My Second Book Released Today!
Rumoured Resurgence, my second book and the second book in the Dear Dragon series released today. It’s available as a paperback ebook or on kindle unlimited.
It’s been a busy month leading up to this moment and I’m very excited for the coming month and all that goes into new releases.
I will talk more about this book in the coming weeks, but today I just wanted to give you the first chapter to preview!
Elizabeth left the local stables with the two large bags, ready to stock up on enough fruit and vegetables to feed the entire castle. The entire castle with it’s four inhabitants.
The streets were busy, as was normal for this time of day, but Elizabeth found it wasn’t worth waking up at four in the morning to get here before the crowd.
She reached the fruit store. It was the fourth one this month, not content with the previous three. She held a piece of paper with her order between two fingers.
As the lady took note and weighed the peppers, the dreaded small talk began. “So, have you heard the rumours?”
Elizabeth took a deep breath, her green eyes shut for a moment as she bit her thin lips. “Yes. I believe I have.”
“Dragons, alive, can you believe it?”
Elizabeth nodded, her skinny fingers made their way through her short black hair. “Yes.”
“The rumours are they could be very dangerous, that they’ve infiltrated the palace? Apparently, they plan to kill the king.”
“They’ve infiltrated… kill the king?” Elizabeth looked to the ground then back up at the middle aged woman who smiled as she did her job. “These rumours sound awfully dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” The woman smiled, it was clear gossip and rumours were the highlight of her day. “Those creatures are dangerous!”
“They’re magical creatures, just like any other. Probably terrified.”
“Terrified?” The lady handed over a bag of fruit. “Those creatures are huge and strong.”
“I heard a rumour, they were just children, the remaining dragons.”
“Hm.” The woman was now throwing the numbers into her machine, waiting for the total to come up. “They could be.”
“There’s very few of them left, something must have happened.” She handed over the coins.
“Well,” she handed her the last of the fruit along with the receipt, “agree to disagree.”
Though the woman smiled and waved goodbye. Elizabeth did little more than hold back a glare. Agree to disagree was a nice philosophy, but not when the rumours that spread were causing dangerous mindsets that put innocent people in danger. There was nothing there for Elizabeth to agree with.
Elizabeth left the local stables with the two large bags, ready to stock up on enough fruit and vegetables to feed the entire castle. The entire castle with it’s four inhabitants.
The streets were busy, as was normal for this time of day, but Elizabeth found it wasn’t worth waking up at four in the morning to get here before the crowd.
She reached the fruit store. It was the fourth one this month, not content with the previous three. She held a piece of paper with her order between two fingers.
As the lady took note and weighed the peppers, the dreaded small talk began. “So, have you heard the rumours?”
Elizabeth took a deep breath, her green eyes shut for a moment as she bit her thin lips. “Yes. I believe I have.”
“Dragons, alive, can you believe it?”
Elizabeth nodded, her skinny fingers made their way through her short black hair. “Yes.”
“The rumours are they could be very dangerous, that they’ve infiltrated the palace? Apparently, they plan to kill the king.”
“They’ve infiltrated… kill the king?” Elizabeth looked to the ground then back up at the middle aged woman who smiled as she did her job. “These rumours sound awfully dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” The woman smiled, it was clear gossip and rumours were the highlight of her day. “Those creatures are dangerous!”
“They’re magical creatures, just like any other. Probably terrified.”
“Terrified?” The lady handed over a bag of fruit. “Those creatures are huge and strong.”
“I heard a rumour, they were just children, the remaining dragons.”
“Hm.” The woman was now throwing the numbers into her machine, waiting for the total to come up. “They could be.”
“There’s very few of them left, something must have happened.” She handed over the coins.
“Well,” she handed her the last of the fruit along with the receipt, “agree to disagree.”
Though the woman smiled and waved goodbye. Elizabeth did little more than hold back a glare. Agree to disagree was a nice philosophy, but not when the rumours that spread were causing dangerous mindsets that put innocent people in danger. There was nothing there for Elizabeth to agree with.
Meanwhile, in another part of the kingdom many hours travel inside, inside a two story building in the royal garden, close to the palace, it was dinner time. A long dining table was laid and covered in food. Along it sat the remaining dragons in their ‘human form’, as most revered to it. Despite the presence of food there was a lack of eating.
Sarah, the youngest at ten years old, was braiding her red hair, pretending like she hadn’t seen the plate in front of her. She still had pijamas on, her teachers had made a fuss but what could you expect when classes were held just bellow her bedroom? She had golden skin that according to her teachers did not look good with the yellow pyjamas, just as the pink pyjamas did not match her red hair. They’d soon learn Sarah wore what she wanted when she wanted and they’d be best keeping their comments to themselves, else they encourage her.
Her older brother, Danny age fourteen, sat facing her, scrunching his nose up at the vegetables one of the caretakers had thrown on his plate. His tawny coloured hair was always a mess but the past two months has been worse than usual. Soon he’d require an adults help to untangle it or a hair cut. His skin was already paler than most of the kids and it was becoming paler as it lost his tan. Back in Aerradra the sun was everywhere at all times, but here in Oppida, the kingdom’s capital, the sun remained hidden by the tall buildings and was not as warm.
Violet, the second youngest, was eating, but at a pace that would lead anybody to believe she planned to be there all night. She stopped after a little while to imitate Sarah, braiding her black hair before stopping and going back to her food for another few minutes. Stop and go. Her tawny skin was also becoming paler at the lack of sun. Kai wondered if they’d need to start taking vitamins soon.
Fred, the tallest of the children, was spinning the fork in his lean fingers with disinterest. He had umber coloured skin that made his white almost silver hair pop. Said silver hair reached his shoulders, he’d been growing it out for years now having fallen in love with long hair after seeing a picture in a book. Elizabeth and Emily had been happy to let him grow it out. May had been indifferent. However the new caretakers kept scolding him. He had taken it as a challenge but the older kids could see the comments affecting him at times.
Melany was the only one who ate normally, although she was never a great eater, eating was just something she had to do before getting back to her books. She too had umber skin that caused her blonde hair to pop. Her blonde hair contained pink highlights that she’d been criticised for when arriving at the new home. “It is not appropriate to have such colours while one is inhabiting the palace,” they’d said to her. Proving their ignorance as dragons are colourful creature not only in their four legged scaled form but also in their human form. Often their colours showed through their hair and their eyes. Melany had no intention to bleach her hair just to make some boring palace workers with nothing better to do than gossip feel better.
Zack, who sat next to his twin brother Kai, was not concentrated on his own plate. Instead he stared at the one across. Zack and Kai shared their brown skin and blond hair, they shared their height and head shape, and their traumatic childhood. However they were easily differentiable, Kai was more muscular where Zack was skinnier. Kai kept his hair short while Zack’s was close to covering his eyes. Kai had bright blue eyes while Zack’s were green, matching their scales when transformed.
Their personalities too were different, however their concerns were the same, the way they dealt with said concerns was once again different.
Zack stared at Itazu who once had a grand appetite, up until she’d been captured by a hunter along with Kai. She hadn’t been the same since.
Kai didn’t know if it was the near-death experience or the fact they found her dead mother’s head mounted on a wall. As though dragons were no more than ornaments with their colourful scales and large horns.
Itazu’s purple eyes were half closed and watched the food willing it to disappear. Zack was wishing for the same although with a different intended route. Itazu was only a little shorter than Zack and Kai, but with her back hunched she looked even shorter. Her hair that was usually curled into perfect little locks was looking a bit less curly and a bit more wavy. She had beige skin and dark purple hair. Of all the dragons she stuck out the most, which wasn’t good considering she was one of the best at getting into trouble. She was also the only one of the dragons raised separately. Believing herself the last dragon until Kai found her.
Kai elbowed his twin, his own eyes moving towards Zack’s food. Zack bit his lip, but nodded, taking a bite. Itazu pushed the plate away, she whispered something nobody heard, most likely excusing herself before heading up to her room.
She was the first, but the others didn’t take long to follow.
“It’s been a month,” Zack informed as they walked up the stairs.
Kai nodded, it had. Yet it felt like yesterday. One month ago Kai, Zack and Itazu had left the safety of Aerradra for no good reason. Kai and Itazu had been captured by a hunter, a person who had no problem killing magical creatures to sell for parts. The experience had been the most terrifying thing Kai had ever experienced, being chained up in a cell not knowing whether they’d make it out alive or not. They’d escaped, but a few weeks later Itazu had gone back and ended the life of the man who hurt them. The man who killed her mother. Now they lived in the palace garden under the protection of the king. “I’ll talk to her,” Kai promised.
At the top of the stairs, there were banisters from which they could see the dining table with the kids bellow, as well as the sofas, some bookshelves and some fireplaces on either side of the stairs. The building was large, nowhere near as large as the castle from which they came, but it was certainly big enough for the eight of them. Against the wall were identical doors, one after another, they led into mostly identical rooms. There hadn’t been much time to personalise them yet.
The building was not meant for a bunch of young dragons. It was meant for the king’s closest friends and family who came to visit from far of lands and needed a place to stay for long visits. But for the past month it had been the home to dragon kind. A secret that was kept only through the threat of losing one’s job if the rumours got out and could be tracked to any specific palace employee.
Zack moved over to his own door, while Kai moved past it, knocking on another.
“Come in.” He heard the soft tired voice.
He entered, closing the door behind him. “Hey Taz.”
She looked up from where she was sitting on the window sill. “Hey Kai.”
He walked over, sitting down next to her. “Good views?” he asked peering out at the palace gardens.
The view wasn’t much different to his own room. Long reaching grass fields, the palace that towered over them. In the distance the flowerbeds that stood before the palace walls, the forest behind the walls and the small train station.
Every morning a cargo train came in to deliver supplies for the palace. Once a week they would empty the castle dungeons into a more secure train to head to a secure location, usually one of the many prisons the kingdom had. You usually didn’t get into the palace dungeon for a minor crime after all. Unless you were of political importance.
“What do you want?”
Kai smiled. Itazu was always to the point, it’s something they had in common. “You’re not eating well.”
She nodded.
“Zack’s beginning to worry, I can’t keep reassuring him.”
“I’ll try.”
Kai frowned. “Does your father know?”
“The specifics? No,” Itazu rolled her eyes, “he’s already nervous enough about the whole ordeal.”
“I’ve barely seen him, I thought he’d be all over you after…”
“He’s been busy,” she explained, “with us and all…”
“Of course.” Kai nodded.
“I will eat more.” She looked at Kai. “I promise.”
“I’m… I’m not worried about that,” he admitted, “I’m worried about you. I thought being back in Oppida would help, you seemed so desperate to get back here.”
“Not here, not just the city as a whole,” she pointed out. “I wanted to be home, not locked behind stone walls in just another kind of castle,” she opened the window. “This isn’t…”
Kai nodded.
“I know I messed up, all of this is my fault and—”
Kai grabbed her arm. “Hey.”
She closed her mouth and took a deep breath, “it’s true.” They argued over this often. Itazu blamed herself for their capture, she wasn’t entirely wrong, it had been her who convinced Zack to leave Aerradra and Kai to follow behind. But unannounced to Itazu, she wasn’t the only one blaming herself, May too had put all the blame on Itazu at the time, going so far as to threaten her life while she was unconscious. Kai had protected her, threatening May so she’d save Itazu.
“It’s not that simple, you tried your best. Things were complicated. Nobody who didn’t deserve it got hurt, so, no harm done.” The hunter deserved it as far as Kai was concerned, and although their living situations had changed, they were alive, they were safe and they were together.
Itazu smiled. “It’s not that simple.”
Kai ignored the argument, pulling her into a hug. “You know you can talk to me, right?”
Itazu nodded. “How’s Zack handling all of this anyway?”
“Good, we have coffee every evening, you should join.”
She nodded, every evening they knocked on her door and invited her down. She was running out of excuses. “Maybe.”
“You should join.”
She eyed him.
“Join us.”
“Is that an order? Or a threat?”
“Depends, will either of those make you come?”
She smiled. “What do you think?”
“I think last time you failed to follow my orders we both ended up in trouble so, you should have learnt your lesson.”
Itazu laughed. “Okay, so if I go for coffee we’re even?”
“An arrow pierced my shoulder and I was locked up in a cage…” he shrugged. “Yeah, a coffee should do.”
She laughed. “Fine. I can’t turn down a deal that good or I wouldn’t be my father’s daughter.” Itazu’s father was the right hand man to the king, good with negotiations and other political matters.
That evening, when they walked down the stairs for coffee, they were all three surprised to find Henry, Itazu’s father, standing in the living area.
“Father.” Itazu jumped down the stairs and hugged him.
“Hello Precious.” He smiled, hugging her back, before pulling away. He had papers in his hands. Henry had dark brown hair that needed a bit of a cut, his suit was a little creased, yet he still looked mostly put together. He wasn’t very tall, taller than Itazu but shorter than Kai or Elizabeth. However the way he held himself most of the time, his expression and his way of dressing made him look taller.
“I was just seeking you out. I require we… um…” the smile was gone, he glanced at Kai and Zack, “could we talk in private?”
Itazu looked back at her friends, Kai nodded.
“Okay. I’ll see you two later.”
Zack looked a little disappointed. “Yeah. Sure. Later.”
Itazu followed her father out of the building, through the garden, the garden was huge and divided into many sections. There were the far off flowerbeds with benches and tress closest to the palace walls. There were fields closed off and grass kept short for guards to train in. There were the many paths through which nobles walks and discussed important matters. The two story home the last dragons were kept in used to be the guest house for visitors from far off lands, it was considered polite to offer them the privacy of remaining outside the palace.
It suited the dragons though, it meant the children could exit their home and instead being inside the palace with all the expected formalities they were in a field of grass they could freely run through.
Itazu followed Henry into the palace, he wasn’t looking at her, he was reading over some documents. Itazu felt out of place in the palace halls.
She was the only person not in uniform or at least in a suit. With extravagant paintings, and expensive rugs, stained glass windows, the palace was a place of luxury Itazu had no interest in. They reached Henry’s private office, once inside he placed the documents in a drawer, pouring some water into mugs and handing them to his daughter.
She placed her palms around them to boil the water with her powers. “So, you finally found some time for me?” It could have been an accusation, but her tone was soft and genuine.
“Kind of,” he sighed, sipping at the newly brewed breakfast tea.
“What’s on your mind?”
“I finally got the papers in order. I must inquire, do you find yourself comfortable in your new home?”
“It’s not uncomfortable.”
He nodded. “Well, the paperwork is all in order, your friends are all in the system, and under state protection. All of you, all dragons are under state protection.” He handed her some documents.
“I don’t know what that means.” Itazu shook her head as she accepted the papers.
“It means, at least for now, that they’re under the custody of the king. That allows us to keep you all here in the palace. Otherwise we’d be seeking out foster homes, however we do not consider it productive to separate any of them, seeing as they have grown up together and, related or not, are similar to a family.”
“They are family.” Itazu said looking down at the documents. “All the kids are under the king’s custody?”
“Yes, all of you. I of course have shared custody of you.”
“I think you’ll find I’m an adult,” Itazu looked up, she raised her chin and crossed her arms.
“I think, you’ll find dragons don’t have an exact age at which they are considered legal adults. Either way, it changes nothing, it’s just a short-term legal solution to a long-term problem.”
“Okay.” She leaned back in her seat, looking at the names, photos and details of her friends, her own file the only one with parental information. “Is this what you wanted to talk to me about? Why in private?”
“I thought it was a good ice breaker.”
“And the freezing cold-water underneath that could drown me?”
“The hunter… I believe that is how you refered to him?”
She nodded.
“He’s been sorted, the house re-appropriated and emptied. We are identifying the deceased… and… I…” he paused, he sat back. “Next week, I plan to hold a small funeral for your mother.”
Itazu nodded slowly, she could see her father’s hands shaking, the tears in the corner of his eyes that he was trying to hold back for her sake.
“I sent a letter to Elizabeth… there’s this flower bed in the palace garden, she used to like sitting there when her job was too much for her… I’d like to hold the burial there…” He had to pause to take a deep breath.
Itazu moved to grab one of his hands, she gave it a squeeze and Henry felt the tears running down his face as he took yet another deep breath.
“I’m sorry Precious.” He moved his free hand to wipe the tears away. “I don’t know if it’s what she would have wanted… maybe it should be in her home town or—”
“I’m sure she’d be fine with whatever makes you feel best.”
Henry nearly choked at that.
Itazu was out of her seat, holding both his hands now.
“You’ll assist, right?”
“Of course.” She hugged him. “It’s my mum’s funeral.”
“I know, of course.” He held her. “I’m so sorry you had to… you had to find her… you had to…”
“Father.” She squeezed his hands, looking up at him. “None of this was your fault.”
His shoulder sagged as he shook his head. “I love you Precious.”
“I love you too Father.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so busy, but I promise this is moving forward, just hold in there a little longer.”
Itazu nodded, knowing that it was her father who clearly needed to hold in there.
