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  Reecah’s

  Flight

  Legends of the Lurker

  Book 1

  Reecah’s Flight by Richard H. Stephens

  https://www.richardhstephens.com/

  © 2019 Richard H. Stephens

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected]

  Cover Art & Interior Art by kjmagicaldesigns.com

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-989257-14-2

  Acknowledgements

  Reecah’s Flight began as a magical idea that came to me one day quite by accident. While writing Into the Madness, I realized I wanted to explore the world that had shaped Melody and Silurian’s lives. To tell the story of Mase’s legacy. The next day, I randomly came across an image of a woman and a dragon. As soon as I saw it, I had to have it. It was as if fate had intervened. So excited, I wanted to put Into the Madness on the shelf and jump right into Reecah’s Flight. That wouldn’t have been fair to the amazing fans of the Soul Forge Saga, so I finished the trilogy—working in the back story as I went.

  I am forever grateful to the people behind the scenes, without whose involvement, Reecah’s Flight would never have gotten off the ground.

  First off, I wish to thank my beta readers for reading Reecah’s Flight on such short notice. Your input, as always, is valued more than I can ever express. My sincere appreciation goes to: Joshua Stephens, Matthew Lane, Paul Stephens, and of course, Caroline Davidson who is always the first one to read it, and the last.

  Thank you to my editor, Michelle Dunbar. Through her patient instruction, my writing style has evolved. If you are an aspiring writer, check her out: http://michelledunbar.co.uk/

  Thank you to my cover and interior picture designer, Katie Jenkins. The cover helped fuel my inspiration for Reecah’s Flight. You can find Katie at, KJ Magical Designs: https://kjmagicaldesigns.com/

  The image for Grimelda’s Clutch was created by my amazing partner in life: Caroline Davidson, to see more of what Caroline offers, please visit her website:

  https://thefunctioningexecutive.com/

  Credits:

  During the writing of Reecah’s Flight, I decided I wanted to give back to you, my readers—a way of thanking you for sticking with me as I grow as an author. Subsequently, I ran a dragon naming contest in which I asked people to think up a name and anything else they thought would be important to their dragon such as colour, gender, alignment, etc. so I could use it in my dragon series. Thank you to the following individuals for naming a few characters in the Legends of the Lurker Series. Their creativity and insight have made the series that much more fantastical.

  Sandy Fosdick for naming the purple, female dragon: Silence

  Georgiana L. Gheorghe for naming the red, female dragon: Scarletclaws

  Angela Carter for naming the high king: J’kaar.

  I am always searching for dragon names and invite you to connect with me on my Facebook Author Page:

  https://www.facebook.com/RichardHughStephens/

  In addition, for book 2 of the Legends of the Lurker Series, I decided to run a, ‘name the female warrior contest.’ I look forward to sharing her name in Reecah’s Gift.

  Reecah’s Flight is dedicated to anyone with a dream. Don’t let life slip by without attempting to realize your dream. You’re the only one in control of your destiny. Work hard. You’re worth it. Your dream isn’t as far away as you think.

  Table of Contents

  A Rare Day

  Oh, to Fly

  The Day the World Stood Still

  The Package

  Confronting a Bully

  Age of Discovery and Darkness

  Only Family

  In the Cellar

  Dirty Bird

  Poppa’s Deception

  Parlay with the Enemy

  Peril’s Peak

  Inferno

  First Encounter

  Dragon Slayers

  The Love it Never Knew

  Incensed

  Lurker!

  Dance with Death

  Those Left Behind

  The Hill Witch

  No Going Home

  Ambushed

  Circle of Trust

  Swoop

  Exposed

  The Drop-off

  Swarm

  Dragon Home

  Dragon Fall

  Grimclaw

  Cantankerous Curmudgeon

  Dark Heir

  Dragon Temple

  Blind Truth

  Reecah’s Flight

  A New Beginning

  To view the full colour maps in the Soul Forge realm, please visit: www.richardhstephens.com

  Reecah’s

  Flight

  Legends of the Lurker

  Book 1

  A Rare Day

  “Poppa, do you think I’ll ever be able to fly?”

  “Of course, little poppet. You can do anything you set your mind to.”

  Reecah’s dimples creased her pudgy cheeks, the sunshine twinkling in her eyes. Lying on the side of a steep, grassy hill, she put her hands behind her head and stared skyward. “Do you think I could fly as high as a butterfly?”

  Viliyam Draakvriend smiled at his six-year-old granddaughter daydreaming like he was wont to do. She reminded him of her mother—a girl daring to envision a better life. She reminded him of himself.

  Viliyam spotted the monarch butterfly Reecah tracked with a pointed finger. “Higher.”

  Reecah giggled. She scanned the sky and thrust her arm out. “High as that bird?”

  Viliyam spotted the seagull squawking above the steely waves of the Niad Ocean. As long as Lizzy didn’t get wind of their conversation, what was the harm? “Higher.”

  “Higher?” Reecah’s high-pitched voice squeaked. “Wow.”

  He loved her innocence. Oh, to be a child again, oblivious to the cares of the world—her hazel eyes full of wonder, searching the sky. He felt warm inside. Lying here with Reecah allowed the pressures of everyday life to ease away. It wasn’t often he got to know peace.

  It was a rare day in Fishmonger Bay. Viliyam had made sure his chores were completed before the sun crested the lofty heights of the Spine. Days like these only happened a few times a year. There was no way he was going to miss out on his favourite activity—stomping across the mountainside in search of life’s simple treasures with Reecah. She was growing up much too fast.

  A warm breeze wafted over the hill, ruffling Reecah’s dark brown hair. She pointed excitedly up the coast to an unusual jut of flat rock. “How about as high as a dragon?”

  Viliyam sat up and squinted. “You see a dragon? Where?”

  “There Poppa, by the cliffs.”

  The joys of getting old, Viliyam mused, his imperfect vision unable to see what Reecah was going on about. He followed her crooked finger. If there was a dragon up there, he couldn’t see it.

  “You see it, Poppa?”

  “Yes, poppet, a big one.”

  Reecah frowned, too smart for her britches. She knew he hadn’t.

  Viliyam searched the area with concern. It wouldn’t do to be caught unaware on the hillside if a dragon was about. “We should go now. Grammy will be worried.”

  “Aw! It’s not even late. Can we go down to the shore? You promised.” Reecah crossed her arms, pouting.

  Viliyam couldn’t help but laugh. The little devil knew how to play him. Her cute scowl did it every time. Lizzy was right to call him a sucker. Reecah pulled his strings and everyone knew it.

  He searched the cliffs, hoping he wouldn’t regret his weakness. “Last one to the bottom is a slimy serpent!”

  Reecah s
quealed, on her feet in an instant.

  Gingerly climbing to his feet, Viliyam winced at the stiffness in his back. His trekking days would soon be over.

  Reecah bounded ahead, her little legs barely keeping up with her body as she charged down the hill without a care in the world.

  “Grammy! Grammy!”

  Reecah’s boots clicked across the porch Viliyam had built earlier in the spring; a job Lizzy had been after him to complete for the last several years. There was always something needing fixing around the blasted place.

  Reecah burst into the hut, the thin door banging off the interior wall and slamming shut again. “Guess what Poppa said?”

  Viliyam groaned, holding the door halfway open, unsure whether he wished to enter or not.

  “Gracious, child, what did Poppa tell you?” Viliyam’s grey-haired wife turned her chair away from the old loom she worked at and caught Reecah in her embrace, depositing her on an apron-covered lap.

  Reecah beamed at Lizzy, her smile cleaving her face from ear to ear. “Poppa said I’ll be able to fly one day!”

  The happiness slid from Lizzy’s wrinkles. She locked eyes with Viliyam; her look promising him they would be having words.

  Lizzy gave Reecah a weak smile. “He did, did he?”

  “Yes, Grammy. High as a dragon!”

  Viliyam stepped into the one-roomed hut, unwilling to meet his wife’s brooding glare.

  “We’ve been over this before, my little flower bud. People aren’t able to fly.”

  “That’s not what Poppa says. He says I can, long as I really wanna.”

  “Sometimes Poppa doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

  Reecah gazed into her grandmother’s eyes, her pout not nearly as effective.

  “People aren’t built for flying. We don’t have wings.”

  Reecah’s face twisted in thought. Not liking what her grandmother said, she crossed her arms. “Well, Poppa says I can.”

  Viliyam dared to look across the room. Reecah’s pout never worked on Lizzy but it had him melting again.

  “Poppa was just being silly.” Lizzy glared at Viliyam. “Weren’t you, Poppa?”

  Viliyam felt like a dog with its tail between its legs. He nodded and said softly, “Yes, poppet. Poppa was joking.”

  The hurt look he received broke his heart.

  Reecah jumped from Lizzy’s lap, a loud, “harrumph,” escaping her as she stormed over to her blanket in the back corner. She sat facing the wall, clutching a crude wooden dragon he had carved for her mother when she was around the same age.

  Lizzy indicated with hard eyes for him to step outside. He swallowed and followed his skinny wife onto the porch.

  When the door banged shut, she didn’t waste time. “How could you?”

  Viliyam didn’t bother replying. There was no point when Lizzy got herself worked up. He found it best to let her vent until she worked the frustration out of her system, and then apologize. Even if he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong.

  “We agreed not to fill her head with this dragon nonsense.”

  “I know, but—

  “But nothing! You want Reecah to end up like her mother, father, and uncle?”

  “No, but—”

  “Dammit, Viliyam! She’s all we have left of Marinah.”

  “She’s only six, Liz. It’s a phase she’s going through. She’ll have forgotten about it by tomorrow. By then she’ll be dreaming of sailing the high seas aboard Jonas’ brig.”

  As soon as he mentioned the grizzled sea captain’s name, he regretted it. The anger in Lizzy’s eyes was evident in her squint. “I told you never to mention that name around here.”

  He held his palms up. “Sorry, a poor example.” He stepped off the porch and spun to face her. “Come on. You know I didn’t mean any harm. If I get home before dark tomorrow, I’ll take her back to the hill and explain why she can’t fly.”

  “And then what? Fill her head with more of that fantastical shit? Like you did with Rina and Davi? Look what it did for them!” Her wild green eyes appeared on the verge of tears.

  The sting of her words slapped Viliyam hard. There wasn’t a day went by that his heart didn’t die a little bit more since their children’s horrific death. If Lizzy could only feel the hurt her blame instilled in him.

  “I’m not about to lose her to your fanciful dreams and promises of adventure.” Lizzy glared, heaving heavy breaths. “I’ll be damned if Reecah ends up like her mother.”

  Viliyam flinched as the hut’s door slammed open and banged shut, marking Lizzy’s passage into their darkening home.

  He walked down the path to where it joined the main trail and gazed at the ocean—the waves awash with a gorgeous tinge of orangey-red refracting the setting sun.

  It was a rare day in Fishmonger Bay indeed. It’d be good to get back in the boats.

  Oh, to Fly

  Reecah stared at the ocean swells hundreds of feet below her dangling feet. She pitched a pebble into the wind and watched it fall away, willing it to soar through the air and avoid a watery resting place, but it was soon lost to sight.

  She pulled her worn cloak tighter, fending off the cutting chill. She wished Poppa were here. “There were fish to catch and chores to be done in Fishmonger Bay if they wanted to eat and keep the clothes on their backs”—Grammy’s words echoed in her head. The same thing every day. Work and toil, clean and boil. Poppa never played with her anymore. Ever since that day Grammy yelled at him.

  Grammy’s angry words replayed themselves, “I’ll be damned if Reecah ends up like her mother.”

  Being the only child on the hill was a lonely business but Reecah preferred it that way. Every time they visited Grammy and Poppa’s friends in the village, the kids made fun of her. Not in front of the adults—they’d be whipped for that. No, they waited until the adults sent them out from underfoot. No one understood her dream of flying. Whenever she brought it up, the other kids laughed. The nastier kids pulled her hair and teased her about her patched clothing and grimy skin. They called her reeky Reecah and hopped around holding their noses.

  Some of the boys would go as far as trying to pull her breeches down. No matter how the visits started out, they always ended the same. Reecah receiving the cane from an irate parent after one of their kids ran home with a black eye or bloody nose. Reecah didn’t mean to fight, but when the kids pushed her hard enough, she reacted like a cornered badger. Grammy said she had her mother’s pluck, whatever that meant.

  Lonely and cold on the black jut of rock, she chewed at her lower lip. She hadn’t known her parents. Grammy told her dragons took them—her father one autumn day while off hunting, and her mother and uncle Davit the following year while climbing the mountains in search of dragons.

  Blinking rapidly, a gust of wind blew her hair around. Way out over the ocean she caught sight of a tiny speck flying high above the waves.

  She marvelled at the ease it stayed aloft without exerting any effort. Oh, to fly.

  She smiled. Someday. Despite what Grammy said.

  The speck grew in size—much bigger than a bird. Born on the wind, it became apparent the flying creature was unmistakably a dragon.

  Even at six, she knew that sitting exposed on the outcropping wasn’t a great idea. She laid flat on the edge like Poppa had shown her, unafraid of the fatal drop a hand’s width away. There was nowhere else to hide.

  The dragon flapped its wings occasionally, preferring to glide on the air currents, turning gently one way and then the other. As it neared the shore, Reecah noticed it was actually dirty-white in colour. According to Poppa, that meant it was an older female losing her colour.

  The dragon’s flight took it north of Reecah’s position. Just when she thought she was safe, it craned its horned head in her direction. She squeezed herself against the rock, her cheek mashed on the brink, and held her breath.

  The relentless surf thundered into the base of the cliff, unseen far below. Reecah swallowed, tryi
ng to quell her fear. If the beast spotted her, she decided she would throw herself over the edge.

  The dragon kept its head pointed her way as it glided toward a towering cliff face. At the last moment, it flapped its leathery wings and rose into the heights and out of sight.

  Reecah wasted no time scrambling across the great promontory and down the rock-strewn embankment to a thin strip of sand at its bottom.

  Barely keeping her feet beneath her in her headlong descent, she darted across what remained of the beach. The tide was coming in. If she wasn’t quick, she’d be stranded until well after dark.

  She knew all too well what that would mean. A tongue-wagging from Grammy at the very least. More like a couple of licks with the cook spoon and a lecture, and, if Poppa were home, he’d likely receive the same—without the swat from the cook spoon. Grammy always blamed him whenever she got into trouble.

  By the time Reecah ambled up the far side of the beach onto the steep hill leading home, soaking wet and exhausted—the tide had reached the cliff wall. Swimming the last bit, she had made it in time.

  She stopped and disrobed, wringing out her clothing. More to prevent Grammy from asking why they were wet than to keep the cold wind from nipping at her. Explaining to Grammy what had happened wouldn’t end well. Grammy had forbidden her from climbing the Summoning Stone.

  “Reecah, my little flower bud, you clean up the table and sweep the floor while Poppa and I go for a walk.”

  Reecah cast Poppa a furtive glance. Where were they going? It was dark outside.

  Poppa feigned fear and rolled his eyes.

  Reecah’s snort turned Grammy’s attention on her.

  She lowered her eyes, fighting the laughter threatening to land her in trouble—the tenseness of the moment making it that much more difficult to hold it in.

  Grammy looked from her to Poppa. “Honestly, you two. You’re enough to give me grey hair.”