The Dream Keeper's Dragon – Rewrite Preview 

Hi guys,

The Dream Keeper's Dragon is undergoing a major rewrite. For now, it will be exclusive to Radish - Fiction, and titled Highfire! I thought I'd share the first chapter with you here. Hope you enjoy it.

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Aurelie had to remind herself that the Sproots put themselves into a lot of danger by letting her family live on their land, during every Sunday dinner. If this did nothing to curb her irritation, she pushed her fingernails into the palm of her hand, and squeezed really hard whenever Debil or his mother found a reason to brag.

Tonight, they had spicy beef stew for dinner. Debil's favorite. Everyone but Mrs. Sproot sat with their faces pointed at their plates, attempting to avoid eye contact at the risk of starting conversation. Uncle Kaiden tried to speak to Mr. Sproot earlier but the giant, glass vase that stood in the middle of the table, filled with bunches of lilac, had them shifting in their seats just to get a quick glance at each other.

Aurelie thanked her lucky stars that Debil was absent this evening. He always looked at her much too intensely, that one. As if she were a prize he had to keep an eye on in case someone stole her while he scooped his stew. By her lineage, she was a prize. Perhaps, even his family's only chance at being granted noble status. That is, if Aurelie were to lay her claim on the Highfire throne.

In Mrs. Sproot's mind the two of them were set to marry, granting Debil a queen for a wife. Neither of these two things were ever going to happen and just thinking about it left a sour taste in Aurelie's mouth.

"Nander is thinking of buying a ship," Mrs. Sproot's voice scratched through the silence. "We've invested quite a lot of gold into the Julopi fish market but their delivery is horrid, isn't it, Nander?" Her shoulders jumped in question, but the action was so forced that it looked as if she had gotten a fright instead.

"Horrid," Mr. Sproot confirmed with much less enthusiasm.

Aurelie hid her smile behind a spoonful of stew and glanced quickly in Aunt Elizabeth's direction. She cut her ash blonde hair just below her ears last week and would no doubt be the center of the Sproots' gossip when she left. It was always funny to see her keep her composure at dinner and even funnier to hear her discuss how hard it was, on their way home.

"Is that so?" Uncle Kaiden asked when neither Aurelie nor her aunt showed any sign of a response. Aurelie had her turn when Mrs. Sproot bragged about how wonderfully Debil was doing at school. Everyone knew Debil was dumb as a donkey and the only thing that changed about this was that his mother now sat squeezed into a new, bright red gown while she lied about it.

"Indeed. How much was it again, Nander?" Mrs. Sproot asked, making sure that everyone remembered they were wealthy enough to purchase a ship. The skin on her neck curved loosely like a curtain, especially when she turned her head to her husband and Aurelie saw it from the side.

"For the ship?" Mr. Sproot dragged his thumb and middle finger along his salt-and-pepper mustache. "Ten thousand altogether. Ship, crew and equipment."

"Steep price," Uncle Kaiden said. He received thirty gold coins a year from Mr. Sproot and though he stated that this was already too much, on more than one occasion, Aurelie strongly disagreed. He should have been earning much more than that for all the work he did; looking after the horses, cleaning the stables, fixing whatever broke in the manor, and tending their land.

Elizabeth's pay was counted into the amount too. She watered the gardens every second day, after sundown, so that no one could recognize her. This was the only task everyone felt comfortable giving her. She was a terrible witch and the worst she could do with water was flood the vast lands the Sproots owned.

The Sproots even deducted funds for a horse they purchased for Aurelie as a gift. The horse, Hoofy, was kept in their stables but Aurelie could visit whenever she liked. Uncle Kaiden spent an entire evening convincing her aunt not to march straight over there and tell them exactly what she thought about the matter, which was nothing good, and would have probably made them homeless.

"Yes, but it will reap reward. I've received two batches of rotten fish now. Julopi is good with returning my gold but that does not help me regain the profit I would have made."

"With a ship and crew, you could fish yourself and cut out Julopi altogether."

Mr. Sproot smiled and shared a knowing glance with Mrs. Sproot who suddenly looked rather uncomfortable. "You see, Jaine! I knew he'd be interested."

Uncle Kaiden sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the table, and then quickly retracted his arms, seemingly remembering what Mrs. Sproot said about nasty table manners. "I couldn't possibly take something like that on, Nander. I've too much work here and know less about fishing and sailing than any man you can possibly think of."

Mr. Sproot waved his statement away. "Nonsense, there's no better man for the job."

Uncle Kaiden's eyes lowered with thought. Mrs. Sproot had yet to look up from her plate since she heard the mention of the business. This was very unlike her. Aurelie wondered whether she disliked the fact that Mr. Sproot wanted to help Uncle Kaiden earn a better wage but that was very unlike her too. She liked to brag about their riches and parade her new clothes in front of Aunt Elizabeth but she had never wished ill upon them.

When they finished dinner, Uncle Kaiden and Mr. Sproot left to have whiskey and cigars in the drawing room while the ladies had tea and pie on the terrace.

Mrs. Sproot did not speak. She hadn't even touched her large piece of chocolate pie yet. When she looked up, Aurelie thought she was going to speak, but she turned her eyes up further past Aurelie's head and watched the cloudy, dark sky. They sat listening to the crickets and the taps of their forks against the porcelain desert plates until the men came out of the drawing room.

That is how every Sunday evening ended for them, although, Mrs. Sproot usually had much more to say.

Mr. Sproot grinned widely, showing his yellow teeth. Letting Aurelie know that he had gotten exactly what he wanted from Uncle Kaiden or, at least, came very close to getting it. An uneasy thought. He looked quite sinister. Debil hadn't been present either, despite them having made his favorite meal. All too suspicious, Aurelie thought.

They said their goodbyes. Both Aurelie and Aunt Elizabeth hurried through the process. Shaking hands and marching out the door before any unnecessary conversation transpired. They wanted to know what happened behind those closed doors.

Mrs. Sproot did not follow them out like she usually did, but waved at the door and disappeared into the hallway.

"I'll see you for dinner in three days, yes?" Mr. Sproot asked.

Uncle Kaiden nodded reluctantly.

"Good man!" He smiled again, showing those atrocious teeth. "Ladies, you will join too, I hope."

"I don't know, Nander," Elizabeth said, politely. "It sounds a lot like a business meeting to me and you know how I dread those." No one enjoyed spending more time at the manor than they absolutely needed to.

"No, my dear girl, you must come," he pleaded. "Jaine will cook and Debil will be there." He winked at Aurelie. "I simply won't take no for an answer."

"Alright then," Elizabeth said. "But I'll tell you right now, you're not getting me into one of those dreadful boats." She smiled flatly, joking so that Uncle Kaiden wouldn't get into trouble for her dismissive behavior. He rarely got into trouble but the Sproots were quite unpredictable with what upset them.

Once, Aurelie forgot to compliment a painting Debil butchered in art class and Mrs. Sproot barely laid eyes on her the whole evening. She later complained to Elizabeth about Aurelie's apparent jealousy, and how unbecoming it was considering the two of them were basically betrothed.

Aurelie hated how careful they had to be around them but she loved their little cabin by the river, on the far side of the Sproots' land and would prefer to live there than on the street or cramped into the Holver's one bedroom cabin, so she made sure she was always on her best behavior and said thank you at least five times in one evening.

They made it down the grey stone steps and heard the door close. It blacked out the light coming from the house and they were mostly left in the darkness of the night.

Uncle Kaiden looked around them for movement and when he thought the area clear, stuck out his hand in front of him. A fire grew inside it and lit their way along the dirt road, back toward their cabin.

Aurelie envied him the casual manner in which he could call upon his fire. She had yet to release a single flame and grew more frustrated with herself every passing day.

"So, what does he want?" Aunt Elizabeth asked.

"He wants me to meet the captain of the ship. That's why he wants me back there in three days."

Aunt Elizabeth frowned, folding her arms around her chest. The air had a chill to it this evening. "Has he lost his mind?" she whispered, looking back at the manor, as if they'd hear her.

"He says the man is a fisherman from Julopi and won't recognize me."

"Are you actually thinking about it? You are, aren't you?" She shook her head. "This is dangerous. You'd have to be out by the harbor. You'd have to travel to the damn harbor. There will be dozens of men on the ship, tradesmen, merchants, guards, nobles. Just about a thousand people who could recognize you. What are the two of you thinking?"

"We've wanted to move out of Highfire for years. He said he'd start paying me a hundred gold per trip, a thousand per year. I'd need to work for a year and then we could go wherever we want and live comfortably and without the fear of being recognized."

"This is silly, Kaiden." She wrinkled her nose. "We can go and meet that damn captain but that's all we're doing. Afterwards, you're politely saying no, and we're forgetting all about it."

It was the amount of gold that stood out to Aurelie. A hundred per trip for a man who had no experience whatsoever? That explained Mrs. Sproot's strange behavior but not Mr. Sproot's sudden generosity. Aurelie did not want to mention any of this to her aunt and uncle because she did not want to imply that Uncle Kaiden's time and effort wasn't worth that amount.

"I wouldn't go at all," she said, because she had to say something. "It doesn't feel right. There was something off about them tonight. She spoke too little and he too much. There's something else going on that we're not seeing."

"Yes, I agree," Aunt Elizabeth said and put a hand on Aurelie's shoulder.

He laughed. "I think you two are reading too much into this. Fine, I'll decline but we have to do it face to face. I owe him that."

They arrived at their cozy wooden cabin about twenty minutes later. Uncle Kaiden had been thoroughly annoyed with the two of them by the time they entered the door. Aurelie and Aunt Elizabeth hated the idea of him leaving so much that they wouldn't stop badgering him about declining even after he told them just about a hundred times that he would. They did this because they both knew how easily swayable he was. His decisions usually depended on who he was in the room with. So Aunt Elizabeth badgered him, and Aurelie joined in quite easily, until she was sure that he would not get their voices out of his head.

"Maybe we shouldn't go at all," said Aurelie to Aunt Elizabeth. Uncle Kaiden was in the kitchen boiling water for tea, out of ear shot. "We can send a note and tell them we've fallen ill or something."

Elizabeth, tucked under a thick white cover, looked up from her book. "We can't do that."

"What if we only send him? With you there, it'll be easier to recognize who the two of you are. I know he's not from Highfire, but that does not mean he hasn't ever heard about us."

She set the book down and inclined her head. "Then he'll come back here with a new job."

Aurelie pursed her lips but nodded, knowing her aunt to be right. Her stomach had been in a knot ever since her uncle and Mr. Sproot left for the drawing room.

"I'll tell you what, he and I will go and tell them you're ill. Then you don't have to see that dreadful son of theirs pining over you the entire evening."

"No, that's alright," Aurelie said as her uncle entered the room with two cups of hot tea. "I'll go."

"Your cup is on the table."

"Thank you."

He kissed her head, and she left the room, that terrible feeling still clutching at her stomach.

*****

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