Prologue
Simon dreamed of an expanse of blue sky. Everything was bright, the sun warming his body as the air caressed his skin. He could see strange houses below him, the towns drifting past as he flew. He thought for a moment that he must be on the back of his dragon, but quickly realized he was alone, arms outstretched to the wind.
No, not arms, leathery wings replaced his arms, and he felt every drift of the air as he soared. The mountains below him were unfamiliar, red in the blazing sunlight. This dream came too often, possibly the unfamiliar isles he yearned to escape to.
He was descending now, to a house, where the mystery girl lived. He felt like he knew her, from somewhere before. He soared through her open window on the top floor of a strange house and gazed at her on the bed, asleep in the warm morning sun. Her auburn hair delicately on the pillow around her head. He knew in a moment her magic box would make a horrible screeching noise and her eyes-her ocean blue eyes-would open and gaze at him, and then he would wake up, and she would be gone.
The dream never got farther than that.
Simon opened his eyes to the darkness of his room. No one had taken the time to try to wake him up this morning, and he knew that his father would soon come in and demand an audience.
There were few rules he had to live by in the dark kingdom, and he broke them all too often for anyone’s liking.
One, his father demanded they have one meal a day together. This would have been welcomed by Simon in the past, but as the odd evil began to take more and more of his father’s mind, he liked the meals less and less.
Two, he was not allowed to leave the castle grounds. If he was found, he would just be dragged back and beaten by the shadow creatures that his father controlled. Not that anyone outside the castle knew that he survived the great darkening.
Three, never question King Thul, if he was even King Thul anymore.
