Death on Dragon Island
an excerpt

Here is a very short excerpt from the middle of my novel. This is after the second murder has occurred. This time it was a friend of the main character. The victim was supposedly dismembered by a dragon after he provoked it.

Death on Dragon Island: Chapter 5

He still couldn't believe it. Sure, Beziarr had been emotional, but he'd seen how well the dragons reacted to him and he'd never seen him mistreat one. Could he have done it? "What if what they said is true?" Asked Aliph, almost talking to himself as he strove to make sense of it. He heard Errlarn growl and knew he should have kept his thoughts to himself.

"You knew him. He'd never hurt a dragon, even if he was as mad as they said." She spoke the words evenly, but Aliph had heard her speak enough times to recognize the slight growling that resonated in her voice. She was really angry. "There's so many innacuracies in the story but no one cares, just because of his race."

"I'm sure that's not it." Aliph said, "They probably just don't know him as well as we do. And other players have been attacked by dragons in the past, there was never any investigation for them either." Beziarr had told him as much, hadn't he? About the player two years ago that had his arm bitten off by a dragon.

"This is different. And the team's manager was just killed last week. Don't you think it's suspicious? There's got to be a connection."

"Maybe..." His voice wavered. He didn't want to get into any more trouble, his uncle would kill him. "What do you want us to do, though? Maybe we can talk to Foxia. We can have her ask her father to get the whole thing looked into."

Errlarn shook her head, "No. Nothing will get done." She turned to look towards the sillouhette of the colliseum. "I'm going up there to see for myself." Aliph knew, just looking at her, that her mind was made up, and he'd never be able to talk her out of it.

He tried to reason with her anyway, "They won't let you in, though. What do expect to accomplish?"

She was much too fast for him, catching his arm in a vicelike grip. "They will if I bring you with me. We'll go up to the stables. They know you, since your uncle's shop does all the repairs on the saddles and barding. That's where it happened anyway, we can see ..."

"Errlarn! Let me go... I can't go up there, my uncle will kill me if I start any more trouble. He almost sent me back home after Foxia got me in trouble at the gambling house." Aliph pleaded. "What're we going to do anyway? He's dead. Beziarr was my friend as well as yours. He was the first person I met on the island. But, he's gone. We can't change that."

She glared at him, releasing his arm so quickly that he nearly fell over. "He isn't just dead. Someone killed him, and I'm going to find out who it was. I'll make sure they don't get away with it. I'll find a way in without your help."

"Errlarn, wait!" Aliph stood frozen, not sure what to do as she walked off. Her words burned him. Beziarr had been his best friend on the island and he was doing nothing to avenge him. But, there was nothing to be gained by going up there. He'd just get in trouble again and be sent home. His father would put him back to work on the farm, and he'd never make it back here.

He knew she would head straight up to the colliseum and probably try to walk right into the stable. There's no way those guards would let her in, though. She was right, they'd probably believe he was there to collect something that needed repairing; if he went.

He'd spent minutes just standing in the street, trying to decide. What would he say to her when she got back. He doubted she'd ever talk to him again and Foxia would take her side of things. She always did. Unless he went after her. He finally decided. Turning to towards the colliseum he broke into a run. He'd have to catch up to Errlarn before she got to the stables.

Some Notes From the Author:

Because the story is high fantasy and the excerpt is from the the middle of the novel, some things might require explaining:

About the Setting

The story takes place in a fantasy world in a sword and sorcery age, although there is no sorcery yet. The setting is a town on Dragon Island. The town is a port city around the giant coliseum where tournaments are held in a game called Dragon Ball (I'll think of a better name for it later). It's a sport similar to Polo that's played while mounted on dragons. Dragon Island is the only place in the world where the sport is played.

The main character moved to Dragon Island to stay with his uncle, who owns a leather working shop there.

About the Fantasy Races of the World

The indigenous people of Dragon Island are a race of anthropomorphic people descended from the great cats (lions, tigers, etc.) Currently, the race of cat people is called, Felonian. However that is not a good name and will probably be changed once I think of something better. These cat people are generally human in stature. Their feet and hands are more cat-like than ours, they do have fur, and their heads resemble those of cats more than humans. I don't go into very much detail in the story (at least not so far) since I figure such things are better left to the imagination. Felonians tend to have names with lots of R's in them, and sometimes roll their R's when they speak.

Felonians are looked down upon as being more primitive and tend to hold jobs requiring more physical labor rather than intellectual pursuits.

About the Characters

Aliph is the main character. He's a human teenager from a lizard farm who came to Dragon Island to apprentice with his uncle who owns a leather working shop there.

Beziarr is the only felonian dragon rider. The first person to befriend the main character. He is a jovial character.

Cailith is Aliph's uncle who runs the leather working shop.

Errlarn is a felonian girl who becomes friends with the main character. She's smarter than he is, and is the one that is most likely to find the reason behind the deaths on Dragon Island.

Foxia is a very talkative and often annoying young human girl who is a neighbor of the main character. Her father has a job as an administrator for the Dragon Ball league.