The Diamond Isles

By S. Cu'Anam Policar

A strange white whelp; found by The Gateway.
The winds tell her that destruction is coming.
That the horde can no longer remain in their home;
But no one will listen.

Rose has always been different.
Being mocked, abused, and shunned;
That's the story of her life.

The gods of her people whisper a dire warning to her.
An unknown enemy seeks The Diamond Isles.
She knows they must leave, to stay means their death.
She even knows where they must go.
She has seen their "xosha" in dreams and visions.

Will she be able to convince the Oni to leave?
Or will the things the winds spoke of come to pass?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wolf Paw Publications
• Release date: Sep 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310471261

S. Cu'Anam Policar

S.Cu'Anam Policar was born in Brooklyn, NY, but now lives in Missouri. The Mother of three she makes time to write, usually late at night.An avid reader, she not only writes but helps promote other authors with promotionals and reviews of their books.She is Pagan but respects all religions and believes everyone should celebrate their similarities and not care about their differences.When she has the time, she enjoys playing video games, horse back riding, singing, and writing things other than her Legend of Xosha Series.She absolutely loves to make new friends so don't be afraid to come by and say hi on facebook!

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Copyright © 2014 by S. Cu'Anam Policar All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or transmitted by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, information storage and retrieval systems, recording, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Edited by: Bookworm Productions

Format and typesetting by C.L. Foster

Cover Art: Wolf Paw Designs/Jared Rackler Designs

To my grandmother, Betty Morgenstern. My light in the dark, my guardian angel. I love you gram! <3

To Dennis Sharpe for keeping me motivated when I was ready to throw in the towel.

To the staff at Wolf Paw Publications for being amazingly quick with my cover (Jared), my editing (Bridgette), and my formatting (Christy)

To Lois Taylor, Sofia Berthelson, and Scotty Lee for helping me name a few characters.

To you, the fans, for putting up with all my zany thoughts and my erratic publishing >^.^<

THE LAND was vast. A large valley secured on all four sides by two mountain ranges.

The north and east held mountains that thundered their rage. Rivers of molten lava flowed in long ago created ruts. The inhabitants of the valley had used their magick to force the earth over the river of lava, hiding it from sight. It was said that the sweetest smelling flowers grew on that side of the valley, due to the warmth the now underground lava river provided. Other magick was used to create a large lake in the center of the valley, an outlet for the hot lava. This lake was a favored place of the inhabitants of the valley, an almost natural hot spring.

The south and west held mountains covered in the downy white of snow. It fell all the time, cloaking the tops of the range in thick gray clouds. No one went there, their cold-blooded bodies were unable to adapt to the cold for very long, and all who had tried, were never seen again.

Where the mountains merged lay a space of onyx. An empty void that could not be penetrated with even the strongest of magick. This place had no name; it was simply referred to as the gateway. No one knew where the void went, and none were brave enough to find out.

Well, almost none. There was one that thought he was brave enough, though he was never allowed to test his theories...

Roars of horror rang out through the valley on that rainy afternoon. It did not take long for most of the horde to first locate and then rush over to the sounds of the distress.

Among those gathered was a small red dragon. His amber eyes showed confusion, as he peered into the nest everyone seemed to be mumbling about. He craned his neck to see better, but all he saw was a single wiggling egg that had a series of cracks in it and a white tail.

Before he had a chance to get a better look, he was grabbed roughly by the scruff of the neck and pulled away from the nest. Instinct had his body curl into a ball of red scale as his tail curled along his pale red underbelly.

Pyre, you are royalty. Conduct yourself as such. A large black dragon growled as the small red was hoisted up to his eye level.

Pyre scowled and rolled his eyes. It’s just a nest. I don’t see why everyone’s worried for.

He felt himself being lowered, and placed by the yellow foot of the dragon that had pried him away from the nest and the strange white tailed egg.

A blue male roared at the green female that stood near the nest. "What treachery is this?! There is no way this... This freak is my child! Explain yourself Frey!" The large blue roared as he used his club like tail as though it were a whip and swung, letting the mace like end connect harshly with the smaller green female’s face.

Toqu... Do something… The yellow that stood beside Pyre whispered to the black as she wrapped her tail protectively around Pyre and an older blue whelp.

Letta... The large black sighed. He was never one to get in the middle of family disputes and looking at the small white dragon that sat shivering in the nest as her parents tried to kill each other was proving to be a bit much for him.

Letta lifted a paw and poked Toqu’s back with a sharp talon, You are Oni, it’s your job to keep the peace among the horde.

Another sigh escaped him as his mate reminded him of something he already knew.

Enough! Toqu’s roar reverberated off the mountains, bouncing back to all that were there.

The two fighting dragons immediately ceased and bowed their heads to Toqu.

Our apologies Oni. They said in unison.

Toqu looked into the nest. A pair of the brightest violet eyes, he had ever seen gazed back to him. Her scales were the color of the virgin snow that covered the Opal Mountains.

We will deal with this in the morning. The ball of fire is going to bed and so must our whelps if they are to grow big and strong. Toqu announced as he turned and began to walk away from the nest.

Letta! Pyre! Oceanus! Let’s go. He called once he had realized his family was not following him.

The royal family quickly caught up to their leader and headed home.

Pyre could not sleep. No matter how hard he tried, the task alluded him. His hatchling sister, Jade, just refused to shut up so he could sleep. Sometimes he really despised her. He almost wished that his parents had not had her at all.

He rolled over on his small collection of treasure and then noticed that Oceanus was nowhere to be found. He sat up, looking at Oceanus’ treasure as if it would suddenly do something new. A quick glance around, told him that since Jade had finally shut her maw, his mother and father had returned to sleep as well. He took the opportunity, which had obviously been designed just for him, and slipped out of the cave.

Toqu had placed his family in the most secure place he could think of. The plateau their cave sat upon was located high one of the Fire Mountains. Pyre crept on his belly to the plateau’s edge and peered over the ledge before simply letting himself drop off into a free fall. He let his body fall, exalting in the rush of the wind in his ears and the feel of it through his scales. At the last possible second, he spread his wings and glided on an air current.

It did not take him very