Dragon Tamer

Chapter 1

In Wala, monsters roamed freely. They didn't care if you had four legs or two, if you bore fur or hide; if you had flesh, you were prey. Humans grew up with two rules: stay within your city walls; never go out at night.

Well, most humans.

I came from a small village hidden within the Randala Valley with no walls to protect us. We don't need walls to protect us. You see, while all the boys and girls grew up in the plains in the East learning to ride horses and farm their crops, I grew up learning how to ride and tame dragons.

My village, Plum, is the home to the only settlement of humans who have learned to not only survive living in the dragon territory but thrive and live with them in harmony. We have been taming dragons for so long, my last name Dricino, meant "dragon tamer" in our old language.

Our dragons protected us against harpies and manticore, in return we mined an ore from the mountains called Dragon Vain. It was a beautiful stone, blood red with speckles of gold and silver trickling through every core. It sold for a very high price in the eastern markets, since it was only found in our mountains, but dragons sought it out for purely dietary reasons. They needed Dragon Vain to breathe fire. Within minutes of ingesting the stone, their body breaks it down, melts it in their core, and when they exhale, a brilliant red flame spews free of their jowls.

Their fire was so hot, Elesor melted an alcove in the side of a mountain with her breath. We now use that alcove as a spot to sit and relax after a full day of training. Or to hide from my family. Like right now. I huddled up against her body to keep the mountain's chill off my back and to help me find the nerve to return home. 

Elesor nuzzled her snout against my side, a rumble vibrating in her chest. Her golden eyes slid over to me then over the edge of the alcove, down to the bottom of the valley where Plum sat.

I brushed my fingers over her rough scales between her nostrils. The warmth of her breath alone pushed the cold away. "I guess we should head back," I agreed with her reluctantly. The sun was on its way down, and as safe as I felt with Elesor, it'd be safer for both of us if I was home and she was with her colony before dark.

I didn't want to go back, though. Not today. Not because it was raining and the streets were muddied and gross. Tallinn, my youngest older brother, had done the stupidest thing on the planet and took a dragon for a joyride through Thorn's Forest; they got tangled up in the thorns the forest was aptly named after, and my brothers had to go in and rescue them. My brothers returned unscathed, but the dragon Tallinn had taken was seriously injured, to the point we might have to put him down if our healers couldn't do anything for him.

So what was I hiding from? Dad's temper. He had been livid upon Tallinn's arrival, and even more so once we heard how serious Ruban's condition was. It was for the best to wait it out, let him simmer down on his own time.

Sighing, knowing I couldn't hide forever, I stretched my arms over my head and climbed to my feet. The great dragon beside me stretched her wings overhead, shaking her body head to tail. The rain slipped down her back and splashed me.

Giving her a drawl look, knowing she could have prevented getting me wet, I pushed into her leg. "I know I'm going to get wet anyway, but that was cruel."

Elesor raised her chin haughtily and snapped her eyes forward as sassily as a dragon could get.

"Whatever, you crazy lizard."

For my remark, she tipped a wing outside and angled it in such a way that allowed the water to trickle from the tip down onto my head.

I squealed and slapped her wing away. "Hey! Cut it! I'm sorry I called you crazy!"