Chronicles of the Dragonlord: A Furry's Journey

By J.J Doyle

A young anthropomorphic rabbit, clinging to his dreams of a bygone era, finds himself to be at odds with his contemporaries in the warren because he has chosen to be different. His efforts to relive that era gain him only rebuffs and ridicule from all who live there. Feeling disconnected from the warren, he decides that perhaps adventure will be better than the security offered in the collective and sets out to discover his place in the wider world. Along the way, he is challenged to discover the meaning of friendship and to determine who he really has chosen to be, and when his loyalty is put to the test, how his views will change or remain consistent when dealing with situations when he has the ability to decide how he will treat others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9781643507637

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Chronicles of the Dragonlord

A Furry's Journey

J.J Doyle

Copyright © 2019 J.J Doyle

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2019

ISBN 978-1-64350-762-0 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-64350-763-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 1

Departure

The most important moments in life often occur without warning. The directions we choose at those times do not always feel as if they are meaningful. Yet they will often take us to places unimagined, and lead us to deeds only dreamed of. If we will only act when those moments arrive.

—Chronicles of the Dragonlord

For LePan, the morning arrived the same as any other. Awakened in the middle of a pleasant dream by one of the adults, he hurriedly got himself ready for lessons and still he was behind schedule, as always. He then arrived at the dining hall and seated himself for breakfast the last to arrive. Add to that, his reward for being tardy was a smaller portion, to which he had become accustomed, for breakfast.

LePan was not a particularly unusual rabbit to look at him—standing three and a half feet, plus ears, his fur colored black on his lower half, and white on his upper. He dressed in a vest with a pocket protector. He carried a slide rule, dividers, and two mechanical pencils in his pocket. He wore black-horned rimmed glasses taped on the bridge as a memento of a day when some bullies roughhoused him. And on any given day, it was odd indeed to see him without his books on chivalry, alchemy, and mathematics.

Though he would not recognize it himself, LePan must be described as dreamer at heart. He yearned for the days when knights went forth throughout the land to do the daring deeds, save the damsels, and protect the townsfolk from brigands, rogue wizards, or even dragons. For him, those days lived in his mind wherein he would be that knight, earning the respect and admiration of the furs he helped and always the friendship of the ladies he rescued.

The society of the rabbit warren required unquestioning obedience and a suppression of original thought. A rabbit was born and immediately moved into the common room where the individual was never aware of who the birth parents were to insure a healthy regard for the warren over any individual. Living in such conditions, dreamers are seldom accepted. He made the mistake, once, of sharing his dreams of knighthood with another one morning before lessons. The denunciation and humiliation was so great; he never shared his dreams with anyone else ever again.

After completing his sparse breakfast, he headed out of the dining hall and went straight to the schooling yard. He actually managed to arrive early. This day, being no different from any other, he walked the yard by himself.

In the way of dreamers, it made no matter to him that there was a lot of activity in the yard. Strolling by as Pippin and Starky were playing a game of hop-skip with Flopsy, Sigmund, and Daisy, he barely noticed. It was Pippin running up to the line, and Daisy shouting, Hop that broke into his fantasy. He barely had time to notice Pippin giving his best effort to do a proper hop across the line. Pippin had been thinking skip, so he ended up tripping over his own feet. He made a spectacular fall and roll.

LePan asked the players, May I join the game too?

No way, said Starky. This game is for real rabbits, not fools who believe they can be knights.

Why don’t you go bother somebody else? We don’t want you here wrecking our game, Daisy added.

Yeah, don’t go away mad, just go away, Sigmund said.

Get lost, Know-It-All, Flopsy added.

Yeah, we don’t want you here. Beat it, Pippin said after standing up shakily after his roll.

Hanging his head, he continued to wander about the yard, drawing himself back into his daydream. In a corner of the yard where Eppers and Mully were digging a tunnel, his attention shifted to their task. He watched for a few minutes when he noticed they were having trouble with a rock.

Do you know if you place a stick under the rock, with the longer end out of the hole, you can remove that rock much easier, he said.

Mully threw dirt in his face and said, Get out of here, Lil Mr. Know-It-All. We don’t need your help.

But…, he began.

We’re doing this our own way, Eppers said.

I was only trying to help, he protested.

Well, don’t, Eppers answered. The day we want your help, we’ll tell you about it.

Yeah, but don’t hold your breath, Mully added.

Shrugging off the verbal abuse, he moved on. He still had another half hour before the lessons began. In spite of the fact that they afforded him the opportunity to dwell on his fantasies of who he wished to be, he never really enjoyed the idea of mornings by himself, though it had become a fate he felt resigned to.

He wondered, What is it that I do wrong? Why is it that I have no friends? The advice or assistance he received from adults was never any help.

If he reported a beating, he was told he brought it on himself but never how that was so.

If he hit back when he was set upon, he was told that he was wrong for fighting because it takes two to fight.

He was told not to talk so much, but if he remained silent, no one ever talked to him. How does not talking to other rabbits perpetuate the making of friends? He shook his head in frustration and confusion.

Caught up in his inner thoughts, he walked by a ring of does playing true or false. He paid them no mind, until they startled him from his thoughts when he heard his name called.

He stopped and looked in the direction that he’d heard his name come from and said, What?

Chloe looked directly back at him. I direct the question to LePan! she said showing him her sweetest smile.

What question? he asked.

The other does began to giggle.

Thee question, Chloe answered. The way the rules work is that I ask you a question, and you are supposed to answer it. Then it is up to all of us to decide if you have given a true-or-false answer. She smirked, looking around at her group of friends. They all giggled with her.

Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t hear you at first.

Well, listen carefully then, we wouldn’t want you not hearing the question again. This is my question for you, LePan. If you had your choice to do math equations or to dance with me, which one would you choose?

Such a question caught him completely off guard. Chloe was one of the most popular does in schooling. Without thinking, he stammered out his answer, I would want to dance with you.

The circle of does laughed