Defenders of Light: Healer's Flame prologue

Happy New Year, everyone! 2015 was full of adventures for me, and one of those adventures was writing my third Defenders of Light book. If you've been following my Facebook page, you know that this was a difficult book for me to write. I finally finished editing my rough draft and am almost ready to send it out to beta readers, so in celebration I share with you the prologue of Defenders of Light: Healer's Flame.  Enjoy!

Prologue: Dragon Master

            Filth.

            Everything was filth.

            The black dragon thrashed against the metal chains, his powerful shoulders straining against the bonds, and cursed the world.  The trap had been cleverly hidden in the ancient pines, and the illusionary deer that had lured him in vanished as he descended upon it.  Even the scent of the deer had been the product of a spell.  Who knew how long the spell had been in place before Laurus, hungry after his winter-long fast, foolishly struck.

            Laurus roared, and the forest fell silent.  He arched his neck, and the barbed chains slipped beneath his scales, piercing his flesh.  A warmth in Laurus’s chest grew into a billowing furnace.  He would burn the forest down.  It would suffer for his pain.

            “You were caught because you are weak,” a small, high voice cut through his rage.

            In front of Laurus, at the trap’s edge, stood a little girl with free-flowing long blond hair and deep blue eyes.  A small smile graced her lips, but there was nothing friendly in the smile.

            Something about the girl’s smell made Laurus’s nostrils burn.  He hissed and vomited a stream of flame.

            The flames engulfed the girl, but there was no satisfying shriek of pain.  When the flames died, the girl stood untouched among a field of ash.  She nonchalantly brushed a speck of soot off her dress.

            The little girl cocked her head to one side.  “Would you like to become more powerful?”

            Laurus tried to raise his trapped wings to point their barbed knuckles at the child, but he was no fool.  This child was powerful, this he acknowledged.  How can a tiny creature such as you grant me power?

            The girl’s eyes glinted, reflecting firelight.  “My name is Erazmus.  I grant power, and I take it away.”

            Ignoring Laurus’s snort of disbelief, she continued.  “There is an old dragonless Keeper, one filled with pain and loss.  He is the guardian of a redfire bloodstone.  Find him, and you can take the magic for yourself.  But befriend him, and he will lead you to two more bloodstones.  If you do that, I will make you my disciple and grant you even greater power.”

            Devouring three bloodstones will make me far more powerful than you.

            The little girl who called herself Erazmus turned her back on Laurus and started to walk away, following the trail of ash Laurus had created with his flames.  She stopped and turned around.  Her eyes glinted.  “Will they?”

            The chains around Laurus released, and they made a cacophony of clangs as they fell to the ground.  He stretched his wings, reveling in his freedom.

            “Return to me when you’ve proven yourself worthy.”