Hey guys

Midnight is official back in business.

Yes, it has been a long time since finals and a new year has started, I've lost a lot of readers from my stories and haven't truly felt like writing anymore. There were tons of family problems and then we left the country to travel across the country. It's been months since I've opened this story and I became so motivated to write again. Family problems have been clouding my mind and I've been relapsing in and out of a depression mode. Hopefully this will lift my spirits.

I have rewritten this chapter a bit and extended a few parts, you may not notice the changes but that's alright

Please read and REVIEW

Enjoy!

A wooden bowl flew through the air, aimed at Astrid's head. She quickly ducked out of the way as the bowl crashed into the wall, right were here head was few milliseconds before.

"Get me my food, you filthy brat"

Eret scowled at her with distaste that he always saved for the rats, spiders and maggoty meat. The only time he smiled was when he was laughing at her stupidity, when she wold trip over her own feet, walk into the wall of the storage shed as she desperately tried to escape from him. Why couldn't he smile for her accomplishments, why not?

"Don't take all day either, scoundrel" he spat

"No Master Eret" she slipped out of her master's house as an empty wine jar flew towards the door, barely missing her head as it cracked against the richly red painted wall, shattering into a million pieces as Astrid's life slowly cracked away with nothing to mend her split heart.

Her Masters name was Eret Skullcrusher…He was once a brutal man built with muscles as hard as rock, abs as strong as steel and a thirst to kill. Now with all the pampering and luxury he had turned in a flabby excuse for a tomato…all big and round and pink. He was a man in his mid-thirties, his personality as sour as a lemon and his morals as rotten as a pig. The man showed no mercy when he would beat her senseless into the bleeding night, choke her against the wall that was stained with sins and then through her out into the freezing cold as the harsh winds would bite into her battered body.

Lycanwing mountain was a barren hill in a range of many barren hills that marked the western boundary of the of the Haddock tribe. Throughout winter it was waist deep in snow and blasted by freezing winds. In the summer the air was so hot it was like breathing in flames. The emperor's biggest enemy was named Drago Bludvist, the man was wanted across the whole archipelago, and the bloodthirsty man had an alliance with Master Eret. She was beat and beat until she couldn't scream the day she said to her Master that the fact that her master was working for a villain.

Astrid didn't know anything about her identity, she didn't know how old she was and she didn't even know if 'Astrid' was her real name. She had lived on Lycanwing Mountain ever since her parents had sold her to Eret when she was a small child. She would cry herself to sleep each night, wondering what she had done for her parents to sell her to such a man who used her in such ways, she was surprised Thor hadn't struck him down with his mighty strength.

Astrid was told that the King was cruel and mean but she never believed a word her master said, for she knew that he had a big disliking of the fact that he was a Keeper. The King had built a palace in this faraway place so that the world would know how vast his empire was. Unfortunately, it was so far from anywhere that few people ever saw it. The palace was surrounded by high walls of rammed earth. In the eastern wall was the entrance gate. The King's residence occupied more than three-quarters of the palace grounds. The animal pens, store and servant's houses were all squashed together in the remaining quarter. In all the slave girl's time at Lycanwing, there had never been a visit from the king and the rest of the keepers.

The palace's graceful halls and sitting room, it's gardens and fancy pavilions were always empty. Slaves weren't allowed in the palace. Master Eret said he would give her a beating if she ever went in there. He went in to the palace from time to time, but he always came back angry. He grumbled about the wasted space, the unused bed chambers, the cloth-draped furniture, while he had to sleep in his humble house with one room and a roof that leaked.

Compared to the corner of the ox shed, where Astrid slept on a pile of straw, Master Eret's house was luxurious. There was a rug on the tiled floor and on the wall hung a painting of a dragon on a length of blue silk. The fire burned all through winter and a clever system of pipes carried heat to warm his bed, threads of gold lined against the ceilings as they worded out legends and myths of many past generations. Even the goat had a better place home than Astrid.

It was a bitterly cold day. Snow crunched beneath Astrid's black flats as she hurries towards the animal pens, she hugged her arms together as the thin black gown allowed every breeze to pass through to her exposed body underneath. The sky was the colour of ashes, it looked as if it were to snow again.

It wasn't the goats she was going to feed though. It wasn't the oxen, mooing sadly in their stalls. It wasn't the pugs or even the chickens. In the farthest corner of the farthest mountain in the empire, behind the servant's quarters, at the back of the stables and sheds, there was another animal enclosure. It was a pit in the ground, a dungeon hewn from the raw rock of Lycanwing Mountain. The only entrance to the pit was a hinged grate, not made of wood or copper, like the other animal enclosures, but of thick iron bars.

Astrid wore a jet-black maid gown that was patched under the elbow with grey leather, the gown fitted her nicely but the material was of poor money and she didn't expect the Master to spend much on her. She wore black boots that reached under her dress and up to her knee were her tight legging fitted her snuggly under the covering of her gown. These were the only clothes she had. An icy wind blew across the courtyard as her blonde hair flew across her face in a poorly tied braid. Another harsh wind attacked her as she shivered violently, shielding her eyes as she moved her body closer to the pit's entrance.

She looked into the pit, but could see nothing in the darkness below. She slid a latch across, lifted the gate and went down the stairs cut into the rock. Astrid shivered. Not because of the cold. Not because of the darkness. Not because of the smell of stale air that came up to meet her from the dungeon. There was something else that she couldn't put a name to that lived in the pit that unsettled her. Even though they were big, had sharp teeth and had claws, she was not afraid of them. They were an unnatural sort of beast. Different to farm animals she cared for and, as far as she could see, of no use to anyone. They were dragons.

In this world as she knew it, her Master had told her that there were seven keepers, the Jorgenson Keepers to the Monstrous Nightmares, the Ingerman keepers to the Gronkles, The Thorston twin as keepers of the two headed Zipplebacks, The De'ranged keepers to the Razorwhips and lastly the emperor's generations who are the Haddocks, keepers to the night fury's. But these were only six keepers. Master Eret had told her that the generation of the Hofferson keepers who took care of the Deadly Nadders had ended when the leaders of the Hofferson clan had given up their baby girl the day before they were assassinated by Drago Bludvist.

Astrid always felt her blood boil when he told her this with laughter in his voice. He grumbled and yelled about the fact that he was chosen to be the keeper of the Deadly Nadders, but he rarely cares for them. He would dump all of his duties onto her and forced her to feed the dragons even though he creatures never took a bite, she would end up throwing out the food or mixing it in with the pig's dinner, which ever one was faster she would do.

The pit was dark and smelt of urine and rotting straw. It had been a long time since the pit had been cleaned. She moved out of the square of pale light beneath the grate and into the darkness. She shuffled forward, wishing she could bring a lamp, but Eret had forbidden the use of such waste of the oil. Her eyes grew used to the darkness. The patch of light beneath the grate seemed bright.

She was just about to make the faint outline of two hunched creatures when a loud yell rang out into the air and her heart stopped, she bent down and placed the bowl of chicken stew on the floor, turning around and racing up the stairs as her heart thumped loudly and threatened to burst out of her chest.

"You old wretch!" he yelled again as Astrid burst into Master Eret's house.

Master Eret sat on his soft maroon silk bed with his he belly poking out of his chubby body, his meaty hand was enclosed around a wooden bowl as he threw it dangerously close to her head.

"Get me my dinner you brat!" he yelled as Astrid curtseyed and ran into the freezing cold kitchen and placed simmering water over the stove.

A low chirp rang out from under a huge wooden table as Astrid's brow crossed in thought, she walked forward and bent onto her knees to find a black crow staring up at her with gleaming eyes. She smiled brightly and extended her arm as the bird nestled onto it like a branch.

"It's good to see you, sneaky" she said sitting back on her heels as she looked longingly at her beloved and only friend "I've got Taro and millet, if I can steal a little ginger and soak the lentils, it'll be a true feast" she replied with a gleaming smile as the bird squawked in reply.

She heard thundering footsteps and shot onto her feet, placing Kree softly inside an empty potato sack and hushing him as he squawked slightly. She rushed over to the pot as the door swinged open with a bang, Eret lumped over to the girl with a crude look on his face.

"I heard a bird in here and I found bird droppings near the fire pit!" he shouted as Astrid cringed slightly "I told you to kill the crow!"

"I did Master" she said with a cringed voice, hoping Kree wouldn't stir inside the potato sack.

"You're lying" he demanded as he pointed a plump finger at her face "And if I ever find the creature, I'll roast it alive"

He picked up the Lentil's that were soaking for the girl's own dinner and waddle over to the window, opening the seal and hurling them outside into the chilled atmosphere. The lentils scattered everywhere as the girl's heart dropped a centimetre.

He walked over to her and sniffed her hair "The emperor and the keepers are coming tomorrow night, I want you cleaned and your clothes washed, you will do what I say, when I say it and you will not speak to the king, his son or the keepers while they are hear" he ordered, surprising Astrid as she never ever had the permission to bathe "I don't want an uneducated girl amongst us high ones" he gloated as Astrid smiled wickedly on the inside.

One thing that he didn't know was that Halga had educated her with the women's own knowledge her whole life. Halga was another cleaning servant who acted like a mother to her and cared for her existence. She believed that education was a fascinating experience and that one day Astrid would escape this wretched prison. The old women would tip-toe through the night to the young girl's crude sleeping conditions and took her to the warmth in the stables, lighting an oil lamp she had stolen and taught her through the night, teaching her how to read, write and use her talents to her potential. But her lessons stopped once she grew, she had more duties to her Master and Halga began to grow into the title of an old women. Her back hunching, eye sight growing weak and memory train losing its course.

"Now go on with your work, I need my dinner!" he bellowed as the girl continued to cook the Master's food, too excited about the visit to worry about the lentils that were slowly turning into hard blobs of ice.

The next day the palace was polished and cleaned as Eret ordered each and every one of his servants to clean each corner of the throw pillows to the vast pillars of the dining halls. But Astrid was left to create the whole feast on her own and Master Eret kept on checking the food and making her start over several times. She had cleaned herself and she smelled like soft valley grass than molten layers of dew. She was still dressed in her black clothes which were straight and clean along with her blonde locks which she had tied in a lose pony, although she had a long scar running down her neck and a bloody scratch round the rim of her right eye due to an overdue beating by her master which were going to be clearly noticeable

Master Eret came into the kitchen dressed in a maroon silk robe with a jet-black rim near his feet and running around the collar of the robe. "Quickly stupid child" he growled as Astrid tipped the beef stew into the large bowl.

She picked it up and walked out of the kitchen with her master following in her path. She reached the huge Jade doors and turned her back towards the cool stone, pushing her weight onto it as it opened to reveal a fresh and bright room. Eret stepped inside as Astrid walked into the dining hall, soaking in all the wonderful features of the palace. She placed the steaming bowl with the other dishes and wiped her hands on her dirty, sot coloured apron.

She hurried out of the palace and into the kitchen, stripping off her apron and attaching her black leather belt around her waist, equipped with her dagger and pouch filled with her most loved possessions. Inside the black leather pouch, she had an aqua coloured pendant swaying from a silver chain that she took with hesitation from Helga as a gift, a small amount of gold coins that she gratefully took from Trader Johan who made frequent trips to the mountain, a small stone rock with strange carvings and designs that she loved to stare at and make pictures out of and a black feather of Kree's she always kept with her.

"Wretch, get out here right now!" Astrid bolted out of the kitchen and into the frost-bitten grounds of Lycanwing Mountain, she walked to her Master who pushed her alongside Helga. The frail old women gave her a reassuring smile.

"Once the Keepers and the emperor comes, you two are to show them to their rooms. The keeper's will each be sleeping in the room carved with their dragon. After that I want you two to stand by them every second of every hour they stay here which may be for months" he ordered as the two slaves stared at him "You are not to speak to them, or to look at them and you dare not to deny what they say, am I understood!"

"Yes Master Eret" they said in unison as Eret turned towards the gate as the tapping of feet on cobblestone rang in the area.

"I wonder if they really are old grandparents" Astrid whispered in Halga's ear as the old woman smiled.

Mao and Gustave walked forward to open the bronze gates and what they saw shocked them. They weren't feet scrapping against the cool stones…. but claws.

There you go guys; next chapter will continue on.

Read and Review and see you later

Talented Writers and Loving Reader

-Midnight