Page 1 of Monsters of Air

Chapter One

It was the cold that woke me, as it always did this time of year.

The fire had gone out and frost was creeping under the door and over the floor of our cabin like a silent intruder. I could almost hear it slither over the hard packed earth, and creep its way up the stairs to find me.

It was my job to relight the fire and prepare the cabin for the day, but I really didn’t want to. Who would? It was fucking freezing out there, and besides I had been having a really, really good dream that I would like to go back to.

I had been in a high cave, watching dragons zip through the air, their large scaly wings unfurled in jewel bright colors that twinkled against a blue sky. They had dipped and dived with their silver haired riders on their back, fire bursting from their maws.

Dragons and their rare riders. They were beautiful.

I had watched a winged beast that had no rider slither through the air toward me, his enormous body landing gracefully as he began to stalk closer, his beastly grin making my nethers heat and swell…

Then the ice came and stole away all the forbidden, wonderful things that were sure to happen next.

Oh well, at least I had the dreams from the last few nights, those would have to keep me warm as I worked in the barn. Dreams of dragons always did.

Dragons had been protecting our people from the Fae for as long as anyone could remember. They tall man-eating bastards had been trying to invade our land for a century, if it wasn’t for the dragons they might have already. Luckily, my family and I lived far enough away from the border that we never saw the fighting, we just heard the stories from the travelers who passed through, it was their tales of the dragons that fueled my dreams; and my desire to be one of the gracefully powerful, silver-haired riders.

Another burst of cold air rushed over my skin as that damned chill seeped through my flimsy blankets, even nature was screaming at me to get my head out of the clouds and my feet back on the ground.

Light the damn fire. Right.

Restraining a grumble, I rolled off my small pallet, taking my blanket with me. A much needed accessory seeing as my breath was exploding in white clouds. The wood flooring of the loft was icy against my feet and I shuddered, wrapping a blanket around me tighter before working my way down the rickety stairs and to the dirt floor of our cabin. Our home was only a two-room farmhouse, my sleeping space was in the loft while my parents slept underneath me. My eleven-year-old little sister oft’times snuck into their bed claiming that I was too cold to sleep with.

The layer of frost on the dirt floor shocked my system like a zap from a river eel. I hissed, prancing to the fireplace like the dirt was trying to eat me alive. It might be with the icy pain that was now radiating over my calves.

“Damn the goddess for this cold,” I hissed as I danced. I should worry I would be heard, but no one could hear anything over the roar of Da’s deep snoring. Ma always slept lightly, but Da’s snoring could be louder than the thunderstorms that rolled through our region of Fraitte.

Reaching the fire, I grabbed the poker and slowly tried to stoke it to life. As it slowly grew, casting dancing light around the room, I did what I’d been doing for the past week.

I checked my hair color.

I was almost of age. Any day now I would be an adult of twenty years, and if the fates of the world and the Goddess of Wings blessed me; I would be a rider.

I took in a deep breath and stared at the fire for one last painful second before my gaze dropped to my hair. Disappointment thrummed through me as I saw the same boring brown hair, not the colorless silver of a rider.

“God damn it,” I hissed, poking the fire angrily and sending embers into the air.

I knew I shouldn’t be pissed, it wasn’t like I could control it after all. It was up to the goddess if I would be a rider, shift into a dragon, or spend my life as a whole lot of nothing. Which is what the rest of my family was, and what I was inevitably going to be.

I’d be nothing, doomed to stay in this small village for the rest of my life, working the lands, taking care of my parents, finding a nice boy to marry and have my own family. Frankly, it sounded terribly boring. I wanted the adventure that I read about so often in my books. To fight. To live. To love hard.

That meant I needed to be a rider. I guess I could be a dragon, although that one seemed a bit scarier. All the stories talked about the dragon exploding into their dragon forms randomly and oftentimes killing those near them. New dragons had to be coaxed back into their humanoid shape, though they’d never be fully human again, oftentimes keeping their wings and tails.

The thought of riding a dragon sounded more exciting than being a dragon. I’d be the one to complete them, make them into their best versions of themselves. We’d need each other, love each other, protect each other.

Yes, I was doe eyed fawning over a fantasy, but it was my fantasy.

I glanced back at my parents’ bed. I loved them so much, I wanted to do everything I could to protect them. Especially my little sister. She wasn’t strong like the rest of us. She needed protecting.

How could I do that if I was a nobody?

“Stupid fatey goddesses.” I gave the fire another good poke, realizing what I had missed before, my father’s snoring had stopped.

“Morning, Rayna,” Da said, knocking the top of my head gently. I batted him away and glared up at him, he was all smiles even through my scowls.

“Morning.” I poked the fire again, sending more sparks in the air, and him chuckling with that jovial belly laugh that was so him.

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