Dragon Dreamer by S. G. Ricketts (classic english novels txt) 📖

Chapter One


“What? What’s happening? Why do I have to wear this stupid gown?” The man ignored her, his hand holding out the seamless dress. The dragons’ humming grew louder. “I don’t have to wear this, do I?” she groaned, staring at the dress. “I just got here, and I don’t feel like parading around just yet. Stars above, I don’t even know why I am here! Can’t I sleep or something?” The girl glared angrily up at the earth dragon rider, her blue eyes flashing. He had hauled her down to his room after everything she had gone through to get dressed in her country girl finery? Even if it was a bit soiled and dirty, it was her best!
His green eyes sparkled with anger. “Do you want to be a queen candidate or not, Steephi?” he growled, his hand tightening on the white cloth.
“Oh, so I’m to be a candidate for the new queen, am I? Well, I’m glad I was finally told! I might have gone for, I don’t know, one of the forest dragons or aqua dragons!” She threw up her hands and stormed around the room. She didn’t want the dragonman to see how afraid she was, and he couldn’t. She smirked with her back to him, and then turned around to glare at him.
The man was frowning deeply. “You know that you can’t impress a aqua dragon! Only we” He indicated himself with a dirty thumb “Can! And you can’t go around talking to those forest dragons if you were chosen to stand for the queen!” He grimaced as she pulled down her hair and began to fiddle with it lazily. She could tell it irked him, so she continued. “You have to wear the dress for the dragonet queen to accept you. Haven’t you listened to anything I’ve told you?” He glared angrily at her, his eyes so accusing and harsh that she stopped messing with her hair and let it fall onto her shoulders in rumpled waves.
She held his gaze and blinked defiantly. “I just rode on dragon back for heaven knows how long, my butt is sore, my face is burnt. I am tired and hot and sticky and I don’t need you to tell me what to say or think or do!” She glared angrily at him as he returned her look. She had been taken from her home in a moment, and he expected her to remember everything she had been told on the ride to Siani Dragon City and be perfectly willing to slip on a dress when she couldn’t even move her legs without wincing? “Can’t I rest for just a second? Don’t forget that I am just a poor, weak, little farm girl, Suvian. Not one of your tough city girls,” she said, relaxing her stance and shrinking into herself. A lock of golden hair fell in front of her eyes, and she blinked innocently up at him, ruining the effect by smirking evilly beneath her veil.
The man snorted impatiently. “Whatever, Steephi. Just put the dress on.” Steephi sighed. How come they never believed her? She shot him a nasty look and it looked like he almost laughed at her. “You may not be strong, but you country folk sure are fierce as anything! Your mother must have been an angel to have dealt with you, and your father a demon for the way you act.”
Steephi’s eyes sparkled in fury, and Suvian was soon clutching his face as a big red whelp formed. Refraining herself from shaking her pained hand, Steephi glared up at him. “Don’t—insult—my--father!” she hissed, and he stepped back a bit. She was a bit surprised by her own actions, but she forced herself to appear arrogant. “I’ll change, but only because I want to prove I’m not the ‘country girl’ you think I am.”
She could have sworn that the man muttered “demon” as she reached out for the dress. Nervously, she fingered the material as she took it from his hands. Suvian looked at her expectantly, almost eagerly. It reminded her of her stepfather, the true demon of her life, and she stepped back, fighting the urge to run and hide. She forced an arrogant look on her face and stuck her nose into the air as she turned around. “Okay…but can you leave. I’ll be changed quicker.” Looking over her shoulder, she smiled sweetly at him, waiting. She felt herself blush as he frowned, and stood straighter with a haughty look on her face as she tried to hide her fear. He stood still, and she swallowed nervously. “Please?” Finally, he bowed mockingly, with his eyes never leaving her face, and left her alone in his room.
Ripping the dirty gown off her head, she wriggled into the clean white one. The silky fabric felt good on her skin. She was so unused to having fine clothes. At her father’s small ranch outside of Sol City Town, she only had the usual farm girl clothes and her one good—not quite good, but all right—dress for special occasions. Sighing, she fingered the fabric again.
“Are you done yet?” the dragonrider yelled from outside, his voice higher and more worried. “The eggs are going to be hatched by the time you’re done!”
Shaken out of her trace, she pushed open the door and ran down the stone corridor towards the shadow. She winced as her tired legs strained, and her chest constricted as she ran. Suvian seemed to step farther and farther away from her as she tried to get closer. Finally, she reached him, and she saw the contemptuous look on his face. So it was as revenge for what she had done to him. “What do you what?” she gasped, scowling at him. Roughly, he grabbed her arm and dragged her down the corridor. “Where are we going?” she wheezed. The blue light of the hallway stopped, and they stepped out into a sort of bridge. Steephi had never seen one like this before. The sky was above her, but they were still inside. Then, the pair were in another hallway.
The rider glanced over his broad shoulder and seemed to size her up. “You’ve never been here before, have you?” he asked, slowing down a bit to give her a surprised look, then dragging her around a corner. “Most of the farmer children have been here on errands and such. Surprised you haven’t ever been here, or to the Dragon City up in Sol.” Steephi heaved a sigh at the avoiding answer. He grinned back at her and chuckled quietly at her disgruntlement. “We’re going to the hatching grounds. Didn’t Nihan tell you?” She shook her head, too out of breath to say anything. “Okay, well, we’re going to the hatching grounds.” She nodded sarcastically at his answer, then gasped as she tripped on a ledge. Her arm was wrenched out of the rider’s hand, and she slammed into the hard stone floor, her knees and head hitting the ground first. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself shakily up, and caught the rider’s mocking expression. “Oops! Maybe you just weren’t meant to be a queen candidate! Nihan must have been wrong. Again!” Suvian fingered the swelling mark on his cheek, and he grinned down at her. “After all, he is only a aqua dragon rider. Maybe you just weren’t the right candidate,” he drolled, and Steephi wanted to reach up and punch in his smug face.
Shoving herself up, she glared at him. “Yeah, I agree!” She made her voice sound weak and submissive, bowing her head and looking away, and Suvian grinned brazenly. He stepped closer to grab her arm, and she swung out and hit him in the chest with the back of her hand. He lurched backwards, and she kicked out with her leg to knock him off balance. “Or maybe it’s just you.” She shrugged and crossed her arms as she glared down at the earth dragon rider. “Which way do I go now?” she demanded. The rider looked surprised, but pointed down the corridor. Wincing at the new pain in her legs, she ran down the hallway towards a light at the end. Bright sunlight greeted her, warming her face as she came out onto the ledge. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Suvian leaning against the wall. “Aren’t you going to fly me down?” He grinned again, but this time it was just malicious. She sighed and looked in front of her, then back to Suvian. “Oh, I’ll get you for this Suvian!” She hated how the riders here treated her! Nihan had been just as gentle as Suvian had! Why weren’t they as nice as the Sol dragonriders? Tilting her head back and staring into the bright sky, she wished that she wouldn’t impress. How wonderful would that be! To not have to stay here, and to go back to Sol! Maybe she could be chosen there! She sighed happily at the thought.
While she waited, Steephi looked out over the vast area. The Dragon City was situated in a huge crater, the walls reaching high up into the purple-blue sky. The clear, glass tunnels like the one she had walked through edged the walls, the dim light of the hallways shining at their ends. A couple crossed the center of the Bowl, as it was nicknamed, and dragons flew gracefully around it, their huge, shimmering bodies all flocking towards one place, which Steephi supposed was the hatching Grounds. The humming around her grew louder, and the girl began to panic. Was anyone going to take her down?
A sharp whistle sounded behind her, and she turned around to se a younger rider, Suvian disappeared. “Umm, hi…”
The rider grinned, and she saw his knot on his shoulder. He was a earth dragon rider, not yet out of training. “Hi, I’m Terevoor. Think you might need a lift?” He raised an eyebrow, and Steephi laughed. Suddenly, her skirts were lifted as the wind rose. Embarrassed, she held her skirt down. Terevoor laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s just Ragul. He’ll take us down to the grounds. We can time it.” There was a mischievous look in his eye.
“Have you ever timed it before, Tr’voor?” Steephi asked, afraid of his answer. She had heard stories from her mother about dragonriders timing a flight and being lost in the darkness of beyond forever.
The young rider shook his curly head, his dark brown locks falling in his eyes. “Nope, but you were down there before I came up here, so I guess it worked, right?” he joked. Steephi grinned back at him, and his bright blue eyes sparkled. “Come on. Ragul won’t hurt you.” He helped her onto the big earth dragon, and Steephi arranged her skirts as the young man settled himself behind her. His hands were