I know that I was supposed to be working on Naerea's Tale, but that is on hiatus until my muse starts to work again. So, I present to you: Last of the Lightning Keepers! Enjoy, and please please please review.
Prologue
I was a young girl when my island was conquered by the Outcasts. They came under the cover of night; our lookouts never saw them until it was too late. By the time we raised the alarm, half the village had been set on fire by the Outcast war machines. My father was the chief of the tribe, so the Outcasts had targeted my house first. My father was cut down before my eyes. My mother yelled for me to run, to hide, but I had been frozen with fear. An Outcast with an axe charged towards my mum. Finally I began to run as fast as I could. But I wasn't fast enough. I was captured, and carried off to the boats. The last thing I saw of my village was the last of the burned buildings collapsing as the Outcast ship took me away...
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Chapter 1
9 years later...
"Girl! Come here!" a harsh voice ordered. I hurried along the stone corridor in the home of the Outcast commander that I served, Savage. "What do you require, master?" I murmured submissively, my blue eyes downcast. I had learned early on that I was never to look my master in the eye like an equal. I still have the scars from that punishment, both physical and mental. "My armor needs to be polished, and when you are doing that, you can dust my stuffed dragon head collection," he commanded. "Yes master." I scurried back along the winding corridors. My name is Azura. Azura Rain, daughter of Asger the Brave and Dagny. I am 14 and the years I have spent here have been the most difficult of my short life.
After I finish dusting the dragon heads (my least favorite chore out of all my duties, those dragons were always so sad-looking) and polishing Savage's armor, I return to my small rocky cell where I spend most of my time. It has walls cut out of the rough, stone walls and nothing but a small woven mat where I sleep. The only real possession I have is a small blue stone pendant carved in the shape of a spiky dragon. I had been wearing it when I had been taken, and ever since I have carefully kept it hidden. I had been waiting for ANY opportunity to escape, and was starting to lose hope of ever being free.
It was one day when I had been serving Savage his supper, a messenger came, delivering a scroll. Savage snapped open the scroll, and as he read his expression changed from irritated at being interrupted, to business-like. He rolled up the scroll again, and curtly ordered "Girl, go bring me my armor. We hunt dragon tonight!" I helped fit him in his patchwork armor, accidentally scraping my elbow on one of the plates and tearing the sleeve of my thin brown shift. Once my master was all geared up for battle, I went with him down to the docks and we boarded the lead ship alongside Alvin the Treacherous himself.
As I hesitantly stood behind and to the left of Savage, Alvin looked at me. I shivered, quickly glancing away from him. I'm not even going to pretend I'm not afraid of Alvin. The man is worse than Savage- which is saying a lot.
xXx
Within a few hours, we had set sail and soon we had come to a large island. What was strange about it was that the island was completely barren, as if it had been scorched by lightning until there was nothing left, not even grass. Standing up front, I was terrified when a HUGE purple dragon swooped down from the clouds. It was like no ordinary dragon that had been in the attacks. "There it is. The Skrill!" Alvin cried triumphantly. "Now men, be ready!"
Suddenly, two guards grabbed me by the arms. I gasped as one of them wrenched my scraped arm. They marched me towards the shore. I frantically twisted and squirmed, as they brought me to one of the boulders that had accumulated on the island, and started to chain me to the rock. "Why are you doing this?" I cried. Alvin said "Ready! When the Skrill comes to feast on the girl, capture it at all costs!" The two guards quickly ran for the ships when the Skrill saw me and started to swoop down. The Outcast soldiers prepared a strange contraption that I had never seen before, moving it to point at the dragon. As the dragon got closer, I closed my eyes, prepared to feel the searing heat of its fire as it crisped me to a charred husk. But then I heard a twang, and a startled roar. Cautiously, I opened my eyes. The Skrill had been pinned down by a large metal net. It roared thunderously, as the soldiers approached it. Lightning crackled along the net, filling the air with the smell of ozone. Savage inched forwards, tossing a bucket of water onto the dragon. The lightning stopped crackling, the electricity dissipating into the air as Savage directed the Outcasts to move the dragon onto the ship,
Alvin watched with a look of terrible glee as one of the most powerful dragons in the archipelago was chained and muzzled. He laughed, and turned as they began to sail away. I realized that they intended to leave me here to drown as the island flooded at high tide! "Wait!" I called frantically "You can't leave me here!" Alvin turned and said "Oh, but you are of no more use to me. So whatever is not useful to me I... dispose of." Laughing, he turned away as the rising water began to quickly cover the rocks below me. I watched fearfully as the dark sea lapped at my feet and quickly soaked the bottom of my shift.
xXx
As the icy water began to close over my head, I tried desperately to win free of the chains. It was no use. I was starting to lose consciousness when my blue dragon pendant began to glow. It had escaped from under the collar of my thin dress and now was floating before my eyes, the pendant glowing brightly blue. The glow spread over the water and formed a glowing bubble of air around me, severing the chains. By then I was unconscious from lack of air, and unbeknownst to me, the bubble was swept up by a swift current and eventually washed up on an island. Once I was out of the water, the glow vanished and the bubble dissolved. I was safe. For now at least.