Nikeron the Great: Book Two (Dragonbound)

By Rebecca Shelley

In this second book of the Nikeron Trilogy, set in Stonefountain’s distant past, Nikeron leaves his home and tries to embrace Mercian culture, but Mercia isn’t how he imagined it, and he is thrown into a life of violence and turmoil. As the quest for the Four Powers continues, Tanveer heads north in search of the Crown, and Nikeron faces a Mercian army and a pride of Great Blue dragons on his own. His physical survival depends on mastering his Naga powers as well as the Mercian fighting style. The survival of his personal integrity depends on even more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wonder Realms Books
• Release date: Feb 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224163540

Rebecca Shelley

Rebecca Shelley writes a wide variety of books—everything from picture books to spy thrillers.She especially likes to write about fantasy creatures such as dragons and fairies.Her children’s books are written under the Rebecca Shelley name.Her thrillers and other books for adults are written under the R. L. Tyler pen name.She also has two books out under the R. D. Henham pen name—Red Dragon Codex and Brass Dragon Codex.

Book preview

Nikeron the Great

Book Two

In this second book of the Nikeron Trilogy in the Dragonbound series, set in Stonefountain’s distant past, Nikeron leaves his homeland and tries to embrace Mercian culture, but Mercia isn’t how he imagined it, and he’s thrown into a life of violence and turmoil. His quest for the Four Powers continues. Tanveer heads north in search of the Crown, and Nikeron confronts a Mercian army and a pride of Great Blue dragons on his own. His physical survival depends on mastering his Naga powers as well as the Mercian fighting style. The survival of his personal integrity depends on even more.

Copyright © 2020 Rebecca Shelley

Published by Wonder Realms Books

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any print or electronic form without permission.  All characters, places, and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual places or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cover: ID 53780641 © Sundraw | Dreamstime.com and ID 45277804 © Breakermaximus | Dreamstime.com

From Book One

Just beyond the wharf, gray stone walls rose up, towering above the water. Heavily armed and manned guard towers flanked a large iron gate. The gate stood open, and through its ominous aperture Nikeron caught a glance of the city beyond. Rows of stone houses lined the streets, each sharing a wall with the one beside it so it looked like a long continuous building. Stone steps led up from the flagstone street to each iron door. Nowhere could he see anything flammable. It was all stone and iron or steel. Even the docks were stone and metal. The ship that carried him hauled up to the longest dock and made fast. Even before they got the wooden plank down onto the dock, a contingent of heavily armored men and women came marching out from the gate. They all wore black scale armor with a rearing green dragon on the chest plate. Their faces were hard, their eyes cold. They moved as one, in perfect step with each other and stopped as one, standing at attention, staring up at the boat. The boat captain, also armored and decked with weapons, hurried down the plank to meet them.

Now I see why Cynewald had no desire to come back here, Kachanaba mused. He and Mythris were high in the air, circling in the sunlight where they would be invisible to those on land. Not a friendly welcome.

A senior officer stepped forward from the regiment and greeted the captain in a deeper voice than Nikeron had expected from a woman. She looked armed and dangerous and unhappy. What are you doing back here, Captain? Your orders were to sail to Kundiland.

And supposedly Aelle fights better than that woman or any other person in the country, Kachanaba said. You sure you want to marry a woman like that?

Nikeron grinned. He knew what he had to do, and what part he had to play here. Aelle had expected the prince of Stonefountain to be a great warrior. Well, he wasn’t one yet, but he could certainly act like one. Winking at Tanveer who stood beside him at the rail, Nikeron put his hand on his sword hilt and strode down the plank to join the captain who was sputtering about the tempest and the ship from Stonefountain that had sunk.

Stand aside, he barked at the captain.

The Mercian captain eased to the side, giving him space.

Who are you? Nikeron snapped at the officer. How dare you question my arrival?

The scowl on the officer’s face deepened, and she opened her mouth to respond, but Nikeron cut her off.

Where is your king? Why is he not here to greet me? One would expect a proper reception for Nikeron the Great, Destroyer of Red dragons, the mighty Prince of Stonefountain.

Above Nikeron, Kachanaba broke out in silent laughter. Nikeron had to scowl to keep from laughing himself. He knew he couldn’t laugh. He had a part to play here, one Cynewald had coached him on for months.

The officer took an involuntary step back and glanced at the soldiers behind her, perhaps hoping for some kind of aid or that King Icel would magically appear from the center of the group. Nikeron kept his mind shielded so as not to be overwhelmed by human thoughts and emotions. Beyond the gates, felt like a big city, crowded with people, people who bubbled with strong emotions unlike the more smooth placid emotions of the people at Stonefountain. They were a hard people, used to scraping to survive.

Pay attention, Chan chided him. Don’t let your mind wander from the job at hand. You can explore the depths of the city later.

Nikeron realized in his attempt to shield his mind from the officer and soldiers, he’d opened it more to the people beyond. Scolding himself, he forced his eyes to gaze disdainfully at the officer in front of him. She’d been speaking. He hadn’t a clue what she’d said.

There would have been a welcoming committee if your ship had arrived as planned, Tanveer filled in for him. It was believed that your ship sank during the tempest and you were dead.

Obviously I’m not dead, Nikeron snapped. You think a little tempest like that can kill Nikeron the Great? If you had consulted Her Highness, Princess Aelle, she would have assured you that I am not so easily gotten rid of. Now, we will cease dawdling here on the docks, and you and your underlings will accompany me to the palace as my honor guard.

Without waiting for agreement, Nikeron strode toward the gate. You there! Nikeron shouted to the guards manning the ballistae in the guard towers beside the gate. "There are two Great Gold dragons in the air. They are my escort from Stonefountain. You will let them pass freely to the palace. The man or woman who fires at them will feel my wrath. No delay. No mercy. Spread the word. No one harms the Great Gold dragons!"

The guards’ faces went slack, and they nodded.

Careful, Tanveer warned. I know you need to sound authoritative, but you slipped and used your powers on them, stripping them of their free will in this one matter. If you had been any more forceful, you might have wiped their free will completely and left them no more than gibbering idiots. You’ve got to control your power.

Nikeron swallowed hard and dropped his eyes to the gray flagstones in front of him. I’m so sorry. He set his jaw and kept moving, the soldiers falling into step around him. He focused his mind on the palace, on Aelle waiting there. He could feel her worried thoughts as he made his way through the great stone city. She stood on the battlement staring out at the water, worrying about him and wondering if he were alive.

I’m alive, he spoke gently into her mind, not sure if she, being human, would hear it. I’m here now. I’m coming.

Part I

The Quill

Chapter One

I, Nikeron the Great, have entered Mercia and taken up residence at the palace fortress at their capital city, Tame. It is a port city, heavily fortified, everything made of stone and iron. The iron doors make me uneasy. I feel uncomfortable whenever I have to touch one. Princess Aelle, my betrothed, was glad to see me, but the softer side of her that I saw flashes of at Stonefountain is buried behind an exterior as cold and hard as the fortress’s iron doors. We have had no time to speak to each other alone. Tonight, I am to attend a great feast held in my honor by her father, King Icel. Aelle is disturbed by this for some reason. I didn’t need to read her thoughts to know that. Her body language was clear enough: the frown on her face, her creased forehead, the flash of her eyes when she looked at me. She is afraid I may do something wrong at the feast, something to upset her father, whom I haven’t met yet.

Kachanaba, my Great Gold dragon, is here in my chambers with me, as are Tanveer my tutor and bodyguard, and Mythris, his Great Gold dragon. Tanveer had to manipulate a secret hole in the wall, hidden by an outer balcony, so the dragons could get inside. It’s not safe for them flying around when the sun is not out to hide them. The Mercians’s first instinct is to kill any non-domesticated dragon they see.

Tanveer, too, is grim.  The guards and soldiers seem to know him. They don’t like him. He doesn’t trust them. I wish my father, King Zaiden, would have let him stay at Stonefountain. He’s jumpy and strung up tight as a cocked crossbow. Ah, there is the seneschal come to get me for dinner. I’m wearing my armor, or should I say Nagaron’s armor, since everyone here, but the servants, seems to be dressed in armor. Hope the food will be good in the very least.

There, I wrote something. Nikeron spoke with his mind to Tanveer as he dropped the quill on the desk and rose to face Seneschal Caldwell, a sour-looking middle-aged man in Mercian livery—a black tunic with a green dragon across the chest. It was easy to see now why Aelle had taken Nikeron for a servant when they’d first met. Only the servants went about the fortress without armor and weapons. Though calling Caldwell a servant would be a mistake. He was the man in charge of running daily life at the fortress and so wielded great power. He was also a man, currently draining of color and bending to pull a dagger out of his boot as his sudden entrance had brought him face-to-face with Kachanaba.

Kachanaba spread his wings and sucked in a soft breath, readying to spray the man with the Great Gold dragons’ signature defense mechanism—Joy Breath, a pale bloom of sparkling gold mist that would put anyone who breathed it into a state of temporary mindless bliss.

Nikeron stepped in between the dragon and seneschal, raising his hands to stop both of them. Hold on a moment, Master Caldwell, Nikeron said. Let me introduce you to Kachanaba, my partner. Chan, this is Seneschal Caldwell. Are we good now? We can all be friends, right?

Partner? How can a Great dragon be your partner, and how did he even get in here unseen? Caldwell held the dagger steady, his body tensing into a fighting stance. His gaze stayed on the dragon, waiting for Kachanaba to make some move. One could tell even though Caldwell didn’t wear a sword and armor, he could be a deadly opponent.

Arg, Nikeron thought to Kachanaba, everyone in this whole crazy city can fight better than I can.

You’re not too bad. You did train with Prince Cynewald before coming here, Kachanaba answered. Anyway, stop gawping at the man and answer his question.

Seneschal. Nikeron took one step closer, close enough Caldwell could have cut him with a flick of his wrist. Do you suppose that dagger can go through silver dragonscale armor? he thought to  Kachanaba. Before leaving Stonefountain, Nikeron had secretly taken his forebearer and founder of Stonefountain, Nagaron’s, armor made from Great Silver serpent scales. In a moment of crisis, Nikeron had learned that the armor carried some kind of power, power to heal others in dire circumstances and power to keep unwanted hands from taking it off Nikeron. It had also proved a good defense against heat and cold, but was, as of yet, untried against weapons.

Stay focused, Chan said.

Nikeron dragged his gaze away from the dagger and looked Caldwell in the eye. The Great Gold dragons of Stonefountain are intelligent, brilliant even, artisans and scholars. We at Stonefountain live peacefully alongside them. All royalty and many of the nobility choose a Great Gold dragon partner when they come of age. Kachanaba and I are partners and friends. Lord Tanveer has crafted an entrance for his dragon and mine in the back wall of our chambers. But don’t worry. It is built in a way that no other dragon will ever find it or use it.

Prince Nikeron is correct. Tanveer strode into the room through the archway that adjoined their chambers. He wore full black scale armor made from the hides of the ferocious black monkeys of Kundiland. Though the armor was well-mended and brightly polished, it gave the impression that it had been through countless battles. It was unadorned and unembellished. Though Tanveer had once been captain of the royal guard at Stonefountain, he wore no insignia or heraldry. He could be any man anywhere that had made a living of traveling and fighting dragons. He wore his blond hair cut short since half of it had been singed off during his fight with Great Red dragons several months before. His stony face that had already been scarred by battle had a new burn scar down the side now to add to the others. The Great Red dragons, along with some Great Blue dragons, had ambushed the Naga guards at Jaffa. Tanveer was one of the few survivors, and he wouldn’t have made it out alive if Nikeron and Kachanaba hadn’t pulled him from the bay and healed his wounds.

You needn’t worry about the security of the stronghold being compromised or about these dragons, Tanveer said. They are no threat to you or anyone else here, unless, of course, an assassination of His Highness is attempted. If that were to happen, the would-be assassin would find himself dead, or wishing he were. Great Gold dragons are fearsome and loyal bodyguards. They can’t be bought or tricked into turning against their partners.

The dragon is His Highness’s bodyguard? Caldwell said in an even voice, his weapon hand and eyes had not wavered from their dragon target.

Yes, Tanveer reaffirmed.

Is he a danger to my staff assigned to keep His Highness’s chambers?

Ha, Nikeron laughed. No danger at all.

Yes, Tanveer contradicted. Keep your people out of these rooms. I will personally clean the chambers and see to His Highness’s needs.

And what of bedding and clothing? Caldwell asked.

I’ll set them outside the door to be washed. Cleaned garments and bedding can be left outside the door when they are ready. No one comes in here. Do you understand me? Tanveer’s bearing made Caldwell, who was not a small man, seem soft and slight in comparison.

Caldwell lowered the dagger and stepped backward toward the door. "I will inform His Majesty, King Icel, that you have dragons inside the fortress. You will answer to him for this, he said to Tanveer. He bowed slightly to Nikeron. Your Highness, you have been summoned to dine with the king. I will wait in the hall to escort you to His Majesty." He retreated from the room, his face turning to a scowl as his gaze swept past Tanveer on his way out. The door slammed closed behind him.

Why? Nikeron said, gesturing toward Kachanaba. There’s no reason to frighten the servants.

I’m trying to keep you alive, Tanveer said, jabbing a finger into Nikeron’s chest. Get your weapons. Let’s go. Chan, you have to stay here.

I couldn’t fit through the door into the hallway anyway, Chan said, folding his wings back along his sleek gold-plated sides. But what if the king sends his soldiers to kill me?

He’d better not, Tanveer said.

If anyone comes but Tanveer and I, Chan, you and Mythris climb out through the hole and fly straight up high enough to be out of range of the ballistae on the fortress walls. Nikeron patted Kachanaba’s chest. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.

You wish, Tanveer said. Weapons, now. Let’s go.

Which ones? Nikeron asked, moving to take his sword down from the carved stone weapons rack on the wall, a rack that was larger than the clothing wardrobe beside it.

"All of them. You shouldn’t need them tonight, but this is Mercia. It’s best to be prepared."

Nikeron buckled on his weapons harness which held his great sword, crossbow, and bolts on his back. He added his sword belt with sheathed long sword and short sword, dagger, and buckler. Some of the weapons had been Nagaron’s and came with the armor—the great sword, crossbow, and long sword. The short sword, dagger, and buckler, Aelle had given Nikeron on his arrival. Betrothal presents, she’d said, but her bearing had been grim as she strapped them on him.

Take these. Tanveer added several tins of Great dragon saliva to one of the pouches on the weapons harness. Most Great dragons could lick their wounds closed, healing even deep gashes almost instantly. It made them difficult to beat in battle, and very helpful as allies.

Why do I need those? Nikeron asked. His Naga bond with Kachanaba was absolute. Any injury Nikeron sustained would manifest on Kachanaba’s body and vice versa. Kachanaba could heal the wound with his own saliva, and it would heal on Nikeron too.

First of all, Tanveer said fiercely into Nikeron’s mind. If Chan were attacked and couldn’t heal himself, it would be up to you to heal both of you. Second, if you were to be hurt in front of anyone in this fortress, and your body healed itself apparently all on its own, people would start asking questions. Then, you would have to explain about the dragon bond, and believe me, that is a weakness your enemies will exploit. If you get hurt, use the saliva openly so everyone can see you healing your own wounds. Understand?

I rather think my bond with Kachanaba is a strength, not a weakness, Nikeron said.

Shh. Tanveer motioned him to silence. This topic is not for verbal discussion. Your bond is your greatest strength and your greatest weakness. We do not want anyone to know they can kill you just by killing your dragon. Then I have two people to worry about protecting, and if you’re separated from each other, that will be impossible for me.

You really think people here are going to try to kill me? Why would they? The Mercians are the ones who wanted me to come here to guarantee my betrothal and seal the trade agreement with my father.

You are the heir of Stonefountain. Tanveer’s ferocity cut through Nikeron’s mind. They may have insisted on you coming here for the very purpose of killing you. Do not underestimate King Icel. He is no friend of yours or your father’s.

Nikeron shook his head and moved to the door. Aelle is my friend. I trust her.

Tanveer lifted a shield between his mind and Nikeron’s, so Nikeron could not sense Tanveer’s thoughts on the matter. The look on his face was grim, but that was a permanent