The Last Dragon Rider (Book 1 of Rider Series)

Chapter 19

I went through the rest of the day in some sort of haze that I could not get myself out of. I had no idea why I felt like this, and I felt that it was because Jonah did not help me when I needed the most. I was numb to the world, and I could tell that those who knew me were worried about my state of mind.

Shilan's presence helped me a little, his comfort being something that I needed as I tried to get a grasp not only on what had happened to me that night with the Shifter but also with my new position as Rider, as well. He didn't say a word, but that didn't matter because I didn't need someone to comfort me while I got a grasp of the world around me.

And, I did by the time I was lying in bed with my siblings beside me, six of us crammed in one room with three sleeping in one bed with me. I laid there awake, their soft breathing doing nothing to keep the thoughts at bay and let me rest as well.

I laid there awake until I finally had enough of the sleeping children and slipped out of bed, quietly with the glistening moon lighting my way while I stepped over the two lying on the floor and made it out of the room.

With the gentle moonlight guiding me, I made it to the kitchen and the table to see some of my mother's work still laying there, waiting for her to finish patching up clothing for both the nobles and other people as well. I picked up her work with a soft sigh and placed it into her sewing basket, deciding that it would be best for me to help her since I was still awake.

The urge to go outside was stronger, stronger than it usually was with the moon as bright and full as it was.

Tribe's Moon, my father, would call this full every year we see it. A moon that connects the whole Hargen Tribe no matter where they were located and for them to find their way "home." He'd stare at it longingly, and I knew that he wanted to listen, to go back to his tribe, and never come back.

And, I felt the same way, especially now that I was older. But like him, I knew that my place was here, and once they were taken care of and didn't need me, then I was going to answer the call and find the tribe that I belonged to.

For now, all I could do was walk outside and be in the moon's soft light and go to the little nest I made on the rooftop of the house. And so, that was where I went, setting the basket by my side and being bathed in the soft light, beckoning me into the woods and away from the world that I knew.

Ignoring the call of the moon, I set to work, picking up my mother's half-finished work and started to stitch it up with such skill and precision that whoever had this blue shirt could not tell the difference between my work or my mother's.

The fingers of a huntress, my father would say jokingly, watching as I nimbly fixed a shirt that he caught into something and ripped a hole into the fabric. Soft enough to patch a shirt but hard enough to string a bow quickly to kill an animal.

I would scold him teasingly and toss him his patched shirt, reminding him that he was the one who had taught me how to hold a bow before I was old enough to hold a needle. I would smile when he laughed, loving how his whole body would shake with each burst of laughter, and his head rolled back.

Oh, how I wished he was there to tease me about the shirt and the bow one more time so that I could hang onto that memory and not the memory of him being killed instantly by the Shifter who had been controlled by someone that wanted me dead. How I wished I could hear his soothing deep voice tell me about life with Hargen Tribe or why he decided to leave the Tribe to be with Mama instead one last time.

But, that was in the past, and the past wasn't something that could be rewritten. Only the future could be changed, and I hoped that I was changing the future for the better for not only my family but my people as well.