Fenris had been tied to the back of a horse-drawn carriage. His body ached from sitting on the hard, wooden panels but was incapable of doing anything about it. Ulric’s corpse lay right beside him and had already started to emit a rotten smell.Normally, a werewolf’s corpse wouldn’t decay so quickly, just within an hour. But tonight was a special exception. A cold shiver suddenly washed over Fenris. Utter darkness had befallen the dragon land. He felt in his bones that the power of the moon had vanished. As far as he knew, the lunar eclipse wouldn’t be long—one or two hours at the most. He needed to survive it, then find a chance to escape.With quiet neighing, the horses stopped. The carriage pulled over on an empty alleyway. Fenris stayed put and tried to catch every sound passing through his ears. Someone was coming for him.“How was the trip?” Hugo flashed a grin at Fenris and pulled him out of the carriage. He then dragged him all the way into a dark house. Fenris was surprised b
Olcan stood over the rampart, looking down on the ancient draconic city resting under the darkness. The palace was fully under his control. He was the first-ever werewolf king to accomplish standing at the dragon realm capital's highest point. But there was still a hole in his heart that couldn't possibly be healed.“My king,” one of his sentries approached and reported, “The dragon warriors, the so-called "Dark Wings," surrounding the palace were all captured.”“What about the brute prince and his foolish knights?” Olcan withdrew himself from the city view and moved back into the torch light.“All were put in the dungeons.”“Any casualties?”“No. The Frost Stones were very effective. As soon as the stones touched their skin, they were incapable of moving.”“You’ve done well,” Olcan gritted his teeth, “They underestimated us in every possible way, thinking I could easily fall for this imbecile's trickery.” He walked over to Serlon, who was bruised and swollen, lying in a pool of his o
Thorn stepped up. He placed himself between Olcan and the water sphere Leila and his baby were in.He stared at the wolf king with a deadly glare, and said with the coldest tone possible, as if every syllable was made of a sharp blade, “It was you all along.”Olcan responded with a wicked grin, pulling the string of the crossbow in his hands, aiming at the sphere, “I suggest you back off, dragon prince, if you don’t want to die with Mother Dragon. I should have killed her along with her annoying husband that day. But after I finally killed that old wretch, I was already too exhausted, giving her a chance to escape.”“But Eros’ ring... how did you get the ring?” Ula asked impatiently with a bewildered expression.“I think I know what happened that night,” Thorn answered, his gaze unwaveringly glued to Olcan as he inched towards Eros with small steps, “Olcan killed my mother and the Luna Queen. Then, he stole Eros’s ring while he was drunk and asleep in Amaya’s chamber. What always both
The MoonlightLeila was free-falling. Her hair was flying upwards. She was surrounded by darkness. She tried to reach, to grab onto anything around her, but there was nothing she could do to slow the fall. Fear flashed across her mind, but it was too brief to take notice. The faint gleaming of the scepter in her hands anchored her—it was a part of her. The constant noise of water sloshing was gone. She felt a tickling sensation in her throat as the air became drier and hotter. Then she heard the same whisper again,Sla..thar... Sla.. thar..As the sound grew louder and clearer, for the first time ever, Leila felt the power the word carried with it. It seemed like some sort of energy was resonating within her, shattering her muscles and bones, affecting her mind and thoughts as if an unknown power was waiting for her, and it was buried deep down below.She couldn’t possibly know how far she had been falling. When she landed, the ground was strewn with smoldering ashes and cushioned her
Bolts of lightning snaked out from the scepter and scorched the entire dragon skeleton. The energy of the almighty power had given a life to the dormant, ancient bones. It was the undying existence of Father Dragon. The ashes were his flesh, burnt and crystallized.Thorn felt his dragon spirit quiver and heart grow empowered. He looked down at Leila. Her skin was glistened with a creamy glow, like a pearl, as she held the scepter like a goddess. He sensed that she was different; a more powerful being was connected to her soul.Then, the dragon eggs were lit up one by one. Soon, they illuminated the entire room.Olcan withdrew to the back of the room and tried to get away, but he was spotted by Thorn.The dragon scooped him up with his claws, then smashed him onto the ground, flashing his teeth and ready to bite off Olcan's head.Ben suddenly appeared behind them. He walked forward, restraining the urge to shift into a wolf. He moved past Leila to reach Thorn. His skin tickled from the
It was a dark and dusty room. There was no fire in the hearth, as they would never allow it. Leila was laying on her tiny bed against the wall. She tried to place her bed as far away from the door and broken windows as possible. The wind chilled her to the bone at night. She was exhausted after another day of hard work. After only having a small piece of bread for dinner, she was still hungry. Yet she couldn’t sleep; the cold kept her awake. She heard a voice, then a footstep. Someone was turning the doorknob. She hid herself under her sheet. She didn’t have the courage to sit up or confront them. She believed all horrible experiences would pass eventually, if she chose to bear it all, and wait for time to heal her wounds. This had always been her way of life. She shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep. It was her uncle, her aunt’s husband. He entered her room, quietly tiptoeing. Leila felt a sense of relief wash over her. Her uncle had always been good to her. When her aunt wasn’t
She was knocked back by the sudden impact. Leila lifted her eyes to see what she had run into. A tall, strong knight with a golden sword and shield was standing before her. His armor shone with a golden light under the bright, hot sun. Her flustered escape caused her to crash into the leader of a squadron of golden knights, ranked as golden dragons, patrolling under the direct command of the royals. Their glistening armor hurt Leila’s eyes. She had never seen anything like it; everything was gray and brown in her aunt’s house. She was amazed by this troop of men. The shield was emblazoned with a fierce dragon, as though it was vividly flapping its monstrous wings on the beautiful piece of weaponry. Their swords were long and sharp. Just gazing upon the points of their swords was enough to make Leila’s heart hover in her throat. People on the street gathered around, enthusiastic to observe the stupid girl who had just committed a crime. Rarely had one dared to stumble into the golden
Leila was sitting in a grand room. It was a much larger space than she was used to. The room was quiet, as it was facing the opposite direction from the noisy courtyard. She wiggled her toes deep into the thick carpet and played with her fingers absentmindedly. There wasn’t anyone else in the room, but she could’t help feeling like a horrid stranger might barge in at any second. Even so, she decided to tiptoe to the other side of the room and peek outside. The large, floor-to-ceiling window was absolutely mesmerizing. Leila had never seen a window so enormous. Peering outside, she realized how wonderful the weather was, regretting wasting such a perfect day on escaping. The view was simply extravagant. A sprawling field of crops stretched on without an end in sight under the crystal blue sky. In addition to a few farm houses and wandering cows, several watchtowers also dotted the lively green. Leila wondered if she might be at the edge of King’s Harbor; the view was quite different th