Four years ago, Morgan was found half-dead near the dragon village of Thorsbury Upon Wick.
Morgan cannot remember what happened to her, but the villagers suspect she might be a dragon from their long lost ancestral homeland.
Adopted by the villager...
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E R I K
The hunt for a meal has been long and difficult. The deer were few in number thanks to the increasing goblin population. Seeing the destruction they had wreaked on my once-beautiful Kingdom pained me.
Poppy prepared the deer we had caught while Morgan and Rupert slept. I had tried to sleep but found it impossible. The cottage stank of goblins, and my inner dragon struggled to relax. I had to protect Morgan and get her back to the village's safety.
Eventually, I grew tired of trying to sleep, so I got up and sat next to the fire.
Poppy was close by, butchering the deer we had caught. She was working on a shoulder, slicing meat into thin strips and drying them over the fire.
"I saw this in a survival show," she smiled, trying to start up a conversation. "We can dry the meat out like a jerky snack."
I grunted wearily, too tired to make conversation.
"I've made some stew for Rupert and Morgan. I call it Poppy's snow deer stew. It has two ingredients - snow and deer," Poppy said, hanging a strip of bloody meat over the fire.
She stares down at the blood on her fingers and licks her lips. She closed her eyes and sucked the blood off her fingers, and hummed in delight.
"Fresh blood tastes so much better than old blood," Poppy tells me, lowering her voice. "Don't tell Rupert, but the blood he brought me was lumpy."
"Unfortunately, you will be dining on lumpy blood for the next few days. The blasted goblins have all but hunted the deer into extinction in the mountains. Thank the gods that my father and brothers are not here to see this. Their hearts would break if they saw what has become of our lands," I replied.
"We'll get the lands back once Morgan speaks to Ebony," Poppy smiles confidently.
"You seriously can't think it's that simple?" I ask.
Poppy tilts her head at my reply, and for a brief second, I swear her eyes narrow on me.
"I should hope so, considering we are travelling to the Summer Fort - right?" She asked. His bright blue eyes, seemingly innocent and sweet, bored into me.
I looked away and mumbled, "Yes - of course."
"Good, because this might be the only chance of making peace between the vampires and the dragons. Without this peace, the remaining dragons left in the mountains won't have a hope in hell," she said.
Her words puzzle me. They seem innocent enough, but deep down, it feels like a silent accusation - as if she knows I'm leading them to the wrong portal.
Guilt twists and turns inside me. Morgan might never forgive me for taking her back to the village...
