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“Have you told Dan and Drew?” Lydia asked as she followed her mother down the stairs. Sonia looked back at her and smiled.

“They were there when Dad brought the blocks over anyway,” she said. “So we let the two of them go first.”

“Ah,” Lydia said. “So will they explain about your father’s name?” Read the rest of this entry »

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“Well, that was interesting,” Matthias said after Adrian had left. “That young man is actually pleasant when he’s not pretending to be a monster.”

“He was horrible at school,” Hannah said. “I was glad when he left.”

“He’s always been like that at home,” Tara said. “I think he was putting up a bluff in public because he expected people to hate him anyway.” Read the rest of this entry »

Return of the questions!

MJKJ asks:

Ok, I think any of the dragons might be able to answer.

So, how does draconic sound and look like? (…and where can I learn it?)

 

Kadoran replies:

“As I told Andrew-idan our language is unique in being a spoken language which is only comprehensible if you’re a telepath. This is because it is inflected telepathically (mostly anyway – gender and pluralisation are both verbal -a, -an and -ri) and it has a very free word order so unless you’re a telepath you’ll be able to pick up the meaning of words but the grammar will be virtually impossible for you.

As to sound the most notable thing is the l’s are very liquid and r’s are trills, lots of stops and nasals. It’s close relative Lova is a tonal language and draconic retains the tone changes as an aesthetic feature though it’s lost any lexical or grammatical meaning. It would in theory be possible for you to learn Lova but you’d need a dragon or one of the Kithreiri to teach you.”

A/N:  For a little more information on draconic from the author’s perspective see this guest post I did last year. Conlanging is one of my hobbies but Draconic would be a nightmare to conlang in detail but if enough people are interested I would be willing to try and conlang Lova publically.

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“He does have some ideas about that,” Adrian said. “They never managed to find a cure for the Lost Ones.” He glanced at Laxmi, who had accompanied them, in a way that indicated that he knew what she was. “But he did manage to find a way to stop the transformation if it hadn’t completed yet and he’s sure he could have found a cure if he’d been allowed. He’s willing to share the information so you prevent any being created this time.”

“Well that would certainly be a good start,” Matthias agreed. “We’ll need to meet him on neutral territory to discuss it.” Read the rest of this entry »

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“You what?” Carl said before Hannah could respond. “Is anyone actually bloody dead?”

“Yes,” Lyrrekka said in a flat bitter tone that made him flinch back. “My husband for one.”

“Sorry.” He looked down. “That was thoughtless, but you know what I mean.” He looked pointedly not only at her, Kyle and Sonia, but also – to Hannah’s puzzlement – at Martin, who was asleep in Tara’s lap. Tara gave an amused snort in response.

“Ah, you worked that out.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Adrian spent even longer digesting what the blocks said than Collette had. When he finished, his expression was more thoughtful than angry.

“Well that was enlightening,” he said when he put the final block down. “I wonder what scared them so badly.” He took the cup of tea Sonia offered him with a murmer of thanks. “And I see what you mean by having another resonant in the family. I have no idea who that might be, but if these blocked them out then it’s worrying.” He frowned quietly at the blocks. “But to deliberately instigate the purge to cause the creation of dragons? It makes no sense – part of the story is missing.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Hannah felt her whole body stiffen when she saw that Kayleigh and Adrian were indeed walking through the trees towards them. She had to clench her fists tightly enough to hurt to avoid lashing out at her treacherous sister. She didn’t realise that she was holding her breath as well until Kyle laid a soothing hand on her shoulder.

“Breathe, Hannah. Deep breaths and try not to do anything you’ll regret later.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Lydia looked around curiously as they arrived at Brierthorne. The gate Matthias had opened for them emerged into a courtyard in front of a large red brick building at the heart of a wooded valley. Beyond the open green of the sports fields she could make out several other buildings half hidden in the woods. It had a warm, friendly feel and she was tempted to start exploring but an elderly man was waiting on the steps in front of the main entrance for them.

“Dad!” Sonia said and rushed up the steps to him. “It’s so good to see you!” Read the rest of this entry »

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“You’ll need to be careful, though,” Estara said. “Indaturan will betray most people in a heartbeat if he thinks doing so will aid his cause more than harm it. The exceptions are his court and his kin – both of which he’s passionately loyal to.”

“But he is upfront about that when he forms alliances,” Tarian said. “He’s a peculiar person.”

“What about the kin of his court?” Lydia asked.

“The ki–” Estara began then paused eyes wide. “Oh, of course. I didn’t think of that.” She made a thoughtful noise. “Not as much as with his actual court but he’d hesitate to betray someone if he thought it would hurt one of his court.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Estara paced restlessly, shadows coiling around her as she listened to Tara and Lyrrekka explain what they’d discovered from the blocks. When they finished she stopped and laid her forehead against one of the living walls of her palace.

“Why?” she said softly. “What could they have seen?” She shook her head. “I think they picked entirely the wrong person to approach. They should have gone to Keylaria, Andarian or even mother… Anyone but Xantaria. But why would they feel they needed us to exist…? What could they have foreseen? Not just Likadrian returning, I think.” She shook her head. “Al’s going crazy with speculation.” Read the rest of this entry »