*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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Prince Tuari led Vada and Tye to his bedroom within Chief Tana'ka's large home.
It wasn't what Vada had expected.
The walls were hidden by tall, teetering towers of books that occupied most of the floor while bundles of parchment were stuffed into woven baskets that sat beside a small desk squashed into one corner. Tuari's bed appeared to be hidden somewhere behind the towers, but where, Vada couldn't hazard a guess.
Vada drifted through the room, weaving around the towers, her eyes wide with wonder as they fell over the spines of the large book collection.
Curled in a comfortable ball, atop one of the shorter towers was a small black cat, purring gently as it slept soundly.
Tuari rushed into the room, apologising for the mess and looking awfully apprehensive about his decision to have guests.
'Where did you get all of these books?' Vada asked in awe while Tuari fussed over finding her a seat.
'They're from the temple archive, Menos gave orders for them to be burned but I saved them,' Tuari explained. 'As far as the priests know, they followed orders and destroyed them. Nobody comes here, so they haven't learned otherwise.'
Tuari turned to the nearest tower, brushing his hand down the leather-bound pillar as he examined the words engraved on the spines. While he mumbled to himself Vada watched him with intrigue.
Tye, on the other hand, seemed to set Tuari on edge. He became highly agitated whenever the guard stood too near one of his towers. Tye grew disgruntled about this but Vada could see how unsteady the books were and how Tuari treasured them.
'These two books will be a good start for you Chieftess,' Tuari explained, pointing at the spines of two books that were in the very centre of a tower so tall it reached the ceiling.
Vada's eyes travelled up the long column as she wondered how they would access the trapped tomes.
'I've got this Chieftess!' Tye declared confidently and a great wind suddenly whipped up around him. Tuari's cat awoke with a hiss as Tye's gusts of wind shot out in all directions, twisting around the towers which swayed at their caress.
'Tye... I don't think-' Vada began, slowly rising from her seat.
'Don't worry, I've been getting really good at controlling my powers!'
The wind grew suddenly stronger as the last words left his lips and the books wobbled so violently that a low rumble spread throughout the room. The small black cat took a daring leap into the air to escape its once-stable perch, when his paws touched down soundlessly he dashed out of the room, abandoning them all.
Vada looked at her guard to find a sheen of sweat coating his forehead.
Tye caught her gaze and offered a smile of reassurance, unfortunately, his nerves shone through and his expression twisted into one of grim desperation as the wind raged on the edge of his control.
