A Resplendence of Dragons: A Novel of Mirdrakonov, #2

By Darryl Brashier

Mirdrakonov

 

Dragons, magic, mages, evil wizards, adventure, and a new world watched over by an Avatar and the gods above, below, and abroad.

 

Mages and their dragon partners must adapt after centuries of missing magic with its return and with the wizards who want to take it away again.

 

Along the way, they must deal with their growing gifts while helping their nation adjust to this new experience, where magic is present in much of the population in varying degrees.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Darryl Brashier
• Release date: Oct 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215643129

Darryl Brashier

Darryl Brashier has been writing almost his whole life. His grandmother Edith set the stage with her formal speech from her years as a teacher in a one-room school on the Kansas prairie. His mother, Mildred, continued with poems and, horror of horrors, puns .  For most of the time, he has been a writer of first chapters, scenes, ideas, and images, and the non-fictional world of websites and troubleshooting guides. Since getting serious about novel writing, he's created six novels in various stages of drafting. This book is the first to get through the process.

Book preview

Chapter 1: A Whirl of Dragons

602 AA (After Arrival)

The vision jolted Athena from her dreams.

She was flying with the Aeronauts. Five brightly colored dragons and four humans riding them swirled across the sky. The Coastal Range's tallest mountains were a couple thousand feet below and off to the east, with the Eastern Ocean visible beyond the range and the great Central Plain of Newlandia below and to the west.

Athena held onto Cutter with her magic as the dragon held onto Athena with hers, but she couldn't help squeezing the dragon's long neck with her arms and legs. Looking down, she could see the line where Cutter's gray top scales blended into her lilac underbelly and throat. Looking beyond that, she saw the plains of the Central Valley far below.

The dragon's magical force pulled Athena hard into her trapezius muscles, and she moved with the flexing and straining of those enormous wings. She knew that dragons could be as light as a feather when settling on a tree branch, but for this game, they needed weight. That was part of the magic, too.

She felt the warm muscles beneath her tighten as Cutter dodged Pink's tail. The wind brought the smell of the dragons around her, a kind of musky odor mixed with a hint of raw meat. Athena thought, It's not a bad smell. Something like a butcher shop. Cutter's scales felt hard and slick under her hands, and she could feel and hear the creak of the leathery skin of her wing joints when Cutter pulled up into a loop and then a hard turn. The wind would have blown her right off the dragon if it hadn't been for her magic shielding the worst of it. It was glorious!

As they flew, the dragons' magic changed the shape and length of their wings and their weight for speed, soaring, maneuverability, or general flying. Part of the game was using those changes to go from acceleration to maneuvering at just the right moment. While on the way home afterward, they would extend the length to soar, with only the gentlest wing beats as they rode the high winds.

The swirling bright colors reminded Athena of a pond of exotic fish she had seen as a child in Green Valley. The fish went over and around each other when their owner tossed them food, colors flashing and changing, just as the dragons did on a much larger scale.

Rhyla's malachite-green body, more than forty feet from nose to tail, flashed past Roamer's apple green in a dive to fly under Pink's rose and gold coloring. Then she folded her wings to dive even faster toward the gray and lavender of Cutter and Athena herself before shifting aside with a quick flare of her wings to bop Winger's pale blue nose with her tail. Rhyla had no rider and didn't need one to play as hard as her sons and daughters.

The other dragons were smaller than their mother but still an impressive thirty to thirty-five feet. Like Rhyla, a quarter of their length was the strong neck, a quarter the torso, and the rest in the long, skinny tail. The wings were usually about thirty feet across, though that changed throughout the game.

The humans were along for the ride, primarily acting as spotters for their dragons. Their biggest challenge was to hang on when the dragons flew inverted or did a spin to lose one of the others. The magic holding the humans to their partners was strong, but so were the natural forces trying to pull them apart. Since they were up so high, there was no reason to worry. If one of the humans did lose their seat, the dragons would catch them.

Harry's brown hair streamed out behind him as Pink went into a steep climb and then rolled over and dived toward the others. Athena spotted them and told Cutter to pull a tight left turn to get out of Pink's way. Allen wasn't as lucky, and Winger got his nose bopped again just as Jo and Roamer tagged Pink on the nose. Athena was giddy with the thrill – the skill to fly so fast and yet use their fifteen feet of tail to tap a nose gently was a miracle to see!

The vision left, and only then did Athena realize that she had seen her team and companions on dragons, and it had been entirely natural – a fun afternoon. She'd only seen one grown dragon, so seeing five was stunning, though not for the Athena in the vision. She knew the dragons' names and her team's name, the Aeronauts, but what that meant was a mystery.

Athena had had visions almost her entire life and had seen some incredible ones, but the idea that they would soon ride dragons shook her. She hated getting her feet off the ground, but the feeling persisted that she and Cutter were somehow linked or bonded or were going to be. They had been communicating mind to mind in the vision, and she would be thrilled to be up there flying with her dragon partner when it happened.

Athena had recognized Rhyla from a vision they'd all had while in Newhoma after toppling the government and their meeting on the hillside before Rhyla's valley. That was where Rhyla and her brood had come to the four of them, the Aeronauts of her dream, and Daphne, Athena's mother, to tell them that magic was loose in the world. Rhyla hadn't introduced herself either time, but now Athena knew her name.

Chapter 2: A New Direction

Athena didn't get back to sleep. She met Harry at the old picnic table under the giant oak tree towering over the Bailey for breakfast. Having a little time to relax was nice, but they were not good at having no long-term goal. They were at loose ends for the first time in the fourteen years since they joined the army. Or the sixteen years since they started working for Otto. They both had skills that could get them employment, but nothing they'd come up with excited them.

I had the weirdest vision last night. It was full of dragons, and, get this, we, along with Allen and Jo, were riding them. And those dragons were in addition to the one we met.

Any idea when or how that happens? Because right now, I don't see what we're to do next. Riding dragons seems like an exciting possibility to come.

Athena sighed in frustration. We've been street runners for Otto, been to war, worked for the government as spies, exposed corruption throughout Newlandia, and set Queen Deborah on the throne. We are free to do whatever we choose. Given the Queen's generous reward, no money worries limit us, but we have never looked ahead farther than completing each mission. The last one turned out to be a bigger mission than we ever expected, but now we've done that, and I don't know what's next.

Harry frowned. I feel it, too. We have no strings except to one another. I'm a little surprised those strings include Jo and Allen and, to an extent, Lazlo and Daphne. I kind of thought it would be you and me against the world, but whatever we do, I want to include them. No, I need to. Maybe it's the bond formed by all we went through, but I suspect it's more than that. We're linked through the visions we've all shared. Whatever happened on the way to Newhoma has created more than just the life bonds between the couples.

Athena thought he was right. They had first bonded into bonded pairs – Athena and Harry first and then Jo and Allen – while trying to root out the corruption in Newhoma, and, to a lesser extent, the couples had also connected. The four had become a close-knit team during and after that ordeal. They also succeeded in freeing her mother. Daphne was happy to be free and with her daughter again, so it was a relaxing time for her once she overcame her anxiety at being outside. They had made Lazlo's Keep their home. Lazlo was Jo's uncle and a great help getting the team to Newhoma.

It has been two months since we returned, and we've finished coming to terms with how the mission ended. Let's go see if the others have any thoughts.

They got up from the table and went to find Jo and Allen. Those two had wandered off somewhere in the Keep itself. The link felt like the wanderers were somewhere above them.

Harry still marveled that Lazlo had created this castle in the middle of nowhere when everyone else lived in regular cities and towns. The story was as improbable as riding a dragon.

When they finally met up with the others, it was high up a tower in the Keep, and they all took the time to look out over the countryside. It was an impressive view, with green plains, a forest farther to the east, and far back, the Coastal Range and its towering peaks. They could just see Rhyla's valley, the Valley of the Dragons, notched into the front range.

Almost two months had passed since they stood on the ridge to meet the dragon babies, and Rhyla had revealed herself. They had come on a winter day to meet the babies, but they couldn't see them very well because the hatchlings were all black and blended into one another. Only the four hatchlings that had stopped before the humans were visible as individuals, but they still had no details to mark them against the black coats. Rhyla's great green body stood out in contrast.

During those two months, they continued honing their fighting skills. Harry and Athena were already proficient with weapons from their time in the army and later as spies. However, they still needed practice to maintain their skills, and Harry needed to learn how to fight with two good legs again.

Jo had trained with her uncle's fighters before meeting the other three, but there were always new styles to learn and share with the others. Allen had come a long way since he had joined them. No longer just a brawler, he was becoming proficient with a sword, knife, and longbow, and Harry, Athena, and Jo were teaching him hand-to-hand combat. Also, Jo had taught Allen how to crack a safe, though she was still better. Harry and Athena questioned how much training went on during some of Allen's clinches with Jo. They couldn't say much since they, too, occasionally lost track of the purpose of the activity when in close contact and in private.

Athena's psychic gifts had improved in the past few months, and she trained those just as diligently. Harry's knee was completely healed from having an arrow shot through it, a miracle with every step he took, a combination of Doc Lazenby's skill, his small healing gift, and Athena's magic.

Athena worked with them on their vision interpretation and mental communication. Harry and Allen worked on their horse-riding skills, with Jo and Athena joining as often as possible. Harry needed to practice riding with two good legs, and Allen needed to get past being a new rider.

After enjoying the view from the tower, Athena and Harry told the others what they'd been discussing about continuing as a team. As it turned out, neither Jo nor Allen was interested in resuming their previous lives, so they were happy to stay as a foursome, though they didn't have a good idea about what to do next either.

Before they met Rhyla and her hatchlings, they had all taken a trip to sell off Harry's smithy in the hamlet of Windy Oaks and Athena's house in Avini. Daphne Elektra, Athena's mother, had gone along. After fifteen years locked in the basement of Elector Byrd's house in Newhoma, she needed to get out and see the world. Even more importantly, she needed to learn what those fifteen years had done to shape her daughter and to learn how to be a mother again.

Allen had already trained with the others as they made their way to Newhoma to confront Elder Byrd and his cronies. They had continued his training after they were on the trip, starting when they were still on the coast, working their way back up to Gail McAodha's house in the village of Old Home.

RETURNING TO NEWHOMA from Avini in the winter just past, they enjoyed the leisurely ride past the old mine north of Avini, where Athena had located the confession that had, with the accompanying ledger, sent a lot of people to jail and nearly brought down Newlandia's government. They followed the road past the mine through grassy fields, climbing into the foothills and back down to sea level, with the snow-covered mountains standing tall on their left and the ocean's rich blue sparkling off to the right. It was still warm in the afternoons along the coast before the mountains cut off the sunshine.

At Old Home, they took a day to relax with their friends before the next leg of the journey, crossing the mountains in winter. The four travelers took the day to help Gail and Robert McAodha, and the domesticity was a pleasant change for them. Gail still danced at every opportunity and greeted them as family. Robert was involved in cleaning up and repairing the farm's equipment before he had to start the spring planting. Mary was as precocious as always, though not as little as she had been. The day was quiet and comfortable for all of them, and the break gave the horses a chance to rest before the following day's long ride.

The road climbing to the Mountain Inn was mostly snow, packed down from traffic with ruts from the freight wagons and passenger coaches coming through the pass. They would have a hard push to get to the inn by nightfall, but nobody wanted to camp in the snow. They left Old Home very early to have time to give the horses a break before tackling the snow.

The group stopped at the bottom of the mountain road to get into warmer clothes. Forests and snow covered the hills and crags on either side, and the chill made them wrap up to keep warm. The air was sharp, dry, and smelled like the world was made new.

The horses snorted and stomped through the powder, crunching the frozen snow beneath with their hooves. They acted happy to be in the snow and climbing. They'd not be so pleased if the road got slick, but enough snow had fallen to keep the footing reliable.

After a day in the snow, they were all ready to relax. Once at the Inn, they cared for the horses, settling them in a warm barn, and then they went into the inn to get rooms. It turned out that the inn's hot spring was available just up the mountain, and they took an hour to steam in the sulfur-laden waters before going to sleep in their three rooms.

The following morning, they left the main road northward down the long valley toward Newhoma. Instead, they turned west toward Lazlo's castle, the Keep. They rode along a narrow side trail that Jo had shown them months ago, but the footing remained good and, in many places, was snow-free, protected by the mountains, and blown clear by the winds. As they reached the Valley of the Dragons, they had to wade through deep snow, and rather than take a break as they had on their previous trip, they pressed on to get down to the plain.

SPRING HAD COME TO the Central Valley.

They returned to the Valley of the Dragons, where Rhyla watched over her brood. The dragonettes, or hatchlings, were big enough to be recognizable as dragons. They all had the long snout of their mother, with wings just beginning to show, and their proportions had changed so that they all had long necks and tails now. When they wrestled with each other, they showed their sharp teeth, snarling and snapping. Sometimes, it didn't look like they were playing.

However, they were still difficult for humans to recognize as individuals since they were all still black and would be until the Molt. Four dragonettes seemed to have latched on to the four humans and followed them whenever they were near the brood.

When they had passed through the first time, they had been awed by the bones jutting out of the valley wall, the forty-foot skeleton that had given the valley its name. They were so intent on watching the brood that it took them some time to notice that the great wall where the skeleton had been was now smooth rock.

Harry gasped. By all the gods above and below! Where did the skeleton go?

The great green dragon chuckled. I'm right here.

You were the skeleton? How?

I told you that magic is loose in the world, and I am part of that magic. When the magic failed, I was here, and the rock called to me.

The humans turned as a group to face the guardian of the clan. Harry said, We greet you, great one, and thank you for the privilege of seeing you and the brood again.

Athena was a bit nervous talking to the big dragon. If it's not impolite, I would like to ask something. Well, two things.

Ask, mage. You cannot know what is sensitive without asking.

The first is that I believe your name, at least in our language, is Rhyla. Is this correct?

The other humans looked at her quizzically.

It is. And I believe you are Athena, daughter of Daphne and mate to Harry, the man standing next to you. And the mated couple Jo and Allen make up the four. The fifth is your mother, Daphne Elektra. I have foreseen your group being partners with my children.

As have I. The second question is harder to ask. It looks like there are far fewer hatchlings than there were two months ago. Is this correct? And if so, may we know what has happened to the others?

Rhyla said, You are correct, and it is somewhat sensitive to us, but I will tell you with the expectation that you will not speak of it elsewhere.

All five of them agreed.

We have such large broods because the first few weeks of a hatchling's life are very hard. It takes about three and a half months before they mature enough to begin to remember past lives – their ancestors' history – and it's only then that they become safe from each other and toward outsiders. For that reason alone, I recommend that humans stay away from this valley until the Molt unless I know you and have declared you off-limits. Without my presence on the ridge the last time we met, the brood would have found you ... tasty. I must qualify that a bit, though. These four have been much more aware than the rest, almost from the beginning. I believe it's because you four are special, too. We will see you all become impressive in your own rights.

Jo said, We have a few stories of dragons, but we have always believed them to be myths. Some of our oldest tales of dragons, some that we thought were just wild tales to tell on dark and stormy nights, speak of dragons that can breathe fire. Can you or your brood do that?

Rhyla looked up and away from the humans, looking back through her memories. "There are some memories of fire breathing, but that ability was extremely rare and very long ago. From what little I can recall, humans were somehow involved.

Daphne, I would have words with you later. If it is acceptable, I will visit you at Lazlo's Keep after you have a chance to recover from your trip. I know you have been on the road for many days. It is hard for me to imagine taking so long. You would find it much faster to ride with me.

Daphne looked at Rhyla, her eyes huge and her mouth open. I am not often surprised, but yes, please come. I would be happy to talk with you about almost anything.

Good. If you like, take your time with the brood, and then head down to the streams below so your horses can graze and not temp my little ones.

After watching the hatchlings for a while, they told Rhyla they would be back soon, then headed down the trail to the Keep. Daphne glanced back several times as they rode away. What on earth could that dragon have to say to me? I don't know, and I haven't seen her in my visions since the one in Newhoma.

Jo turned to Athena. How did you know her name? You knew it, but she didn't tell us. That was a little spooky.

I had a vision. In the vision, I already knew her name and the names of four of the others. I wonder if those are the names of the four hatchlings paying attention to us.

Allen said, That's weird. Since I started hanging out with you, I've seen some seriously weird stuff, but Rhyla getting her skeleton out of the rock and you knowing her name - that's just weird.

Chapter 3: The Keep

While the five had been traveling, Jo's uncle Lazlo and Otto, their old friend living in Newhoma, had created quite an enterprise between them. Otto owned a good portion of the buildings in and around all the gates of Newhoma. Lazlo owned much of the property between the South Gate and his Keep. Lazlo built a way station, with a pub and some rooms, near where he and his men had fought the old monarch's troops, roughly halfway between the city and the castle. Coaches changed horses there as well.

Outside the Keep, an entirely new inn provided room for tourists to stay while they saw the dragons. A new business had opened in Newhoma, conveniently across from the Red Rose Tavern and Inn, where people from across the country could book a dragon tour. For a fee, a guide would lead a party out of Newhoma in the early morning, traveling toward the Keep by coach and stopping for lunch in Lazlo's convenient new pub.

After the meal, they would press on to the Keep, arriving just a little before sunset. They would spend a night at the inn, then take the coach to an overlook on the ridge above the Valley of the Dragons. They could eat a picnic lunch and see the hatchlings, or dragonettes, and occasionally Rhyla, the Great One. After another coach ride, they would return to the inn to have supper and, the following day, return to Newhoma. Lazlo charged extra for a tour of the Keep.

After viewing the small ones, the tourists would often find Rhyla perched near the top of the immense oak tree above the Keep's spring, with her deep green wings spread wide to catch the afternoon rays, turning them to molten gold in the center, where the sun shone through the leathery membranes. As she sat lightly on the tree's branches, her neck raised and her tail wrapped around the tree trunk for stability, she showed all ten feet from nose to chest and ten feet more to her rump. Her prehensile tail took the rest of her forty feet. She was a being of magic, resting lightly on that branch so high in the tree.

As they rode into the Keep after visiting the hatchlings, Harry saw her high up, and since she had spoken to them in their minds, he called up to her mentally, "Hey, Rhyla! You look stunning!"

A chuckle came back to all of them, But I always look stunning, friend Harry. The marks seem to like the pose, though.

They dismounted and handed their reins to grooms, who took the horses off to pamper them. Harry continued, Marks, huh? That's a carnival or con artist's target. You've been listening to Lazlo too much, I think.

He has a very dragon-like viewpoint. He likes to gather treasure, too.

Athena joined in. Truly? Don't forget that the people come to see you and bring you the sheep that feed the brood.

Rhyla looked down and spoke in their minds, "I never do. I don't mind this pose as the sun is a blessing on my skin, and I like being close to people without being too close, but I know the trade for my time. Magic is loose, and soon, the brood will be as well.

"And we need to be about preparing the world for them. Another hatching will not be too long coming, either. I may call them 'marks,' but I know how easily these people can turn from marveling at us to fearing us, and I know what the consequences would be. I admit that I will be glad when the Molt comes."

At that point, Daphne swung open a window high up in the Keep and stepped out onto a nearby branch. Athena gasped and almost collapsed against Harry as she watched Daphne walk casually along a branch three stories above the ground over to Rhyla and climb easily into that place just forward of Rhyla's wings, where the ridges along her spine and shoulders formed a perfect seat. With no fuss, the dragon let go and felt toward the earth below for a moment before flapping her wings one time. They soared close above the screaming, shouting, and clapping crowd, then flew off toward the mountains.

Athena finally got her mouth working enough to say, Dammit, Mom!

Chapter 4: The Molt

Amonth later, on another trip to the Valley, they found that the time of the Molt had come. Across the valley floor, a riot of color replaced the somber black of the hatchling. Within hours, the last of the Molt sloughed off.

The four juvenile dragons who had followed them again stood before the four humans. The young dragons had chosen to bond, each with a particular human. A pale blue one stood before Allen, an apple-green in front of Jo, a gray with a lavender belly for Athena, and a beautiful rose and gold one in front of Harry. Athena had expected the colors and names since she'd seen them in the vision. They were much larger than the last time the team had passed through but still tiny compared to Rhyla.

The rose and gold one said, Eww. Not rose. Pink. Apparently, she could read their minds, or at least her partner's.

Harry looked at the dragon in front of him. But you are a rose color, as we see colors.

Rose is a soft and squishy word. Pink. It has a bite. I like it. Pink! She leaned on the hard K at the end.

Okay, you are pink.

I shall take that as my human name for now, too. Pink. As I said, it has bite, and I like that sharpness.

Fine. Pink it shall be. Rhyla told us that dragons only keep their molting name until adulthood unless they still want it.

That's true. We'll see.

The other dragons claimed their names, too. The blue was Winger, the green was Roamer, and the lavender and gray was Cutter. Pink and Cutter were females.

Athena was not surprised at all. She thought, Oh, gods above and below, they will grow, and then we will ride them!

She said, It would appear that the rest of you like words ending in the 'er' sound. The dragons agreed. Cutter said, It feels like it rumbles down in our chests.

It is well that you've come so soon, said Pink. We dragons have already begun to bond, and I can feel the four of you have. It will make us a formidable team.

Harry stepped forward and squatted at eye level with the dragon. How old are you, Pink? He knew they'd been babies just a month ago.

This incarnation, a few months. I'm not sure because the first couple of months are very blurry. But I have memories of my lineage going back many generations. Maybe a thousand years. Maybe more.

You are quite eloquent for such a young one by our standards. Thus, my question.

I can see that. Since humans have forgotten so much about our kind, I will tell you that if we continue to feed well, we should be ready to take our first flights in about a week. In perhaps another two weeks, we will be able to fly with you. By then, the flat area between my shoulders should have matured enough for you to have a good seat. I know that is on all your minds. I trust you are okay with flying?

None of us have flown yet, though I've seen Daphne fly with Rhyla. I know a little about what it's like. I went outside a building and climbed from the 5th to the 6th story without any safety rig. Does that create an image for you? I don't know what's in your memories. It means I should be able to handle flying with you.

Pink nodded. I have memories of the kind of buildings you mention. I think I understand about climbing on the outside. It's like trying to climb a cliff in the mountains, and you have no wings to help you.

That's the idea. If it helps, the towers in Lazlo's Keep are made of rough stone on the outside, so if you can imagine me climbing up that, it will be clearer.

Turning to the others, Harry asked, Do you all have any hesitation about flying when they are ready for us?

It surprised him when Athena said, I do.

In what way?

I climbed out that window back at Udjat Tower with you, but I'm still apprehensive. As a small girl, I fell from a tall tree and broke several bones. The memory of the fall has never left me. I know from my vision that I will conquer my fears with Cutter, but I may not be the first in line to fly.

"I knew it was hard, but I didn't realize it was that hard. We'll take it slow. I promise. Pink and I will be there with you and share whatever you need from our link."

Cutter told her, You will be safe with me. We will start with the easiest rides and build your confidence until you soar as naturally as you breathe.

She realized that she'd already built that confidence in the vision. I know we will get there.

Through their bond, Harry felt her apprehension ease a bit, and he sent, "We may also find ways to have our magic work with this. How would you like to fly alongside your dragon?"

Athena looked at him, eyes wide. "Do you think so? Then she gasped. Harry. My vision! My very first vision! I told you about it when we were fifteen! Is this it?"

You and me, flying? It could be. You'll have to tell me if it matches. I did say 'may.' Given how our gifts have increased, we should be able to push off the ground or the air itself. That's about as much as any human can claim to be flying.

Jo said, I would fly right now if Roamer were ready. I've dreamed of this my whole life, though I didn't know I was looking for dragons.

Allen nodded along. I like being high off the ground. I used to climb on the walls I built as a bricklayer to feel like I was far from the ground. When I saw you two free climb that building, my heart was in my mouth, but I was also envious. I wanted to be up there with you. And now, when Winger is ready, I will be.

Then I have a proposal. We've gathered to help the dragons and to help Queen Deborah. I propose we officially become the Queen's Flyers if she permits.

Athena said, "Friendly amendment? Because we will not always be under a queen and the word 'Flyers' is not exactly awe-inspiring, how about