Prologue
It was the first day of summer and the early morning was strangely cold, a thick fog rose from the freezing ground, coating and obscuring the landscape. The sun had just shown its blinding face to the world once again, growing in size and height as it peaked above the mountain tops to the east. The giant star chased away the darkness of the night, radiating warmth over the frozen landscape. The colors in the sky grew brighter, the blackness of the sky transitioned to shades of soft violets, blues and pale oranges which reflected off the full clouds that slowly drifted from the snowy peaks. The ground lay damp with frozen water particles slowly melting into dew, giving each step a foreign crunch.
The land had changed over the last month, from a dreary winter land to a lush green prairie. The trees that were once fragile, the moisture within them frozen solid were now blossoming with thick foliage. Bright colored flowers were beginning to bud, soon to follow would be delectable fruits. Fields that would otherwise remain barren, had their earth being dug into and crops were being planted.
By fall there would be acres full of wheat and other produce that would supply the land through the long winter months. Black birds scratched and pecked at the soil, searching for the seeds farmers had planted: knowing that soon they could fill their bellies with good food. The once frozen waters of the nearby creeks and rivers now roared down their stony bed, and fighting their current were schools of fish.
The grand town of Edinburgh was just as quiet as the land surrounding it. The walls encasing the villagers inside the city were covered in frost from the morning's cool temperature, and the guards patrolling it needed to watch their every step. All the buildings within the city fought against the cold dawn; their internal structures heated with fire, letting smoke raise up through the chimneys.
Glass windows were fogged, old wooden doors creaked more on their hinges than ever before, the sound of splitting wood echoed through each alley way and off of each stone block. The city was quiet this morning, for half the residents had yet to rise; and the other half had stilled in their movements.
The villagers paused their motions and activities; the blacksmith held her hammer still against the anvil, the market square merchants ceased all sales, warriors in training stopped their advances at one another. It was as if the whole world consisting of only Edinburgh paused and looked up to the sky.
The gaze of dozens of men and women scanning the horizon, searching the vast openness for something, somewhere. The sound of the woodcutter's axe slicing through a final chunk of lumber cracked once more off of every surface, before a high pitched scream chilled all of the villagers to their bones.
Suddenly the silent morning was overrun with a bell that began to toll, each crack of the metal structure sent a heavy boom throughout the city and to whomever was close enough to hear it. Terrified screams, bairn's crying, and guards shouting orders to one another as they scrambled about. Women and their babes were instructed to hide indoors, seek shelter wherever it could be found. Able bodied men were ordered to pick up arms, to prepare themselves for a bloody battle.
It was absolute chaos.
Guards climbed their towers, equipped with strong bows and sharp arrows. Others climbed the stairs to the wall where they prepared themselves both mentally and physically. Citizens who were familiar with battle stood next to them, in hand were the weapons of their choice. Blades, axes, knives, bows and scrolls of magic.
The city was prepared, but was it enough? There was no calm before the storm, there was not time to be more readied: many would die today.
The guards and warriors waited, waited for what felt like an eternity. Until they heard it, a sharp noise: one like a blade being drawn over a stone. Screeching, wailing, ear piercing. A noise that meant only one thing. Death.
"Dragon!" Hollered a man from the bell tower, his frantic cry alerting every man and woman of the beast’s arrival.
Its figure growing as it closed the distance between itself and the city. Its amber colored scales gleamed like fire as it reflected the sunlight. Broad wings carried its ginormous body through the air, the sound of its ancient voice thundered through the open sky. Its form was mighty, majestic, but deadly. The beast had to be over thirty feet long from snout to tail. The motion of its wings flapping kicked dust and dirt up from the crevasses of the ground, the frightening sound of it flying overhead sounded like a swarm of locust. Deafening.
The beast roared again, this time followed by a breath of blazing fire that shot down upon the armed men. Each pass over the city, its voice struck the ears of all the residents with a rumbling blow, and the fire that rained from its throat scorched anything it could reach.
Only a miracle could save the townspeople from this dragon, and a miracle they might have.