A Dragons Destiny

Chapter Two

Ivory, Grey, Riley and Jared spent a while practicing their archery. At least until Grey had stormed off sulking because he couldn't hit any of his targets. Apparently it wasn't his strong suit. Ivy had asked Jared where they were travelling to, but Riley had quickly interjected telling her that they weren't supposed to speak of it to anyone else. Jared had agreed and told her that there were people that wouldn't like what they were doing, spiking her curiosity. But she didn't question it further.

When the sun had begun to set Ivory had returned to the cottage and began preparing their evening meal. Whilst she stood and chopped the vegetables by the counter Garrett prepared the meat. Jared, Riley, Slade and Grey were all out in the barn attending to their horses. But Ogren was sat by the fire soaking up the heat and mixing ingredients to create potions.

Every time Ivy glanced over to watch him pummeling the ingredients to a fine dust with the small stone handle she had to remind herself to pay attention to where she was putting her fingers near the knife. Once or twice she nearly cut herself from lack of attention.

The day had passed surprisingly quickly and Ivory found herself wishing that time would slow down. She was enjoying the company and hadn't realised how much she might be missing out on spending her life on the farm. 

When the food was all in the pots Ivy left her Uncle and went to read in her room. Instead of reading she found herself laying on her back staring up at the ceiling, the book open beside her. The arrival of the five men seemed to have awoken something inside her and she raised arm above her face to look at the inside of her wrist.

Many times over the course of the day it had started tingling. As she pulled the sleeve of her top down she saw that the mark there appeared to have a strange red hue around it. The mark was black, just like a common Andielle tattoo.

It spiraled in a sort of oval shape and there were few markings surrounding it. A little over a year ago Ivory had discovered there was more to it than just its somewhat magical appearance. She had been in a deep sleep just before it happened, lost in a strange dream that still lingered in her mind.

A woman had been stood on a large rock surrounded by thick billowing clouds of smoke. She looked to be wearing lithinium armour, a rare metal known for its ability to be woven like thread. The thin material shimmered a brilliant silver against her wrists, calves and torso, like a beacon amongst the darkness. 

Around her a deafening thunder boomed and the strong winds whipped her hair and the material around her legs backwards. From the clouds in front a long, scaled snout appeared decorated with two sharply pointed nostrils that blew out thick black smoke. It bore a set of sharp gleaming white teeth which lined its snarling mouth.

The warrior didn't move, but raised her left arm straight up in the air in a way that the inside of her wrist was facing forwards. She bore the exact same mark as Ivory. A black swirl with a few small rune like markings around it. Only it was different here, it had a strange orange glow illuminating it and the swirl seemed to pulse with a shred of yellow that spun through the spiral.

At that moment, the creature in the smoke opened its large mouth and a deafening roar erupted from its throat along with spits of billowing fire.

Ivory had shot up in bed, beads of sweat trickling down her forehead. The heat inside her small room had been unbearable. Throwing off her blanket she had stood up and walked over to the window, thrown it open, and relished in the cool night air as it cycled through and removed the stuffy heat that seemed to have been snatched from and invaded her reality. Ivy remembered feeling a burning sensation on her wrist and had looked down to see that the mark in her wrist was pulsing with the yellow shreds, the same way it had done in her dream.