Chapter One

It was the first day of summer. The early morning was strangely cold, and a thick fog rose from the freezing ground, coating and obscuring the landscape. The sun had just shown its blinding face to the world once again, growing in size and height as it peaked above the mountaintops to the east. The giant star chased away the darkness of the night, radiating warmth over the frozen landscape. The colors in the sky grew brighter, and the blackness of the sky transitioned to shades of soft violets, blues, and pale oranges, which reflected off the full clouds that slowly drifted from the snowy peaks. The ground lay damp with frozen water particles slowly melting into dew, giving each step a foreign crunch.

Over the last month, the land had changed from a dreary winter land into a lush, green prairie. The trees that were once fragile, the moisture within them frozen solid, were now blossoming with thick foliage. Bright colored flowers were beginning to bud, soon to be followed by delectable fruits. Fields that would otherwise remain barren had their earth being dug over and crops being planted into them.

By fall there would be acres full of wheat and other produce that would supply the land through the long winter months. Blackbirds scratched and pecked at the soil, searching for the seeds farmers had planted, knowing that soon they could fill their bellies with good food. The once frozen waters of the nearby creeks and rivers now roared down their stony beds, and fighting their currents were schools of fish.

The grand town of Edinburgh was just as quiet as the land surrounding it. The walls encasing the villagers inside the city were covered in frost from the morning's cool temperature, and the guards patrolling it needed to watch their every step. All the buildings within the city fought against the cold dawn; their internal structures heated with fire, letting smoke raise up through the chimneys.

Glass windows were fogged, old wooden doors creaked more on their hinges than ever before, and the sound of splitting wood echoed through each alleyway and off of each stone block. The city was quiet this morning, for half the residents had yet to rise, and the other half had stilled in their movements.

The villagers paused their motions and activities; the blacksmith held her hammer still against the anvil, the market square merchants ceased all sales, and warriors in training stopped their advances at one another. It was as if the whole world, consisting of only Edinburgh, had paused and looked up to the sky.

The gaze of dozens of men and women scanned the horizon, searching the vast openness for something, somewhere. The sound of the woodcutter's axe slicing through a final chunk of lumber pounded once more off of every surface, before a high-pitched scream chilled all the villagers to their bones.

Suddenly, the silent morning was overrun with a bell that began to toll, each crack of the metal structure sending a heavy boom throughout the city and to whomever was close enough to hear it. Terrified screams, bairns crying, and guards shouting orders to one another as they scrambled about. Women and their babes were instructed to hide indoors and seek shelter wherever it could be found. Able-bodied men were ordered to pick up arms and prepare themselves for a bloody battle.

It was absolute chaos.

Guards climbed their towers, equipped with strong bows and sharp arrows. Others climbed the stairs to the wall where they prepared themselves both mentally and physically. Citizens who were familiar with battle stood next to them, in hand were the weapons of their choice. Blades, axes, knives, bows, and scrolls of magic.

The city was prepared, but was it enough? There was no calm before the storm, and there was no time to be more ready; many would die today.

The guards and warriors waited for what felt like an eternity. Until they heard it, a sharp noise, like a blade being drawn over a stone. Screeching, wailing, ear piercing. A noise that meant only one thing. Death.

"Dragon!" hollered a man from the bell tower, his frantic cry alerting every man and woman of the beast's arrival.

Its figure grew larger as it closed the distance between itself and the city, and its amber colored scales gleamed like fire as they reflected the sunlight. Broad wings carried its ginormous body through the air as the sound of its ancient voice thundered through the open sky. Its form was mighty and majestic, but deadly. The beast had to be over thirty feet long from snout to tail. The motion of its flapping wings kicked dust and dirt up from the crevasses of the ground, and the frightening sound of it flying overhead sounded like a swarm of locust. Deafening.

The beast roared again, this time followed by a breath of blazing fire that shot down upon the armed men. With each pass over the city, its voice struck the ears of the residents with a rumbling blow, and the fire that rained from its throat scorched anything in its path.

Only a miracle could save the townspeople from this dragon, and a miracle they might have.