Rogue's Flight - Prologue (preview)

Encounter

         Though he himself was protected by a travelling hat and high collared cloak, his scaly outer scarf and brunette hair received brisk bettering from the night winds around him. His clothes boasted ‘foreign’, he had rather feminine features from what could be seen of his face, and for some reason you never quite saw his eyes. A smile could be seen on his face this night, like every other.
         The man stopped. He had reached the edge of the tropical desert forest and below him tall dunes towered and tucked like great sandy ocean waves into the distance. To the twinkling stars his eyes wandered briefly before taking a half step forward and falling deliberately down the steep slope. Behind him back in the forest and high above it great beastly howls of pain and anger echoed down to where the man had landed. He moved quickly. This wasn’t his night to join a battle. He disappeared over the next dune leaving the battle to rage on long into the night. A sliver of a shiny blue-gold oval shaped object could be seen tucked into his scarf.
         If you ever met him the first thing you would notice is how unnatural he is. He never sweated, never slept or tired and strangest of all - he never drank or ate – not that there was anything to scavenge for miles, albeit a small black rubbery lizard or scorpion. The man had been travelling for three days and had never stopped since he had left the desert forest. But now on the third night he did because he could sense something. For the first time in three days he sensed a presence larger than a snake and it just happened to be sat on his shoulder.
         Carefully the man sat down and removed his scarf. There sat between the folds was what looked like a blue egg. It had a golden sheen to it when the light hit it. Golden veins pulsed beneath the slightly transparent protective layer. Sure enough this was an egg. A golden dragon egg at that.
“My my, why is the heir to the emperors throne stowing away with a wanderer?” A pause. “The child has a good sense of smell.”
         The man turned his head. Again he sensed a presence. This time though it was a group of presences and they were but a mile or two behind him, making ground fast. He stood and waited, tucking the egg back into his scarf. Sure enough, only minutes later, he could hear the heavy beat of wings. In twos the beasts fell from the sky like moving shadows. The moonlight passed through a gap in the clouds as the ground thundered, announcing the group of full-fledged dragons.
         Their hides were bloodied, fangs bared and eyes glaring. A natural circle seemed to have formed around the man and he glanced up to the monsters above him. Ready to attack, the dragons bent low to the ground. The man reached into his scarf and revealed the precious egg. A second later a tail scythed the space beside the man, sending a flurry of sand over him. An action not seen by human eyes was conducted by the man who clutched the egg to his chest for protection. All this time his expression had never faltered. Unnatural. The dragons grunted uneasily, recognising their mistake. The sand stopped falling and there was silence. The dragons seemed unsure of themselves. They backed away. One held his ground though, standing in front of the man and he did something unexpected. The dragon, against his own imperial birth-right, bowed to the lowly human. Telltale golden eyes of the emperor stared up from his bend, glancing at the scaly tattoos marking the man’s face which continued below his collar line.
         The dragon concluded his evaluation.
         “Until the time comes”, uttered the dragon in gravelly whispers, “I implore you to protect my heir.” The majestic animal bowed lower than ever, his scaly snout almost touching the sand below him. When he breathed, the sand danced.
         The man’s hat bobbed slightly, the only indication of his nod in agreement to the emperors’ request. Not two seconds after that the dragons had launched themselves into the air. Half a minute later and the great beasts had vanished over a colossal dune and into the cool night sky, not to meet again with the man for many years.
         This ordeal over, the man unveiled the egg once again, checking for damage. He gave it a tender stroke, concluded his examination and safely wrapped it in the scarf once more before progressing on his journey across the vast desert…