The Sword and The Mountain (Kathardra book 1)

“No riding, Lessa.”

“I know,” Lessa said.

“I mean it," her mother snapped.

Lessa fixed her mother with a withering green gaze. “I know.”

Theresa’s responding look was no less withering.

“That’s enough, it’s time to leave.” William, Lessa’s father, possibly sensing the imminent fight wrapped an arm around his wife and steered her toward the front door. “Keep an eye on Brody, Lessa,” William called over his shoulder as he pulled the door shut behind them.

Not waiting a moment, Lessa moved to the living room where Brody, her eight-year-old brother, played video games.

“You good?” While she spoke her were fixed on the window where she could see her parents climbing into the white truck parked on the gravel driveway in front of their farmhouse.

Brody didn’t even turn around. “Yeah.”

“No snitching?”

“No snitching.”

The truck pulled away from the house and Lessa headed out the back door.

It wasn’t twenty minutes later she was on the back of her chestnut mare galloping through the woods behind their home.

With her heels, Lessa urged Storm on, faster, looking for the sense of peace that came with riding. Grounded? The incredulous thought came to her, annoyed. How could her mom ground her? No riding for two weeks? Seriously? It was one fight. And the girl deserved it.

A thrill raced through Lessa’s stomach. They flew over a fallen log for just a moment, and the hoofbeats silenced as they whispered through the air. Then once again they were slicing through the trees.

Lessa ground her teeth and sawed Storm’s reins bringing the horse to a sudden walk. This wasn’t as cathartic as she had hoped it would be.

“She started it,” Lessa told Storm. Hoping to finalize the internal turmoil by voicing it. A deep sigh escaped Lessa’s lips.

A scream shattered the air, and Storm’s ears and head swiveled toward home. Ice shot through Lessa’s veins, eight years of that boy following her around meant she could recognize Brody’s voice anywhere. She could hear his terror, his panic.

“Yah!” Lessa frantically yelled at Storm as she pulled her head around and urged the horse toward home. Galloping through the trees was never the wisest thing. But this, this was downright reckless. She kicked at Storm’s ribs driving the horse even faster, ducking under a wayward branch that clutched at the trail.

They burst from the trees and Lessa drove Storm even harder, they shot across the yard, Storm's hooves moving so fast they were nearly flying.

“Lessa!” Brody screamed again.

“Brody!” She called back. What could possibly be happening to make him scream like that? He was clearly as frantic as Lessa was. Her heart was beating as fast as Storm’s hooves against the ground. Clumps of mud and grass flew into the air behind them, torn from the ground by their furious pace.

The sound of Brody’s voice had clearly come from the front of the house, Lessa twitched the reins and Storm’s course altered to bring them around the edge of the house.

Another shock blasted through Lessa as they skidded the corner to the front yard. There were two men there, and one had Brody slung over his shoulder.

“Go, go, go, go!” Lessa said to Storm as she thumped her sides yet again. Her eyes met Brody’s and he started screaming and squirming on the man’s shoulder. “Lessa!” He screamed, eyes streaming tears as he failed to get away from his captor.

“Stop!” Lessa shouted at the men. They turned in unison toward her, pausing for not even a second before they doubled their pace away.

“No!” her voice was wild, frantic. They were so close now. Lessa had no idea what she would do when she reached them, but she had to get there to do something.

And then, the world changed.

The men who were nearly in arms reach vanished, and Brody with them.

A shocked throaty bellow emanated from Storm’s lips. Reflexively Lessa yanked on Storm’s reins, much harder than she needed to. The horse’s legs locked and her rear dipped near the grass, hooves slicing deep furrows as they struggled to find purchase on the moist ground.

Just before Storm was able to bring them to a complete stop they reached the exact place where the men vanished.

For one very long second Lessa felt like she was being smashed and stretched all at once.

There was no light, no warmth.

Existence had become ice and darkness.

Just as the light and warmth returned to the world, Lessa started falling sideways. Unprepared to catch herself, she met the ground like a ragdoll, head and soil became well acquainted and stars burst into Lessa’s vision.

An unwilled groan escaped her lips, and her hands weakly pushed into the leaf litter as she tried to lift herself up.

Lessa stared aghast at the ground between her hands, she had been over grass just moments before. Not leaves. She lifted her head and looked around. She was in a clearing between giant trees, the men who had taken Brody were there, as well as another. And there was her brother, lying on the ground, looking as dazed as she felt.

“Brody!” Lessa gasped and was running before she had totally left the ground, rushing to Brody. She scooped him up and held him close.

“Lessa!" he gasped in her ear, and immediately he started sobbing onto her shoulder.

With her brother in the relative safety of her arms, Lessa scanned the clearing.

There were the two men who had kidnapped Brody the other, all three had swords in their hands. For one moment Lessa stared at what was happening between the men. The third addition seemed to be fighting the other two.

They all seemed to be plenty occupied.

It was time to go. Where didn’t matter, so much as putting distance between her and the men who had so clearly meant ill for her brother. She turned on her heel and a wall of emerald green blocked her path.

She blinked several times trying to make sense of what was before her. Her brain wanted badly to identify this as leaves, a wall of bushes. But no bush was so smooth, so uniform.

Like with a painting you need to have a distance to absorb the entire scope, Lessa took a step back and her eyes started following the lines of this thing.

Scales, what her eyes wanted to interpret as leaves, were clearly scales, knitted so tightly and smoothly together that they made a single skin, like a snake. There were wings, tightly tucked against the back of this creature. Talons the length of Lessa’s own hand tipped fingers that led up to heavily muscled arms. A long neck sprouted from the shoulders of this beast and its head was equipped with a mouth full of dagger-like teeth.

Fear racked Lessa’s body in its iron grip. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Her brain spiraled like a rolodex looking for missing information.

Brody shuttered in her arms. Brody. Brody. Brody. She had to get him out of here. Slowly, Lessa lifted a foot and placed it down.

“You don’t run from predators,” her father’s voice was clear in her head. He had meant bears or mountain lions. Things she might actually run into around their home. Not… Whatever that was.

Slowly Lessa backed toward the trees to her right, the three strangers were still sword-fighting on the other side of the clearing. But clearly, this creature was the bigger threat.

Once Lessa reached the first massive tree she circled around it, slowly trying to get out of sight of the beast.

The thing blinked, and its eyes fell on Lessa just before she was out of sight.

A gasp escaped Lessa’s lips and she darted behind the tree. It was the size of a redwood, maybe bigger. Someone could build a house in this tree's trunk. It easily blocked Lessa’s view of the clearing, the strangers, and the creature.

She took one moment to breathe, “Are you okay?” She asked Brody.

He nodded, “I’m scared.” He mumbled, squeezing his arms tighter around her neck.

“I know.” me too.

“Move to my back.” She said, momentarily placing him on his feet. She squatted and he clamped onto her back. Lessa bolted, running as fast as she could.

We need to hide. She thought to herself. The next mega tree she rounded had roots at its base that looked like a good hiding spot. She darted toward them and thrust Brody toward the cave-like root system.

She followed him in, there was just enough room for them both.

“What’s happening?” Brody whispered as he fastened onto her arm like a leach.

“I don’t know,” she said through panted breaths.

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know,” she repeated.

“I want to go home." His wild eyes peeked over Lessa at the giant trees.

“Me too,” she whispered into his hair. Her arm wrapped around him and pulled him protectively into her.

She had just started to wonder what to do next when movement caught Lessa's eye. Slowly a green nose peaked around the edge of their tree. Lessa’s hand froze claw-like on Brody, her breath became shallow, eyes intent on the beast.

“It’s a dragon.” Despite Brody barely whispering the words Lessa's hand slowly moved from his shoulder to his mouth. She held his lips closed, her eyes locked on the creature, hoping and praying it wouldn't see them.

Its head swung in their direction and it slowly advanced toward them. Lessa’s insides felt like they were liquid and she sank further into the tree, smashing Brody into the roots behind her.

Her eyes locked with the dragon’s. Brody was right, there was no other word for what was before them. For what was coming closer. It was basically upon them now and Lessa closed her eyes and braced for impact. There was nothing she could do. A whimper nearly escaped her lips. Maybe it would take her and leave Brody.

Quite suddenly, the fear was gone. Lessa’s eyes fluttered open, she half expected the creature to have left but it was quite clearly still there. Its bulk completely blocked the entrance to their hiding spot.

Peace emanated through Lessa. Followed by an astounding, consuming love. Unbelievably, Lessa recognized that presence.

“Storm?” she asked quietly. It was answered by a feeling of confirmation, and affection. Her eyes fully landed on the dragon, she studied its eyes.

“Storm?” she asked again. Once again the positive feelings of confirmation washed over Lessa, somehow not her own, but filling her anyway.

The dragon moved slightly closer.

Hesitantly, Lessa offered her hand from their hidey-hole.

“Don’t!” Brody cried at her, trying to stop her from extending her hand. Lessa shrugged him off and fully extended her arm.

The trip of the dragon’s enormous snout came to rest in the palm of Lessa’s hand. “Storm,” she puffed in an emission of emotion.

Lessa’s mind seemed to race through all the times in her horse’s life that Lessa offered her hand and the horse responded with this exact gesture.

The first time was the night she was born, lightning raged and thunder roared that night. Lessa had missed school the next day because she was up all night helping her foal make her way into the world. She was only seven. Nearly nine years Storm had repeated this motion that had become their customary greeting.

“What is happening?” Lessa quietly asked no one in particular.

“Hello?” a voice asked.

Lessa’s eyes snapped to the third stranger from the clearing. She quickly retracted her arm and once again smashed Brody as far back as she could, hiding them both from view.

“What do you mean 'Storm'?” Brody hissed in her ear.

“Quiet,” she snapped at him.

Storm made a noise, a rumble from deep inside of her, it cut off at once. She seemed to surprise herself, but then the noise started back up again louder this time.

“Woah!” the stranger’s voice said in response to the dragon growling. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”

The intensity of the growling dropped off, but a low rumble remained. “I’m not with the men who took the boy. They won’t be causing any more problems.”

Storm's eyes met Lessa's with a question in them. Lessa shook her head in rejection.

Once again, Storm’s growl got louder and she advanced toward the stranger. Again extracting herself from Brody’s grip Lessa peeked around the roots.

When she first glimpsed him she thought he was an adult like the men who had taken Brody. But now that she looked at him she realized he couldn’t be much older than herself. His hands were both up toward the dragon in a placating gesture. He was slowly backing away as Storm advanced on him. A sword hung on his hip but he wasn’t reaching for it.

He spotted her and his eyes moved from Storm to her and back to the dragon. Obviously pleading for help.

“Storm," was all Lessa had to say and the dragon’s growl ceased, her movement halted.

“Were you hurt?” he asked, “I could help.”

Lessa ignored his question but continued to assess him.

“I’m sorry that happened," he said taking a half step toward Lessa. Storm’s lips peeled back from her teeth and a short growl froze him in his tracks. He lifted his hands higher, appeasing Storm,

“Look, look.” He ever so slowly lowered his hands to his belt and deftly loosed the sword from his hips. It dropped to the soft earth with a thump. “I’m unarmed.”

He very slowly halved the distance between himself and Lessa.

“Please, just tell me if you’re hurt?” he asked carefully.

Lessa glanced down at Brody, his fearful green eyes such a stark reflection of her own.

“We’re fine,” she said over the root toward the teen.

His shoulders slumped slightly in relief.

“Please,” Lessa said to him, “just tell me how we can go home. I-I don’t even know where we are.”

“We’re just south of Kathardra,” he was upbeat and eager to answer.

She stared at him.

“I suppose you don’t know what that means," he said pushing a hand through his short dark locks.

“No, I don’t,” Lessa said flatly.

“Kathardra is my country. You came through that…. Door to Kathardra.”

“Door?” she asked skeptically.

“I think it’s a door between our worlds." He seemed so genuine.

She glanced down at Brody, hope was clearly present in his eyes.

“So we can go back through it? We can go home?” At once the clear feelings of affirmation she had been getting from Storm turned negative. Lessa ignored it.

The teen was slow to answer. “Not yet.” The words came reluctantly.

“What do you mean, not yet?” Lessa snapped at him. “We need to go home.”

Storm repeated her adverse feelings about the idea of leaving.

“I need your help," the boy said.