PROLOGUE

 The wind howled like a lost wolf through the night as a man trudged on through the steep mountain pass, making deep footprints in the knee high snow.

 The cold was sharp and his feet were frost bitten and blistered but the lone traveller clutched the bundle that he carried tighter to himself he had to keep it warm, it had to reach Gesa safe and sound or all was lost, he has journeyed through the desert of Bukarat and into the forest of Nibigan to get it. 

 Ninety days of little food and even less water, fighting off men and creatures that sought to destroy this ray of hope but even if it cost him his last breath he would bring the egg into Gesa, the new dragon lord lived there.

 In a sleepy town three hundred leagues from where the traveller stood a boy hurriedly packed up his belongings, he wanted to be gone before his mother woke up.

 The past year had seen a lot of misfortunes befall his family and he knew his leaving would break his mother's heart having already lost two children but he had to leave not just for himself fed up as he was with all the stares and snide remarks, but for his mother as well,

 "Your powers are a gift which you will use to train the new dragon lord, you are special my child" Mama would say but these days she looked at him with a weary helplessness that would drive him crazy.

 He tied the rucksack firmly and swung it across his shoulders, pausing to gaze into the eyes of the stranger in the mirror looking back at him he wondered if he would see home ever again.

 Riz knelt beside the sick man, his young family waited beyond the door way in silent vigil a wife and three children, a boy and two girls.

 A pot of herbs steamed in the fireplace and she hesitated to check it, dipping a cloth into cool water she dabbed at his blistering hot brow, nothing she had done could reduce the fever and it took all her will power to refuse him a drink of water, if only he would just sweat it out.

 The man gurgled weakly bringing his index finger to his tongue which was swollen and furry, she rose to her feet and filled a pitcher with water and brought it to his lips

"Drink" she said lifting his head up, he gulped greedily letting the water run down his beard and unto his clothes "At least he won't die of thirst" she thought wiping him down again with the napkin, she set the jug down and leaned back on her haunches and watched the water, she could feel the buzz in her blood and the song in her ears the water was calling to her and with a sigh she answered  pulling the water out to cover her hands she placed her hand over the man's chest.

 In a small decrepit hut hidden in a valley on the outskirts of Gesa, a girl tossed a rubber ball at the wall.

  She had not slept a wink that night something was keeping her awake, that feeling you get when the dawn would bring your birthday or bad news or something that could change the course of your life if only for a short while, sitting all alone on her threadbare mat a lock of bright flame coloured hair curling at her brow she knew something was coming but she had no idea just how big and life altering it would be.

 Gesa was a small city in Hanorak bordered by green vegetation, the people were mainly farmers, fishermen and traders, Infact it had the largest market west of Hanorak with stalls bursting to fullness with more wares than a mind could fathom there were cabbages and melons the size of a bull's head and grapes so sweet and juicy they stained the fingers a shocking purple for days after wards, there was a cobbler and a tanner and a cart full to spilling with buttered scones, the jeweller stood by his curtained tent enticing ladies to sample his wares and exclaiming how it brought out the light in their eyes or the milkiness of their skin, somewhere ahead a juggler juggled his colourful balls and a dark skinned lady danced with a tambourine in her hands and bells on her feet, but none of these things interested her today. 

 Zutara backed swiftly behind the grocer's stall and under the butcher's table and through the tiny sliver of space between the fishmonger and the perfume maker, she let her nose guide her and her fingers think for her which they did so quickly it shocked her, even before the baker could holler for help  she was four stands away weaving, dodging, twisting and ducking her way out of the market a warm loaf of brown bread in her right hand and a buttered roll tucked into the band of her trousers.

  The baker raged. shaking his fist and stamping his feet , it reminded her of a bull and she laughed bumping into a young girl her age who was dressed in a light blue gown with a low cut skirt sewn in the latest fashion, the girl squealed and her mother called Zutara a feral child and tried to smack her with her feathered hand fan.

  Zutara bared her teeth at the woman for good measure, no one world dare come after her she knew, they all thought that she was mad, bad and wild which served her well in times like these when she could steal and run back to her hut which was falling apart around her and eat her food with perpetually cold fingers.

 From her perch she could hear the bells at the western guard tower toll loud and brash like an angry tone deaf old woman complaining about her woes.

 She knew what the bells meant and it made her hackles rise, the last time they had tolled it was to announce the death of her parents.

 King Terreus strolled into the throne room flanked by his personal guards, he had been in his gardens when the bell began to ring he pondered what news they would bring, a page swept his enormous cape to the side so that he could sit down.

"Bring him in" he ordered with a wave of his fingers and a man dragged himself inside with his head bowed, his feet were bare and cracked, his robe torn in scratches and caked with mud, the man shivered so violently that his teeth chattered, when he looked up his face was weather worn and gaunt but very familiar. 

"Sikorra" the king breathed the name cautiously like one would the name of a ghost for the man before him he thought had been dead for over seventeen years. 

"Terreus, my old friend" Sikorra said tiredly "I see the crown has been kind to you" he smiled crumbling to his knees. The king leaped out of his throne catching his friend who was nothing but bones beneath his robes "Fetch me some water and a healer !" Terreus thundered

"Listen to me, Terreus my brother, dark clouds are forming" he coughed painfully and was given more water " Maldorr is coming, all the nations on the west side of Ligath have fallen and his army grows stronger every day''.

 ''Of the seven dragons that roamed the skies in our time  none is left not even his, word has it that it was poisoned by the evil in his heart"

"Words have reached us too, but you must rest my friend" the King made to rise but Sikorra placed a warm bundle into his hands.

"This is why I am here" he said as the king unwrapped the bundle to expose a large scaled rock of the most iridescent blue that seemed to pulse and hum with life like a heart beat

"Is this...?" he asked in awe

"Yes it is a dragon's egg unearthed in Nibigan, I had to get to it first before Maldorr heard about it, the egg brought me here, the new dragon lord is a child of Gesa​