Chapter 1
Music blared loudly from one of the upstairs bedrooms as Lily sat at dining room table, working through a clients livestock order for the following year. The young woman sighed and ran a tense hand through her shoulder length, brown, hair. She slammed her pen down onto the table and stood glaring at the stairs.
“Pete!” She yelled. After a moment of no response she shoved her chair back and stomped her way up the stairs and down the sun lit hallway, across to the offending room. She pounded on the door. Again she was met with no response.
“Pete! I swear to the Goddess that I will turn the damn internet modem off!” She shouted. The music dropped in volume slightly and a shuffling could be heard from the other side of the door. A gust of wind flew past Lily as the door in front of her opened up, showing her younger sisters pinched face and messy dark locks.
“What the hells do you want?” The younger girl demanded.
“Just because you have the day off today, doesn’t mean other people need to hear your trashy ass music. I’m trying to get shit done for the Bellfaire Keep and I can’t concentrate while your nasty music is all that can be heard for miles!” Lilys voice raised and her shoulders got tighter as she leant against the door frame.
“You get Sunday, I get Saturday. That has always been the plan. And you may not like my music but your taste ain’t much better so shut the hell up already and let me enjoy my day off without seeing your dumb ass face!” Lily’s fist clenched, her lips pursed and her green eyes narrowed.
“Girls! Tone it down, right now!” A deep commanding voice called from the bottom of the stairs. The two woman stared at each other, daring the other to back down.
“I said NOW! Pete, turn your music down to a more tolerable level.”
“Yeah Petunia. Turn your music down.” Lily grinned.
Pete rolled her eyes before turning away and stalking over to her stereo. She turned to face her older sister while she stabbed the volume button with her finger. Lily smirked before turning and plodding back down the stairs. He father stood at the bottom with his hand on his cheek and his elbow rested on the rail.
“Good morning daddy” Lily said before kissing his cheek and heading back towards the kitchen table, where all her papers were set in clear concise piles.
“starting the morning off with a bang are we?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m just trying to get the herd for the Bellfaire Keep all sorted and get the accounts ready, rotations planned, and feed booked in. Petunia has other idea’s and decided she wanted to deafen me instead.” Benjamin chuckled and patted his eldest daughter on the shoulder.
“She is 15. It’s not the worst she has done...or is gonna do.” Lily sighed and sat back down before pulling out the file she was previously looking through. Benjamin came and sat down beside Lily.
“What are the Bellfaire’s wanting next year?” He asked looking over the assortment of papers.
“2 herds of sheep, 1 herd of cattle and 1 colony of flems.” Lily responded. Benjamin grabbed the paper from Lilys hand, astonished at the large amount of stock the Keep was ordering.
“Wow. Thats more than their normal order.” He said looking through the request list.
“Yeahp. They had way more live hatchlings than they expected so they want to prepare for breeding season next year. They also want to know if we have any short order flems?” Lily explained.
“I think we just might. When you’re done here, go check the flem villa and see if we can spare any for them.” Benjamin got up from the table and went to fill his coffee mug with a fresh brew.
“Sounds good.” She replied as she got the calculator out to ready the Bellfaire’s invoice.
“Where’s mum?” Lily asked, transferring information from the calculator to the paperwork. Her father leant against the counter. He took a large sip of his beverage.
“She was over at the Bryson Keep, trying to secure an order for next season.” Lily nodded before she began piling her papers together and standing from the table.
“fingers crossed. Roscoe always purchases out our remaining big ticket cattle.” Benjamin continued. Lily put the papers back in the file cabinet and turned to her father.
“Alright. Im going out to the flem villa.” She said as she grabbed her hat and pulled her riding boots on.
“You taking Mason?” Benjamin asked.
“Yup. I think I’m going to take him for a trail ride with Duke after I have checked in on the colonies.” Benjamin nodded. Lily left the house with her Rottweiler Duke in tow. The old dog bounded along happily with Lily as they neared the stables that were sheltering the horses from the intense New Zealand sun.
Lily got to the large open red doors and whistled into the shaded barn. After a moment a loud braying could be heard before the tell tale sound of hooves trotting over concrete. Lily didn’t have to wait long before a large Appaloosa made its way towards her with his tailing flicking through the air. He pushed his head against his rider and rubbed his muzzle against her hip.
“Hello my love. Are you hungry?” Lily asked her tan and creme horse. Mason threw his head back and whinnied in excitement. Lily chuckled and grabbed a carrot out of the near-by mini fridge. She held it out to the large animal and he enjoyed the snack while Lily patted his muscular neck. Once he had finished the vegetable, Lily placed his bridle on and leapt up onto his back. Together Lily, Mason and Duke went about their duties at the Flemish Giant colonies and tended to some of the animals along the way. As the sun reached it’s apex in the sky, Lily decided it was time to take Mason and Duke down one of the trails that lead to the boundary of the Dragon Keep next door. Most of the trail was shrouded in cool shade at that time of the day, so Lily knew her two companions would enjoy the walk without being bombarded by the heat of the summer sun. As they began walking along the trail, Lily decided to climb off her horse to let him walk alongside her without the weight of a person on his back.
10 mins into the trail ride/walk, the trail came to a length of path that gave Lily a view of the Dragon Keep owned by Roscoe Bryson. The main income stream for HeartFire Ranch. From her vantage point she could see partly into the training hall where it sounded like Roscoe Bryson himself was currently working. Lily stood watching hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful scaled creatures that were being raised across the fence. She took a careful step back of the trail so she could sit down on the flat patch of grass under a tree and waited for just a quick look of the beast inside the hall.
She had been waiting for 10 whole minutes, sitting in the shade with Duke while Mason rummaged through the wild berry bushes nearby. She enjoyed these moments as she got to inhale fresh, flower scented air instead of the variety of animal smells that assaulted her nose on a daily bases up at the house. She was ready to give up and take her companions back to the yard when her phone bellowed out from her back pocket causing her to jump and Duke to awaken from his snoring slumber. She pulled put her phone and grinned seeing her partner, Tyler, flash across the screen.
“Hey babe. What’s up?” She answered the call.
“Hey. How is your morning going?” Tyler, her partner of 3 years responded.
“It’s going quite well so far. Pete once again tried to deafen me again this morning with her music while I was doing paperwork and now I’m out on the trail with Duke and Mason.”
“Sounds great. You’re watching the Bryson Keep again aren’t you?” He asked already knowing the answer as Lily had been doing this on a regular basis since they got together.
“Of course I am. I can see their hall and yet I have never seen any of their Dragons. One of these days I will see one.” Lily grinned. She could hear Tyler chuckling through the phone.
“Fair enough. Are you coming round to mine tonight? Or are you staying at the Heart Fire?”
“We can stay at yours. What time does your shift finish?” Lily asked, not once moving her vision away from the hall. As she was talking she caught a flash of emerald through the doors of the hall. Butterflies bubbled around in her stomach and her shoulders became tense. A wide smile spread across her face and she leapt to her feet, trying to get a better view.
“5.30. I will swing by and pick you up. Maybe we can go out to dinner or something?” He asked. That question pulled Lily out of her excitement and anxiety quickly replaced the butterflies with bees.
“Or we could order take out instead and curl up on your couch and watch a movie.” Lily suggested, keeping her eye on the hall. She could hear Tyler sigh.
“We could also do that.” His voice tightened. “Did you see on the news last night, The mayor is now considering Dragon Abuse and Carer neglect as a felony. I have had to treat 3 people alone today with abuse related injuries.”
“No I didn’t catch that. Thank gods none of our clients would ever be caught causing harm to any of the Keep or any of the carers.” Lily said, thankful that the laws were now getting stricter to benefit the wellbeing of the Dragons.
“Pretty much. I will see you this afternoon. Love you”
“Alright. Love you.” The line went dead, and the phone went back into her back pocket. She got to her feet and stood flush against the fence, eyeing the property. She took note that her mothers truck was no longer in the Keeps driveway, meaning she must have finished negotiations and had secured the order for the following year. She sighed deeply, giving up on the possibility of seeing once of the Fire Tongues. Just as she turned to grab the attention of Mason when an almighty shriek echoes across the skies. The sound dropped a weight to the bottom of her stomach and ice run through her veins. It was a cry of pain and despair. Only it was coming from the building she was just staring at. Silence followed the sound. Dread filled her entire being. Another shriek rang in her ears followed by the cracking of a whip. Her hand shot to her mouth to cover the gasp that tried to escape. Duke stood at her side alert with his ears pricked.
“Mason!” She called out behind her. The was by her side in a second. Using the fence as a step, she swung up onto her horse. They made their way as quick as possible, up the trail and back to the house. When they got to house, Lily climbed off Mason, and ran over to Benjamin, who was tending to one of the pregnant cattle in the round pen.
“Dad!” She called. The man turned around at the urgency in his daughters voice.
“What is it? What’s happened?” He asked putting the wooden brush down. He closed the gate behind him as he left the pen. Lily took a moment to catch her breath while her father wiped his hands with a rag from his back pocket.
“Roscoe Bryson is whipping his dragons!”
