Ascent To The Nest: A Middang3ard Series (Dragon Approved Book 2) Page 7

  Myrddin pointed and said, “Timber, an earth dragon.” Looking at the four, Alex saw a large dragon curled in the corner of the holding pen. Its skin was the color of moist, fertile earth, and its horns were smaller than the rest of the dragons’. The texture of its wings could have been mistaken for bark, and as it yawned, its body shimmered in and out of sight.

  “Next is Amber, an electric dragon.” This one was noticeably smaller than the rest, but not as small as Chine. It flitted back and forth with nervous energy. Its scales were steely-blue, and electricity crackled between them. The sweeping horns on its long face looked like conducting rods with bolts of lighting shooting between them.

  “And now we have Furi, a fire dragon.” Furi took up most of the space in the pen. It was the largest of all the dragons, and its chest was covered in golden scales that looked like coins. Massive, sweeping horns stretched from its head nearly to its shoulders. The dragon had rippling biceps and a muscular chest.

  “And finally, Chine, our only ether dragon.” Chine crouched in the opposite corner. His scales shifted between different colors. He was the only dragon who looked at Alex as she stared over the platform. Ah, Alex, Chine said telepathically. I’m glad to see you were one of the four chosen.

  Alex was about to respond when she felt Myrddin’s hand on her shoulder. “Come, Alex,” he said. “The binding ceremony is about to begin.” Myrddin turned to the other three teenagers. “Please line up shoulder to shoulder from smallest to largest.”

  Jollies zipped over to Brath’s right side before anyone had a chance to say anything. Gill and Alex sized each other up, and Alex smiled awkwardly as she stood at Gill’s left side since she was nearly a head taller than him.

  Myrddin spread his arms wide. “Let the binding begin!” he shouted.

  The room was filled with silence. Nothing happened.

  Chine’s voice surfaced in Alex’s head. Exciting, isn’t it? He laughed.

  Alex reached out to Chine with her own thoughts. Chine, is it? she asked.

  Yes, Alex?

  What exactly is happening?

  Alex leaned forward to get a look at what everyone else was doing. Jollies had her eyes closed tightly, and Brath was tapping his feet impatiently. Gill was the only one who seemed to be unconcerned about what was happening.

  Chine’s voice pierced Alex’s thoughts. The dragons are choosing their riders. They’re each speaking with a rider right now, same as I am doing with you. Going through their memories, trying to find who they’re most compatible with.

  Alex nodded and realized she probably looked crazy. “You guys choose us, we don’t choose you,” she murmured.

  Exactly. Oh, I think we have our first one.

  The dragon Timber spread his wings, flapped once, and soared into the air. He stared into Gill’s eyes for some time before turning to Myrddin and nodding.

  Myrddin stepped forward and grabbed Gill’s wrist, the wrist with the dragon anchor. He whispered something under his breath, and Gill’s dragon anchor began to glow the same color as Timber’s eyes. Timber breathed out a spiral of fire that engulfed Gill.

  Alex screamed and leapt backward as the flames swallowed the elf. When the flames went out, Gill was still standing but was holding his chest and breathing heavily.

  Gill looked up at Timber, who only nodded before flying toward the ceiling. The crystal separated, allowing Timber to fly out into the night sky.

  Myrddin rested his hand on Gill’s shoulder. “You may wait outside,” he said. “You’ve been bound.”

  Gill did as Myrddin said. He was shaking slightly as he walked, but other than that, he seemed to be perfectly fine. Would have been nice if someone had warned him, Alex thought.

  Chine’s laughter rippled through Alex’s mind. It wouldn’t be much of a ceremony if everyone knew the details.

  Amber rose into the air. Electricity crackled, and the hair on the back of Alex’s neck stood up. The dragon floated toward Jollies and met the pixie’s eyes. A bolt of lightning crackled from above and struck the spot where Jollies hovered.

  Once the smoke dispersed, Alex saw that Jollies was still floating, although her hair looked like she’d stuck her finger in an electrical outlet. She turned to Alex with a shaky smile.

  Myrddin walked over to Amber and nodded.

  Amber shrank in size. It happened so fast Alex could hardly tell what was going on. The dragon was now roughly the size of a large cat as it took off into the sky.

  Alex leaned over to check on the two remaining dragons. Looks like those two will be a good match, Chine mused. They both seem to want to fly very fast.

  Next, Furi spread his oversized wings and flapped once, sending a gust of wind through the whole room. The fire dragon glared at Brath as the dragon’s lips trembled. Alex wasn’t sure if the dragon was going to breathe fire or bite off Brath’s head.

  Brath didn’t back down or show any fear. Instead, he stepped up to the dragon until they were nose to nose at the edge of the platform. Brath raised his dragon anchor and it glowed a deep, blood red, the same color as Furi’s eyes.

  Chine’s voice echoed in Alex’s head. They’ve got a good amount of anger and hatred between them, he said. I hope they don’t burn each other.

  Furi snarled and spat a fireball at Brath’s feet. The fireball exploded and covered the gnome in flames. Brath stood there until the flames passed. He coughed as he inhaled smoke. Furi smiled as he took off into the sky. Brath left the room and gave Alex side-eye while he said, “Guess the human gets the runty leftover.”

  Chine rose into the air and looked into Alex’s eyes. The dragon’s eyes were kind. They looked old and reminded Alex of her grandmother’s. Hardly, Chine thought to Alex. Myrddin and I decided it would be best if we saved you for last. Our binding will be a little more complicated.

  Myrddin stepped forward and nodded. “You two bonded earlier today while you were sharing memories,” he said. “Before we perform the spell, we need to bind you technologically. Please raise your dragon anchor.”

  Alex did as she was told, and her anchor glowed the same color as Chine’s eyes. “With that taken care of, we’ll do the spell. Alex, I can’t heal your eyes, but I can give you Chine’s sight. It won’t be the same as with Manny. You will be able to see, no matter how far away you are from the dragon. But I must warn you, a dragon’s sight is a thousand times more powerful than a human’s. It might be a strain. Do you understand?”

  Alex didn’t care how difficult it was going to be. She would have given both her arms to be able to ride a dragon again. She wanted to be in the sky. “Yeah, I can handle it,” she said.

  “All right then, let’s do this.”

  Myrddin stood behind Alex and covered her eyes with his hand. Alex felt a warm sensation on her eyelids as she stood in darkness. Myrddin was chanting something, but Alex couldn’t make it out. After a moment, the warmth started burning, then changed to searing pain.

  Myrddin released Alex, and she fell forward with her right hand held over her eyes. She wanted to scream in pain, but she didn’t want any of the other riders to hear. She could handle this.

  Alex slowly opened her eyes. They felt heavy, as if someone had bolted them shut. The first thing she saw was Chine’s eyes. They were deep purple, and then they weren’t. Alex’s head erupted in pain as she backed away.

  Chine leaned forward to get a better look at Alex.

  Alex’s head was screaming from the pain. When she looked at the dragon and saw the way his scales morphed between different colors, the knocking pain behind her eyes increased. She tried to stand but suddenly became sick to her stomach. There was too much color. Too much vibrancy. She wanted it to stop. She wanted the darkness. Seeing was making her sick.

  Chine sensed what was wrong and flew backward, away from Alex and closer to the shadows.

  Myrddin moved behind Alex. The sound of his steps made Alex whip around. She nearly screamed when she looked at him. She could see each and every pore on his f
ace as if she were looking through a microscope, but that wasn’t all. She could see the individual threads in his clothing.

  Every detail was magnified; it was too much. She couldn’t stop the scream this time. Her brain was overloading. She pitched forward to keep from throwing up and covered her eyes. “Oh, my God. It hurts so much,” she whimpered.

  Slowly she opened her eyes, but she was still seeing too much. She felt like she could see each cell that made up her hands in excruciating detail. “Take it away,” she muttered before she realized what she’d said.

  Myrddin leaned down and helped prop her against the wall. Alex shut her eyes and fought back the tears from the migraine pounding in her head. “Are you sure you can do this?” he asked.

  Alex took a deep breath and imagined herself on Chine’s back with the sun in her face and the wind blowing through her hair. She cracked her eyes open. The flood of visual information was almost too much. She thought she might faint, but she held on with her teeth gritted and fought through the pain. “I’m going to be a dragonrider,” Alex ground out slowly. “No matter what.”

  Alex stood and faced Chine. She opened her eyes as wide as she could and stared into the dragon’s eyes as he flew closer. His deep-purple eyes were rimmed with blue and green, which changed to yellow and orange. They held each other’s gaze for some time before Chine nodded and followed the path of the other dragons out of the nest.

  She watched as he flew away. When she looked at the night sky, the stars blazed with a blinding light, and she lost her balance. She hit the floor with a heavy thud and shut her eyes as tight as she could. I’m going to fly again, she thought, slipping in and out of consciousness. No matter what it takes, I’m going to fly again.

  Author Notes Ramy Vance

  January 2, 2020

  “Dragons in space,” that’s what I said to Michael Anderle when I met him Edinburgh. “Dragons in space.”

  He just looked at me in that way he does, his eyes narrowed as he considered the proposal (what is refreshing about Michael is that you can play an endless game of improv with him by throwing out random terms and thoughts - to which he’ll always turn it into a story).

  “Will that work?” he asked me, but I knew he was already plotting.

  “What’s not to work? Dragons in space. Think about it. How cool would that be?”

  “So you’re saying this would be a second series in Middang3ard?”

  “Yep.”

  “And what, would the dragons be wearing, what, space suits?”

  Now that was a question I was prepared for: “I’m thinking mech armor and magic spells that surround their bodies with a thin layer of oxygen.”

  He considered this and shook his head. “We can come up with something better.”

  Damn it… still this was a victory. He was intrigued.

  “Let me think about it,” he finally said.

  Over the next few days, every time I saw him, I yelled, “Dragons in space.” It got to the point where if he saw me, he’d turn around and walk away. But I wasn’t deterred. I just screamed all the louder: “Dragons in space!”

  I think I might have oversold it. I probably didn’t need to hound him. But still, it was fun. It wasn’t every day you got to legitimately yell something like, “Dragons in space,” at a person like Michael and get away with it.

  Finally, on the last day of the conference, he nodded and said, “Dragons in space. Let’s talk about it.”

  And from that, the Dragon Rider series was born. “Dragons in space, baby!”

  PS - do me a favor. Tag Michael in a post with the hashtag: #DragonsInSpace in the Kurtherian Gambit Group and a link to the book. It will drive him crazy, but because we’re basically marketing the book, there’s nothing he can do about it. (Mwahahahahaha! DRAGONS IN SPACE, BABY… DRAGONS IN FRIGGIN’ SPACE!)

  Author Notes Michael Anderle

  January 5, 2020

  Thank you for reading this story!

  Because of fans, I get to Research the World™, which is a pleasure, finding new locales and people to invigorate creativity so I can continue to bring you more stories.

  Right now, I’m studying Hong Kong (looking at the city of Hong Kong from Hong Kong Island). It is a little cloudy, and the mountains, which are not that far away, are shrouded in mystery.

  DRAGONS

  I have a love/hate relationship with dragons, clearly more love than hate since I’m involved in three series right now that deal with dragons. I like that they are massive, fierce creatures with magical abilities that just look freaking cool.

  I hated EVER having to role-play a fight with a dragon. I felt like I was about to become that little mess under their feet they would then wipe across the ground to get rid of.

  I liked playing a Magic-User. You know, the role where we couldn’t wear any decent type of armor EVER and a stupid arrow might kill us because we gained hit points at 1d4.

  If this makes NO sense, it essentially means you would play a game, and when you went up a level, you threw a 4-sided die. If you rolled a 1, you gained ONE FREAKING HIT POINT per level. If you slipped on a banana peel, you could kill yourself. If a fighter (who could gain—I think—up to ten hit points, or maybe eight, per level) slipped, his friends would just laugh at his low dexterity.

  So, other than admitting to my NERD qualities in a former decade, suffice it to say, dragons weren’t my friends.

  On the other hand, as a reader, dragons are one of the most iconic creatures in Fantasy. This guy’s fears and desires for power-made-flesh in a sinuous body of armor(!) and could wield magic and fly.

  @#@#%@ YOU SUPERMAN! This was a creature of majesty!

  RAMY

  So, when Ramy and I talked about doing a series of shorts (a tactical publishing decision, along with a realization about just how much time and money we had to put into a new series), he sold me when he spoke the word “dragon.”

  The rest of the conversation didn’t matter.

  He had me.

  We worked through the details for the main character (always, in my opinion, the most important part of the story) as my inner NERD was squeaking “FREAKING DRAGON!”)

  If you enjoy dragon stories, LMBPN has many. Those include (already out) Sarah Noffke’s The Exceptional S. Beaufont stories, and Kevin McLaughlin’s Steel Dragon series. In March, I have another dragon collaboration with Martha Carr coming out, the Dragon Trainer series.

  Jump on our email list to be told about these and the many other books we have coming your way in the future!

  http://www.LMBPN.com/email

  Thank you for reading our stories. It means the world to me!

  Michael Anderle

  Other Books by the Authors

  Other Middang3ard Books

  Never Split The Party (01)

  Late To the Party (02)

  It’s My Party (03)

  Blue Hell And Alien Fire (04)

  Death Of An Author: A Middang3ard Novella

  Other Books by Ramy Vance

  Mortality Bites Series

  Keep Evolving Series

  Fatebound Series

  Other Books by Michael Anderle

  For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:

  www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/

  All LMBPN Audiobooks are Available at Audible.com and iTunes. To see all LMBPN audiobooks, including those written by Michael Anderle please visit:

  www.lmbpn.com/audible

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  oved Book 2)