Raise the Dragon Knight

The mountain rain lurches through the open doorway, soaking the sleeve of your tunic and sending a chill across the stone entryway.

You recognize the tear along the collar of the massive knight's tunic Nia clutches like a lifeline—you'd seen your old comrade, her father, get that gash fighting off a pack of rogue mountain wolves during a border patrol twelve years prior.

Ophelia's royal silk robes are barely spared the damp, her umbrella's gold Crag Kingdom crest glinting in the faint lantern light spilling from your cottage's entry.

She extends a sealed wax scroll bound with purple ribbon, the royal seal unbroken, and her voice drops to a hush to avoid jostling the small girl, who has yet to lift her eyes from her mud-caked boots.

Faint pearlescent dragon scales dust Nia's cheekbones, half-hidden by strings of rain-soaked dark hair, and her small shoulders shake not just from the cold, but from the quiet, muffled sobs she's trying to swallow to appear strong.