All Chapters of The Dragon Thief: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

72 Chapters

Chapter 1: The King's Return

**A special thank you to my Delta, Angela, for writing the poem that you'll see throughout this novel.Let this be read in whispered halls,Where shadows linger and embers call.A tale of fire, of sky, of strife,Of stolen eggs and secret life.SkylarI look at myself in the mirror as my maids put the finishing touches on my hair while adding the royal jewels to my neck, wrists, and ears. Being a princess has its privileges.It also has its struggles.My father, King Augustus, is returning home tonight. He’s been away for a week, so the entire kingdom will be celebrating his return. Since I am an only child and my mother died when I was very young, I was in charge of making sure that everything was ready for this evening.My father was out hunting dragon eggs again. I hope, like the last three times he went out, that he comes home without an egg.There are six colors of dragons – the rarest are the golden queens. They are the most powerful of all dragons. Their mates are primarily the

Chapter 2: Dragon Bond

In elder days when flame met air,And dragons ruled the heavens fair,Where once they soared on wings of grace,Now storm and sorrow take their place.Ryuki“Seriously? You’re hungry again?” I ask.‘I am a dragon. I’m always hungry. Just be glad I don’t eat you,’ Bynjym, my dragon says.I love my dragon. Ever since I bonded with him a year ago, my life has changed for the better.It was an accident. I stumbled across him while he was eating. Imagine that. My dragon was eating.I smile, remembering that day. I had been running from a group of people I’d stolen food from. I was starving, not just in the ‘really hungry’ way, but in the ‘I won’t survive much longer without food’ way. I can find water, but food is scarce in winter. It was just a small loaf of bread, something small enough that a normal person would eat it in one sitting, but I would have made it last for days.I’d had my head turned, looking behind me, watching to see how close they were to catching me, when I’d run into a

Chapter 3: Preparing for Battle

Dragons of old, with eyes like stars,Held truths more vast than mortal scars.Their eggs, like jewels of breath and flame,Now fall to hands that know not shame.SkylarI watch as my father and his soldiers enter the castle walls. My father looks smug and proud.“My people, we have done it,” he says, uncovering the golden egg and lifting it above his head.Everyone around me gasps, then applauds, as if stealing a dragon egg from its mother is something to be celebrated. I ignore my own aversion to the practice and clap along with everyone else.“Call everyone in and lower the portcullis! The dragons will be coming for this one.” My father’s voice booms through the courtyard.He gets off his horse, carefully holding the egg, as one of the stable hands comes to get his horse.“Get the horses secured quickly,” he says, turning to his soldiers. “Get the torches lit and the harpoons manned! Hurry,” he says, before striding quickly in my direction. “Prince Kenneth, Skylar, come with me.”K

Chapter 4: Dragons' Attack

For kings and queens, their hunger wide,Would trade all love to mount and ride.They scorn the bond, they steal by night,To claim the sky through wrongful right.RyukiWhen a Queen calls, the dragons come. All of them.As we fly toward the castle where the golden egg was taken, the setting sun glints off silver, bronze, red, blue, and green. And at the very front, it shimmers off our golden queen.While I can’t hear Ylys, all the dragons can speak to each other. I don’t have to have a mind link with the queen to know that she’s furious. I can feel it rolling off her in waves. Her fury is flaming the rage in the rest of the Thunder.We’re in flight formation, a typical V-formation which I thought was because they are winged animals. However, Bynjym brought to my attention that it’s about their numbers not because they can fly. Ylys is in front, by herself, followed by the silver dragons, then the bronze dragons, then blue, red, and finally, greens.There are only four silver dragons,

Chapter 5: The Queen

Yet midst these lords who seek to reign,One soul stands silent in her pain.She walks in silk and royal thread,But moonlight masks the life she’s led.SkylarThe moment my father raced off, I went straight to my bedroom. In the very back of my closet, I have the dark cloak that I wear when I steal eggs and sneak out of the castle. I quickly change out of my high heels and into shoes I can run in, and then put the cloak over me.As I make my way back to the egg, I’m thankful that everyone is either panicking or rushing to fight. In my cloak, no one pays me any attention.I can hear the roaring of multiple dragons outside, feel it in the shaking of the concrete walls of the castle, and smell it in the dust and debris that shakes loose as the walls quiver, fighting to maintain their position while the dragons roar threatens to bring them down.The moment I’m back at the dragon egg, I wrap the long silk scarf I brought around my neck, tying in in a knot and letting it hang to my waist.

Chapter 6: What Does it Mean?

Lo, Skylar named, of royal seed, Born a crown of ruthless deed.Her sire, Augustus, he is cold,He hunts the eggs to find the gold. Ryuki‘You want to tell me what just happened?’ I ask Bynjym testily as we fly away from the woman who returned the egg to Ylys.‘We got our queen back. I thought that was obvious,’ he says, just as testily.I know my dragon understands what I’m asking. He’s always in my mind. The moment that woman said she could hear Ylys, I knew something was wrong. Ylys wasn’t acting like Bynjym did when we bonded. So, this woman, this dragon thief, can hear not just one dragon, but three dragons without being bonded to one? How is that possible?‘She can hear all of us,’ Bynjym says softly, as if it will lessen the betrayal of knowing that someone else can hear the dragon who is bonded to me, the dragon that only I should be able to hear.‘It is not a betrayal,’ he says.‘You are MY dragon, Bynjym. You bonded with me!’ I insist.‘Of course, I am. A dragon can only bo

Chapter 7: Aftermath

But in her breast, another fire,Not born of greed, nor dark desire.She hears the cries no court will heed,Of dragons torn, of mothers’ need.SkylarI try to force my mind to focus on getting back into the castle unseen, but it’s nearly impossible. That golden dragon spoke to me. Is that normal? Can they talk to whomever they want to talk to? And the other two. I never knew if my efforts were worthy, but now I do. It makes the risks that I’ve been taking so worth it.When I make my way back down the path, I can still see fires burning inside the fortress and the air is filled with smoke.I quickly make my way inside, careful not to cross paths with anyone. I stuff my cloak into a hidden wall space. I’ll have to come back for it later.Then I make my way out into the courtyard and into chaos. The sounds of my people's suffering are echoing off the inner walls of the fortress.I stop at the first person I see, holding onto their burned flesh and rocking themselves as they cry. I glance

Chapter 8: Training Session

She bears no will to watch them grieve,As babes are plucked and nests are cleaved.So steals she forth with cloak and blade,Through night and stone and forest shade.RyukiThe next day, the dragons show no signs of leaving their queens, so I decide to take the time to work with Tyffyn and Soma.After bonding with Bynjym, my life changed dramatically. I went from scrounging for food and wondering every day how I was going to make it to the next, to having plenty of food every day. Granted, my diet is mostly protein, since that’s what Bynjym hunts, but me and the other riders have started coming up with ways to eat other foods that we find in nature, either eating it raw or cooking it on a fire. When you live with dragons, fire is always easy to create.Now, without the need to find food every day, I have a lot more free time. Flying with Bynjym fills most of my days, but in times like this, I don’t have a lot to do. So, rather than being idle, I use the time to help strengthen our thu

Chapter 9: The Council Room

O’er cliff and cave, through mist and gloom,She carries life back to the womb.A phantom swift, a breath, a sigh,The thief who makes the dragons cry.SkylarI jolt awake, disoriented because of the very real dream I was having where a golden dragon was talking to me.I shake my head. Okay, maybe that wasn’t a dream. Maybe that was real. Or was it?“My lady! My lady, you have to get up. The thief stole the egg! King Augustus is furious!” one of my maids says.“The thief?” I ask, my mind still reeling from the dream or memory of that queen dragon.‘The human lives.’Me. I’m the human. I got to live, because the golden queen said so.“My lady, please! His majesty is calling everyone to the council chambers. He’s calling for the head of the thief and for the blacksmith who created the most recent trap for the thief.”“WHAT?” I ask, shooting out of bed. I can’t let my father kill the blacksmith. He only did what my father asked. I can’t let him die because I use my father’s knowledge to t

Chapter 10: Down Time

Now mark this name in silver flame,Ryuki, rider none could tame.No crown he wears, no sword obeys,He walks the wild, the dragon’s ways.RyukiI was glad to see Tyffyn actually start training Soma properly the next day. After a couple of days of waiting and doing nothing, the riders and dragons began to get bored. Since we have time, seeing as the dragons aren’t going anywhere, I decided to test the riders.While Bynjym continues to stand guard around Ylys and the golden egg, I suggested a tournament for the dragons, something that would make them work hard and still have fun. With Bynjym’s help, I found a large jewel set into a mountain face nearby. I described the jewel, then sent the dragons out to search for it.I was surprised when other dragons, not just those with riders, decided to join in the hunt.‘Dragons like pretty, sparkly things,’ Bynjym says.‘Then why aren’t the silvers on the hunt?’ I ask.‘The prettiest, most sparkly thing in our world is sitting on a nest in fron

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