Chapter 3: The plan

        Caden walked through the empty streets. He kicked a loose stone and it clicked down the cobble stone road. He didn't want to leave the party. But he didn't want to stay either. He didn't want to stay in Erdon anymore. The quiet town, in the corner of the Kingdom. The only view of the outside world he had were Sir Eric's stories of the Dragon Knights.

        Harron seemed to understand it. Why didn't anyone else in town? Maybe he could get Father Coteson on his side. Next time the Dragon Knights came through, he could talk to them. They would hardly turn down a direct request from the church. They served the church even before the king.

        Caden stopped by a horse trough. He could see himself in the dark water. He would be a great Knight, and honored by the King above all others. Earning a seat in the royal court. Captain General of all the Dragon Knights, standing atop the bodies of countless slain dragons who attempted to return and free their Dragon Queen.

        Yes, that was his plan. He walked to the temple. Father Coteson wasn't at the party, so he had to be the temple.

        He reached the temple, and it was glowing in the night. Every window was lit up with a green glow from inside. The doors were open, and dozens of kids, all under ten harvests, were walking into the temple. Their eyes glowed with the same strange green fire.

        Caden ran back to the town square. He was halfway there when he stopped. Something strange was going on. If he wanted to prove to Keilee, to all of them, that he had what it took to be a Dragon Knight, he knew that he could not run away.

        So he returned to the temple.

        Inside, there was no one. The dead still rested in the side alter, so that everyone could pay their respects for the next three days. The temple was quiet. A cold draft of night air blew through the open doors. The green fire was gone.

        Caden walked down the long center aisle, past the rows of stone benches. He listened for any movement, but only heard the soft footsteps of his boots on the slate floor.

        Clack. Caden stopped. He looked around the temple. Nothing changed, yet the shadows seemed deeper. As the wind blew a tree outside, Caden saw shapes moving from shadow to shadow.

        He stepped up onto the first step. "Father Coteson?" he called. "Are you here?" Skrr... Caden ran up the last three steps. He moved behind the altar so he could see all parts of the temple.

        He tripped as his foot failed to meet the floor. He fell down a hole behind the altar, and tumbled down a circular stair well. His head hit the stone stairs. As pain shot through his body, everything went black.

Chapter 1: The fires of the past

       Caden loved to listen to Eric's stories. It's possible he was the only one in town. Caden only lived for 15 harvests, and was not allowed in the tavern. Instead, he sat on the roof by the chimney, and listened to the stories drift up with the heat and smoke. Caden knew Sir Eric's warnings against the Dragon Knights, but he didn't care.

     To him, the Dragon Knights were adventure, travel to the foreign lands. Protecting border towns from the pirates of the Starcia Desert, and defending the elves in the east from the troll armies. Most importantly, Caden wanted to fulfill the sacred duty of the Five Great Sages.

      Five millenia ago, the Five sacrificed their lives to seal away the Dragon Queen. Their sacrifice was the birth of their great kingdom, and the Dragon Knights served to ensure the dragons would never return.

     That night, as Caden watched Eric stumble home, he saw the forest near Eric's homestead glowing orange-red from a great fire. He climbed off the roof and followed Sir Eric.

     Sir Eric, not nearly drunk as he wanted to be, traveled home, so he could continue his drinking alone. He saw the fire in the forest. The river would protect his land, yet the red glow of the moon was an omen he couldn't ignore.

     He altered his course to take him to his dock and small boat. He didn't see Caden watching him paddle across the river to investigate the blaze.

***

In the Pyoksan Mountains, the people are wealthy. They had the richest mines of gold and iron in the Kingdom, and would never leave their homes. The Dragon Knights patrolled the passes and valleys of the mountains, to protect the locals from the Starcia Pirates.

    Sir Eric marched for days in those mountains, with no warning of when an attack might come. The pirates flew in on their mechanical dragons, and dropped firebombs from the sky. The fire was horrible, hot enough to melt your armor into your skin. Sir Eric was cursed to hear the screams, smell the burning flesh, forever at his side. In the flames of the forest, he saw his friends being consumed.

     Yet it is not the flames that woke him up in the night. It was the prisoners the Dragon Knights captured. They were the ones who haunted his dreams. They were the ones that Sir Eric tried to drown in an endless tide of ale and shine.

***

     Caden watched the river for Eric's return. When he came back from the other side, he had someone else in his boat. The stranger's body and clothes were burnt, and Sir Eric carried him with care. Caden moved in closer, trying to see who the stranger was. 

     Eric carried him to his homestead, and went inside. Caden watched Eric house. Shadows moved past windows, but Eric never lit a light. Caden sat in the bushes and shivered. The full moon lit up the clearing around the house. Caden couldn't get any closer and was cold.

       Caden returned to town and entered the bakery. He did his chores, cleaned the kitchen, and went to sleep next to the cooling ovens.

Prologue

       Sir Eric was a retired Dragon Knight. His face and arms had many scars from his time with the Dragon Knights. His dark brown hair was ragged and his face unshaven. He returned to Erdon after being injured serving the king. He spent his nights drinking alone in his Homestead, a small under developed plot of land in the forests outside of town. When he came into town, he would visit the tavern and drink.

       That night, he was sitting with his older brother, Harron. When they were younger, many people said they looked like twins. Now no one would make that mistake. Harron shaved every morning, and didn't have any scars.

       The day Sir Eric turned seventeen, their lives where completely different. Harron stayed home and took over the family ranch. Sir Eric ran off to join the Dragon Knights. When Eric returned, he looked old and tired. At 50, Harron still looked young and strong.

       Eric was telling his brother a story about his time with the Dragon Knights.

       "A wind swept across the valley. By the time we got there, everything was gone. Can you still save it, when there is nothing left to save? Do the trees return to salted soil; can fish swim in streams turned red?

     "Elves restore life to the forests. Fairies make wild flowers grow as they fly past. The Goddess in heaven weeps at such devastation. Hell cries out its triumph, as rocks split under the heat.

     "In the middle of the fire and smoke, a village still burned. Just as we thought nothing survived, we saw children amidst the ash. Kids, still alive, against destruction so complete. Life lives amongst death.

       "Our horses still refused to enter the valley, despite their rigorous training. So clear now, that they knew something that we did not. We thought the stench of those consumed by the flame was what kept the horses at bay.

       "My men and I rushed down the valley slope. Only burning coals marked our path. Our boots kicked up sparks and embers as we passed. We were being hasty. "How could they have lived?" asked my men. Until it was too late, we thought we were safe.

      "Valiant as my men were, we were unprepared for the danger that waited in the ash. When it rose and emerged from the smoke, we were caught unaware. 'Xactly what it was, I cannot say. Years in the field, I saw nothing like it, eyes burning like the fires of hell. Zachery was the first to fall, the rest soon followed; I was the only one to escape the valley alive."

     Sir Eric drained his mug. His brow glowed in the light of the grand fire place.

     "Sounds like a dragon to me," Harron said. "Isn't that what you were trained to fight."

     "This was no dragon."

     "Still doesn't concern us." Harron stood, and left his coin on the table. "Nothing like that will ever reach our village."

     "Mark my words," Eric said, "if you let your boy join the Dragon Knights, he will suffer this fate, or one far worse."

     "Blasphemy. It is an honor to serve the Knights, and carry on the work of the Five Great Sages." Harron left the tavern.

      Sir Eric looked for another to tell his warnings to, and buy him another drink. No one else wanted to hear his tales. No one would listen to his heresy. Eric stood and stumbled out the door.