Chapter One

Fifteen Years Later - Northcry

On top of a hill outside Northcry’s city walls, Oliver Castle was relaxing beneath an oak. Or, at least, he had been before his two mentors, Wizard Fen and Sir Henry, came around to deliver terrifying news. Now, his hands shook as he swallowed the fear building inside his throat.

“You’re kidding, right?” Oliver tried to smile, but his nerves turned it into a twitching grimace.

“No,” Wizard Fen said with a sigh, “We’re sending you to the Thicket, just south of Westvale.”

“I understand that,” said Oliver, who was already familiar with the enormous forest, “I meant the part about a dragon!”

Wizard Fen hated beating around the bush as much as he hated that his lifelong companion, Sir Henry, dragged him out of bed this early. The sun was hardly over the horizon. The wizard scratched his stubble. He looked grubbier than usual in his sleeping gown and slippers.

“Yes, yes…” Wizard Fen waved his hand dismissively, “Some hunter sent a pigeon. Something about a dragon flying over the God Trees, yadda yadda. The fowl left a huge mess on my desk, you know.”

Sir Henry cleared his throat, “Regardless, we’re not asking you to fight the beast, just see if it exists. After all, nobody has seen one since the end of the last war.”

That clarification didn’t ease Oliver’s worries. Of course, he couldn’t fight the dragon, he was just nearing the end of his training. Even if the dragon was real, it’d be a very long time before he could even stand a chance.

“But why now?” Oliver looked at each of his mentor’s expressions, trying to gain a clue to their thoughts. He paid special attention to Sir Henry, who looked perfectly alert. Like normal, he looked the part of a knight as he wore a crisp blue suit and brilliant white scarf.

Sir Henry glanced at Wizard Fen. They were practically brothers, so they could say just as much with a look as they could with speech. The wizard just rolled his eyes and sighed.

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“Just think of this as your final test,” Wizard Fen looked away as Sir Henry chuckled deeply.

“Bashful as ever,” Sir Henry met Oliver’s gaze, his voice softened, “Your parents would be proud, you’ll make a fine Guardian.”

The worry in Oliver’s chest lessened, he’d been working hard the past fifteen years to become a Guardian, like his parents were before they were killed. They were a famous Huntress and Sorcerer, so Oliver trained in both fields by adapting magic into his study of the bow.

Sir Henry clapped his hands together eagerly, “Now! You may take the day off, you leave in the morning, you’ll need the rest.”

Oliver’s heart quickened, “So, wait, I’m to go on my own?”

Wizard Fen grinned, “Wouldn’t be much of a test if we sent an escort, would it?”

Oliver bit his lip. It had been silly to even ask. Traveling with troops would be noisy, it’d slow him down. Oliver thought it wouldn’t be too difficult to travel to the Thicket on his own, anyway. He’d been on his own during hunts for several years now.

With that, Oliver’s mentors left him alone and went to have breakfast, talking on the way down the hill.

“You’re not planning on eating in that guise, are you?” Sir Henry asked as he left with Wizard Fen.

Wizard Fen scoffed, “Of course I am, you expect me to spill wine on clean clothes?”

Oliver stopped listening as he took in the scene from his morning spot. From this hilltop, he could just see into the town skirting around Northcry’s castle. The old city was tucked in the foothills of the Stoney Ridge Mountains where much of Aidenbre’s gold, iron, silver, and copper were mined. The city and it's small robust military were famous for surviving and repelling every force which threatened its walls throughout Aidenbre’s long history.

It was Oliver’s home and he never wanted to leave it. After his parents were killed in the last war with Brent, Oliver swore to become the city’s next Guardian. A title of elite status with a lineage dating soon after the city was founded, five hundred and fifty years ago. Sir Henry and Wizard Fen were the current Guardians, but Oliver had been training under them since he was a kid. That was ten years ago. It was appropriate he’d become a Guardian by his eighteenth birthday, just two months from now.

Oliver dusted himself off, patting away the soil from his black trousers and straightening his brown shirt. He decided to visit his caretaker, one of the castle’s maids named Tina. She’d raised him since he was three and he knew she’d be excited to learn he was so close to completing his training. He’d leave out the bit about the dragon, though. That’d only make her worry. Odds were, the sighting was nothing but a mistake, anyway.

As Oliver made his way down the hill, excitement seeped into his step. Soon enough, he’d become this city’s Guardian. He’d figure out the rest as it came, but for now, this was all that mattered. It was all coming together.