#ASTALON TEARS OF THE EARTH INNER FIRE SKIN#

Many emotions churned in her heart, bitter and hot like her own toxic blood. She kept her eyes fixed on the narrow, dark opening, waiting for the smallest sign of movement. “And our challenger today is…” Vermillion unfurled a sheaf of paper in his claw and read, “Willow the SandWing!”Ī gate on the other side of the arena rolled up, and even over the noise of the crowd Faithless heard the clanking and groan of chains and gears. The crowd’s howl hummed in her ears like the buzzing of a nest of angered wasps, moving with one mind, speaking with a single roar. “In this corner,” Vermilion shouted, gesturing towards Faithless, “we have one of the Queen’s own champions! Our very own venom-born SandWing, she deals pain with one claw and death with the other! Dragons and dragonesses, stamp your feet for… Faithless!” Faithless saw the crimson SkyWing standing on his announcer’s mound, arms and wings raised, expertly working the mob into a frenzy.

The crowd renewed its roar at his words, screaming for blood, individual voices mixing and melding to become the baying of a furious beast. “Welcome, SkyWings!” boomed Vermilion’s voice from the corner of the arena. One for every dragon she had ever killed. So many scars, countless to any other dragon, but Faithless knew their number by heart for she had made them herself. Some were very fresh, some were days or weeks old, some were barely more than silvery scars. She glanced down at her wrists and forearms, lined with slashes that slowly wept droplets of thick, venomous blood. Everything about her was made to hurt, to kill, to murder and slaughter.

#ASTALON TEARS OF THE EARTH INNER FIRE SKIN#

One touch from her venom-coated skin would burn another dragon, a bite would mean paralysis, a sting would bring instant death. Poison flowed in her veins, in her tears, in her mouth, in her tail, poison so strong and so deadly that it could drive Faithless herself to madness.

The crowd began to stamp upon the stones of the amphitheater seats, striking a rolling, rhythmic thump that throbbed in unison with the endless beating of her aching heart, pumping hot, poisonous blood throughout her body.įor Faithless was a venom-born SandWing. For daring to dream of hope, of freedom, of the touch of misty clouds so high that nothing, not wind, not gravity, not even the sky itself could hold her. For seeks of a life other than that of a prisoner, an executioner. This was her punishment.įor contemplating escape from the Sky Place. It was everywhere, it was all that mattered in this place of slaughter.įaithless closed her eyes. Bloody gems, old dried blood in the arena sand, the crowd’s furious lust for blood.

Countless tiny gemstones, rubies and garnets, fell like a rain of blood upon the ground of the SkyWing arena. The ground shook, the air was heavy, the very flagstones seemed to vibrate with the mob’s single-minded intent.

The roar of the crowd swept over the arena like the rumble of thunder, the harbinger of the fury of a summer storm – ominous dark clouds pregnant with rain, lit from the inside with flashes of lightning. In the world, he has not yet found his placeĪnd on Jade Mountain their blood be spilledĪs six more souls seek their final rest Character List The fifth one, from her past tries to runīut on a long and winding path she will startįor behind fiery scales lies the gentlest heart Her faithless names feared throughout the landįrom the life that she once knew, she is torn The fourth one hails from the plains of sand The third one’s scales shine golden-bright The Amber|second is one who does not doubt' The first is one whose path is dark as night From the eastern sea to the western sandsĪs the fate of six others is surely sealed

Astalon tears of the earth inner fire