Page 1

Chapter

One

“Ai-la!” Harden stood in his barn and blinked, utterly stunned. “Mahla, look at what you’ve done!”

There in the stall, just like it was meant to be all along, stood a snow-white-winged baby ysidri, her black-as-night mama standing there defending her from everyone, including him.

“Look at this. Oh, she’s beautiful. You did so well, sweet Mahla.”

Soft, fluffy down feathers covered the foal’s entire body, and she looked a bit like a winged cloud. Harden couldn’t believe it.

Ysidri could have wings, but only incredibly rarely, and this little one was going to be a beautiful addition to their family. What a blessing.

He could barely breathe. He was desperate to get in and see the new baby, but there was no way.

Mama was still very sore and tense, so he focused on feeding her and getting her the freshest water before going and checking on the other bwostfal.

Harden sang as he fed the rest of his herd — the ysidri along with the bocapal and his little herd of larparcas, which he’d gotten from the dragons up the mountain, the Rocky Mountain clutch of dragons.

He’d traded well — a pair of ysidri for six larparcas, four of which were already pregnant when they came down, and now he had a significant herd.

Add that to the wooly dafydd out in the pasture, and he could provide wool for spinning, milk for cheese, and manure for fertilizing gardens.

His life was amazing.

Mostly.

Harden whistled up his ciucui for their breakfast, knowing they were out guarding the dafydd. The huge black beasts came running, one head greeting him with a happy howl while another head fed. The third head, as always, watched. The dragons from the human world had called his ciucui three-headed dogs. Cerberus, they said. Dafydd they had likened to sheep.

The comparisons fascinated him, how some things were so similar, yet so different. He had seen pictures of all the human world animals and while some of them were lovely they looked way more delicate than the bwostfal his world.

He hummed, feeling at home and happy as he only did when he was with his herds. He was not the most social of dragons even though he would go to the pub every so often to eat with his best friends, Cade and Tyr.

That happened less now. Both of them had mates and babies and many other responsibilities. Harden was alone as he always seemed to be.

Still why would he complain? This life was a fine life. He had a good home that didn’t leak and stayed warm in the winter; he had his bwostfal, and he had much to do to keep his hands busy even in the winter.

Goodness, his biggest challenge was keeping the ciucui occupied throughout the winter so that they didn’t eat their entire kennel.

Or the barns.

Or his home.

Or the town. That tended to make the elders a little grumpy.

But they were such wondrous companions. And his friends always watched after his bwostfal if he was traveling to some distant location to get more members for his herds. There were some ysidri in the ice mountains he wanted to find…

Harden sighed. Someday. He’d never gone that far afield, because he was worried he would impose on his clutch too much, or that his animals would miss him.

Besides, he’d seen what happened when dragons went too far. They ended up like Tor, who was his best friend Tyr’s brother. They were excluded from everything, not an official outcast, but… not truly welcomed home.

So he would perhaps send someone else to find the ice ysidri for him…

“Ho the farm!” His friend Cade’s voice boomed through his homestead. Cade was the village guardian, and thus he was a huge dragon with strong everything. Muscles. Voice. Will.

Everything.

“Ah, Cade. Bright blessings. What brings you to me?”