Page 73 of The Lost Princess

I pushed off with my claws, flinging myself into the abyss. The ocean was rough and choppy under me, and I was glad I had taken the time to strengthen my wings and my body. I didn’t want to fall victim to the unforgiving waves and cliffs that crested below me.

On and on I flew until a speck of land was just visible in the distance. Thrill shot through my body, straight to my heart.Lyoness. My island. Myhome!

Grunting, I flapped harder, uncaring of how my muscles strained and how I had to gasp for air. The island rose ahead, massive cliffs greeting me as the ocean violently slammed itself against its rocky visage. I remembered my mother on these rocks. I remembered how we used to gather and sing. These were the rocks our sirens defended the island from!

My excitement gave way to confusion as I soared over the cliffs, diving toward the land on top. It wasn’t green like I expected. It had been green before, hadn’t it? With trees, gardens, and just beyond that the city itself, gleaming with precious stones built into the stonework of our houses and—

Black death greeted me.

I stumbled in my landing, my face smacking into the ground as my claws were unable to find purchase on the rough, hardened magma. Pain flooded my nose and mouth, but I ignored it and struggled to my feet. I spun around, my mind refusing to process what my eyes saw.

Complete devastation.

Black magma, hardened and thick, coated every bit of land. It was a sea of black stretching out before me, rising up toward the volcano peak toward the center of the island. Old ashes collected here and there, finding a home in divots and holes where the wind couldn’t blow it away fully. I closed my eyes, struggling to control my breathing as I started to hyperventilate.

It was all gone.

There was no Lyoness.

There were no other drakens.

Their bodies were likely all buried under my feet: dead and forgotten.

I was the only draken alive on this island.

Overwhelming grief tightened my throat, and I choked on it. I didn’t bother flying round the rest of the island. I knew it would all look the same. I ran on all fours to the edges of the cliffs, looking down below at the razor-sharp rocks and the pounding of the ocean.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember my mother’s face.

My arms stretched wide, and I leaned forward, my wings purposefully tucked into my shoulders.

“Hey! You there!”

I jerked, instinct taking over as my wings flared and caught my body. I pumped a few times and righted myself on the edge of the cliff, looking around wildly as I snarled and went into a defensive position.

Feminine laughter greeted me from below. I blinked and focused on a small figure sitting casually on one of the exposed rocks further out in the ocean. Her hair was a riotous mass of blonde curls that flew freely around her shoulders in the gale of the sea. She had a necklace of leather and shells around her neck and in her hair, and a short skirt around her hips. She was otherwise naked and completely unbothered.

How the hell had she gotten there?

“I take it you’ve been away, eh?”

I stared at her.

The woman rolled her eyes and leaped off the rock with her palms facing out. The sea calmed and rose to meet her, a wave of water effortlessly carrying her up to where I stood, and depositing her next to me. My jaw hung open as the water sank back into the sea.

“Boy, you’ve been away awhile,” she snorted, and then leaned forward to have a better look at me. “And so young. Don’t you remember a sea witch when you see one? Silly me. You must be a survivor.”

Sea witch. That jogged a memory of women in robes who visited the island, mysterious but with different powers. No, magicks. There were many of them: earth, fire, water, air, and blood.

It was the blood that tingled something further in my brain. Something important that related to me and the other male drakens. I couldn’t remember what it was, though.

“It’s been like this since the volcano erupted,” the witch confirmed, glancing around sadly. “We’re thinking it wasn’t natural, contrived somehow by the demons. It was a move we didn’t think them capable of, unfortunately.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“They’re … they’re all dead then?” I asked morosely, not yielding to the spark of hope that still lay in my chest.

The sea witch blew air out her mouth, curls fluttering in front of her face.

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