The Candlestick Dragon

By Melanie Ifield

Twelve year old Daniel Smith believes he is an ordinary boy, living in a little town where nothing exciting happens. That is, until he finds Nilofar the talking dragon; meets a wizard; and discovers a world full of swords and sorcery. Welcome to an exciting new fantasy series with action, adventure and magic for all.

THE DRAGON
Finding a candlestick with a small stone dragon wrapped around it changes Daniel’s life forever. The dragon is on the hunt for the stolen Royal Sceptre from another realm called Novarmere. The Princess Rishana of Novarmere needs the Sceptre for her birthday ceremony to Bond her to Land and Throne. The ceremony is merely days away and Nilofar is in a race against time to get it back.

THE KINGDOM
The evil wizard Rullin has his own plans for the Sceptre and there is nothing he won’t do to fulfil them as he follows the Sceptre’s magical trail to Daniel’s hometown. When Daniel and Nilofar beat him to the Sceptre, Rullin threatens Daniel – give him the Sceptre or Daniel’s mother dies.
Travelling through the Gateway to lead the wizard away from his family, and losing Nilofar along the way, Daniel must warn the Queen of Novarmere that she faces the dark and dangerous magic of Rullin, but first he has to find Nilofar by travelling through the Great Forest, where magical creatures harm the unwary. When coming face to face with danger, will he run, or will he stand and fight?
Daniel discovers that doing the right thing is harder, and more perilous, than he had ever imagined.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Melanie Ifield
• Release date: Jul 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311098634

Melanie Ifield

Melanie Ifield writes novels for all ages. After years exploring the written word from a young age, culminating in a degree in journalism, Melanie now writes full time. Melanie loves the idea of loosing yourself in new worlds or new experiences through books and hopes her stories will provoke that love in others.She has been self publishing since 2013 with a fantasy series for everyone over the age of eleven called the ‘Chronicles of Novarmere’ where Daniel and the little dragon Nilofar set out to save a Kingdom; a children’s adventure story where the determination and strength of the eleven year old protagonist saves the lives of mistreated chickens in ‘The Chicken Liberation Army’; and a romantic thriller with action and adventure for adults called ‘The Age of Corruption’.Melanie has taken some time out due to long term chronic illness. However, for now and forever, her passion is writing. Her dream is for her books to find their audiences and to write as often, and as much, as she can while she can. She’ll change tone, voice and genre. She’ll write in novels, in journals, on her blog, in notebooks and on post-it-notes if she has to.Then one day, one very fine day, all her dreams will come true. She hopes yours do too.

Book preview

Chronicles of Novarmere:

Dark Wizard Quartet Book One

THE CANDLESTICK DRAGON

Melanie Ifield

A Melanie Ifield book

First published by Melanie Ifield in 2013

 PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-0-9922839-0-2

Copyright © Melanie Ifield 2013

Cover illustration: Kevin Burgemeestre

Cover art copyright © Melanie Ifield 2013

All rights reserved

www.melanieifield.com

No part of this book may be reproduced in any way, in any form, mechanical, electronic or otherwise, without expressed permission from the author.

All characters are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Author: Ifield, Melanie

Title: The Candlestick Dragon / Melanie Ifield

Series: Ifield, Melanie ‘Chronicles of Novarmere: Dark Wizard’

Target audience: Primary and early high school ages

Acknowledgements

I would like to give ongoing thanks to Thomas, Richard and Brendan for the technical support and computer know-how.

And last, but not least, to my sister, Jane, editor extraordinaire. Her patience and tireless efforts to correct any errors and make this story the best it can be, is greatly appreciated. Any mistakes are my own.

My love and thanks to you all.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank those who have read my books and given me such valuable feedback and encouragement; I would be lost without you.

For Mum, Dad and Jane

For always believing it would come true

The Beginning of all The Trouble

Extraordinary things can happen, even on ordinary days. Daniel Smith, an ordinary twelve year old boy, was woken early on one such day (though, at the time, he had no idea of its significance). It simply wouldn’t have happened - if he hadn’t gone.  He wouldn’t have known any better as he went back to school, was bullied, felt small, defenceless and insignificant. There would have been no paralyzing fear, no running, and no hiding. He’d have just gone on as he always had.

He’d had a choice, of course. There was always a choice. He could have stayed home.

But he didn’t… 

‘It’s recycle centre day. Up you get,’ Darling Smith waltzed into Daniel’s room and flung up the blind. ‘How can you stand living in a cave like this?’ She pulled back the blankets, which threatened to smother him.

Daniel groaned. A quick glance at the clock told him it was only 7am.

‘It’s Saturday, Mum. Can’t I sleep in on a Saturday?’

But by then it was too late. Once awake, there was no chance of going back to sleep. Plus, as he had just pointed out, it was a Saturday. There were now two whole days away from school; two whole days of freedom before he’d have to face all that again.

‘The earlier we are, the better the chance we have of finding the good stuff. I need to get at least two pots for the agapanthus and I thought we could look for another arm for Mr Ed.’ Darling raised her eyebrows, glancing in the direction of Daniel’s much-loved bear.

Then she added those words; the words which could have kept him safe.

‘Don’t you want to come today? If you aren’t up for it, you could stay and watch some TV, if you like,’ she said, doubtfully. Daniel rarely watched TV. He preferred to read.

Mr Ed sat on his pillow, listing slightly to one side, the left side, where he only had a tightly sewn hemline and no arm. Guilt was a great motivator, so Daniel got out of bed and dressed quickly.

Daniel patted Mr Ed’s head.

‘Wish me luck, old bear. If I can find another bear that is remotely your colour, you’ll have an arm by this afternoon.’

The fact that Mr Ed was a dark velvety brown, with patches of white, didn’t help. Daniel felt bad about ripping his arm off when he was two. He’d been on the hunt for a new arm for years. He refused to compromise and attach one that didn’t match Mr Ed exactly.

The recycle centre wasn’t all that far away. This had upset Daniel when they had first moved in.

Everyone knew there was a ‘Right Side’ and a ‘Wrong Side’ of town. It wasn’t a good sign, Daniel had told Darling, living that close to the dump and the recycle centre. But it was all they could afford on her waitress wages, so they made do.

It didn’t take him long to get ready. A quick wash of his face, a dive into his sneakers, shorts and a T-shirt and then Daniel and Darling drove to the centre. Darling had borrowed the car from a work colleague to carry the pots she hoped to find.

‘Are you going to be okay to explore on your own?’ Darling asked.

‘Sure, you go find pots and stuff. I’ll look for bears.’

The last thing Daniel wanted was to be stuck sifting through broken terracotta trying to find a pot that wouldn’t leak.

Darling glanced at her watch. ‘Meet you back here in thirty minutes. Is that going to be enough time, do you think?’

Daniel nodded agreement as he turned away. There were never many bears in a recycle centre, anyway. People usually gave them to charity shops, such as the Salvation Army stores, when they were no longer loved.

He wandered off, poking through the piles of junk. Though he hated to admit it, Daniel loved recycle days. They tried to make a point of going once every month or so. Even now, after they had moved into town only three weeks ago, Darling had found the local recycle centre and promised Daniel a trip.

‘Junk. Junk. Crap. More crap.’ He sifted through the rubbish people had left behind. To his eyes, most of it could have gone straight to the actual dump - bypassing the recycle centre completely.

‘The garbage some people use to own,’ he muttered to himself, holding up a tea set, nicely arranged on a tray. The only trouble was, the whole lot had chips and cracks and the tray itself was missing a handle. He put it back gently.

Daniel looked at his watch. Time had flown. He only had five minutes to get back to the rendezvous point to catch Darling. Sifting through piles of recycling always took longer than he anticipated.

Taking a different path to the front of the centre, Daniel stepped up the pace. He kept a good look out for any bears. The only bear he’d seen so far, with arms the same size as Mr Ed, was all white. Or it had been at one stage in its life.

‘Whoa.’ Daniel pulled up short.

He pushed aside a Princess Doll and some fluffy fairy wings and then lifted out what had caught his eye.

The candlestick was made of stone -gray, dull, lifeless stone. It stood about half a metre high and was quite thick. But it wasn’t the candlestick itself that had made him stop. It wasn’t the lovely clawed foot that formed its base, or the smooth and shallow hole where the candle was meant to be placed.

It was the dragon.

Wrapped around the candlestick, talons extended, one clawed foot reaching out as though pointing the way, was a dragon. A dark green painted dragon with red eyes that seemed to gleam in the sunlight.

The dragon was covered in scales and spikes and layers of thick, ridged skin. It even had plates of ridged folds around its eyes. The head was facing upwards, mouth wide open, roaring silently at the world, revealing menacing spiky fangs. The tail started thick near the body and tapered to a wedge, which was also spiked.

Daniel ran his hand over the scales and spikes.

‘Awesome,’ he said.

Now this was worth getting up early for. Whilst there was, yet again, no arm for Mr Ed, this was even better.

He jerked back his hand. There was a spot of blood on one of his fingers. The spikes were sharp, even though they were made out of stone.

Daniel carried the candlestick back with him. Darling was already waiting, chatting to the man behind the counter. Daniel grinned. Everyone ended up talking to Darling.

‘Hey, Mum, can I get this?’ Daniel held up the candlestick.

Darling glanced at his prize.

‘No bears?’

‘Only one, but it was white. Can I have this instead?’

She sighed. Apart from searching for bear arms, Daniel collected dragons. Luckily, the prices at the recycle depot were a lot more reasonable than antique stores.

‘Sure, if that’s what you want,’ she said.

Just then, another man, who had been looking around quietly to the left of the counter, walked over. He smiled and Daniel’s skin crawled. His smile was fake and tight. It made the skin around his eyes crinkle, but the eyes themselves, stayed flat and hard.

‘Madam, would you mind terribly if I was to have a look at the candlestick before you paid the good man?’ he asked, all oily and nice, but in a way that made Daniel want to cringe.

She looked a bit surprised.

‘Of course, if you wish. Daniel, show the gentleman the dragon.’

He didn’t want to. He wanted to keep the candlestick behind his back, though he couldn’t understand his own reluctance. Perhaps it was the man’s forced smile, which was slowly starting to look like a snarl. However, Darling’s frown decided him. ‘Anything for Darling’. Everyone always said that.

He handed the candlestick over to the man, who studied it intently, with the look of someone who was excited, but trying to keep his cool. 

‘My, I haven’t seen anything like this in a while. I have a collection, you know.’

And yet, somehow, Daniel knew he was lying.

The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his wallet.

‘I’ll pay double. I’ll pay you, young man, and the recycle gentleman. I would very much like to secure this for my collection.’ He put the candlestick on the counter and opened the wallet.

Daniel watched his face, as Darling and the recycle guy stared at each other in surprise. Only Daniel saw the tight little smile of triumph and the way the man’s eyes twitched back to the dragon and appeared to sneer at it.

‘That’s okay,’ Daniel said, reaching over and pulling the candlestick closer. ‘I have lots of other dragons at home, too. This one will be the, ah, centrepiece.’

Darling glanced at him, eyebrows raised. She knew his dragons were little plastic figurines, not large, realistic, stone ones. He shook his head at her. He had to have this dragon. It didn’t matter if it seemed rude to the other man. Daniel didn’t like him and didn’t want the stone dragon to go to him.

Darling sighed. She knew that stubborn look on her son’s face.

‘I’m sorry, but Dan’s got his heart set on it. And I had agreed,’ she showed the man the money in her hand, ready to pay for pots and dragon alike.

‘But really, Madam, I have to insist. He’s just a boy! I will offer you twice as much in exchange.’ The man was no longer smiling. In fact, he had a scowl so dark that Darling took a step back. Daniel picked up the candlestick and hugged it to his chest.

It looked like it was going to get ugly, Daniel thought bitterly. Darling never stood up for anything. The man would easily bully her into giving him the dragon.

Then the recycle man stepped in.

‘I’m sorry, but the lad did want this. I’m going to sell it to his mother and she can think about what she wants to do later. Perhaps you could exchange numbers. Then she could always phone you if the lad changes his mind.’

Fat chance, thought Daniel. He loathed the man on sight.

‘Thank you,’ said Darling in relief, and she took the recycle man’s offer to help load the pots, as well.

The man who had tried to take the dragon didn’t offer his number. He didn’t even take Darling’s. Instead, he leaned in close to Daniel, put his hand on his arm and whispered, ‘You’ll regret not giving me that dragon, you know. You aren’t meant to know him.’

Daniel brushed him off and hastened after Darling. He could still feel where the man had grabbed his arm. It was cold and hot and slimy, all at once. He shuddered. The man had to be crazy. After all, didn’t he mean to say that Daniel wasn’t meant to own the dragon, not know him?

Looking back over his shoulder, Daniel saw the man watching them. He continued watching as they packed the car and he was still glaring at them as they drove away.

Daniel felt clammy and his stomach ached. Then he took the dragon out of the shopping bag and forgot the man entirely.

It took Daniel three trips between the car and the backyard to unload the pots, gnomes and other garden things Darling had eventually decided to buy. Finally, however, he was able to leave and take the dragon candlestick to his room.

‘Sorry, no arm for you today, Mr Ed. But get a load of what I scored!’ Daniel dragged the old bear to the end of the bed, where he sat with the candlestick.

It needed a wash and possibly a wire brush, to scrub off some of the flaking paint. If he could manage it, Daniel thought he’d try to bring some paint home from school in order to re-touch it.

This thought reminded him that he actually had to go back to school eventually, even though it was school camp the following week. He sighed.

Putting newspaper down to protect the rental property’s threadbare carpet, Daniel found some old sandpaper and started to lightly sand the stone. As he worked, he muttered to Mr Ed, keeping his voice low.

‘First, no one likes being the new kid,’ he looked sideways at Mr Ed, but the bear remained quiet. That was the best thing about him - and the worst. He never complained or interrupted, but on the other hand, he never had anything constructive to say either.

‘And if that wasn’t bad enough, Buster Felton and his lot beat me up again last week. I’m lucky Mum hasn’t seen the bruises.’ He was still hiding them from her. Last time he’d been beaten up (in their previous town), Darling had galloped down to the school, yelled at the teacher and actually pointed out the offending parties.

Daniel lived in dread that she might pull the same stunt here. It was bad enough being the New Kid. It would be terrible if it was discovered that his mother was overzealous in her need to see justice done.

‘Let’s be honest here, Mr Ed. I’m small, nerdy and wear glasses,’ said Daniel, as he worked on the candlestick’s base. He pushed his glasses back up his nose. They tended to slide down whenever he was occupied with something. Actually, they tended to slide down for all sort of reasons, with great regularity. It was just one of the problems associated with having to use recycled objects.

Daniel accepted that he did not help himself with the nerd comments made at school. His main passion was reading about historical figures. His favourites were Hannibal, Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great.

He glanced around his room. They couldn’t afford much in the way of new things and furniture, but he made up for it with the odds and ends he’d collected at various recycle centres and thrift stores over the years. Thirteen smaller dragons lined the window sill.

Daniel scrubbed at a particularly hard bit of dirt, stuck to the dragon’s back.

‘Well, you’ll be a great addition to the collection,’ he said to the dragon, ‘though you won’t fit on the sill.’ The base was simply too wide.

‘I wonder who that creepy man was. He certainly didn’t want me to have you.’ He remembered the look in the man’s eyes and gave a shudder. ‘It doesn’t matter now, I guess.’

Daniel sat back and looked at his handiwork. The stonework was clear of debris and the dragon’s scales, spikes and ridges were clear of dirt. The only trouble was - he definitely needed a new paint job.

‘I might even touch up your eyes. They should be fire engine red,’ said Daniel.

He looked at them closely.

They looked back at him closely.

Daniel frowned. Were they really looking at him or was it just a trick of the light? He bent to pick up the candlestick, to move it closer to the window.

The eyes blinked.

‘Whoa!’ gasped Daniel and promptly dropped the candlestick.

The Candlestick Dragon

Daniel sat there and stared across at the candlestick on the floor. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He widened his eyes are far as they could go, to stop himself from blinking. Maybe he was seeing things.

Daniel stared at the red eyes.

The red eyes stared back.

‘Okay, now. This is freaky.’ The overhead light was too dim and  there was not much natural light emanating from the tiny window, so Daniel got up and went to find his torch. He wanted to examine the dragon better.

He climbed across his bed, which was pushed