Dragon Time

By John Doyal

It started as a war between wizards on the planet Hector. Tulles wants change at all costs, and the Council of Wizard wants peace and stability. Add in two teenaged dragons stranded in world that they do not know and a group of orphans displaying signs of magic, and what do you have? The first war between nations in over two hundred years and th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Telepub LLC
• Release date: Nov 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781959379171

John Doyal

John Doyal, Creator and Writer/Author of Book Series & "The Magus Council", has worked for major companies, providing computer expertise and financial analysis. He has been in love with the best of science fiction/fantasy since being introduced to Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny while in undergraduate school.

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Dragon Time

Copyright © 2022 by JOHN DOYAL

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by the copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator. at the address below.

ISBN for Paperback: 978-1-959379-15-7

ISBN for Hardback: 978-1-959379-16-4

ISBN for Ebook: 978-1-959379-17-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921517

Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, places are products of the author’s imagination.

Printing Edition of 2022.

TelePub LLC.

Carson, California

USA

Preface

(Twenty-six Years Prior to this Story)

A wizard spent a week on Wizard’s Isle telling the students studying there about his experiences on a different world; a world with a massive population, with more people in its largest cities than the total population of the known world. Earth was a world with massive bodies of land called continents, but minimal magic. The man had spent fourteen years on this place called Earth, before he was able to muster enough magic to return home.

He talked of great wars: battling ideologies, battling religions, and battling economies. But he also talked about a world where things changed, where technologies were constantly being developed that let everyone do things that even Hector’s wizards would find hard to do. Technologies that let you ride in a wagon that didn’t need to be pulled; that let you fly from city to city; that healed diseases.

And they had glorious schools where anyone smart enough could learn not only how to read and write, but about how the world works.

Why don’t we have these things, a wizard apprentice asked. The man thought for a few minutes and finally said, Part of it is our smaller population, but I think the biggest part is that we use magic to control things. We don’t allow religious squabbles or philosophical squabbles to lead to wars, because wizards step in and calm things down. We don’t need to figure out how to fight each disease, because wizard healers fix it. If a city is too hard on its poor, wizards step in. So, you see, we wizards do a lot of important work, but sometimes it hides the need to progress.

Tulles, one of the students thought, This is something I could change.

(Ten Years Prior to this Story)

It was dusk in the mountains east of the Kingdom. The mountains were tall and craggy with snow covered peaks jumping toward the sky. Suddenly a circle of light broke the gloom. As it solidified, sunny blue sky peeked out through the hole. A red dragon streaked out of the hole, followed by a larger grey dragon, followed by an explosion of fire. As the hole in the sky winked out, the large dragon screeched while sending a ball of flame streaking across the night.

The only observers of this entrance were the two dragons.

At first, not knowing what they would do or how they would live was intimidating even for Zab, the large grey dragon, and Magda, the red dragon. However, after about three hours of flying around the mountains, they had changed from apprehensive to ecstatic. They were free of parents, always looking over their shoulders. Free of rules, too! Over the next three weeks, they explored the mountains, finding paradise. Plenty to eat for those who can fly, great caverns to live in, even one that was heated by a hot spring. But too much playing around without a chaperone can lead to children. It led to three eggs in the warm sand next to the hot springs.

CHAPTER 1

When Jason Learned to Fly

This was the closest to flying that Jason had ever experienced: being flung twenty feet through the air, over the surrounding crowd and then smashing into a wall. His arm had been ripped out of its socket, and while he was able to protect his head, he might have a broken rib, and a badly bruised a hip. But that didn’t matter; it was his part in today’s activities.

Jason had no memories of his parents. For him life consisted of charity and petty theft. Being part of a gang was not an option; it was the only way to survive, other than being rounded up and sold to a farm as little better than slave laborers until they were eighteen.

Neither liked nor disliked by the other members of the gang, Jason was just there, a part of the group, always in the background. Jason, always planning and scheming, but never trying to lead, never trying to get the members of the gang to follow him, never making himself the target. This is how he had lived to the ripe old age of nine. He used subtle questions and posturing to get the group leader to implement his plans, but never took offense when his plans were ignored. That’s life, right?

George, the leader of his gang, put up with Jason because he was smart, quiet and posed no threat. But Jason had one major flaw stopping George from liking or trusting him; Jason was too healthy. Gang members were always getting hit, banged up, or thrashed. Everyone was damaged in one way or the other. Somehow Jason was always healthier than anyone else. George was a natural leader, never quite a bully, but good at manipulating or intimidating the others into doing what he said. But Jason was too smart and too healthy to be trusted. He never argued with George and never tried to challenge him, but George knew that the day would come when someone took over the gang and it would probably be Jason.

George had picked this location carefully. It was on a busy street but one used to go other places… no inns, no big stores, no police. The time was late afternoon. People were on their way home, or to an inn or tavern. They were flowing way too fast for the gang to pick their pockets. What George wanted was a distraction. That day, Jason’s assignment was to be beaten up by some passerby.

Jason remembered how the confrontation started, as if it had been in slow motion. Three-year-old Joey was trying to reach into the man’s pocket. He should have known better. Pickpocketing was only for the older kids. Any of the older kids would have known better than to try picking the pocket in a crowd moving that fast nor of someone built that big.

One second Joey was reaching for the man’s pocket. The next moment the man’s hand was grabbing the boy. Jason ran to them screaming Stop that., He’s just a baby. That’s when Jason learned to fly. The man grabbed Jason by the arm and threw him twenty feet over the heads of some of those crowding around them to see what was happening.

Jason didn’t know if he broke his arm or just dislocated it. Undoubtedly, it would have done major damage when he smashed into the wall. Fortunately for Jason, his arm was being healed as he rebounded.

The worst part was that Jason couldn’t stay down. He could feel the man turning back towards Joey. Pulling himself up from the pavement, Jason said, So now you want to hurt a baby.

By this time everyone for blocks around was staring at this confrontation and no doubt George and the rest of the kids were stealing them blind. What Jason was trying to do was to make it too embarrassing for the man to hurt Joey. If he could throw Jason that far, he could break Joey like a toy. The man dropped Joey and charged toward Jason. He was yelling something as he charged, and the crowd parted to avoid being trampled.

When the man was three feet away from Jason, charging like a rhino, he suddenly stopped in midflight.

Move along folks. This is a wizard matter, said a tall man flanked by two well-dressed teenagers.

What happened next was interesting for two reasons: most of the people disappeared in seconds, but about twenty people remained—rooted to the street with panic showing in their eyes. None of them spoke.

Jason’s first view of Gavin undoubtedly was tainted by Jason being a small nine-year-old, and Gavin pacing through the remaining people dispensing his justice. To Jason he looked like a king. Not because of how he dressed; an uninspiring brown coat and light brown pants. Nor was it his height; tall – say six feet or so – but a few of those around him were taller, and many were bigger. What made him majestic was his air of command.

First, he went up to the man frozen in mid-attack. The man easily outweighed Gavin by a hundred pounds, but Gavin grabbed his right shoulder and spun him around. As Gavin talked, his hands wove invisible bonds around the man You are a bully. From this day forward, when you hurt someone, you will feel the pain, too. With that his hand made as if he were tying a knot and broke the invisible thread. Now, be gone!

The man staggered, evidently released when the magic thread was broken. He straightened as if he might make an issue with Gavin. But when Gavin just stood there, looking him in the eye, he slowly looked away and slunk off.

Gavin then turned to a man dressed like a merchant. What happened to your money?

The merchant blinked, confused, like he was waking from sleep. My money? Then he felt into his coat. It’s gone.

At which point Gavin turned to one of Jason’s gang and held out his hand. The boy handed over the moneybag without comment.

Turning back to the merchant, he asked, What’s the wizard’s price?

The merchant paled. I didn’t ask for a wizard.

What is the wizard’s price?

Grudgingly, the merchant said, Ten percent.

Yes said Gavin as he poured out about a tenth of the purse and handed the merchant what was left. Now go.

One by one, Gavin went through the remaining bystanders returning the stolen items while extracting a fee for anything of much value. Most of the items were of little value so he just returned them to the marks. He ended each by breaking the thread that bound the bystanders and sent them scurrying away.

Finally, he pulled on the remaining threads, pulling Jason’s gang forward. Looking at George, Gavin said, You are an idiot. You were in charge. The child would have broken like a toy, and our hero over there could have been killed with one blow. There would be no fixing that.

Glancing at Jason, he said, I’m keeping the boy and gave George a stack of coins, probably half of what he had extracted from the gang’s prey. I’m not the police, but I suggest that you all leave rapidly. With that he broke the rest of the threads and the boys scattered.

Then he turned to Jason and said, Come on boy, you’re a wizard’s apprentice now. And that is how Jason met a wizard and learned how to fly all in one day.

In later years, when asked Why didn’t you run?

Gavin didn’t know those people. He hadn’t made connections. It was me; my threads that Gavin used to control the people. I felt it, as he was doing each spell… Up until he broke the threads... Only when they were broken did I stop feeling what he was doing to each person. He could have just as easily used my own power to control me. I had to learn how to use my threads and he was the only one offering to teach me, Jason replied.

CHAPTER 2

Jason in Class

Gavin watched his apprentices. Fred was carefully floating a feather. First, he held it stationary, three feet in front of him, then had the feather fly in intricate but controlled patterns. He was getting much better at controlling the little bits of magic he conjured up, but he still needed to get better at gathering the magic to him.

Gan was juggling five pieces of fruit. This was much better than last week. He no longer was using his magic to control the flight of the fruit. Instead, he was mentally catching and throwing the fruit back up in the air. That’s how he went from juggling three pieces to five.

Jason was stirring dust around his desk. The other two periodically looked over at him and dismissed his attempts at moving objects. They still resented the fact that Gavin had found him in the streets of Debin and had chosen him as an apprentice. Fred’s and Gan’s parents were paying the wizard to train their sons, but only after they had proved that they had enough control over magic to make it worth his while training them. Jason still had not earned their friendship. Instead, he just made sure that he didn’t do anything that would make the others jealous. He even let them banish him to the attic for sleeping.

Gavin hadn’t stepped in because he felt that Jason needed to be able to manage his relationships with others, but he wasn’t happy. Rather than learning faster with the help of the others, Jason pretended to learn little, to do next to nothing. When Gavin was Jason’s age, he had lots of friends… almost everyone liked him. Not Jason.

Gavin surreptitiously watched this boy raised in the streets by a gang of bullies. He watched as thousands of dust particles danced in the boy’s mental games.

Fred: nice control. Gan: I like where you’re going with this. Next time are you going to add more objects, or go for heavier items? Jason: I want to talk to you in my office.

Fred and Gannon smirked as they left the room, while Jason sat squirming in his chair. Gavin sat there looking at Jason for a couple minutes, then rose and went to his office. Jason meekly followed.

Jason didn’t know what to expect because he had never been to Gavin’s office. The office was small, approximately 8’ x 10’. There were built-in shelves on all walls and a large wooden desk in the middle. Stacks of papers were strewn on the desk, punctuated with various writing implements. Across from the desk was one chair where Jason was told to sit.

Gavin once again sat staring at Jason. What could he do to change what was going on? Jason sat there and fidgeted.

Gavin said, while getting up and slowly pacing the small space not taken up by furniture, What we were trying to learn here this month is to be able to gather magic, focus it on an object and practice making it move. But another aspect of this training is to enhance your focus to get used to controlling bigger and bigger objects; bigger and bigger flows of magic.

Fred and Gan never knew how to gather magic when they came to study with me. When they worked minor magic, it was more or less an accident. Fred will never be able to focus large streams of magic, but he is gaining a good grasp of how to use the magic he has. Gan has a lot more magic and was demonstrating a reasonable amount of control. You, of course, gathered large flows of magic but used it to play games in the dust. I suspect that you gather magic by reflex and have some ways of using it without thought, subconsciously. I wanted you to get two things out of this exercise: first, to control the movement of physical objects; and second, to get you to move bigger and bigger items in a very controlled fashion. Your moving dust around in a meaningful way does not satisfy those objectives. Since you won’t push your magic when Fred and Gan are around, I’m going to give you some time away from them.

"Every evening for the next two months you are going to take the water buckets down to the stream to get water for the next day. That is a two-mile trip and you’ll have to make a couple of round trips to get enough water. Along that path most of the fencing is piled rock and most of it is in poor repair. Your real job is to move the rocks you find along the trail onto the fences. Start