*Book 1 in the DragonKin series*
Vada and her siblings spend their days carving out a living in the Rystwith Mountain village of Riska. Together they live as outcasts in a small two-story hut just outside the lowland village centre, cast out due to...
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Gathering the new Kin and the human villagers at the base of the nearest mountain pillar, Vada closed her eyes briefly, activating what she had come to call her Kin-Vision.
The bright life of the landscape was always blinding at first but high above them, a little way off in the distance, she saw a familiar blue orb leading a troupe through the mountains.
'We best get a move on, my brothers on his way and he has a really fiery temper,' Vada explained to Bram who had returned, reluctantly it seemed, to her side. Placing her palms flat against the mountain, Vada focused on controlling the flow of her power using as little as possible to motivate movement within the mountain.
Rather than form an interior stairway, which required a lot of movement and sculpting, and therefore energy, she opted for a rougher alternative.
The tower vibrated beneath her hands, dust and small stones began to fall from above as large boulders pushed themselves out of the side of the mountain, protruding to form a haphazard stairway that spiralled around the tower, all the way to the very top.
'Off...you go,' Vada panted doubling over and resting her hands on her knees to take deeper gulps of air.
'Still not in tip-top shape then I guess?' Bram laughed, sending some of the humans up the stairs first. Vada glared which only made him laugh harder.
A young woman with brown hair and brown eyes stepped onto the stones, placing a hand on the tower to steady herself. Bram quickly excused himself without a word, pushing in the line to go up the stairs behind her while placing his large hand on her lower back.
Vada hung back, observing the procession. There were a lot of children amongst the Kin and that made Vada think about the village she had to build, it had never occurred to her when meeting the Chieftains, that many of the Kin would be so young.
Already she knew that her next challenge would be convincing their human families to bring their children for training... and then she would have to figure out how to train a child so young. The weight of responsibility was growing heavier by the day.
-
Vada was the last person to reach the top of the tower, each time she left a step it retreated back within the mountain, further ensuring that the Grasslander's couldn't easily follow.
Though she couldn't see the top of the mountain, she knew who was waiting, his heartbeat rang loud and clear in her ears.
The new Kin and the slaves gathered in a close huddle behind Bram who stood tall in front of them like a shield, his expression fierce and his arms crossed over his chest. Vada stepped out in front of him and the moment Cas laid eyes on her he clenched his fists and burst into flames.
'Cas, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you!' Vada spluttered but her words had little impact and he began to turn away until she added, 'I didn't know they were prisoners and that I'd be captured. I was foolish!'
