Chapter 1:
December 18, 2319
Amber was a three hundred-year-old dragon with hair and scales of golden brown and eyes of hazel blue-green. Amber sat there in a little bar she had fallen in front of two hours earlier from the harsh cold. She sipped the hot chocolate the bartender gave her to warm her bones as he had put it. The humans hadn't even seemed to notice she was there. She wonder if dragons came in the bar all the time.
"Yep," said the bartender watching Amber look over the people in the room.
It hadn't been too hard to guess what the dragon had been thinking. He studied her a bit. She looked a bit rough around the edges, but fairly harmless. He imaged that if threatened she'd bear her teeth. Oh, she wouldn't kill them, unless it was necessary to survive. She'd play with them a bit; have a bit of fun, and then she find away to get away.
"How'd ya get the scar?" he asked pointing to a slash that went through her left eye.
Amber touched the scar. It had been a dragon slayer that had given her the scar. It was the first dragon slayer that she had met back when she was considered a hatchling. She could no longer see out of that eye, but she didn't care. Her eye was her greatest strength for everyone always went for her blind eye.
"Dragon slayer," she finely said.
The bartender figured that much.
"So dragon what brings ya all the way out here?"
"Amber, just called me Amber."
The bartender smiled.
"I'm just trying to track someone down. I heard he might be around here."
"Really now?"
"Really."
"And who might ya be trackin'?"
"A young dragon. He goes by the name Cameron."
"Your kid?"
Amber laughed.
"No, he the prince of dragons. I'm just his caretaker."
"A prince? Wait; if you're his caretaker shouldn't you know where he is?"
"I should if it weren't for the fact he ran away and this isn't the first time he's done so."
"What does he look like?"
"He has brown hair and scales. His eyes are golden and he stands about five foot two. He's probably wearing old clothes that are patched up in some places. He's also fifteen years old."
"Is that so?"
Amber looked at the bartender.
"You've seen him."
"Yep. It was about two days ago that he came in here more than half starved."
So then, Amber thought, he's still around here somewhere and if she waited long enough he just might come back. It wasn't very often a dragon found such a place where human didn't mind them.
"Mind if I hang around and see if he comes back?"
"No, not at all. So what's it like taking care of a prince?"
"A pain."
The bartender laughed.
"I bet."
Amber finished off her hot chocolate. The door opened letting in the cold air. Amber turned to see who had entered. It was a man. He stood five foot ten with hair as dark as night and eyes of sea green. He wore black jeans and a black T-shirt under a black cape. He had three beats around his waist. One of which had a sword connected to it. He also wore black leather fingerless gloves.
Amber put up her guard. The sword he carried was one that was used by most dragon slayer and from the smell of it he had used it recently. He sat two seats down from Amber. She could see and smell the blood dripping from his wounds that would have killed any other man. The bartender poured him a drink on the house.
"So did ya get that dragon?" asked a woman sitting next to him.
He looked at her.
"I killed him."
Amber's eyes narrowed. If he killed him…then why did the guy have that haunted look in his eyes?
"Splendid. That dragon's been a thorn in everyone's side. I mean he didn't care who he killed be it dragon or be it human," she said getting up, "Well thanks for taking care of that problem."
Amber watched her walk away before sitting next to him.
"What do you want dragon?"
"To know why you look…" Amber paused trying to think of a good way to say what she wanted.
"Like I've seen the dead rise?" he finished.
"Yes, you could say that."
He looked at her.
"I have."
He read the unasked question he saw in her eyes.
"I killed the dragon. His hair and scales were golden yellow and his eyes had been a blue as the day time sky."
"So I've heard," she said with a nod.
"Then as I was putting away my sword, looked back one more time, and I saw him stand."
"Maybe you didn't kill him. Maybe you just thought you did."
"I'm not some rookie slayer. I made sure he was dead and I tellin' ya now that dragon's not normal," he stood up, "Get out of this area dragon or you'll end up his next victim."
He walked to the door then stopped.
"Be care if ya decide to stay and if we are to meet again somewhere else don't think I won't try to kill ya. I'm still a dragon slayer and I've vowed to kill all you dragons."
He then left the little bar.
"We'll see who kills who," Amber muttered getting up, "but for now I've a prince to find and I've got to find him before someone else does…or something else."