In the small village of Riverwood, which borders a wide flowing river, Keira, the thirteen-year-old daughter of a fisherman, was sleeping soundly when she was awakened by many loud thuds. The noise seemed to make everything, even the air, vibrate with each concussion.
Keira looked out her window it was the middle of the night. It was pitch black outside, and the moon was only a small sliver offering little light to see by. Keira could just make out several huge dark figures winging their way towards the village. They came closer and one of the figures loosed a torrent of bright, orange flame upon one of the houses. The figures were dragons, and they were going to burn down the village!
Keira burst out of bed, and she threw on a hooded cloak and shoes.
A moment later her father dashes in and says, “Go with your mother and your brothers, and get out of here, now!”
Keira ran from her room her long, black hair flying. She finds her mother and two younger brothers waiting for her outside, and the four of them run for the safety of the woods.
Everything was chaos outside. Houses were burning. People were screaming, crying, and running every which way. The dragons were roaring and flaming. The fire cast an eerie light on the whole scene, and the air was filled with thick, choking black smoke.
Keira and her family didn’t make it very far, for one the giant dragons landed right in front of them blocking their path. Keira knew it could see the terror in her light grey eyes, and on the faces of her mother and brothers. Keira heard a noise behind. She turned to look and cried a warning, but it was too late
She threw herself to the ground as another dragon came up from behind, grabbed her mom and brothers, and carried them away. The dragon in front of Keira snarled and lunged for her. She rolled out of the way and ran as fast as she could towards the forest.
Keira was almost there and the dragon was just about to grab her when a huge, silver dragon bust out of the trees and attacked it. Keira didn’t stop running until she was under the leafy canopy. It was only then that she looked back.
The silver dragon had the other dragon pinned to the ground battering the dragon with its great silver wings. The dragon managed to kick the silver on off, and it fled before the silver dragon could tackle it again.
Do not be afraid, youngling. I will not harm you; you are safe now, said a male voice that seemed to echo inside of her head.
“Who…who are you?” Keira asked in a quiet voice.
My name is Savoth, said the silver dragon coming closer. What is your name, human child?
“Keira,” Keira replied. “Who were those dragons, and what did they want?”
Savoth growled. They don’t deserve to be called dragons, he said angrily. They are murderers, and they long for the false power that their leader dangles in front of their noses, and they take humans as slaves and force them to do the Winds know what. Before you ask, I do not know where your family and friends have been taken, but I do know of and army of humans and dragons who do. I will take you to them, but first, you must rest. I will carry you in my claws to my home where we can rest safely.
Savoth clasped his forepaws together; they made a space big enough for Keira to lie down on. Keira climbed on, and she found his scales were surprisingly warm. She was tired and fell asleep as soon as they were in the air.
Keira woke up to find Savoth curled up around her, and his jewel-like eyes looking down at her.
Good morning, Keira, he said uncurling himself. Are you hungry?
Keira nodded and sat up. She found herself in a large cavern-like cave, with and entrance three times as large as Savoth and two other tunnels the same size as the entrance.
Savoth went into one of the tunnels, and came out a few minutes later carrying food and a molded leather saddle with full saddle bags and a long hunting knife strapped to it. The saddle looked just like a horse saddle, except that it had more straps and the straps were longer. Also, instead of stirrups, it had three loops that went down either side of the saddle, so Keira could secure her legs so she didn’t fall off.
They ate breakfast, and then Keira helped Savoth put the saddle on. She mounted, and Savoth walked to the entrance. He then, crouched down, raised his translucent wings, and leapt into the air pumping his wings to gain height.
Speak to me with your mind, Keira, so I can hear you over the rushing wind. Savoth said.
Okay, Keira agreed.
Flying was exhilarating for Keira. She loved feeling the wind whip past her face and watching the ground, which was so far below, speed past them until it was a blur. She laughed giddily, and Savoth, feeling her excitement, let out a loud bugle of joy.
Their happiness did not last long, though, because the came upon a battle between four dragons. Two of the dragons had riders. One was indigo blue and the other was ruby red. A girl, who looked about Keira’s age, was riding the blue dragon, and a boy, who looked a bit younger, was riding the red dragon. The other two dragons, Keira assumed, were part of the cult of evil dragons. One dragon was a dull brown, and the other one was coppery orange.
The girl had a bow that loaded with an arrow and fired at the brown dragon. The arrow pierced the dragon’s thick scales, and buried itself in the dragon’s left side. The brown dragon retaliated by loosing a column of writhing fire.
The blue dragon tried to roll out of the way, but it was not fast enough. The flames caught the girl’s shoulder and arm, and burned the blue dragon’s foreleg.
Savoth let out a furious roar, and climbed above the battle. Keira drew her hunting knife, and gave a cry of her own.
Savoth dove at the brown dragon, and landed on its back tearing at the dragon with his claws and teeth. Keira slashed at the dragon with her knife as it flailed trying to dislodge Savoth.
The dragon’s spiked tail stabbed Savoth in the flank. Savoth howled and released the brown dragon. The dragon spiraled up and over Savoth, and aligned itself so it could paralyze Savoth with a bite on the base of his skull, which would cause Savoth to crash into the ground.
Recovering quickly Savoth cried, Hold on! He rotated his wings in their sockets, and pointed his whole body straight down with his wings parallel to the earth. He held that position for a heartbeat. Then, he pulled left wing in, swung his tail to the right, and head to the left, and shattered the brown dragon’s wing bones with his tail as it sailed over.
The brown dragon howled in pain, and dropped like a stone to the bone crushing ground.
At seeing its companion fall towards the hard packed earth, the coppery orange dragon disengaged from the red dragon, roared its hatred, and fled.
The three dragons landed in a grassy field. A strange looking house stood about one hundred yards away. It was all white with grey root tiles. It had a red-bricked chimney on one side. The house looked to be two stories because it had a small window on the roof. It had three more windows on the main floor; two big ones on the right and left, and a small window in the middle. All the windows had black shutters on either side. A small shed, that was the same color as the house, stood next to it.
Savoth and the blue dragon yelped in unison as they landed because of their injuries. The three humans dismounted their dragons, and Keira found a bandage and some salve for treating a burn in Savoth’s saddlebags. She went over to the girl, who was clutching her burned arm, and said, “My name is Keira, and the silver dragon is Savoth. Here, I have something for your arm.”
The girl held out her arm and said, “Thank you saving us back there. My name is Tara, by the way, and the boy over there is my brother Arren. Our village was attacked a few days ago by the evil dragons.” Her voice shook with emotion as she recalled what happened. “They captured almost everyone, and the rest died in the fires those monsters made. Arren and I were the only ones who escaped. We met Raynorlyn, the blue dragon, and Toven, the red dragon, soon after we escaped.”
Tara had long brown hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail, and bright blue eyes. She wore a tattered, green riding dress. On her uninjured shoulder she had her strung bow and a quiver full of arrows.
Arren, who was silently setting up camp, had short blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He wore a simple tunic and leggings, and he carried a knife on a belt around his waist.
Keira tended to Savoth and Raynorlyn while she told Tara and Arren her story. Then, the three of them ate dinner and went to sleep.
The next morning the six of them took off. They flew fast making good time, but then they were caught in a fierce storm, which was full of strong winds and freezing rain, forcing Savoth, Raynorlyn, and Toven to land, and making all of them continue on foot.
The storm abated two hours later leaving everyone thoroughly soaked to the bone.
They finally reached the stronghold of the human and dragon army by evening. Once it was deemed that none of the companions were enemies, they were welcomed and given a place to eat and rest.
The stronghold was inside the crater of an extinct volcano crisscrossed with many tunnels.
The next morning Keira, Tara and Arren were summoned by the leader of the army. They were told that the army was going to lay siege to the evil dragons’ fortress, and that Keira and Arren were going to be taught how to fight with swords while Savoth, Raynorlyn and Tara healed.
For the next few weeks they trained and prepared for battle with the rest of the army.
When everyone was healed and trained and it was the day of the siege, the six companions were given armor, and the leader told them to join the rest of the army in the crater and be ready to leave in and hour.
Keira, Tara and Arren donned their armor and helped their dragons don theirs.
Twenty minutes later Keira and Savoth, Tara and Raynorlyn, and Arren and Toven joined the rest of the army in the giant crater. Keira noticed that the whole human portion of the army was riding a dragon, and that not all the dragons had riders.
The order was finally given to move out. The dragons rose silently into the air; the only sound was the rustling and beating of giant wings.
When the army reached the evil dragons’ stronghold, which was the same as the army’s stronghold except larger, Keira saw the multitude of dragons they were up against.
I don’t think I can do this, Keira said, baulking at the thought of fighting all those dragons.
You can do this, Keira, Savoth said encouragingly. Remember, you and I fought that brown dragon and saved Tara and Arren.
I know, she replied, but this is different. There are so many of them.
You’re not alone in this fight, Keira, you have me. You also have Tara and Arren, and Raynorlyn and Toven. Savoth said.
You are right. She agreed; her fear lessened. We can do this, together!
At that moment the leader yelled, “CHARGE!”
Dragons and humans roared in unison. The night was lit up by tongues of fire of many colors, and filled with roars and howls of fighting dragons.
Keira and Savoth paid heed to none of the chaos around them because they were so wrapped up in their own battles.
A few hours later the army was able to get inside the evil dragons’ fortress, and soon they were able to penetrate deeper into the mountain.
Keira Savoth were exhausted, but they kept on pushing their enemies further and further back through the tunnels until they found themselves in a very large room.
The room was large enough for twenty dragons to fly comfortably. The only thing in the room with them was an onyx black dragon about ten times larger than Savoth.
Well, Savoth, it is a surprise meeting you here. I didn’t know you were the fighting type, said the dragon mockingly.
It isn’t a surprise finding you here, Zargoff. I should have realized you were their leader, Savoth snarled.
Keira didn’t have time to be shocked or confused because Savoth launched himself at Zargoff. He feinted towards Zargoff’s throat, and then he swerved to the left and breathed silver fire across the side of the black dragon’s head and neck.
Roaring in pain and annoyance Zargoff raised a huge clawed forepaw to strike Keira and Savoth out of the air.
Too exhausted to react in time they were thrown against the far wall. Zargoff’s claws ripped a deep gash in Keira’s sword arm and side, and Savoth’s wing was shredded with deep rents in his side.
Zargoff slowly raised his forepaw again to strike, and it looked to Keira like he was grinning.
Suddenly there was a loud roar, and Tara, Raynorlyn, Arren and Toven flew in. Raynorlyn and Toven breathed fire on the black dragon while Tara rained arrows down upon him.
Realizing that the odds were now against him, Zargoff flew from the room roaring at his troops to retreat.
Raynorlyn and Toven landed beside Keira and Savoth, and Arren said, “Let’s get you two out of here.”
Keira and Savoth were carried back to the army’s stronghold where their wounds were treated and bandaged, and Keira, Tara and Arren were reunited with their families and friends.