Kindle the Flame (Heart of a Dragon Book 1) by Tamara Shoemaker Read Free Book Online Page A

see enough of her; the small light from the remaining embers was hardly enough to reveal even the outline of her face. “The boulder. We need to get it off of you.”
    “No.” Shaya coughed and spit. Warm liquid spattered his knee. It gleamed, dark in the ember’s faint glow. Blood?
    “No, Cedric, there's no use. Listen...”
    But Cedric wasn't listening. He leaped once again to his feet, straining to push the boulder, his shoulder heaving into the jagged wall of it. It didn't budge.
    Shaya coughed again, her breath rattling in her lungs.
    “Cedric!”
    Cedric was crying now; the tears washed down his cheeks, carving trails in the crusted dirt staining his face. He knelt by her head.
    Her hand found his. “Cedric, listen. When I'm gone, there will be no one to care for you.”
    “I'm seventeen, Mother; I can take care of myself.”
    “No.” She coughed again, violently, and dark liquid foamed against her lips. “I mean, I don't doubt it, but your destiny is not to spend your life among the barren ruggedness of the Rockmonsters.”
    Her coughs grew weaker. He could feel her slipping from him. That heavy stillness was coming, sliding over her body slowly from her hooves, to her great white withers, to her torso. Only her coughs disturbed the stillness. Her fingers were weakening on his.
    “Mother, please...” His voice broke.
    “Listen, I haven't much time.” Her whisper faltered. She coughed. “I took you when you were four, raised you as my own. You were ... special.”
    Cedric swiped his hand across his eyes. The lump in his throat grew; more hot tears dropped onto his fingers.
    “I turned my back on my Clan for you, my son. I've never gone back because—they—wouldn't have—understood. Your safety ... came ... first.” She struggled to speak; after a racking cough, she shook her head weakly. “My boy. My son.” Her lips curved into a smile. “You were born for greatness. Your mark proves it. You must go find your destiny, my Cedric.”
    “What is my destiny?” His voice was garbled behind the tears.
    “What is anyone's destiny, but to find the purpose for which he was born? In the heart of the kingdom, the very center of it, Cedric, if you search it out, you will find it.”
    Cedric desperately clasped her hand. “You—you mean I'll find out where I came from? Who my—parents were?”
    “I did not give birth to you, Cedric, but you were always— my son.” Shaya's dark gaze wrapped him in a last warm embrace. “Go to The Crossings, seek out the Dragondimn. You will find your answers with the King. But—be on your guard, Cedric. Danger awaits you there. I will watch over you from amongst the Stars, my love.”
    Her fingers relaxed, one by one, and Cedric leaned forward, straining his eyes to see hers. They were still, unmoving. He placed his hand upon her neck, searching for the steady thump that had always promised life before, but it was gone, also still.
    Cedric's broken-hearted sobs echoed off the walls of the den, and he buried his head in his mother's neck, his arms circling her torso, aching to feel the warm strength of her again.
    But she was cold. So cold. The chill of death had iced her veins when the spark of life fled.
    By morning, Cedric could no longer pull tears from his eyes. He stood, grim and determined. He would seek his people, find his destiny, entreat the King as his mother had asked. If he were indeed Dragondimn, as his mark implied, he could perhaps gain some help from Sebastian, a Dragondimn himself.
    He gathered some skins of water and strung his sling about his shoulders. Around his waist he tied a belt with a pouch full of likely looking stones and pulled himself up through the hole where he had entered.
    When he emerged into the morning light, massive piles of new boulders lay strewn across the valley floor.
    The giants had destroyed one another. He wondered dully if any at all had survived the fight, and then he remembered that it didn't matter to him.
    They