde hair and light tan skin entered the bedroom. He wore a dark blue tunic, tan trousers, and black boots that complimented his warm ocean blue eyes. This man's name was Adir, husband to Kelilah and father to Naima. "Your mother is not wrong, love," her father agreed. "And I believe you can connect with the Sun Primal as well;you've inherited your mother's abilities, you know. But you must never use dark magic." "I promise." Naima crossed her chest over her heart. "I'll use my magical abilities for good and help humans and elves alike in their times of need." "It seems like she has not only inherited your abilities, Kelilah, but your honorable spirit," Adir told his wife. After her parents wished her good night, Naima drifted asleep, dreaming about elves, dragons, mythical creatures, and the magic of Xadia. Suddenly the front door of the cottage swung itself open with a pang so loud it woke the family from their sleep. Naima sleepily opened her eyes as her father came into her room with a concerned expression. "Papa, what's going on?" "Hurry, you must hide out back of the house. Quickly." He led her out of her bedroom and into the back room of the house. "And don't come out until it's safe." She nodded. "Be safe, my little princess," he said, kissing her forehead. She watched her father take out his staff, which was navy blue and engraved with carvings of ocean waves, and toss a regal Sunforge sword to her mother. It was an orange blade with sungold veins with a golden handle. Engraved on the sword's handle was an emblem of a red phoenix, the crest of the House of Gentlekind. A cloaked figure entered the cottage, silhouetted by the moonlight. "I can hardly believe a woman of your rank is able to live in a place as mundane as this, Kelilah." The stranger spoke in a smooth, slimy voice that made Naima's blood run cold. "For your information, I prefer a modest life away from the spotlight," she replied coolly. "Now, now. That's no way of greeting an old friend, Your Majesty." The stranger pulled off his hood, revealing to be a broad shouldered Sunfire Elf man with mahogany skin. He had a square jawed face set with thin eyebrows, coal black eyes, and weaselly features. His bronze hair, which reached his elbows, was as bushy as a lion's mane. Underneath his cloak he wore a bright red tunic fading to a dark blood red with matching trousers and leather boots the color of overripe pumpkins. He was carrying what appeared to be a golden staff but it looked as if it had been pulled out from a tar pit. "You're no friend of mine, Ephai," Kelilah told him coldly. "Not after what you did." "Why have you come?" Adir demanded. "Can't a man get a chance to meet the future heir to the Gentlekind throne without an ulterior motive?" Ephai asked in a faux sweet voice. But Naima could see that her mother was not buying this man's false act. "Cut the smooth talking, Ephai. You're here so you can do away with Naima just like you did away with my and Inaya's parents,"she said. "Oh, sweet, observant Kelilah. You've always seen right through me. It's such a shame you and your husband won't see the light of another day." He raised his staff and said, "Lux Tormento!" A blast of fire repelled from his staff, causing the couple to hide from the flames as it cast the furniture on fire. Kelilah ran to the back room and opened the door. "Hurry, Naima, go up the backstairs," she said to her. "I can't," she whimpered. "I'm too scared." "Naima, my darling, look at me. Everything your father and I have done, we did to protect you out of our love for you. No matter how things may seem to change, always have courage and be kind. I love you, my brave, precocious, magnanimous Naima." She kissed her forehead and she did what her mother told her as she ran up the stairs. As Ephai clashed with Adir and Kelilah, he could hear Naima's footsteps. He ran after her with the couple hot on his trail. Naima escaped from the back of the house, where Ephai snuck behind her and pulled out a dagger. He attempted to kill her but he only succeeded in scarring her face when her father used his staff to splash him with a blastful of water. Naima opened her eyes. She was not dead. She had not lost an eye. "Naima, run!" her father yelled. "Go to Hanan and Elinora's farm! And never look back!" She ran as fast as her legs could carry her while her parents fought against the rogue Sun Mage. By the time she made it to her godparents' farm, they immediately agreed to take her in after she explained what had happened to her parents. Meanwhile at the ruins of the burnt cottage, a pair of cloaked figures picked the corpses of the king and his queen off the ground and took their bodies for burial.