Alexa held on to Raya’s silvery scales and the spikes on her back as they flew over desert sands. The world Raya had created was vast. “Raya, are those mountains somewhere I would know?” “Perhaps. You were found in the mountains north of Warrington. I believe Andrew calls those the Corrán Tuathail mountains. The great desert below us being the Hadrac desert.” They were hundreds of miles, if not thousands of miles from Durres then! Below she saw a huge pit open up at the edge of the desert, right at the root of the mountains. “The pit… of despair?” she asked skeptically. “careful, young skeptic, the mince worms there will peal flesh from bone. It is a good proving ground. It is also one of the reasons the empire has been hesitant to use that route to attack Dragard. The natural enemies found along this route make crossing perilous in the best of times

Alexa wanted to kill Raya. Her world was swirling again as she touched Andrew. This time when she came to, she was in a forest, with high mountains all around her.  She looked around at the flat circle of land and realized, there was no way out of this valley except over the impossible cliffs miles above her. Even the sun had a hard time reaching over those peaks. As the world came into focus, the edges of her forest glen began to rustle with life. Animals of every kind lined the edges. There were large cats prowling beside huge bears. Birds of pray circled and dove toward her head. At the far end of the arena, as she supposed this area was, caves opened out of the cliff side. Ten of the caves showed movement and soon a rainbow of color burst forth as dragons of every color came forth. The largest, a gold dragon bellowed a roar that shook the foundations of the mountain. The whole area grew silent. A brilliant red stood to its left an

Alexa sat on the sofa for a few minutes before asking a servant, “Is there a training hall?”“Of course miss. This way.” The servant led her down a hall near the bedrooms and into a huge exhibit room. the walls were lined with all manner of weapons. There were different size arenas with padded floors in every corner. She found a stave and took aim at a practice dummy. She began beating on it, feeling she was the dummy for even considering wanting Andrew.‘Odd jealousy for a young dragoness’ came a now familiar mental voice.“Raya?” she realized she still wore the medallion and had not given it back. She wondered if Andrew would come for it soon.‘Make him earn it if he wants it back.’ Suggested Raya.Alexa grinned to herself. Andrew may have trained in the dream world, but she would not be opposed to training more with him now. His daily training over the past few months

When the three were on the cargo plan heading the three hours to Ashai, Anika broke the silence.“Andrew, we are heading to Ashai. Your, umm, ‘ex’ isn’t going to be an issue is she?”“SHIT.” Andrew said, burrowing his face in his hands. “I had forgetting about that little twit.”“There is some talk that she may have had something to do with your assassination attempt.” Anika said.“I don’t think she is that stupid.”“You did try, simi successfully to convince her that the other fellow, Landry, was actually her intended. If she feels scorned by you… is there really any limit to what she might try? We saw what she was capable of with Roisin and Alexa.”“Well it will be a fine time to impress upon her father the seriousness of the situation. Perhaps after we handle Nash’s issue we will stop in on them on the way back.”Read more