**ON HOLD** Dragon Riders (The Stars of Fate Book 1) **ON HOLD**

Chapter Eight - Damsel? What's that?

I woke up shackled to a tree in DarkAuma cuffs. Protect, I muttered. The magic formed a barrier between me and the bare obsidian that housed the inverted Auma, but at a cost. I couldn't cast any other spells, as my Auma was stretched to breaking point. Smart bastards.

I glanced at the tree, hoping it would give me enough contact with nature to draw Auma off from the fire core. No such luck. The tree was dead. Wait, so was the next one. And the next. Oh, Gwayanaina, no. I was in the Blasted Wastes. It was a strip of land, that had been verdant and green. The elves wanted it back, so the Orcs burnt it to the ground. There would be no recharging Auma for me. There was no plant life but mushrooms between here and the Orc stronghold.

One of the Orcs turned around and glared at me. 'Stand.' He commanded. I decided to play the innocent messenger. As I straightened, he snarled, 'What do you know about Dragons?' I decided that this was normal protocol, and answered the same way that any terrified thirteen year old elf would, knowing that if they disobeyed the Orcs, they would be brutally murdered - protect the elves: clan, and people. Even at the cost of your life. 'My name is Sophie. I am an entry level messenger, in sector blue. And you will get nothing else out of me.'
He snarled. 'We should have killed her there. She will give us nothing. You, pass me my sword.' The Orc he referred to handed the commander an evil-looking obsidian sword.

I began to sing an elven battle song. 'Free the silver Auma, / From the binding darkness, / We allow our lives to the Auma / Even unto death. / Until the dawn of dragontime / Until we all are free... '
At this, I was cut off by the sword thumping into the tree beside my head.

'Shut up if you want to live.' The Orc poked me with the curved black blade. 'Move out!'

After several days of hiking through the Blasted Wastes, we reached the mountains. Orc territory. The Orc commander snarled 'One hair out of line, and I'll flay you alive.' The stronghold was immense. Impenetrable. And I was inside of it.