It did not take long for Jai to be left in utter darkness, curled naked beside a pile of smoking, musty wood. There was no tinder to light another flame. Only the flint and steel, that might smatter sparks upon more damp leaves if Jai only had the energy to get them.

But Jai could hardly feel his body, let alone move it. The brief reprieve from the cold had bought him but a few more minutes, and now the winter night would take him for good.

He felt shame. Shame that he had failed, so utterly, even with the good fortune the gods had chosen to bestow. To get so far, only to die shuddering in the dark. To rot, forgotten, alone in the murk of the woods.

He wished he had waited longer in that chamber. Wished that he had tried to avenge his family. Avenge his people. Avenge humanity for that matter. The war that was coming would set the whole continent aflame.

Jai could not go back. He could not carry on. He could only clutch the egg close to his chest. Feel the heat beneath its leathery exterior. Feel . . . movement.

It was hardly perceptible. A faint reverberation within, as if a tiny fist had tapped upon his chest. Somewhere inside there was a living creature. Another being he had failed.

Would the egg survive, clutched in the arms of his wet, frozen corpse, so deep in the forest? He imagined the small beast emerging someday. No mother to care for it. No food but Jai's rotted remains.

He pitied the unborn creature. It had done nothing to deserve this.

Jai could feel the last weak pulses of his heart and pressed the egg closer. As if the warmth of it might spur his heart on and keep him alive just a few minutes longer.

And somewhere within that egg, he could feel another heart- beat. Almost hear it. Fast and strong. Jai yearned for his own to echo it.

Instead, it slowed further. The darkness deepened.

In his mind's eye, Jai saw his body fade. Flesh, skin, bone and sinew; all melted away. So did the forest and everything else until only two pulsing lights remained.

One was his own heart. A weak, sputtering thing, like the fire just minutes ago. The other flashed so fast and bright it might have blinded him, were he not dreaming.

Jai willed his light closer. Yearned to be near that other. To not die, here, alone.

And then he saw his light move, through sheer strength of will. Jai put his all into it, even as he felt himself convulse and twitch upon the soil. It didn't matter. Nothing else mattered. He had to touch that glorious, pure light.

But his movement was slow. Like the turning of a rudderless ship in a shallow harbour. So slow as to be imperceptible.

Jai's light was fading, until it was hardly there at all. And then, as his light dulled to near nothingness . . . the other twitched towards his.

The two lights met.

A jolt ripped through Jai's body. Pain, like nothing he'd ever felt. Agony in its purest form. As if his very soul was being torn from him . . . answering the call of another.

He felt that other. Liquid fire, burning a hole into his chest. But Jai welcomed the pain. It meant he was alive.

He pulled towards it. Opened himself up to it. He could feel it pooling inside, scorching a path through the darkness. Then coalescing. Forming something, deep within him. A mote of solid, concentrated light.

A kernel. A seed.
It was within his heart. Powering it. Warming it.
Chilled blood moved sluggishly through his veins once more.

He faded back into existence. The wreck of his body, still twitching and spasming, began clawing its way back from the edge of death.

Jai opened his eyes.

The world was brighter now, even in the night, and growing more so with each passing second. He could see with crystal clarity, the murky canopy above suddenly riddled with moon- beams – silver-tinged spars that Jai could almost touch.

He was no longer cold . . . but feverish. Feverish and ener- gised. His very body steamed, flushed red as he'd never seen himself. And the egg. The egg burned hot too.

It twitched.

He let it fall and scrambled back. There was something stir- ring within.

He heard a thud. Then another, and another. The leathery ball's surface distended with each blow until suddenly there was a crack and the shell ruptured.

A pale, glossy thing slid out from the egg and onto the earth, landing there in a pool of liquid.

Jai . . . felt it.

Felt an emotion not of his own – a sudden elation. Joy at the feeling of cold. The feeling came from somewhere close by . . . but within him all at once.

The cat-sized creature lifted a long, slender neck. Peeked at him over the crumpled remains of its egg. Eyes of lapis stared out, boring into him. And a porcelain-scaled snout, snuffling at the air between them.

He felt . . . love. There was no other word for it.

A deep caring, warm in his chest, edged with worry. And without knowing how, Jai perceived this dragon had sensed his fading light. His soul, burning out.

It had saved him. Saved him by lending him its own bright light. Deemed him worthy and shared its soul with him. He was . . . bonded with this thing. Numb with wonder and cold, the realisation hit him like a hot slap. He was soulbound.

This all felt like it was happening to someone else. Soulbound. All he could feel was relief that he was alive.

A snout nudged closer, snuffling towards him along the soil. It stopped between his legs, gazing up at him with large, round eyes. They were turquoise blue, so rich in colour that they almost seemed to glow. A stark contrast to the opaque, milky scales that layered the creature's exterior.

It cocked its head and purred, low and deep. Crawled closer; nuzzled against his thigh. With trembling hand, Jai stroked its flank.

There was a flash of pleasure. He felt it in his chest. Again, that feeling of otherness. He could feel what this creature felt. Its emotions . . . even the touch of another.

This was what they called the meld. That connection that drove some soulbound insane. That invasion of one's mind, and the occupation of another's.

There was a reason some beasts were never bonded with. No man can live with the alien thoughts of an insect within his head. Even the famed mouse-spies of the Huddites hardly lasted a few years before they became gibbering wrecks.

Jai closed his eyes, feeling the beast leap languidly into his lap. It was so light. So small. No larger than a housecat.

The beast trusted him absolutely. And he it. 

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Dragon Rider (The Soulbound Saga #1) is out April 24th 2024 - find it in your local Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or your local bookstore!