Chronicles of Den'dra: A Land Torn: Ancient Powers Awaken Read Online Free PDF Page A

scaly warrior's cunning. Fear was a prominent weapon in their arsenals. Be it a roar in the night to a silent shadow that decimated half a camp in the blink of an eye. The legends spread and strengthened with the whispers of the survivors.
    Dragon kind retained this advantage and used it to great effect. Every army that had marched against them had failed. Braebach abounded with legends told about hearths in hushed voices. A couple dozen years had not dimmed the terror that could inspired by high flight over a human settlement. Humankind remained land bound bereft of their beasts of burden and war. Illiad contented himself with waging war on the other lands not under his rule. The dragons resisted any incursion and the elves to the south were not any more willing to countenance any such outrage.
    Iradaemi and a handful of other dragons patrolled the border frequently as much to scare any curious humans as to catch any foolish interlopers. People still made ill-fated ventures across the border for the dragon eggs. Be they agents of the cursed King or starry eyed young men out to make a name for themselves as dragon tamers. Even if they slipped past the patrols they still had to make it past the hunting dragons in the mountains and the she dragons that protected their young and unhatched offspring. No one had made it to the hot rocks in the crater deep inside the Vaulwar in many years.
    Iradaemi was about to conclude her patrol when she heard a sound. Carried by the cold breezes up the mountain Iradaemi’s keen ears heard a thin wail. The gray dragon silently glided down the slope until she found the source of the cry. In a sheltered gap between two stands of trees there was a patch of grass that had survived the fall frosts. Winter snows had yet to bury the tall grasses. At first glance Iradaemi didn’t see anything. It was only after the second pass that she spied the child.
    Iradaemi sniffed the air and didn’t detect any other humans upwind. A circuitous path around the hillside didn’t reveal a trace of a scent. Landing in the meadow she looked around cautiously. She wouldn’t put it past humans to try a trick to capture a dragon. What they intended to do with her and her fire breathe was their problem if they managed the feat. The woods had high limbs and thin trunks so hiding was not easily achieved. Deciding that the child was alone Iradaemi settled into the meadow softly.
    Lumbering over Iradaemi brushed the grass away with her snout. She had no illusions about what must be done. The harsh fate of the child had not been decided by her. Human savages, Iradaemi thought to herself. No dragon would abandon a hatchling like this. Even deformed hatchlings if they lived through their first molting were not abandoned. Several assisted with tasks like helping the brooding she dragons or others worked at the dragon towers where the hibernations took place.
    It was the face of an infant girl that revealed itself to Iradaemi. The child quieted as it looked up at the dragon. Iradaemi gazed for a moment with pity. What she was about to do was a mercy in her mind. The child would not survive the night and she planned to make its death as brief and painless as possible. The she dragon spread the claws on a fore limb and drew back in preparation for the strike. She paused as she sensed that something was not as it should be.
    Iradaemi leaned back down and took a deep breath of the child’s essence. Her eyes widened in shock. The human child had the smell of a dragon hatchling about her. It is not possible. It has to be a trick. Iradaemi stepped back and tried to think of what to do. Looking back at the child she wondered how this could have happened. The human clearly had dragon blood. How this had happened was beyond Iradaemi’s imagination.
    Iradaemi pondered what she should do and finally decided that she should present the child to the elders. Carefully cradling the baby against her bosom she protected it from the cold wind.