Dragon Valley Trilogy Page 32

  ‘We are tired of hiding,’ Corbyn said, waving his hand to indicate he spoke for them all. ‘We will not hide our true selves any more.’

  It was then that Rhonan realised that not one of the elves had an elf stone to give the illusion of human features.

  Another howl from the sky made Rhonan frown a little. It came from over the trees and he watched in surprise as three golden dragons came swooping in over the festival.

  ‘It’s Klel and Toby and some of Tryx’s family,’ Dyahn told her parents with a grin. ‘They live where Tryx came from.’

  Klel and the other two dragons flew in low and then landed a short distance away. Toby jumped to the ground and hurried over to join Rhonan and Kheron. The two men on the other dragons jumped down also but remained with the dragons.

  ‘I came back as fast as I could,’ he said and then grinned as he looked around at the two groups standing staring at each other. ‘I see you’ve found a solution already, and found your villagers. You didn’t need our help at all.’

  ‘Are there any more dragons?’ King Hendrik asked, a slight nervous wobble in his voice that didn’t sound at all royal.

  ‘Hundreds,’ Toby said with a slight shrug. ‘But we don’t believe in violence.’

  The king didn’t seem reassured by this. He stepped back a few paces. ‘Perhaps the head of the Shadow… Elf clan and I will meet now.’

  Tryx lifted off the castle roof and flew a circle around the statue, belching flames high into the sky as she spun in loops.

  ‘I’m glad she didn’t do that when we were on her back,’ Rhonan said, feeling ill just watching.

  The king and Corbyn were slowly approaching each other and eventually held out a hand of peace. Rhonan saw his grandfather, Lord Hendrik, still hanging back slightly from the elves. He looked embarrassed and slightly wary. Falh and Bryn came up to him but he simply nodded at them and did not speak. Terac stayed right back from them all and scowled at anyone who looked his way.

  ‘My brother will come around in time,’ Elezan said with a hopeful smile.

  After a few minutes the king, queen, Lord Hendrik and Terac turned back towards the castle, followed by Corbyn, Falh and Bryn.

  Rhonan felt that someone was standing behind him and he turned to see the young prince looking at him curiously.

  ‘Do your ears hurt?’ Pettar asked, looking at Rhonan’s pointy ears. ‘What’s it like not to have a shadow?’

  ‘No, my ears don’t hurt,’ Rhonan said and tried not to laugh. ‘I used to have a shadow, but it went away a little while ago.’

  The prince nodded seriously, then turned to look at his own shadow before running back to Dyahn and comparing rocks with her.

  ‘It looks like things will be start to get better now,’ Elezan said as he came to join them. ‘Then we can head home to our Inn. I see Dyahn seems to have made a new friend.’

  ‘We’ve all made some friends,’ Kheron said, slapping Rhonan on the back. ‘Let’s go see Tryx’

  Rhonan grinned so broadly that his cheeks hurt and he and his cousin raced off to where Tryx had finally landed beyond the fountain next to Klel.

  Toby followed them over and patted Tryx gently on his neck. ‘You did well not to interfere,’ he told Tryx with a smile. ‘Force will never solve an argument. You will make a good leader of the dragons.’

  ‘Will you be staying long?’ Dyahn asked Toby, coming over to the dragons.

  ‘No, I must return soon. We have problems in Dragon Valley that I must help with,’ Toby said, looking worried.

  The prince had followed Dyahn and seemed very interested in the dragons. He approached Klel slowly and reached out a tentative hand. Klel remained still and Pettar grinned broadly as his fingers touched the golden scales.

  ‘They’re soft,’ the prince said, looking surprised.

  ‘So you’ll be taking Tryx home,’ Rhonan said, feeling sad that the golden dragon would be leaving but also happy that she would be going to where she belonged.

  ‘For now,’ Toby said, nodding slowly. ‘It is her home. Her kin expect her to learn from her father and lead them one day. But she can come back to visit from time to time if we can find a safe gateway to use.’

  ‘Wait here a minute.’ Rhonan suddenly remembered the neckband he had left in the forest and he hurried off to fetch it. He opened the backpack as he walked back and held out the glowing gem-studded band to Toby. ‘This belonged to Ryena.’

  Toby took it and looked at it solemnly then turned and spoke quietly to Klel. He turned back and shook his head. ‘Ryena gave it to Dyahn. She should keep it.’

  Toby held it out to Dyahn who took it with a delighted grin. She clipped it around her waist, tucking her blue shirt under it so everyone could see it. The crowds slowly came back to see what was going on and a dozen children came over to Rhonan and Dyahn.

  ‘You ask,’ one said, shoving a young girl out in front of them all.

  Rhonan and Dyahn turned and waited patiently while the small blonde-haired child gathered the courage to speak.

  ‘Can you show us how to make those?’ she said pointing to the deer and the pony.

  ‘You need some elf in you to do that,’ Kheron pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

  ‘Well, we might have,’ the girl said with a hopeful voice. ‘Can we try?’

  Rhonan and Dyahn grinned at Kheron as they all drew stones from their pockets and handed them out.

  Would boy like ride? Klel said turning to nudge at the small prince. Klel carry small ones carefully. Not drop them.

  Pettar looked stunned, and then nodded vigorously. He climbed up and Klel lifted into the air slowly. As the golden dragon circled the festival a dozen children sat drawing on rocks and the festival continued on.

  Dragons’ Bane

  Linda McNabb

  Copyright © Linda McNabb 2008

  www.mcnabbnz.com

  Linda McNabb asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

  Images © Mega11 / Marciomauro

  www.dreamstime.com

  CHAPTER ONE

  DRAGON MASTER

  Trouble seemed to be following Toby. Yet again he had found a trade at which he seemed doomed to fail. He and his master, Klel, were out in the mountains where Toby could practise his magic without disturbing anyone. Things had not gone well. As usual.

  Not what Klel expected. The golden dragon stood perched on the top of the mountain with Toby next to him. He looked confused and worried. Toby try too hard.

  Toby looked down at the jumble of trees and boulders in a heap at the bottom of the mountain. It had been a small forest a moment ago. The rumble of destruction still echoed around the valley and trembled in the ground beneath their feet. He shook his head slowly and closed his eyes in disbelief for a second. When he opened them, the flattened forest was still there. There was no doubt that he would be in more trouble with the Elders of Dragon Valley.

  ‘I only tried to move one of the boulders,’ Toby said a little defensively. ‘I wasn’t expecting half the mountain to leap into the air and drop on the forest.’

  Stop training now, Klel said, looking off to the right where a lake had once been and where now a dry basin marked the landscape like a deep scar. Or Dragon Valley will be destroyed.

  Toby sat down on what was left of the mountain and stared down at his feet. He knew what that meant - he had lost yet another master.

  Perhaps just need learn control, Klel said comfortingly, but Toby did not even look up.

  Toby was about to defend himself again when a smaller golden dragon flew over the devastated forest and came up to the top of the peak to join them.

  Why knock down trees? the dragon asked. The delicate features and the two horns marked he
r as a female. She wore a neckband of jewels that was more impressive than Klel’s, and it sparkled in the brilliant sunshine.

  ‘I wasn’t trying to, Tryx,’ Toby said with a small sigh.

  Brax not like. Tryx shook her slightly oversized head. She was still growing and, from the size of her head and feet, she seemed likely to grow even bigger than her father, Brax, who was the king of the dragons.

  Toby thought that this was an understatement. Brax had never liked Toby being trained by a dragon, and he would probably be delighted that he now had more reason to object to it.

  ‘And here he comes,’ Toby said, looking out towards the village. There was no mistaking the deep bronze colour of the dragon heading their way. He was flying towards them from the village where Toby lived. Large cone-like mountains rose at regular intervals, and at the base of them were clusters of houses. The dragons lived in the unusual mountains and each of the seven villages in the valley had a dozen dragons.

  Tryx talk to him, Tryx said, leaping into the sky without waiting for them to agree. Toby watched as the smaller dragon headed off the larger one and diverted him back to the village.

  Toby kicked at a stone, which started another small avalanche down the side of the mountain. He turned his back on it in disgust and started making his way down the intact side of the mountain.

  Long way back to village. Klel give ride, Klel offered.

  ‘I think I’ll walk,’ Toby muttered, trying not to let his disappointment show. Klel didn’t argue, as if sensing that Toby needed time to be alone.

  As Toby watched the brilliant golden dragon fly off, he thought back to the number of jobs and trades he had tried in the past. He had tried every trade at the castle where he had grown up. And every time he had been kicked out after just a few months — usually through no fault of his own.

  When Klel had made him an apprentice sorcerer and brought him to live in Dragon Valley, Toby thought he had finally found something that he could do well at. At least one of his parents must have been a sorcerer, as he had inherited the deep purple eyes that showed he was able to use magic. He had never known his parents, though, and while he knew his mother had died in childbirth, he had no idea where his father was.

  Toby began the long walk back to the village. He wasn’t in any hurry to get back, as he knew Brax would be waiting to berate him for his latest disaster.

  As he walked, he began to rehearse what he would tell Merryn. She had cared for him ever since he had come to the valley the year before and she was like a second mother to him. He was desperate not to disappoint her.

  **

  The rumblings in the ground had long since settled by the time Toby arrived back at the village. He walked through the village square with his head slightly averted from the looks that came his way. Mutterings and many pointed fingers confirmed that everyone knew exactly the cause of the earth shake, and who had caused it.

  His face coloured as he hung his head and hurried through the square. He wanted so much to fit in, but, from the shaking heads he was glimpsing, it didn’t appear to be going to happen.

  ‘How long will Jerrik allow him to keep destroying the valley?’ a man muttered loud enough for Toby to hear.

  Toby scuffed at the clay bricks that paved the marketplace, wishing he had gone around the village and come in from the other side. The single-storey, flat-roofed houses gave a clear view up to the mountain that he had almost destroyed, and the flattened trees were visible even from this distance.

  All bartering ceased at the stalls as he passed. There were many travellers from the other villages dotted around the large valley. They all shook their heads at Toby and made tutting sounds.

  ‘I’m pleased he’s not living in our village,’ one of them said loudly.

  ‘He won’t be living here much longer if Brax has his way,’ someone replied.

  Toby hurried his step a little. He didn’t want to listen to them discussing him. As he reached the far end of the square, he realised that someone was walking alongside him. He glanced to the side and saw the brightly coloured long skirt of his foster mother.

  ‘Merryn,’ Toby said, looking up with a guilty expression. His deep purple eyes met the sad gaze of the elderly woman and he felt all of the rehearsed excuses vanish before they had been spoken. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause trouble.’

  ‘You never do,’ Merryn sighed. Her normally happy face had none of the wrinkled laugh lines that Toby knew so well. ‘I don’t think even Jerrik will be able to help with this one.’

  Toby bit his lip. Jerrik, the village Elder, had defended him several times when Brax had demanded that Toby be banned from using his magic. This time Toby knew he could lose more than just a master, he might lose his home too.

  They left the marketplace in silence and walked slowly down the cobbled paths. As they passed the entrance to the largest mountain cone, Klel flew low overhead.

  Brax summons Klel, Klel said simply. Toby knew the golden dragon well enough to know that his friend would defend him.

  Tryx flew out of the cone and circled over Toby. Told Brax not Toby’s fault.

  ‘I bet he didn’t believe you,’ Toby replied. The golden dragon did not answer and Toby gave Tryx a small smile. ‘Thanks for trying, Tryx.’

  Klel! A bellow came from the cone that made Toby jump.

  The dragon leader flew out the cone and glared at the small group below. Flames licked from his nostrils as he breathed, and his eyes whirled a red that glowed even in the bright daylight.

  Klel inside now! Leave apprentice out here. Not want him near.

  Brax was angrier than Toby had ever seen him — there was no chance Toby would be allowed to train under Klel anymore. He watched Klel and Tryx fly into the large opening of the meeting cone.

  ‘I’m going to go for a walk,’ Toby told Merryn. ‘I’ll meet you back at the house before sunset.’

  ‘I’ll just head back to the markets before I go home.’ Merryn nodded, and her look of sympathy and pity was almost too much for Toby. He turned and hurried off through the village without much thought as to where he was heading.

  A few minutes later he was on the outskirts of the village and heading up the rough ground that led to several gates nearby. A couple of them looked out over Arandyl, the land he had grown up in. ‘Arandyl’ meant ‘first gate’, as it was the first link the dragons had created to another world.

  Toby often came up to sit by the gates and look out to other worlds, even though he was not permitted to go to any of them. Once he had gone through to a land called Shaldoh to help look for Tryx, but since then the only place he had gone was back to Arandyl.

  He kept his head down, concentrating on the rough ground as he climbed. He looked up as a rock tumbled down from higher up. Rock slides were not uncommon, but since his recent magical disasters he was a little more jumpy than usual.

  ‘Toby!’ a voice called out, and his keen vision picked out a figure further up the hillside.

  ‘Sanelle?’ he called back. Toby hadn’t seen the sandy-haired girl in almost six months, and he grinned despite the events of the day. He hurried up the rocky hillside, almost slipping several times.

  He was out of breath by the time he’d reached his olive-skinned friend, and he collapsed onto a rocky ledge to catch his breath. Sanelle sat down next to him and waited for his breath to stop coming in gasps.

  She was wearing a long, green cloak and soft, green leather boots. Her light-brown hair was tied up in an untidy knot, and she was clearly overdressed for the heat of the valley. Sweat dripped down her forehead and she wiped it away.

  ‘I’d forgotten it was always warm here,’ Sanelle said, removing her cloak to reveal a muted, green short tunic and brown trousers. ‘It’s the middle of winter in Arandyl.’

  Toby often wondered how the dragons’ name for the gate had come to be used in that world. The dragons had been around for many hundreds of years and sorcerers of the valley had been visiting Arandyl for a long tim
e. Perhaps it had had another name before the dragons came along, but now it was only known as Arandyl.

  ‘I’m glad to see a friendly face,’ Toby said, grinning at her. His grin fell away when he saw the slightly worried expression on her face. Surely she couldn’t know about his recent mishaps? ‘What brings you to the valley?’

  ‘I received a letter from Grandfather,’ Sanelle replied, taking a folded parchment from her cloak pocket.

  Toby knew that Jerrik was her grandfather and that he wasn’t likely to be in a good mood today. ‘You might want to wait until tomorrow before seeing him,’ he suggested.

  ‘Why was the gate open?’ Sanelle asked, changing the subject suddenly and pointing up to the stone arched gate at the top of the hill. The gate glowed gold around the edges.

  ‘Didn’t a dragon open it for you?’ Toby asked. Only dragons could open the gateways to the other worlds, so anyone wanting to pass through in either direction had to wait on the good grace of a dragon who had a neckband of gems.

  Sanelle shook her head. ‘It’s still open.’

  They struggled back up the rocks until they reached the gate. Sanelle was a dozen paces behind Toby, and he stared at the view until she caught up. He was looking out on a valley covered in snow. The only sign of anything other than snow was a single set of footprints that led to the gateway.

  ‘I walked here. After all, it’s only a half-day walk from my village and it wasn’t snowing today,’ Sanelle said as she joined him at the gateway.

  ‘Are any others open?’ Toby wondered out loud.

  They walked along the mountainside until they reached the next gateway. It was closed, but he still paused to stare at the scene beyond the gateway. Through this gateway he could see the castle where he had grown up.

  If he looked hard enough he might even see Aggie, his foster mother, inspecting the deliveries coming up from the village to the castle kitchens.

  Almost all of the gateways seemed to come out through a waterfall of sorts, and this one was no different, although the waterfall was so small it was merely a trickle that splashed into a small lake.