Dear Dan

Why is it that you believe someone telling you bad about your dad? Is there any reason for that like previous bad experiences? Do you have a bad relationship with/to him? …and why did you not confront him about that what you heard – he could have explained it to you – or do you not speak with each other concerning Talonyka?

Please take care and protect Mela.

Kind regards and wishing you well

mjkj

Why did I believe Jayden Emms? Well mostly because I had no reason not to. He works for my father, is pretty much his second in command, and Dad had told him to persuade me to help them. Emms took this a euphemism for torture into submission if I said no – which I did. I believed Dad had meant that as well, but he said he didn’t and Ebona says it’s the truth.

And while the plan he outlined for me was pretty appalling the reasoning behind it was pretty much the same crap dad’s always spouted about magic and global conspiracies. The stuff that makes Lyd go up like a shaken bottle of pop. I just thought he’d gone from being an eccentric nutcase who’s theories gave David Icke a run for his money, but who was harmless, to being a dangerously insane nutcase with some serious firepower at his command.

And – um – I didn’t confront him because it all seemed feasible and I kind of didn’t want to be tortured again. If I’d realised he hadn’t intended that I probably would have done.

Now I don’t know what to think. The way he avoids talking about his ideas in front of Eb I’m beginning to think he’s been lying through his teeth to us all our lives.

I’m not sure that makes it better, but we definitely need to clear the air between us.

Hope that helps,

Daniel

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Chapter Nine

Part Three

Valeria still felt exhausted when one of the attendants Dariad had assigned her gently shook her awake.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, your majesty,” the young daoine said. “Ignifer has woken up and is asking for you. His majesty says that she’s distraught.”

“Hmm?” Valeria blinked the sleep from her eyes. “Yes, she would be. Give me a few minutes to get ready. Wait in the main room.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Chapter Nine

Part Two

Mela lay in a large bath of spring water in the chambers which the Council had prepared for them. She ducked under the water for a few moments and then surfaced and looked at Daniel. He had removed his boots and was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. It was still dark outside, which probably explained why he seemed in no hurry to sleep.

“What do you think?” he said after a moment.

Ebona raised her head from where she was lying on a bed of bracken and made a thoughtful sound. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Ystelyan or Halia or whoever else might know

I see that dragons have to eat or feed to live and that is ok. But then why do they kill or drain the people they feed on? They could just feed on them so far that they do not get a permanent damage. They would need more people to feed once but they all would live…

Kind regards

mjkj

Ystelyan replies:

I may be the wrong dragon to ask this question to,  as you may have noticed I don’t generally kill my prey, but I’ll try and answer the question.

If one of us kills their prey it’s for one of two reasons. Either they intended to due to active malice or they lost control while they were feeding and there was no one there to stop them. The latter is unfortunately common among youngster like Talira.

You see we’re always hungry. It doesn’t matter how much we feed we’re always ravenous. When you are as old as I am you get used to it and you learn how much you actually need to feed. Born dragons are similarly fortunate. They live with their hunger their entire life so they learn to compensate for it. Converts like Talira have the worst problem. Talira’s still new to it and doesn’t know what she’s doing. Injury and shock can also overwhelm our self-control and cause a feeding frenzy.

A frenzying dragon will feed until there’s nothing left to eat within miles. That’s why I only let Talira feed when I’m there. I can restrain her until she learns some self-control. Though she’d do a lot better if she’d just learn not to wait until something pushes her over the edge.

As to why we tend to feed deeply enough to knock our prey out. To be honest the sheer number of prey we’d need to feed from in order not to would be prohibitative. Based on the fact that draining five average speakers into unconsciousness only provides about the same energy as draining one to to the point of death I dread to think how many a single dragon would need if they were just sipping. Too many to be sustainable I think.

Fortunately most renegades are quite amenable to being knocked out once or twice a year as long as you recompense them adequately. And if you’re careful they bounce back quickly.  The trouble starts when something happens to all your renegades and you have to start raiding.

The Dragon Lord adds:

One of the things which limits the number of dragons I can hold is feeding them all. Halia’s nearly knocked me out a couple of times when I’ve fed her in spite of my controls and she claims I’m not feeding her enough and that’s why she’s prone to collapse. The other’s claim the same, because I’ve ordered them not to drain to unconsciousness, but they don’t  pass out as much as she does. I think one of the reasons I have such a bad reputation is because I have to let them feed, even if the those bastards from the Elapyron Council and their cronies do deserve it for what they did to those kids.

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Chapter Nine

Part One

The smell of some kind of spicy stew tickled Salia’s nose and drew her out of her slumber. Her stomach responded to the scent with an alarmingly loud rumble. She stared at the red quilt beneath her for a moment, and then sat up and looked around for the source. A small table and chair, just the right height for her, sat in the corner by a window. A strange lidded pot sat on it and the smell was coming from it.  It was warm to the touch, and when she lifted the lid she saw a rich, brown stew made with some kind of meat. Her stomach rumbled again as she picked up the spoon and prodded the lumps of meat suspiciously.

“It’s not poisoned, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Salia jumped and looked up. Lyrekka was standing behind her. How had she not sensed her? She wanted to ask, but all that came out was a squeak. Lyrekka obviously understood though.

“My hunger tends to disturb my charges, so I mask it,” she said. “Now be a good girl and eat up and then I’ll show you around.” She patted Salia’s head.

Salia gulped fearfully and prodded the stew again. When she made no actual attempt to start eating she heard Lyrekka sigh.

“It really isn’t poisoned, Salia. Why would we waste all that effort to get you here just to poison you?”

Salia shook her head. “It’s not that,” she managed finally.

Lyrekka gave her a puzzled frown and then shook her head. “Oh, I see! No, it’s not made with Trystilri flesh. It’s just venison.”

“Tryst-what?” Salia asked blankly.

“Oh, sorry. It isn’t Speaker Flesh. It’s from a non-speaker deer. You know, you’re the first one to actually worry about that. I think I’m going to like you.” She took the spoon from Salia’s hand, scooped up some of the stew and held it to her lips. “Now, be a good girl and eat up.”

Something brushed Salia’s mind gently and then the stew was in her mouth and she was chewing on a tender lump of venison. She didn’t want to like it but it really was very good.

“There you are, it’s not so bad is it?” Lyrekka placed the spoon back in her hand and ruffled her hair again.

“That’s not fair,” Salia said between mouthfuls. Try as she might she couldn’t stop eating.

“Fair would be letting you starve yourself?” Lyrekka said. “Gerian-mirian has given me responsibility for your welfare. If I let you starve yourself I’d be failing at my charge, and I think you’d appreciate being force-fed by me even less.”

Salia scowled at her gaoler but finished the stew in silence before finally looking around at her prison properly.

It didn’t really look much like a dungeon at all. In fact, it reminded her of her bedroom at home. Except it was furnished in red goblin silk and glossy dark wood rather than the light colours of home. There was even a collection of toys similar to hers.

A few things gave its true nature away, however. The thick bars on the windows and the fact there was no way to open them, for one. The heavy wooden door had no bolt on the inside and the lock looked like it would only work from the outside.

“Come on.” Lyrekka took Salia’s hand and drew her to her feet. “Let me give you a tour of your new home.” She pushed open one of the doors to reveal a bubbling, scented pool. “This is your bathroom. The water’s always warm and refreshes itself regularly.” She led her to a small alcove. “And this is the toilet.”

Salia peeked down the toilet hole and was disappointed to see that it led into a dark pit rather than outside and there were bars about two foot down it anyway. But then the hole looked too small for her to climb down anyway. Lyrekka gave a soft chuckle.

“Even if you could, you’d just land in a pile of stinking waste in the cellar,” she said. “Not very pleasant. Come on.” She ushered Salia out of the bathroom and opened the door to a huge walk-in wardrobe. It was full of goblin silk clothing in various styles, but all the same deep red colour as the furnishings and Lyrekka’s own gown. “As you can see, we have plenty of clothes for you.” She pulled a tunic and skirt from one of the hangers. “Yours are all torn up. You should change before I show you the rest of the wing.” She handed the clothing to Salia and clapped her hands. A red-eyed goblin whose ears and angular cheekbones suggested that she might be half-haltia appeared. “This is Makina; she’ll be your personal maid. Makina, help Salia get changed.”

Salia considered fighting but what would be the point? She let the goblin woman help her out of her ruined dress and into the clothing Lyrekka had picked for her. They were soft against her skin and fitted perfectly.

Once she was changed, Lyrekka took her hand again and led her out into the corridor.

“You’ll have the run of this wing during the day. At least when you aren’t having lessons.” she said. “Though the doors to the rest of the palace will remain locked unless you’re summoned. The others live in this wing as well, but they’ll both be busy at the moment, so I’ll introduce you later.”

Lessons sounded ominous when a dragon talked about them, Salia decided. Then she registered that Lyrekka kept talking about others.

“What others?” she asked.

“You aren’t the only one important to Gerian-mirian’s plan, you know?” Lyrekka said. “You’re the third Trys… third speaker child he’s placed in my care in the last few months. The other two should finish their lessons soon. Let me show you the garden next.”

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Finally getting around to answering this one two weeks late:

Dear Dan or whoever may know

How do the portals to Thalonyka work? Ah, well make that two questions:

- How do they work “sciencemagically”? (or however you would call that)

- and how do they work in the sense of where can you go to with one: can you only go from Gaia to Thalonyka – and only to the same place or can you go from Gaia to any place in Thalonyka – or can you go from Thalonyka to any place in Gaia – or can you use them also to go from one place in Thalonyka to another? or is it you have to go to Gaia and then go to that other place in Thalonyka? Can you also go from one place in Gaia to another? etc… (I hope that makes sense?)

Well, I especially mean for you and your family (and humans that have access to Thalonyka) – but it would be interesting if others can also use the portals (without the help of humans) – what about Dragons?

Thank you

mjkj

The Dragon Lord replies:

I think the word you’re looking for is technomagical and when it comes to the other world I’m not sure it’s the right word. However that world does have a firm underpinning of consistent laws, but we’re still studying them and – despite the superficial similarities – it works nothing like our Earth.

We do know certain things though:

Firstly, there are permanent or at least semi-permanent portals that exist. These tend to exist at points of liminality like thresholds, the surfaces of pools, or cave entrances. Almost all of these entrances are one way and open inconsistently. Whatever force creates them – I thought it was the Core but now I’m not so sure – can make then at any liminal point. That seems to be how we ended up with one in the attic.

These gates go to one point and one point only. Where you have a cave or a lake with a reputation of being a dragon’s lair or an entrance to faerie it’s often a liminal gate.

Doctor Sarah Tyler interrupts:

And these sorts of liminal gates map consistently. That is not only do they always open to the same place, but if two gates are five miles apart on Earth they’ll be five miles apart in the other world as well.  Of course some liminal gates don’t lead to that world, which along with other suggestive evidence leads us to hypothesise that there are other worlds out there as well. We can’t say for sure because people who slip into then are never seen again, but we do know they have no exit in that place. Since the alternative is they are dropping people into the void we prefer not to think about that possibility.

The Dragon Lord nods and continues:

The second way of opening a gate to the other world is harder but more useful. A creature, be they human, speaker or dragon, of sufficient power can theoretically open a gate between any point on Earth and any point in the other world. Of course there are limitations. The most obvious is that while you can always open a gate to the eqivalent point in the other world as mapped by the liminal gates you can only open it to a different point if you know it well enough.

This is fortunate because it makes the points that dragons tend to break through at easily mappable and thus easily watched.

This means that, yes, you can use either world as a short cut in the other, as long as you know where you are going. That’s the difficult bit.

Oh and you can’t actually gate within a world, but you can certainly teleport if that’s one of your abilities. Though again you really need to know where you are going.

(author’s note: darn, I hope that made sense. It is rather complicated.)

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Chapter Eight

Part Ten

The door was opened by a slim, athletic, red-haired woman in the livery of a guard. She couldn’t be more than three and half foot tall. When she saw them she stepped back to admit them and bowed politely.

“Welcome back, warriors,” she said as she closed the door. She walked back towards her chair on one side of the door. “I-I wanted to apologise for my uncle’s action, and so will he once he is himself again. Thank you for trying to save my father.” She bowed a second time and sat down.

“Korrig was your father?” Lydia asked.

“Yes.” The dwarf woman nodded sadly.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Lydia said.

“Thank you. Uncle wouldn’t let me go to the trial because I didn’t believe you’d done it. The whole story seemed off somehow. But my uncle was utterly convinced they were true. The healers are still trying to unpick the inserted thoughts from his mind. He was more thoroughly worked over than most.”

“Most people recovered as soon as the perpetrators were banished,” Hreid said. “But Hardmar’s mind is a mess. They didn’t just push him or control him, they rewrote whole sections.”

“Which means they had more plans for him,” Lydia mused.

“Ye-” Hreid began then broke off as one of the doors creaked open and Alaryia emerged into the room.

“Welcome back.” She smiled warmly at them. “The Light Warrior is in here, but she’s finally sleeping. Please don’t disturb her.” Her smile turned to a frown as she looked at Lydia. “What have you been doing? You look exhausted.”

“I had to help someone out,” Lydia said. She walked slowly towards the chairs by the fireplace. “I need to sit down.”

“Here, let me help.” Alaryia put an arm around her waist and helped her to the nearest chair. As she sat her down she touched the bracelet Felaria had left Lydia with a fleeting fingertip. “How interesting,” she said so softly that Lydia was sure she was the only one who heard. Then she continued in her more normal voice. “Now what happened?”

Lydia sank back into the chair gratefully and told her about Ignifer.

“Good job,” Alaryia said when she finished. Then she tutted to herself and turned to Hreid. “But really Dariad should have told me about this. Several of my people could have helped.”

“What’s this ?” A golden skinned Haltia woman appeared in the same doorway Alaryia had entered from. Her yellow eyes were rimmed red as if she’d been weeping. She took in Lydia and Andrew and a strained smile appeared on her face. “Ah, you must be Karen’s brother and sister.”
“Your majesty.” Hreid bowed. “They are indeed. This is the Ice Warrior Andrew and the Flame Warrior Lydia.” He turned to them. “This is the Storm Queen Valeria.” He looked back at Valeria and added in a sly tone. “Lydia just saved Ignifer’s life.”

“She did?” Queen Valeria stared at Lydia for a moment before nodding to her. “You have my thanks, flame warrior.”

“You’re welcome.” Lydia looked back Alaryia. “Is Karen really okay?”

“Well, right now she’s very sick and I only just got through pulling the fragments of metal from her wound, but she will be. It was a close thing but they got her here in time.”

“Can we see her?” Andrew asked. He was studiously looking anywhere but at Valeria.

“Of course,” Alaryia said. “But as I said, she’s sleeping. Please don’t disturb her, she needs it to recover.”

“Of course we won’t.” Lydia started to rise but her legs still felt weak. Alaryia helped her to her feet.

“You need to sleep yourself,” Alaryia said. “Eating would help as well.”

“I’ll organise some food for them,” Hreid said.

“Ask my cook to prepare it for her,” Alaryia said. “She’s needs more than just meat.”

“That’s a good idea,” he agreed as he he left the room.

“Come on then.” Alaryia led them into the large bedchamber.

Karen lay in the bed with her eyes closed. She was deathly pale except for her cheeks which were flushed.

A haltia boy with pale skin, long gold hair and clear blue eyes sat by her holding her hand. He looked up when they entered.

“Hello,” he whispered. “You must be Karen’s siblings.”

“Yeah.” Lydia nodded to him as Alaryia helped her into another chair. “You must be Alban.”

“I am.” His eyes returned to Karen’s face for a moment, before he looked over at Valeria. “Are you okay, mother?” Valeria shook her head and he made a sympathetic sound. “I’m worried too , but I’m sure Sal’s alive. That dragon didn’t go to all this trouble in order to kill her.” He looked back that Karen. “I’m afraid it may be rather more serious than that.”

“I know.” She sank into a nearby chair. “That just makes it worse. My poor little moppet. She’ll be so scared.”

Lydia blinked at that. Moppet was such a human word and sounded different from the rest of the statement.

“What in the world is a moppet?” Hreid asked.

Valeria gave him a sad smile. “I have no idea, but it’s what Uncle Indirian’s heart friend used to call me and I like the way it sounds. I think it’s an endearment.”

“It is.” Lydia stopped as Karen murmered something and turned over in her sleep. “We’d better be quiet though. She needs her sleep.”

“Yes, and so do you.” Alaryia hauled Lydia to her feet. “You should have a nap yourself until your food is ready. Karen will be fine and I’ll wake you myself if there’s any change.” She looked over at Valeria. “You too, your majesty. You’ve had a very rough day, but pushing yourself this way won’t help.”

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mjkj asks:

To whoever may know

How does the dragon-poison work? (scientifically/medically – in the sense e.g. it blocks xyz so abc does not work anymore leading to asphyxiation or stopping of the heart etc…)

Thank you

mjkj

Doctor Sarah Tyler replied: To be honest Dragon Venom and the antidotes to it are not terribly well understood, but they don’t seem to work by any physical medium. I’d love to get my hands on some samples to study – our lack of understanding is why we have to rely on goblins to make the antidotes.

Halia adds: This kind of venom is not actually unique to dragons, so calling it dragon venom is a bit of misnomer. Doctor Tyler is correct, however, in her statement that it is not a physical toxin. Our venom is actually a piece of our essence woven into an attack. Once inside the victim it infects and disrupts their lifeforce. This disruption can manifest as a variety of physical symptoms and is eventually fatal without intevention.

This is why knowledge the colour and affinity of the dragon attacker is needed to brew an antidote. It needs to be the opposite of the venom in order to neutralise it. There’s some leeway but the closer the match, the more effective the antidote.

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Chapter Eight

Part Nine

Lydia leapt from Aratt’s back as soon as he landed and  ran over to Hreid. Her stomach lurched when she she saw the huge fire at the other end of the cave. It looked like a funeral pyre and she could see a figure lying at its heart. What if it was Karen?

“Did Karen arrive? Is she okay?” she asked frantically.

“Queen Valeria got her here in time,” he reassured her. “Ambassador Alaryia is tending to her. She’s very sick, but the Ambassador seems confident she’ll survive.”

Lydia sighed in relief and felt the tension drain from her shoulders as Andrew joined her.

“Can we see her?” she asked and then looked over at the fire. “Did somebody die?”

Hreid shook his head. “No, not yet. Hopefully she won’t, but it isn’t looking positive.” He pointed to the figure. “The dragon who nearly killed Karen drained that fire nymph to the point where she can’t recover her own energy.”

“So the fire’s to replenish her lost energy?” Lydia asked.

“Yes, but I think she’s too far gone. She’s been in the fire for a couple of hours and isn’t warming up.” He shuddered violently. “Essence drain is a terrible, slow way to die. Dragons are horrible creatures, but at least most of them will finish off their prey rather than leave them in this state.”

“And you’ve no way to transfuse energy into her?” Lydia asked.

“Tranfuse energy into her?” Hreid looked confused for a moment before shaking his head. “Oh, no. We can’t transfer energy that wa-” He broke off and hit his forehead with the heel of his hand. “But goblins can.” He swore angrily. “We can’t do it, so it just never occured to us to ask. I don’t think they’ve even been told.”

“I see.” Lydia shrugged off her rucksack and handed it to Andrew. “Look after this.” She started towards the fire. Andrew grabbed her elbow and pulled her back.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m going to help, of course,” Lydia replied calmly. “If we wait to talk to the goblins it might be too late.” She pulled her arm loose and stepped forward into the flames before he could protest.

It felt for all the world like stepping into a bath of warm milk. Her shield came up without her thinking about it and deflected the burning logs which tried to fall on her and she clambered up to the nymph. She took the nymph’s icy hand in her own and began to imagine her fire travelling through her hand into the nymph.

She jerked in response and mumbled something unintelligible.

Lydia chose to take that as a good sign. “Come on,” Lydia whispered. “You can do this.” She looked towards Hreid. “What’s her name?”

“I think Queen Valeria said it was Ignifer,” he replied.

“Thanks!” She summoned a globe of silver fire from within her. “Come on, Ignifer.” She pushed the fireball into Ignifer’s chest and saw it spread out under her skin.

Ignifer jerked again, her eyelids fluttered and her hand warmed a little in Lydia’s.

Lydia waited until she was sure the nymph really was starting to warm up and then climbed back down. Only then did she realise just how much energy she’d given to Ignifer. The cave spun a little and she sank to the floor wearily. “That should help, I hope.” In spite of the fire at her back she was shivering and she pulled her cloak around her more firmly.

“Yes, I think it will,” Hreid said. “Look.”

Lydia looked back at the fire. It was swirling around Ignifer as the nymph drew it into herself. “Ah!”

“I think you’ve saved her life,” Hreid said. “I just hope she appreciates it when she wakes up. Are you okay?”

“I will be,” Lydia said. “I just need a moment.”

“Let me help you.” He offered her his hand.

“Thanks!” She took it gratefully and he pulled her to her feet.

“Come on then, I’ll take you to your sister.”

Hreid continued to support Lydia as he led them through the corridors. Which was good, because her legs felt like jelly.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Andrew asked. “You don’t look okay.”

“I’m fine,” Lydia replied. “But she needed a lot of energy to kickstart her recovery system.”

“Yes, she would have,” Hreid said. “You need something to eat and a sleep after that I imagine.” He paused. “One more thing before I forget. “Queen Valeria is there with Prince Alban as well. He knows that it will be hard given her attempts to kill you, but King Dariad asks that you at least try to treat her civilly.”

Lydia nodded but Andrew ground to a halt.

“What!” he exploded. His face flushed and he looked like he wanted to say more, but couldn’t articulate it. Lydia sighed to herself and let go of Hreid long enough to slap her brother sharply across the face. Hreid had to grab her again as even that efford made her dizzy. It wasn’t as bad as the unnatural fatigue she’d felt before she found her bracelet, but it was bad enough.

“Calm down, Drew! Getting worked up won’t help anyone.”

“B-but she hates us for no reason,” he spluttered. “It’s not fair.”

“Oh I suspect she has reasons. Just not reasons that relate to us personally,” Lydia said. “If you explode at her you’ll just reinforce her prejudices.” She turned back to Hreid. “We’ll be polite as long as she is, won’t we, Drew?” When her brother didn’t agree immediately she summoned up the energy to kick his ankle. “Won’t we, Drew?”

“Well, I’ll try,” he allowed finally. “But I really do want to knock some sense into her.”

“I know.” Lydia sagged against the tunnel wall. “Can we hurry up and get there? I want to sit down.”

“Of course!” Hreid led them through a few more corridors to a carved wooden door and knocked on it.

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Chapter Eight

Part Eight

Mela looked up at Rilletta defiantly. “He has a funny way of showing it then. He nearly killed Shadavar and then he stuck a knife to my throat.”

“You’re right.” She turned to Shadavar and bowed. “My apologies. Darya did not mean to hurt you so badly. He was merely trying to stop you, but he misjudges his strength sometimes.” She turned back to Mela and smiled down at her. “He really is worried about you, Melusine. You’re in a great deal of danger, you know.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Daniel snarled at her. Read the rest of this entry »