Chaos Descending by Toby Neighbors

Author:Toby Neighbors [Neighbors, Toby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Mythic Adventure Publishing, LLC
Published: 2015-11-16T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

While Sorva hunted, Brianna sat by a small fire she had started. It was late in the afternoon, and she was trying decide whether they should push on or camp in the little valley for the night. She wasn’t in a hurry, and it felt so good to be away from the cottage in the Great Valley. She was looking forward to sleeping under the stars, even if the night got chilly, but she was also anxious for a reason she didn’t understand. Part of her mind felt as if she needed to be productive if she was going to be apart from Zollin. And, despite her need to get away and be on her own, she also felt a little stab of loneliness.

It wasn’t that she regretted her choice. Perhaps, she reasoned, it was the lack of urgency that had always been in the back of her mind before the Witch's War. She wasn’t sure exactly what was bothering her, but something was, and she wondered if pressing on through the night would somehow alleviate that foreboding.

She was sitting on the ground with one knee pulled up to her chest as a resting place for her chin when she felt the ground start to shake. She knew immediately that she was feeling hoof beats as a large group of horses galloped nearby. It was only a moment before she heard the thunder of the horses’ hooves. She hurried up the hilltop toward the sound and was shocked to see nearly a hundred horsemen, all in full armor with weapons at the ready.

“You there!” shouted one of the knights. “State your name and business in this area!”

“I’m Brianna,” she said, not sure how else to explain who she was.

Being a Fire Spirit wasn’t something she normally proclaimed about herself. Most people had never heard of a Fire Spirit, which is what the dwarves called her. She was flesh and blood, not a ghostly entity, but the dwarfish reference to spirit was really about her temperament. She was dragon kind, but that wasn’t really a ringing endorsement either, since many of the towns and villages in Northern Yelsia had been destroyed by Bartoom in the greedy dragon’s quest for gold. She had been Prince Willam’s fiancée, but the prince was dead and she was married to Zollin now. The one thing she wouldn’t use to describe herself was a wife, so she let her name speak for itself.

“Brianna? The dragon keeper?” the knight asked.

“Yes,” Brianna replied, trying to decide if she liked that title.

“We’ve found her,” the knight shouted to his men. “Take her.”

“What are you talking about?” Brianna asked, suddenly alarmed.

“We have orders to take you back to Felson. Can’t have dragons roaming loose through the countryside; it’ll cause a panic.”

“We aren’t running loose,” Brianna said. “We’re flying south. We’ll be out of Yelsia in a day or two.”

Several knights had come forward on their horses and then dismounted. They were slow in their heavy armor. It wasn’t intended to be worn by foot soldiers.

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