The Heart of the Dragon

Hello, all you awesome people of Internetland! I launched an IndieGoGo a few days ago to fund an illustrated Choose Your Own Adventure story starring Sarah Walker, the lead character from a previous CYOA story called The Merchant Prince of Sina and in my Fantasy novel An Uncommon Burglar. 
I thought I'd share the first page of the story to try and promote my SubscribeStar. If this sounds like something you like and would want to read more of (with pictures!) please consider subscribing by clicking the link below. 

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Sarah Walker sauntered down the streets, doing her best to not gawk at her surroundings as she ambled along with the crowd. It seemed like everywhere she looked there was some new fountain or an impressive statue to see... It seemed that every building was made of a peculiar sort of light pink marble, the structures scintillated in the sun when the light struck tiny mineral deposits in the stone. She paused at the foot of a bronze statue depicting a stern faced older man in a toga pointing his index and middle fingers toward the sea in the distance. The young woman cocked her head as she studied the words chiseled into the marble base of the statue, her full lips moving slightly as she puzzled out the large block script. One of the few advantages of growing up among the piers and wharves of Moreruk was that she was at least familiar with a smattering of the myriad tongues of the world...though she could not read very well...

She had changed ship in Sel on the off chance that someone might be looking for her after the incident with Alim Duygu and headed south for the coast of Aronim instead of returning home to Wolestland. The tall redhead shuddered at the memory of...whatever that was...in the merchant's basement, glad that there was an entire ocean between herself and the man's house. It had frightened the entire household so badly when it screamed that they ran for their lives, leaving her alone in the house by the time she climbed the steps out of the basement. Naturally she had helped herself to the wealthy merchant's charts, by far the most valuable thing in the manse, and the best horse in Alim's stables in compensation for the fraud that had brought her across the Tenian Sea...

A few matronly, older women in the silken billowy dresses and well wrought gold bangles that represented the height of Angalian fashion shook their heads and muttered disdainfully under their breaths as Sarah ambled past. The fit young woman wore a snug fitting shirt dyed a bright yellow, its swooping neckline crisscrossed with a rawhide thong, and a pair of grass colored riding breeches. As if the sight of a woman in trousers of all things was not scandalous enough this audacious young Wole wore a pair of long bladed daggers on the sturdy leather belt with its many pouches around her waist.

Sarah, for her part, gave them back haughty sidelong looks as she passed them for the Angalian matrons were attended by a pair of slaves in plain crimson tunics. She had heard of such things of course but seeing it with her own eyes was something else entirely. The young woman shook her head. Slavery had been illegal in Wolestland since pretty much its founding as far as she knew. She had seen a pirate drawn and quartered in Moreruk's public square for selling sailors he took captive to Mantian slavers, at any rate.

Sarah paused, gesturing toward a strange white spire a few blocks away from the city's forum as she bought a skewer of spiced meat from a vendor's cart. "What's that?" she asked the old man as she exchanged a copper obal for the strip of meat on a thin wooden skewer. The young woman arched an eyebrow when the man turned his head and spat on the paver near the wheel of his cart.

"Filthy foreign devils!" the vendor spat, his face turning the color of a pickled beet. "Meaning no offense, mi'lady." he said quickly with an embarrassed expression as he made a small placating gesture then threw a hand toward the tower. "Some snake cult from the Inoan Isles. If you're smart you'd stay well away from 'em. Shifty devils, the lot. Heard tell they feed babies to the serpent they worship."

The young woman's eyes went wide as she nibbled a bit of the meat, her cerulean eyes regarding the strange tower with suspicion when she turned to look at it anew. If a Mantian had not tried to arrange for her to fall into a demon's clutches just a few months ago she might not have giving the old man's story much credence... Sarah nodded and smiled at the old fellow then wandered off moving in a roundabout way toward this strange white tower and its purported cult, the wheels already turning.

She pursed her lips as she pretended to take in the sights while meandering toward the curious tower. Sarah frowned, glancing in the direction of the building a few blocks away... Any cult that can afford that much property has coin to spare. the young woman thought with a rub of her chin as she sauntered around a corner heading toward the tower then frowned, feeling conflicted. It was not in her nature to bother any place that had anything to do with the various gods...however...

The tower was imposing as she drew closer, its milky bulk rising toward the sky in tiers like concentrically smaller stone disks stacked on top of each other. Sarah subtly eyed the bone white structure as she wandered past, a little surprised to see that unlike most of the buildings in the area the tower had a ten foot high wall around it. What was stranger the gate on that wall would not look out of place on a castle. It was made of stout timbers and banded with black iron. I wonder what they've got in there... she thought with a mischievous little smirk as she sauntered around the block looking for a place to watch the place for a little bit.

They young woman ducked into an alley, leaning against the wall as she eyed the gate and the tower beyond. Sarah glanced upward at the sky and guessed that it was now mid afternoon...yet no visitors came and rang the bell. Nobody left. It almost looked like the place was empty from where she stood... With a subtle shrug of her shoulders Sarah glanced out of the alley then stepped out onto the street then down the block and around to the back of the tower's grounds, adopting a casual gait meant to make her blend in with the people going about their business on the street.

Oddly, it did not look like there was a back gate set into the wall at what she judged to be the rear of the building. She did, however, catch a glimpse of a manhole cover in the center of the street as she walked around the back of the building. The young woman frowned slightly as she ambled past the building while keeping an eye on the brickwork and architecture looking for some way to get onto the grounds...

She was about to head off in search of that cart with its delicious meat on sticks as it seemed like it was starting to get dark when the gate creaked open. A feeling of inexplicable dread prickled the back of Sarah's neck as she watched a small formation of what looked like men in clinquant green robes with dark green hoods.The young woman narrowed her eyes as she looked after the men then back at the gate as it swung soundlessly shut. Sarah's eyes darted from the men's backs to their strange white tower and back again. She was curious about what the strange priestly figures might be up to...but should she stay here or follow the strangers?