Lava claw - the peace dragon E-Book

Lavakralle Samtpfote

• Herausgeber: novum publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 195

Beschreibung

Lavaclaw Velvetpaw - a strong feline dragoness and daughter of the tyrannical Dragon King Nightcrown. As a small, helpless dragon cub, she is rejected by him. Full of rage, she swears revenge and nothing will stop her from carrying out this just punishment. On her journey she meets new friends and discovers a strange species, the humans. Together with her friend Fire Feather, a handsome male dragon, she faces deadly dangers and has to make difficult decisions. Will they succeed in defeating Nightcrown? And what sacrifices will they have to make?

Leseprobe

Prologue

It was a mysterious full moon night when it happened. The egg lay in the bright moonlight. The moon stood still and seemed to be waiting for the new arrival. Then at midnight, as if on a silent signal, the shell of the mysterious egg cracked. The dragon had hatched. It was no ordinary dragon. No, it was a cat dragon. An animal that no one had ever seen. Bigger than a tiger, faster than a leopard, as agile as a snake, more intelligent than a human and deadlier than any poison. This dragon had the appearance of a cat and the wings of an eagle with claws the length of a kitchen knife, a jaw strong enough to split iron, and magical powers whose strength no one could guess. This species is older than humans. That night, a dragon with very special abilities hatched. But no one could have guessed what it would master in its long life.

Chapter 1

The day of challenges

I sit on the large stone above the cliff and look down into the valley. From here I can see a dragon city not far from the cliff. Everything looks so peaceful from up here. But since Nightcrown led the dragons, everyone has been living in fear and terror. Everyone except me. Even as a dragon cub, I was banished by him. I am his daughter, his own flesh and blood! Yet he banished me for no reason. He thought he was rid of me, that I wouldn't survive the wild nature. He thought wrong. I'm alive and I want to know why he did it. But one thing at a time. My name is Lavaclaw Velvetpaw, I'm 20 years old and I live alone in the forest. I'm a cat-dragon and I'm already very big and strong for my age. I am about to graduate from warrior training. My black fur covers all my scars and wounds. The red eyes, sharp teeth and thick red eagle wings are made for being a warrior. I am a female dragon. I have no friends because I always wear an iron mask during my warrior training, so no one trusts me. But today I have other worries. It's the day of the challenge on the mountain of flying cats. The one who wins all the battles will be the strongest. I have to hurry if I don't want to be late. The battlefield is only a few minutes' flight away. The wind blows in my face and ruffles my black fur. It's a good feeling, the feeling of freedom. I can see from afar that all the battlefields have been prepared. It's about time. The whole school has gathered for this event. The battle horn sounds loudly above the warriors' heads. Everyone has worked hard for this day. Only the best are accepted into the royal family's personal guard, that is the goal of most young cat dragon warriors, but only a few achieve it. The training leader Owl's Ear climbs onto the large rock that stands in the middle of the six battlefields. It begins.

"Welcome to the selection of our latest king wings. You have all trained hard to prove your worth. But only the best will be accepted into the Royal Army and may serve our King Nightcrown. The others have only earned their reputation as good warriors. Two of the 48 dragons will gradually compete against each other. The winner advances to the next round and the loser is eliminated. I guarantee it will be exciting, thrilling, sad and definitely bloody. No one will be left unscathed or unscathed. The first to compete against each other are: Brownfur against Cloud Sky, Sapphirestone against White Tiger, Firefeather against Sunbeam, Birchfur against Snowtail, Mousepaw against Leopardfang and Peacockfeather against our nameless natural. Get ready." I haven't told anyone my name. Everyone thinks I'm dead. Nightcrown would be the first to know that his daughter, thought dead, is going into warrior training. Now I have to focus on the fight. I'll have an easy time with Peacock Feather. She's not good at fighting. I wonder if she has even been to fighting lessons. Determined, I go to the fighting area and wait patiently for the signal. Everything is quiet, nobody moves. Not even the slightest sound can be heard. The tension is enormous. Everyone has been training for this one day and in a few heartbeats it will finally start. We face each other and are about to try and find each other's weak spot. I don't think I'll have to look far. Owl's ear is still standing on the rock. He has a horn in his paw and blows into it. The fight begins. Immediately, Peacock Feather leaps at me. I dodge to the right and counter with a kick from my left hind paw. I catch her right on the belly, direct hit. She is no longer in the mood and leaves the battlefield without looking at me again. That was easy. A few minutes later, all the battles are decided. "Our winners are Cloud Sky, White Tiger, Fire Feather, Snow Tail, Leopard Tooth and the Nameless One. The next round is about to begin. Now all those who have already fought have time to nurse their wounds and prepare for the next battles. Next to fight: Cat's Eye against Pigeonfeather, Ratfur against Fox's Ear, Creeper against Riverwater, Nightface against Butterflywing, Eaglefur against Raintail and Desert Sand against Lightclaw. Let the blood flow!" The sun rises higher and higher. As soon as the sun is high in the sky, it goes on.

"Now it's time for the next battles. There are only 24 dragons left in the race and 12 of them now, namely: Hawkwing against Cloud Sky, White Tiger against Sunstar, Fire Feather against Swamp Tail, Snow Tail against Lynx Paw, Spotted Tail against Fish Fin and Leopard's Tooth against the Nameless Fighter. Get ready." I won't have such an easy game against Leopard's Tooth. She's cunning enough to make it because she won't let up so easily. Her weak point is that she only concentrates on attacking and doesn't defend herself. She comes up to me and looks at me. "Today is the day. Today I will beat you, I know that for sure." "We'll see." I'm calm, even though she might give me a good beating. I will beat her. We face each other again and look at each other. My plan is: I defend myself until she makes a mistake that I can counter. The horn sounds and she immediately pounces on me. She attacks from the right and I dodge to the left. In the next moment, she swings her paws at me again. I turn away to the left and push her away with my left side. As I do so, I feel her claws hit my left side and she makes a deep wound in my side. "I'm going to get you. You'll wish you'd never ...". I immediately jump at her, push her shoulders to the ground and hold her there. I have her. There's nothing more she can do. She has lost. "Did you say something?" I ask, amused. Everyone watching us fight laughs. "You've won. I give up. Good fight. Good luck yet," Leopard Tooth wishes me. She may be wily, but she's not a bad loser. I don't know when I'll have to fight next, so I need to get my wound dressed as soon as possible. Luckily, Catnip, the healer dragon, has already seen me and comes straight up to me. "What's happened to you? Come with me. I'll take a look." We walk together to his campsite a little way off. He takes a closer look at my wound "Not very deep. You were lucky. A wound like that can become dangerous very quickly if you don't stop the bleeding. You can continue fighting without much restriction. Good luck, although I don't think you need luck." That gives me new strength. There are dragons who believe I can make it.

"The next battles are coming up. There are only 12 left. That means there are no more breaks between battles. Hawkwing will fight Swordclaw, White Tiger will fight Ravenwing, Marsh Tail will fight Birdfeather, White Shadow will fight Lynxpaw, Spotted Tail will fight Spotted Stripe, and Nameless will fight Thunderstorm." Thunderstorm isn't usually easy to beat, but he doesn't look good. His shoulder is bloody and he limps a lot on his left front paw. That's an advantage for me. We get on the pitch and look each other straight in the eye. He and I. We are enemies. We have never understood each other. He framed me for a bad thing he did himself. Now I finally have the chance to get my revenge. The horn sounds and we rush at each other. I hit him in the neck with the first attack. He tries to knock my mask off, but I pull my head in. He doesn't get me. One difference between us is that he fights with his strength. I, on the other hand, fight with my mind and with the rage inside me. I don't let up for a second and keep hitting him. He must not have time to recover. He reaches out with one paw to hit me. I can no longer dodge. He's going to hit me. But I will make the best of it. I also lunge and we strike at the same time. I aim for his neck, he aims for my shoulder. His claws hit my shoulder hard and I can feel them cutting deep into my flesh. But I show no weakness. I feel something hard with my paw and press it to the ground. I hit him perfectly on the neck. I hold him to the ground and wait for him to give up. But he refuses to accept defeat, and if I keep standing on his neck, he'll choke. I can't just kill him like that, I can't! "I give up." Thankfully. I let go of him. He coughs hard and looks at me, "Alright, you won, but next time you won't be so lucky." What a sore loser. I don't have time to get angry, the next fights are coming up. "The day is coming to an end. But we can still watch a few fights today, namely Falconwing and White Tiger will face each other, Birdfeather and Lynxpaw as well as Spotted Tail and the Nameless One. Get ready". I have some good tricks up my sleeve against Spotted Tail. I've fought him many times. He's easy to beat if you know his weaknesses. I go to the battlefield and wait. Let him launch the first attack and I'll have him quickly. The horn sounds and the fight begins. He looks unsure and hesitates too long to attack me. Then I attack. I duck, jump on him and pull us both off our paws. Something hard hits my shoulders. We roll all over the place together. He and I fight as we roll. Suddenly I can't breathe. Something cracks horribly loud. What was that? I jump away from him. He stops moving. Did I kill him? I didn't mean to! Everyone holds their breath. I need to know if he's dead. So I walk towards him. "Whew!" Relieved, I see that he's breathing. That was close. It's just a concussion. What do you mean "just"? It's a concussion, but it could have been worse. But what cracked so loudly? "On the side. I'll have to take a look." Catnip walks past me towards him and tries to help him to his feet. But he won't make it on his own. I have broken Spotted Tail's leg. I help him on one side, Catnip on the other.

I have made it! I'm in the final. I can do it. "Now we come to the grand final. Lynxpaw is too injured to fight anymore, so our final is White Tiger against our nameless favorite." Oh no! White Tiger is my sister. She wasn't banished by our father. On the contrary. He idolizes her! I go to the fighting area and stand opposite her. "Ready, GO!" Everything goes quiet. The spectators wait in anticipation. How will the fight end? Who will win? But none of us move. I don't want to fight them, family is family. I try the peaceful way. "If I were you, I'd give up immediately. You have no experience and no fighting talent," I say as confidently as possible. "Dream on!" She swats at me with her paw. I didn't expect it so soon. "No! My mask!" She has hit my mask, which flies off in a high arc and comes to rest at the edge of the battlefield. Now everything happens as if in slow motion. Those who have recognized me flee in fear. There are wings, claws and fur everywhere. Screams can be heard and all the dragons capable of fighting pounce on me at the same time. That's it... I'm going to die. I don't stand a chance against so many. White Tiger hits me in the face again, in the eye to be precise. Warm blood runs into my eyes and takes away my vision. I don't stand a chance as it is, but blind? Something takes me off my paws. I smell leopard's tooth. It must have jumped into my hip. I'm lying on the ground, can't see anything and can't defend myself. That's it. It was all for nothing. I can't stop Nightcrown.

Suddenly the weight disappears from me. "Get up if you don't want to die." I don't know who he is, but I won't be told twice. I stand up. He touches me with his tail to guide me. He and I take off, flying as fast as we can. "To the forest, they won't follow us into it. You know your way around there, don't you?" "Yes, it's been my home for years." I'm confused. Why is someone helping me? "I'll explain it to you later. Just fly after me. I'll take you to safety." We fly for a long time. Whoever he is, he talks to me and encourages me. I know that voice, but all I smell is blood. Who is he? We land in a clearing. I wash the blood from my eyes and look quickly at my rescuer. It's Firefeather. Why did he save me? "I have a confession to make." He looks at me hesitantly. "I think I've fallen in love with you." I wasn't expecting that now. I have an admirer. "You must be joking. Although if I wasn't, you wouldn't have saved me. Thank you and..." What should I say to him? I don't know how to talk to someone who's in love with you. No one has ever really loved me. "I think we can be good friends." He looks at me hopefully. I think I have a boyfriend. That sounds kind of weird. "I have to stop my father. He'll destroy all our lives if he carries on like this. Are you with me?" "I'd do anything for you." "Go on then!"

Chapter 2

On the run again, only in other worlds

A day has passed since we fled the city, but it feels like it's only just happening. I can't stop thinking about the shocked faces. I spent years in this school, earned the trust of many, and now I can never go back, my cover is gone and even worse: now everyone knows I'm still alive. My father will definitely come looking for me. If he finds me with Firefeather, then what? I no longer have a choice. I have to defeat him or I won't live much longer. But a young warrior without much experience can't defeat an adult dragon, especially one with an army of warriors behind him. "Are you all right? You look so hopeless." I look deep into his eyes. "There's nothing we can do, my cover is gone, he's after us and we have nowhere to hide. I don't know what to do. Never has a day been so bright and yet I can't see anything. I don't know where to look. Everything I see is too bright to make out." We fly on in silence; he seems to want to cheer me up, but is obviously afraid of saying the wrong thing and remains silent. There must be something we can do, some small ground to build on. We fly through the night, side by side. "Hope is not yet lost. The dragon that will save us is not far away. You don't have to look for him, he will find you. I have long puzzled over what it means, I think I finally know. You are the dragon that will save us all," he says after a while. He notices my questioning look and answers quickly. "I flew to the soul realm once when I wasn't sure and asked my grandfather for help, that's all he told me." What should I say to that? I don't even know where I should or can go.

We've been flying for quite a while. What's that smell? That's the boundary marker. We've been flying in circles! Is he trying to trap me? Is he trying to hand me over to Nightcrown? Was he just playing it all? No, I must have been wrong, there was nothing there. "Do you really believe that? I'm not sure, I'm just a dragon who has lived in the forest for years, hiding from a dragon who happens to be the king and the evil father at the same time. I can't ... Don't you realize that anything I do could mean my death? I'm not doing this for fun." This is ridiculous, he thinks it's all just a game. A good game: If you lose, you die. No, that's not possible. I know that smell all too well: it's the smell of the king's wings and he's heading straight for them. He wants to hand me over. I didn't even put up a fight. Have I fallen for something that will now cost me my life? I stop immediately and turn around. I trusted him. Why was I so stupid? I fly as fast as I can. He's the slower flyer of the two of us, so he can't follow me. I was so stupid to trust a dragon who doesn't even know the real story. Stunned, I fly away without looking back. He betrayed me and I didn't notice, I can't let that happen to me again. A thunderstorm begins, but I don't even notice it. Lightning flashes in the sky next to me, but I don't care. I don't even care if I get hit by one. How do I deserve a life like this, I've done nothing and yet I'm being punished. The rain comes down. I don't normally fly in the rain, but I barely feel it. The only thing I feel is sadness and anger. What is the meaning of my life? I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what I'm doing and I'm alone, powerless and broken inside.

I see a light on the horizon: the sun is rising. The storm is now far behind me. There is something there, a stone. What is it? It looks like some kind of cave, but it goes straight down. In the middle is a large stone with something sparkling in it. I have to be careful. I slowly fly closer and take a look. I land right next to the stone. There is something in the middle of the stone, but what? "Something that should be yours." It's like a voice whispering in my ear. I have never seen this place before and yet I feel safe and as if I have seen this stone every day for years. There is the imprint of a paw on the stone ball. It's the same size as mine. A coincidence? "You know what you have to do." The voice is gentle and sounds like my mother's. "As long as you're alive, there will always be hope. You just have to find what you're looking for." That's what she meant. I place my paw on the imprint and the stone shatters into a thousand tiny pieces. A crystal floats in the middle. It's red and looks almost the same as the one on my forehead. It floats towards me and hangs around my neck with a necklace. I have new hope, I can do so much with this crystal, I know that. I still have to find out what that is, but it will take time. "Hold me up to the light of the rising sun." I do what the crystal tells me and hold it up to the light. Something indescribable happens: The sunlight focuses and a kind of portal opens up in it.

Chapter 3

New hope, new enemies

I don't know what it is, but I know that this will be my salvation. The portal is yellow, with a beautiful green gradient. Should I go through it? I mean, what could possibly go wrong? I go through the portal and immediately it pulls me down, out of reflex I open my wings. I can't fly. How much longer will I fall? I fall down for a long time, then finally I see the sky again. I can fly again. That was a fright! If a dragon can't fly, it's at the mercy of everything and can't defend itself. Where have I actually landed? I've never been to this place before. I don't see a forest, but an endless clearing. There are a few small trees without leaves, clinging to each other with their branches. They are arranged in a square and there are strange animals in the middle. They look like deer without antlers and with only one hoof on each leg. They also wear a chain or a leather muzzle. A strange two-legged creature sits nearby in the short grass. It wears black armor, a black headdress, and black iron claws, though I don't think they're iron. The creature is asleep, I'm sure of it. I take a closer look. What is it doing here? It looks like it's still a pupil, but pupils aren't allowed out of camp without warriors. That's not normal, maybe it was banished like me? It's moving, it's awake. "What the hell?" It looks at me. Why does it look so scared? I mean, I'm just a normal cat-dragon. We look at each other for a while. "What are you?" What does it want from me? I can't speak its language. "I am John, a human. Please let me live in peace." Oh right, he's one of those jerks who keep trying to ride us. In the other world they captured us and try to control us, they've never succeeded. I take a good look at the creature. It is male. "You mean me no harm, do you? Then I'll go to my horse now, ride away and you ... um ... you and I, we'll never see each other again. Okay? So bye." Why is he running away? I haven't done anything! Coward. I'll follow him inconspicuously, maybe he'll take me to the leader of his clan. He mounts one of the things he called a horse and rides off. It doesn't even put up a fight, it must have been under his power for years. I fly after him. Where is he going? I follow him until he slows down and finally relaxes again. There's a huge wooden shelter. That's probably where he's going.