Dragon Heir [Book 1] [Watty Award Winner 2012]

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Copyright © Gem Higa 2011

Leiv couldn’t sleep the rest of the night and sat at the shore’s edge watching the sky turn from dark to light. The sun rose over the horizon, but for Leiv it had felt like the sun had been completely destroyed and the only thing left was a dark hole that no one could fill.

Rin stayed up the whole night with her trying to send positive thoughts through the bond, but inside he felt just as dark as she did. It somehow felt wrong to be alive when this boy who had done nothing in his life had dropped dead. The world was a cruel joke and they were merely shadows that passed through it year after year.

Her body couldn’t move as the shores waves lightly sprayed Leiv’s face. Both her and the dragon hadn’t moved from the spot they now occupied, and both mindlessly stared out onto the horizon.

Leiv watched the lake light up under the morning sun’s rays and the waters glistened and moved beautifully. The waterfall was ever as majestic as it had been the first time she set her eyes on it. The sounds of the night quickly disappeared as the morning brought the sounds of birds chirping and the animals rustling through the bushes searching for their breakfast.

Earlier in the night Rin had tried comforting her but no matter how much effort he put into it, everything just seemed useless. The pain she felt was something that nobody should ever experience. She felt them moment-by-moment as the life extinguished in their eyes and all that was left was the cold lifeless bodies of the rider and dragon.

The boy had seemed no older than 18 as she watched the light fade away from his eyes. His dragon was just as young as he convulsed on the other side of the portal, his body disintegrating into ashes. The rider had short wine red hair that would surely stick out in a crowd. He had a medium stock frame and wasn’t much taller than Leiv was. His face would surely be hard to miss, as his cheeks were fat, making him seem much heavier than he actually was. His eyes resembled that of Kenji’s, which were brown, but the boy’s was a shade lighter. He was a baker’s boy, always helping his father with the oven and made bread and pastries.

His dragon was the color of the sunset, not quite red but not quite yellow either, more like both colors combined. Its eyes were blue, as the sky above reflected through them as if they were a part of it. In terms of dragon years, this one had been just a baby living no more than the boy did.

Leiv imagined the baker coming to his son’s room to wake him for the day only to find a dead body. The pain and anguish the father would soon feel was not something that would easily blow over. No parent should go through the loss of his or her child; it was something unfathomable.

Tears streamed down her face, as the thought came into mind of what her father would do if she died. The grief of losing his wife and unborn child had almost cost him his life and sent him close to the edge. If he were to lose her, there was not telling what he might do.

A tingling sensation whispered through her head and she looked at the dragon. ‘If you have something to say Rin you should just come right out and say it.’ She told him, clearly annoyed. ‘There’s no use lingering in my head if you’re just going to stay quiet.’

‘I know how you’re feeling Leiv.’

‘I doubt that,’ she shot back.

His usual forgiving face was now an unreadable mask as his words were hard. ‘You forget that I can feel whatever pain you go through. Something painful like that will always manage to fine me through the bond.’

Her eyes dropped, feeling embarrassed for being so harsh to Rin. Numbly she stood and walked towards him. Dropping to her knees she opened her arms and engulfed her dragon in a hug, letting all the anger and sadness flow out.