Scales of Ice & Shadow by Emily Schneider

Author:Emily Schneider [Schneider, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Epic, Romance
ISBN: 9781737495741
Google: bk7szgEACAAJ
Amazon: B09RTQNYHB
Publisher: Magic Keepers Press, LLC
Published: 2022-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-six

Kaida

A loud thud jolted me from sleep, and I glanced out the window through bleary eyes to find dusk waiting. Pushing back the blanket, I crawled onto my knees to listen for what might have caused the noise. Tarrin and Lita were slower to wake, blinking the daze from their eyes. Another thud echoed outside the cottage. It sounded like boots clunking heavily on the wooden porch. The faint clinking of scales met my ears and my heart picked up speed.

Lita rolled herself out of the cot without a sound and crouched as she tiptoed over to the window to peek outside. Her dark-brown hair was in disarray over her hunched shoulders as she eased her face over the windowsill. I watched as her body tensed, and I barely registered Tarrin easing into a defensive position in front of me. Lita’s forehead smoothed out and her clenched fists went slack at her sides.

She met my eyes, and a small smile tilted her lips before she threw herself at the door and whipped it open. I heard three distinct intakes of breath before Tarrin and I bounded for the doorway, our mouths falling open as we peered outside.

My father stood on the wooden porch in human form, blood soaking through his shirt beneath his arm. His face was alarmingly pale, his forehead creased in pain as his silver hair, drenched in sweat and tinged red from blood, fluttered on the breeze behind him. I took a step toward him but came to an abrupt stop when I noticed what stood behind him.

A dragon’s turquoise form stood in the grass at the base of the porch. The last time I had seen the turquoise male, his eyes had been bright though full of sorrow and fury from losing his wife. But now they were dull, a painful haze smothering them caused by months of torture and lack of food. His once muscular body was now thin, large areas of scales missing from his limbs and torso. I swallowed hard at the sight of the King of Elysia. The once mighty dragon that ruled all of dragon kind, reduced to gangly limbs, drooping wings, and dull, battered scales. King Martik swayed before falling to his knees in the grass.

I glanced at Lita wondering why she was not rushing to her husband’s side and found her cowering behind the door. Her eyes were wide, and she had a hand pressed to her chest. Tarrin wasted no time and limped to his father, wrapping his human arms around the massive dragon’s chest.

I hurried to Eldrin’s side and put his arm around my shoulders, helping him inside.

“What happened?” I asked him. His breathing rasped in short gasps, and blood dripped onto the dust-ridden floor beneath us.

I was vaguely aware of Tarrin helping Martik squeeze through the front door, the dragon’s head skimming the ceiling even in a crouch, the rest of his wings and tail filling much of the one-room house.

“I rescued the King,” Eldrin deadpanned, wincing as I helped him sit on the floor against the wall.

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