The Return of EVIL

By Richard Lee Wilson

All is well in the world until Beth sees shadow forms of the Halffers. She doesn't want to tell anyone in case they think sh'es brain-sick! The mighty wizard Tyr and his beloved Mora hear of Beth's plight and the plight of the Wicker people and they return to this world to put things right. Kroll and Sharma and the dragons Goragard and his beloved Maracand will fight at their side. And the new-birthed draglins! But - - - - will the Wyvern's be with them?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Legend Press
• Release date: Dec 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781785074943

Book preview

Maracand would not take Jehvo’s gift. She would fly within time. She wished to see the colours of Goragard’s valley. She wished to see her draglins glitter in the summer sun, she and her Goragard and the draglins would take the gift later when the time was right. Now her mighty wings strained as she soared high into the sky. She was bursting with joy and roaring her pleasure. Her fire sacs pulsed with power as she spewed spears of searing flame twenty paces long and as many paces wide. She was free now. She was flying free and her heart was bursting with delight. No longer must her soul sleep in the great oaken doors of the Emerald cavern. The dwarves on this special day had gone far beyond the stars to the old world. Now there was no need for her to guard the dwarves. She was going to Goragard and the draglins. They were safe now. They were birthed now. The vile wizard Rizor was dead and the one without a name was chained in the depths of the void for eternity. The goblins and their foul allies were slaughtered and gone for all time. But Rizor, in order to destroy the draglins had before his death tainted the compounds. Compounds vital and solely needed for their birthing.

The draglins would not come from the womb. Wombs are for humankind. Maracand didn’t possess such a thing, but although she felt them growing in her belly they were not inside Maracand. But as with humankind she and Goragard’s love for their offspring was just as intense. Flame dragons were not born in such a manner. Draglins were birthed from fire and wolfram. From quicksilver and saltpetre. From quartz and iron crystals. They were birthed from lava from Pentus and they were gifted with the blue by King Kroll. These entire elements and many, many others were gathered over many, many ages and collected and mixed and blended to the perfect weight and essence by Goragard. Each draglin had to be birthed when the full face of the moon shone pure white and bright and without modesty. Flame dragons are birthed in fire and by alchemy! Their birth is as though from the thinnest of thin air!

The male was born and now the female was born. This task was Goragard’s and his alone. This mighty and fearsome dragon was Maracand’s inseparable consort and because of the evil goblins and their like; fouling this world of once unsurpassed beauty the two flame dragons were separated. Jehvo knew of the two soul mates’ love and adoration for each other. This love was as deep and vibrant as that of a mortal boy or girl, deep and burning and lasting from their first moment of wide-eyed infatuation.

They bore this separation, this unjust imposition with courage and fortitude, and it was Jehvo who, knowing that Rizor had tainted this magical formula with goblin mar put it to rights. Such was the power of the lord of light; such was his respect for these magnificent flame dragons. Now Jehvo’s debt was paid.

Maracand flew ever south. Soon she would be with her beloved Goragard. Within half a turn of the clock she saw their lovely hidden valley with the sheer, rose coloured granite cliffs rising a thousand paces high or more at the southern end of the valley. They were far away but to Maracand it was but a stone’s throw. Goragard saw her! He roared a mighty roar and flew like a lightning bolt to greet her. Their claws interlocked and they roared together. They spun and swirled as though in a wild dance. Each caressed the other as they dropped like stones and climbed high again. It was a tremendously joyous meeting. One more last display of affection and they swooped to earth. ‘You have created a magnificent home for us great Goragard.’ Goragard roared his pleasure.

It was late spring and the grasses were green and luscious. The countless trees were in leaf. They were a rainbow of colours and sizes. The tallest was a hundred paces high and beneath this tree set in the centre of this magical valley was the granite nest of the two Draglins. They were squeaking like dog-puppies. Their tiny wings and long tails were flapping and wagging all over the place. The baby dragons were trying their utmost to fly. Maracand laughed and laughed. ‘Look Goragard the infants try to fly. They are very beautiful and very funny.’ ‘As we once were Maracand! They will not be so for very long, we must make the most and best of it. Come, you take Mara, and I will take Gora. We will show them this world from the sky.’ Maracand withdrew her fearsome claws and gently lifted Mara from the grass. She squealed her delight and tried to squeeze her mother’s mighty foreleg. Maracand smiled, she was assailed by joy, pride and a hundred other strange feelings but she would have to wait before she could return the squeeze to the infant dragon. Goragard did the same with Gora and shared the same emotions. They were superb draglins. Their under bellies and their tiny legs shone like burnished gold yet their newly forming scales along their backs were like their parents, edged in black and tipped with crimson. Each Draglin was placed into the dragons’ impenetrable and yet transparent neck pouch, Mara in Maracand’s, Gora in Goragard’s. The necks of the pouches were closed keeping the infants secure and warm.

They would see marvellous things from this position. The two mighty dragons rose gently from the ground and shone like burnished gold in the sunlight, but instead of flying straight into the high clouds they flew in an upward spiralling climb then circled like two gigantic birds. Their wings barely moved yet they slowly climbed higher and higher. ‘I think we are high enough, my Maracand. The infants’ eyes although formed perfectly are at this time limited. We will show them Silver spear and Pentus. We will show them the five long lakes and the river Neeber and the great ocean is that good with you? ‘It is good with me.’

The dragons spoke in thoughtspeak and in their own tongue. They could speak well the language of humankind, but when together they spoke only in their own ancient tongue. They spoke thus to teach the infants. To let them hear the sounds in their minds and to feel the vibrations within their pouches, and they spoke thus for secrecy; dragons though fearless, are wise and careful creatures!

The two dragons would take these flights for six seasons. On the day of their return to their hidden valley the draglins would leave the neck pouches, and the neck pouches would disappear as swiftly as they had appeared. At this time the young draglins would be well able, and in all ways to fend for themselves, and to fight for themselves. Their mature flame sacs’ would be full and complete and their powerful claws would be full grown! But as yet they were infants and this special time together would be a marvellous time for both parents and infants but as the future surely would unravel its hidden secrets, all four would have to wait for some time yet. First Goragard must form a cavern in the cliff face. It would be as a fortress, secure and unassailable by their enemies.

Godfrey, Molly and their two children Ben and Hanna did not return to Cantalla, there was nothing secure or unassailable there for them to return to. The two urchins Sol and Beth were now under the good and loving care of Godfrey and Molly and like Sol and Beth, they too didn’t want to return there either. The Green Goblin Inn, once Godfrey and Molly’s home and their future, had been put to the torch and destroyed by the worst sort of bullying, cowardly cut-throats known to humankind. A handful of these cut-throats had silently crept away in the dead of night and escaped King Chriard’s noose. There were plenty that didn’t, they were judged and these murderers paid the fair and just price!

Godfrey had a new inn. It was in the middle of Corbon. The inn was smaller than the Green Goblin but one that provided a far better living for both him and his family. There were no cutthroats or bullies. There were no laggards. The good people of Cordon paid there dues promptly and because of the good wholesome food they were glad to do so. Godfrey and Molly’s hours were long and the work was hard but over the next few years if all went well? The inn would be paid for. Then perhaps they could build a few more rooms at the back.

Molly picked the name for the inn; she called it The King’s Arms. This she told Godfrey, wagging a wooden spoon in his face, was the fair and right thing to do because of the good and kind help they’d got from his majesty the King. It wouldn’t have mattered to Godfrey even without the waggling wooden spoon what she chose to call the inn, they had a good living now and if she was happy, he was happy.

Beth wasn’t happy and this unhappiness was mirrored about her face, more so around and beneath her eyes. Her long fair hair looked neglected and bedraggled. There were patches of dark under her eyes and her brother Sol had noticed this and in turn he had fretted. He too was worried this too showed about his face. His laughter once spontaneous was now a toil. He spoke often with her about her worries. After much wheedling she’d told him of her seeing strange people. She didn’t know what to call them. She hadn’t seen them in her nightmares; she’d seen them in the daylight hours. She’d seen them in the town and in the fields nearby. They’d stared at her and they’d frightened her. They appeared and disappeared as the day’s light changed. They were not solid people. She could sometimes see right through these people-things, other times they were almost solid but never really solid.

Some of them had limbs missing, or eyes or ears or both. All this she told to Sol and he fretted and worried even more about his little sister. Had she or had she not recovered fully from her terrifying ordeal at the final battle with the goblins. Only Sol knew of her suffering and agony of pain. Had she forgotten the promise that the High Elf Masrin and his Elven wife Reana had given them? He hadn’t, but he dare not speak on these matters to master Godfrey or mistress Molly, or any other grown up. They might say Beth was brain-sick and take her away to the island where all the brain-sick people were taken to be looked after.

He needn’t have worried because Molly and Godfrey had noticed the changes in her and they had talked for many turns of the clock and late into the night how best to approach Beth. Which would be the best way? Should we wait till we’re all together? Should we wait till she’s alone? Perhaps Sol would find out what was wrong? Or should we just ask her outright to unburden herself. All this and more passed between them. They both knew well that Beth had special powers. They had witnessed these powers and knew well enough that she was not brain-sick.

For the past week they had worried themselves into a state because they didn’t know best how to approach her. They were terrified that she would distance herself from them and turn within herself. But now they had decided, and they would do it this very night during the evening meal. They would be careful. They would be relaxed and jolly and they would include Sol and their own children in the discussion, this they would do. First Godfrey asked Ben to speak with Sol.

Find out from Sol what’s troubling her, urged Godfrey. But be careful Ben speak as a true brother to him and tell him of our worries for her. Go now my son and find Sol. Help him with his chores and accept his help with yours. In this way you will have time for easy-talk. Be relaxed my son, don’t press him and get your hair out of your eyes. I don’t know if you’re crying or laughing. Ben brushed his mop of black hair back, smiled his crinkly smile at his father, and to prove he was smiling his crinkly smile he held his hair back as he went to find Sol.

Molly came out of the kitchen, She was wiping her hands on her apron as she always did be they wet or dry. ‘Where’s Ben gone Godfrey? She asked frowning. ‘He was supposed to be helping me in the kitchen. Hanna’s busy as a bee in there!’ ‘You’ll get more with a smile than a scowl my lovely!’ ‘I wasn’t scowling; I was puzzled that’s all.’ Then I’ll forgive you this time.’ Smiled Godfrey. Molly returned his smile and squeezed his hand. ‘Well are you going to tell me or not? ‘I’m busy preparing for the five of the clock rush.’ ‘I’ve sent him to help Sol.’ Explained Godfrey. ‘So he can talk to him about Beth. I’m hoping he might get an inkling of what’s bothering her so much. I’ve told him to be careful. I’ll come and help you love; I’ve finished with the ale barrels in here and the potatoes are bubbling away nicely.’ ‘Have you salted them?’ ‘I have. Having been reminded three or four times by somebody not far from here.’ Molly laughed and wagged her spoon.

They went into the kitchen and Godfrey saw what a lot there was to do. ‘Right my two lovelies, what can I be doing?’ Molly guided him straight to the huge sink and gave him a clean tea-towel. Saying as she did so, Sorry my love but it’s all to do. She smiled a weary smile. Godfrey kissed her on the cheek and said. ‘If I can reach the plates on top of the piles, all will be done in no time at all.’ Molly and Hanna laughed with him. Godfrey was nearly two paces tall. He could touch the beams if he stood on his toes. He was also a kind and gentle man. He was loving and caring, but if his family was threatened by anyone or anything he was as ferocious as the huge black forest bears, and they fear nothing.

The pile of dishes got smaller and smaller. Godfrey had a small stack of plates in front of him and he was so engrossed in his work he didn’t see or hear Beth come into the kitchen. Beth asked why Ben was asking questions about her. Godfrey jumped and the plates or at least some of them went clattering back into the sink. Damn it to the pit! Bellowed Godfrey as he saw them drop back into the sink. Godfrey! Shouted Molly. ‘Mind your language in front of the children. Goodness me indeed.’ Said Molly shaking her head. ‘Sorry Mol but she made me jump and those were the last of ‘em!’ I’ll do them. Said Beth ‘and I’m sorry I made you jump but Ben has been asking Sol about me and I was bothered by it.’ She looked forlorn. I thought you were at the stables Beth. Said Molly as she ushered her over to the sink. ‘I was but I could hear them talking.’ She looked into the sink as though the dirty water held the secrets of her soul.

‘Sometimes I know what Sol is doing. Not always, but sometimes I can.’ She sighed quietly, and then as though thinking of other things she picked up a plate and rinsed it under the tap. That one’s clean enough now Beth. I don’t want to be filling the cistern every minute. Said Godfrey gently as he watched her rinse and rinse the same plate. He smiled and squeezed her hand as he took it from her and dried it and put it in the big oaken cupboard. ‘I asked Ben to have a word with Sol because we were very worried about you.’ Godfrey turned to Molly