Beginning of first chapter, "The Ilot" (rough draft)
Hello everyone, after a bit of cohersion from freinds, i decided to release part of the first chapter of my book, "The Ilot". I would like to mention that it is no were near the finished product so no need to make spelling and grammer correction remarks for me. I have two university grad students to help me do that. So without further ado, i give you..
The ilot
Chapter 1 The Long Train Ride
It looks like it's going to be a long day.
Aurik, thought to himself. He sat silently in his seat, paws pressed together as if in prayer over his nose. He tried to marshal his thoughts for the upcoming meeting with the king but all that came to mind was images of destruction that the recent attacks on the outlying city's had brought. He was glad there was no one around, he had asked his security to clear his train car of everyone else because he was in no mood to be bothered. Of course his son and his head of security were the exceptions.
Aurik was a tall white husky with black markings along his sides. His broad shoulders and generous build gave him an imposing appearance which he used to great success against his political opponents. He had a strong yet care-worn face with low-cut, well-groomed hair. Today, he was wearing his finest suit with his only pair of dragon-scale shoes. He normally would never wear such garish shoes to such an important event, but he did not wear them for style. He wore them to show his contempt for the leader who had called this meeting at such a troubling time. He probably shouldn't have worn them, he thought, but meetings of this nature inevitably made him irritable. Considering he was the prime minister of his country, it was to be expected.
Aurik sat next to his son, whose face was pressed hard against the window. The scenery crawled by slowly as the train was gathering speed. Aurik never let his son leave the capital city of Meridias ever since his mother died so many years ago. He himself had left the city many times on political assignments but cared to much for his son to put him in any danger that was to be expected to come with being the son of the Prime minister.
There was another release of steam and a powerful blast of the horn as the train began to accelerate to its cruising speed. The passenger train that Aurik and his onterage were currently occupying was pulled by a massive Black and Gold steam Locomotive. It was equipped with 6 sets of drive wheels, dual boilers and had a sleek wedge shape. The "Bladetail" as it was named was eccentric design for the time, It was however necessary for the dragon-built locomotive to be overbuilt with 6 drive wheels instead of the usual 2 in order to traversing the mountainous terrain efficiently.
Again a torrent of sound ushered from the horn putting a small grin on a young husky's face. He tried repositioning his head to trying and get a better view of the locomotive as it steamed around a slight corner. He had never been on a train before and was loving every bit of the experience. He himself was a white husky with blue markings. His 12th birthday only a month away, yet it wasn't concerning him at the moment. The current trip was proving to be much more interesting . He glanced back to his father who had now begun to read his daily newspaper.
"How much longer?" asked the young husky, fidgeting with his paws. He knew the question was bound to annoy his father but couldn't resist asking.
His father responded quickly and sternly, never taking his eyes off of his newspaper."About two more hours, son."
Aurik then briefly looked down at his son. " And when we get to the dragon city, you are to stay by my side at all times."
"Oh, Yes sir," responded the young husky, a slight downfall in his voice. It was challenging to contain his excitement. He couldn't wait to see the Sky Kingdom. He had heard so much about, read about its riches and seen artist renditions of its skyline. A city ontop of a mountain he thought to himself. The Idea of attempting to build anything onto of a mountain sounded rather daunting to him but superbly, dragons were the masteres of the Eccentric. He leaned forward, looking past his father at the well-dressed raccoon sitting across from him. It was his friend and head of security Drenthe. He sat upright in a seat by himself looking grumpy. Drenthe caught the young huskys gaze, briefly returned the smile, then returned his suspicious look on the front door to the next car. The husky assumed his mind was still preoccupied with the argument him and his father Aurik had before departing.The husky thought back to it for a moment....
"I don't understand your need to take public transport prime minister, we have a perfectly good government train that is much safer and quicker." argued drench.
" I won't be seen cowering around in an armored train with my tail between my legs, i wont give our enemies that satisfaction. Besides. I don't want to get In a contest with the dragons. You know how they are when it comes to anythings materialistic and showing up in a CRSS government train will give them tons of reasons to compete." said Aurik ending the argument while boarding the public train car that had been cleared previously of occupants by his guard. Drenthe was right but Aurik felt if would be more unpredictable for him to take the public transport and he dint want any distractions at the summit.
The words still echoing through his head, the husky looked down at the large leather wrapped book resting on his lap, caressing his forepaw along the dragon shaped etching and words across the cover.
The words read, "History and Atlas of the Draconian Empire of modern Times." The words encircled the seal that was clearly the royal families. He opened the book his father had given him and turned to the chapter he had marked using a small fold of the corner page. The chapter was entitled, "The Dragon Race" and he began to read.
The Dragon Species, also known as Draconians or more simply, Dragons has existed as far back as recorded history. As all Species on the known planet, they were an evolved form of a feral species. They share many of there characteristics with Wyverns. a Feral Semi intelligent species of Large Flight capable Lizards with an affinity for aggressive and protective behavior and large sharp teeth. Nearly all Species of Wyverns are found in the broubus mountains although some species have adapted to the extreme cold of the north and the dry heat of the deserts in the south.
For as long as history has been recorded, the Dragon race has call the Braubus mountains their home. Early history says that before the Empire was formed, the dragons lived in separated clans, miles apart, hidden deep in the mountains and often waged war against their brethren over precious metals. After a few centuries and many wars, the clans eventually settled and formed a central governing empire and the richest family, as money is often use to determine status in their society, was eventually raised to the status of royal family.
He turned the page and skipped through a few chapter before choosing a random page with a picture of a train printed across the top. This naturaly catching his eye, he began to read again.
Steam powered transportations is a new invention that alows travelers to cross large distances quikly and effecintly. One example of which, the track that led to the dragon city of Atome was laid only but a few years ago with the advent of steam powered locomotives. The project took 16 years, and cost the empire nearly 1,00,000 in gold to complete. most of the expense comes from the vast amount of bridges that are need to span the sheer vertical drops of the Brabus mountains. When the tracks were completed 5 years ago, it was heralded as the 3rd wonder of the world following the great Statue of Sarin in Baratona and the Sky Kingdom its self Atoma. It was christened the Rails to Fail when the project was first purposed by the general newspapers. That of course being a play on its originally suggested name, Rails to Sky. but was later renamed the Skyway Rail Line or SRL for short. On any normal day, there is only one train that runs regular serves on SRL, the monstrously powerful Black Bladetail. An extremely powerful steam locomotive that runs in speeds upwards of 80 mph, the fastest dragon made vehicle ever built in fact. Operated by Skyway Rail lines Transportation Service base out of Atoma, the train makes 4 trips daily and Twice on weekends for only 5 Silvers a passenger.