Ruby Beyond Compare: Wyvern Chronicles, #3.5

By Nix Whittaker

Charani, a fearless dragon hunter whose fate takes an unexpected turn. Amidst her perilous adventures, she stumbles upon a shocking discovery—a dragon held captive, enslaved against its will.

Charani's courageous heart compels her to break the chains that bind the majestic creature. Upon rescue, a bond forms that transcends the hunter-hunted dynamic. The liberated dragon, now devoted to Charani, weaves a tale of loyalty and gratitude in the skies.

As Charani and her newfound ally soar through the clouds, the novelette unfolds into a symphony of liberation, trust, and the unbreakable bond between a dragon hunter and her rescued companion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nix Whittaker
• Release date: Jan 12, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224661350

Book preview

Ruby Beyond Compare

Wyvern Chronicles

Nix Whittaker

Other books by Nix Whittaker

Wyvern Chronicles

Blazing Blunderbuss

The Mechanicals

The Jade Dragon

Wyvern’s trim and other stories

Wyvern Mysteries

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter One

W

ith one leg hanging down Charani sat perched in the pine tree. It gave her the perfect view of the camp without being spotted herself as the rich foliage obscured her from view. It was also coated with a decent cover of snow. Which made moving through the branches tricky as she didn’t want those in the camp to be aware that she was spying on them. Her father would be disappointed if she gave her position away so easily. He had trained her since she was a little girl how to best use her Dragon Hunter abilities. Abilities that made her sharper and deadlier to humans and dragons alike.

She was unimpressed with them as the camp was rough. They hadn’t bothered with anything but the basics. No one had dug a latrine, and their gear was piled up to one side. There was a small fire with a rude spit over the top. The single rabbit would barely feed one person let alone those in the camp. Four men argued over a chest of gold. One knelt by the chest and fondled the coins one by one as the others decided what they would spend it on first. They were loud enough that Charani was pretty sure women would beat out booze before the end of the argument.

There was one other in the camp, but he was no man. He was bent over the fire, slowly turning the spit. He was emaciated, a collar wrapped around his throat. Charani already knew the collar would have ebony and ivory embedded in it to enslave the dragon in his human shape. He stared at the fire with dead eyes. The effort to cook the meager meal had taken all his energy. Bruises painted his skin like watercolors of a stormy sea. Purples and greys the most dominant of colours but there were also hints of yellow and green. These were not new bruises.

That wasn’t a good sign.

Dragons had exceptional healing abilities. They were practically immortal. The only dragons to have died since arriving on earth 1500 years before was from war and murder. But unfortunately, those abilities were linked with their ability to change into a dragon. For him to not even be able to heal a bruise meant he had been trapped as a slave for a very long time. It could even be decades or centuries.

When Charani had seen the brigands in the village, she had seen their slave’s red eyes. It was what told her that he was a dragon in the first place. Only Roshian dragons had red eyes and they had been hunted to extinction almost six hundred years before. For a Roshian dragon to be here was impossible. For a group of scraggly brigands to have him as a slave was beyond impossible.

One of the men broke off from the others and approached the fire pit, heading towards the pile of their gear. As he walked past the dragon, he shoved him, so the dragon went sprawling into the hot coals. The others roared with laughter as the dragon dragged himself out and flicked burning ash