Dragons Blood by Gemma Scott (best books to read for knowledge TXT) 📕

"Sky," the name bounced around the surrounding fir trees. The girl stood in the clearing, not moving as her blond wavy locks spread out behind her in the breeze. Her pale skin giving off an almost unearthly glow in the summer sun. She stared out towards the ocean, her blue eyes focused on a point out on the horizon.

   "HELLO. Earth to Sky". A small lightly tanned hand waved in front of the girls face as she continued to stare out towards the ocean. The movement of the hand provided an explosion of scents. The smell of freshly fallen pine needles, the fresh invigorating smell of earth, the crisp salt smell of the ocean and the energising and appetizing smell of fresh live flesh. 

   Sky shook herself. Wait. What? How could she find her best friend appetizing? That’s just wrong. A nervous shiver ran up her spine at the thought. She turned towards her friend only to find a smirk plastered to her friend’s heart shaped face. A smirk she was going to ignore.

"Sorry Rachel. Spaced out for a minute there." A high pitched giggle escaped from her pixie like friend as blond hair escaped from the red ribbon that held it back.

"Uh Huh. And just who were you daydreaming about?" She said with a cheeky wink.

"No one."

   "Yeah right. It's the first week of July. Who comes at this time every year? Oh yeah. ERIC." She burst out laughing at her own sarcastic comment as Sky stood, hands on hips with her head cocked to the sideas she glared at her friend. This only made her laugh harder. There were times she wished she could just gag her.

"And who said I was daydreaming about HIM?"

"Well. Me of course."    

Sky continued to glare.

   "Just because of that incident last year, does not mean I like him nor am I thinking about him. Anyway I’m still confused and hurt at his statement of "Hmm. Not mature yet."What the hell did he mean?" Sky growled.

“He was probably speaking about himself," said a now strangely sober Rachel.

"I'm sorry but what guys do you know will grab a girl, kiss her then say "not mature yet" before disappearing without saying goodbye?" she said, with one eyebrow raised.

   Rachel shrugged her shoulders another slight smile playing at her lips. The harsh call of the seagulls above was the only breaks in the strange silence. This situation brought some familiarity from some where in Sky's subconscious. She looked from the forest to the ocean, before turning towards the forest and picking a path to follow.

"Hey wait Mr" A young rather breathless Sky called after the man that was towing her along by the hand. "Mr please I want to go home to granny."

  "You can't you'll be killed" The cloaked man said.

  "Why? Granny will protect me. I want to go home" Sky cried as they weaved among the trees.

   "You can't you must go away for your own safety.The young master will come get you when you are strong enough and mature enough," The older man said nodding his head as if to confirm his statement to himself.

 Young master the man with the black hair. The kind man who played with her, brushed her hair and gave her food for her granny. The man she though was her friend yet sent her away when she didn’t want to go. Who didn’t say good bye or let her say good bye to her granny.

  A branch snapped above them. The man picked her up and ran. The trees around them blurred with the speed they travelled at. A branch caught sky on the cheek leaving a deep scratch that wept blood and caused her to cry out the strange man looked down at her his eyes completely black. Above them swarmed a large black cloud that dived and twisted amongst its self.

"I'm sorry princess I must begin the process now.”

  "NO" came a cry from behind them. The black cloud above began to break up as raven after raven came diving towards them.

 The man began chanting as Sky sobbed in his arms. The blurring of the trees around them began to cause Sky’s vision to black out as tiredness crept into her. Slowly she began to forget her past and present as it slipped away into the recesses of her mind.

"Stay safe little one."

"HEY SKY. Sky what’s wrong?" The pale face of her friend helped to sober her thoughts.

  "Nothing."

“It ain't nothing you’re crying for god’s sake"

"No I’m no..." She touched her cheek to feel her tears streaming down her cheeks her vision still slightly blurred from the tears."Oh."

"Is this because of Eric?" Rachel asked concern evident in her voice.

"No not him."

"Then what?" Rachel demanded.

  "Just something that happened a long time ago that I had forgotten." Sky sighed letting the tension from the day dream, or was it a vision or a flash back, lessen. Her head was pounding like it would have if she had just sat a two hour English exam.

 Rachel stared at her. Fear evident in her gaze as she watched her friend pull herself back together.

The crashing of waves against the shore mixed with the harsh crows of the gulls flying around the cliff and the beach were the only sounds that surrounded the young man laying basking on the sand. His bronze skin flexed over the hidden powerful muscles beneath. His black shorts clung to him, still damp from his swim. He lifted his head to voices and laughter coming from the cliff above. A cliff that a human would be deflected from by the spells that protected the beach from those who were uninvited or would run and tell of what this beach contains. His black hair caught the sunlight reviling the blue tinges in his hair. His blue eyes began to take on a golden colour as he continued to gaze up towards the cliff.

   Closing his eyes he searched for the source of the familiar voices that were getting closer to the cliff edge above his hidden beach. One voice in particular caught his attention.

"Hey Sky, if he is at the beach what are you going to do?"

"Ignore him."

She's still here. A happy thought that echoed around his head. His forehead furrowed as his happy though was cut off. Who was this male they were referring to? Did she have a human boyfriend? Alow growl reverberated in the back of his throat as he continued to listen.

"Yeah but if he is and he approaches you what will you do then?"

“Walk around him and ignore him," she said with a sigh.

  The man snorted in amusement before standing and moving closer to the cliff edge so the girls above wouldn't see him.

"OH, come on. You can’t spend the whole summer avoiding the guy."

"Watch me" she retorted.

  They continued on in silence. 

"Emm. Where are we?" Rachel said whilst looking around. Sky looked around too. They had never been in this part of the forest before yet Sky felt she had. It was very familiar. Sky’s nostrels flared with alarm as she took the surrounding scents of pine and ocean. It also smelled safe for the moment.

Sky shook herself yet again trying to bring some normality back to her way of thinking. Since when could she determine such a thing by smells. She shook her head again before looking around in an attempt to distract herself.

 Two stone mounds covered in ivy caught her attention. Sky moved towards one and began removing the ivy from the stone. She brushed it off slowly from the top of the mound which she found stood at around five feet in height. The rough stone grated against the sensitive skin on her finger tips. No it wasn't a mound it was a statue. She uncovered a lizard like head with horn and as she continued removing the offending ivy from the statue she gasped. The statue was of a dragon stood guard wings folded against its side as its neck arched to hold its head proudly. The statue looked to take great pride in its stance.

  "Beautiful." The statement came from Rachel who had uncovered an identical statue on the other side of the path.

  ”These are amazing," the awe was evident in Sky's voice. She ran her hand over the horns and spikes on its neck, then down over the scales running her nails around them before running her hand over the smooth stone of the wing. She looked down at the claws, three to the front and one to the back, to find a small green lizard that stood looking up at her from the top of the middle claw.

  "Hello little fella." Sky put her hand towards the lizard palm up. It scuttled quickly on to her hand. Sky hissed through her teeth as she clamped her eyes shut when her world began to fall.

"Sky you must know that you have to go for your own safety I shall look after your grandmother after your departure," the young man stood with his back towards her as he faced the grand fireplace. A small green lizard sat curled up on his shoulder looking at her.

"But...”

"No BUTS," the man raised his voice which was thick with authority.

"I thought you were my friend," Sky whispered.

He ignored her statement and continued.

  "Eder will watch over you and report back to me upon any major incident or threatening activity around you," he said as he reached up to stroke Eder on his shoulder.

Sky stuck her tong out at the man in a childish gesture.

“I saw that.”

A knock at the door was followed by the man Sky had seen or envisioned earlier caring her through the woods. "Young master" the man bowed his head. "All preparations are complete. We must leave now."

  He didn't turn round he just nodded his head as the older man dragged Sky from the room.

  Sky stood with her back to her friend as she gasped in air trying to stop herself from fainting. She stared at the lizard in her hands as she continued to pant and make sense of what she now thought was a vision of her past. The small reptile in front of her confirmed that she was tied to these visions.

"Hello Eder," Sky whispered to the lizard in her hand the same one from the young mans shoulder. The young man who seemed very familiar to her but she couldn't quite grasp why other than these visions or flashbacks. "Tell the young master I’m beginning to remember."

She placed the lizard on the ground and watched as it scuttled along the path towards his awaiting master.