Amantha and the Last Song

Chapter 1 - Rider

 Amantha was in free fall. She loved it. The wind rushing past her hair, the freedom and weightlessness that gripped you once you jumped off the back of a dragon. Earthsinger loved it too, and he roared with joy. He could dive so much faster than the natural force of gravity. If Amantha loved to feel as if she was flying, he would give it to her. He spotted Subzero on the ground. The young white dragon lay sleeping peacefully. So was Ceil.

As Amantha and Earthsinger touched ground, she skid off, impervious to the cold. It was one of her abilities. But she could continue it for only so long. She and her dragon had landed beside a wooden house, that lay in the middle of a large snowy expanse.

Ralkyre was a large empire, the city of Kaiden being its capital. At Kaiden's heart lay the king's castle. Also, the castle had been built on higher ground than the rest of the city, which gave the archers who patrolled the walls a considerable vantage point. King Ridren had built his castle to resist a siege if imminent, and the walls were high and well built. Not only was it large enough to accommodate all of the royal household and the people who worked there, it could house half of the royal army if needed, and a fair chunk of the townsfolk as well. From the East Tower Amantha had flown off on the back of Earthsinger, her blue dragon to meet her friend Ceil. You'd think there were four towers, but there were actually three. And out of them one was in ruins. The North Tower had long ago collapsed in a battle the name of which Amantha had forgotten. So she took off from the tower in the east, or south. Ceil, being royalty, had a home in the castle, but often accompanied his uncle to stay in the home they had at the base of the Ruar mountains. Kaiden was seventy miles east of the mountain range, on account of which, the capital experienced arguably pleasant weather throughout the year. And though winter solstice was months away, the air was growing chilly around the city. The closest mountain was Mount Haji, sixty five miles from which she had started and six miles from which she had landed. Earthsinger was young but flew fast, and Amantha loved flying dragonback. So she didn't complain. They made their journey in just over an hour.

But why someone would choose to live in a place so remote, she could never understand. She thought Ceil's uncle, the baron Anown was a funny sort of man to be honest. She didn't trust him completely.

Who in their right mind would buy a house in the middle of nowhere?

And stay in it?

Regardless, her first Trial was closing in, and she needed to practice.

She ran up to the house. She was sure her friend was asleep. He usually was when she showed up this early. His room was on the second floor. His window was half open. In front of her lay a polished mahogany door.

"Ceil!!" she cried.

"Ceil, wake up!" and she banged on the door.

The young boy turned in his sleep.

"Wake up!"

Ceil snorted, covered in his blankets.

Amantha sighed, and willed a vine to creep up from the ground. The green creeper poked out of the snow covering the ground and grew up the surface of the door. She directed in into the lock willing it to move the mechanism inside. She softly heard the lock click, and pushed the door open. She crossed a large living room, then a large dining room, complete with antique ebony chairs and furniture, and climbed up the stairs. Letris Anown was probably out, somewhere.

Strange man, she thought again.

And yet he was a baron at the king's court.