Book One - The Dragonkin Empire.

First time on a pub.

  Lumiere's side

I'm crouching down behind a box in a alley while the sound of footsteps muffled by the deep snow and metal rubbing together along with ragged breathing and shouts pass by behind me. I hold my breath and cover my mouth to make sure they don't hear me. They went on oblivious to me and I finally relax, the snow is dampening my pants freezing me, I look around to see where I ended up, tall walls of houses block the light of sun and only dirty rays shine occasionally through the wood. My feet and hands are numb from the extreme cold, puffs of white appear before my eyes, at the far end of the alley a small figure is sitting holding it's knees. It has the head buried between the arms.

 I approach slowly, as I'm nearing I can see the blue skin, the stiffness of the body, I know what it is, it's a girl of about ten years old, with a thin white dress that let the feet below the knee and her arms bare, she has only a light coat of  snow thanks to the buildings that stop most of the snow, but the alleys usually are colder than most areas outside because the lack of sunlight, in exchange it provides some cover from the castle guards and other random thugs. Only god knows how long she's been here alone. I'm wearing brown boots,  thick pants that are deep blue, a black shirt, brown coat and gloves, everything thick enough to keep the cold at bay.

 This kind of picture is not rare on this side of the world, another lonely child, or a depressed drunkard can be found from time to time without even taking the effort of searching for them, it is quite the nasty picture that appears everywhere, the only good thing about them is that they are hidden by tall walls or behind a pile of dirt without in some alley without hampering anyone so nobody really notice them. I take off my coat and lay it on its shoulders, I think it's the least I can do, I make sure it covers her properly., it would be nice if I could bury her, but with this weather the soil is too hard to dig, and if I went diggin' holes for everyone I meet, soon someone would be diggin' my own grave, but nobody is that lucky, I gently pat her head and turn around to leave.

 I rub my hands to produce some heat, now that my coat is gone I don't feel my entire arms and I'm shivering. I peek before going out to check for the guards, they are going to the castle gates again grumbling about something without even looking back.

I wait five more minutes before going out to the streets, everything is painted white and grey, the older snow has a sick color in it, I see the stalls selling things, children running about knocking each other and throwing snow while laughing, the sky is showing a dim light that is covered by lots of clouds, only out of the castle can you see such scenes, where the children laugh despite everything else.

 I make haste to reach  an old shack on the far end of the village, I go in without knocking  and see an old man sitting in front of a kettle, he barely has any hair and his bones stick out from below the meat.

 "Where are your clothes?" He speaks in a hoarse voice.

 "I was running from some guards and I had to throw it away, how are you feeling today?"

 "I am fine today so stop pestering me, I am old and no one cares anymore about me, you better leave before I kill you." He was a bright old man.

 He wasn't too old from my perspective, he should be around fifty years of age, but in this town there aren't many people that last this long, at least not in the back streets, he is weak and only has a few teeth left, ignoring him I said.

 "Look, I got some bread and a few potatoes, I see you already have the water, eat the bread slowly and boil the other, I hear today there was a commotion over the walls, maybe they got to see some action." I sat in front of him, he was holding an old book with a leather cover that was worn out from use. "what are you reading?"