Tesser: A Dragon Among Us (A Reemergence Novel)
Read Tesser: A Dragon Among Us (A Reemergence Novel) Online
Authors: Chris Philbrook
TESSER
A Dragon Among Us
A Reemergence Novel
Chris Philbrook
Edited by Lauren Henchey
Designed and illustrated by Alan MacRaffen
Tesser: A Dragon Among Us; A Reemergence Novel
Copyright © 2013 Christopher Philbrook
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author. Your support of author’s rights is appreciated.
Published in the United States of America
First Publishing Date June, 2013
All characters in this compilation are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Lauren Henchey: Editor
Cover design and interior layout by Alan MacRaffen
Special Thanks to all of the
members of the Inner Circle:
Carey Anderson
DeLaina Craft
Derek Carrier
Doug James
Ilox
J.C. Fiske
Jamie Rogers
Junior Black
Lindsey Carrier
Matt Chambers
Mike "Haus" Cartwright
Pistol Annie James
Rob "Ontos" Roche
Vincent Carrier
Also by Chris Philbrook:
Elmoryn - The Kinless Trilogy
Book One: Wrath of the Orphans
Coming Soon:
Book Two: The Motive for Massacre
Book Three
Adrian’s Undead Diary
Book One: Dark Recollections
Book Two: Alone No More
Book Three: Midnight
Book Four: The Failed Coward
Book Five: Wrath
Coming Soon:
Book Six: In the Arms of Family
Book Seven: The Trinity
Book Eight: Cassie
TABLE OF CONTENTS
:
Chapter One Abraham "Abe" Fellows
Chapter Three Matilde "Matty" Rindahl
Chapter Eight Sergeant Henry “Spoon” Spooner
Chapter Twelve Matilde "Matty" Rindahl
Chapter Thirteen Abraham “Abe” Fellows
Chapter Fifteen Sergeant Henry “Spoon” Spooner
Chapter Seventeen Matty Rindahl
Chapter Nineteen Sergeant Henry “Spoon” Spooner
Chapter Twenty-One Matty Rindahl
Chapter Twenty-Six Alec Fitzgerald
Chapter Twenty-Seven Sgt. Henry Spooner
Chapter Twenty-Eight Matty Rindahl
Chapter Thirty Alec Fitzgerald
Chapter Forty-One Sergeant Spooner
Chapter Forty-Three Alec Fitzgerald
Chapter Forty-Four The Dragons
Chapter Forty-Eight A Leaf on the Wind
Chapter Fifty-Four The Dragons
Prologue:
The Dream
I am flying.
I have done this before, many times, and it is joyous.
I feel the gusts buffet my body left and right, up and down. Though the wind is reckless, it isn’t violent. I feel the energy of the air lift me higher and higher, through the cool mist of a thick cloud that clings to my face and invigorates me. It is much like the first inhalation of the ocean's air after a long journey to the coast.
Far below me, I see green grass, lush treetops, and grey pebbles poking through the skin of the world. There is a single brown line of disturbed earth winding forward that I know to be a human road. I have flown over it many times before, and I have walked it as well. It is familiar to me, but I cannot quite place where it has come from or where it is leading.
It doesn't matter. I have eyes that see, ears that hear, and a nose that smells. In time, I will discover everything. When I flex my wings and dip below the clouds like a descending sparrow, I can see that miles ahead the road rises on a hillock and ends at a tall wooden gate. Fortified wooden walls spread in both directions. At the center, a majestic castle made of stone and timber sits in stark contrast with the surrounding hovels of mud.
I think it is my castle, but I don't live there. It is mine in the same way that a King owns a dog. Or a Queen owns a King.
My dream is almost over.
I feel it like a blue dawn rising on the edge of a long night. It has been a good dream for the most part, though in life, no matter how much the sun shines, storms always appear now and again. It is natural, unstoppable; it is the way of the world. It is the way of my kind.
I sense that I have been dreaming this dream a very long time. More than a night, or a week, or even a year. Centuries have passed, maybe a millennia since I last lay open eyes on the waking world. The castle I am soaring towards in my dream is certainly gone, buried underneath centuries of revolution and crumbled empires.
These thoughts do not cause me alarm. Nor do I fear what the world will be like when I open my eyes soon.
I am beyond mortal fears.
Those that wear two skins are but a nuisance to me.
My skin breaks the teeth of those that drink blood and stalk the night.
Were it not for the teachings and lineage of my kind, the magi would be ordinary, not the wielders of primordial might that they are.
Goblins, monsters, and fae are my kind and they pay me the respect that is my due.
I am the bringer of death from high above.
I am the giver and shaper of life in so many forms.
I am the bringer of light that illuminates all darkness.
I am the stone that cannot be broken and the blade that cannot dull.
I am the legend your grandfathers were told by their grandfathers.
My footsteps shake the ground like the war march of a hundred legions.
My heart beats as the thunder shakes the sky.
If this body does not suit me, I will change it and become whatever will thrive in the soil of the times in which I awake.
I am Tesser, and I am a Dragon.
And as I arc my wings once more to soar above the clouds, my mind elevates me away from my slumber; my fear finally makes itself known. A question, a single nagging lost memory, occurs to me.
Why did I allow myself to be pacified in sleep for so long?
Long slumbers are not my way.
Acquiescing is not my way.
I think I'll find out why I have slept so long now that this dream, this long, long dream, is over. And those that have seen to my sleep had best have had good reason for my time lost.
Because I am Tesser, and I am Dragon.
Chapter One
Abraham "Abe" Fellows
