Dragon Queen: Book One-Scarlet Reign

PART 1: Change

In the darkness, a young guard stands with his sword sheathed. He peers into the woods before him, curiously wondering what lies within. He adjusts his knight's helmet and sighs. His sweaty palms clutch his spear in a halfhearted manner as he wipes his brow. The man leans heavily against the stone wall surrounding a city, though he knows that if he was caught doing so during his guard duty his superiors would chew him out.

It was unusually hot on this night. In fact, the air smells vaguely of smoke. It seems to be coming from the woods. Perhaps a forest fire a ways away? The campfire of a wandering traveler? The guard ponders the source of the strange smell, as he has nothing else worthwhile to think about during his uneventful patrol.

The bright stars twinkle dimly overhead, crickets singing their sharp songs as per the norm. Fireflies buzz near the guard's nose. He swats them away indignantly.

A rustle is heard as a cat runs through the large grassy field separating the castle and the forest. The guard takes an interest in the cat, watching it scamper towards him. As is grows closer, the man notices the cat's arched back and fluffed tail. Its eyes are wide, its teeth bared as a long hiss escapes from its small mouth. It rushes past the guard and skitters up a nearby tree. Its fearful gaze is glued to the forest.

The guard cocks his head in wonder at the terrified cat. He follows its gaze toward the woods. He squints his eyes.

Trees whisper strange things as the wind whistles through them. The crickets stop chirping. The fireflies dart through the air, up and over the castle wall. The whispering grows louder. A haunting tune floats through the air into the guard's ears. He is standing frozen, enchanted by the song. Eventually the tune evolves into the sound of a female voice. The ghostly melody is drifting... ever so slowly, growing softly louder and louder, closer and closer...

With a start, the man notices huge indents beginning to appear in the grass. Four at a time, the indents drew closer with the song. Realization dawns on the young guard as he realizes they are giant animal-like footprints. He attempts to bolt away from the scene, but finds his body is completely frozen. He cannot will himself to move no matter how much he tries. He then attempts to scream, but, as if cotton was stuffed down his throat, finds no sound will escape his lips.

The cat in the tree gives a yowl before tearing away as fast as it can.

The giant footprints in the grass are moving nearer, until they stop a few feet before the terrified guard. The singing voice echoes through the guard's body, vibrating his very bones. Steaming air blows across his face at regular intervals.

Before his very eyes, the air shimmers. A soft clicking sounds as something appears before the him. It is the head of a lizard creature, more bits and pieces of it revealing as its scales flipped over to unveil more of it.

A sickening feeling of terror digs deeper into the guards chest as he looks into the eyes of a dragon. Time seems to slow down as he gazes at her, her mouth moving with the melody of the song. But, he noticed at the back of his mind, there were multiple voices now. Multiple mournful singers joined their haunting voices with the dragon's.

As the dragon gives a penetrating stare at the guard, she bares her long, wicked fangs. Her great maw opens wide.

The man's jaw trembles, his brain screaming at his limbs to move. He gives one last breath before the dragon's teeth sink into his neck. The dragon flings his body upward before she gulping it down her massive throat, snapping her jaws shut. She hums as the sharp spines on her back glow in a brilliant green.

Another voice, that of a young man, joins the mournful song emanating from the spines.

The dragon's scales flip over again, her body disappearing as soon as it has appeared.

A hush fell over the field. Warm wind blew over the grasses. Eventually, the crickets once again started their familiar chirping, and and fireflies danced through the heavens.