Shadow Dragon: Draignis Clans, Book 2 by Raynes Aleah

Author:Raynes, Aleah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Davis Raynes Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2022-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“Is everyone alright?” Raven asked, my hand still in his grip. Nikole wriggled away from me as soon as she was safely through.

“Neela,” I rasped. My throat was coated with a fine layer of dirt. “I don’t think she’s okay.”

“The spell would have taken a lot out of her,” Janice said, wiping red dust from her face.

“We can’t worry about her now,” Raven said. “We need to figure out where we are.”

As much as I wanted to chide him for being coldhearted, I knew he was right. The rift was closed. No matter what happened to Neela, we couldn’t do anything for her. I had to trust that a dragon as old and as powerful as her would survive the strain of ripping the fabric of reality.

He helped me to my feet and allowed me a moment to steady myself. I glanced around, blinking through the intense brightness of a burning-red sun. The sky was orange as if tinged by a permanent sunset. I looked around. We were in the center of a barren, red desert.

Back at the compound, the manor house was decorated with art that I assumed depicted Draignis. In those pictures, I saw stunning mountain ranges, forests teaming with life, glittering oceans, and castles pulled from a fairytale. It looked nothing like this.

“I would have thought the earth would have begun to recover,” Nikole said, pressing the palm of her hand into the red dirt.

“Recover?” I asked.

“These used to be rolling plains,” Raven said. “Like an ocean of gold.” The faraway look in his eyes told me he was speaking from memory.

“Elder Colton scorched huge stretches of earth,” Ethan explained. “It forced our people to gather where the resources were thickest.”

“Allowing him to target clusters of the population and wipe out resources at the same time,” I finished with a grim nod. “Diabolical.”

“He must have used more than just standard dragon fire to do this,” Nikole said. “It’s been well over a decade. I would have expected to see new growth within a year. Two at the most.”

“Why permanently destroy the realm he’s trying to conquer?” I wondered.

“Madness,” Janice said.

“Bloodlust,” Raven growled.

I gazed up at the sky only to notice something strange. Rather, the absence of something.

“Where are the other dragons?” I asked. “I expected to see more. Or at least one.” But no. The skies were empty. Not just of dragons, but of all life. No birds. No insects.

I looked to Raven for an answer, but his gaze was fixed on a mountain range in the distance. A muscle in his jaw flexed as his eyes wavered between burning rage and unspeakable sadness.

“Do you know where we are?” I asked softly, resting a tentative hand on his bicep. He shifted away from my touch as if I’d burned him.

“There used to be a town here,” was all he said before removing the pack from his back and setting it on the dirt.

“Oh, crap,” I groaned. “I didn’t grab my bag.” Technically, that wasn’t my fault. Janice hadn’t given me a chance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.