(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider Read Free Page B

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       The cliffs ended during the night as Brylen moved farther to the south, and to his surprise, were nowhere to be seen the next morning. Instead, he found himself entering a quiet little cove, surrounded by tree-clad mountains on all sides. The entrance was relatively narrow, but allowed easy access for much larger boats than the one he now used. Inside the cove were golden trees, which grew between the sandy beach, and the base of the mountains. Deer and antelope walked among them as they grazed, and vines full of berries were in abundance as well. A small island sat at the far end of the oval shaped cove, and the statue of a dragon grew larger as he drew nearer to it. The morning mist sat on the calm water, like a veil in the cold gray light. It parted as the small boat entered into it, only to return again as it passed.
       Brylen pulled the small boat that had been his salvation, and his home for the last ten days, onto the bank of the island when he reached it. The statue of the great stone beast sat in the center of the island, and faced the mainland not far away. A stone tablet sat on a stand made of marble in front of the statue, and it caught his eye. Runes were carved in the marble around the edges of the stand, and words were written on the tablet as well, but he could not read them. A path of polished marble led away from the stand, and down to the waters edge. The statue had been very old, as well as the stone tablet, when the path and stand were built. The causeway that crossed the short distance to the mainland was made of stone also, and was just as old as the tablet and statue. It stood just above the surface of the water, and it ended in another marble path after reaching the other side.
       Brylen copied down the words contained on the stone tablet in his journal. The language was strange, and written in a flowing script of a kind he had never seen before, and somehow they seemed important to him, but he did not know why he thought so. He was no scholar, though he had spent most of his time helping his father who was the king of Davinly far to the east, but that did not change the way he felt. He was glad to be away from the forces of Arnoran, but there was something about this cove that seemed out of place. In all his life, he had never seen a place that was equal to the beauty of the cove, and the island where he now stood. It seemed to exist in a world all its own, keeping out the evil that spread across the land.
       Grass walkways encircled the statue, in three equally spaced, rings. Others ran from the first ring to the last, intersecting the second at regular intervals around the island. Stone benches were placed in the beds of flowers of a kind unfamiliar to him, in various locations through out the, 'Garden of the Dragon,' as he came to call it. He walked around the garden for most of the morning, looking at the flowers, and ornately carved benches of stone it held.
       When the sun was high overhead, Brylen left the island behind, and crossed the causeway to the mainland. He walked along the marble footpath as it made its way beneath the golden trees, to a place where it split into two separate paths that were the same size as the one he now walked. A ring of stones that marked the remains of past fires, sat off to one side, and beside a small spring fed, pool of clear water. He killed a deer, and then skinned it, before setting up his camp. This was the first place in more than half of a year, where he could build a fire and rest without the fear of being caught by the patrols. He would spend a few days here, and build up some supplies, before moving on.
       He missed his friends and family back home, but he knew they were not there anymore. Those that were not killed in the raids, or taken as slaves, were conscripted into the army to fight for Kath, and the mage king. Arnoran had awakened after five hundred years of magical slumber, and began to take back the lands