WindRunner

He turned into the door to Gregory’s office and stopped abruptly. Gregory and Aeden stood at the window looking out on the Lady Tower garden, staring in disbelief at what sat at its heart.

A huge black Dragon, twice as large as Lady Aeden in her Dragon form, sat precisely in the middle of the garden. Tail curled neatly around its feet, enormous head tilted to bring shining black eyes level with the window, it stared calmly into the room.

“Oh...my…gods,” Thomas whispered in shock.

Aeden strode forward and unlatching the window, pushed it open into the frosty evening twilight. She gave a slight bow to the massive figure.

Straightening, she shook her head in bemusement. “My lord, what brings you to Red Dragon’s Keep?”

With a toss of its head, the glittering black eyes and glistening black scales were obscured by a whirlwind that scarcely stirred the branches of the fruit trees that grew in the garden. When the whirlwind died into stillness, the figure of a man clothed in supple black leather, black knee-high riding boots, and a midnight cape seemingly sprinkled with starlight and trimmed with the white fur of mountain dire cats stood in the Dragon’s place.

I sensed the wardings break when the Claiomh Solas’ woke. I have come to test the binding.